The zombie game

chapter 14

Chapter 14

Joe and Ken walked through the streets. A few minutes ago they had heard a brief crack on the horizon, probably a gunshot, but they weren't afraid. They were more scared of what had happened to the soldier. The events replayed in Joe's mind as he thought about the big man kidnapping the soldier—probably willing to kill him.

“How did this happen?” Joe asked.

Ken looked at him. “I don't know. Some men are bad. Really, really bad.”

Joe replied, “I know.” It was suddenly silent. Joe and Ken continued walking down the street, unsure of the danger that they would soon face.

*******

Tom knew something was wrong as he stood in parking lot of an old Walmart; he could sense the feeling in the air. He first had the smell of rotting corpses in his nose. And he kept glancing at his group. They all seemed uneasy. Tom took out his pistol and checked the clip. It was full. Tom and his group slowly proceeded forward, silently, weapons drawn, hoping that nothing was inside the store, which was possible, but wasn't likely. They reached the edge of the store. A mangled sliding door was sitting there, spiderweb cracks of glass slicing through it. Tom slowly pushed down the door, watching as it fell, watching as the glass shattered. Tom was the first to enter and he regretted it. The smell inside the building was of rancid meat and the metallic stench of fresh blood. He moved through the building, seeing crimson red smeared along every wall. A couple of rotting bodies were lying sprawled in the aisles, brain matter and blood wreathing their heads in a crimson red halo.

Cutler was the first to hear it; a low moaning growl. He whirled around and saw a zombie stumbling toward him. Tom saw it to. He raised his pistol and fired, the bullet slamming through the things head. He watched as it pinwheeled backward before smashing into the wall. A mist of blood erupted from it's head.

Tom walked toward the fallen zombie and stumbled around the body, crouching down, hoping not to see anymore of these creatures. Or anybody else for that matter. Linda and Cutler and Dean followed Tom through the fallen shelves of the store. Tom stopped for a moment, crouching down by the shelves, and peering around the corner, seeing a couple of bodies lying sprawled across the blood smeared floor. He raised his pistol and proceeded forward with caution. Linda, Cutler and Dean did the exact same thing. Tom was crouching low, when he heard rapid footsteps and hoarse breathing. A man came into view and raised his machine gun and fired.

Tom dived to the ground behind fallen shelves. Dean was hit through the chest with the bullets; everybody else was out of harms way. Another crack of gunfire. Tom pivoted around and pulled the trigger and fired. The bullet slammed through the man and he flew back in a mist of blood. Another figure came into view—a woman—took out an Uzi and sprayed the shelves with bullet. Linda whirled around with her machine gun and fired, but the woman at the other end of the store jumped behind a couple of shelves.

The woman fired.

Bullets slammed into the shelves. Glass shattered. Tom fired his gun and hit the woman in the arm. Blood splattered the wall. She raised her Uzi again and fired. Tom jumped from his hiding place and put two bullets into her chest, a splash of red painting the wall.

Tom moved forward but then stopped.

Moans were coming from parts of the school.

The gunfire must have attracted the zombies. Tom whipped around, but was too late. He saw Cutler on the ground, a zombie on him, ripping him apart. Blood splashed to the ground. Cutler screamed and screamed but it was too late and within minutes he was dead, lying in a pool of gore.