Aaron walked over to Lisa's prone form and pulled his pistol out of her hand. She might have lost her mind but at least she'd managed to not lose the pistol.
He ejected the clip and counted only three bullets left in it. Slapping it back in the pistol, Aaron shook his head. They only had one spare clip left. If they didn't manage to get back to Big 5 on their next try, they were screwed.
Aaron made his way up to the front of Del Taco to check on the situation outside. As he approached the front, a zombie walked up to the counter. Aaron and the zombie stared at each other for a moment, before the zombie growled and started to climb over the counter. Aaron brought the Glock up and put a bullet through the zombie's head.
How the hell had it gotten in? They had checked the place; there had not been any inside. Unless… His heart hammering Aaron ran to the front of the store.
The sharp crack of a gunshot snapped Paul's head around. He ran to the side of the roof and looked out at Del Taco. He saw that the zombies had heard the shot as well and many were wandering around, looking for the source. He saw a small group making their way to the doors and that's when his heart froze.
The floor to ceiling window next to the door was shattered, leaving the zombies a wide open entryway into Del Taco.
Snapping on the hands-free mode on his radio, he yelled, "Aaron! Get out of there! Now!"
The sound of the gunshot dragged Lisa out of the pit of despair she had been sinking into. As the echoes faded, she stood and made her way to the front of Del Taco to find Aaron.
She found him with his headset pulled away from his ear, Paul's voice screaming out of the earpiece.
Seeing her, Aaron stepped close and whispered into her ear, "Front window's busted. It must have gotten shot out when we tried to escape. Zombies are gonna get in here and the back door still has a bunch beating on it. We're going out through the drive-thru window."
She nodded and the two headed over to the drive-thru window. Aaron peered out for a second. There were some zombies in the parking lot next door at Pizza Hut and in the street, but they were going to have to chance it.
He started to slide the window open, when Lisa stopped him.
"Where are we going to go?"
"Over the back wall into River Bluffs or into Pizza Hut. Whichever we can get to," he answered.
Aaron slid the window open and helped Lisa through it. Aaron handed the pistol through the window to her. Lisa took the Glock and looked around. None of the zombies were paying her any attention. In fact, the ones in the street were rushing past towards Big 5. Over the hammering of her heart, she could hear someone yelling.
"Come here, you ugly fucks! Free lunch buffet! All you can eat!"
On the roof of Big 5, Paul screamed and jumped up and down, trying to get the zombies attention. If he could draw the more curious ones away from the broken window, Aaron and the girl might have enough time to get away.
But even screaming and yelling wasn't going to be enough. As he watched, several zombies found the broken window and entered Del Taco.
The sound of snarls and running feet behind him made Aaron grab the drive-thru window and yank himself through. For an instant, something clawed at his foot and then he was free. He fell four feet to the ground, crashing down on his left side, right on top of his radio. He heard the plastic crunch under his weight and then Paul's voice was gone from his ear.
As Aaron got to his feet, Lisa watched the zombies in the Pizza Hut parking lot. One of them must have heard Aaron's landing. It turned and, seeing Lisa and Aaron, snarled and rushed them.
Lisa took aim and fired. Her first shot missed but her second took the runner in his head. The slide on the Glock locked open and Lisa yanked out their last clip.
Zombies came around the corner of Del Taco to investigate the gunshot while others in the street and parking lot turned and rushed Aaron and Lisa. Grabbing Lisa's arm, Aaron yanked her towards Pizza Hut.
"Take out the ones in front of us!" He yelled.
Lisa managed to take down a couple more while Aaron sprinted ahead of her. He threw his shoulder into one elderly zombie, sending her flying out of his way. He reached the doors to Pizza Hut and, with a silent prayer, pulled on the door.
To his relief, the door swung open.
Lisa rushed in past him. Aaron dove through the door and yanked it closed as the zombie horde slammed into it. The door groaned under the impact and rattled in its frame. But it held.
Aaron and Lisa went through the second set of doors, out of the foyer and into Pizza Hut itself. The pair looked around and were surprised to find two young men, staring wide eyed in terror, standing in the kitchen area.
Behind them, the glass in the front doors started to crack under the zombie's assault.
"That's not gonna last long," Lisa said.
