Any expected feeling of hesitation or regret immediately left Dave’s thoughts.
He brought the shovel down hard, landing a crushing blow to the top of her head.
Dave quickly turned to his left and swung the shovel again, hitting the girl with short black hair that was rushing towards him. His shovel struck her in the face.
Dave looked at the distorted look of hatred on the girl’s face. Then he looked at her gray rotting skin, the large gash in her side where her insides we starting to hang down along the side of her body.
Dave first felt a sense of satisfaction, and then he felt the contents of his stomach rise up in his throat, right before he threw up.
Dave straightened up and wiped the vomit off of his face.
He looked over at Adam, who was doing the same thing.
Adam saw Dave looking at him and said, “This wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be.”
“Tell me about it,” Dave replied.
Adam finished wiping off his face. He walked over and reached behind the counter and grabbed a handful of plastic bags.
“We can fill these up,” Adam said.
Dave looked around, “Grab a shopping cart, they will hold more and then we can just push them back to the motel.”
“Good idea,” Adam said tossing the bags aside.
They quickly moved up and down the aisles, tossing in bags of chips, cans of dips, loaves of bread, bottles of soft drinks, Night time cold relief, cans of soup, beef jerky and candy bars. They skipped the containers of spoiled milk, eggs and lunch meats.
To move up the last aisle, Dave had to drag the red head’s body out of the way.
The cold feel of her ankles was creepy as he grabbed her legs to pull her out of the way.
The long streaks of blood left on the floor as he moved her body was almost enough to make him throw up again, but he managed to keep it together.
Finally they had gone down the last aisle and met up at the front of the store.
Dave reached over the counter and grabbed a handful of cigarette lighters and a few packs of batteries.
“We might need these,” Dave said looking at Adam.
“Grab me a few packs of cigarettes,” Adam asked.
“I didn’t know you smoked?” Dave replied.
“I don’t,” Adam replied, “but I thought now would be a good time to start.”
Dave tossed Adam a few packs of cigarettes, then he slipped a couple packs into his own pants pockets.
They laid their shovels on top of the shopping carts and pushed the carts over to the door.
Adam looked out the door and quickly moved back inside and stepped behind a large rack of magazines.
“We have company,” Adam said.
“Shit,” Dave replied, “How many?”
“Five or six of them,” Adam replied, “I didn’t take time to count, but no more than six.”
Dave moved closer to the door to look outside.
“We have seen a lot of these things since the army supposedly swept the area,” Dave said. “They must still be coming across the channel from Longboat.”
“If you remember all the zombie movies neither of us will admit we’ve watched,” Adam smiled, “there could be another reason we are seeing so many now.”
“All the zombie cheerleaders bit their boyfriends,” Dave replied, “and they are just now becoming zombies and are starting to come out and wander the streets. So basically the domino effect is starting. We should see more and more of those things out on the streets until the island runs out of living people.”
Adam grinned, “Maggie would be so proud of you for figuring that out.”
Dave chuckled, “I hate to admit it, but I think she has been right about all of this since the first day.”
“She’ll be happy to hear that,” Adam replied as he studied the creatures staggering around in front of the Circle K.
“If someone tells her,” Dave grinned, “Nicole is going to find out about the zombie cheerleaders you were eyeing up.”
Adam grew serious, “Only if we live long enough to get back to the Pelican Post. Do you think we should try to wait them out?”
“I don’t know,” Dave replied, “I’d hate to get trapped in here. The girls would panic if we didn’t go back to the motel for a few days.”
“I don’t know about Maggie, but Nicole would probably try to come looking for me,” Adam replied.
“I’m surprised Maggie isn’t out there looking for us now,” Dave grinned.
“So what do you think?” Adam asked.
‘I guess we should try to get out of here,” Dave answered. “I know we run the chance of attracting more of those things, but if we are going to get stuck anywhere I guess it will be better to get trapped down at the motel with the girls.”
Dave picked up his shovel.
“Let’s try to do this as quickly as we can and then get back to the motel,” Dave said.
“It should be easier this time,” Adam replied, “None of the ones out front are wearing bikinis this time.”
“We’ll see,” Dave said,” once I open the door, run down before they have time to react. I’ll start on the right, you start on the left. Since we’ll be moving towards each other, you watch behind me and I’ll watch your back. I hope we don’t see any more of those things once we get out there.”
“You say when,” Adam replied.
“When,” Dave said and pushed the door open.
Dave and Adam were halfway down the steps before the zombies saw them coming.
The six zombies turned and began to move towards them.
By the time Dave and Adam reached the zombies, the creatures began to moan.
Dave raised his shovel and brought it down over the head of the closest creature, a guy in a bloody green army uniform.
Dave turned to his left and began to swing at two other creatures that had moved in close to him.
The mangled creatures scared the hell out of Dave. Their out stretched arms barely missed grabbing onto his shirt.
