The streets maintained their haunted appearance as we cruised along slowly. Every so often one or more of the walking dead would be seen meandering along. A couple of times I had to swerve to avoid plowing into them. The street continued to be mostly clear, a fact that we were thankful for. By now I had given up on the radio. Either we were doing somethign wrong or there just wasnt anybodying answering. Wedge, the smaller of our two feline companions, ventured out from beneath the passenger seat and crawled into Braddly's lap, curling up into a small grey ball. Brad rolled his eyes but stroked his fur as he watched the goings on in the car.
"How's the ankle Brad?" asked Darrell
"Swelling."
Darrell turned to me, "Hey, Scott, he's gonne need a wrap for that or an ice pack or something. And... we might need some medical supplies. Y'know, pain killers, bandages, stuff like that."
"Where you going with this, D?"
"Well there's a Walgreens back up avenue Q a bit right. I think the street was mostly clear that way."
"That could be REAL dangerous..."
"He's right though, Scott," Jeff piped up from the back, "We're gonne need stuff like that before this is all over. Assuming no one else is there we'll make it fast. Quick in and quicker out. Zombies won't have time to swarm us."
"I don't know..."
Mara poked her head up from under the passenger seat and mewed at me. I sighed.
"Right, catfood."
With a frown and a digruntled murmer I wheeled around in the middle of the street, heading back the way we came. I was beginning to feel like every time I started to make progress I ended up back-tracking. Turning left onto avenue Q the street was mostly clear, except for that mob of dead people blocking the middle of the road. I stopped the car and looked at Darrell with one of my classic "I told ya so" looks. Darrell shrugged. By now the mob had noticed us and was beginning to shamble in our direction.
Jeff clapped me on the shoulde and yelled, "FLOOR IT SCOTT!"
Gritting my teeth I slammed he accelerator down. The tires only squealed for a moment before catching and we rocketed towards the oncoming zombies. I couldnt help but close my eyes as my bumper collided with the first of the corpses, it tumbled over the hood and off to the side. Several more splattered and crunched into the glass as we forced our way through. I was afraid the windshield would shatter... but it held fast. The last of the zombies was bowled over and curshed beneath the wheels as we cleared the mob and swerved back onto our appointed path. The mob did a slow 180 and headed for us, but were quickly left behind.
I finally opened my eyes. The windshield was blurred with mud, blackened blood, and other assorted bodily fluids. The spray and wiper-blades cleared it well enough, but the stench was still very strong. Jeff and Darrell were still hiding their faces, Braddly had a cat attached to his arm and was busy trying to carefully pry the claws from his skin. The commotion had spooked Wedge badly.
"We're clear," I chuckled.
The others finally looked up.
"Nice driving, owch," Braddly said as he pushed Wedge aside.
"Well I have always been the 'wheelman' of our crew, right, Jeff?"
Jeff nodded and looked behind us, "Wonder how long they'll follow us once we're out of sight."
"Couldn't tell ya," I replied, "Haven't exactly had a lot of time to study the habits of yer garden variety zombie just yet."
Everyone chuckled.
A few moments later the intersection of 50th and Avenue Q came into view. All the traffic lights were flashing red. There weren't many cars around. And the parking lot of the nearby Walgreens store seemed clear. The lights weren't on inside though. We wheeled up to the front door and tried to peer inside.
"Crap," Darrell muttered.
I sighed, "I'll go. Darrell, get the flashlight off that belt. Jeff, you brought duct tape, right?"
"Right here," He began digging through his bag.
"Tape the flashlight to the shotgun so I can see and aim at the same time and I'll get what we need."
"You're not going in there alone, Scott." Jeff locked his gaze on me firmly. Knowing the young man for as long as I had I knew that looke meant there was no arguing with him.
"Awright. Darrell, get on the driver side and stand by, stay on yer feet. Lock and load man, they may be on us before we expect it. Protect Brad till we get back."
"Got it."
"So what's on the list guys?"
Jeff, stroked his chin, "Bandages, asprin, neosporin... lets just grab several of those pre-packaged first aid kits..." he chuckled to himself, "man, this is sounding more and more like a video game."
Wedge mewed from his position on Brad's lap.
"Yes and catfood," I said.
Jeff and I got out of the police car. Darrell angled the spotlight at the door so we had some light going in. The automatic doors didn't open when we approached. 'The power must be off completely,' I thought. Deciding to take the short route I smashed the glass in the doors with the butt of my shotgun, banging it around the edged forcefully to get rid of the large, sharp shards the initial breaking created. Jeff unholstered his gun, clicked the safety, and pulled the hammer back. I had just begun to step inside when Jeff interrupted me.
"Scott," he said inquisitively.
"What?"
