Days Of Dust

Chapter 2

The group had slept in the school dormitory that night and were on their way to the mall. The walk to the mall had been a long one. On the way they had gotten to know each other more, Matt's team consisted of three boys, they were; Ryan, an average size kid with curly brown hair and a love for motor vehicles, Zach, a red haired kid who carried a dangerous looking, steel sledgehammer and Kyle, a sporty kid who carried a bloody saw, he had a bright pink scar on his head but Rick didn't ask what it was from. Matt carried a modified nail gun, the type that had an inbuilt air compressor, he also had a pole with a lethal sharpened point, and it was attached to his backpack along with various other tools and pieces of metal. Matt had given Rick an extra-long, wooden axe handle that he had stolen from the grounds shed. They had to fight a group of infected that were milling about the entry to the mall. They were strong but slow and stupid. Together they were taken down in minutes. The mall, normally filled with people was now an empty space. There were, however, bodies on the floor, so Rick didn't let his guard down.

"We need to call our parents." It was the first time Lewis had spoken, he sounded on the verge of tears.

"We need to find a mobile first," Rick said "So we'll head to the phone shop first."

They headed off without argument, Rick felt as if he was in charge of the two groups even tough Matt had lead them, but the two groups were one now so it had to happen sooner or later. In the phone shop there was an infected shopkeeper walking about; he was wearing a tattered uniform and had various bite marks all around his body.

Butch came forwards, "I got 'dis." he said, confidently.

He smashed the glass out of the door and walked in; the man shrieked and sprinted towards him. Butch anticipated the run and readied his metal pipe and swung. The man's head caved in like a rotten watermelon.

"Gross!" Lewis yelled.

Rick put a finger to his lips. "Shhh, you're gonna make more come after us!"

Lewis nodded and turned pale.

"Ryan, Zach and Kyle, watch the rear and call out if you see anyone, but don't fight them unless you have to." Rick instructed.

They nodded and moved to their positions while Rick and the other went into the shop. Roxy picked up a pink I-Phone 5.

"Let's use this one." She said with a smile.

So they set up the phone and switched it on. They let Roxy make a call first because she was so excited to finally get hold of her parents.

"No!" She cried "There's not reception, anywhere."

The kids all went pale and were silent for a while.

Finally Matt broke the silence, "Well, it's time for Plan B."

Roxy looked up, "What's Plan B?"

Matt sighed, "I didn't really want to have to do this but we're gonna barricade ourselves in the mall and look for more people. Trust me, girl. I seen more movies about this sorta stuff than a director."

They broke up into their two original groups, Matt's team were going to scout around and clean out the mall while Rick's group went to the hardware section to start the barricades.