Don't Dare Call Them Zombies : Books 1-4 (6 page)

I only had four cartridges in the revolver. I would need
to make the most of them.

In the distance I saw Mr. Humphries, the gunman, and another customer using the large, brown dumpster as cover. They were not noticed by the freaks who were gathered near the front of the store.

Moon and I ran quietly to the dumpster and joined them.

“This should work,” Moon told Mr. Humphries. “Just flip this switch, right here, when
you’re ready to turn it on. The volume control is here, on the side.”

I counted over a dozen freaks in the parking lot.

“Don’t forget there are probably at least a couple dozen more near the front entrance of the store.” I said. “Whoever makes the run to the coach needs to hurry. They won’t have much time.”

“What are you going to do?” the gunman asked me.

“I’m using your gun to help distract them,” I said.

“Here, take these.
They’re the last I have.” He handed me three more cartridges for the revolver.

I completely loaded the revolver and put the single, spare cartridge in my left pocket.

“Is everyone ready inside?” Mr. Humphries asked.

“Those who are leaving are. A few of us are going to stay and go up on the roof if the freaks manage to break inside.” I said.

“That’s stupid, Hank,” he said. “We all have to get out of here!”

“Where do you think
you’ll find a safer location?” I asked him.

“Don’t you realize that the whole city, the whole freaking world, is like this? This infection is everywhere, and you have no guarantee of finding any place safer than this store,” I reminded him.

“We’re going to have to take our chances,” he replied.

“Are we going to do this or not?” Moon asked. “We need to get started!”

“Okay,” said Mr. Humphries, “Let’s go.”

Mr. Humphries and I rushed out of the cover of the dumpster and into the woods. My heart raced as thorns and branches sc
ratched my exposed arms. The ground was still soggy from the torrential rains we had only days before this nightmare began; in places my feet were ankle deep in mud.

I tried to keep a careful eye for any freaks wandering the woods, but the moonless night m
ade it almost impossible. At any moment one of them could lunge out of the darkness without us having a moment’s warning.

“I don’t want to be in the woods when we turn it on,” I whispered to Mr. Humphries. “It is just too dangerous. We cannot move fast th
rough all of the branches and brush, and it’s too dark to see if one of those freaks is about to jump out at us. I don’t want to be crawling through here with a dozen freaks after me.”

“Where are you going to be then?” he asked.

“When you turn on the music I’ll go out into the open and try to attract some attention. I’ll try and get to my truck and then follow the coach to the back of the store.”

“You can do what you want, but I’m not going to expose myself to those freaks. These woods may be thick, but
they also provide cover,” Mr. Humphries said.

I made my way to the edge of the woods. I could no longer see Mr. Humphries behind me, but I could see the freaks walking about the parking lot. It was also clear that they had begun to break lose some of the
boards that secured the front of the store. It would only be a matter of time until they were inside.

Suddenly, Christmas music started to echo through the night air. I was expecting maybe some country music or rock and roll, but not Frosty the Snowman.

I rushed out of the woods.

“Over here you
freaks!” I screamed.

I waved my arms wildly to get their attention. Almost immediately, dozens of undead zombies were coming my way. Thankfully, they were only able to walk, not run.

At least they were slow zombies; I always hated the fast ones I had seen in movies where almost everyone died. I was determined to live.

I saw a path to my truck which was mostly free of the freaks, and I took off running at high speed, adrenalin filling my body. About halfway to my
vehicle I encountered a female freak. The sight of her menacing, snarling face brought me to a dead stop.

Although it was possible I could have run around her, I needed to make some more noise, so I pointed the revolver at her head and fired.

The sound of the blast rang in my ears. I should have gotten some earplugs off the shelf, but I hadn’t thought of that. With my hearing now temporarily impaired, I glanced down at the corpse. The bullet had literally almost blown her head apart. A large chunk of her forehead was now missing, as brain matter was sprayed on the ground behind her.

I made it to my truck with only moments to spare. As I fumbled with my keys, another freak approached. I once again pointed to revolver at its head and fired. My f
irst shot missed, so I re-aimed and fired again.

In an instant, I saw the tall freak fall backwards onto the pavement. I managed to unlock the door to my truck and jump inside, slamming the door shut. While locking the door, I realized that more freaks we
re approaching the vehicle. In a way this was a good thing, because it was, hopefully, providing a distraction for Moon and the other man, and I didn’t want to get completely surrounded by a mob of them.

Ms. Patty’s pale grey minivan was blocking my view;
it was time that I started up my vehicle and tried to back up. By this time there were freaks pressing their faces against the driver and passenger side windows. As I put the vehicle in reverse and backed up, their hands and faces left streaks of blood on the glass.

I suddenly felt a bump, and realized I had probably run over one of them. I continued to back up as fast as I could and I steered the vehicle so I could get a better view of the store.

Facing the front of the store with my view partially blocked by the hands of freaks, I could see even more of the undead coming my way. Every freak that had been trying to break into the store was now heading in my direction. I hit the gas and the truck quickly flew backwards. Upon the back of my truck reaching the road I hit the brakes and stopped.

I flicked my headlights on and I could see a herd of the freaks approaching me. In the distance I could see Moon climbing into the passenger seat of the coach. It was a large vehicle that was used by a local company t
o transport people back and forth from Sandy Hills to neighboring towns. The fat lady had probably been correct. If they could get the coach to the emergency exit, the large vehicle should be able to hold everyone.

