Outbreak The Beginning (The Outbreak Series Book 1) (12 page)

Chapter 21

“Roger that,” Sal says and steps on the gas.

Looking out the window I see a lot of the houses here are burnt down. Some are still smoldering.

Sal grabs my arm! “Egypt look.”

I look to where he’s pointing and zombies are everywhere, just walking around. Some are eating stuff on the ground. Some are pounding on doors and windows trying to get into the homes. It makes you wonder if anyone’s in those homes.

“Well as long as they’re not a threat to us I think we need to save our ammo, let’s get these runs done so that we can get home where it’s safe,” I say.

“I agree but I won’t let anything happen to you Egypt.”

He reaches over and laces our hands together. Looking down at them I can think of other places those hands can roam. Shaking my head, I leave our hands like that 

“I know you wouldn’t Sal.” Rolling my eyes! “But I can take care of myself,” I say.

“Didn’t say you couldn’t Egypt,” he says grinning.

Sal is slowing down I look up we are in the center of town. It looks like a bomb went off. Everything is ruined. The zombies are everywhere!

“Shit make a left here!! It’s so thick with them. What are we going to?” ….. I don’t get to finish talking. One of those things rams into the truck!! The truck jolts to the left.

Screaming I jump back, knocking in to Sal. Shit I made him swerve. He keeps it on the road.

The walkie goes off! “Plow through them don’t stop for anything!” Hanks yells.

Sal steps on the gas and we lurch forward.

Shit this is going to suck! One after the other we run them down. The truck is bouncing up and down. They are so thick that they are pressing up against the windows. The truck starts swaying side to side.

“Fuck this!” Sal yells and guns it.

It’s almost like hitting a brick wall. After about 10 min’s of this we finally break through the mass of zombies. Sal slows to a stop a few hundred yards away. We both turn to look at what we just went through and wait to see the others come through it.

“Shit sorry about that if I hadn’t gunned it they would have tipped the truck,” Sal says.

“All good!” I say.

We see the other trucks coming through like we had to do. Once we are all clear we head on to our first stop.

Looking over at McDonalds, I say laughing, “Hey Sal, I want a McD’s sweet tea.” 

“What do I get if I get you one Egypt?” Sal asks grinning.

“What do you want?” I ask. Boy that sure could get me into trouble!!

“A kiss?” Sal says all serious looking.

“That all huh?” I ask laughing.

All of a sudden he swerves into the parking lot and before I can say anything he jumps out of the truck and goes into McDonalds.

“SAL!!!” I scream. I can’t believe the ass really went in there.

Hank gets on the walkie. “Stay where you are Egypt, Mack’s going in after him. What is he doing anyway?”

“Oh you know getting me a sweet tea. Hank I tell ya I was only joking, when I said I wanted one.”

“No you weren’t. Egypt, I know how you are with them things. Stay in the truck! Your mom would kill me if you get hurt.”

“Hank I’ve said this before….” I don’t get to finish.

“You don’t have to tell me again. Just please stay in the truck,” he says.

Watching the doors I see Mack and a grinning Sal running out. Sal has two teas in his hands and boy Mack looks pissed!!! Sal hops into the truck and slams the door!! I try not to laugh my ass off.

Looking over at me I must be a sight. I know my mouth is hanging open. Slapping him on the arm I say, “Damn it you jackass!! Why did you go and do that shit? You could have been killed. Or worse turned and then I would have had to shoot your sexy as hell ass clean off!!” 

“Awww really you care, see you like me. Ha I knew it!!” Sal says ginning.

Smacking him again I turn and look out the window. I see Pete laughing his head off!! Oh he’s a weenie too!! I think to myself.

“Egypt look at me!” Sal says.

Looking at him he’s still grinning.

“Here’s your sweet tea with ice!!!!!”

He hands me the tea and looks out the window. Holding it in my hand, I can’t believe he did that. Blushing I look over at him still grinning.

“Oh by the way, I can wait for the kiss until tonight,” he says.

Well I have to admit this tea is worth a kiss. And if I’m honest with myself I’m looking forward to tonight.

He starts the truck and pulls out of McDonalds.

I put the straw in and take a sip. Omg, groaning this is so good!!

Looking over at Sal he’s laughing now.

“What did I say?” I ask.

