Chapter 2
August 25, 2010 : 6:25 P.M.
The sun was just setting in the west by the time Kevin and Christopher arrived back at the store. All of the areas had been cleared, more fuel for the generator had been picked up, and no Runners had been spotted.
A lot had changed around the store since last October. When Kevin and his friends first arrived, the store was surrounded by hundreds of zombies. Despite being dead, the zombies still seemed to retain their senses of smell, sight and hearing. Their primal instincts were pretty much just tracking and feeding.
But since the Rescue, everybody had put up an effort to eliminate all of the zombies around the area. After months of work and ammunition, the parking lot was finally cleared of dead bodies and abandoned cars. Now, a chain-linked fence surrounded the parking lot and around the store. The poles had been planted firmly into the ground outside the parking lot and spaced every eight feet to ensure that the fence would hold against an attack. There was always at least on person that went around the perimeter and shot any zombies that came near the fence. Positions were rotated every couple of hours.
The current guard, Preston, a.k.a. Big Papa, waved towards Kevin as he pulled into the front gate. Preston was one of the survivors at the ice rink. He tried to get his family out of the city during the chaos, but his van flipped over when he tried to make a sharp turn while being chased by a hoard of Runners. He was able to get his family to safety and barricade themselves inside the rink with Jake and Kelly.
"Hey, Kevin. Did you have a good trip?" Preston asked.
"Same old, same old," Kevin replied. "Killed zombies, tried not get bitten, and got back before supper."
Preston chuckled. "We actually have something good tonight. That is, if you and my wife can do something with it."
"What is it?"
"It's a surprise."
Kevin chuckled. He was one of the cooks here, but didn't complain about feeding everyone. He actually enjoyed it. "Whatever. Just let us in so I can get started on the mystery meal."
Preston unlocked the gate and pulled it to the side as Kevin drove forward. The perimeter of the fence was about half the size of a football field, giving everyone enough room for vehicles and anything big they had to unload. It was also good for a few games of catch and basketball as well.
Kevin parked in front of the south side entrance. He left the keys in the ignition and grabbed his sword from the backseat. Christopher grabbed the spare shotgun and began to unload it.
"See you at dinner," Kevin said. Christopher gave a small wave as he grabbed his pack from the backseat as well.
The doors opened automatically as Kevin walked to the front. It amazed him that the doors still worked while the electricity was being run on a generator. They left it on constantly to keep the air conditioner and the refrigerators on because the heat got really bad during this time of the year.
"How many did you get today," a voice called from the middle of the aisle. Sitting on a couch in front of a small tv was Jake and his girlfriend, Sara.
Sara, a.k.a. Nurse, was a nurse at the Jefferson City hospital. She was swamped with injuries and the undead when Z-Day occurred and was forced to abandoned the hospital where she got picked up by Jake at the ice rink. Since then, she and Jake had gotten really close. She had long, dark hair, green eyes, and the build of a runner, like Kevin. But her specialty, besides treating our injuries, was sniping. Pretty much any zombie that was withing a block away was dead meat if their heads met with her rifle scope.
They've tried to make the store as roomy as possible. Whenever they could, everyone would go on a trip and bring a few things from their old homes to bring to the store. Pictures, furniture, beds. This helped everyone with their depression and gave them a sense of home.
"14. How about you two?" Kevin asked.
"12. I swear those things screwing with each other and having more zombies made. There is no other explanation."
Kevin laughed. "Thanks. I'll remind you of that while you're eating tonight."
"Don't. The last thing I want in my head is a dead orgy," Sara shuddered. "What are you making tonight by the way?"
"I don't know. It's going to be a surprise."
"Whatever," Jake scoffed. "Just be sure to tell David your number of kills."
Kevin nodded and walked off. He needed to talk to Helen, Preston's wife, aka Hot Mama, before he talked to David. She and her two children, Larry and Rebecca, stayed in the toy section of the store with their father. Rebecca insisted that they would stay there so she could always have a place to play. Larry agreed to that as well. But their parents made a condition that if they stayed there, they would have to continue the schoolwork using the textbooks and learning games they had there as well. Helen, after all, still wanted her children to have a proper education. You know, just in case.
