When the Dead Rise (Book 1): The Beginning (27 page)

Turning the corner of the last aisle, Todd stopped abruptly; Ryan bumped into him and groaned when he saw why. Close to ten zombies pressed together in the small space, between the counter and the wall. "How are we going to deal with that?" Ryan asked, pointing at the enclosed area.

Sensing there was living close by, the zombies began to moan and thrash against the metal barrier. "Let's finish clearing the open parts of the store," Todd said over the cacophony as he walked towards the rear, "and then we'll call the others in while we try to figure this out."

When they'd ensured the rest of the store was clear, Todd jogged to the front to motion for the others to come in. Once everyone was inside, he explained the situation. "So, I want the three of you to grab bags and fill as many as you can, with things we'll need. Rubbing alcohol, gauze, anti-inflammatories; look for first aid kits and vitamins. Go aisle by aisle and take as much as you can carry." He handed each of them a large tote bag. "Use these for food - look for protein bars especially. Stick all the bags you fill by the door and we'll carry them all out at once. We don't want to draw attention from outside. Ryan and I are going to see how we can get the zombies out from behind the counter, without splattering their brains all over the medicine."

No one said anything as they each chose a separate aisle and quickly set about their task; even Parker didn't utter a single complaint.

Todd and Ryan returned to the caged zombies, still thrashing against the shutters. The ones closest to the front forced their arms through the narrow rectangle openings, scraping the dead flesh from their arms. "Oh god," Ryan choked, "I think I'm going to be sick."

It looked to Todd as if, when they pushed their arms through, they'd rolled up chunks of their skin. "Come on," he said, pulling his heaving friend towards the undead. The closer he got, the worse the smell became. "I think our best bet is to move these," he stopped beside a set of long shelves, "over here." He moved to the end of the large shelving unit, dividing the last two aisles. "If we block them off here, I think they'll take the path of least resistance, down the first aisle, and we can pick them off as they come around the corner. That way, we'll have decent light and be close to the door if something goes wrong."

"But how are we going to deal with that?" Ryan asked, nodding to the locked shutters.

"I'll shoot off the lock, raise the shutter and run like hell." Todd elbowed him, "just don't shoot me when I come around the corner." He laughed, but Ryan didn't find the joke amusing.

"Their arms are going to be a problem." Ryan inched closer, careful to stay out of reach. "How are you going to deal with that?"

Todd motioned to Ryan's machete, "You'll chop em off first."

Swallowing hard, he looked from his blade to Todd. "I'll do it."

While Ryan took care of the obstacles in Todd's plan, he went in search of Misty; he found her in the feminine hygiene aisle. "That's gotta suck," he said from behind her; he saw her jump, but she didn't utter a sound.

Turning slowly, she let out a long breath. "Don't sneak up on an armed woman," she warned.

"I'm sorry," Todd gave her a half-grin. "I promise not to do it again." They hadn't had a chance to talk since she'd arrived; or rather, they hadn't spoken since the night of the crash. "I'm sorry about Dennis too," he blurted, growing somber.

Misty looked away, "We'll get through it; we always do. Besides, we need to stick together now, more than ever." Her jaw clenched and she leveled a look at him, "Dennis is gone, who we were before that night, is gone; there's nothing you could have done for him, I understand that now." She shifted her gaze out the front of the store, "If we're both around in five years, then... then maybe we can talk about it. For now, let's just get to tomorrow in one piece."

"We're ready," Ryan called over the loud moans from the back of the store.

"Let's get this done and over with," Todd said, moving down the aisle towards the storefront.

After going over the plan with the others, Todd made his way back to the pharmacy area, psyching himself up for what he was about to do. Kicking aside the dismembered arms in disgust, he aimed his pistol at the lock; before he could think twice about what he was doing, he pulled the trigger. The shot echoed, momentarily drowning out the moans of the zombies. With a push, the gate rattled up; by the time the zombies stumbled from their enclosure, Todd was already halfway up the aisle.

