Dying to Live (41 page)

4.

‘Laura was still being an insufferable bitch. Being trapped in the same goddamn store got old real fast, and she just got worse and worse. When her mom and dad left to clear out zombies, she would stop even trying to rein it in and it was already clear that she hated me. That day was the big day. After working tirelessly for so long, almost all of the stores were cleared. They wanted to get the last ones done so that they could tackle the atrium. I think everyone was amazed that they had actually done it, but nobody would say so. Except Laura, who would criticise Harry behind his back at every opportunity, which was really unfair, because he was the driving force behind our continued survival.’

Laura sat on her camp bed painting her nails. Her mom had brought her some nail polish back from one of the drug stores they’d cleared. However, of the wide selection she had accumulated, the one she was applying belonged to Jessica. Harry had taken a selection for her after noticing that Laura had no intention of sharing. He knew that Jessica’s only company whilst they were gone was Aiden and he tried to raise her spirits wherever he could. Even then, she spent many hours alone.

“Hey! That’s mine!” Jessica snapped when she noticed Laura’s shiny red nails.

“So? Get your boyfriend to fetch you some more.” Laura turned up her nose and looked at Jessy’s hands. “It looks better on my nails than those stubby things anyway.”

Jessica could have lunged at her there and then but Aiden appeared at her side.

“Hey Jessy,” he said. “Wanna play soldiers?”

She shot one last look at Laura before turning to Aiden.

“Sure thing, squirt,” She said, ruffling his hair.

“Yes, scurry off and play,” Laura called after her mockingly.

“Ignore her,” Aiden said taking her hand. “She’s horrible.”

“I know,” Jess squeezed his hand.

“Alright kids, we’ll be back around lunch time,” Kristy called, although nobody listened anymore. Laura bade her farewell without so much as looking up from her nails. Sean was sat on the bed beside hers, totally absorbed in a comic book.

Laura’s parents hadn’t been gone for long and her nails were just about dry when she looked around for something else to entertain her.

“Hey Sean,” She said, trying to get his attention.

“Sup?” He asked, barely tearing his eyes from the page in front of him.

“I’m bored,” She groaned in response. “God, I miss Facebook... and Twitter.”

“Why don’t you just make friends with Jessy? She’s a girl. You can do girl stuff together,” He replied and went back to reading.

“No way,” She dismissed, wrinkling her nose.

“She’s not that bad,” Sean told her. Then he sighed and reluctantly closed the comic book. “Alright, what do you want to do?”

Laura’s gaze wandered to the doors that separated them from the rest of the mall.

“Go shopping...” She said dreamily.

“Too bad, we can’t do that until they’ve cleared everywhere,” Sean said, following her gaze to the doors.

“Sure we can,” Laura retorted. She looked over to where Mr and Mrs Hakeem were sat. Zahra was knitting and Ahmed was lost in a puzzle book. Courtney, as always, was taking a nap. “They won’t even notice.”

“It’s not safe out there.” Sean was arguing with her, but secretly the idea filled him with excitement. “What about the zombies?”

“They’ve killed so many in the rest of the mall that I bet there aren’t even that many left now,” Laura flipped her hair nonchalantly. “I mean, come on, if there were they would be pressed up to the doors trying to get in at us.”

“But there aren’t any at the outside doors, we still know they’re out there,” He countered.

“Sean...” She whined, dragging out his name. “Come on! It’ll be fun, I’m so sick of being trapped in here.”

He felt the same, but, as exciting as the idea was, he was still unsure.

“I know where the rest of the guns are,” she added with a smirk. She knew that she had him with that.

“Alright, fine,” he said. “But I want my own gun.”

Laura snuck across their makeshift home without being noticed and stole two small handguns from a satchel she had seen her mother sifting through. When she returned, she held it up casually in front of Sean with her index finger hovering over the trigger.

“Told you,” she goaded him.

“I want mine,” He pouted. Laura held out the other gun, but pulled it back when he reached for it.

“Be careful with this. It’s not a toy,” She sniggered.

“Whatever. Just give it here,” Sean said with irritation. She passed it to him and tucked her own into the waistband of her jeans.

Sheltered from view behind two large shelving units, the pair silently unfastened the restraints that held the doors closed.

“Ready?” Laura whispered daringly.

Sean nodded nervously and watched her push the door open. Laura leaned her head through the gap and looked both ways before ducking back inside.

“I told you! It’s all clear,” she punched his arm and then cockily strode out into the foyer. When she was a few meters from the door, she turned back to her brother and threw out her arms. “See!”

Sean reticently followed her, looking anxiously from side to side and expecting the worst. When he saw for himself that it really was clear, he straightened up a little.

“Okay, we’re out here. Now what?” He asked.

“Now... we shop!” She said excitedly.

Inside the roof, it was a long crawl to get to the shops at the other side of the mall that hadn’t been emptied yet. The next one on their map was a beauty salon.

“Here’s the tile we marked,” Harry called back. He dug his fingers into the groove around it and eased it out. Below him, the shop was darker than many of the others they had dropped into. The salon wasn’t on an outer wall and so had no windows to provide them with natural light. Harry pulled his torch from his belt and pointed it inside.

“There’s enough light enough to see by if you want to get into position about six tiles down. That should put you right by the doors,” he told Stephen and Kristy.

“Can you see how many are in there?” Stephen asked.

“No, but it’s a fairly open space. They shouldn’t catch you off guard if there are any,” Harry said. They’d encountered a few shops that had already been joyfully empty when they arrived. He hoped that this would be another.

Stephen and his wife crawled their way further into the dark, using the feel of the tiles beneath their hands to count how many they passed.

“Alright mould-bags, I’m over here!” He called loudly into the store, waving his torch to catch the attention of anyone who might be down there.

