Disclaimer: I do not own the 2004 film Dawn of the Dead and this story has no official ties with the film; this is a work of fan fiction. I do not receive any payment or any other type of gain from this fan fiction. All rights belong to Strike Entertainment and New Amsterdam Entertainment, as well as Universal Pictures.
Chapter Sixteen
Feeling refreshed after her shower, Angela met the small group congregated at Hallowed Grounds, still using a towel to dry her damp hair. Michael had called a meeting to discuss the entirety of their plan, refining minor details and ensuring everyone's safety. Papers scattered the table, some filled with sketches of the buses, others with various measurements and scribbles. She stood next to CJ, who had an elbow leant on the table with a pencil in his hand, reading from a piece of paper.
"Okay, so far we need around forty aluminium plates, twenty-five metal grates, thirty steel bars, fifty feet of barbed wire, twenty two by fours, two reinforced doors, and a hell of a lot of screws and nails," he said, looking up to Michael, "that sound about right?"
"And the snow plough," Michael said, CJ jotting it down on the list.
"A snow plough?" Angela asked, leaning over him to check the list herself, "where the hell do we get one of those?"
"Not the actual truck, just the attachment to go on the bus; they have them up in Case Hardware," Michael replied.
"How else do you expect to push through a few thousand dead people?" CJ asked humorously.
Rubbing her temple, Angela sighed deeply whilst reading the list again. "This is going to be a hell of a lot of work. Are we gonna' be able to do this, especially in a few weeks?"
Michael looked up at her with a small smile and a nod of confidence. "We will, as long as we all work together and work hard - just have to think of freedom."
"You gotta' have some confidence in us," CJ said, glancing at her with a smirk.
Still towelling her hair, she shrugged her shoulders and looked down at the papers, not meeting her eyes with the others. "I do…"
"Anything else we need?" Kenneth asked, diverting the conversation back.
"Not that I can think of," Michael said, "we can add more stuff later if we need to - let's move on to food."
Ana, sat next to Michael around the table, revealed a notebook with pages full of writing. "If we keep using refrigerated foods, foods that have a low expiration date, we'll have seventy cans and thirty-five packets of dried food. We'll also have five crates of bottled water," Ana read from her list, "we can't take it all, but we will need a good part of it to last us on the boat."
"Okay, maybe we could fill two duffel bags of food and take two crates of water," Michael said, Ana quickly writing it down, "put one of each in both buses."
Angela heard a sarcastic laugh behind her, turning around to find Steve leaning against the counter of the coffee bar. "This is all fine and dandy, but can I just ask the big main question? Once Andy does an 'Indiana Jones' and jumps into one of the buses, how the hell are we supposed drive through the city down to the marina and get on my boat without getting eaten by those motherfuckers? There's gonna' be at least a few thousand and more of those things following us all the way there."
"Actually, I think I can help with that," Terry said, pulling out a folded paper from his back pocket. Revealing it to be a map, he spread it across the table, Angela taking note of the multiple red and blue marker lines drawn on it. "I was looking over this last night and I think I've found a route that might work," he pointed to a specific point, "this is the mall. Now, after getting Andy, I thought if we take the main road here and drive straight into the city, those things will follow us."
"Um, I think that's the exact opposite of what we want," Steve commented.
"So," Terry continued, dragging his finger across a blue line on the map, "we would then take this side road here."
"Along the construction site?" Michael asked.
"Yeah, because then, there's this road that's closed off. So, if we take the short cut through there, we should begin to lose those things. We keep weaving in and out of side streets, take the back roads instead of the highway - it'll be longer, but we should lose them." He then started to drag his finger along the map. "If we continue on this dirt road, it'll lead us to the back entrance of the marina straight into the docks."
Everyone fell silent for a moment, looking over the map at Terry's carefully planned out route. This came as quite a surprise to the group, looking at the time and effort the young man had put in to create a calculated and precise plan, thinking of other factors as well.
A soft smile appeared on Angela's lips, looking up at the bashful man, appreciating what he had done. "This is great, Terry."
"Yeah," CJ said, studying the map closer, "this is a solid plan, kid."
"Did you just come up with this last night?" Michael asked, running his finger over the route again.
Terry nodded. "Yeah, I found this map in the camping store, so I just looked over it for an hour before coming up with this."
"It's probably our safest option, if it means we get to lose those things along the way," Tucker said, Kenneth nodding in agreement.
