Dead Life (Book 2) (2 page)

Chapter 3

              As Cindy climbed down from the cab of the U-Haul, I intentionally kept my eyes on Al.  The last thing I needed was for Gina to see me admiring Cindy's long tan legs.  You could see Al's eyes light up as his attention went from those long legs to her slim waist.  From there, his gaze shifted to her firm breasts.  Cindy was wearing a white V-neck tee shirt and as always, no bra.  The material on her tee shirt was thin enough that you see her perky pink nipples.  So maybe I wasn't able to keep my eyes on Al the entire time. 

              Gina moved closer to me and put an arm around my waist.  I wasn't sure if she was marking her territory or if she was trying to distract my attention from Cindy.

              “Shouldn't we get back inside?”  She suggested.  “We're drawing a crowd.”

              More zombies were filtering into the lot.  Any activity seemed to draw them like moths to a flame.

              “Before we go in, we need to move our vehicles.”  Al said.  “Is there a loading dock door we can use around back?  We're going to need to get into the truck.  I'd like to load more supplies in it.”

              “What about the Hummer?  Should I bring it up here by the doors?”

              “No, the governor has declared marshal law.  We wouldn't want to draw any unwanted attention.  We could end up being mistaken for looters and get ourselves shot.  The National Guard has been deployed.  We'll have to move it around back too.”

              “I can't open the doors in back from the outside.  Gina, can you open up for us?”

              “Sure, just show me which key to use and tell me what doors you want opened.”

              “Steve, maybe you should open the doors.  Gina, can you drive the Hummer?”  Al asked.

              “Whatever you need me to do.”  Gina confidently said.

              “I don't want her out there.  The zombies are almost to the Hummer now.”  I angrily told Al.

              “I can take care of myself.”  Gina responded as she held up her gun and started for the Hummer.

              I just shook my head.  “You'll need these.”  I handed Al the keys for the Hummer.  “Come on Cindy, let's go to the back and open up.”

              Al handed me a walkie talkie.  “Keep this turned on.  I'll talk to you when we get to the back.”

              Cindy and I went back inside the store and locked the doors.  We stayed up front and watched Al and Gina make their way to the Hummer.  Gina was telling the truth when she said she could take care of herself.  By the time they got there, the zombies were almost on them.  Gina took up a firing stance and opened fire.  She took out four zombies in quick succession.  At the same time, Al shot five zombies, opened the door to the Hummer, handed Gina the keys, and shot two more.  Gina got in and they exchanged a few words before Al turned around and ran back to the U-Haul.  He got in, fired it up, and they both headed for the back.  While they were doing all this, Cindy and I properly introduced ourselves.

              “Hi, Steve, Al told me all about you.  I'm your neighbor, Cindy.”

              “Yeah, I've seen you around the neighborhood.”

              “I've seen you too.  You live across the street from Al.  How is it we've never met before?”

              What was I supposed to say?  I was too busy watching you cut your grass in your bikini?  Fortunately, that was when Gina got in the Hummer.

              “We need to head to the back.  Follow me.”

              I ran to the back and Cindy followed me.

              “You have a nice ass.”

              That stopped me.  “Look, Cindy, I care about Gina.”

              “I know.  Al told me.  But I have seen you watching me cut my grass.  Turn about is fair play, you know.”

              “Yeah, I'm sorry.”  I chuckled.

              “You don't need to be sorry.  I just wanted to embarrass you.  We better keep going.”

              When we got to the back, I unlocked the overhead door and showed Cindy how to open it.  Then I went and waited by the entry door.  I heard a few gunshots and my walkie talkie crackled to life. 

              “All clear.  Open up.”

              I opened the door and stepped out with my gun drawn.  The U-Haul was backed into the bay door and the Hummer was parked in front of it facing the truck.  The two drivers' doors were on the same side.  It would be possible to go from the truck to the Hummer with limited exposure.  Al was standing next to the Hummer.  There was a dead zombie about five feet away from him.  Gina got out and they ran in.

              That's when Cindy opened the door and screamed.  There was a zombie pinned between the truck and the dock.  Even though it was nearly split in two, it was trying to grab Cindy.  Al stepped up and shot it in the head.

              “Sorry, babe.  I thought I had just backed over him.  I didn't know he was trapped back there.”

              Cindy hugged Al and sobbed.  “Goddamn it Al.  You know I'm no good with this shit.”  

              He pulled back and kissed her.  “Don't worry, babe.  I'll take care of you.”

              Al looked at me with a big shit eating grin on his face.  It was obvious they were better acquainted than I'd originally thought.

Chapter 4

              Al wanted to do some “shopping” while we were here.  We could always use more water and canned goods.  He also wanted to raid the pharmacy.  We had a first-aid kit but now that we had Cindy with us, Al thought we should load up on medical supplies.  Cindy was a registered nurse and she worked with a surgical unit.  Our medical capabilities had just expanded.

              We unloaded what we thought we'd need for the next night and got ready to settle in.  There was a television in the conference room that was used for training videos.  There was no antennae but we had that covered.  I'd brought along a digital antennae and we hooked it up so we could see if there was anything on the news.  We all picked out something to eat from the frozen department and settled in to watch a little TV.  It felt almost like a normal evening at home with friends.

