Sometimes We Ran (Book 2): Community (14 page)

I remembered Bobby. The Red-Eyes had taken care of him. They couldn’t contact Wallace without a radio, so he couldn’t call reinforcements. “Yeah. I remember Bobby. Too bad about him, huh?”

A little anger flashed in Greg’s eyes. “Yeah, well us three were keeping an eye on you guys from Cannon Fields. Just a little recon. All of a sudden, Wallace comes on the radio yelling about this tall dude and his little girlfriend escaping, and how he can’t trust anybody anymore. Man, he was tearing it up. He was just about ready to rain all kinds of hell on your little refuge in Cannon Fields. We saw you leave in that white car, and Bobby starts yelling. He caught a glimpse of you in the car. He starts yelling, ‘Hey! That’s the guy!’ So we started following you as close as we could. We lost you a few times, but we caught up to you here at this here mall for your little lunch break. I was spying through binoculars, and holy crap, it was you.”

These idiots saw everything. They saw the battle versus the guys in the white truck. They saw us get swarmed near the clinic.

They watched as Jenny died. They did nothing as she turned.

My hands turned into fists as I imagined kicking both of these guys asses down the road, but I forced myself to remain calm. “Look, I’ve got an injured man, and a little kid. I’ll go with you, but you have to let them go.”

Greg thought for a minute, then said, “We don’t have to do nothing. First, we’re going inside your little hidey-hole here to get a little fuel for our jeep.” He stepped closer and put the barrel of the rifle to my head. “Then, maybe I’ll shoot your friends, knock you out, and take you back to Wallace on a silver platter. I think we only have enough room for your tall ass anyway.” He looked me up and down with disgust.

I caught some movement in the wrecked cars and the broken stores. The Red-Eyes had arrived.

“I don’t think so, Greg. With all your damn shooting and window breaking, the zombies are here.” He stepped back and started to scan the parking lot. His partner in crime, Rick, did the same. “I’m getting to know how they think,” I said, taking a step back towards Safety One. “They’re getting smarter every day. They hang out where humans hide, and wait for them to do something stupid. Like, I don’t know, shoot out store windows. You drew them right to us. They’re probably all around us right now.” I took another giant step backward, toward the ice cream parlor.

A Red-Eye zombie streaked out of one of the stores and grabbed Rick. He never fired a shot. He disappeared into a ex-shoe store without even having time to scream. The only thing that remained of Rick were his oversized boots still in the parking lot where he had been standing just a moment before. The Red-Eye had snatched him out of his shoes.

Greg started firing wildly into the stores and cars. That was it for me. I turned and ran as fast as my forty-one-year-old legs could carry me back to the ice cream parlor. I was near the broken window when Greg turned and sprayed a volley of bullets in my direction. I turned, drew my gun, and returned fire. With all the running and noise, we both missed. I watched in horror as three Red-Eyes - a small, blond female, a larger male with half his face torn off, and a larger male with a tattered policeman’s uniform - popped up and zeroed in on Greg. I turned and flew into the store as the first shots of Greg’s rifle began to echo off the walls.

I stumbled into Safety One out of breath. Ben was in a defensive position by the window. He ran over to prevent me from falling. “Behind the counter,” I gasped. “Now.”

We all got behind the stainless steel counter. It wasn’t much in the way of cover, but it was all we had. Ben peeked over the top, and I crouched and looked around the end. Ben put the doctor, who was cradling Amy, between us. We held our breath as we waited for someone or something to come through the broken storefront window. It turned out to be a couple of somethings.

It was the trio of deadheads from the parking lot. The two smaller Red-Eyes bounded into the ice cream parlor with their noses in the air, trying to catch a scent. The big ex-policeman hung back, watching the scene. After a few minutes of sniffing, the blond female and the small male looked back at their large companion. He waved his hand to direct them into the store to take a closer look.
He was the leader.
I was dumbfounded. The zombies really were getting smarter. The two young ones cautiously walked into Safety One, sniffing the air as they walked. The leader stayed outside, letting his subordinates do the dangerous work. They came in deeper, looking, sniffing, and cocking their heads to hear any sounds. The female turned over a table, and it made a scraping noise against the dirty floor. As they came closer, the overwhelming stench of death washed over me.