"Okay then, we'll take this route," Michael said, safely folding the map up again and seeming more confident by the second as the escape plan was coming together. "Now, this is where the fun begins; we need to decided jobs for everyone-"
"Excuse me, but does this 'working' thing include me?"
Crossing her arms tightly across her chest, Angela glared at Steve, who had interrupted. "Yes, it does include you. If you want to get out of here, you have to work."
Pulling a set of keys from the pocket of his jacket, he twirled them on his finger, smirking at her. "Well, sweetie, I've got the keys to your ticket outta' here, so that makes me the most important person here – kinda' like the captain." Holding his head high, he struck a pose, to the annoyance of the group.
"Oh, great," Ana mumbled, others shaking their heads, though Angela kept her poisonous gaze on the man, tensing her jaw.
"And you know what the captain does?" he asked, "nothing."
"Well, how would you like it if I shoved this gun up your ass and pulled the trigger, captain?" The last word left Angela's mouth as a sarcastic growl, her gun whipped from her holster and firm in her hand in seconds.
Funny façade dropping, Steve took a worrying step back, Angela following like a predator. Chair's suddenly scraped across the floor, Michael appearing in front of her line of sight while CJ pulled her back by her shoulders, trying to calm her down.
"Hey, whoa there, darlin'," he said, lowering her gun for her, slightly startled by her aggressiveness.
"He's being an asshole!"
"She just threatened me!" Steve said, pointing accusingly at her.
Before the two of them could start an argument, Michael raised his hands to silence them, gaining attention from both parties.
"Angela, calm down," he said sternly before looking at the other. "Steve, stop being an asshole."
Exhaling though her nose, the agitated woman backed down, Steve grumbling to himself like a scorned child. With peace relatively restored, everyone relaxed, CJ rubbing Angela's shoulder.
"As much as I would like to see you do that, we need this asshole for the moment, so just leave him – even if he is being a dick," he muttered, looking towards Steve.
"CJ's right," Michael said, taking his seat again, "the last thing we need is people fighting."
"Well, then, I guess I'll leave you all to handle this," Steve said, throwing Angela a cautious glance before walking away, whistling and swinging his keys.
Watching him leave, Angela reluctantly put her gun away, clasping it into her holster. Only now she noticed her heart thumping in her chest, her fingers trembling but not from anger; there was something else she was feeling but couldn't quite pinpoint what it was. Taking another deep breath, she focused back on Michael, who began talking again.
"Let's just get back to work," he said, "so, I was thinking Kenneth and I could search through the pens in the parking garage, see if we can find anything useful there.
"Maybe CJ, Terry, Tucker, Angela, and Ana can look through Case Hardware, The Auto Parts, and the Tool Shed for any materials we need; whatever will help reinforce the trucks, gather them down in the garage. Nicole, Glen and Monica can sort through essential supplies; food, water, medical, clothes. Sound good?"
When everyone murmured in agreement, Michael nodded. "Okay, let's tell everyone else and get to work."
Half an hour later, everyone had split off into different groups, carrying out various jobs throughout the mall that Michael had set. Angela and CJ had settled in one of the hardware stores, Terry, Tucker, and Ana tackling the other two. CJ had found aluminium panelling, the two of them starting to pile them on a cart.
Pulling the last one from the shelf, Angela groaned while she carried it through the store to the entrance, where CJ was tidying up the rest on the pile. Noticing her struggle, he took it from her hands, Angela sighing gladly when she stood under the air vent, letting the cold air hit her and drying the sweat from her brow.
"Tired already?" CJ remarked, loading the final sheet of metal on the cart.
Letting her eyes fall on the man in front of her, Angela watched him lift the large piece of metal over his head, stretching to put it on top of the pile. In just a grey tank top, his sweaty arms and broad shoulders were exposed, glistening in the light. She noticed his muscles flexing, rippling across his back as he carried the heavy load to the pile. Realising she had been staring, she dropped her gaze downwards, shaking her head.
"No, totally used to manual labour as a high school teacher," she joked, "I'm thirsty though, wanna' grab a drink?"
"Yeah, whatever," he grinned, following her back inside the store to the mini fridge by the register. "What did you teach?"
"Hm?" she hummed, grabbing two bottles of water.
"I know you're a high school teacher," he said, accepting the refreshment, "but I've never asked what you taught."
"I'm an English teacher, mainly focusing on literature," she answered before gulping down the cold water greedily, resting against the counter.