"Shouldn't you take the safety off yer gun there?"
I frowned at myself and pulled the safety switch down into the "dangerous" position.
"Smart ass," I muttered.
Clicking the button on the attacked flashlight I stepped through the broken glass door and into the store. The darkness turned the pharmacy/convenience store from a cheerfully decorated establishment into a small, dark, claustrophobic labrynth. Jeff followed close behind as we moved deeper inside. Knowing the layout of this store, the things we needed would be, of course, in the back. We hugged the wall as we moved down the isle leading to the first aid kits and other medical supplies. It was quiet, but not in a peaceful way. It was quiet like a grave in here.
Jeff and I both tensed up as we heard something fall off the shelf an isle over. The sound was followed by a soft sliding noise, a thump, and then another slide. Jeff and I looked at each other. We both nodded as we realized we weren't alone in here. The items we sought were near the corner of the building, at the end of the isle we were walking along. We stepped even more lightly, trying not to alert... whatever was in the isle next to us. We reached the end of the isle, within sight of our goal, but could still hear the shuffling noises across from us. I looked at jeff as we approached the corner. He nodded and levelled his pistol.
Bypassing the first aid kits for now, the two of us spun around the corner, ready to open fire. The flashlight illuminated the source of the noise, and a humanoid form threw its hand up at the sudden light.
"AAH! DONT HURT ME PLEASE!"
Jeff and I both let out the breaths we had held. Jeff lowered his gun. There was a woman standing about 5 feet away. she looked terrified, she was freckled, with light red hair. She was dressed in a lab coat of some kind. Her nametag said "'Jan.' Probably a pharmacist, I thought.
"Whoa, calm down. We thought you might be one of them." I said, trying to sound soothing.
"What's going on? Those... thing... they're all over the place out there."
"We know." Jeff said, having already gone bak around the corner to grab several of the first aid kits.
At this point I saw the blood on her ankle. I raised my shotgun again, the young woman flinched.
"What happened to your leg?"
"I was locking up for the night... there was one under my car and it bit me. I came back inside to get something to wrap it up with, and... that's when you broke in."
My heart sank. I didnt know how much time she had. Not much, I figured, based on the more recently risen zombies we had seen. I felt sorry for her. Just another innocent victim caught up in all this madness.
"Get back," I said forcefully, "you've been bitten."
"What?" she pleaded
"What?" Jeff came around the corner. Several large first aid kits with shoulder straps dangled from him.
"Her ankle... one of them bit her," I sighed.
"What does that mean?" she was beginning to cry.
Jeff raised his pistol, aiming it for her head.
"WAIT! PLEASE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" she sobbed.
"Wait, Jeff, let me explain then she can choose."
Jeff nodded.
"Ok lady listen up. This isn't going to be easy. The 'things,' these zombies, spread some sort of infection or virus or something. When they bite you, you're infected. You'll turn into one of them, eventually."
The woman dropped to the floor.
"No. That can't be true."
"It is, I'm sorry. But I dont know how to stop it. Look at you're ankle."
She pulled her pants leg up slightly. The blood was already turning black around the bite, and little black tendrils were spreading from the site of the wound. The skin there was turning grey. Jeff shuddered, but didnt lower his pistol.
"I don't know how long you have. Not long by all accounts. We'll be gone in a few minutes, but we can make this easier for you." I couldn't believe the words that were coming out of my mouth.
"One shot to the head, and you won't turn into one of them. It's the only way we know of. You're choice, Jan."
"I don't wanna die!"
She was holding her face in her hands, crying. I rubbed my eyes, trying to hide my own tears that were welling up inside me. I knew others were dying in this whole affair, but I hadn't had to deal with it up close and personal like this. Just then we heard two gunshots from outside.
"WE GOT COMPANY!" we heard Darrell shout.
"Last chance, Jan. We're outta here."
"Can't I go with you? Maybe there's a doctor or..."
"No chance," Jeff interrupted, "You can die now or later, lady. The only comfort we can offer is the promise you wont get up again."
"No...no... don't want to die."
"Let it go, Jeff, we gotta get outta here."
Jeff nodded and we ran back towards the door. Reaching it we could see two bodies slumped on the ground about 20 feet form the car. About a dozen more zombies were converging on the parking lot.
Darrell said, "Pretty sneaky for dead guys. They were that close before I heard them."
"Whoa hold up just a sec!" I dashed back inside, emerging a few seconds later with a small bag of catfood.
"Almost forgot." My companions all rolled their eyes.
"Your turn to drive, D!" I called out as me and Jeff piled back into the police cruiser.
"Right!"
I looked back at the shattered door to the store as Darrell dodged past several zombies. Had we done the right thing? I just don't know.