Ch. 12

4:21 P.M.

They both stared at me for a few moments before Diane exploded.

Are you crazy? You'll be killed!" Diane yelled, red in the face.

"Yeah, maybe. But we will die anyway if we don't have any way of protecting ourseleves," I pointed out. I turned on my heel and left themthem at the counter.

"Don't do this," Diane called.

I ignored her and kept walking towards the clothing section. Diane groaned and got up to follow me with Kevin and Champ behind her. They both got on either side of me.

"Didn't you hear me? Your going to get killed if you go out there."

I wasn't listening; instead, I was going over a mental checklist of what I would need. If I was going out there, I was going prepared. Probably the only way to do that was to put on as many clothes as I could. The more clothes I wore, the tougher it would be for the undead to reach my flesh. This was probably going to kill my speed but I think it is necessary.

I picked throught the jeans. I found a pair that was a couple of sizes bigger than mine and put them on over the pair I already had on. Then I went to the shirts and put on a couple of long-sleeved, cotton shirts. Next, I picked a leather jacket from coats and zipped it. I was about to to find some thick gloves before Kevin roughly grabbed my shoulder and turned me around. He and Diane were both glaring at me.

"Just what the hell are you doing? Didn't you hear Diane? You're going to be zombie food if you go out there."

"You don't think that I know that," I said, pushing past him and went to the winter clothes. "I know that it's stupid to go out there and I could get my ass chewed to the bone. But we need a better way to defend ourselves. One that involves putting distance between us and those creatures instead of getting up close and personal. If you guys have a better idea, I'm all ears."

They didn't say anything else for a few moments. No doubt trying to find a safer way for us to defend our stronghold. I found a pair of leather gloves from the racks and put them on. Then went to the sports area with my friends still on either side of me.

"Look, while I'm gone, I want you guys to start stocking up on things we need. One, start filling up as many sealed containers as you can with water. I don't know how long the power's going to be one but once it goes out, we won't have electricity for the plumbing. Two, stock up on food that's going to expire within days or weeks so we can get it out of the way. We don't want to get sick eating any bad food. Three, find items that can be useful that require batteries."

"Are you deaf!? You can't go out there!" Diane screamed at me.

"Look, if you don't have a better solution, get off my back," I nodded. "This is a risk that we need to take. I don't want to face an army of the undead with a bat and a shotgun with no ammo."
They didn't say anything for a few moments. Diane looked a little panic trying to find a way out of this situation. Kevin had this blank expression on his face as he gazed at his feet. Then, Kevin surprised us when he nodded.

"You're right."

Diane turned on him with a look of horror. "You're agreeing with him? You're both crazy!"

I nodded. "Yeah, maybe so." I looked at the sports watches and picked on out that had the most accurate time. There was only a couple of hours until the sundown. I didn't know what time of day would be best to go out there but this was now the time to find out. I turned back to Diane and Kevin.

"Listen, it's about to get dark. This may be our one shot to go out into the town before anymore zombies show up. When I locked the last door, I saw a few zombies walking towards this store. We can't pass this up. I need to go know because it may be awhile before we can go anywhere."

Kevin nodded again. Diane was still shaking her head. I grabbed a flashlight from the camping equipment and loaded it up with batteries.

"OK, I'm about ready." I turned to Kevin. "I'm going to need a distraction. See if you can get on the roof and fire a few shots to get the zombies to one side of the store. While they're distracted, I'll go out to the car and go to find a hunter's shop or pawn place that has guns or more bullets. Meanwhile, I want you guys to start doing what I said earlier."

"You got it," Kevin said and actually saluted me.

I looked at Diane. "Do you how to get onto the roof?"
She crossed her arms and scowled. "Yes, but I am not showing you."

We both looked at her. I sighed and tried to put on a puppy face, but that only seemed to make her more angry.

"I am not going with the suicidal plan of yours. We are all staying here and that's final," she said.

I stared at her for a few seconds before I quietly said, "This may be the one time that we can make our final stand. Do you really want to give up?"
"It does not matter if we stay together. We will be fine in here."

I sighed. She was just not going to budge. I glanced at Kevin. "Guess will have to find it ourselves."

Diane dropped her arms and gave me a hard look. "You are not serious."