"That should have been obvious," he said thoughtfully, sipping his water, "explains why you like reading so much."
Angela smiled. "True, but I always knew I wanted to be a teacher – I just loved teaching kids," her smiled faded into a sad expression as she thought about her students. "They were supposed to be presenting their Shakespeare projects the day everything went to shit. I just hope they're all okay, safe with their families.
"I sometimes wonder if any of them are out there, in that crowd, rotting away with the rest of them. When we're playing Hollywood Squares, I expect to see one of them through the binoculars, staring at me with white eyes," she paused, thinking for a second. "I don't know whether I'd get Andy to shoot them, but then I wouldn't want them to stay like that, a walking corpse, hungry for flesh."
She turned to CJ, a serious look on her face. "Do you think they know what's going on?"
"What do you mean?" he asked, leaning on the counter next to Angela.
"Do you think when you turn, even though you're dead, you're still aware of what your body is doing?" she asked, "like what Kenneth said on the roof – memory, instinct. Do you think the person is still in there somewhere and they have no control of what they're doing, but they have to endure everything, like killing their loved ones, shambling outside all day, moaning and groaning?"
Perplexed by her questions, CJ thought quietly, his eyebrows pulling together before looking at her. "No, I don't think so. They're dead, there's nothing left of them, just a body."
"I guess," Angela whispered, staring down at the floor, "we won't really know until it happens to us."
"Don't think like that," he suddenly said, grabbing Angela's chin to face him, "we're gonna' be fine."
Angela shook her head, her expression blank. "You don't know that."
Face twisting in anger, CJ pushed himself away from the counter, clenching his hands near his face. "God, what is wrong with you?"
"What?" she asked in disbelief.
"You!" he exclaimed, pointing a finger at her, "you've been acting so weird today, nearly blowing Steve's head off before! Now you're suddenly being so negative and thinking the worst, talking about death and all this shit about whether those things are still human!"
"Well, it's true," Angela said, standing up straight, "I'm thinking about it, because at some point it's gonna' happen to us."
"It's not gonna' happen to us, I'd never let anything happen to you."
"You can't say that, CJ, because something could happen to me," she said, voice becoming louder. "For all we know, we won't even make it past the parking lot with those things out there."
"Stop thinking like that!" he shouted, becoming increasingly agitated.
"Why not?"
"Because when you think like that, you've already given up!" he said, pointing out the door, gesturing to the outside world. "You're letting them win."
"Maybe they've already won!" she said, throwing her bottle on the counter, not caring where it landed. "I mean, no one has come to help us, we've seen no other survivors these past few weeks, half the fucking city is shambling around outside, waiting to sink their teeth into us. What hope have we got?"
CJ stood, hands visibly trembling at her words, glaring at the woman in front of him. "So, what, you'd rather wait it out here until we starve to death? Until those things finally claw their way in and eat us?"
"No, I'm not saying that-"
"Well then what are you saying?"
"I'm fucking scared, CJ!" Angela finally shouted.
Voice bouncing off the walls of the store, it knocked them both into a stunned silence, only the sound of ragged breaths left from their arguing. Shoulders slumping, the anger seemed to leave CJ's body slowly, his face relaxing while he stared at the upset woman.
"I'm scared," she repeated more softly, "and fed up."
Stepping closer, CJ didn't say a word, letting Angela continue.
"I'm fed up of seeing people around me die. I watched my best friend die before turning into one of those things and nearly killing me, my neighbours the same. My brother is dead, and probably the rest of my family, because of those monsters." Tears started to brim her eyes, voice becoming shaky. "Then that woman from the truck died without a name - her goddamn name - and Frank had to be put down like a dog, leaving Nicole without any family left.
"And just when we thought we were safe, we had it made here, Bart ended up getting torn apart by them," CJ flinched at the memory, but Angela hardly noticed, focused on the words coming out of her mouth. "Luda turned into one of those things, which we still have no idea how that happened. Norma and Andre killed each other, and the baby..."
A sob hiccupped from her mouth, tears streaming down her face and she began to cry. Strong arms embraced her, CJ pulling her close and she buried her head in the crook of his neck. Something inside of her had broken, the tears flowing non-stop as her cries became harsher.
"Jesus, Angela," he whispered, patting her back, "I had no idea you were feeling like this."
She sniffled, resting her chin on his shoulder, face red. "I didn't either, I guess I had all that bottled up."
