Human Extinction Level Loss (Book 1): Nicole's Odyssey (6 page)

“Well, at least he’s not a perv,” she said to herself. 

The clothes rinsed, Nicole went to the blower and turned it on.  Twenty minutes later, her clothes were dry.   Feeling rejuvenated, she got dressed and went back into the office.

Sam was lying on the chaise lounge, his back to the door.  On the desk, a paper plate with some carrots and green beans, a peach, and an apple sat next to a can of Coke.  Taking the plate and drink, Nicole quietly exited the office.  She hopped up on a stack of pallets and set the plate down beside her.  She tried to gather her thoughts and when she had, decided that so far it wasn’t going so well.  For the second time, she found herself holding up in a building and surrounded by The Dead.  With her time split between driving and getting trapped, she figured it would take forever to get to Colorado.  It was like a bad game of
he loves me/he loves me not
, only in this case it was more like
they eat me/they eat me not. 
Nicole sighed as she reached over and grabbed the can and popped the tab.  She took a swig of Coke and told herself she was simply going to have to do better.  The dull roar of the clamoring Dead outside played like a bass line beneath the store's background music.  Nicole ate her peach and hoped she would live long enough to try.

Nine

Nicole stood in front of the glass doors by the registers.  She couldn't sleep and had wandered the store in the wee hours, trying to come up with something, anything that would get her out of there and back down the road.  Throughout the night, the Dead had not dispersed.  Some part of her knew they wouldn’t, that they would still be there, biding their time until the inevitable.  Some other part of her, a much smaller part, had hoped that things would not be as they are.  That part of her had imagined that she would look out and see that the Dead had moved on, that she would be able to get in her car and drive away.  Staring at the Dead, she realized simple hope was a vanity she could not afford.  Already the Dead had made progress.  The glass, which just yesterday was only slightly cracked, was now covered in impact damage to such an extent she could hardly see through it.

Sam stepped up beside her.  He decided that she must not be a customer after all, but was here to help him with the store’s bug problem.  Why else would she seem so fixated with them? 

“They’re not gone?” he asked. 

Nicole sighed.  She lacked the energy to try to convince him of reality or cater to his fantasy.  “They’re not going anywhere,” she said. 

As if to emphasize her point for her, at that moment new sounds of impact came from the side doors leading out to the greenhouse area.  Nicole rushed down the main aisle towards the doors.  Sam rushed after her.  The two stared in shock as layers of the Dead pressed up against the sliding doors.  Beyond them, the chain link fence was demolished.  The Dead rushed in by the tens and twenties.  Many slammed against the doors in front of them; many more attacked the other doors farther down the aisle. 

“I wish there was some way we could see outside,” Nicole said.  Sam looked at her. 

“Well, there are the external security cameras,” he said.

A minute later, Nicole and Sam were in the Loss Prevention Manager’s office staring at a bank of monitors.  Six monitors relayed images of the store’s perimeter.  Along the front of the store, they saw what they already knew.  The Dead were jammed in eight to ten deep.  In the greenhouse area, the situation was better; they were only two to three deep out there.  Along the West side, the side facing the town of Fair Valley, the Dead, five deep, struggled in vain to push through the cinder block wall.  The rear of the store had the least concentration.  All along the back, right up to the receiving bay door where Sam’s office was, the Dead were scattered in ones and twos.  Nicole looked at the monitor showing the front of the store.  The GTO sat where she had left it.  The hood of the car faced the store and was buried in the Dead up to the front doors.  They paid it no attention in their efforts to push through the glass.

Nicole tried to think.  “The rear of the store is our best option, but that leaves a heck of a lot of ground to cover to get to my car.  Ground we have to cover unnoticed,” she said. 

Sam stared at the screens and sipped coffee from a paper cup.  Nicole noticed the coffee for the first time. 

“Really? Coffee, at a time like this?” she asked.  She stormed out of the office. 

“I gotta have my morning coffee,” Sam said.  He continued to stare at the monitors.  His mind told him again they were only bugs.

