Chapter 2: Hoofing It
The Sports Chalet was a cinch to get into. The shotgun was a lot heavier than it looked, and the glass wasn't the heaviest of duties. But I'd have to get in and out quickly since I was sure one or two of the zombies had heard the glass breaking. I wandered aimlessly around the store due to the fact that I'd never had any reason to ever be in here before the zombie apocalypse. This place was huge and wasn't arranged in aisles. The racks and shelves were instead bunched together and the far walls were also sections themselves.
Eventually I found the backpack section at the far left wall and picked out a really nice black one. It was heavy duty enough to carry lots of supplies, with plenty of pockets and adjustable straps. I took the shotgun shells from my pocket and slipped them into a side pocket of the bag. I also found red metal flashlight that I loaded with batteries to use in case it got dark. As I got ready to leave, I thought about getting another weapon, possible a baseball bat. It would be pretty good for cracking some heads. I found them on the far right wall labeled "Team Sports". They came in many varieties: wood, aluminum, foam, short, and long. I examined some of the aluminum bats they had in stock and took a few practice swings. I was having a hard time picking between two of them until I heard the crunching of glass under foot and the jabbering of the Infected. Looked like I'd see which was better through some real practice. I took the longer one first and got ready for the imminent attack, backing up into the rack to keep from being caught off guard.
The first one came running through the racks towards me, an elderly man in a brown leather jacket. I brought the bat up and readied myself as he ran towards me screaming like a madman. As soon as he was close enough I swung hard, his head exploding in a shower of blood and gray matter. The length of the bat did allow for better reach, but it was really heavy, and I knew my arms would get tired before long. I threw it to the ground with a thud and picked up the shorter one. Another scream told me another one was coming. It was a blond woman in a gray t-shirt and faded jeans. Despite the hungry look in her dead eyes and the evil scowl she gave me she was actually quite pretty. I found myself wondering what she did before the apocalypse. What her hobbies were, what her family was like, if she was happy with her boyfriend...or girlfriend, it was possible. Did she ever think she would be reduced to a screaming jabbering lunatic who was about to get her head smashed in by someone she most likely would have snubbed in high school. Wondering where the hell these thoughts were coming from, I gave a scream as I let her have it. Her head wasn't as obliterated as the last guy, but the bat had still done its job and she collapsed to the ground. I looked down at her lifeless body and whispered,
"Sorry 'bout that." It was an odd thing to say, but I felt I had to do that for some reason. In any case, the bat I'd used may have been shorter, but it was a lot easier to use without tiring out so fast. This was my bat.
A series of screams told me a group of them was coming and that it might be smarter to switch back to my shotgun. If I stuck with the bat I'd be overwhelmed. It also might be smart to start leaving before I got trapped in here. I ran towards the entrance, my gun pointed in front of me ready for an ambush. As I got closer a group of five tore around the bicycle racks and shot toward me. I shot seven rounds into the group, scattering them all over the carpet. I was really trying to slow them down, but to my surprise these guys didn't get back up. Apparently these were the type of zombies that didn't need head shots to stay dead. Guess I just got unlucky with Lowe's.
Another group of about ten ran through the jogging wear racks and I emptied my remaining three rounds into them, deciding I should definitely get out now so I could reload. But no sooner did I finally make it out of the store that I realized I should have saved my bullets for the group outside. An almost ear piercing collection of screams filled the air around the Center, and a swarm of almost thirty were converging from every corner and heading straight for me. It was time for me to haul some serious ass. I ran as fast as I could across the parking lot once again, sticking to the right of the horde as they attempted to swarm me. I decided I should try to get on the freeway so I could hopefully take it and get straight to Disneyland. But first I needed to get on the freeway. There was an exit to the center to the North, just past Chick-Fil-A and In N Out. I bolted past the cop car I got the shotgun out of, wanting very badly to reload it. But this was my first time using a shotgun, so I had no fucking clue how to reload it. I would have very much preferred reloading it when I was out of harms way. Didn't want to risk screwing it up and and getting myself killed. I continued to run, sticking to the sidewalk outside the stores so I'd be able to follow it around the corner and past the car wash. There was an empty SUV parked oddly in front of it. The door was wide open and a fat man's corpse hung out of the driver's seat. His arm hung out with his fingers almost touching the concrete. Barely an inch away from his hand was a white pipe like object. It had a fuse coming out of the top and a red light connected to a small battery duct taped to it. It looked like some kind of....bomb. A gleam of gold from the floor of the SUV caught my eye and I saw that there was a lighter lying next to the brake peddle. In a split second I formulated a plan and scooped the bomb in my hand before snatching the lighter up and jumping on top of the SUV's hood and onto the roof just as an Infected attempted to tackle me.
