The Dark Trinity (Book 1): Shuffle (22 page)

CHAPTER 30 
  GESUNDHEIT

Pete leaned against the wall behind the checkout counter and
observed the motley crew of survivors. Bill assumed his usual position, hunched
over the counter immersed in whatever graphic novel he happened to be
infatuated with at the time. He looked at the nine new additions to their
little family at the good old sin shop.

When the group arrived at the store, they caused quite a
ruckus, but luckily, there hadn’t been any of those creatures in the area. All
eight of the survivors on the bus had piled into the bookstore en mass,
followed by Sam and his neighbor Evelyn, who was pretty damn hot in Pete’s
opinion. Upon their arrival, one of the bus riders, a huge, hulk of a man stayed
by the door and kept watch for any zombies that may have heard them arrive.

Once the adrenaline began to wane, the group settled into an
uneasy stupor. Most of them just sat on the floor, still weirded-out by the
myriad of adult entertainment that permeated throughout their new stronghold.
Others paced between the aisles, wondering what their next move would be.

Sam walked in from the back room and addressed the group,
finally breaking the awkward silence that hung in the air. “Alright everybody,
let’s get to know each other a little bit, since it looks like we’re going to
be together for quite a while.”

People turned to pay attention to Sam, who had now moved from
behind the counter to better engage his new friends. “My name’s Sam everyone
and yes, I own this establishment and no, I’m not some kind of pervert. This
shop was started by my brother Byron way back in the mid-70s. He was a paranoid
asshole who whole-heartedly believed that the world was gonna end. Lucky for
us, he stockpiled the basement with food and ammo. When that old bastard died
five years ago, he left this shithole to me in his will. To be honest, the only
reason I keep the place open is because there are a lot of horned-up, kinky
assholes in this town and I end up making a shit-ton of money, so here we are.”

After a brief pause, he continued on. “I just figured we
could go around and introduce ourselves. You know, just like in school.”

A rather portly man stepped from behind an end-cap display of
anal beads and introduced himself. “My name is Carlos Moreno. I’m a chemical
biologist at Bayer Corporation. I guess you can say I’m the group’s spokesman.”

“Thank you Mr. Moreno, it’s a pleasure,” Sam replied.

Carlos had broken the ice, as people started to follow his
lead, stating their name and occupation. Pete took notes as everyone took turns
with the pleasantries. He had watched enough movies to know that the more you
know and understand the people you’re surrounded by during these types of
situations, the longer you can live. He took out a notebook and scribbled down
every word.  Later, he even added some personal observations about
everyone. When the feel-good, get to know you session ended, Sam suggested that
they take stock of their weapons, ammunition, and supplies.

Pete looked down at his notebook and reflected on his
sociological observations of the group, more than impressed with his level of
detail and cognizance.

He admired the beginnings of his dossiers and rolled his
notebook up and shoved it in his back jeans pocket. He then picked up a box of
ammunition and carried it over to the end of the counter. He was excited to tell
Sam about his observations.

Sam and Evelyn stood at the far side of the front counter,
calculating their food and supply rations. She had been crying, her tears
eroding clean streaks of skin through the dirt and grime on her face. Sam knew that
she worried about this Nathan fellow and it was hard to watch her be so upset.
He decided to give her a job to do to keep her from dwelling on the real
possibility that her man was dead.

Convinced that she was focused on her new role, Sam walked
over to the large Bengali who Pete had dubbed “Chatty”, which, to Sam’s
amusement, was pretty funny. This guy hadn’t said so much as a syllable the
entire time they’ve been here.

“How we lookin out there, Chatty?” Sam asked as he peeked out
between the blinds that covered the door window. “You don’t mind if I call you
Chatty do ya? It’s a bit easier to pronounce.”

The large man looked at Sam with a raised eyebrow. Sam
couldn’t tell if it was a look of annoyance or amusement. Chatty gave a slight
nod and then his expression became grim and pointed out the window. Following
Chatty’s finger, Sam saw what had gotten the large man’s attention.

Although the bus obstructed the majority of their view to the
parking lot, they were able to see a good part to the right of the bus. A small
group of zombies were making their way through the lot. They turned their heads
and looked about as they went. They were looking for something, or someone. Sam
closed the blinds the rest of the way. “Stay here and keep an eye on ‘em. Let
me know if they start taking an interest in us.” he whispered to Chatty, who
nodded in acknowledgement.

Sam made his way to the back of the store, went behind the
counter and hit one of the light switches on the wall. All the lights on the
door-side of the shop turned off, while the other half of the store remained
lit. Everyone in the group tensed up and looked around to see what was going
on.