Sure enough, they were working on their homework when Kevin arrived. 10-year-old Larry was working on his math while 8-year-old Rebecca was playing a spelling game on one of the tv's.
"Working hard, kids?" Kevin asked.
Larry jumped up and ran to Kevin. "Did you bring me anything?"
"Nope. Not today," Kevin replied. Larry, for some odd reason, saw Kevin as a big brother. He would always play video games and basketball whenever he had the opportunity and Kevin would treat him like an equal, not a child.
"Larry, hurry up and finish your work," Helen scolded, then turned to Kevin. "Did you Preston tell you what we got tonight?"
"Nope. Just said it was a surprise. So what are we having tonight?"
Helen smiled and leaned forward to whisper in his ear. When she pulled back, Kevin eyes were wide in surprise.
"Really? You mean you two actually got some?"
Helen nodded. "Those books were really helpful. We were able to properly process it without damaging it."
Kevin smiled. "Tonight's going to be a good night."
Helen nodded, her blond locks dancing around her head. "Yep. Dinner's in half an hour."
"Could you get it started? I've got to tell David our number of kills today," Kevin said.
"Sure. Oh, he's got something to tell you as well."
Come on....just a few more seconds.... David thought.
There was a loud beep and David groaned in relief as the treadmill slowed to a stop. He hopped off and limped to a couch Kevin and Jake had brought from his old house at his request. The cool leather soothed his tired muscles as he took a drink from his water bottle.
David had finally done it. He was able to run ten minutes straight without collapsing. The pain in his calf made it feel like his leg was on fire and heavy as a cement block, but David had become used to it and was able to toughen it out.
During the Rescue, David was able to stop the zombies from eating the survivors by using himself as a distraction and trapping them in a enclosed park. But while escaping, he sliced open his leg on the fence. He found out from Sara later that he completely sliced through the tendon that attached his calf muscles to his shin bone. Sara repaired his leg as best as she could and closed his leg using a staple gun.
After nine months of therapy from Diane and Sara, his leg was well enough to support his weight on and walk. But as Sara had feared, the muscles in his calf had healed wrong. The tendon wasn't able to fully attach itself to the bone, resulting in his muscles being loose and unstable. Sara could have done a lot better job repairing the tendons if she was in the hospital, but with all the zombies around it was impossible.
That didn't stop David from keeping himself in top condition. With the right stretches and exercises, he built up his leg muscles enough to support his body without pain. Then kept in shape by running. It had been slow and painful at first, only lasting 30 seconds. Today, after months of running, he finally reached ten minutes.
All for the reason to get back in the field and away from the store.
Seriously, being stuck in the store for nine months nearly drove him crazy. He hadn't even been allowed to leave when the enclosure around the store had been built. Sara had been forceful about letting him stay inside, so he threatened to cry until she had given into his demands. Sara had finally agreed to his childish pout, but only if he could run for ten minutes straight. That amount of time could give anyone a chance to escape the Stiffs.
David got back up and began pacing, trying to cool down his legs. He grabbed a towel and wiped the sweat from his dark, brown hair. It hadn't gotten as long as Kevin's but still longer than he usually kept it. His 6'2" frame had finally reached its highest and was built with a good bit of muscle. He wasn't as big as Kevin or Jake, but still in better shape than he had been in his baseball years.
He took another drink as a voice rang out from behind him.
"Hey, David. Did you finally reach ten?" Kevin asked.
David nodded. "Now I can finally get out of here and see some action."
"Great. It's good to see our fearless leader up and about. Let's hope you haven't lost your touch," Kevin replied.
David smirked. For some odd reason, Kevin named David the leader of three when they first barricaded themselves in the store. He though it was a joke at first, but Kevin and Diane listened to everything David said. Then when the rescued Jake and the others, they looked up to him for leadership as well. David was terrified at first as he spent the time trying to convince everyone Jake would be a better leader than him. But even Jake agreed with everyone else that I was a good leader after watching me risk my life that led to my injury. He said it was one of the bravest rescues he had seen and had won his respect.