"They're on their way," he said, jogging around the corner and towards his companions, three aisles down.

Once Todd joined them, they raised their firearms, patiently waiting for the first zombie. Not wanting to end up in an uncontrollable situation, they'd all agreed to use the guns. The first one was a woman; her long hair caked with blood. She appeared to be relatively intact, missing only an eye and a portion of her tongue. On her arm, two bite-marks stood out in dark contrast, against her pale, mottled skin. Smeared bits of shrivelled flesh clung to her grey-green cheeks. Dried blood crusted beneath her chin and down her shirt. Todd guessed that during the initial blitz of infection, she'd been caught in the store.

Misty fired a round and the zombie fell to a heap on the floor. Two men came around the corner, only their clothes giving away their gender. Their faces, horribly eaten, no longer looked human; one was missing its forearm.

Ryan laughed, taking aim, "I met him earlier."

Just as Ryan put down his zombie, Jer fired, missing his target; the cosmetics behind the zombie shattered into bits. His voice shook when he spoke, "This is harder than it looks."

Todd fired, hitting another zombie rounding the corner, and turned to Jer. "I think we have this under control, if you want to sit out with Parker."

Jer shook his head, aiming again. "I can do it." His hands shook slightly, but when the rapport echoed through the store, it was followed by the thump of the zombie hitting the floor. "My nephew needs those inhalers," he said through gritted teeth, casting a malicious glare Parker's way; and so, on it went.

When they were through, three children and two teens lay amongst the bodies. Both Ryan and Jer had been unable to shoot them, so the responsibility fell to Todd and Misty. Once done, rather than going to gather the medicine, Misty went out to the truck, saying she needed a minute alone. Parker quickly listed what they should look for, and the men set to work, packing as much medicine as they could carry. During the drive back, everyone remained silent, lost in his or her own thoughts.

When Todd turned back onto the library's street, he knew something was immediately awry.
There are too many of them,
he thought, slowing the truck to a stop.

"Something's wrong," Misty said, leaning up from the back, "there weren't nearly as many, when we left."

"Ronnie?" Parker shrieked, flinging open his door.

"Parker," Jer shouted after him, "come back."

"Who's Ronnie?" Ryan reached down, pulling his gun from his bag.

"My sister," Jer said, climbing out after his brother-in-law.

Todd studied the crowd of zombies, now shuffling towards them. "These guys are fresh." When David, the leader, stumbled from a bush beside him, Todd sucked in a breath. "These are survivors from the library."

Mayhem...

They bounced across the lawn of the library, pulling alongside the building. Before the truck came to a full stop, Ryan was already out and running for the door. "Melissa?" he pounded on the fire exit, "Melissa!" Beating harder, he shouted, "Someone open up."

Todd shoved the truck into park, glancing into the back at Jer as he vacantly stared out the window. "Misty, keep an eye on him and shoot anything that gets too close." Jumping out, he turned back into the truck, "when we get inside, drive around the block a few times. I don't want all of them clustered around our escape door when we're ready to leave. I just need to grab my things, his nephew, and Melissa and her dad." Shots fired within the building and Todd glanced up to see the door swing outward. "I won't be long, he promised as he rummaged through his bag, searching for the walkie-talkies he'd grabbed on the way out of CVS.

"Come on Todd," Ryan shouted, shooting a nearby zombie.

He tossed one of the radios to Misty as she climbed out of the rear, "There are batteries in the bag; I'll buzz you when we're ready."

Ryan fired again, "Let's go."

Todd ran for the door, ducking inside just as the Land Rover bumped over a fallen zombie behind him. Inside the stairwell, he found three guns trained on him and skidded to a halt, slowly raising his hands. "What happened?" he asked, glancing from one man to the next; he didn't remember their names. "Where'd Ryan go?"

The tall man with glasses jerked his head towards the stairs. "He's gone to look for his girl."

