Better off Undead

Chapter 6: Hell and High Water

By the time Eli hit Main Street, which was only a dozen or so feet from the exit of his apartment complex, he was already going fifty. Since there wasn't really any need to worry about traffic, he barely slowed at all as he took the turn, launching himself into the farthest left lane. The world was eerily empty, to a degree he hadn't ever seen, not even when he would be out at two or three in the morning. There was something extremely disconcerting about the fact that it was still daylight and yet there were no other cars on the road. Here and there, one of the creatures could be spotted, but for the most part, it was as if the world itself had died.

They quickly reached the strip mall Mac had indicated the group would be waiting in, but as Eli pulled in it was immediately obvious that there was no one there.

"Guess they were in a hurry," Eli muttered.

Amber turned to look into the back seat of the car, particularly at Nancy, whose head was pressed against the window. Blood slowly dripped down the glass pane. Her breathing was labored, and she dizzily swayed back and forth.

Frowning, Amber turned back to Eli. "She's getting worse, fast," she said. The words echoed inside her head, sounding stupid and obvious, but she felt it was her duty to make sure they were said.

"What do you want me to do about it?" Eli replied, meeting her worried gaze with a blank stare.

Amber sighed, her eyes darting about outside the car. After a moment, she pointed past Eli to a spot some distance down the strip mall. "There," she said, matter-of-factly, "we can get some bandages from that Blitzmart."

Eli followed her finger, frowning deeply. Before them, the parking lot stretched out long and curvy. On their right the strip mall formed a sort of barrier, while on their left the parking lot was dotted here and there by fast food restaurants. These continued along the full length of the parking lot until they ended in the big, square building on the far side of the parking lot from them. It was here that Amber was pointing.

"You want to break into a general store?" he asked, incredulous. "For bandages?"

"Not just bandages," she snapped. "We need other supplies. We left everything behind in the SUV. Unless you want to go back for it?" she let her voice trail off mockingly. Eli turned his frown on her, but she met his gaze evenly.

"All right, fine!" He consented, throwing his hands up in the air in defeat. "Blitzmart it is."

He crossed the parking lot as quickly as he dared, watching carefully for any signs of movement. It was quite clear why the others would have chosen this spot for meeting up. The vast size of the lot versus the relative emptiness of it provided a great 360 degree view. If anything were to head their way, they would see it with likely more than enough time to react.

They pulled up to the building. Eli smiled inwardly as he realized that instead of parking in a spot he could drive the car part way up the handicap ramp straight to the front door. Just in case they needed to make a quick escape, he figured. He threw the car into park and pulled out his keys. He took a deep breath to ready himself, and turned to smile at Amber. "Ready?" he asked.

She nodded her head, barely paying him any attention whatsoever. "Let's do this," she responded, somewhat absently. Despite her words, she remained in place for a long moment, staring blankly ahead, as if trying to see past the darkened store front windows and take stock of everything that was inside.

Reaching into the back, Eli pulled forth his emergency flashlight. "We might need this," he said by way of explanation, waving the metal cylinder in the air.

He started to climb out of the car, but suddenly Amber grabbed him by the arm and yanked him back down.

"Wait," she said, still not really looking directly at him. "If you see one of those... things... you need to aim for the head. That's the only way to stop it: destroying the brain. Anything else and they just keep coming. Got it?"