"So, you had something tell me?" Kevin asked.
"Yeah, but first, how many kills did you get today."
"12, and Jake said they had 14."
David did a little bit of math in his head. "With those numbers added with Charlie and Aaron's, we've eliminated a total of 150 zombies this month. Add that since Z-Day, the grand total comes to nearly 3,000."
"Those propane bombs really helped during those first few months."
"Yeah, but we're nearly out those now," David stated. "And we've got another problem as well."
"We're running out of ammo," Kevin stated.
David nodded. "We've got about 100 hundred bullets and shells left It doesn't help that the hunting stores had been cleaned out when all of this came down either. We've killed a lot of zombies, but I know our town has a population of nearly 7,000. It looks like many of the Stiffs had begun to search for a meal source outside of the city. And the same everywhere else."
"What do you mean?" Kevin asked.
"Aaron took this off of one of the Stiffs earlier today," David said throwing a dirty, green shirt to Kevin. He unrolled it and saw the shirt read 'Sheldon High School'.
"Sheldon? Isn't that..."
"It's Diane's hometown," David sighed. "Stiffs from other towns are coming here in search of something eat. And if they're coming here, it must mean that we are the only people alive within a 60-mile radius."
Kevin took a moment to digest this information. If things continued this way, they were going to be swarmed with zombies once again.
"So what do we do?" Kevin asked.
"Right now? Nothing. Tomorrow, I'm going to check the East side of town and see if there are any new messages at the police station. After that, I'll go to the Kings Avenue and see if anything new has come up at the House. We haven't been there since November."
The House. That was where David had found their only clue to what has happened to everyone. It was the old house of his ex-girlfriend and her parents, but he never told anyone that. When he showed Charlie and Jake on a map where it was, they had raided all of the files they had in hopes of discover more about this catastrophe. So far, they had not found anything new.
"Sounds like a plan. Anything else?"
"No."
"Well, then I'm going to get dinner started," Kevin grinned. "You guys are going to enjoy it."
David chuckled as Kevin walked towards the food court. David turned and went into the layaway section that led to the roof. He struggled on the ladder before he emerged into the bright sunlight that seemed to shine on rare occasions.
The sweet smell of flowers that covered the rooftop blocked out the smell of death that lingered over the city. The girls had talked the guys into growing a garden on the roof, just for the habit of having something to do. David agreed as long as they also grew some vegetables. Eating canned food was okay, but they needed the proper nutrients to keep their health up.
A flash of blond caught David's eye as Diane stood up from clipping a small, rose bush. A smile grew on his face as Diane spotted him and gave him a smile of her own. David's insides seemed to flutter, as they always did when she smiled at him. He walked towards to the center of the roof and sat down on a canopy swing they put up there. Diane put down her water can and went to join him.
David could have sworn he saw a glow surround Diane when she walked. In his eyes, she reminded him of an angel. Long blonde hair, tall but not taller than him and an athletic body that reminded him of a soccer player. But all of those things paled in compared to her eyes. Her eyes were a bright green, ones that shined like emeralds when she was happy. There were times when they would just gaze at each other, each getting lost.
Diane plopped down beside him and laid her head on his lap while staring at his face.
"Everybody get back okay?" she asked.
"Yep. Everyone's safe. Charlie had a close call when a Stiff bit his boot, but he's alright," David told her while he stroked her blonde locks.
"Wow, scary."
"I hope I don't have that encounter tomorrow," David said.
Diane sighed and closed her eyes. "Do you really want to do this? Going out there with your leg is dangerous. Anything could happen."
"I reached ten minutes today, just like we agreed. If there's a chance to go outside and do something, I'm going to take it."
"I'm just worried," Diane said as she sat up and sat beside him. "I've lost my mom and dad. You're all I got left. If I lost you...." She trailed off.
David touched her cheek and guided her in for a hug. She wrapped her arms around him, burying her head in his neck while she cried silently.
"Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere," David whispered.