He didn’t understand how they were able to get so close to him that fast.
He knocked down the grisly woman in the waitress uniform with a glancing blow to her shoulder. The creature dressed in a UPS uniform grabbed onto the shovel as Dave pulled it in front of him to fend off the creature.
Dave twisted the handle, causing the creature to fall.
Dave raised the shovel and brought it down on the creature’s head.
He had to use the handle to push the waitress away from him. She had crawled to her knees and had him by the pant leg. Her snapping teeth were mere inches away from his leg when he knocked her back to the ground.
He quickly raised his shovel and smashed her in the face.
Dave quickly looked around when he heard Adam shout at him.
“Behind you Dave,” Adam yelled.
Dave turned to see two more staggering bodies coming up behind him.
Two greasy looking long haired creeps were only feet away.
Dave swung the shovel low, knocking them off their feet, then began to swing the blade of the shovel at their heads.
After five swings, the two creatures stopped moving.
Dave quickly looked around and turned back to look at how Adam was doing.
Adam was on his back, holding back two creatures with the handle of his shovel.
Dave rushed over, swinging the shovel, trying to hit the creatures anywhere, hoping any contact would knock them off of Adam.
Adam scurried to his feet, looking dazed and more than a little unnerved.
Dave pounded on the downed zombies with the shovel.
“Damn, where is all that moaning coming from?” Dave asked, breathing heavily. He was leaning forward, his hands resting on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.
When Adam didn’t answer, Dave quickly looked up to make sure Adam was OK.
Adam was staring down the street past Dave.
“I think we better ge
t out of here,” Adam said nervously.
Dave turned to look behind him.
Dozens of zombies were coming down the street towards him. Dozens more were crawling out of practically every building along Gulf Drive.
Dave turned to look at Adam, but his eyes moved past Adam and focused on the dozens of creatures now staggering through the parking lot behind them.
“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Dave shouted.
“What about our shopping carts?” Adam asked.
“If we try to go back in the store, best case we’ll be trapped in there. Worst case, I don’t think I need to explain,” Dave replied watching the creatures move closer. “We’ll have to come back later. Come on, follow me.”
Dave ran out onto Gulf Drive and began to run north. When he ran past First Street, Adam yelled, “Where are you going, we need to go this way.”
“These things are going to follow us,” Dave yelled back.
“But the Pelican Post is this way,” Adam replied again between gasps for air.
“We can’t lead them back to the motel,” Dave shouted again, “If we go down Gulf Drive and cut down behind the library, maybe they will keep going down Gulf Drive and won’t follow us back to the motel.”
“OK, I see what you mean,” Adam gasped.
“With any luck, they’ll wander down to the Cortez Bridge and the army will take care of them,” Dave shouted back over his shoulder.
Adam didn’t reply, but Dave could hear Adam’s feet pounding the pavement behind him, so he kept running.
They ran past the library. Adam followed when Dave made a quick turn and ran down along side of the library.
They ran through the yards of the apartment buildings, past the fire station, then turned right and came out behind the corner of the Pelican Post.
When they ran around the corner of unit seven, they stopped.
“Do you think we lost them?” Adam asked as he fell back against the side of the concrete building.
“I hope so,” Dave replied, “let’s get up to the cottage and stay out of sight. If any of them wander by and don’t see us, maybe they will just keep moving.”
Too tired to run anymore, Dave and Adam walked quickly to the steps leading up to the cottage. They pulled themselves up the stairway.
They went into the cottage and dropped to the floor, both breathing a sigh of relief.
Maggie laughed when she saw the boys spread out on the floor.
“So how did you do?” she laughed.
“We lived,” Adam replied.
Dave laughed, “We filled two shopping carts full of stuff.”
“Don’t forget to mention the Twinkies,” Adam said between deep breaths.
“But before we could get the carts out of the store, we got company,” Dave said. “When we tried to fight them off, more of them showed up. We were barely able to get out of there. We’ll have to go back later to get the carts when things quiet down.”
“You were right about those zombies calling out,” Adam added, “When they saw us they started to moan. The next thing we knew, those things were coming out of every building on Gulf Drive to get at us.”
“I told you they would do that,” Maggie said.
“Dave told me you would say that,” Adam laughed.
“He said that,” Maggie grinned.
“Maybe the girls would like to hear about the zombie cheerleaders in bikinis,” Dave said looking at Adam.
“Bikini cheerleaders?” Nicole asked.
“Speaking of Bikini cheerleaders,” Dave said smiling at Adam, “Did Carl ever make it back?”
“The jerk came back,” Nicole replied, “he said his head hurt and he was going to go take a nap.”
“He went down to his room,” Maggie added. “I told him he should stay up here in the cottage where it is safer, but of course he wouldn’t listen to us.”
“That sounds like Carl,” Dave laughed.
“With those zombies out looking for us,” Adam said, “Maybe we should go down and make him come up here with the rest of us.”
