Chapter Nine
Amber's P.O.V
April 22, 2013 19 years young 9:30
Eddie sent us at six this morning on the food run. I was annoyed about this because, well, it's six. I don't get up until eight, Fabian nine.
"Where are we even supposed to go?" I asked.
"I don't know. Maybe we can find another supermarket." Fabian said. He looked exhausted.
"Or maybe a drugstore." I suggested. He shrugged. We had been walking for pretty much three and a half hours now. Not one zombie, not one house, not one store.
"Are we going in circles? We've been walking forever now and it seems like we've come across nothing." I said. Even if we were walking in circles, we should have come across one zombie by now. Even if it was injured or chained to something.
"I don't know. Probably." He shrugged this off like it was nothing. Nothing.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Nothing." Nothing.
I could sense something was going to happen Everything felt more eerie than usual.
After another two hours of walking, we finally came across a drugstore. The light was still working, despite the static flying everywhere. The only letter that remained untouched on the sign was "G". I didn't recognize the store.
The windows were covered in wood, an attempt to barricade the store as a safe house. The walls were splattered with a dark, burgundy blood. Up close it looked crusty and gross.
The parking lot had at least ten corpses. The majority of them were unturned. Most looked like they hadn't been shot in the head, to prevent infection.
"We better stab the unturned ones in the head." Fabian said. I shook my head.
"There's no time, they won't do anything anyway." I said.
"Now come on." I said pulling on his hoodie's sleeve.
The store stunk of roadkill, rancid milk, and dead bodies. We both gagged when we entered the store.
"Okay, we should both split. You do this half, I'll do the other. If you're being attacked, yell, I'll do the same. Also, you should probably cover your nose. I don't know how much longer I can take this." Fabian said. I nodded and pulled my sweatshirt over my nose. I walked to the aisle closest to the left wall. It was full of children's toys. Barbies, Littlest Pet Shops, Disney action figures, Hot Wheels, etc. The second half of this long aisle was cosmetics. Maybe I could steal some.
I found some makeup and nail polish I wanted and put it in the dufflebag. I spotted a hair straightener.
"Smooths those puffy locks!"
I grabbed it. Maybe I could slide it in the bag of supplies we give K.T. That afro has to go.
Aisle after aisle I found nothing useful, food wise anyway, until the middle aisle. Candy. Loads of it. Chocolates, twizzlers, hard candy, everything. I know it isn't energy food, but I grabbed as much as I could.
Fabian and I met at the middle cash register. The stuff in his dufflebag was sticking out of the sides. We should probably find some new duffle bags. These are pretty shitty.
"I guess I had the food side of the store." Fabian said.
"I had the toy and cosmetics side." I shrugged. He looked down at my bag.
"You're still girly, Amber." He smirked.
"Oh yeah? Well you're still geeky. Deep down in there somewhere." I laughed. He scoffed. Things were going so well, until the door busted open. Dozens and dozens of zombies screeched as they piled into the store.
"Umm…" I said, panicked.
"Whatever you do, do not go to the back of the store." Fabian said slowly walking to the side of the store he was on. I pulled out my gun and followed him slowly, walking backwards. I started shooting at the horde. Bodies were dropping as I shot, Fabian joined in. But the horde seemed to be getting larger. They slowly started coming at us. I turned to Fabian. He always knows what to do. He's smarter than all of us. He knows.
For once, I finally saw Fabian. The real Fabian. Scared, confused, hyperventilating, worried, being human.
The human, innocent, geeky, helpless, Fabian.
He doesn't know what to do. You can see the confusion and shock in his face. I put the fun to my head. There's no way we'll make it out of here alive.
"JESUS CHRIST AMBER!" Fabian screamed pulling the gun out of my hand. My face was wet from tears and sweat. They're getting closer…
Fabian shot at them with my gun and his, quickly shooting alternative guns. Bullets flying. Bodies dropping. Zombies screaming, slowly coming closer. Once Fabian made a dent in the horde, they'd all push forward so more zombies could fill in that dent.
He eventually ran out of ammo. I think I was stunned by my fear.
"We have to get in the horde with melee weapons." Fabian said pulling out his machete. I gulped and grabbed my crowbar with my sweaty palms.
We both took a deep breath then charged into the horde. I bashed and bashed and bashed in zombies' heads until I could finally see the door. I felt a sharp, horrible pain on my left calf, but I thought nothing of it. I finally made it out the door, Fabian right behind me. We slammed the door shut and put our backs to it, trying to keep it shut as the zombies tried to push it open.
"Are you okay?" He asked kicking the door closed with his back to the door. I noticed he had blood slowly staining his hoodie's sleeves. I looked down at my left that I felt the pain on. Blood was also slowly staining the leg of my jeans.
"I don't know. I don't know if you are either. We have to get out of here, is all I know." I said.
"Yeah, you're right." Fabian agreed. On the count of three, we both let go of the door and ran as fast as we could away from the store. Those bodies from the parking lot were gone.
I had a feeling I knew what our blood stains were caused from.