She passed an old SUV and a zombie slammed against the window from the inside, startling the shit out of her. It slowed her for a second. Damn. She needed all the time she could get.
Most of the zombies changed direction and headed behind her. That meant someone else followed her. Good old Mark.
Coming to the end of the parking row, Jen checked the zombies on her left. They'd closed the distance on her, but she'd still make it to the door before them. Barely.
She made sure there were no obstacles in front of her as she ran, then glanced behind her. Doc was only ten feet back, followed by Mark, with Grant taking up the rear. The zombies from the right side had nearly caught up with him, but he must've sensed it because he kicked in the afterburners and ran side by side with Mark.
Jen dashed up the steps at full speed, slammed into one of the double doors, and bounced off. Huffing, she grabbed the door handle and pulled.
Dammit!
It didn't move. She jerked on it again and again, but it didn't change the fact the damn thing was locked. She shaded her eyes with her hand and pressed her face to the window. If anyone was there...
Doc clomped up the stairs. "Don't tell me it's locked."
Jen pulled on the handle again. "Won't budge."
"What about the other door?"
"What?"
He grabbed the handle of the other door and pulled it open. Shit. Jen pushed him inside and held the door open for Mark and Grant. She'd feel stupid about the door later.
While Mark and Grant were ahead of the horde, the two young zombies heading for the mall door would get there at the same time as them. If they delayed Mark and Grant even a few seconds, the horde would catch up.
Time slowed and Jen pulled the rifle off her shoulder.
Can't shoot. What if there are zombies inside?
I can knock them down with the rifle butt.
But then I won't get inside in time.
She laid her rifle inside the mall and picked up the trash can next to the entry. Thank God it's not full.
She waited until the two zombies were only several feet from Mark and Grant, then heaved the trash can at the zombies' feet, turned, and dashed into the mall and held the door open.
The two zombies fell on the stairs as the trash can took their feet out from under them. Mark and Grant burst through the doorway, and Jen yanked the door closed. Zombies hit the door one after another like birds flying into a window. They piled up, snarling and clawing at the glass.
Grant leaned against the wall, his lungs heaving, while Mark walked in a little circle, his hands propped against his back.
Doc whispered, "We should get out of their sight. They're making a racket and it could draw any zombies inside."
Jen tugged on a door to a beauty salon, but it was locked. "Come on." She picked up her rifle and ran into the mall, stopping around the corner, out of sight of the zombies.
Sunlight invaded the darkness wherever there was a door, but the rest of the mall was pitch-black. The zombies outside the door had already started to quiet.
"Doc," Jen said.
"Yes?"
"Did you see those two zombies? The ones that broke off chasing our tails and made a beeline for the door?"
"That I did," Doc said. "Could be an aberration."
Mark cleared his throat. "And if it isn't?"
"Then our problems just got a damn sight worse," Doc said. "But for now we should get what we came for. Which way?"
Jen listened, but could hear nothing other than the few zombies still banging the door they'd just escaped through. She switched on her flashlight.
"What are you doing?" Grant whispered. "You'll bring any zombies inside right to us."
Jen shined the flashlight down the row of storefronts. Now I know where I am.
She turned off the flashlight. "Unless you want to stumble around in the dark, I'll have to turn it on a few times to get where we're going."
Mark's voice came from beside her, and she jumped. "Jen leads. Grant, take rear. Doc behind me. Put your hand on the shoulder of the person in front of you. And have a weapon ready."
Mark's strong hand gently grasped her shoulder.
"Everyone ready?" she asked.
When they all answered, she walked slowly ahead. The store she wanted was across from the barber shop and next to the arcade. If she was right, the barber shop was just a few shops ahead.
She strained to hear anything beyond their soft footsteps. The zombies banging at the door faded into the distance.
Jen stopped and pointed the flashlight toward the store fronts before turning it on. The light hurt her eyes, and it took a few seconds for her to focus. She'd gotten disoriented, and the light shined into the mall, instead of into the storefronts to her left. She held her breath, expecting a high-pitched screech any second. But nothing came.
