by Matt Ryan
“We should get into a house,” Julie screeched.
“No, they’d break down the windows and we’d be stuffed like chickens in there,” Harris said. “We need to get to the store.” He fired six more shots into the group behind them. Some fell onto the fence while the rest pushed it over and kept coming.
Joey saw the fear in Poly’s eyes and the distress in Lucas as he fired another arrow. He had to do something or they were going to die.
Gritting his teeth, he let the anger flood through his body. A chill started in the back of his neck, sweeping over his whole body—not the normal kind of body chill, but a shudder that felt as if his bones were brittle. The chill wasn’t the only thing different, the sounds of the world around him became muffled, and Poly stopped running at his side.
He stopped and turned around, facing his friends. They inched along, legs barely moving. He watched Harris’s gun as it fired. The flame sparked out of the barrel followed by the bullet flying toward a zombie.
Can I actually see that bullet? He traced the bullet’s path to where it would strike a zombie in the head. Holy shit. Joey looked ahead to the drooling zombie and leveled his sight on its head. He pulled the trigger. Before the bullet even left the gun, he knew it was a hit. He wasn’t sure how he was doing it, but he didn’t want to waste a second of it.
He turned his gun to the next zombie. It went down in a heap. Behind him, four more went down. He shot at everything around him, reloaded, and shot it again until it was empty.
Joey hopped the next fence and shot the large zombie ahead, as well as the many staggering between the houses. He stopped at the last house before the parking lot and looked back at his friends. They had barely moved in the last minute. Before he could get his mind around what was happening, the sounds rushed to him and his friends accelerated back to running and yelling at a normal level.
“Come on,” Joey said and waved for them to follow him.
They ran, jumping over the last few lawns and reached Joey at the edge of the asphalt parking lot. Lucas still had the arrow cocked and was looking wildly around for a target.
“They’re all dead. How the hell did you move so fast?” Lucas asked, out of breath.
Joey opened his mouth to try to explain, but Harris broke through the group, still running.
“Keep moving!” Harris yelled as he ran across the parking lot.
Nausea swept over Joey. He stumbled forward, but kept his feet moving. He ran at the back of the pack and watched his friends run into the store. Harris stood next to the open front door, motioning for him to get in. Joey holstered his guns and ran. He turned the corner and put his hands on the glass door. A man in tighty whities broke from the front of a new zombie crowd as it reached the edge of the parking lot.
Joey held the door as Harris ran through.
“Lock it!” Harris yelled.
They slammed the door shut, but fumbled with the lock as underwear zombie guy crashed into the door. Harris and Hank held the door closed, but the creature pushed back hard. Poly jumped in and pushed against the door. Harris reached up to the top and grabbed a metal bar that lowered across the door and locked it in place.
The zombie frantically punched and ran into the glass door, its black mouth open as he growled—spit droplets of black splattering on the glass.
The slower zombies made their way across the parking lot at varying speeds. Each zombie crashed against the glass like birds against a clean window.
Joey, unable to hold back the nausea, staggered over to the plastic Shocker Cola bucket display and threw up into it. Julie held onto Poly and sobbed. Poly, with one arm holding Julie and the other holding a knife, stared at the creatures slamming against the windows. Hank stood next to Harris near the front door, bent over and breathing hard. The bag of supplies sagging over his feet.
“Lucas, get the back door closed and locked,” Harris ordered.
Lucas jerked at his voice and lowered his bow, dropping his arrow. He plucked the arrow off the floor and struggled to get it into the quiver.
“I’ll go with you,” Joey offered, standing up and wiping his mouth. He already felt better, but some of the nausea still clung to his stomach.
They went to the back door and secured it in the same manner as the front, with a steel bar across the door. In the hallway were two other doors, one a bathroom, and the other marked Employees Only.
Joey sighed at the sight and sound of the zombie’s deranged bodies pressing against the glass. Some pounded with the hands and heads while others slapped and kneed.