"I am. I want us to survive. Even if we are the only ones left in the world, I want to keep on living. You never know what might happen. But if we are the human race's only chance of surviving, I say we take the chances if they can help us. Otherwise, we're dead either way."

Diane looked at the ground. For a few minutes she didn't say anything. I hoped that she would make the right decision. This may be the only opportunity we had until more zombies showed up.

Diane looked back up. She seemed to trying to stop herself from crying.

"Follow me." She turned around and walked towards the lawaway

I smiled as Kevin followed her into the back.

"Give me a few minutes before you start blowing their brains out!" I yelled at their backs.

Kevin waved over his head. Hopefully I could return alive and we can still argue. Despite the situation, I really enjoyed hanging around those two.

I glanced at my watch and walked towards the door. Dark was probably the best time to go out. Maybe it would give me cover. I patted my flashlight in my pocket.

I waited patiently in front of the door, listening for Kevin's signal. The zombies on the other side of the door were getting really restless. They could see me through the glass and were trying desperately to break it down. I swallowed, beginning to have second thoughts abou this whole operation.

Way to think about it now, dumb-ass.

A minute went by before I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Diane.

"Here." She handed me a radio. It was one of the packaged ones on the racks in electronics. "It only has a range of five miles but we both want a to communicate with you. Kevin also told me to tell you to try the pawn shop on William's street. He's been there a couple of times. It most likely has the firearms we need there."

"Thanks," I told her, pocketing the radio.

She looked at the ground. "Why you though? Why can't we all go?"
I shrugged. "It was my idea. It is also safer if only one of us goes. Besides, someone needs to open the door when I return."

Diane looked at me shrewdly. "Don't you think you should take the shotgun with you?"

I shook my head. "It would only slow me down. It would also be a pain to reload when an army of the dead is chasing me. Besides, Kevin is better with a shotgun than me. He could always hit a skit bird more times than me. He always reminds me of it, though."

Diane giggled, then stopped. She gazed at me for a moment, fumming with her hands. For some reason, I felt my heart pounding in my chest and my throat getting tight. Only then did I realize that she was rather pretty. Her eyes seemed to glow like emeralds and her hair fell to her shoulders perfectly.

What a great time to find out that you like this girl.

A loud gunshot made us jump. I turned around and looked through the door. I saw the zombies pause, then ran to the other side of the store. There was another two shots, and the final zombie cleared my vision of the car.

I turned to Diane. "See ya. If I'm not back by morning..."

She nodded. As I turned to go, she gave me a kiss on the cheek. "Good luck."

I felt my face heat up before I hurried to the door and pressed the switch on the motion detector. There was a click and the door slid open. I ran out and looked to my left. There were more zombies than there were about and hour ago, all crowding around the north side of the store. Kevin was on the roof, taking careful am before firing another shot. I saw two zombies fall to the ground from the pellets.

I looked back over my shoulder as I ran to my car. Diane flipped the switch to lock the doors again. I saw her wave before I looked back ahead.

Luckily the doors on my car unlocked. I slid into the driver's seat and put the key into the ignition. To more my horror, the engine did not turn over. I gave it a litte gas and tried again. The engine kept stalling. I looked through the windshield. The sound of the engine got the attention of a few zombies that were trying to reach Kevin.

"Oh, crap," I muttered as half of the group broke out into a run in my direction. Frantically, I left the key in the starting lock and floored it. The zombies reached my car in a matter of seconds and jumped on the hood with the cars still sputtering. One of them was jumping on my roof when my car finally roared to life.

I gave a sigh in relief. I put the car in drive. The tires screamed against the pavement and slowly began to move foward, then caught on the pavement as I sped through the parking lot. The zombies jumped back and the one on the roof flew off. I barely missed the other zombies that were running in my direction. As I pulled a one-eighty in the parking and sped to the stoplights, I could see them in my rearview mirror. They were still running after me.

I turned out of the stoplight and headed north down Main street to find a road that would take me to William's.

"Are you alright?" said a voice out of my coat.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the radio. "Yeah I'm fine. That scared the crap out of me though."

She laughed over the radio. "Be careful out there. Bring us back something nice."

I smiled. "I will." I put the radio down on the passenger seat and floored it down main street.

I hoped my plan would work. But why was I getting guns when I could not kill a zombie? I still had that sensibillity that killing was wrong. That barrier in my mind could not be broken.

I shook the thought from my head and concentrated on my destination.