She let out her breath, her heart hammering, and swung the light to her side. There, two stores up, was the barbershop. She kept the light on, expecting Grant to bitch at any second, and headed for the shop, turning once she reached it and facing the other side of the mall.
Benches, chairs, and plants were scattered around the middle of the mall. She'd have to keep the light on while crossing it. She turned to the others. "We'll all have to use our lights here. Too many obstacles to make it across safely."
"This is starting to remind me of the hardware store," Grant said.
The four beams cut through the blackness, revealing a food court in the middle of the mall. It was a shambles, as if a riot had taken place. Jen walked to the edge of the food court, then hesitated.
"What's wrong?" Mark asked.
Jen tried to answer, but she didn't have enough spit in her mouth to form words, so she shook her head. Her mind ran through all the possibilities of escape should they run into a swarm. They couldn't go back the way they came in, but who the hell knew the situation at the other doors? They might not have time to worry about it.
Something crackled in the food court and the four light beams darted to the right. Jen squinted, but couldn't make any movement out.
"Probably just the building settling," Grant said.
"Mmm hmm," Doc said. "Bless your heart if it is."
Mark pointed his light back to the middle of the food court. "No screeches, no zombies. Nothing good will come from us standing out here."
Doubt ate at Jen's gut. She was the one who brought them all there. Was it a good idea after all?
There are no good choices, this was just the best one.
Still, uneasiness gripped her.
She picked her way into the food court, stepping over furniture and debris. Mark joined her on her left, while Doc and Grant paced her on the right. Blocked by an overturned table, she shined her flashlight to the storefronts before them. The beam landed on the sign for the Arcade. She pointed it to the shop on its right. "That's where we're going."
"A comic book shop?" Grant said. "Are you fucking kidding me? You plan on hitting the zombies with a rolled-up copy of Superman?"
"I'm curious to see what we've come all the way here for," Mark said.
Jen stepped over a fallen chair. "I'll show you."
She weaved her way through the broken furniture and dried blood, at one point stepping on something still squishy, and waited at the comic book store entrance for the others to catch up. Still no sign of zombies.
Doc peered in through the store window and shined his light inside. He turned around as Grant arrived. "I hope we come out of this with weapons," Doc said. "So far, we're off like a herd of turtles."
Jen opened the glass door and went inside. The place looked as if it hadn't been touched since the zombies rose. She passed displays of comics, posters, and board games to get to the glass case counter.
Grant pointed his beam at the display case, which contained action figures and game cards. "So where are the weapons?"
Jen stepped behind the case. "Look up."
The wall lit up with the beams and s
howed nothing but empty hooks. "What?" Jen's heart sank. "They had all kinds of swords, axes, and spiked bats." She pointed at the hooks on the wall. "That's what they hung them from."
Grant scowled. "So we risked this for nothing."
Jen felt like an ass. She tried to search Mark's eyes for any support, but his face was hidden in shadows.
A clunk came from the back of the store. That wasn't the building settling.
Jen turned toward the direction of the sound. Mark aimed his pistol and flashlight at the back of the store. "Doc, Grant," he said. "Watch our backs."
"You got it." Grant had his pistol ready.
Jen and Mark crept toward the back of the store. Mark shined the light down each side aisle, while Jen kept her flashlight and pistol pointed in the direction of the sound. She swallowed. Her beam fell on a wooden door.
Mark gestured her to go forward and positioned himself to the side of the door. When Jen was five feet from the door, Mark put his hand out and she stopped. He mimicked opening the door and she stood ready, aiming down the pistol's sight. Mark grasped the door handle and mouthed "Three, two, one." He swung the door open, and her light beam fell on a skinny ninja with his hands up, shading his eyes from the light.
16
The ninja froze, eyes blinking through the slit in his hood. "Please don't kill me. I can be a big help to you."
He sounds like a kid. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" Jen lowered the flashlight from the ninja's eyes, but kept the pistol aimed at him. "No one's going to kill you, but we reserve the right to make cracks about your costume."