“Sorry folks, not trying to cause a panic, but we’ve got a
few creepers outside and it looks like they’re looking for us,” Sam said in a
hushed voice. “I’ve got Chatty keeping an eye on them, so if they start poking
around, we’ll know.”

It took the group a moment to realize that Sam was referring
to Suresh. His new nickname evoked some giggles from a few younger members of
the clan.

Shawn stood up and fed shells into his shotgun. “How many of
them exactly are out there?” he asked.

“We counted five that we could see, but the bus blocks a
large chunk of our view, so there may be more out there that we can’t see,” Sam
replied. “I don’t think you should go out there, son. They haven’t spotted us
yet and if you go out there shooting, you’ll likely be ringing a dinner bell
for others that may be in the area.”

Shawn stood there with his usual scowl. “Then I’ll just have
to do it real quiet like,” he replied.

He walked over to the merchandise counter towards the back of
the store which was serving as their weapons cache. After perusing the various
items that Sam had managed to grab from the sporting goods store, he picked up
a large crossbow and about a half dozen bolts. Pulling the tension wire back,
he locked a bolt in place and began to walk towards the rear entrance.

Evelyn intercepted him before he could make it to the door.
“Shawn, hold on a sec. You can’t just go out there and take them out with a
crossbow,” she said with authority.

“And why the hell not?” he asked.

“How fast do you think you can reload that thing? Assuming
that you’re a good enough shot and can hit the first one in the head, the
others will know you’re there and they’ll no doubt call for reinforcements. Not
to mention, they'd outnumber and get you before you could ever hope to get
another shot off.”

Shawn glared at her, knowing that she was right, although he
hated to admit it. Glancing around the room, he saw the concerned and somewhat
angry faces glaring back at him. “Okay lady, do you have a better idea?” he
asked her through clenched teeth.

She looked around at the group, who now looked back at her
with an expectant hopefulness. Great, she hadn’t had a better idea in mind when
she stopped this lunatic from going out there with guns blazing, but now it
seemed that she was their battle strategist. She searched her mental Rolodex of
research that she performed on her many novels and hoped that the scenario she
pulled out would suffice for a game plan.

“Well, we need to kill them at the same time and we need to
do it without drawing more of them to us. Sam, do we have any more of those
crossbows?”

“I think we have one more that we could use from my brother’s
stash,” he replied.

She nodded. “That’s okay, two is much better than one. We’re
going to need to use the buddy system on this if we’re going to succeed.” She
looked around the group, then back to Sam. “Do we by chance have any hand to
hand weapons? Axes or machetes or anything like that?”

“Oh, we’re actually in pretty good shape in that area,” Sam
replied. “We have two full-sized axes, three one-handed hatchets, and about
five assorted machete blades.” His face lit up a little at the fact that they
were better equipped in the melee weapons department. You never have to worry
about running out of ammo with a blade.

“Excellent,” Evelyn said, also a little more hopeful. “Chatty,
are they still out there?” she whispered down towards the front door.

Chatty had been peering through the blinds this whole time
and he turned to give an affirmative nod.

“For whatever reason, they seem to be camping outside. Maybe
they know we’re in here, maybe they don’t. They haven’t seemed to have called
any more to our location, so we have to assume that we’ll be able to surprise
them,” she said. “Sam, are we able to get up onto the roof?”

“Yep, there’s a ladder inside the back room that leads to an
access hatch up top. We can access the roof without having to open the back
door.”

Evelyn’s plan was solidifying in her mind as she sized up the
group. “Excellent. Who here is a good shot?”

Everyone looked at each other. Daniel raised his hand and
spoke up. “I’ve played paintball every weekend for the past five years and have
even ranked nationally. I can make a headshot from a seventy-five yards.”

“And I’ve gone bow hunting every season for the past ten
years,” Shawn interjected.

“Good,” she said. “You two are the shooters. Daniel, I want
you to position yourself on the roof, Shawn, I’d like you to take position
around the far corner opposite the bus.”

“So that will take two of them out, what about the other
three?” Shawn asked, pissed that a woman was dictating strategy.

“We’re going to need to take them out with blades,” she
answered. “Chatty, Ethan and I will take out the other three.”

Ethan’s eyes got wide. “Whoa, um...not that I’m scared or
anything, but why me?”

“Because you look like you can move fast,” was the only
explanation Evelyn provided. Not having a witty comeback for that, plus not
wanting to look like a pussy in front of the ladies, he waited for the rest of
the plan.

“Ethan, you’ll go with Shawn to the far corner. Chatty and I
will circle around to the bus. Daniel and Shawn will shoot and drop the first
two. You guys will need to reload as fast as you can in order for this to work.
Once the first two drop, Ethan, you need to charge the other three. Run at them
as fast as you can. While their attention is on you, Chatty and I will come out
from behind the bus and take out two more.”