              Three of the major networks were still broadcasting.  They were all basically running the same stories over and over.  The National Guard had been mobilized.  There was a curfew in place.  Anyone out past dark was subject to arrest and all looters were to be shot on sight.  It was a good thing we had decided to stay for the night.  There was no way we'd have been able to make it out of the city tonight.  We all decided to put on the Meyer's uniform shirts in case the Guard decided they were coming into the store.

              The local news affiliates didn't have much live footage to show.  I was assuming they either couldn't find any film crews willing to go out and get killed or that the government still wasn't allowing much information to leak out.  The national news was about the same as the local.  They were advising people to stay in their homes and wait for assistance.  We were also being told not to go to the local hospitals.  In most areas, the outbreaks were getting started at local medical facilities.  It was lucky for Cindy that her shift had ended just as the first bite victims had begun coming in.

              We watched for about an hour and when the stories started repeating themselves, we decided it was time to get some rest.  The store seemed to be fairly secure.  There was no way to open any of the doors from outside and the front entry doors would only open with a key.  Al volunteered himself and Cindy to take the first watch.  We weren't worried about any zombies getting in the store.  The windows in the front of the store were about an inch thick and set in steel frames.  It was the National Guard that worried me.  If they decided they were coming in we'd need to be ready to move.  At the moment, they were more dangerous than the zombies.

              There were some air mattresses in the seasonal section so Gina and I got two foot pumps, two mattresses, and some sleeping bags from the truck.  Then we headed for the conference room.

              While we were pumping up the mattresses, Gina and I talked about where we would go from here.  I told her about the place my dad used to take me hunting and my plans to head out to Callaway County to try and find it.  She liked the idea but there was something else she had in mind.

              “My dad owns a hotel in Booneville and I'd like to stop there and make sure he's okay.”

              “Yeah, we can do that.  We're not planning on being able to go straight down Highway 70 to get there but going through Boonville shouldn't be a problem.  We'll talk to Al in the morning.”

              “Is it up to Al?  Because if he says no...”

              “Settle down.  No, it's not up to Al.  It's not even up to me.  It's the right thing to do so we'll do it.  We'll try calling your dad in the morning.”

              “I'm sorry.  I just want to make sure they're okay and see if they want to come with us.”

              “You mean your mom and dad?”

              “NO, I guess you could call her my step-mother.  Dad got married to Kym last year.  Mom died about five years ago and a few years later, Dad moved out to Boonville and bought a hotel with his new girlfriend.  It's right off the highway so it should be easy to get to.”

              “Alright, then that's where we'll head first.  Let's get some sleep.  Al's going to come wake us up in a few hours.”

              We lay down on our mattresses and looked at each other.  “Gina, I just want you to know we're going to get out of here and to your dad's.  We'll find a safe place to wait this out.”

              “I don't like it when you call me Gina.  I like it better when you cal me honey.”

              She got into her sleeping bag and pulled back the flap, inviting me over.  I got in and she attacked me.  Her hands hungrily raked over every inch of my body.  We couldn't get close enough to each other.  I kissed her like I hadn't kissed her in years.  She pushed me onto my back and jumped on top.  She pounded on my chest and I grabbed her ass.  It didn't take long for both of us to reach satisfaction.  She wasn't done with me yet.  She flipped on her side in front of me.  I turned and slammed my midsection into her body from behind.  Gina's whole body trembled as she climaxed again. It was a while before we fell asleep with me holding her body tight against mine.

              When Al came to wake us for our turn to watch, we were still in the same sleeping bag.  Unfortunately, we'd burst both air mattresses.

Chapter 5

              Gina and I decided we were going to do our turn at watch from the roof.  Things had calmed down while we were sleeping.  There were only a few zombies roaming around outside and there weren't as many cars going by the front of the store.  Gina brought my Bushmaster .223 along and I chose the Mossberg .22 long rifle.  If we did have to start shooting from the roof, we didn't want to make a lot of noise.  The high powered rifles would draw in too many zombies and we still didn't want to have to deal with the National Guard.  Al's opinion of the Guard wasn't a favorable one.  He said they were “a bunch of trigger happy weekend warriors” and would “shoot the first one that came within a hundred yards of him.”  I didn't feel that strongly about it.  I just didn't want to get shot.

              Before going up to the roof, Gina wanted to clean up.  I'd packed two bags for her out of the gear I bought on-line.  We kept changes of clothes in each vehicle.  If something happened to the truck or the U-Haul, we'd be able to carry on with one or the other.  Even though the truck carried most of our supplies, the Hummer had enough gear on board to get us through.  Guns, ammunition, food, water, and everything else was divided between the two.  There was even a generator on each of the vehicles.  The gas generator was in the back of the Hummer.  That was because the spare gas tanks were on top of it.  The propane generator with all our propane tanks were in the truck.

              We got in the back of the truck and got our bags.  Al and I were going to have to get those bodies out of the back room if we were going to be here very long.  It was starting to smell pretty bad.  And since it reeked of rotting zombie in the back room, we decided to wash up in the bathrooms up front.  We got some dish towels off the shelf and headed for a sink.  Gina started into the ladies room and I went for the men's room.