Dead Life (Book 2) (3 page)

              “Hold it right there big boy.  I thought we decided nobody was going anywhere alone.”

              I liked the sound of this.  I did an about face and followed her into the ladies restroom.  We got undressed and got our towels wet.  I started washing myself.

              “You're kind of dense, aren't you?”  Gina asked with a shake of her head.

              She took my towel from me and began washing my body.  Of course, I was aroused.  Thankfully, Gina gave my penis the special attention it needed.  After all the extra-curricular activities that night, I was a little proud of myself.  Normally, I'd require a bit more turn around time.  Now it was my turn to bathe Gina.  I was a breast man so I lingered up top a little more than necessary.  It may be bragging, but by the time I was done her breasts were squeaky clean.  I finished bathing Gina and wanted to make sure I'd been as thorough as she'd been with me.  So, I gave her the taste test.  As always, Gina was as sweet as honey.  I'd done a magnificent job.

              “We really need to get up on the roof.”  I said.

              “We're not doing a very good job of our turn at watch, are we?”

              “No, but the store is locked up tight and Al said things were pretty quiet outside.  So we should be okay.”

              It was just starting to get light outside by the time we made it up to the roof.  We walked around the perimeter and saw there weren't any zombies anywhere but out in front of the store.  We talked about that for a while and we agreed they must have some residual memory of their previous lives.  They'd never had any reason to go around to the back of the store before so why would they now.  The one Al shot back there last night had followed them to the back.  It made sense but was kind of creepy.  We wondered what else they remembered from before they were dead.

              There were about twenty new zombies out front.  The ones that Al had run over but hadn't killed were still crawling around.  All together there were about thirty-five or forty of them.  Gina wanted to shoot them but the noise would just bring more and that was the last thing we needed.  About that time, two National Guard trucks pulled up.  They parked across the street, nose to nose, blocking off all four lanes of traffic.  Both trucks emptied and there were twenty soldiers between the two of them.  They opened fire on the zombies out in front of the store and had killed them all within a few minutes. 

              “Well, I guess that settles that.  We won't be shooting any zombies today.”  Gina said, sounding disappointed.

              “I wouldn't count on that.  Those idiots just made a hell of a lot of noise.  Have you noticed how quiet things have been since we've been up here?”

              “You're right.  It has been quiet.  Other than the occasional moan from our friends down there.”

              “From what Tim told me and from what we've seen, this infection spreads fast.  I won't be surprised to see this area crawling with zombies real soon.”

              The roof hatch opened and Al came up to join us.

              “What the hell was all that?”  Al asked.

              “Look for yourself.  The National Guard just showed up.  They blocked the road and just got done killing all the zombies in sight.”  I said.

              “Well, ain't that special.  Steve, Gina, we either need to get down from here or get out of sight.  I don't want those good time Charlies spotting us.  They'll probably come tear the doors down to get to us.”

              Gina and I had brought a blanket up with us so we all laid down on it and watched the show.  There was a lot of excitement below.  The Guard was celebrating their victory.  There were lots of high fives and hooting and hollering.  Al had his scope on them and was watching their leader.  He was on the radio excitedly speaking with someone.

              “We got problems.”

              “Why Al?  What's wrong?”

              It was Cindy.  She'd followed Al up and was standing behind us.

              “Honey, you need to get down here with us.  We're trying to stay out of sight.  My scopes on fourteen magnification and I can't read lips but I can tell some of what that one fella's saying.  It looks like they're coming in the store.   

Chapter 6

              Four guardsmen headed for the front doors.  I was sure they didn't know we were here and wanted to get to the doors before they decided to break-in.

              “I'm going to go let them in.  You stay up here.  All of you need to keep out of sight.  If they make me leave or take me out of here, head for Boonville.  I'll meet you there.  Al, you have the keys for both vehicles so leave one or take both.  I'll get there one way or the other.”

              “Are you sure that's how you want to handle it?”  Al asked.

              “Yeah, I work here.  They shouldn't arrest me or anything.  There's a key to the store in the service center.  It fits all the doors.  I got to hurry.  Gina, I love you.  Stay with Al.  Take care of him.” 

              There it was.  I had said it.  With that, I kissed her and crawled to the roof hatch.  I ran to the front and was there by the time they got to the doors.  When they saw me, two of them pointed their guns at me.  I held my hands up over my head.  The keys to the store were in my right hand and I pointed at them then to the door.  One nodded his head and I let them in.

              “What the hell are you doing in here?”

              “I work here.  I'm the night manager.  I was trapped here when all hell broke loose.”

              “We were told there would be two security guards here and possibly the night manager...a female.”

              “Well, whoever told you that was wrong.  If you care to look, my picture's on the wall in the service center.  I am the night manager and as far as the security guards are concerned, they said the hell with this and left around 1:00 AM.”

              We walked over to the service center and I showed them my picture.  When they saw it, they relaxed a little.

              “You can put your hands down.  Sorry, but there's a lot of looting going on and it seems like everybody's got a gun now.  We can't be too careful.”

              I'd left my guns on the roof so I assumed I didn't represent a danger to them.  It was time to find out what was going to happen to me.

              “So, what can I do for you?”

              “We're supposed to clear the store.  Anybody in here is going to be taken to the Rec Plex.  They've started a refugee center there.  Larry, you take him out.  The rest of us will clear the store.”

