A moan drew my eyes to a middle-aged man lying over a bonnet on my right. He stretched his arms out to us, his mouth stretched wide over pale gums. I flinched involuntarily before I realised that he could not reach us. His lower half had been severed.
Moaning. All around us, as Mike weaved between vehicles, heads appeared. "Mike!"
"I see them."
From the houses lining the street, zombies lumbered out. My heart started racing. Things were getting a bit hairy for my liking.
A hand lunged out of a car window as we passed by. I screamed as it brushed my arm, causing Mike to swerve. As he straightened the bike, I looked back at the car. Through the window, a child, still strapped in its seat, stared at me. Four or five years old, its blank, implacable eyes gazed out of a face still plump and innocent. From the front seat, its mother thrashed in her seat, unable to work out how to release herself from her prison.
Finally, we were through the maze and Mike opened the throttle again, sending the bike surging forward. He roared out onto the open highway again, swerving adroitly between the dozen or so zombies dotting the road.
14
I breathed a sigh of relief. In the silence of the suburbs, the bike was attracting a lot more attention than was comfortable. More and more zombies lined the road as we passed, like a bizarre ticker tape parade. They fell in behind us, slowly building a horde in our wake. I hoped that didn't spell trouble for us on the way back.
The shopping centre loomed ahead. Mike brought the bike to a stop beside an open field that separated the road from the shopping centre. At my inquiring look, he jerked his head to the zombies behind us. "A quieter approach might be in order."
I agreed, throwing a nervous glance at the distant zombie pack as I climbed off the bike. Mike removed his backpack and rearranged his weapons. Along with his rifle slung over his shoulder, he had a cleaver strapped between his shoulder blades, a bat in his backpack, and a stiletto knife tucked in his belt. I felt suddenly naked in comparison, with just my parang and pistol tucked in my waistband.
We marched through the long grass, heading for the back of the shopping center. A quick glance behind me showed that our zombie fans were still following us. It would take at least fifteen minutes for them to reach the centre. Plenty of time for us to get in and out, I thought without conviction.
We decided on entering via the side entrance. Mike grabbed the door handle and quietly pulled it open. The silence emanating from the building was oppressive. The corridor ahead was dark, but the lights in the supermarket up ahead were on. Taking a deep breath, I slipped past Mike. Up ahead, the shops were grouped around an open area. The pharmacy was on the left while the supermarket lay on the right. Straight across were some small shops and the toilet.
As we reached the end of the corridor, I paused. Blood splattered the smooth, creamy floors of the open area, from one end to the other. I could see the legs of a body lying behind a bench. A zombie wandered into view. It was a woman, long dark hair, wearing a uniform. I restrained a gasp as she turned sideways, exposing her torso. The flesh had been removed, exposing her ribs. Another zombie staggered out of the post office. Her face had been ripped off, causing her to bang into a bin and, hands forward, feel her way past. Mike tapped my shoulder and pointed at the supermarket. Through the gloom, at least thirty shoppers and workers milled around the shop. And those were just the ones I could see.
There was nothing for it but to make a dash for it. I waited until the zombie in the middle was walking in the opposite direction and then slipped quickly into the nearby pharmacy, heading straight for the counter. Hunkering down behind it, I took a moment to catch my breath and allow my heartbeat to slow, watching Mike as he joined me.
Kneeling, Mike carefully peered over the counter top. He held up four fingers. Four zombies in the shop. Sliding past him, I scurried towards the prescriptions counter. I would find the supplies I needed in the shelves behind it. As I reached the end of the counter, I peered cautiously around the edge - and found myself staring into the dead eyes of a zombie. It moaned and grabbed at me. Squeaking in surprise, I jerked backwards. The zombie, once an obese middle-aged woman, placed its arms on the floor and dragged its torso closer to me. The lower part of her body had been devoured, I realised with revulsion. It ended just below her pelvis, nothing but naked bone and shredded flesh. Pale blue eyes fixed on me, she slid even closer. Wishing I'd brought my stake, I pulled out my parang but Mike slipped past me, grabbed her by the hair and drove the stiletto knife through her eye. Instantly, her body stilled.
