Zomb-Pocalypse (12 page)

Three zombies come at us right away. With a sick feeling, I raise my weapon and swing at the smaller one’s temple. The thud reverberates down my arm as the poker bounces off the woman’s rotting head. I wince when I see that my attack has ripped her ear free and it’s stuck to the end of my poker. I don’t have time to scrape it off because she’s snarling and lunging at me again. This time the zombie is too close to swing, so I use my hands to give her a hard shove, pushing with all my might. I try not to think about the dried, crunchy goo that touches my skin when it comes in contact with her.

The zombie is off balance, flailing around. I harden my stomach and give her another good push. She falls over, scrabbling like a turtle on its back. I quickly line up the poker and drive it through her temple just as her fetid teeth clamp down on my shoe. I give a panicked shout and rip my foot out of her slackened jaw.

Ryan has taken down the other two in the time it took me to do one, and he runs over to me. “What happened?” he demands, panting and out of breath.

“She bit my shoe!” I yell, terrified that I’m going to be a zombie now.

Ryan takes a quick look around as he leads me to the front counter and gently pushes me back till I’m sitting down. I’m so panicked that I don’t resist when he goes to work, unlacing my shoe and pulling my sock from my foot. I can’t even breathe; my entire body is shaking so hard. The idea of being one of those things… I’ll eat a bullet first.

Ryan gingerly holds my foot and inspects it carefully. “Nothing broke the skin,” he says at last.

I let out a sob of relief. I want to hug him and laugh and cry, all at the same time, but Ryan suddenly shoves my sock and shoe at me and pulls his knife out as another zombie lumbers out from between the aisles.

I quickly ram my foot back in my shoe as a second zombie joins its friend. Ryan is struggling to pull his knife from the first zombie’s head because it’s still thrashing around. I rush forward and take wild stabs at the second zombie’s head. It’s a lot taller than me, though, so I already know this isn’t going to go well. I can only hope that Ryan finishes up with the first one soon, and I can distract this one in the meantime.

I use the poker to push the zombie back a bit, wincing when I feel the sharp end stab into its chest. I step back and start weaving back and forth, running in to deliver a smashing blow before quickly distancing myself by several feet. The zombie is slow and seems confused by my quick movements, which is a good thing. Though, I’m starting to tire out a bit.

I hear a thud and hope that Ryan has finally dealt with his zombie. I see Ryan out of the corner of my eye, coming up behind the zombie as he viciously strikes it in the back of the skull with his large hunting knife. The zombie goes down with a thud, and I can finally stop weaving around and catch my breath.

“There’s a lot of them in here,” I complain.

“We better hurry then,” Ryan responds, passing me a wire basket and grabbing one for himself.

“We should stock up, not just for the accident victim, but for ourselves too.”

It’s good advice, so I nod. I see a display of backpacks and trade in my basket. Ryan does the same. We walk cautiously down the aisles of paper and pens. It gets darker as we move further into the store, though some light is still coming in from the large picture window at the front.

I strain my ears to hear anything prowling around back here, but I can only hear my ragged breathing and the exaggerated pounding of my heart.

The next aisle is a little more promising. I stuff a couple handfuls of chocolate bars into the bottom of my bag. Ryan gives me a look, so I stuff a few in his bag too for good measure and he gives me a goofy little grin. For a second, it’s almost easy to forget our situation—but only for a second. Next, we find the first aid supplies. I stock up with ibuprofen, cough medicine, bandages, disinfectant, and a few of those preassembled first aid kits. Ryan is busy stuffing a bunch of stuff into his pack, so I wander further ahead to discretely add a few feminine supplies while he isn’t looking.

“Got everything you need?” he whispers, startling me as he approaches from behind. I jump and hastily shove my treasures deeper into the bag.

“Yep, where to next?” I ask to draw the attention away from myself.

Ryan points to the pharmacy counter at the back of the store, and a shudder goes through my body. It’s extra dark; and I am not looking forward to traipsing around back there.