I sat cross legged on the roof and tried lighting the fuse with the lighter I'd just picked up. It took a few tries to get a flame and I almost got knocked off a few times by the infected slamming into the car. I kicked the face of every Infected that tried to climb up, but if I didn't hurry up they'd swarm me and it would be game over. I'd finally got the fuse to light, and had planned on dropping it into the crowd and jumping as soon as it was about to go off. But as soon as the fuse was lit the battery taped to it started to....beep. As soon as it did the Infected got even more nuts so much that I got knocked off the car. Luckily my backpack broke my fall otherwise my spine might have been in serious trouble. But when I did I dropped the bomb, and every single one of them seemed to forget I was even there, seeming to think a beeping pipe was a much more satisfying target. As the fuse got shorter, the beeping got faster, and I realized this might be a good time to get the fuck out of Dodge. I bolted towards Chick-Fil-A and braced myself under the take-out window. The beeping rose to a fever pitch and soon the thing exploded, taking out every zombie that was smacking at it stupidly. There was a shower of limbs and entrails, but all that mess was incinerated when the SUV exploded from the bomb blast, making a huge mushroom of flame that rose to the sky.
"God damn!" I muttered. "What the hell was that thing?" Whatever it was it had saved my life, and I wouldn't mind finding some more of them. The horde was annihilated, and I was alone again. Just the way I wanted it. Well, it was good to be alone from the zombies anyway. I actually wouldn't have minded another person with me right about now. That would have been someone to talk to and someone to watch my back and make this thing a lot less harder than it was. But right now the only other human I'd seen was the dead man in the SUV, and he wouldn't be helping me or keeping me company anytime soon. Though he had pretty much given me the pipe bomb and the ligther. I looked back at the SUV and muttered, "Thanks. Wish I could have owed you."
I hitched up my bag and and gave a deep sigh. That was a pretty epic battle, but that was most likely just one of many. And I hadn't even left the Center yet. "No use bitchin' about it now." I told myself. I walked briskly down the Center's exit and onto the on ramp for the 605. It felt really weird walking on the freeway, but right now it was all I could do. I got my shotgun ready and started on my long walk to the Disneyland Resort.