Don’t make a noise.
I glanced at Ben and the doctor. They were frozen in fear. The doctor was holding Amy in her arms, but I could see her big, five-year-old eyes. They were watery.
Just stay quiet, Amy. Maybe they’ll go away.
I stared at Amy, and tried to will her to be quiet. She was holding her own, but she was beginning to cry.
Don’t cry Amy. Please don’t cry. They’ll hear us.

The two Red-Eyes turned and began to walk outside. I was still staring at Amy, begging her silently not to cry. She was holding out as long as she could, but I could see the fear overcoming her. I turned my attention to the retreating zombies. They were almost out the window.

Amy had held out as long as she could. I heard a small whimper as she started to cry.

The zombies’ heads snapped around as they heard the pitiful sound. They crouched down, began the attack, and Ben and I came up shooting. Ben got the male as he tried to cross the room. He went down in a heap. The female was a little more trouble. She leaped up on a nearby table and tried to attack from above. I caught her in the neck as she jumped. I fired again, silencing her for good.

Ben and I reloaded and went after the leader. I was burning with anger, and I believe Ben was as well. The leader was standing, looking for a place to run as we stepped outside. At first, the big ex-cop was going to fight, but decided he was outnumbered and turned to run. He didn’t get far. I shot him in the back, but it barely slowed him down.

Ben and I didn’t let up. We ran over and cut off his escape. The pitiful creature stopped running and began to circle. He alternated between me and Ben, hissing and growling. The monster waved his arms, as he tried to scare us off.

We surrounded the zombie and began to tighten the circle. It had no escape. It turned to me with its burning-red eyes. It decided to fight. The Red-Eye opened its mouth and let out a bellowing growl that echoed off the walls of the mall, followed by a hiss that sounded like a hundred angry cats.

Then, the monster lowered his head and began to attack. I was his target.

I raised my gun. “You want me? Come on, you ugly bastard,” I taunted the wounded beast.

The former cop ran at me at full speed. Foam and blood dripped from his gray face as he picked up the pace. When he got in range, I pulled the trigger. The zombie’s neck exploded, and he went down hard on the asphalt of the parking lot. His body skidded to a stop at my feet. I stepped up to deliver the final shot and send him to hell. Ben stepped aside to watch, in silent contemplation.

I looked the monster in the face. Blood and gore was splattered on his face and chest. He wheezed, and his sinister red eyes fluttered as he hovered between being undead and really dead. I raised my gun and put his forehead in the sights. I had one more shot to make, and it was meant for his brain. I waited for my breathing to return to normal, and my hand to stop shaking before I fired. The zombie’s face softened. It became human, almost sad and apologetic. He started to raise his hand to shield his face. This time, I didn’t hesitate. I pulled the trigger, and shot him in the head.

Dead. Like all the others I’ve killed before.

I walked over to the never-ending rows of dead cars and minivans. “You Red-Eyes have managed to take everything from me,” I said in a loud voice as I walked down the rows of silent automobiles. “You took my wife, my job, my friends, my world.” I turned and started walking back to the Red-Eye corpse lying in a pile on the ground. “But you haven’t taken me. You hear me? You’ve haven’t taken me. I refuse to give in to you.” I paused to listen. “Do any of you dead bastards hear me?”

Silence. The only sound was the early spring breeze blowing through the overgrown landscape of the mall parking lot.

“Movement in front of you,” Ben said, pointing to someone crawling out from behind a light blue pickup truck. It was Greg, one of Wallace’s goons. He got to his feet and tried to limp away. I guess he had hurt himself, and he had misplaced his rifle.

Good. He’d be easier to catch.

Greg saw me coming and tried to break into a run. He wasn’t fast enough, though, and I took him by the collar. He struggled a bit, and grabbed my arm to try and break my grip on his shirt.

“Where do you think you’re going?” I asked. I began to drag him to Safety One.

Ben watched in horror as I passed. “Easy, John.”

“Quiet, Ben. I got this.”

I crossed the parking lot with Greg in tow. When I got to the window, I threw him inside. “John,” Doctor Connelly started to protest. “What are you going to do?”