“It’s not ideal, but some of that stuff could save our lives one day.”

I nod, even though Ryan isn’t looking at me.

He’s scanning the area, panning from side to side with a flashlight that he’s pulled from somewhere. His beam lands on a deteriorating face that promptly growls and charges at us. It’s all I can do not to let out a scream as Ryan moves forward to head off the zombie.

I don’t look too closely, but I know he’s dealt with it by the wet slurping sound the knife makes when he embeds the blade in the things brain.

“Let’s hurry up,” Ryan says, grabbing my arm and helping me swing over the pharmacy counter.

My foot lands on something squishy. I let out a yelp of terror and quickly jump away from whatever I’ve landed in. Ryan shines his light over the counter at the floor, and it illuminates a zombie that someone else has already killed. He’s wearing a white lab coat, and I’m pretty sure that he used to be the pharmacist. Horror at what could have happened races through my mind, along with a healthy spike of adrenaline. I solemnly promise myself that I will never again leap without looking first.

“Grab everything that looks like it’s something we can use,” Ryan instructs me, already moving past the fact that I could have just been a zombie snack. I let out a huff of annoyance and grab the flashlight that he passes over.

“What are you going to do?” I can’t help but ask, nervous about the fact that he isn’t joining me.

“I’m going to keep a look out and grab a few more things. So far, I haven’t seen any zombies that have learned how to climb, so you should be safe enough behind that counter.” His words are meant to be reassuring, but my gut clenches as he walks away. I follow the bob of his flashlight around the darkened store for a minute, and that’s something at least, I guess.

I move towards the shelves of pills. I don’t recognize any of the medical names, so I just start stuffing handfuls of pills into the top of my bag. I grab creams and ointments and pills by the handful until my bag is bursting at the seams. Then, I stuff more into my pockets.

This stuff has to be helpful to someone.

I remember seeing a book down one of the aisles and, without thinking, I jump over the counter to search it out. I stop before a small rotating rack of books, and my finger traces over the covers until I find what I am looking for—The Pill Bible. Maybe it will help me identify some of the stuff I’ve grabbed. I pull two romance novels from the shelf as well and find a side pocket on the backpack to squeeze them into.

The sound of shattering glass has every nerve in my body snapping to attention. I look over towards the south side of the drugstore where Ryan’s light is bobbing around like crazy. I see that zombies are swarming out of a room that might have been a storage room or the basement. I’m not sure which, but one thing is certain, someone put a lot of zombies in a room and now they are out.

“Ryan!” I yell as I run towards him to help.

“Get out of here, Jane!” Ryan yells back, and I can tell from the panic in his voice that he is fighting for his life.

“Not without you!” I yell as I run full speed towards the melee. I swing the bag onto my back and lift my poker high, ready to do some damage.

I stop in my tracks when I see how many zombies we are dealing with. There has to have been twenty of them trapped in that room. I encounter the first one. It’s a female and, lucky for me, not much taller than I am. I swing hard, and my arm aches as I connect with the side of her temple. Her matted blond hair swings wildly as she stumbles. She rights herself quickly, though, and I swing again before she can get too coordinated. I hit her two more times before she goes down and stays down. My flashlight picks up the bloody remains of her crushed skull. I don’t even bat an eyelash at the carnage I’ve caused. Another one comes at me. This one is male and much taller, and so are the five zombies behind him.

“Go, Jane! I need to know that you’re safe to be able to concentrate. Get out of here!” Ryan yells, catching a glimpse of me through the wide sea of rotting shoulders.

I stand frozen for a minute, totally helpless to do anything to help Ryan. Then, feeling like the biggest asshole on earth, I turn around and run as the first popping sound erupts from where Ryan stands in the center of the shit storm. I know it’s bad if he’s risking the sound of gunfire. I hate myself for abandoning him, but the more realistic part of my brain knows that, if I stay, I will be torn apart. Through the haze of my horror, I hear more glass breaking as zombies start stumbling into the front of the pharmacy from outside, most likely drawn by the yelling and gun fire. I stop for a second to assess the situation. My exit is blocked, and zombies are closing in behind me.

