CHAPTER 3: PEOPLE IN THE PLAZA
I was on the floor with a lady covered in darkness. I hesitated to answer her. "Who are you?" She demanded again, this time she pointed the rifle right in my face. "Um...I'm...a Charlene or Charlie for short. Who are you ma'am?" I responded quickly. She lowered her rifle and moved closer to me. "I am Jennifer Collins." She walked past me and to one of clothing racks. I watched her until she was out of sight and picked myself up. I was abler to see into the small department store. A small bit of light was visible through the roof. The racks were full of cloths and I saw a small group of people in the distance.
"Hey girl," someone said from the back of the room," what's happenin'?"
"I think I figured it out!" A woman shouted from somewhere. Suddenly the lights went on and blinded me. I blinked a few times and was finally able to see everybody. There were six people in the back, including Jennifer. Two girls and four guys. "That solved it I think," a woman said coming in from the right side. Seven people in total count now.
"What's up with all that stuff girl? planning a hist or something?" The man who was shouting was a tall black man, slender in appearance. He wore a business type outfit that looked gangsterish. "No, I'm just trying to stay alive. Aren't you," I responded. "Of course, I wouldn't be here if I wasn't," he said and laughed.
I walked towards them and they watched me carefully. I knew they were spoked about me coming in out of no where and were a bit curious as to why I showed up all of a sudden. "D o I scare you guys?" "No, not at all," Another tall man blurted out. "Have you been bitten? Anywhere at all?" One of the girls asked nervously. I paused and looked at them. "No,"I said quietly," I haven't been infected."
"We ought to know each other then," Jennifer butted in. "As you know, I'm Jennifer." "I'm Daimon," the black guy said. "I am Carren," she said and shook my hand. "And I am Rus or Rustle. Which ever you choose.""I am Mark and this is Peter," Mark motioned to his left side the a small nervous man. "He don't talk much, shy you know." I nodded. "And I am Tammy," she shook my hand quickly," I am the engineer if you like." "Now who are you?" Rustle demanded. "I am Charlie. Is that everyone?" "Yea, but I think there was one more," Tammy responded," I think he's lost or something. I'm not sure."
"Now that we know everyone, I think we ought to board down the place. Wouldn't you agree?" I asked, to make sure everyone wanted to do the same."Yea, but how? I don't want to go anywhere alone,"Carren squeaked out. "We won't have to, this is a plaza isn't it? We just split up into two groups that go opposite ways. Since there are seven of us w can have a group of three and one of four." Mark and Peter stood together holding hands, apparently they weren't going to be separated."How 'bout this," I said louder so I could be clearly heard," Peter, Mark, Carren and Rustle will be one group." "Okay, fine," said Rustle," I don't mind." "Rustle," I said to try and control his frustration. "Yea what?" "Pick the way you want to go." "My group will go right, you can go left." "Fine."
We all went our separate ways. I went with Tammy, Daimon, and Jennifer down the left side. The doors were all connected next to each other. The side door lead to the storage room, and that lead to another store. We were In a small food court. "Sweet," Daimon remarked," food." He went straight behind a counter and pulled out a bag of chips. "I think we are lucky that this place is mostly wood and not glass," Tammy said. "I'm not so sure about that," I whispered to myself. I knew how strong they could be if they really wanted to be.
I walked down to a counter, everyone else seemed to be doing the same, and decided to try and find food. I came to a Mcdonald's counter. I went behind the counter and saw a made hamburger on the back counter. I didn't eat, just as a precaution. I became distracted by the sound of some low noise in the distance. I pulled up my gun slightly and made my way to the noise. The others didn't seem to care or notice anything else other than food. I continued to walk towards the noise. I walked slowly and tried not gain any attention to myself, it might be nothing to worry about. I didn't want to end being embarrassed in the end.
The noise led me to a tiny closet in between Mcdonald's and Dairy Queen. Probably a storage room or something. I walked over to it carefully and opened it carefully. I looked inside and didn't see anything. I sighed and decided it was probably a mouse or something. I began to turn away but paused at a sound of ruffling. I looked over my shoulder to see if there something there. Nothing happened. "Hey Char' we got some chocolate!" Daimon shouted. I took one step forward and was instantly knocked off my feet.
I flipped my body around quickly and with great force. I managed to get myself facing the ceiling. The zombie ran straight for me again. I barley managed to keep him from bitting my neck. "Isn't anyone going to help me?" I shouted as loud as I could to be heard over the zombie. The zombie had bitten in several places. He had blue piercing eyes and blonde hair that fell a slightly over his face. I struggled to keep him off me. Jennifer rushed over to the rescue. She leapt over the Dairy Queen counter and pulled the zombie off of me. He turned and bit Jennifer in the arm. I stood quickly and shot him in the back. He fell to the ground from the force of the gunshot. I fired another shot at the back of his head. He stopped fighting for food but was still twitching.
"Can you make it stop moving?" Tammy asked, she seemed nervous around a twitching zombie. "Maybe," I responded," do you want me to find out?" Tammy nodded. I fired another shot at its head. It was still moving in spasms. I fired two more times, just to be sure. It lied motionless on the ground. "That's the bloke who went missing earlier," Jennifer said. "He bit you Jennifer." I muttered to her in a calm and some what hostile voice. "What should we do," Carren was nearly panicked and it was in her voice. "I'm not going to stand near you anymore,"Daimon said sarcastically," I'm not gonna get my head blown off."