Nicole stared down the lumber aisle at several blue carts.  Some were completely flat with a raised handle.  Others resembled large baskets with wheels.  The ones that got her attention, just as she was about to give up any notion of getting out alive, were the ones that were flat with tubular steel.  The tubular steel formed three sections, two sides and a middle that resembled an “H.”  She walked over to one and pushed it.  All four wheels turned independent of each other and keeping it in a straight line proved a challenge.  Sam approached and sipped his coffee. 

“What are you doing?” he asked as he watched Nicole climb into the cart on her hands and knees. 

She did not answer as she stuck her arms out of the sides and pushed off the floor as if trying to paddle a raft through the water.  The cart moved forward.  She did this for several minutes and made a meandering path down the aisle.  At the end of the aisle, she climbed out of the cart, breathing heavy and rubbing her arms. 

“It’ll need a covering.  They can’t see us or all this thing will be is a serving cart,” she said. 

“What are you talking about?” Sam asked. 

Nicole looked up from the cart to Sam.  “Getting out of here,” she said. 

Sam looked at the cart as Nicole grabbed a four by eight sheet of plywood.  She struggled with the oversize piece. 

“Um, Customer Service, please,” she called. 

Sam put down his coffee and helped her put the plywood sheet in the left section of the cart. 

“Another one,” she said. 

Sam helped her put the second sheet on the right side.  She leaned them together at the top forming a triangle.  The sides were now closed off by the wood, leaving only the front and back opened.  Nicole squeezed into the middle of the cart. 

“Well now I can’t use my arms to move,” she said. 

She stuck her arms out the front and tried to pull along the ground.  The cart remained unmoved.  Sticking her leg out of the back, she tried to push along.  This worked better but her entire leg was exposed.  She made it half way down the aisle when the boards slipped off the sides and lodged themselves against the ground.  Sam laughed as Nicole struggled out of the cart. 

“This isn’t working,” she said.  She stood up and dusted herself off.  “We need to be hidden, but we need to be able to push and steer with our arms,” she said.  Nicole stared at the cart a few more seconds, and then took off.

A few minutes later, she came back down the aisle.  Sam had finished putting the sheets of plywood back and was sweeping up.  Nicole ignored him.  In her arms were several packages of eighty-four inch curtains.  She tore open the packages and threw them on the ground. 

“Hey!  I just swept here,” Sam exclaimed.  He picked up the empty packages as Nicole unfurled the curtains and laid them over the sides and middle. 

The cart now looked like a rolling tent.  Nicole climbed inside and peeked out the front.  She extended her arms just outside the curtains and began to push along.  After several minutes of decent progress, she climbed out.  She decided it was as good an option as she was likely to come up with.  Taking another set of curtains, she covered a second “H” cart. 

“Come on,” she told Sam and pushed one of the rolling tents out of the aisle.  Sam stared after her, then grabbed the other cart and followed her.

When they got to the receiving bay door, they could hear the Dead banging against it.  They placed the two carts almost right up against the door.  Sam looked at the carts doubtfully. 

“What if they can smell you?  I’ve dealt with these things awhile and they are like mosquitoes, once they catch whiff of you, they go right for you,” Sam said. 

Nicole turned and headed out of Receiving.  “Been there, done that, Sam.  Follow me,” she said.

A minute later, he stood next to her on the pest control aisle.  She was looking at gallon jugs of small animal repellent.  On the bottle were listed the animals that could be repelled by the contents, squirrels, raccoons, opossums, cats, and dogs.  She grabbed one, twisted off the top, and took a whiff.  Her nose wrinkled as the odor hit her.  She held it out for Sam to smell.  He took a whiff. 

“Smells like those bugs, only not as strong,” he said. 

“Exactly,” Nicole said.  She grabbed four more of the gallon jugs off the shelf.  “Grab some,” she told Sam. 

He grabbed four of the bottles and followed her back down the aisle.  “I am making note of all these items, you know, so we can bill them out,” he said.

Back in Receiving, Nicole set her four jugs down by one of the carts.  Sam set his four by the other cart. 