Another report echoed through the building. Behind the door to the main library, Todd could hear the moans of the undead. He swallowed thickly and asked, "What's going on in there?"

The round, balding man said, "They're picking off the one's still left in the library."

"Fool kids, playing games. Opened the wrong door and gave those things an opening to get in," said the older man, holding an old eight-gauge shotgun. He shook his head. "By the time we figured out what was going on, it was too late to do much of anything. Everyone not bitten we allowed upstairs, where it's safe, and opened the front doors to get the zombies out. There's still a handful stuck in the stacks," Shotgun paused as another round fired, "and we're taking care of them now. We're going to have a lot of cleaning up to do, but we should be able to stay."

"I'm leaving," Todd said, glancing upstairs as another gun went off. "I just need to know if Jer's nephew made it; we saw his sister outside."

"What about Parker?" Baldy asked, frowning. "Where's he?"

Todd shook his head. "He just let his wife have him."

Tall-man pushed his glasses up his nose, with a look of disgust. "Like he walked into her arms and just let her eat him?"

He nodded. "Carter?" he asked again, about the boy.

Tall-man nodded, "his momma saved him. Held em off long enough for Carter to get to the stairwell. She, however, was bitten in the process. He hasn't said anything since then."

"Jer's in shock too." Todd motioned towards the stairs, "is it okay if I go up? I need to figure out what to do about Carter and Jer."

Shotgun nodded, but reached for Todd's arm. "This may sound callous, but that's a sick little boy up there. If Jer can't look after him, I don't know if anyone will be willing to take responsibility for him."

Taken aback, Todd jerked his arm from Shotgun, "I need to find my friends."

"What about the meds?" Baldy asked Todd's back, "Did you guys find anything out there?" He ignored the question. As the second floor door closed behind him, Todd heard him shout, "We have a lot of injured up there. They could really use some help."

"The nerve of that asshole," Todd growled. He scanned the groups of survivors huddled on the floor, spotting Ryan first; his back was to him.

As Todd approached, he heard Melissa saying in a hushed voice, "I don't know what's wrong with these people. It was bound to happen, eventually. Now they know what to do next time." She paused, "They're treating him like a leper, but he's just a little boy. If his parents are gone, Jer's all he has left."

"I think the stress of today, and seeing his sister like that, got to him," Ryan said. "In his state of mind, he won't be of any use to Carter right now."

"What's going on?" Todd asked and Ryan jumped.

Melissa glanced up at him with a grave look. "Carter was the one who opened the door." A boy of no more than five peeked around her side; she rested a hand on his head. "The kids were playing hide and seek in the staff area; he thought he was checking a room, when it was really the rear entrance. It doesn't matter that his mom died saving him, these people just want him gone. I think that, even if Parker came back, the group would ask them to leave."

Todd glanced around, searching for Ezra. "Where's your dad?"

Melissa bit her lip and her eyes filled with tears; she slowly shook her head. "We couldn't move fast enough and no one would help me. When he fell, they were too close and I couldn't get him back to his feet."

Todd scowled, tossing the radio to Ryan, "Let me grab my stuff and then we're out of here. Radio Misty and tell her to meet us at the door in five."

The survivors said nothing when Melissa led Carter to the stairs. They averted their eyes as Todd made his way through the stacks to his corner.
Thank God I kept my stuff up here,
he thought, collecting his things. A moan drifted up from the lower level, quickly followed by a shotgun blast - the survivors remained silent. When he neared the door, the hushed whispers finally began behind him. "I hope you all rot in hell," he said, flipping them off over his shoulder.

The clang of the door closing behind him, echoed loudly in the stairwell. Tall-man looked up and said, "You didn't answer Pete's question about the meds."

"You guys aren't getting shit." Todd growled, taking the steps two at a time. Just as he reached the bottom, Misty honked from outside. Ryan hurried Carter and Melissa out, while Todd faced-off with Shotgun. "You going to shoot me and try taking what we scavenged today?" Shotgun gave Todd a once over then shook his head.