It was starting to get dark and I was exhausted, not to mention thirsty. I hadn't gotten any water before I left, mainly because I hadn't really thought about it. I had just narrowly avoided a zombie horde, excuse me if my mind wasn't in the right place. I decided I'd get off and find a place to bunker down and get some food and water. I got my flashlight out and used it to light my way down the ramp and into a neighborhood I wasn't familiar with. There were still one or two streetlights on, but not enough to light the whole are. I took note of the landmarks around the ramp so I'd know where to come back up. A beat up red Mustang would be a good enough sign. As I cautiously crept towards a block of apartments, my flashlight cutting through the gloom and one hand on the shotgun in my bag, I heard a noise that made my blood run cold. A low growl, coming from somewhere above me. It sounded like some wild animal, like a jungle cat. What would a panther or tiger be doing here? Did it escape from some traveling carnival? Great. That was the last thing I needed on top of zombies. I tucked the flashlight under my arm and got my shotgun out. I backed up against the side wall of a 7-Eleven, so I didn't get ambushed by the blood thirsty kitty. It was somewhere on top of the apartments across from me, and I could see it hunched over, ready to pounce! As soon as we locked eyes it made an ear splitting howl and jumped at me like a rocket. Without hesitation I leaped out of the way, my flashlight falling to the ground and twirling so that the beam landed on the creature that was now clinging to the wall like Spider-Man. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It wasn't a jungle cat, it was a man in a blue hooded sweatshirt and brown jeans, bands of duct tape wrapped around his arms and legs. He slowly turned his head to me and growled again. In that moment I knew he was one of them. But how?! How did he jump at me like that!? There was no time to think, only shoot. I fired three rounds into his body, which made him shriek and jump out of harms way. And I mean JUMP. He was like a frog; he had to be at least twenty feet in the air! I kept my gun trained on him, but didn't bother firing at him. It would have been a waste of bullets. I would have missed. He flew through the sky with his arms outstretched and grabbed a lamp post, swinging on it like an Olympic gymnast before perching on it hunched over and ready to pounce again. Now was my time to shoot. I fired some more rounds into him, but it was too late. He already launched and was on me in a flash.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Get it off! Get it off me!" I screamed to no one in particular. I pushed him on the chest and he fell off effortlessly. He was already dead. I'd killed him while he was in mid air. I was so relieved I almost cried. I weakly pulled myself up and took a good look at the monstrosity that had almost tore my chest apart. Its gray skin told me it was definitely an Infected. Taking a closer look I could see that he had sharp teeth and long fingernails that almost looked like claws. If he'd used those on me I would have been done for. I had just come within inches of being dead meat. What the hell was this thing?! First zombies were running and climbing and now they were jumping impossible heights and doing gymnastics?! I started to feel dizzy and I leaned against 7-Eleven to keep from falling. This was like a really fucked up nightmare. Zombies were bad enough, but now they were mutating into super villains?! I shook my head to keep from thinking about it.
I instead found myself thinking about why he was wearing duct tape. I chuckled a bit at that. What? Duct tape is a much more burning question on your mind than him being as limber as Spider Man? But it was indeed a weird thing to see. What purpose did it serve? I did notice that it held his clothes close to his body which would indicate he didn't want it to snag on anything. Aw! He must have been one of those dudes who run across rooftops and jump on fire escapes! What was that called again? "Parkour" I answered aloud, and I found myself chuckling at the irony of it. The zombie virus just so happened to mutate a parkour enthusiast in a way that made him even better at what he did!? "Hope it was fun while it lasted, dude. Sorry I had to cut it short." I found it really weird that I was apologizing to zombies, but I had to realize this wasn't really their fault. They didn't ask for this. They never could have predicted that they would one day be mutated into ravenous lunatics keen on tearing apart their fellow man. They had lives before this, and I'd never know what they were. I only killed them because I had no choice. I was only defending myself. "Poor bastards...." I sighed and cautiously looked around to make sure I was still alone.
I needed to find a place to stay pronto. I crossed the street towards the apartments when I noticed a strange shape spray painted on the sign on the front lawn that should have displayed the name of the apartments. It looked like a house, the simple shape that kids drew. Inside of it was a plus; like a hospital symbol. An arrow to its left pointed to the left of where I was. What the hell did it mean? A safe house? I didn't really think trusting graffiti was such a smooth idea, but it was the only lead I had to a safe place right now, and I was going to take it.
After a few blocks and some zombies, I got to a burger joint called Duke's, with the safe house symbol spray painted on the piece of wood that kept the window barricaded. Pointing my light through the open doors and I could see a heavy metal door painted bright red. That thing looked like it could withstand a zombie attack plus a nuclear strike. I felt very safe just looking at it. Not to mention it was in a kitchen, which hopefully meant food. I'd just crossed the street when I heard that only too familiar scream of a horde. Groaning, I got my gun ready and ducked behind a sedan parked in front of Duke's. Sure that door looked sturdy, but I didn't want to take any chances. I was going to try to thin out the horde as best as I could. When they got close enough I popped out from behind my cover and blew them away. I took a few hits while reloading, but I wasn't going to give in to my pain now when salvation was right behind me.