“We’re not going to be able to take much with us on these carts.  It will make them too heavy to push.  Besides, if something falls off and they notice us, those curtains won’t stop them, smell or no smell,” she said. 

Sam stared at her.  “Where are we going in these carts, anyhow?  There is no way we can get away.  On these things we are slower than they are,” Sam said. 

Nicole looked at Sam.  “All we have to do is get to my car,” she said. 

“Your car is covered in bugs.  There is no way you are gonna be able to get to your car without at least a few of them biting you,” Sam said. 

Nicole looked back at the carts.  “Which is exactly why we have to let them in.”

Ten

“We’ll move the pallet and carts away from the doors by the registers last, because those doors have taken the most damage,” Nicole said. 

Sam stared at her defiantly.  “You want to let all those bugs in here!?” Sam exclaimed. 

Nicole stared back.  “Yes, it’s the only way to get them away from the car and if we keep screwing around they are gonna be in here anyway, so let’s move!” Nicole screamed. 

Sam threw up his hands.  “All those bugs in here mean an infestation, which does not make for a pleasant shopping experience!” Sam hollered.

Nicole and Sam stood in front of the glass doors by the registers.  The plan was to make their way back to the Receiving area, removing the pallets from the doors as they went. 

“We don’t have much time.  We clear the last of the doors, then race back to receiving, understand?” Nicole asked. 

“After we set off the bug bombs,” Sam corrected. 

“That’s right, Sam.  We get the bugs inside, we get them all,” Nicole said. 

They both grabbed the handle on the pallet jack and pulled the load of concrete mix away from the door.  The effect was immediate.  Just as the pallet was moved, the doors began to sag inward almost to the breaking point.  The bottom of the doors gave way, sound, and smell rushed in. 

“Alright, Sam, Let’s go!” Nicole yelled.  The two ran down to the doors by Customer Service and pulled that pallet away as well. 

These doors were no stronger than the others were and began to buckle.  Not waiting around, Nicole and Sam hurried over to the first set of doors leading to the greenhouse area.  Here the Dead were not so thick, and upon moving the pallet away, the doors only rattled and shook.  Nicole started towards the last set of doors.  She turned when she saw Sam was not following her. 

“Where are you going?” Nicole asked.  Sam did not look back at her. 

“I’ve got to start setting off the bug bombs, remember.  I know this is a scary situation, but try to keep it together, okay?”  Sam said. 

Nicole sighed and rolled her eyes.  “I’ll just get this last pallet myself, then,” she said. 

As Sam walked away, Nicole struggled with the last pallet.  Thoughts of throwing out her back and lying on the floor unable to move filled her mind.  She imagined being a Zombie buffet while Sam scratched his head and wondered why nobody at 9-1-1 was picking up.  Nicole pulled the pallet away down a side aisle, from the door; far enough so that when they caved in the blocks would not create a bottleneck, more of the Dead that were inside meant less outside taking an interest in her.  She turned and was about to call out for Sam to hurry when the lock broke and the doors were pushed open, wide enough to let three Runners slip inside.  Others clamored in to fill the gap, but a huge walker that even in death looked to weigh four hundred pounds blocked the opening.  Nicole screamed as she saw them advance on her.  She was fast, but they were faster.  She wondered if there would be enough of her left to even become a Zombie, when she looked up and saw Sam racing down the aisle towards her on a forklift, blowing the horn, and signaling for her to get out of the way.  Nicole jumped to the side as Sam smashed into the advancing Runners.  They exploded in a spray of puss, blood, and guts as the forklift knocked them down and rolled over them.  Nicole watched in amazement as Sam cruised passed her.  On the forklift, Sam stomped the brakes and the wheels stopped but he did not.  Bodily fluids and internal organs covered the floor and clogged the tread on the forklift as it crashed into the doors.  Glass shattered and the Dead wasted no time.  They clamored in, trying to squeeze past the forklift.  Nicole stared in horror as Sam struggled to unbuckle his seatbelt.