Diane pulled back and gazed at his face. "Promise?"
"I promise."
She smiled and gave him a quick peck on the lips. "You're an idiot. But you're my idiot."
"I wouldn't have it any other way," David laughed.
Everybody sat at the tables in the main aisle near the registers in anticipation of the dinner surprise. They didn't know what it was, but everyone's mouths were watering at the delicious smell that had engulfed the store.
Diane and David sat on one end of the table. To their right sat Jake and Sara. On their right sat Charlie and Heather, David's classmates. Charlie, aka Burger Boy, was one the smartest students at Jefferson High and was studying to become a chemist. He was also the one who had been reviewing the papers that David had found at the House along with Heather and Sara. Heather, aka Blondie, was also a student and Charlie's girlfriend. Both of them were working at Burger King when Z-Day occurred and were trapped until Kevin rescued them.
On David's left sat Preston with Larry and Rebecca. Preston was a business accountant in town along with his wife. All of them had tried to get out of town when the attacks occurred, but ended up being stranded at the ice rink.
Beside them sat Brian and Brittany, aka the Groom and Bride. The newlyweds were returning from their honeymoon when they got stranded at the Burger King when the attacks started.
Three people, however, were not present. Christopher never liked to eat with people. He said table dinners made him claustrophobic. David just thought they gave him gas.
Aaron and Heidi, aka Nightmare and Firefly, stopped joining us when their friend Gloria died. All three of them were night school students who ended up camping out on the edge of the city when they heard the radio reports of the zombies. They took a risk and drove back into the city and ended up at the ice rink.
The couple didn't talk much anymore, but always stayed together.
Kelly, Kevin's girlfriend and Jake's cousin, sat across from David, eagerly waiting for whatever Kevin cooked. She was his biggest fan, especially if he made her favorites.
And finally, there was Champ, Diane's golden retriever. He protected her from the zombies when David and Kevin found her at a gas station. He seemed to be immune to whatever was transforming people in mindless corpses and was capable of defending himself against any attack.
A rag-tag bunch of people, but I love them David thought as he grabbed Diane's hand from underneath the table.
"Ta-da," Kevin yelled as he brought a steaming plate to the table. He held it over his head as to tease them with the surprise. Helen did the same thing with her plate.
"What have you got for us?" David asked.
"Everyone here should thank Helen and Preston for doing this," Kevin announced. "They're the reason we get to celebrate tonight."
"Stop with the suspense and serve us already," Billy said.
Kevin smiled and the two of them placed a plate of what looked like......STEAKS?!?!
There was a few moments of silence before Charlie whispered, "Where did you guys get this?"
Preston smiled. "During one of our searches, we found a farm that had dozens of cows out in the pasture, just grazing. Helen and I read up on how to process the meat and was able get the beef."
"Is it safe," Sara asked.
"None of the cows looked sick or infected, so I'm sure the meat is safe. Now let's-hey!"
Preston's cry was unnoticed because everyone leaned forward and snatched a piece of meat off the plates and began to furiously eat.
Kevin smiled and grabbed two pieces of meat, giving one to Champ underneath the table.
And I though only zombies ate like that Kevin thought.
Later that night, David was back in the manager's office. He was gazing at the computer screen and browsing through the websites that were still up and running. He sighed in resignation when he didn't find anything new.
Doesn't matter. There hasn't been anything new for months.
Diane came and grabbed David around his shoulders from behind.
"Nothing, huh?" she asked.
"No. Just the same as always. I'm amazed cyber space is still working after all this time."
"It is weird, isn't it," Diane said. Then she kissed his cheek. "Come on. Let's get some sleep."
David nodded and turned off the computer. Then followed Diane to their private part of the store. The layaway section where David spent months on a bed recovering from his wounds. Instead of the air mattresses the used to use, David asked Kevin and Jake to bring his bed from his old house.
Diane climbed in while David turned off the lights, then climbed in after her. She rolled over and pecked him on the mouth before laying her head on his chest.
"Good night, my hero," she whispered.
"Sweet dreams, my angel," he whispered back.