I was just about satisfied with my thinning job when I heard a loud deep roar echo down the streets. I'd just turned to where the roar seemed to be coming from when a fucking mini van flew right at me! I barely had time to jump out of the way as it crashed into the sedan and went rolling like a rock down the street. I desperately looked for who or what had thrown that at me, and I unfortunately found it. Barreling down the street towards me and knocking every zombie out of its way was a HUMONGOUS ape of a zombie dressed in nothing but a pair of jeans. Its upper body was so muscled that it was 4 times bigger than its legs. It had no neck; its head seemed half buried into its shoulders. And don't even get me started on its arms. They were so massive that they reached all the way down to the ground. His hands seemed to be as big as my whole body. This motherfucker was so big that the whole ground trembled beneath him.
Fuck thinning out the ranks. Now that the Incredible Hulk had showed up I was out of here! I started to run into Duke's when he was still a few yards away. He must have realized I was too far from him, so he stopped in his tracks, dug his hands into the ground, and ripped a piece of concrete out of it! Giving one last roar, he chucked at me has hard as he could. It crashed into the door way above me and showered down into me in fist sized chunks. One of them hit me on the shoulder and knocked me down. It hurt like a bitch but I couldn't stop now. I got on one knee and hurled myself through the door, slamming it shut. I wasn't about to breathe easy now, however. I looked around and saw some crates in the kitchen that I pushed in front of the door just in case it didn't hold. Soon the ground rumbled and I knew that huge bastard was about to tear the door down. Oh Jesus I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die! Soon the door and all the boxes in front of it shook with a loud BANG! But it didn't fly off its hinges like I thought it would. In fact, the tremor it made was barely a fidget. The ape punched again but still the door held firm. There were more smaller bangs as the horde tried to knock it down, but still the door refused to fall. After ten minutes of banging they seemed to get bored, and with that they just left. The ape gave a roar of defeat before stomping away as if pouting. I collapsed to the linoleum and started laughing. I was still alive. I'd beat them. For now.
After searching the kitchen thoroughly, I'd found some leftover packs of beef patties and a sack half-filled with potatoes. I also found some buns and a few veggies. I lit the grill and poured some French fry oil into the deep fryer. While I waited for those to heat up I sliced some potatoes and set them to the side. I walked around the kitchen for a bit and found some things that normally shouldn't be here. The most obvious was the piles of ammo I found on one of the counters and the weapons I found on another. I grabbed some shot gun shells out of a coffee can and turned to the weapons. There was an uzi, a manual shotgun, and a pistol. The pistol had a flashlight attached to it, which would be a lot more easy to wield than that big red hunk of metal I had. I grabbed that and some handgun ammo and preceded to throw some meat on the grill and the potato slices into the deep fryer. There were even some more of those pipe bombs I'd used at the Center, which I gratefully slipped into my pack. The second thing that shouldn't have been here was staring me in the face as I flipped the patties on the grill.
Written all over the walls were messages from other survivors who had been here before me. Most of them were messages to loved ones they'd had to leave behind. Others were some religious bullshit saying this was the rapture and that we all deserved this. But a few of them were warnings. They're not evacuating from this place, bring plenty pipe bombs, stay away from the hospitals, etc. But it was the one above the grill that really got my attention. It was written in red marker and read: Whatever you do, ignore the crying girls. What the fuck did that mean? Even though I'd lived life alone, if I heard a girl crying I'd still try to see if she was alright. For all I knew they might have it even worse than me. Why was I supposed to ignore them?!
A pain in my shoulder kept me from thinking about it further. That's when I went to grab the third thing that shouldn't have been in here: first-aid kits. There were four of them; bright red little bags with a white square and a red cross on them. They were loaded with everything you'd need in case of injury: bandages, antiseptic, sutures, even a small splint. I used the antiseptic to clean the cut on my shoulder from that piece of concrete that fell on it. After bandaging it I slipped the kit into my bag and started to make two burgers and a basket of fries. I never thought I would make myself my own fast food meal, and I never thought it would taste so good either. I washed it down with some water from the tap and I was golden.