I dart down a nearby vitamin aisle to escape the pack of dead on my tail and then cut across the next aisle before heading back towards the pharmacy. I reach the counter and don’t slow down as I throw myself over, like one of those TV cops sliding across the hood of a car.

The zombies take a minute longer to catch up. When they do, they bump up against the chest-high counter with angry moans.

“Jane?” I hear Ryan’s voice. He sounds winded, but I rejoice that he’s still alive.

“I’m okay!” I yell back…figuring there’s no point in whispering now.

“Did you get out?” He yells back.

I open my mouth to answer, but then stop. Ryan is on the opposite end of the store. There is no way he can get to me, but I know that he will die trying if he knows I didn’t, in fact, escape.

“Yeah,” I yell out finally. “Now it’s your turn!” There are a couple ticks of silence where my heart literally stops, thinking he has been killed.

“Stay safe. I’ll find you when I get out of here.” He calls back.

I don’t have a chance to reply; ten zombies begin beating furiously against the counter, straining and groaning and even hissing at me in anger.

I back up, trying to get away from them, but it’s a small area, probably only eight feet deep by ten feet wide. I look around for something I can do, but I’m trapped. I hope that Ryan will make it out. He won’t be happy that I lied to him, but at least he’ll be alive. 

I still have my fire poker, I realize suddenly. Without much of a plan, I move forward until I’m so close that I can smell their reeking, decayed breath. I use all my strength to stab the closest zombie in the head. It works like a charm and the zombie goes down like a sack of bricks. My heart soars with triumph for a second before the poker is ripped from my fingertips and disappears over the counter along with the zombie. I bite back my cry of disappointment. I don’t want Ryan finding out that I didn’t get out.

I look at the shelves and wonder if I can climb them when the zombies break through the counter to eat me. I can already hear splintering wood as more zombies join the fray, and their combined weight begins to break down my barricade. I look towards the top of the shelves and see something…

I pause for a minute to study it. It’s a razor thin line of sunlight shining through. I hadn’t noticed it before.

I begin to climb the nearest shelf, not liking how wobbly and unstable it feels, but I press on because there is nothing left for me down below. I can only pray that the fall will be enough to kill me before the zombies do. Though, from the height of only about six feet, it’s unlikely. I get closer to the sliver of light and discover that it’s actually a window with a blackout curtain hung over top.

I begin to feel a small inkling of hope. I rip the shade from the opening and peer at the window. It’s small, but I can squeeze through. I will fold myself up like a pretzel if I have to.

Below me, the wooden counter gives way and the zombies come streaming forward. I get thrown off balance when they bump into the shelf. For one horrible moment, my arms are helicoptering through the air, trying to gain back my balance, and I’m sure I’m going to fall. I grab at the wood so hard that I feel multiple splinters imbed in my hands, but I ignore them and, with trembling fingers, start to crank the window open. I twist it one way and then the other, but it won’t budge. This time I do let a frustrated sound of panic escape my lips. I worry about Ryan hearing, but he’s firing off so many rounds that he probably couldn’t hear me if I was beside him and screaming at the top of my lungs.

Panic seizes me. I start kicking at the glass with my feet until I hear it shatter and tinkle as a few stray pieces fall on the zombies. I pull one of the romance novels out of my backpack and use the spine of the book to clear away the remaining glass, letting the book fall when I’m done. The shelf begins to sway back and forth wildly as the zombies jostle from below, and I practically dive through the window head first. So much for my newly minted, look before you leap rule.

I feel the bite of glass slice down my arm and cry out. Then, I’m blinking in the bright sunlight as I flail out of the window. I’m at least eight feet up in the air, and it’s a hard landing on the cement below.