I put up a hand to silence the doctor. She shielded Amy from what I might do to Greg. He crawled up and propped himself up on the counter. Greg wanted to stand and face me. “So what are you going to do, shoot me? I was just following orders.” Despite the injury to his leg, he chest-bumped me. I answered by slamming the butt of my gun into his nose. Both Ben and the doctor jumped in surprise. I felt the bone give a little, and blood spurted out onto his face. He collapsed to the ground.

Greg was lying on the ground, whimpering in pain and anger. I crouched down and grabbed his hair. I forced him to look at Doctor Connelly and Amy. “I just wanted you to see what you were shooting at: a doctor and a damn five-year-old girl.” He tried to look away, but I forced him to see them. “Do you see them? I released his hair.

Greg started to laugh. “It doesn’t matter, anyway. By now, Wallace is probably parked right outside Cannon Fields, carving up your little friends behind the gates. While you and I have been screwing around here, he’s been burning down your houses and taking your stuff.” He continued to laugh as blood ran out of his nose.

My anger doubled. Claire, Denise, and all the rest of the good people of Cannon Fields were in danger from Wallace and goons like Greg. I closed my eyes. They could all be dead by now. We’d find their bodies neatly laid out in rows while the houses burned in the background.

Enough was enough.

“Get up,” I said. Greg struggled to his feet. The blood was really flowing now. He gave me a crooked smile.

I stood there with my gun at my side, finger off the trigger. Even I didn’t know what to do with him. I saw Ben start to move in, but he stopped. “So what are you going to do, old man? Shoot me? Will that make you feel better? You don’t have the balls to kill me face-to-face.”

I wanted to shoot him. I wanted to kill him for letting Jenny die. I wanted to kill him for drawing the Red-Eyes to Safety One, and shooting at an innocent little girl. I wanted to kill him for putting Cannon Fields in danger. It might solve one problem, but I wouldn’t feel better. It never made me feel better.

“Are you afraid?” I asked.

He looked at me, puzzled. “I ain’t afraid of shit…of anything or anybody.”

I put the gun to his head. I heard Ben and the doctor pull in their breath. “Are you afraid now?” I pressed the gun harder into his head. “You’re a waste of human life. It wouldn’t even cause me to lose any sleep.”

“Okay…Okay. You want me to admit it? I’m afraid. I don’t want to die…okay? You got me to admit it. You happy now?” He waved his arm at Ben. “You…call him off.”

“I can’t stop him. Maybe you do deserve to die,” Ben said.

“C’mon, man,” Greg protested, but it fell on deaf ears. “Screw you then. Screw you. I hope you all rot in Hell.”

“John. Please…”

It was the doctor. Amy was standing at her side, staring at me with her big brown eyes full of fear.

I shook my head to clear my mind, and calm down. Ben’s recent speech about keeping your humanity in all this mess rang in my ears. It was getting harder every day, especially with idiots like Wallace and his neighborhood goons. I didn’t want to lose it today. Not to this creep at the end of my gun. Not in front of a frightened little girl in an ex-ice cream parlor outfitted as a shelter.

Amy had seen enough monsters today already.

I pulled the gun off his head. Greg laughed again. “I knew it. You survivors are all the same. Never can pull the trigger.” He shook his head in disgust.

I ignored him. “You know how Red-Eyes hunt, Greg?”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“They hunt by smell.” I took my finger, and smeared the blood from Greg’s nose onto his face until he looked like a Native American in war paint. “They can home in on body odor, but what really drives them crazy is blood. Like sharks, they zero in on the smell. They love it. It’s like a drug to them” I looked him up and down. “They’re going to love you. The Red-Eyes are going to smell the blood on you, hunt you down, then tear you apart. There’s not even going to be enough of you left to turn.” Greg’s face went white, and he tried to wipe off his blood.

I pushed him into the center of the store. “I’m going to start counting, and you’re going to hit the road. If you’re still in range when I reach ten, I will shoot you.”

“You got to be kidding.” Greg turned to Ben. “The old man is kidding, right?”

Ben shook his head. “Doesn’t look like he’s kidding to me. And he ain’t no old man.”

I started to count. “One…two…”

Greg backed up towards the window. “Come on, man. This is nuts. This is nuts, right? I can’t go out there bleeding like this.”

“Three…four…five…”

Greg turned and bolted out of the broken window. With his injured leg, he wasn’t very fast. Adrenaline, the look in my eye, or pure pants-wetting fear made him move into the parking lot.