Head Full of Ghosts

Chapter 36 - The Haunting

"This can't be happening," Zahra cried as she rushed up to the gates. There was no one waiting at the guard station, and no activity visible beyond the chain link fence. But neither had the fence been broken or the wall been busted down. Everything looked normal enough, despite the lack of presences, human and otherwise. That normality made the empty space all the more eerie, though, and an unpleasant sensation formed in Eli's gut as he glanced around.

It was that feeling again. The feeling of a trap waiting to be sprung. But there was nothing around to spring, no place for it to burst forth from. It had to be paranoia.

"I don't get it," said Daina, voicing everyone's unease. "It makes no sense for everyone to just be gone. We would have noticed the zombies passing by again the other way if they had captured the whole town. And surely if they came from that direction they would go back that way, right?"

She looked to Eli for confirmation, but he simply shrugged.

Zahra shook the gate door, but it was still firmly locked. All she achieved was to send a rattling echo across the otherwise still air.

"Maybe we should follow the wall around," offered Eli. "Maybe they broke through the first wall but not the second."

Zahra nodded her agreement. She knew full well how intentionally the town had been designed for just such an occasion. Even if the zombies had breached the second wall, there were other lines of defense. There was still reason for hope.

They made their way along the wall until it came to an end in the brick wall side of a building. As soon as they rounded it to the front they knew they had their answer.

The front door to the building had been destroyed, blown into so many splinters by force and stomping feet that they could barely make out the remains of it. A handful of zombie appendages lost during whatever mad scramble to get inside had occurred here lay scattered about the floor. An arm, a hand, two legs, and a foot. Zahra wrinkled her nose in disgust at the sight of them, but they moved past anyway and continued into the store.

They moved down the aisles cautiously, as the ground and some shelves were littered with broken glass, and they didn't know if any zombies had by chance stuck around. They made it to the door to the rear storage room without incident, and Eli raised a knife to a readied stabbing position, looked for approval from his two companions, who met his gaze with curt nods, and then pushed his way through.

There was nothing in the room itself other than more smashed bottles and other rubble and debris, but Eli barely even noticed that.

Half the back wall was missing.

"The liquor store," Zahra breathed as she moved up to stand beside him.

Eli shot her a quizzical look, confused as to why she was only realizing this now, after they'd spent several minutes moving through that exact store.

Zahra noticed the look and explained. "There was this guy, Alan. Him and his friends kept wanting to speed up adding the liquor store inside the wall, so they could have easy access to all the beer and... whatever... inside. Mills wouldn't go for it, though. He kept insisting we weren't ready. I guess they finally saw their chance and... and..."

"And it turned out Mills was right," replied Eli.

Zahra turned away trying to hide the tears in her eyes. "Yeah," she agreed weakly.

"Let's see what else we can learn," Eli said, and headed for the opening.

"Wait!" Daina demanded, suddenly. Eli stopped and turned to her, expectant. She was standing stock still, head cocked to the side. "Listen," she added.