This Would Be Paradise (Book 3)

Chapter 23

My ears picked up on the rasping of an infected before I saw it. It sounded like it was trying to clear out a hairball. A handless stump was pushed through the opening, then the head followed. The infected was wearing a crossing-guard style vest which had gotten snagged on the outside of the truck. It was stuck half inside, half outside of the warehouse, continually reaching for us with its ghosted hand.

"Damn thing scared the shit outta me!" Rose growled with a hand over her heart.

I guess she didn't like things jumping out at her. She would have been terrible to go to a Halloween haunted house with. Rose lifted the flashlight to bash the infected's head in but I grabbed her wrist.

"You'll wreck our only light source," I hissed.

I pushed her aside and removed the hunting knife from the sheath on my belt. It couldn't do much with its handless arm, so I easily dodged the stump and brought my knife down on its head. It went limp, still hanging in the spot we needed to go through. Together the three of us tugged at the body. The sound of the vest ripping urged us on until we cleared the infected completely. We dropped it to the ground and Rose pushed the flashlight at me.

"You first."

"How brave of you."

We glared at each other until Leo grabbed the flashlight from Rose. "Fine, I'll do it."

Rose glared at me like it was my fault before turning to watch Leo investigate. He shone the light side, his shoulders ridged. I think he expected more infected to pop out. When none did, he tested the waters by squeezing through the tight spot and hoisted himself up into the bay. From the outside I could see the beam of the flashlight cross back and forth. After a few seconds he stuck his head back outside.

"All clear."

"Chickens first," I said motioning to the opening.

Rose flipped me off and easily slunk through the opening. She was pretty tiny in that regards. I went next and Leo helped me up into the dark warehouse. A sliver of light came from the opening we had just come through, but most of what we could see was a result of the lonely flashlight. I looked back to see the back of the truck open. It looked like they had started loading pallets, but gave up halfway through. There was still a dolly inside with a single box left to unload.

"Stay close," Leo instructed.

My lips quirked at the authoritative tone of his voice. It sounded like a kid trying to play grown up. We followed right behind him as we ventured further into the warehouse. The beam showed us the rows and rows of wrapped pallets, then in the distance, some metal shelves stacked as high as the ceiling. Well, hope nothing good is on the high shelves. There was no way we could reach that stuff without some sort of jack.

"Shine the light over here," I said.

Using the beam of light, I cut open the shrink wrap on the pallet using my hunting knife. The plastic squeaked as I sawed. I unwrapped the pallet; a hundred boxes of instant oatmeal stared back at us.

"Nice," Leo said.

"How we going to cook 'em?" Rose asked.

"This is one of those grocery stores that sells everything," Leo said. "We should be able to find a kettle."

"And plug it into what?" I asked.

He made a face. "They probably carry emergency batteries too."

I wasn't familiar with this store, as it wasn't one we had in Canada, so I took Leo's word for it.

"How are we supposed to carry it all back?" Rose asked.