Nobody appeared in the patch of light he was aiming and when Kristy and Stephen were in place, he gave the nod for them to enter. Stephen dropped down first and raised his gun, looking around cautiously. Kristy shadowed him and did the same.

There was no movement inside the salon. It was eerie and quiet. Harry moved his torch along a wall that was papered to look like real red bricks. The pink chairs that sat in front of the mirrors on that wall were all empty.

“It looks dead down here,” Stephen said to his wife. “You start on the doors and I’ll scope out the back.”

No sooner than the words were out of his mouth, they heard a piercing shriek. It sounded distant but definitely came from the main plaza.

“Was that Laura?” Kristy questioned whilst Stephen stood in shock. “Oh my God, it was! ...LAURA!” She screeched.

She didn’t wait around as the second scream cut through the air. She flung open the doors and was gone.

“Shit,” Stephen cursed. Panic registered on his face and he looked back at Harry, then hurried off after his wife.

“Come back, it’s not safe!” Harry bellowed, but it was too late. He thought for a moment and then swore under his breath. By the time he’d crawled all the way back it would be too late. Instead, he swung his legs over the edge of the tile and launched himself into the salon below.

Harry landed funny and felt pain jolt up his leg. His ankle buckled beneath him and he lurched sideways, banging into a large cupboard. Harry grasped it for support, unable to hold his weight on the bad leg. Beneath his hand, the cupboard door started to shake violently and he fell backwards in surprise.

With his weight no longer holding it closed, the cupboard door flew open and a figure spilled out of it. It was male and definitely should have been dead. A name badge pinned to his chest said that his name was Ryan.

Who could say how long Ryan had been shut inside the cupboard? He looked worse for wear with an eyeball missing and the ragged skin around the socket all blackened and puckered. He groaned loudly once his remaining eye caught sight of Harry sprawled on the ground.

Ryan was small, slight and young looking. His hair still formed the shape of a quiff that had long since lost its substance. The tattoos that had once crept over his skin were marred by putrid sores and seeping cracks in his skin. The fetid smell was overpowering. When he stretched out, reaching for the prey before him, Harry caught the glimmer of a pair of styling scissors protruding from his neck.

Harry scrambled to back away as the creature fell upon him. He grunted in pain as it grabbed at his bad ankle, then yanked back his other leg and directed his foot straight into Ryan’s face. The zombie’s head whipped back but he recovered himself in no time.

Harry fumbled for his gun but it wasn’t at his waist. He looked around and saw that it had skittered across the black tiled floor when he’d fell. He didn’t bother to reach for it. It would take too long. Instead, he leaned forward and grasped the scissors that were lodged in its throat. They wrenched free from the degraded flesh with an easy squelch and a trail of bloody mucous.

“You caught me on a bad day, Ryan,” he grunted and then thrust the scissors into the boy’s skull. The lights went out immediately in his cloudy eyes and Ryan’s body slumped on top of Harry.

In the wake of the tussle, Harry could hear much more screaming echoing around the mall. He shrugged the body off and shuffled over to a broom that was propped against the salon’s reception desk. He used it to regain his feet and then to support his weight as he retrieved his gun and limped off after the others.

He staggered along the plaza. The ruckus had drawn the attention of all the remaining undead, making it easy to follow the noise. Gunfire cracked out in ear-splitting bursts and Harry struggled to move faster.

When he came upon the scene, he was dismayed to see the doors to the Super Target hanging open. His mind flashed to little Aiden, who he couldn’t see anywhere. The horde of encroaching zombies was packed too tightly for him to see exactly what was happening, but he saw a corpse that looked like Laura, struggling to rise beneath the feet of the crowd. The pool of blood surrounding her was too big for her to still be alive. Some of the zombies slipped on the slick puddle and crashed down around her.

A handful of zombies had already been taken down and Kristy and Stephen stood in front of Sean trying to fend off more of them. Sean held a gun and was trying desperately, through his tears, to figure out why it wouldn’t work. Harry saw the moment that he worked out how to take the safety off and tested the trigger. The bullet zipped from Sean’s gun and lodged into his mothers back.

Kristy’s back arched before she collapsed with a wail. Stephen saw the movement from the corner of his eye and paused his shooting to see if she was alright. It took only those few seconds for the zombies to overtake him. All Harry could hear was the agonised cries of a father and son as they were devoured.

“Harry! Help!” Zahra yelped when she noticed him. This stole his attention from the Wood’s and he turned back to the Target. Zombies had broken away and made it to the doors that she and Ahmed were desperately attempting to force shut.

The frail, elderly couple were overpowered before he could stumble far enough to help them. He fired his gun, hoping to buy them enough time, but from such a distance and whilst hobbling as quickly as he could, the shots weren’t nearly accurate enough. Once he got closer to them, he saw that Zahra’s hijab was already soaked with blood and leaking long strands of black hair. Her entrails were hanging from the jaws of a grotesque fast food worker. Harry put a bitter bullet it’s brain and his eyes prickled for Zahra. It was much too late to save her.

Ahmed, however, was still alive underneath the bloodied bodies that all fought for a piece of his flesh. His eyes found Harry’s and widened.

“Please,” He pleaded. “Kill me.”

Harry faltered and the gun trembled in his hand as he raised it.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered and looked away before he pulled the trigger.

Harry couldn’t mourn for long. He rapidly fought his way into their camp. Jessica was there, looking stricken as she tried to urge Aiden to leave with her.

“Not without my mom!” He cried, trying to drag Courtney from her bed. Harry shook his head with frustration. One day that junkie would get her son killed he thought to himself.

“The doors!” Harry yelled. Jessy looked up only just noticing him and he pointed to the exit. “Get the doors open and get them out. The keys are still in the ambulance.”