Catching his eye, I gave a shaky nod of appreciation. Returning my parang to my belt, I followed him up two steps and into the back of the pharmacy. Shelves of medication lined the walls. Trying to stay low, I started poring through the supplies, looking for the broad-spectrum antibiotics I needed. Mike disappeared, scouting out the rest of the room, I presumed. The antibiotics weren't hard to find, thankfully. Removing my backpack, I started filling it, first with a good supply of antibiotics and, then with a few other essentials that might come in handy if this quarantine lasted much longer, like Jessie's asthma medication.
There was a muffled thud at the back of the room. Hoping it was Mike, I replaced my backpack and moved silently forward. I rounded the centre shelves and saw Mike standing over a body wearing a white coat. Blood dripped from the stiletto in Mike's hand. Looking up, he directed a querying look at me. I nodded.
Got everything. We can go now.
I guess we weren't as quiet as we'd hoped. Two zombies blocked the opening to the back room. A young dark-haired woman called Mandy, according to her nametag, dragged her battered body toward me. Just behind her, an older woman reached out her one remaining arm for Mike. By mutual agreement, we pulled out our hatchets and stepped forward. My heart hammered as I swung my parang at Mandy's neck. It sliced three quarters of the way through her neck, causing her head to loll grotesquely on her shoulder. Still, her arms groped for me. Revolted, I stood on tiptoes and, swinging my hatchet overhead like an axe, I finished lopping her head off. It hit the tiled floor with a thud that rang in my ears.
Turning to Mike, I saw he had already dispatched the other zombie. Cool and composed, he wiped clean his cleaver and jerked his smooth head at the opening.
Let's go.
No arguments there. We hurried out of the compounding room onto the sales floor. Two more of the creatures were waiting for us. I evaded one easily but in its eagerness to grab me, it knocked a stand down. The reverberating crash as the stand hit the tiled floor made me cringe.
Oh, that was not good.
I sent an apologetic look to Mike. He shrugged fatalistically and moved to the entrance of the pharmacy. The central area of the shopping centre was quickly filling with zombies. To get to the side exit again, we would have to fight our way through a dozen zombies, with more pouring out of the supermarket by the second.
I looked to Mike for a cue as to what we should do next. "Let's try the other entrance." He murmured. We turned and headed to the opening on the other side of the pharmacy, again dodging the two sluggish zombies. But pouring through the other opening were more zombies.
Oh shit.
Turning around, I saw the other entrance was now blocked with zombies. Heart racing, I looked at Mike. He shrugged and grinned crookedly. "Nothing for it, Lori."
With a war cry that came from the gut, he charged forward and, wielding the cleaver like a sword, hacked left and right ferociously. Heads rolled as he fought with the smoothness and grace of a samurai warrior. I could only spare a second to admire his style before I had to swing into action.
Swallowing the panic I felt, I swung my parang and severed two hands blocking the path before me. Stepping to the side, I sheared off the head of a child before leaping over the small body as he collapsed at my feet. With a hard kick, I shoved a woman in my path backwards as I buried my parang into the neck of a teenaged boy. As I pulled the hatchet free, two hands latched onto my neck. With a cry of terror, I twisted around and found myself looking into the young face of a young woman. I knocked her hands away and kicked her in the stomach, trying to create some space. Over her head, I saw the centre was now full of zombies, all heading for us. If I didn't get out in the next few minutes, it was all over.
Swapping my parang into my left hand, I tugged out the gun with trembling hands and placed it against the girl's head as she rushed at me again. I pulled the trigger, splattering her brains across the blank faces of the zombies behind her. Turning, I shot at the heads closest to me.
Bang, bang, bang
. At this distance, style and technique didn't matter so much. Ahead of me, Mike sliced another creature down and, breathing heavily, turned to smile at me. The way to the sliding doors at the entrance to the shopping centre was clear.
