Chapter 6

Eric Mercer

10:04 AM

I felt so much better, having told Jay about it. Of course, like I had told him, nothing can fill that hole that something like that leaves. But telling him sure made the hole a hell of a lot smaller.

As we neared the door, Jay said something about zombies outside. Lost in my thoughts, I shrugged and opened the door.

About ten zombies stood in a cluster before us as we got outside. Their bodies were streaked with blood and some of them had limbs missing. One guy had an arm missing, one had a chunk missing from his head, and one had both his legs and one of his arms gone!

"Aw, man! Looks like King Arthur got to these guys before we did!" said Jay in mock disappointment.

I shook my head. No matter what the situation, this guy could find humor in it. That's a good quality, I noted.

"So maybe we should go back inside?"

I shook my head.

"Or we can run away. Or fight. Your choice, bud."

I ignored him. At other times, he could be really annoying.

"That M4 still work?" I asked, gesturing towards the large gun strapped to his back.

"I reckon so."

"Get on it, then."

Taking a few steps backwards, Jay reached back and unshouldered his gun. As he did so, I reached into the two holsters on the sides of my belt and produced my two Colt Pythons. I had been saving these for a special occasion, and right now seemed special enough. Since I had swiped these guys from the shelf on the front desk of my store, I had never actually used a Python before, let alone two at the same time. But how hard could it be, right?

Oh, how wrong I was. The recoil blew me backwards into the Burger Shot door. The bullet went wide and whizzed off into the sky. I couldn't believe it. I had been the manager of an Ammu-Nation for ten years and I couldn't even shoot a goddamn Python?

I scrambled to my feet and took aim again. I was determined to get a hit in. This time, I squeezed both triggers. One bullet crashed into a tree, but the other one took a zombie right in the gut. He toppled backwards but was back on his feet in no time. I swore under my breath and glanced at Jay. Jay, on the other hand, was doing fine. Blasting zombies left and right. Rotten flesh flying into the air. It's like he was actually trying to make me look bad.

"Mercer!" he called. "How ya' doing over there?"

"Fine! Just fine!" I replied, caught up in the process of reloading my gun.

Just then, my hand slipped and the Python dropped to the ground. The extra bullets fell after it, hitting the ground and scattering themselves everywhere.

"Dammit." I muttered. At least I still had the second Python. Gripping the...well, grip in both hands, I shot off a few more rounds. This time, I was more fortunate. One bullet struck a zombie straight in the forehead. He sank to his knees and keeled over, dead. The next two took out one of the guys near Jay. The fourth bullet, however, wasn't that helpful. It whizzed through the air and tore off one of the monster's hands. He turned towards me and let out a feral cry. With his arms hanging towards the ground, he began to sort of gallop towards me, picking up speed as he got closer. And this guy was coming fast. I mean, really fast. I reacted by doing the first thing that came to mind: shielding my face.

A gunshot erupted. I slowly opened my eyes. The zombie in front of me had stopped. He had a pained, yet somewhat calmed expression on his face as he slumped to the ground. I sighed and nodded my thanks to Jay. He nodded back.

"So, where now?" I asked.

"We have to enter the city. Check for any people that might still be alive. Then we'll make our way to the Garver Bridge. Then into the desert, and then into Las Venturas. And then we'll get out of here. Or we'll be tragically killed in a painful fashion on the way, I dunno."

"Alright, fair enough."

"Hey, is there an Ammu-Nation in San Fierro?" Jay asked. "I'm running out here."

I shrugged.

"Probably. I don't know where one is, though."

10:35 AM.

We had been walking for twenty minutes. The road and everything else nearby was eerily quiet. I stopped in my tracks, though, when that silence was broken.

"Jay?"

Jay stopped and turned to face me.

"What is it?" he asked.

"You hear that?"

"Um...no."

"You don't? Wait, there it is again."

We both shut up for a minute, trying to listen.

"Dude, you're full of crap. There's nothing there." he stated. Quite rudely, I might add.

"No, I know I heard something."

Suddenly his eyes went wide.

"Hey!" Jay called to something I couldn't see.

Without warning, he took off. Unshouldering his gun, he raced for the building nearest us. Flipping out the chamber of my Python, I loaded in a few bullets and followed Jay.

A girl stood against the west wall of the Avispa Country Club. With a half-eaten hot dog in one hand and a nine-iron in the other, she seemed pretty calm. Coolly tapping her nine-iron against the wall in a steady rhythm, she didn't seem at all concerned about the current events. Or even aware of them, actually.

" 'Scuse me, miss." said Jay as he stepped up. "You alright?"

She shot him a wary, suspicious glance.

"Yeah. Shouldn't I be?"

"Well, I don't know if you know this, but there is actually a zombie invasion of San Andreas going on right now. Didn't you hear the gunfire up the road earlier? At all?"

"Of course I heard it, you idiot. I'm not deaf. Or stupid. I just happen to know how to take care of myself."

She nodded at the golf club at her side, which seemed to have a little blood on the wedge. I shook my head in disbelief. No way could she have fended off a horde of zombies with a golf club. I mean, geez, how could she even let them get that close?

"Well, my friend and I are on our way into San Fierro. Eventually, we're going to escape San Andreas. We're only armed with a few firearms, but we were thinking of restocking our supply. We could use another person in our group. Would you like to tag along?"

Wow. For a cop, he seems pretty welcoming towards strange people.

"Tag along? Is that all you think women are good for, just tagging along?" the girl spat angrily.

Oh no, Jay, get outta there! She's gonna blow!

"Oh..uh, no, that's not what I meant at all!" Jay stammered nervously.

"'Cause if that's what you think, you can take that gun you've got there, and shove it up your ass."

"Sorry. Let me rephrase my question. Would you like to join our group and aid us in battling the zombies and escaping the state? We could really use somebody like you."

And for the first time, the girl smiled.

"That's better."