The loudest pounded its face and hands against the glass door, turning them into mush, leaving black smears on the glass. Joey held his hand over his stomach and thought he might add to the cola bucket.
He didn’t consider himself claustrophobic, until being trapped in the store and the urge to flee swelled. He looked over to Poly, who still held Julie with one arm. She glared at the wall as if daring them to break through. The glass bulged in and vibrated with each hit. How long could the glass take such a beating?
Poly met his gaze and nodded. He nodded back and reached for the grip of his gun, knowing full well, the glass would break. This was it. They were going to die right there. Her nod gave him the will to stand, to push the panic down. He pointed his gun at the window, waiting for it to happen; but the glass didn’t break—not even a crack. The zombies pounded, yelling and heaving en masse, but the glass held.
“It’s bullet-proof glass. Should keep them out for a while,” Harris said. “I saw it when we first got here. This is some sort of a hold-out place.”
Julie stopped crying and, with tears still wet on her cheeks, marched close to the glass. Rage filled her face as she edged next to the window. Her proximity created a frenzy as they clawed and battered the glass. She screamed, loud and hard, letting it go until she had no breath left. Hank stumbled back from the scream.
She lowered her head, wiping a tear from her cheek, and turned to Harris. “You knew!”
His steel expression never faltered as he and Julie stared at each other. “I knew it was possible, but this town seemed clean.”
“Clean!” Julie pointed at the windows.
“Yeah, this is not cool. We could’ve died out there,” Lucas said.
Harris’s cool gaze focused on him. “I wouldn’t let that happen.”
“Did you make that same promise to our parents?” Julie asked.
His face showed signs of creases as he stared at the floor. He didn’t respond and Joey thought it was clear he had made that promise. Julie trembled as she glared at Harris.
Joey walked over to her. “Can you check the back door, and see if they are trying to get in?”
She looked at him with her hazel eyes, and his heart hurt as he saw the raw emotion. He didn’t really need her to watch the back door, but she needed something to do right then.
“I’ll go with you, Julie,” Poly said, taking her by the arm.
Joey turned his attention to Harris. “What are we going to do?”
“We can’t stay here. This glass won’t hold forever.” Harris examined the glass.
“What about the camera?” Joey whispered and nodded to the camera behind the front counter.
“Let’s see if we can ask them,” Harris said. He crossed to the front counter and jumped onto it, waving in front of the camera. The lens of the camera shifted as he continued to wave. After a minute, Harris jumped down.
“What the hell was that about?” Lucas said. “Is there someone watching us?” He moved in front of the camera and looked into it. “Hello? We’re trapped in this store with freaking zombie things outside.”
“I don’t think there’s sound.” Harris shook his head. “No microphone that I can find.”
Poly and Julie came from the back hallway to look at the camera. Julie glared at Harris, then inspected the area around the cash registers, as if not willing to rely on his ability to spot for a microphone.
“That camera doesn�
��t mean there’s a person behind it. It could be automated, as most security cameras have back-up power,” Julie said.
Crack.
Joey winced at the sound from the front of the store. Julie squealed as each of them turned to view the long crack in the front door. More spider cracks formed around the main one.
“There was a door marked for employees next to the bathroom,” Joey said.
They crowded the hallway in front of the door. He grabbed and twisted the handle—locked.
“Kick it in, Hank, right at the handle.” Harris stood back.
They gave Hank room as he reared back and kicked the door. The jamb splintered and the door swung open, revealing a small office with a cluttered desk.
“Great, now we have an office to die in,” Lucas said under his breath.
“We’re not going to die,” Poly answered.
“Poly’s right,” Harris said. “At least, not here and not now.”
Lucas’s face contorted with a mixture of fear and anger. “Listen, you freaking freak head.” He pointed his finger at Harris’s chest. “You’ve taken us to some other world and dragged us through miles of desert, only to arrive at some town filled with crazy dead people . . . and now you say we’re not going to die? I don’t think you have a clue what’s going to happen. None of us do!” He picked up the printer on the desk and threw it to the floor.