They stayed like that for the next five minutes, letting Angela calm down, her cries dying and tears drying. Despite her eyes stinging and throat aching, she felt relieved, like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders; she hadn't realised how much she had been hiding her feelings, especially after that tragic night, everything building up until it spilled over like a tsunami. The two of them ended up on the floor with their backs against the counter, CJ resting with one leg bent, Angela with both knees up to her chest. She sipped her water, quenching her parched mouth.
"It's a good plan, the only one we've got."
Drinking the last drop, she discarded her bottle, turning her head to face CJ. "I know." Doubt had clouded her mind the past twenty-four hours, but now Angela felt she could see and think more clearly, her rational side kicking in. "I know we have to leave the mall, before it's too late. We've just got to make this work."
A hand clasped hers, CJ squeezing it while looking at her. "We will make this work." A smile graced Angela's lips, thankful for his confidence. "Anyway, I'm glad we're finally getting' out of here."
"Or you're just glad you're not stuck in that cell anymore," she joked, her smile morphing into a smirk. CJ chuckled, Angela following as well.
"And that too," he said, swinging his arm to rest it on her shoulder.
"Thanks," she murmured, using his arm as a pillow, "for being understanding."
"I mean, you could have told me sooner instead of blowing up like that," he said matter-of-factly, hint of playfulness on his face, "but I guess we're both guilty of that now."
"So, we're even then?"
"Even."
Their amusement simmered to soft smiles while they looked at each other, their close quarters comforting. Angela's eyes briefly drifted down, noticing how she had curled her body towards the man next to her, her knees touching his thighs. Meeting his brown eyes again, their smiles faded, replaced with a moment of confusion before desire. The arm around her shoulders tightened, slowly pulling her in closer. Angela's heart rate picked up as their faces neared, CJ calm and confident when his hand moved up through her hair, pulling her soft lips to his. The kiss started sweet, hesitant as their lips froze together, CJ squeezing her tight in his arms.
When he parted her lips, taking lead as the kiss became more heated, her hand pressed firmly against his chest, fingertips tingling when they brushed the soft fabric of his vest. Feeling the harsh hairs of his moustache tickle under her nose, she hummed lowly, her lips now moving in sync with his. Her stomach fluttered wildly, becoming intoxicated by his musky smell, the taste of cigarettes strong. Angela wanted nothing more than this feeling to last forever, for them to melt into each other and forget about the horribleness that was the undead world around them. Instead, they finally pulled apart, though they stayed inches from each other.
Nothing was said when their eyes met once more, faces flushed and lips partially open. Angela felt high, the blood rushing to her head and heartbeat thrumming her eardrums. CJ grinned, resting his chin on top her head, pulling her close enough to feel the vibrations in his chest when he said, "you've no idea how long I've wanted to do that."
"The feeling's mutual," she replied, her nails dancing along his arm.
"Better than you expected?"
Angela scoffed, tilting her head up. "Seriously?"
"As serious as a heart attack, sweetheart."
Nestling back into his chest to hide her smile, she sighed, "so much better."
They remained like that for a while, lost in each other's arms, losing track of time. When they finally remembered they had jobs to do, CJ untangled himself from Angela, standing up and holding a hand out to her.
"C'mon, let's get your lazy add back to work," he said, pulling her upright when she accepted his help, "don't want anyone to think we're slacking."
However, a hand quickly slapped her rear, Angela flinching at the sting that followed. Trying to soothe the area, she looked at CJ, who walked ahead, turning back to give her his smug, shit-eating grin that she had grown accustomed to. Feeling her cheeks heat up, she bit her lip to hide her smile, instead shaking her head.
"You're still a dick, you know that, right?"
"I know, but you like it."
So glad you're all liking the uploads, makes me feel really good! Just wanted to say, Raging Raven hit the nail on the head with their last review. One of the frustrating parts about the film, as much as I love it, is the part about wanting to leave the mall. I mean, at some point they would have to leave when supplies run low, but I felt the group could have waited it out for much longer. (However, they did intend to stay at the mall for at least a couple more weeks according to Kenneth, though the Andy dilemma cut that short).
Also, they definitely didn't take advantage of what the mall offered them. Again like Raging Raven said, they could have better prepared themselves by target practice or training with melee weapons. The characters definitely had more potential. Oh well, no film is perfect, and I hope my fanfic and perception of the story has fleshed it all out a little bit more! Thanks for still following the story! :)