“You really like your sweet teas don’t you?” 

“Yes I do!! I used to go every day to get one. I have been three days without one,” I say smiling.

“Well I think that will be the last one from there, sorry,” he says. 

We’re quiet for a little bit when he asks, “Where do I need to go?”

“Keep going straight it will be on the right in a couple miles,” I say. We pass the hospital and it’s horrible, there’s windows missing, people are sprawled all over the ground and the smell. Oh my- gosh!! The smell. I put my hand over my nose and mouth sitting back. I try and hold back the bile that is rising in my throat.

“Egypt! Breathe through your mouth! It won’t be so bad,” Sal says. 

I do that and it is better. Looking out the window we pass the hospital and all those poor, poor people. What they must have gone through thinking they we’re going there to get help instead of walking into all the death and the zombies. I see little kids walking around aimlessly. How scared it must have been for them.   

“Sal it’s going to be. On the right,” I say.

“Ok Egypt,” Sal says.

We see the sign for Walmart and pull into the parking lot. We’re all driving slowly looking at the building. They have boards covering the main doors and it looks untouched.

“Why don’t we go to the garage door bays? There we could back in and shut the doors. And lock them, it might be a bit safer that way,” I say.

Sal gets on the walkie and tells the others the plan and we turn around in the parking lot and head over there. There’s not that many cars, a few here and there. There’s food on the ground in some places. There’s overturned carts. They sure left in a hurry. We pull up to the bay doors and Pete, Mack and Liam get out.

I go to open the door and Sal stops me.

“Egypt let him do this without his mom looking over his shoulder! Pete and Mack will watch out for him, I promise,” Sal says.

“Ok I’m going to watch from here.” Opening the door I get out and head to the back of the truck. I climb up in the bed of the truck and keep watch. I look over to the gas station, then over to the donut store. They are all empty. Looking out further, I glance at the plaza. It looks like a ghost town. I don’t see anyone so I look over at the bays. The guys have gone in and I can’t see them.  Sal gets out of the truck and walks over to me.

“It’s too quiet around here,” he says.

“Yeah I was thinking the same thing. But it might not necessarily be a bad thing. We will just have to really keep watch.”

Sal comes closer and checks my shoulder. Feeling his hands makes me shiver.

“It’s been bleeding a bit but with the dressing I got on it, it won’t get infected,” he says.

“Well that’s good! It’s really just a scratch …..”

“You’re right but we can’t let it get infected, Egypt with how things are now. We might not be able to fight infection. So no chances.”

He runs his hand down my back and it makes me shiver. He walks a few feet away from me. At least now I can think. Hank comes walking over.

“Quiet here huh,” Hank says.

“Yep sure is! Sal and I was just talking about that. What do you think?”

“Well it would be nice if we didn’t have any more trouble. But that might be wishing for too much,” Hank says.

Liam and the guys come out. “It’s clear get ready to back the trucks in,” Liam says.

Mack is inside and the bay doors start to open. Liam jumps in one of the trucks and starts to back it in. Hank and Sal do the same.

I slowly walk behind the trucks and get inside the bays as the doors start to close. Walking to the side of the trucks, I grab what I will be taking with me inside.

Chapter 22

“Ok guys everyone know where ya going and what you’re getting?” I ask.

“Yes Liam and I will be at the camping and ammo section. Liam tells me it’s to the left as we go in,” Hank says.

“Yes it is. It’s the closest to where we’re at now. Pete will be up front to the left of the front doors. Mack will be the furthest all the way on the other side. Sal and I will be towards the middle. Keep your walkies on. And keep in touch with each other,” I say. “Let’s get this done, it should only take a few hours.”

“Oh and stay armed at all times. Anyone comes at you shoot! Don’t take any chances,” I tell them. “Be careful.”

Everyone starts going to where they need to go. I watch Hank, Liam and Pete all head away from us.

Looking at the guys I say, “Ok guys let’s get to this.”

Sal is pushing four carts at once and I draw my gun. Walking with it in my hand makes me feel better. The guys talk amongst themselves, I just listen. It seems like they have known each other a long time. All of a sudden my walkie goes off, it’s Pete.

“It looks all clear up this way for what I can see I’m hitting the pharmacy first. You guys may hear some banging they locked it up when they left,” Pete says.

“OK Roger that,” I say.