The printer struck the orange carpet with a dong and bounced, breaking into two pieces. The odd sound resonated and the room went silent.
“Poly, cut out the carpet,” Joey said.
“With pleasure.” She took out a knife from her thigh and bent over to cut the old carpet from the floor. She made quick work of it, cutting a large circle. Hank grabbed the carpet and peeled it up.
“That’s no floor,” Julie said.
A metal, circular hatch lay on the floor.
“Where does it go?” Lucas asked.
Joey looked to Harris in desperation and hoped he knew what to do. There was no handle, no hinges, just a smooth steel door on the floor.
“I think it can only be opened from the other side,” Julie said.
Harris shrugged his shoulders, bent over to the door, and knocked three times. “Hello in there. I know you can hear us. You saw on your video camera that we’re not infected.” No answer. “If you don’t answer, then I have to assume no one is down there and it will be safe to use my explosives to blast the door open,” he continued.
After thirty seconds of silence, they heard from below the door, “Have any of you been bitten?”
“No,” Harris responded.
The sound of steel creaking and a latch clanking filled the silent room as it opened. Joey leaned back from the opening, gripping his gun. An old man appeared, squinting as he gave everyone a quick look over. He stood on a ladder over a dark hole.
Crashing glass, a sound worse than the first, came from the front of the store. A windowpane had finally given to the pressure and shattered.
The sounds of crunching glass and zombie hisses filled the small office. Joey grabbed the desk at the same time Harris did. They pushed it against the broken door, and as soon as the desk was in place, a thud from the other side hit the office door. He pushed against the desk, but the door inched open and grimy fingers clawed their way into the sliver of space.
JOEY FROZE, APPALLED BY THE fingers. Harris kicked the bottom of the door and wedged his boot there. The door stopped opening, but two more sets of slender fingers joined the first.
The old man on the ladder let out a cry and tried to slam the hatch-door closed, but Hank caught the door with his hand and shook his head at him. The old man pulled at the door in panic, but it didn’t budge. He finally let go, giving Hank a defeated look.
“Quick, get in here before they break through that door,” the old man squealed, climbing down the ladder.
“Everyone, move,” Joey yelled as he pushed against the door, his muscles straining under the pressure. He watched as each of his friends climbed down the ladder into the darkness. He looked from Harris to the hole. The opening was only a couple feet away, but he felt the pressure against the desk and knew Harris would be in trouble the second he let go.
“Go, Joey. I can hold them back,” Harris ordered.
He stared at Harris, not wanting to leave him. “You sure?”
“Just go.”
Joey took his hands off the door and shot down the ladder. He looked up at Harris struggling with the door. “Come on.”
“Get out of the way,” Harris said. In one motion, he jumped into the stairwell, grabbed the steel door, and closed it. He spun while hanging on the wheel, locking the door. Feet pounded on the steel door and hands scratched on the steel. He let go and dropped to the floor.
Joey stared at him in amazement. “How’d you do that?”
“All those years training in Parkour.”
Joey couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. The zombies pounded at the hatch.
“Will that thing hold?” Poly asked.
“Yup.” The old man nodded. Or maybe he wasn’t nodding, as his head seemed to shake uncontrollably of its own accord. His tattered, dirty clothes clung to his frail body, but he smiled at his new visitors.
In the dim lights, Joey saw the steel walls and ceiling, a long desk with a wall-mount TV above it, and a couch on the opposite side, facing the TV. A closed door stood at the end of the room. It had a musty, subterranean smell. There wasn’t enough room for everyone to exercise, but it was far better than the alternative. He looked to the ceiling, thinking of all the zombies overhead and shuddered.
“Wow.” Lucas stared at the ceiling. “Good thing I found that hatch.”