After my meal I lied down in a corner of the kitchen and used my bag as a pillow. I knew it would be kinda hard to sleep under the circumstances, but I would need my strength for the next day. I thought about what would happen after I escaped. Would life go back to normal? Would we ever be able to fully get rid of these things? Would I even escape at all? Before I could answer any of these burning questions I passed out. Apparently I was more tired than I thought.
The next morning I made some more burgers. I ate one for breakfast and stored the others in a take out bag for later, putting some baggies of ice in there to keep them refrigerated. I got the pistol out and prepared to go out the back door, which was identical to the front. There was a metal bar across it, and I'd have to pull it out before I could open it. Through the bars I could see two zombies waiting for me, which I dispatched with a few shots to the torso. After declaring the coast clear, I threw the bar off and walked into the street behind Duke's. It was still a little dark out and the sun was blocked out by the blue clouds covering the sky. I'd barely walked two feet when I heard this weird groan. It was low and gargly, and it sounded like whoever was making it was sick; like they were about to throw up. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw this really big blob coming down the street toward me. I'd just turned to look at it when I got a face full of green slime.
"Aw fuck! Ew! Shit!" I screamed as I tried to wipe off this disgusting slime that now covered my clothes completely. My favorite baseball cap was drenched, and what made it even worse is that this shit stunk. I looked up and saw a very fat zombie standing in front of me. He was wearing a black t-shirt and a pair of sweats, and his face was covered in huge boils that swelled on his face like balloons. Green shit was dripping from his mouth, and I realized in horror that he had just vomited on me. Before I could pay him back, I heard another horde scream and saw waves of infected running at me a lot faster than usual. Oh fuck. This must be attracting them like flies on shit! This day's getting off to a great start isn't it?! I ran back into Duke's and shut the door, but the horde slammed into it before I could put the pole up. I tried to hold it back, but it was really hard when about 20 people were pushing on a door against one. I pulled off my bag and leaned against the door with my back. I reached into the bag and pulled out a pipe bomb and the lighter. As soon as it was lit I tossed it through the bars and watched as the horde chased it stupidly and smacked it until it blew up, taking them with it. Why the hell did they do that?! Didn't they see that what they were hitting obviously wasn't human? Were they that stupid?
But unfortunately that sick groan told me that the fat bastard wasn't stupid enough to fall for that. I saw him through the bars, about a yard away. I took aim with the pistol and fired a coulple shots into his fat stomach. And he exploded. I'm not kidding. That fat fuck blew up in a shower of blood and green bile, leaving only his chubby legs behind. I'd never seen anything so disgusting and so funny at the same time. I was still pissed though. I had barely left the safe house and already I was almost killed and now covered in this stinky vomit shit. I took a deep breath and attempted to walk out into the city again.
These mutated bastards were really getting on my nerves. The zombies weren't dangerous enough that there had to be ones with super powers?! Whatever. No use crying about it. At least I was still alive. I walked down the street till I found the red mustang next to the on ramp. I climbed back up and made my way towards where I hoped Disneyland was. After a mile or two I got to a cluster of cars that had to be climbed over. There was even one point where I had to walk over a bunch of them like a bridge. It was when I finally crossed the bridge and got back on the ground that I heard someone crying. A girl or woman.
"Hello!?" She sounded close. She was probably behind one of the cars. "It's ok! I'm here to help! Where are you?!" I got no answer, just the same sobbing carrying itself across the freeway. "Come on, it's alright. I promise I'm not one of them." I tried to be as reassuring as I could. She must have been scared out of her mind right now. The whole situation had caused the poor girl to just break down. Lord knew I was getting close. I was seeing a human being more often in the Infected I killed. When would it finally be too much?