There was no traffic in the road behind
me, so I decided to back up further. I was careful not to impact the few empty vehicles that now littered the road. I put the vehicle in drive and allowed the herd of freaks to follow me.

I only had to maintain a speed of about five or six miles per hour
to stay ahead of them. They were slow but also persistent. At some point I would have to lose them and get back to the store.

After driving for only a minute or two, I reached a curve in the road. I accelerated and traveled far enough around the curve to
be out of the view of the herd. Immediately, I turned the vehicle around and stopped on the edge of the road.

I had two choices about what to do next.

My first option would be to wait, with my lights off, for them to come around the curve. If I was very quiet and hid from view, they might keep walking past me. I could then attempt to drive quickly to the store. If I kept my headlights off and got there fast enough, maybe most of them wouldn’t return to the parking lot, at least not immediately.

My second
option would be to turn my headlights back on, turn my stereo up all the way, and use my truck as bait. Hopefully, they would be attracted to the sound, the light from the headlights might temporarily blind a few of them, and I could slip away back to the store on foot.

By going back to the store on foot I would probably attract fewer of them, but it would be more dangerous.

I didn’t have long to make up my mind.

Chapter 5

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the one additional cartridge I had, and
loaded it into the cylinder of the revolver. Four rounds were not a lot, but they would have to be enough. I couldn’t see very far into the distance, but I didn’t need light to tell that the freaks were approaching.

Very faintly, I could hear their foots
teps, moans, and snarls as they were probably making their way around the curve. Before long they would be able to see the vehicle.

I gathered up all my willpower and turned on the radio. By doing so I had made my decision; I would make my way back to the
grocery store on foot. A loud voice rang out of the speakers urging everyone to stay inside and to avoid contact with the infected. I quickly turned on the headlights, opened my door, grabbed my keys from the ignition, and then raced towards the other side of the street. I kneeled down behind a large tree and watched to see how the freaks would react to the bait I had left for them.

Like a charm, my idea had worked. The freaks were fascinated with my truck. They were surrounding it and trying to get insid
e.

I carefully and quickly walked down the side of the road, near the edge of the woods, until I came to the gas station. The freaks that had been lurking near the gas pumps were now gone; every one of them within earshot of my truck’s radio was heading t
owards it.

Things were going exactly as I had hoped. In fact, I would now be able to safely make it to the barbershop to see if Jennifer was still there. I hoped
she’d be willing to go to the grocery store with me.

I carefully walked towards the back
of the barbershop. I would have to risk making a little noise to see if she was inside.

“Are you in there Jennifer?” I spoke quietly as I stood at the backdoor. “It’s me, Hank. Are you in there?”

I had stepped back to consider my opinions when suddenly the curtain in a nearby window shifted to the side. A moment later the door cracked open.

“Get inside, now!” she whispered sharply, with a fearful voice.

I stepped inside into the darkness of the barbershop. The scent of cigarette smoke filled the room. She gave me a quick embrace and led me to an isolated corner of the small building.

“Do you mind?” she asked, as she held up a cigarette.

“No, I don’t mind, but we don’t need to make any light.” I responded.

She put down the cigarette. Her dark brown eyes looked deeply into mine.

“Are you okay?” I asked. “Have you been bitten?”

“No, I’m okay.” she responded. “Well, as okay as anyone can be since the gates of hell have opened.”

I explained the situation to her as quickly as possible, and explained how we needed to hurry and make it to the grocery store. Unfortunately, she didn’t want to take the risk of going outside. We argued for a moment, and I became frustrated with her.

“Look,” I said. “Most of
the freaks are distracted by my vehicle. We can make it safely across the road if we’re careful.”

While trying to convince her that we
wouldn’t end up dead or infected by attempting to reach grocery store, I realized that if I didn’t show back up soon that Ms. Suzy and Katie may flee with everyone else. If that happened, there may be no one to hold open the emergency exit door. Or worse, if they had left it propped open, freaks may have been able to get inside.

“Well, I’m going now. Right now!” I said.
“Are you coming or not?”

“Please just stay here, it’s safer!” she pleaded.

I pulled out my revolver and told her, “I have this, and I’m going to the store, now.”

I was walking to the door when she stated, “Alright, I’ll go with you.”

She grabbed her pocketbook and pulled out the largest pair of metal scissors I had ever seen.

“I’m ready if you are,” she said.

 
Chapter 5

Peering from behind Jennifer’s station wagon, we could see that a few freaks remained in the grocery store parking lot. The radio in
my truck was still blaring, which had lured most of them away.

“Why don’t we just get in my wagon and drive to the store?” she asked.

It was a good question. By driving the wagon we would have some protection. However, it would also make noise that could attract more freaks. The majority of them were infatuated with my truck that sat only a few hundred yards away, and I wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible.

“No, we better go on foot. We don’t want to attract them,” I answered.

The coast seemed clear so we darted across the deserted road. As we made it to the parking lot, a couple of the remaining freaks started to walk toward us. Jennifer gasped at the sight of them, and clung tightly to my side as we both broke into a run.

“Head to the side
of the store,” I urged.