"No shit," Aaron responded.
Walking towards the terrified pair in the kitchen, Aaron asked, "Do either of you have a car?"
The two stood wide-eyed, their eyes twitching from Aaron to Lisa to the doors into the foyer. The sound of glass shattering made everyone jump. The front doors had shattered and now zombies poured into the foyer and began to bang on the second set of glass doors.
"Hey!" Aaron yelled at the pair in the kitchen. "Do either of you have a fucking car? We need to get the fuck out of here. Now!"
One of the two slowly raised his hand. Gulping, he said, "My car's out front."
Aaron gave a sharp nod. Perfect. Pizza Hut had two parking lots. The east one, that Aaron and Lisa had run through, was for customers coming in to eat. There was a second, smaller parking lot on the south side of the restaurant for people coming into pick up their pizzas and for the delivery drivers.
"Then let's go!" Aaron said.
As if to punctuate his point, the glass on the inside doors cracked under the weight of the zombie mob pressing in on it. The two men came out of the kitchen and ran for the south side entrance, Lisa and Aaron right behind them.
The four ran out of the south entrance and towards an older Ford Tempo. Lisa took a quick look around for targets. There were some zombies in the street but none that would get to them before they got to the car.
Pete Nelson ran to his Tempo and tried to get the key in the lock. He missed on his first two tries but managed to get the key in on the third. He threw the door open and hit the unlock button on his door. The other three door locks popped open, letting Tim Jackson and the other two people into his car.
Everyone slammed their doors and shoved the locks down. Pete started the car and backed out of the parking place. He started forward when a zombie leapt onto his hood. Pete hit the brakes and the zombie smacked its face on his windshield.
Pete froze for a second before Aaron yelled, "Go!"
Pete stomped on the gas and the Tempo shot forward. The zombie grabbed at the windshield wipers but couldn't get a hold. It slipped off the side of the car. Pete spun the wheel and, seeing the mass of zombies down by Del Taco and Big 5, took off west down Long Avenue.
Pete slalomed down the road, trying his best to avoid the zombies charging the car. He clipped a couple and the wheel tried to jerk out of his hand but he managed to stay in control of the car.
"Get off of Long. There's too damn many of them," Aaron said from the back seat.
Rather than follow Long where it curved south, Pete took the Tempo west down Baseline. Knuckles white from his grip on the steering wheel, Pete sped the Tempo down Baseline, shooting through a four way stop, trying to put as much distance between himself and the mass of zombies behind them.
"Buddy, you might want to slow down a little. God knows what's up ahead of us," Aaron said.
Pete ignored him. The car rocketed down Baseline, narrowly avoiding a pair of zombies that had run out into the road.
"Pete! Dude, you need to slow down, man!" Tim yelled, reaching over and putting his hand on Pete's shoulder.
Pete snapped his head around. The wild look in his eyes made Tim yank his hand back.
"Look out!" Lisa screamed from the back seat.
Ahead of them, a zombie stood in the middle of the road, watching the car race right at her. Pete hit the brakes and spun the wheel to try to avoid her but it was too late.
She hit the front of the Tempo, the hood crumpling from her impact. She slid up the hood and smashed her face into the windshield. Safety glass exploded into the car, raining down on Tim, tearing at his face.
The zombie bounced off of the roof as the car skidded wildly off of the road. The Tempo slammed into the back of a Chevy Suburban parked on the side of the road. The impact threw Tim forward into the windshield. He smashed through the already damaged windshield and flew into the back of the Suburban. He crashed into the Suburban's tailgate head first. Fragments of his shattered skull were driven deep into his brain, killing him instantly.
Pete was thrown forward, only to be smashed back by his airbag. He felt a tearing sensation in his neck as his head slammed back into the headrest. As the airbag deflated, he lay in the driver's seat, unable to move.
Aaron and Lisa had both slammed into the seats in front of them and then bounced back into the back seat when the car came to a stop. Aaron pulled himself back into a sitting position. He slowly turned his neck right and left. It didn't feel like there was any damage but it could just be the adrenaline. He knew he'd be in agony tomorrow.
If there was a tomorrow.
He looked out the back window. Down the street, he could see zombies making their way towards the wreck.