The ninja blinked and rubbed his eyes. "Can I stand?"
"Sure," Mark said, then added, "Do you have any weapons on you?"
The ninja stood, revealing a scabbard beneath him. "Just my katana."
"What's going on back there?" Grant asked. Jen glanced at him. He had moved halfway through the store.
"We're good," Mark said. "Get back to the front and keep an eye out."
Grant's shadow dissolved into the gloom.
The ninja watched Mark closely, particularly the pistol in his hand. "You're not from upstairs?"
Jen and Mark looked at each other. Jen gave him a shrug. "No. Who's upstairs?"
Mark cut in. "Before we get to that, I want to know who you are and what you're doing here."
"I'm Zeke. This was my mall until those others came." He hesitated. "We really should get back in this room before one of the gang's guards find us."
"Take your hood off, Zeke," Mark said.
Zeke didn't move, and Mark raised his gun. Zeke pulled the black hood off, revealing a late teen-early twenties face with a long nose, acne, and a half-shaved head with green hair. Various piercings adorned his ears, nose, and lip.
"Just a kid," Mark muttered.
Zeke eyebrows lowered. "Just a kid who's survived."
Jen smiled. "He's got a point there." She gestured to Zeke. "Let me see if I've got this right. You hid out in the mall when the shit hit the fan and survived, but some other people came in that you're afraid of and they camp out upstairs. Sound right?"
Zeke nodded. "Other people have come since. The gang upstairs either gets them to join up, or kills them."
Mark gestured with his pistol. "Why don't you move back into that room and we'll follow you. Leave your sword. We'll pick it up."
Zeke kept his hands up and backed into the room. From the outside it had looked like it was no bigger than a closet, but inside it would fit a couple dozen people.
Zeke pointed to a battery-powered camping lantern. "Close the door so the light doesn't give us away and I'll turn this on."
"I should get the others first," Mark said.
"Go ahead," Jen said. "I've got this."
Mark left and returned a minute later with Grant and Doc. He closed the door. "How about that light, Zeke?"
Zeke flipped on three battery-powered camping lamps. "Found these while rummaging through the mall."
The room lit up, everyone's shadows high up the walls. Cardboard boxes were stacked along one wall, while a long worktable with an assortment of action figures and other knickknacks lined another wall. Shelves with drinks and snacks stood at the end.
Mark switched off his flashlight. "Not bad."
"Why the ninja getup?" Doc asked.
Zeke put his arms out and smiled. "Like it? I used to almost live in this shop. I was here at least three or four times a week. I always wanted this costume, ever since they put it up on display six months ago, but I couldn't afford it." He spread his arms out. "Now I can afford anything in the store. Besides, it's great for sneaking around in the shadows."
"And the katana?" Grant asked. "It looks a little light to be useful for bashing in zombie heads."
Zeke picked up the scabbard and Mark raised his pistol. Zeke put his hands in the air. "I'm just going to show you."
Mark nodded at him. "Go ahead, but it'll take less than a second for me to put a bullet into you."
Zeke's hands shook as he slowly removed the sword from the scabbard. Long, thin, and curved, it reflected the light along a sharp looking blade.
Jen held out a hand. "Can I see it?"
Zeke hesitated. Jen kept her face neutral. "I'll give it back."
Zeke leaned forward with the sword. Mark cleared his throat. "Give it to her hilt first."
"Right." Zeke gave a weak smile and slid the sword into the scabbard and held it out so the hilt faced Jen.
Jen slid the sword out and gave it a few practice swings. She examined the blade. Damn thing looked sharp, but comic book shops don't sell swords with an edge. Must be the light making it look that way. She traced the edge lightly with a finger.
"Shit!" She pulled her finger back. Blood oozed from the cut. She slid the sword back into the scabbard Zeke still held, grabbed a t-shirt with a dragon imprint from the worktable, and used it to put pressure on the wound. "Where'd you get that thing?"