We get to the baby stuff and Sal gives me a cart. “You hit the small stuff Egypt, I’ll get the crib and bigger things,” he says.

Nodding I take my cart and start grabbing all the clothes I can find -- blankets, clothes, little socks and shoes. I grab the clothes in different sizes too. I go up to about four years old. Looking at the cart it’s almost full. I head to the bottles and things and start putting them in the cart along with baby shampoos and stuff like that.

Looking around I’ve never been in here when it’s so dark. There’s no lights on but I guess you really don’t need them the skylights do really well. It’s still kind of gloomy inside. I can hear Sal a few aisles from me and that’s comforting.

Heading to the next aisle. Ah good here’s the diapers and wipes. I put a few boxes on the bottom and fill the cart with baby wipes until the stuff is almost falling out. Well time to get another cart. I push my way out of the aisle and park the cart by the one’s Sal got us and grab another one and head back to the diaper aisle. Grabbing them off the shelves I add them to my cart. I can only fit about 10 boxes. We are going to have to come back to this, that’s for sure. I grab some of the little stuff like nail clippers and baby medicine. Stopping I look at my cart. It’s full, I push it to the center aisle and leave it there and go find Sal.

Walking a few aisles down I see him putting a crib in the cart. Looking up at me he smiles.

“OK I think we need to go to the truck and load it up and then come back,” he says.

Smiling back at him I say, “OK let’s hit it.”

He pulls the cart to where we have the rest of them and starts pushing the other one and I do the same. It’s really harder than it looks. Not so much pulling but pushing with one hand. The cart wants to go everywhere. Mine runs into his. Damn this is really like how I drive!!

Laughing I say, “Sorry about that Sal.”

Chuckling, he just shakes his head.

So many times I’ve walked through Walmart going the same way past the office supplies then the movies and TVs. We are coming up on home improvements. Walking into the Lube shop I stop my train of carts and go to the register.

“What are you going to check out there Egypt?” Sal asks laughing.

Looking at him and smiling I say, “NO you big goof!!” I grab some bags for the smaller stuff.

We get to our truck and Sal puts the tailgate down and jumps up. “Hey start handing me stuff and I will load.”

“Ok!!” I walk over and start to pick up the crib. It’s heavy that’s for sure. Looking at Sal I see he’s grinning again. I get the crib to the lip of the tailgate and push with everything that I have. He takes it from there and puts it towards the front of the truck. I snatch the other things he’s grabbed. Two play pens, a bouncer, swing and highchair. He’s really thought of it all. Pete comes around the corner with two carts, bringing them like we did.

“Hey Pete, how’s it going?” I ask.

“The pharmacy hasn’t been touched. I got all of what we needed and then some. I just came to load this up and then going back for first aid. Uh can you come over when you’re done with your list and get girly things? I have no clue what you guys want.”

“Oh now that’s funny Pete you’re blushing all kinds of shades of red. Really??? Not too hard to figure it out.” Laughing so hard I can hardly talk. “OK, OK.” I take a deep breath. “I’ll be over to do that for you.” Still laughing I start filling the bags with the stuff that we got. I tie them so the stuff doesn’t fall out and throw them to Sal. Finishing both my carts and his we have the truck a third filled up.

Looking over at Sal I ask, “Hey you want a drink?” Walking to the truck door I open it and grab two drinks. I hand him one and hop up to sit next to him. I look around swinging my feet back and forth. From the corner of my eye I can see him looking at me. 

“Like what you see?” I ask.

Grinning, he chuckles. “Yeah I do! Just thinking about that kiss later, I think you owe me two.”

“How so?” I ask.

“Well one for the tea and the other for the ice. You see the ice was an added bonus,” he says.

“You’ve got to be kidding me? That’s so not right,” I say chuckling.

“Well it’s fair! Are you not going to pay up there, Egypt?”

“No, no I pay all my debts. This is no different.” Looking at him I know that he’s serious. “I’ll pay up and can’t say that I won’t enjoy it.” Shit I can’t believe that I just said that. Looking over at Sal I think he just choked on his pop. Laughing I take another drink of mine.

“Ok, let’s get a move on!” he says. 

