Everyone on the roofs of the trucks had to hold on for dear life as the vehicles moved. They waded through the undead until the first truck stopped, the three behind it got back into formation. It was the same drill: take out the ones in the middle of the truck before focusing on the rest.
About an hour and a half later it looked like the job was done. They waited another twenty minutes to wait for any other zombies to arrive, and only two stragglers showed up. The area was declared secure for the moment.
All four trucks were then positioned right in front of the super market, and the Commander called for attention. "Okay, this is what is going down. Alpha will comb this town street by street to look for any survivors. Bravo and Delta, you're going to sweep through the grocery store, take out any remaining infected, and start loading up. Charlie, you are to stay outside and stand guard. Any questions?"
There were none. After Alpha left Cameron became curious about the person that had received a bite. He found the poor soul sitting against one of the tires, looking sickly, and with bloody jeans. The man was already given three options: shoot himself, let someone else do it, or die from the bite and be shot before reanimation. He had chosen the third, and was now waiting for death.
But Cameron couldn't dwell. He took a magazine out from the box, and stuck it in his back pocket before taking his position at the grocery store's door. The market had two entrances on opposite ends of the building. Bravo took one, and Delta the other.
"On my mark," Sergeant Isturez ordered from Bravo. "Move slowly, keep guns at the ready. Okay, move out."
The doors were supposed to be automatic but didn't open. Two men on his end (named Red and Walsh if Cameron recalled correctly) tried to pry them apart but to no avail. The same was happening at the other set of doors. Isturez counted to three, and the glass doors were shot out. Cameron readied himself again incase any infected came running.
Nothing. Istrurez gave the signal and the two teams slowly proceeded inside, the shattered glass crunching loudly under their feet. Cameron became a lot tenser, he pulse got faster, and his hands got sweatier. This was easily the most dangerous part of the excursion.
Sure, they had that one problem on top of those trucks, but for the most they were safely out of reach. But it was completely different story on the ground. Not only that but it was dark in that market. The power must've already failed.
The dark was not your friend in zombie country. Even within Yuba Cameron was always watching his back for fear of a zombie sneaking up on him. Call him paranoid, but goddamn if that didn't happen in every zombie movie. Only a few had the sense to bring along flashlights.
Cameron and Horace got behind a person that did bring a light. Together the three of them split up from the rest of the group, checking their designated aisles. Horace kept his gun trained in front of them, while Cameron kept an eye on the rear.
He heard a gunshot from outside, which signified the end of bitten person's life. A small part of him felt guilty for the one casualty they took. It was Cameron who initially pointed out the problem, which lead to the brief ceasefire that cost that guy's life. Fuck, he thought, exhaling loudly and trying to put it out of his mind.
There were eventually three more shots taken within the market. After fifteen minutes the store was declared secure. With that all canned foods, breads, and every other nonperishable item was loaded up onto the trucks. The smell was unbearable whenever Cameron had to get near the fruits, vegetables, and meats.
Eventually Cameron saw that nobody had touched the sodas. It's been weeks since his last dose of carbonated water and high fructose corn syrup, and he noticed that other people were taking personal goodies of their own. So, nonchalantly, Cameron grabbed himself a case of Coca-Cola.
"What the hell is that, Marsh?" he heard Isturez ask from behind.
"C'mon, Sarge," Cameron argued, securing the case in his arms. "You didn't stop anybody from grabbing every goddamn case of beer!"
Isturez sighed, and made a passive "carry on" gesture.
Cameron went outside and stashed his soda under the benches. Charlie was still sitting on top of the truck keeping watch, and he saw as Alpha was returning from the town. He went back into the market to get back to work.
The market was emptied virtually of every nonperishable item in two hours. Alpha, it turned out, managed to rescue five people from town. Those weren't all happy rescues, though. Cameron heard later how some family members had to be left behind because they were bit.
But unfortunately that was the new world they lived in. Those people looked close to starvation, and were eagerly eating what was being salvaged.
By seven in the afternoon, the sun was going down, and it was time to head back. It was a tight fit in the back of the truck due to all the supplies, and that made it an even more uncomfortable ride. What would happen whenever they ended up salvaging from an even bigger place?
"Hell of a day, huh?" Horace groaned.
"Yup," Cameron had to agree. He was tired and hungry. But since he wasn't one of the starving survivors, he couldn't have anything until they got back.
In a strange way, it was a relief when the door opened up again to reveal that they were back in Yuba. A fairly large crowd had gathered to welcome them back, and Cameron was glad to see that Marge and Jack were among them. At that instant Cameron realized that that place had become home—an overcrowded and undersupplied home, but home nonetheless.
Grabbing his Coke case, he hopped out of the truck to greet his surrogate family.
"So how many zombies you kill?" Marge asked, hugging him after he set the Coke down.
"Shit load," he answered, trying to keep quiet enough so Jack wouldn't hear the profanity.
Night had fallen, and all Cameron wanted was to go back to the house and get to bed. But now the unloading had to be done. Grumbling, he asked Marge to take the soda and stash it in the fridge, while he began to help move everything to the community center's kitchen.