"On the wall over the display case." Zeke smiled. "Of course, a katana won't do much damage without an edge on it, so I broke into the knife shop around the corner and sharpened the blade."
"Where are the other weapons from the wall?" Mark asked. "The gang get them?"
Zeke laughed and pulled a stack of boxes away from the wall. He used the blade of his sword to dig between two pieces of sheetrock and pulled the bottom piece from the wall. An assortment of knives, helmets, chain mail, and weapons lay in the cavity.
Reaching in, Jen picked up a double-headed axe. "This will do quite nicely." She looked at Zeke. "Are these sharpened, too?"
Zeke shook his head. "But they don't need to be. Those can still lop off zombie parts, and all you really have to do is bash their heads anyway."
Grant took a huge broadsword. "This one's mine."
Mark hefted a mace and gave it a few practice swings. "You sure about that? You've gotta carry that heavy-ass thing around."
"True enough." Grant put the broadsword back and chose a solid, but lighter blade. "What about you, Doc?"
Doc put a finger to the corner of his mouth as he looked over the cache of weapons. "I do believe..." He bent down and lifted a spiked bat. "I played peewee league as a boy back in Georgia." He swung slowly, following through like a baseball batter. "Balance isn't bad. It's enough for me to smack a zombie upside the head."
Grant sheathed his sword in his belt and pointed his pistol at Zeke again. "How do you know the gang can't hear us in here?"
Zeke placed his scabbard on a table next to him. "As long as we don't yell, they'd have to be standing in the store to hear. Out there, it can echo depending on where you're at." He crossed his arms. "Can you guys stop pointing guns at me now? Haven't I proven I'm no threat to you?"
Jen holstered her gun in her belt. "He's OK. Just a kid." She thrust out her hand. "I'm Jen."
Zeke smiled and shook her hand, then he held it out to the others, who introduced themselves in turn. Zeke gestured to a shelf loaded with energy drinks and snacks. "An
yone hungry or thirsty?"
"No, thanks," Jen said. "Now that we've got the weapons we came for, we'll be on our way."
Zeke's face fell. "What's the rush? It's been weeks since I talked to anyone."
Jen bit her lip. The poor kid was lonely, but they had to get to the plane.
"We need to get to the base and catch a plane out," Doc said.
Zeke's face lit up. "There's still a plane out? Where's it going? I have a brother in Rhode Island I could stay with."
Grant put a hand up. "Whoa. This is a military plane and it's there to get Doc out."
"And Jen and Mark," Doc said.
Zeke grabbed Doc's arm. "Can I go, too? I won't take much room."
Doc looked at Jen and Mark. "What do y'all think?"
"Wait." Grant pushed between Doc and Zeke. "He's not authorized."
Doc put an arm out and guided Grant to the side. "You just made up my mind. I'm authorizing Zeke."
Grant's face turned red. "What the fuck? Are we going to pick up every damn stray on the way?"
Jen tried not to laugh at Grant, but a chuckle escaped her lips. Mark said, "I guess that's up to Doc, isn't it?"
Grant said nothing and walked back to the door. He pulled a cell phone out of his pocket. "Need to check in if we can."
Jen turned to Zeke. "Better get loaded up. You have a gun?"
Zeke shook his head. "My katana's enough."
"Have you ever shot a gun?" Mark asked.
"Sure," Zeke said. "I kick ass in all the top first-person shooters."
Doc frowned. "What's a first-person shooter?"
Jen sighed. "Kung Fu Nerd here is talking about video games."
"Right," Zeke said. "I'm a nerd and proud of it."
"Doc." Grant pushed through, holding out the cell phone. "The colonel wants you."
Doc reached for the phone. "What has he said so far?"
"Nothing. As soon as we connected, he told me to hand it to you."
Doc put the phone to his ear. "Hello?"
He nodded. "Yes, it's me."
He listened, then pulled the phone from his ear. "Exactly where in the city are we?"
"100th Avenue and Old Seward," Jen said.
He put the phone back to his ear. "Did you hear that?"
The Zombie Uprising Series: Books One Through Five Page 20