I finally pinned the sobbing down somewhere behind a green Kremlin. I was pretty excited to finally find another human in this wasteland. "It's ok," I said as I edged around the car, "just stick with me and you'll be al-" My gun's flashlight landed on her face and I was greeted with an ear-piercing scream. "No! It's ok! I'm not one of them!" But even as I said that I realized she wasn't. Her eyes were shining red, her skin was as gray as the other infected, and her fingers weren't even fingers at all; just black knife-like claws. She was almost naked, wearing nothing but soiled underwear. And her hair was a platinum blond. She looked to be almost my age. She was kind of pretty...but I didn't have time to admire it since she was running straight at me with those sharp fingers of hers. I immediately turned tail and ran as she chased me down, her arms spread wide open on both sides. She was surprisingly fast and was catching up to me almost effortlessly. I would have shot her had I not been afraid of tripping on something from running backwards. She was making this weird little warbling shriek that sounded like a cat getting in a fight. "Get away! What did I do to you, you crazy bitch!?" I screamed, even though I knew she didn't understand me. We'd ran for a good minute when I realized the freeway dead ended. There was a large shipping container lying on its side diagonally so that it blocked the whole freeway. It must have come loose from a semi truck. All I knew was that it was too tall and if I kept running I'd be stuck and at her mercy. God damn it, God! Why do you hate me!? But all wasn't lost. An SUV was parked a little way from the container; parked so that its backside faced the container. Without hesitation I ran up the hood of the car and onto the roof. Picking up what little speed I could, I ran and jumped, narrowly missing the container and landing on my chest. I was stuck for a second with my legs dangling below, but hearing that demon girl's cat shriek made me muster all of my strength and pull myself up onto the large metal crate. The girl shrieked and grunted as she tried to jump up after me. After hopping and clawing in vain, she eventually gave up and slumped down on her knees, crying as she had when I first found her. It was almost as if not killing me had put her into a deep depression. Out of all the mutants, this one took the cake. What could be more dangerous than a predator that feigned helplessness. At least that's what I thought at the time. I didn't realize the truth until later. It was at that moment that I remembered the writing on the wall: Ignore the crying girls.
"Ignore the crying girls, got it." That was the last time I went to help any crying girl. But I once again found myself wondering what she had been like before the apocalypse. At least the sobbing she made seemed to convey what she would most likely feel like if she knew what she had become. I had just composed myself when I heard yet another sound that I knew right then had to be trouble.
It was a coughing fit. Like someone around cigarette smoke. I was just about to turn towards the sound when the coughing voice screamed, which was followed by a wet flicking noise. Suddenly something wrapped itself around my body and pulled me off the container. It was like someone had tied a lasso around me and was dragging me across the concrete. I was pulled across the ground until I slammed into a cop car. The coughing noise was just above me, and I looked up to see a zombie in a green jacket and jeans. He was covered in hideous tumors, and a greenish yellow smoke seemed to be emanating from his body. His mouth was wide open to make room for his massive tongue, which was wrapped around my body! He opened his mouth wider and his tongue began to retract, pulling me closer to him.
"Oh, fuck you, Smokey! It's too early!" I shouted as I fired a pistol shot into his face. A puff of smoke exploded from his body as he gave a soft grunt. His tongue gave a ton of slack and let me go.
As I pulled the slimy thing off of me I realized this was one hell of a morning. I looked at my watch and saw that it was only half past eight. "I'd call it productive if I do say so myself. Covered in zombie attracting puke, almost gutted by a demon in the guise of a helpless girl, and almost crushed by a zombie's tongue, and I'm still alive! Booyah!" I pumped my fist and smiled as I continued down the freeway. That was true. Despite all this shit being thrown at me I was still alive. But for how much longer? And as I continued down the freeway I could still hear that girl crying. It followed me down the freeway and was still ringing in my ear as I reached Anaheim. Was luring in unsuspecting survivors to her the only reason she cried? I wouldn't find out for sure until I met Sabrina.
To be continued...
