Survival
By: Chase Buie
Summary: A clumsy teenaged girl finds herself living with a group of strong, nomadic survivors in a world where the dead walk.
Chapter 1
She had no idea how she'd made it this long. It had been three weeks since Summer Plum had first heard about what was going on. At that time she didn't see it as a big deal that she should get worked up about. Her parents had heard on the radio that people were gathering at this church down the street from where she used to live and that it was going to be a safe haven until the dilemma blew over. It wasn't long before it turned bad.
There were hundreds of people piled into that church, but just one of them was infected. One became two, and two to four. Whatever it was that made those people like that spread like a grass fire through the "safe haven" and it wasn't too long before Summer and her family were in an extreme danger.
Her father died by throwing his body onto one of those things that was coming at her mother. The attempt to save her life was successful, but only for a few minutes. More of those things came and got to her mother.
Some how she'd found her way to the local grocery store, though she couldn't recall the trip there. It had all been instinct and adrenaline. For the next three weeks she called the grocery store her home.
Summer woke up for the morning with a yawn full of air and a stretch. Her wavy brown hair fell into her face and she was forced to push it back behind her ears. Blinking the sleep out of her eyes, she looked around the dim room and started to work her way up. Her beautiful features looked puffy from the long night's sleep.
She'd decided that her best bet was to sleep in the manager's office that was located upstairs and away from the rest of the store. It was slightly isolated and had a heavy wood door that had a lock on it. She put together a makeshift bed that consisted of torn cardboard boxes for cushion and newspaper for covers. It wasn't much, but it was all she could manage.
She sat up and pulled the newspaper off as she wiped her sparkling blue eyes. She started the day the same way that she had started every one that she had spent in the store. She stood up, stretched and walked over to the locked door. Placing her ear to the door, she listened for any shuffling or noise that might be coming from the store below. Sure enough it was as silent as space, which meant it was presumably safe.
She had to take many precautions because she had no luck in finding a weapon in the store and her small 18 year-old body was not built for fighting. If one of those things got to her she knew she stood little or no chance.
Reaching out, Summer grasped the cold, metal doorknob with one hand and unlocked it with the other. She cracked the door slightly so that she could look out to observe the scene. The rest of the store was out of sight because of the staircase, but as far as she could tell it was clear.
She pushed the door all the way open and stepped out slowly, making sure to leave it open incase she needed to get in quickly. It wasn't hard for her to be silent as she made her way down the stairs because of her 5'6 and 110 lb body. The only problem was the whooshing sound that her clothes made.
Summer had found a clothes department in the store, but it was small and there was very little that fit her. She was used to American Eagle, Hollister, and Abercrombie and Fitch because she was an only child, but if she didn't want to smell horrible she had to settle with the off brand clothes that she'd found. At the moment she was wearing a red tank top that was made by some company she'd never heard of and a pair of levis.
There was no door dividing the staircase from the rest of the store, so when he made it to the bottom she could see at the main door was still locked and the makeshift barricade was still placed in front of it; it was a shelf that had at one time held ramen noodles.
The large store was very dim because the only light source was from the skylights that were scattered all over the ceiling. There was one in manager's office as well, but it was too high to reach so it couldn't be used as an escape route. If she could have figured out a way to move the large desk that sat in there over so that it rested under the light she might have been able to use it, but it was just too heavy for her.
The lighting was even worse than usual. Once under one of the lights she could see that it was stormy outside. It had been too long since she felt the sensation of rain on her face.
She went about her daily routine, starting with breakfast. She weaved her way through the isles, making sure to stay away from the dairy and meat isle, until she got to the canned goods. It was on the far end of the store from the stairs and she really hated to be there. She hurried up in choosing her breakfast. She knew it would be sardines of some sort, but she didn't know which flavor. Deciding upon fish stakes in Louisiana hot sauce, she grabbed up two cans and made her way back to the safety of the staircase.
She stopped along the way at what she called "the library". It was the section of the store that they kept the cheesy romance novels, word puzzles, and tabloids. She picked up one entitled Lustful Desires and started flipping through it. She'd gotten tired of doing crosswords and mazes and she'd read the same issue of the National Inquirer over ten times. It was a last resort, but she had to do something to make the day pass.
She decided that Lustful Desires would be the read of the day and headed back to the staircase. The stairs ended up being where she spent most of her time. It overlooked most of the store and, most importantly, it overlooked the entrance.
She opened up the can of sardines and opened the book. It was hard to eat and hold the book open at the same time, but she managed. The book started off with a dirty sex scene that made Summer upset. It had been three weeks since she'd even seen a guy, and she was awfully lonely. She knew that the book would end up making her cry because of her longing for companionship, but she kept reading anyways.
"That is so far fetched", she said to herself as she read the erotic pages. She'd found that talking to herself helped out a lot for some reason. Not hearing anything at all creeped her out, so she found herself saying little one liners just to make herself feel better. Late at night she'd talk herself to sleep because nightmares filled her slumbers.
BANG! BANG!
She jumped at the sound that was made from outside some where. She looked around her to see an empty can and the book lying on the ground next to her.
"Shit, I fell asleep." She scorned herself.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Three clashes this time, but now there was no pause in between them. Suddenly she remembered why she'd been pulled from her dream. She looked to the door to see that the shelf had moved a few inches. Something was banging on the door from outside, and it wanted in.
BANG! BANG!
Her heart froze as she watched the door jump in sync with the noise. She couldn't move and all her thoughts stopped. She realized what was probably outside and in a flash she knew that she wouldn't make it out of the store alive. They'd found her and there was nothing she could do about it.