We raced towards the sliding doors with zombies pouring out of doors on either side of us. I didn't have to look behind to know we had a significant number of zombies on our tail as well. Gasping for breath, I fought to keep pace with Mike's long legs. We burst through the sliding doors into the car park. Throughout the car park, zombies turned to face us.
"Around the side." Mike breathed, grabbing my arm. I staggered briefly as he pulled me into a run. On my right, a crowd of zombies was forming as they filed between the vehicles in the car park. Suddenly, Mike veered as a dead man stumbled out of a video store we were passing. I glimpsed several more figures behind him. Rounding the corner, we stopped dead. The zombie horde from the suburbs filled the grassland between the motorcycle and us. We were trapped between
two
hordes.
Dropping my hand, Mike swung his rifle before him. I clutched my pistol tightly. "What's the plan?" I asked, my voice trembling as I fought to control my panic. Mike coolly calculated the distance between us and the approaching zombies in the field.
"We cut diagonally across the field. We might just be able to outrun them. Keep your gun handy."
I nodded, tucking the knife in my belt. Mike set off at a fast clip across the field. As I followed, the left end of the horde immediately swung around towards us.
Shit, they're going to cut us off before we get to the road.
Halfway across the field, the farthest end of the horde, a dozen or so zombies, intercepted us. Mike swung his rifle up and starting shooting on the run. A zombie lurched backwards as a bullet slammed into his chest. Mike aimed again and took off the top of his head. I stopped briefly to take aim at a girl six feet away. She looked at me blankly as I pointed my weapon at her face and blew it off.
Taking off at a run again, I evaded an elderly woman and then shot at an old man in my path, missing completely. He opened his mouth wide as he lumbered at me. I ran up to him, planting my gun in his mouth, and pressed the trigger. As he collapsed at my feet, I leapt over his body and blasted a hole in the chest of a young girl who appeared on my left. She staggered back and then limped forward again. Leaving her behind, I chased after Mike as he blasted a path through the field. Despairingly, I saw the space between the road and us was filling with zombies.
Suddenly, from behind us on our left, came the guttural sound of a heavy-duty engine. To my incredulous delight, an army vehicle roared across the field toward us. Mike drew me close as the squat vehicle rumbled past us with about a foot to spare. Coming to a stop between us and the horde, a soldier in a turret laid into the zombies with a machine gun and a cry of enthusiasm.
"Take that, you bastards!"
A door opened and a figure wearing camouflage gear waved at us. "Get in! Run, run!" I ran. I clambered into the vehicle, heart pounding, followed by Mike. As the door slammed shut, the vehicle charged forward, ploughing through the zombie horde.
15
"Yeehah!" I heard the soldier above yelling as he drilled the bodies around him with his machine gun.
"Thank you!" I gasped gratefully to the man across from me. The soldier, a handsome asian youth, grinned at me.
"No probs, ma'am. You looked like you were having a spot of trouble."
I snorted weakly. "That seems to be a permanent state of affairs at the moment..."
The soldier from the turret clambered back down. Bright orange hair poking out from under his helmet, he looked all of twenty.
"That's a few less dmw's to worry about!" He boasted.
"Dmws?" I questioned. The soldiers exchanged a grin.
"That would be 'dead men walking', ma'am. Our little nickname for the fu...suckers."
"Ahh." I restrained the urge to roll my eyes at nickname. "Please stop calling ma'am. You're making me feel like a school principal! My name is Lori Nelson."
I gestured at Mike who was watching their antics with a bland expression. "This strong silent type here is Mike Bridges."
"Private Jensen, ma'...Lori." The asian lad shook my hand and then Mike's. "The 'ranga is Boyd and the two up front are Doyle and Harris." Doyle and Harris gave a polite wave in response, remaining focused ahead.
"I tell ya, it's good to find some survivors at last. I was worried we were going to have to return to base and report to the Captain that the patrol was another bust!"