              “Can't I just stay here?  I live close by and I'd feel safer here than at the Rec Plex.  Besides, I'm supposed to stay here until my relief comes in later today.”

              “As far as you're concerned, your relief is here.  Larry, take him out.”

              If they found the bodies in back, I was dead.  They'd probably shoot me.  At the very least they would arrest me and I'd never get to Boonville.

              “I can't let you guys wander around in here by yourselves.  I'm responsible for this store.  My boss would fire me.”

              “Mister, your boss is most likely already dead.  I haven't got time for this.  Larry, take him.  If he won't go, shoot him.”

              “Come on buddy.  Let's go.”

              Shit, I was done for.  Larry and I headed to the doors.  When we got there, everything changed. 

              “Sarge, you better come take a look at this.”

              Coming down the street towards the Guard's blockade was a solid wall of zombies.  There had to be at least a thousand of them.  The other three soldiers ran to the doors and looked out.

              “We gotta get out there.  Mister, you stay here.  We'll be back in a few minutes.”

              I thought to myself 'There's too many of them.'  If they went out there, they wouldn't be coming back.  The four of them ran out of the store to join their company.  I locked the doors behind them and ran back to the roof.  What I saw when I got there was carnage.

              The only thing that slowed the horde down at all was the zombies falling over the ones that were gunned down in front of them.  One would fall down and the zombies behind them would stumble over their bodies.  Then they'd get back up and keep advancing.  Twenty men just weren't enough against a thousand zombies.  By the time they overran the guardsmen, it wouldn't have mattered anyway.  Zombies were coming from all directions.  When it was all over with, several thousand were outside the store.  It was worse than the two policemen the night before.  There was nothing but shredded uniforms and bones left.  All this happened in less than ten minutes.

              We didn't just sit and watch this happen.  When the guardsmen opened fire so did we.  It just didn't make a difference.  When it became apparent we couldn't help them Al had us stop shooting.  It was a waste of ammunition and we didn't want the zombies to know we were in the store.  Al was afraid that many trying to get in would eventually break out the glass windows.  When it was over, the horde moved on.  Only a few dozen stayed behind.

              “We can't go out there.  Can't we stay here?”  Cindy sobbed.  “We should have stayed in your bomb shelter.”

              “Now honey, we talked about that.  There ain't nobody going to come rescue us.  We'd have been stuck down there.  You saw all those bastards wandering around the neighborhood.  We barely made it out of there.”

              “It was safe there.  It's not safe here.  Eventually, they'll find us.”

              “We're not staying here.  Once we get away from the city, we'll be fine.”

              “You don't know that.”

              With that, Cindy went back down the hatch.

              “You know, Al, she's right.”  Gina said.  “The thing Cindy doesn't understand is that nobody is ever going to be safe again.”

              “You're right sweetheart.”  Al said.  “I'm hungry.  You think we could get a barbeque pit up here?”

Chapter 7

              The smell hit me when I got to the bottom of the stairs.  The dead bodies had to go.  Al helped me drag them to an exit door in the back.  I wanted to throw them down the trash chute but Al didn't think that would help the smell much.  I slowly opened the door and looked out.  It wasn't exactly in the back of the store but more to the side.  The door was out of sight from the front of the store so the zombies wouldn't be able to see us.  Al made me take the arms and he took the feet.  He stopped when he saw the little girl.  Al gave me a disgusted glare, bent down, and carefully picked up the child in his arms.  He said I'd used 'too much gun' and hoped 'I'd learned my lesson.'  He turned away from me but not before I saw a tear run down his cheek. 

             
When we finished with that, we went looking for the girls.  They were just outside the back room talking.  As we approached, I heard something down one of the aisles.  I stopped while Al kept walking towards the girls.  What was that sound?  Then I heard something fall off a shelf.  The girls stopped talking and Al turned and looked at me.  I pulled my gun out and quietly approached the sound of shuffling.  When I rounded the corner, there was Donna.  She was the Service Center Manager.  We just looked at each other for a minute.  Blood was running down her chin and her clothes were shredded in places.  That wasn't like her at all.  Donna had always made sure she looked impeccable.  But now, she didn't look so good.  In fact, something was off. Oh yeah, there was the problem.  Right in the center of her chest was a gaping hole.  Now I knew who's heart that little girl was holding.  The whole thing was a damn shame.  Donna was the only one in the store who ever gave a damn about my work issues.  I took aim, said, “Hi Donna.  I don't know if you can understand me but I'm really sorry about this.”  And then I heard the shot that took her down.  I pivoted back and Al was standing behind me.

              “Sorry, man.  It just seemed like it would be better coming from me.”

              I couldn't respond.  I hated all this shit.  After we got rid of the body, we walked back towards the girls.  Gina had gotten Cindy calmed down some and they were making plans to raid the pharmacy.  Al had a private talk with Cindy and we headed up to go break into the pharmacy.

              “What was that all about?”  I heard Gina ask Cindy.

              “Al wants to make sure I get plenty of Viagra.” Cindy grinned.

              “Just in case you may need some, Steve.”  Al joked.

              “Don't look at me old man.  I'm firing on all cylinders.”

              “Well, a little help never hurt anybody.”

              I didn't have a key for the pharmacy so we were going to just break in.  It didn't take long to pry the door open.  When it popped open, the alarm went off.  It wasn't loud but it was aggravating so I pulled the wires and it shut off.

              “I wonder if there's anybody left to alert the police.”  I said.