BANG!
The final clash broke her of her paralysis and she had two choices. She could either throw herself against the barricade and hope they went away, or she could lock herself upstairs. She made her mind up quickly as there was another four bangs from outside.
She got to her feet and spun around in a speed she didn't know she was capable of. Her feet moved quickly, carrying her up the stairs and into the room. Pulling the door shut behind her, she locked it as quick as she could.
She took a step back and looked at the door as if she could see through it. A few minutes later she heard a crash as the shelf fell down. They were inside. She could hear them moving around downstairs and the stinging tears behind her eyes won as she started to cry.
All at once she felt as if there wasn't enough air in the room, her stomach felt as if it were being tied in knots, and the tears rolling down her cheeks became more frequent. She hadn't known she'd been walking backwards away from the door until her back was pressed against the far wall.
Footsteps on the stairs echoed in the long hall. She knew that they were just outside her door and there wasn't anything she could do to better her situation. The realization of her own death slammed into her like a sledgehammer.
BANG!
A forceful blow was given to the door from the outside, and it made her whole body jump. She slid down the wall into a sitting position where she proceeded to hug herself. She was forced to let out a breath that she hadn't known she was holding and her lungs felt as if they might explode.
The next bang was followed by the swinging of the door. She saw it in slow motion as she prepared herself to look at the last thing she'd ever see. The door swung open and slammed into the wall that was parallel with it. She was surprised by what her eyes took in.
There, in the doorway was a human figure dressed in a thick black suit. The outfit almost looked like bed mattresses. She noticed on the chest of the man there were words in a bold white. "Canine Training Suit". His or her face was covered by a firefighter's mask. Whoever it was had their whole body covered up and there was nothing showing.
"Come on." The words that came from under the mask were defiantly male, but they came out muffled. It reminded Summer of Darth Vader. She couldn't have cared less what the voice sounded like; it was another human voice and she was glad to hear it.
The popping of an automatic gun sounded off from downstairs and she realized that the mystery man wasn't alone.
"Are you coming?" Darth's voice again.
She stood up from her sitting position, but she continued to hug herself. The tears on her face had stopped coming, but her cheeks were still wet and her eyes were red and puffy. She made her way over to the man, unsure of what was going on. He stepped back down to the staircase and let her out of the room.
He was halfway down the stairs when she first came out. Several more shots were fired and it let her know that those things were in fact inside. Did they get in and then the men came to save her or did they come in and let the monsters in as well.
She slowly made her way down the stairs, noting the fact that the erotic novel was still at the base of the stairs. How embarrassing that would have been if she weren't afraid for her life. She'd feel stupid about it later, but for now she was trying to figure out what was going on.
Once she got to the bottom of the stairs she saw a scene that she hadn't expected. There were five people in the store. Two men stood in the doorway with automatic rifles aimed outside. They were both wearing the body suits as well and it was obvious that they were guarding the door. One of them fired a few rounds into an approaching monster, sending it to the ground. The other three men were wearing random articles of clothing that weren't important except for firemen helmets. She found that odd, but what about this wasn't odd. The three men in regular clothing were filling large burlap sacks with food, water, and miscellaneous items. The shelf lay out of the way of the door, and next to it were three, truly dead corpses. The decaying skin gave off a foul odor that reached her nose almost instantly. She gagged a few times before regaining her composer.
Her first thought was that they were looters, but usually a looter wouldn't try to rescue a stranded girl. The sixth man walked into her sight from beside her. He was the one that she had met upstairs.
"Come with me." He said as he motioned with his hand. He was asking her to follow him to the door. Her first thought was to turn and run back upstairs, but these guys had guns and they seemed pretty organized. She followed hesitantly.
He spun around to see that she was moving slowly and he barked out at her. "Faster!"
It was enough to get her moving. She stepped up right behind him as he approached the two men guarding the door. One of them stepped out of the way, letting Summer and the mysterious man through. She followed the man outside to find a large, black SUV and a red pickup truck.
It was in fact storming outside and she got to feel the drizzle of rain on her exposed skin. A chill ran up her spine and got cold very quickly. She crossed her arms over her chest as she took in the sky. It was dark and dreary all over. The sky was a light gray with darker gray clouds blotted all over it.
In the back of the pickup there was a mounted machine gun and a man behind it. He wasn't firing at anyone, but he had it aimed on the approaching dead. The man in the black suit opened the back door to the SUV, which I found was a Trail Blazer.
"Get in." He kept it short and sweet as he motioned for her to hope in the vehicle.
She did as he asked and he closed the door behind her. The car was clean on the inside and smelt new. It had been a while since she'd smelt anything pleasant because the odor of spoiled meat had started to fill the store.
Her eyes drifted to the driver's seat were she found a rather young man sitting. He was a few years older than summer, but not many. His face was unshaved and grizzly, but he was still young so it wasn't too bad. He wore a torn, dirty shirt and blue jeans. He looked back at her through a pair of black sunglasses, the type that old pilots were. He had on a straw cowboy hat that hid his hair, but she could tell it was long because his bangs hung out.
"What--" She had trouble speaking. "What's going on?" She asked.
"You've been rescued." He said with a smile. His voice was upbeat, young, and had a slight southern draw. It would have been a pleasant sound, even in the world before the dead walked. Now it was a golden nugget surrounded by dirt.
She looked out the windows as three of the men ran to the truck, one getting in the cab and two hopping in the back. The other three men ran for the Trail Blazer and got in. One of the men was her savior.
As soon as the doors were closed, the tires peeled out and they took off down the road.