“Did I hear you calling those things zombies?” Maggie smiled.
“Yes, you win,” Dave smiled, “Adam and I are now firm believers in zombies.”
“It’s about time,” Maggie smiled.
Dave sat up, “Let’s go get the moron before any zombies show up. It would serve him right if we just left him down there but my conscious has had all it can deal with for one day.”
Maggie looked at Dave curiously.
“He will explain it to you later,” Adam said. “Come on Dave, I’ll watch your back. We need to get a few more shovels out of the shed while we are out there.”
“What happened to your shovels?” Nicole asked.
“The zombies have them up at the Circle K,” Dave replied, “Adam will explain it to you later.”
Dave struggled to his feet.
Adam followed him over to the door.
“Let’s get Carl first,” Dave said. “After we get him moving we can go get the new shovels.”
Adam nodded and followed.
The guys walked over to Carl’s door.
“If his door is locked, do you still have the key to his room?” Dave asked, “I don’t want to pound on his door until he gets up. We might attract attention.”
“I can go find the extra keys if we need them,” Adam replied.
Dave reached for the door knob.
He turned the knob and was happy to see it turned easily. After a soft click the door drifted open a few inches.
A soft moaning sound drifted out through the opening between the door and the frame.
Dave looked at Adam.
They both had a questioning look on their faces.
Dave pushed the door open a little further.
A few feet inside the door, Dave saw Carl’s clothes piled up on the floor, next to a yellow bikini.
Adam looked at the clothes, listened to the soft moaning coming from inside the room and then looked at Dave with a disgusted look on his face.
“Is this what I think it is?” Adam whispered.
Adam grinned and whispered back, “Knowing Carl, yes.”
“Where in hell did he pick up some chick in this shit storm around here?” Adam whispered.
“I’m afraid to make a guess,” Dave whispered back.
“Maybe we shouldn’t disturb them,” Adam whispered.
“It would serve him right if we left him down here, but Maggie is right, it is too dangerous down here,” Dave replied quietly, “It’s for his own good. Besides everyone knows to hang a towel or something on the door knob if you don’t want to be disturbed.”
Adam almost laughed out loud.
“Just prepare yourself,” Dave grinned, “Knowing Carl’s taste in women, the zombie cheerleaders will look like super models compared to what you are about to see. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Dave smiled at Adam, pushed the door open and stepped inside.
“We hate to interrupt you Carl,” Dave said loudly, “but……..”
Dave and Adam stood speechless as they stared at Carl and the girl.
The girl was sitting on top of Carl, straddling his body.
Her arms and face were covered with fresh blood as she pulled Carl’s intestines out of his abdomen and shoved them into her mouth.
Blood covered her entire body as she dragged the intestines up over her body, as she raised them to her mouth.
Dave looked at Carl. Carl was on his back. His lifeless eyes were open, staring blankly at the ceiling.
His throat and right cheek were gone. Ragged strands of flesh lined the wounds where his throat and the side of his face had been ripped or chewed away.
Large chunks of flesh were torn out of his arms and legs.
Carl’s legendary squirrel tattoo no longer had a head. It had been replaced by a bloody hole in his leg.
The sheets and blankets on the bed were soaked with blood. The pool of blood sloshed wi
th every movement of the girl as she ravaged Carl's body.
Dave and Adam stared in shock.
The girl noticed them standing there looking at her.
She raised her milky eyes and became still, tilting her head to the right as she looked at Dave and Adam.
She let Carl’s intestines drop from her hands. They slid down over her bloody body.
She opened her mouth to reveal a full set of bloody teeth, complete with torn bits of flesh hanging from her mouth.
Then she let out a ghastly groan and began to crawl down over Carl’s body towards the two men.
Dave grabbed Adam by the arm and dragged him out of the room and slammed the door.
A moment later, the sound of the girl pounding against the inside of the door, joined her loud groaning.
“Run and get the shovels,” Dave said with his voice shaking.
Adam silently turned and ran towards the shed.
Dave stood and listened to the horrific noise coming from inside Carl’s room. He tried not to envision what had happened, but the vision in his mind was all too clear to push it out of his mind.
Adam returned a few minutes later holding a garden rake and another long handled shovel.
“I only had one more long handled shovel left in the shed, so I brought a rake,” Adam said.
“Use the rake to push open the door,” Dave said, “I’ll use the shovel.”
When Adam pushed the door open, the girl rushed out through the opening. At least it felt like she was rushing through the door to Dave.
Dave brought the shovel down hard over her head.
The girl’s blood covered body crumbled to the concrete walkway at Dave’s feet.
They both stood and looked at the girl’s body until Adam broke the silence.
“The others must have heard her,” Adam said, “it sounds like the groans are moving this way.”
Dave nodded, “I’ll drag her inside then we better get up to the cottage.”
Now It Begins Page 15