Harris moved toward the old man with his jacket pulled back on one side. “Thanks for letting us come down here. You alone, sir?” Harris asked.
“Yep. You can call me Ferrell. Sorry for the mess in here, but I haven’t had company in a long time.” He laughed and whistled at the end of his laugh. “Don’t worry, missy. Those things can’t get through steel,” he said, looking at Julie who stared at the ceiling. His chuckle sounded like a motor trying to start.
Joey slid his foot forward and took a big step toward Ferrell, keeping Julie behind him.
“How long have you been in here?” Julie asked.
“Oh, not too sure on that, maybe a few years.” Ferrell grinned, keeping his eyes on Julie. “You sure are a beautiful thing there, young lady.”
Lucas frowned and stepped toward Ferrell as well.
“Hey now, meant no harm in that. Just an observation,” he said, looking at Poly and Julie, and then licking his cracked lips. “It’s not like I get to look at young pretties every day, you know.”
Hank put a hand on Lucas’s shoulder, as Harris spoke.
“Let me introduce everyone, I’m Harris and this is Joey, Lucas, Poly, Hank, and Julie.”
Ferrell smiled and laughed at each name. He mouthed the word ‘Julie.’ “It’s nice to meet you all. Since you’re down here, I might as well give the tour. Built this whole thing myself, ya know. Well, I had it built from my design. I didn’t actually put it together myself.” He laughed and turned with his hunched back and slow walk, waving for everyone to follow.
Ferrell told them about how he was part of the house community and one of the lead developers for the whole project, but he was most proud of his bunker. Each word describing it was like a doting parent referring to their child. He explained that it consisted of five, eight-by-forty-foot cargo bins welded together. Joey was amazed at the size of the place after the initial shock of the first room. He had two bedrooms, a bathroom with shower and toilet, a kitchen, and a living room. He had backup generators, a large storage of batteries, a solar power system on the roof, a well for water, and a septic system for all wastes.
He grumbled a few times because the place didn’t fit seven people, but it would do fine for a little while. Joey didn’t intend to stay for any longer than needed. The feeling of havi
ng earth over his head made him uneasy.
The tour ended at the same room they started in. Joey stared at the couch in the center of the room. It looked inviting even with its cotton showing at the corners. His muscles ached from trekking through the desert all night, taking goods from the houses, fleeing from the undead and finally touring an old man’s bunker. The occasional scratch and thump on the ceiling above didn’t discourage his need for sleep.
He yawned and stretched his arms. His friends’ faces said the same thing. Harris, however, looked fresh and had a strange smile as he looked around the room. Does this fascinate him?
Ferrell brought some chairs from the kitchen into the family room so everyone had a seat.
Joey longed for the soft cushions of the couch, but decided to take one of the fold-up chairs from the kitchen. Hank and Lucas sat next to him. Poly and Julie plopped on the couch. Harris stood with his back to a wall and crossed his arms with one of his hands stuffed into his jacket.
Joey sank into the wooden seat. He blinked, but they wanted to stay shut. Ferrell hovered around, near the kitchen. Joey wasn’t going to sleep with that man looking over him. Maybe Lucas could take the first shift; he seemed more awake. He opened his mouth to speak, but Lucas spoke first.
“What happened to this world?” he asked.
Ferrell gave a quizzical look. “Where have you been, boy, stuck on the space station?” he laughed. No one echoed his laughter and Ferrell cleared his throat. “How could you guys not know? It’s everywhere, isn’t it?” his voice went into a high pitch at the end, full of hope. “Is there any place where they aren’t?”
“Our religion had us living in a cave for years. We’ve had no contact with the outside world for some time,” Harris said.
Ferrell perked up at this. “Cave dwellers, eh? Well, as far as I know, the world still belongs to them.” He pointed to the ceiling. “We built this place before those things entered this world. When it all went south, we hoped this town would be far away from it all, thinking that maybe it wouldn’t get here.