Living on Borrowed Time

Chapter Five

"There goes my plan." I say as we near what use to be a motel. Now its burned down to the ground. "How could we have not known about this? I mean we live like 20 minutes away."

"This was something at the bottom of the news list if you think about it." Johnny says.

"Yeah, I guess... any suggestions?" I ask, stopping the car. We sit there a moment, thinking as a few biters stumble towards us through the darkness.

"Gunthers?" Johnny says.

"What?"

"Yeah, 'Gunthers Gun Store'. It's only a few miles away from here." Johnny explains. I look back at Sammy.

"What do you think?" I ask for her opinion.

"It's shelter, and there could be guns right?" Sammy says.

"But it is a more populated area." Johnny adds. "There will be biters." I think for a moment.

"I'm not worried about the biters... I'm just worried about how swiftly we can get in. I'm wondering if it's even a secure location anymore." I tell them.

"It's worth a shot." David says. "There could be guns and ammo."

"Yeah... we can give it a shot." I say. "Which way?" I look at Johnny.

           .              .             .

"Holy shit." I say, trying to weave around all of the biters in the night. There's the gun store, about a hundred yards in front of us. To the right of the gun store is a pizza parlor, and in between is an alley that's fenced off in the front.

"We can use that fenced of alley to our advantage." I say. To the left of the gun store there are several other buildings but it's too dark to see what they are. I've also never been to this part of town, it makes me feel nervous trying to survive in an area that I'm not familiar with.

"I'll pull around behind the pizza place, looks like there's only a few biters back there." I say, turning my lights off to avoid getting the biters attention. Only a few attempt to follow. The area isn't as bad as I expected either, I'd say there's about thirty biters in the general area of the gun store.

"We need to do this quickly." I say, grabbing my flashlight and knife. "Pass up the stuff from the back." I tell David and Sammy. David reaches back and pulls out the rifle he had found a couple days ago, passing it to me, then reaches back for more.

"You know how to use this?" I ask Johnny, holding up the hunting rifle.

"I don't know too much, but if you're asking if I can cover you guys if there's trouble then yes." Johnny replies, taking the rifle and loading it. Sammy hands me my backpack, enabling me to put it on.

"David, you got the water?" I ask him. He nods.

"You got the food?" I look over to Sammy. She replies with a nod and a nervous expression. "Cover us from behind." I look at Johnny. "I'll get the door open... let's go." We get out in a hurry.

I open my door, instantly stabbing a biter in the forehead, pushing it back off of my knife. We all run past the dumpster and into the back of the alley, Johnny reacting quickly when we turn around the corner. He swings his hammer at a biter, swinging from left to right with his right hand as he holds the rifle in the other. The biters forehead cracks open as it crashes into the red brick wall from the impact. Only one biter left in the alley before we reach the side door of the gun store. Very aggressively, I kick the biter in the back of the knee and stomp down on its leg as it buckles, then drive my knife into the base of its skull, causing it to scrape some flesh from its face as it falls into the opposite brick wall. I dash for the doorknob but it's locked... of course. Starting to panic a bit I bash the lock with the weighted handle of my hunting knife, but brute force is no match for Gunthers superior lock.

"Bruce?" Johnny says a few moment later. I look over and several biters stumble their way into the alley, then I look to my left. Several more are pushing and clawing at the fence, rattling it.

"Not until you need to." I tell him as he aims the rifle. I kick the door a few times but once again, brute strength isn't going to cut it. Johnny fires off a shot, startling me half to death. I think for a moment as my ears ring. The ringing intensified as another shot is fired.

"Screw it!" I shout, pulling my 9mm Beretta from my waistband I shoot the lock twice. "Let's go!" I pull Johnny back as the door cracks open. "Inside!" I yell to Sammy and David after pushing Johnny toward the door. I turn and stab a biter, it aggressively swings its arms at me until I push the knife deeper into its face, then it collapses. Causing the biter behind him to trip. Frightened from the number of biters working their way into the alley, I sprint for the door, slamming it behind me. I turn the lock on the doorknob, hardly remembering that I destroyed the lock above it.

"Who the hell are you guys!" I hear a female shout from behind me. Turning away from the door I see Johnny, Sammy and David with their hands up. Past them I see a dark haired woman pointing a handgun at us.

"I'm not gonna ask again." She hisses. "Who are you?"

"Whoa, calm down." I step forward. "We're just looking for a place to camp out for the night."

"No." She says firmly. "Find another place. This place is taken."

"Like it or not..." I say. "We can't exactly walk out...we're surrounded."

"I don't care." She replies, her hands slightly shaking.

"Are you hungry?" I ask. She stares at me with an unreadable expression, but then replies with a question.

"What?"

"Are you hungry?" I repeat myself.

"You have food?" She questions.

"Enough to share some with you..." I tell her. "If you let us stay here that is."

"Show me." She demands.

"Okay, okay. Just put the gun down." I say with a calming tone. "We're not the enemy." Sammy slowly walks forward and hands the woman a can of corn and a can of spam.

"You have water?" The woman asks.

"I'm gonna need you to put that gun away." I tell her.

"It's not going to be put away." She snaps back. "But I will lower it." She lowers her guard down a bit.

"Fair enough." I reply, all of us lowering our hands but remaining still. "Tell ya what... I'll trade you some water and some more food for a couple guns and some ammunition." I bargain with the woman. She just glares at me.

"What makes you think I won't just shoot you people and take everything you have?" She questions, gripping her handgun tighter.

"Because you're not that kind of person." I reply.

"You don't know shit about me." She hisses in response.

"You're right... I don't. But I can see it in your eyes." I tell her. "You wouldn't do that." She just smirks, looks down at the wooden floor boards, then back up at me.

"I like you." She chuckles, holstering her handgun on her left hip but rests her right hand on her knife which is sheathed on her left hip. "Come..." She waves us over. "I'll show you what's left."