Walking over to the carts I ram them together and turn them to leave the work bay. He does the same. Walking back into Walmart I see Hank and Liam heading to the trucks to load up. Waving I keep on going. They look like their finding what they need. Man it’s hot in here, I take my hair and put it up in a messy bun. That will work, at least it’s off my neck.

As we’re walking back to the baby aisle we see Mack coming down the main aisle. Slowing down I stop and wait for him.

“Hey how’s it going on your side?” I ask.

“It’s like no one’s been in here. Like it was forgotten,” he says.

“I wonder how long that will last. Maybe with it being boarded up people are just hitting the ones that are easier to get into.”

“Maybe or there’s just not that many people left,” he says.

He gives me a long look like he wants to say something but he starts walking away so I jog to catch up with Sal.

We hit the baby section again, this time he’s getting all the diapers he can and I’m going to the other side for the formula. Case after case I put it in the cart. After ten of them I move to the baby food and start bagging it in the bags. After about twelve bags I push the cart to the main aisle and grab the other one and back to the same aisle I go. I strip the formula off the shelves. Again doing the same thing I grab the baby food. Well both carts are filled to the brim so I push it to the main aisle and go look for Sal. He’s full too.

“Hey, on the way back I want to stop by the dog food. We can put them on the bottom at least eight bags I say and about a dozen cases of wet food.”

We start back and leave the carts in the main aisle and grab eight bags of kibbles n bits. That took us four trips. On the 5
th
one we start to get the cans, at least they are in boxes of twelve. Loaded up we head back to load the truck, this time it took a lot longer. My carts are heavy to push. We finally get back to the truck and I have to sit down.

Wiping the back of my hand across my forehead I have worked up a sweat. Go figure and we’re in the air conditioning. Sal keeps moving though. He starts packing the truck starting with the dog food. Shit I’m going to have to start helping, not fair him doing it alone. Standing up I walk over to the cart with the formula and start stacking it on the tailgate after about thirty of them God awful things I start on the next cart, three down one more to go. This has all the bagged stuff.

Getting it all up on the truck I grab my drink and sit down. I’m just not as young as I used to be. I can feel my muscles starting to get sore and stiff. Moving my shoulder around. Man!! Now that’s really stiff! It’s going to be hurting tonight. Sal jumps down and sits by me.

“Egypt, how’s the shoulder doing?” he gently touches my shoulder. The look on his face is priceless.

“Well it’s not perfect. It hurts a bit but I have been using it a lot. Ya know?”

“Well it doesn’t look too bad. Later I will clean it up and change the bandages,” he says.

“Well ok so glad you’re not going to put the old ones back on,” I say grinning.

“Tsk, Tsk, Egypt mouthy little thing aren’t ya.”

“Nope just calling it as I see it.” Smiling I get up and stretch. “Well we better get moving … more stores to hit today ya know?”

“Yeah, let’s hit the dog food aisle one more time and then head up for the girly things,” he says.

“Wow you guys are grown men and can’t call the stuff by their names.” Laughing I grab my carts and head back into Walmart. I’m really going to miss this place. Because others will start coming here and looting just like we are. At some point there won’t be anything left or anything worth looting. As we get to the dog food aisle I pull the carts apart and start putting the can food in. Filling up the first cart I push that to the main aisle. Looking around I see Mack coming down the aisle with his carts full of drinks. You name it, it’s in it. Waving I head back to what I was doing. After I fill up all my carts I head back to the trucks, Sal is still back there filling his. Getting to the truck I throw on the first bag of food.

“How’s it going with your list, Egypt?” Mack says.

“Well it’s a lot harder than I thought, no real way to make it go faster,” I say.

“Yeah all the stuff over there is still there. We may have to hit this again just for the food stuff. A lot of it won’t go bad, for a while,” he says.

“Dunno what we need to do really. When everyone gets back here, we should all talk about it. And see what everyone decides,” I say.

He walks over and picks the bags up two at a time so I start bagging the cans and tossing them up there. I’m glad for the help, those bags are getting heavy.

“Thanks for helping, Mack. I know you have a lot to do yourself.”

“No problem Egypt.” Grinning, he comes over to me and flicks my hair that has fallen out of the holder.

Smiling up at him I see something in his eyes for a second and then it is gone.

“Hey Mack what’s up?” Sal says walking to the trucks.

“Oh you know just helping your partner because you’re a slow ass,” Mack says.