???
The trip to Flag is uneventful because the roads were cleared quite some time ago, and although it makes it easier to navigate, it also makes me wonder if we haven’t painted a sign directly to our haven for all to see. A worry for another day, I guess.
We drive through the now-defunct roadblock, passing the Quality Inn with the ever-famous sign greeting outsiders with “Aliens Welcome” before continuing toward the downtown area. We knew from our last search that Target was burned to the ground, leaving Walmart, which we stop at first.
It wasn’t a supercenter, so it won’t have much in the way of food, but we can always use other supplies, especially camping stuff and clothes for the cooler weather, which will be a necessity soon.
The parking lot looks like a war zone as we weave past cars left haphazardly, the doors flung open, while others remain tucked neatly within the lines.
The detritus of a once human life, now nothing but a macabre spray of blood on the pavement, turns my stomach. I close my eyes against the vision of so many people attempting to escape the mayhem, which only makes the image stronger. My heart clenches as I think of those who lost the fight.
We may be fortunate to be alive, but days like this remind me that we’re in for a lifetime, if we’re lucky, of continuous fighting just to outrun the Turned. And that’s in addition to our unending need to find food and water.
The inside of Walmart has long since lost power, making the interior black and forbidding. Thoughts of what might linger inside cause me to shiver in the heat, goosebumps rising on my skin. Nothing good comes from wandering around in the dark.
What was I thinking, volunteering for this job?
We pull as close to the doors as possible, with the trucks pointed out for a quick getaway before exiting and forming a circle around Cole.
He assesses the newest additions to our group with an eagle eye before asking, “How proficient are you with a gun?”
Enzo shrugs with a charming smile as his companion, whose name I can’t recall, shakes his head before Sofia says with her signature purr, “I used to hunt squirrel with my daddy.”
Squirrel? Huh.
Cole grunts but doesn’t comment, and I’m left pondering the significance of her statement on my own. Frankly, she doesn’t seem the type to hunt, which makes me wonder what else we don’t know about her. Is this good or bad?
We don’t have time to assess their capability, so Cole does the only thing he can do and pairs them together. Until we know for sure they can be trusted, one of us should not go off alone with them.
They nod and don’t put up a fuss, which I find some relief in, and with that taken care of, we resolve to go in different directions and clear out the store before meeting back at the front when we are done.
This is eerily similar to when the outbreak first started and we searched through a sporting goods store on our way out of town. That ended in a shitshow when a zombie jumped out at me in the dark, and I made my first kill. I shudder at the memory because with the hand to head combat, I thought I might have been exposed. Thankfully, it was a nonissue, but I will never forget my misery as I stood before Cole and tried to beg for forgiveness in the wake of my mercy killing.
As we enter the store, Cole raises his firearm and flashlight, gripping them one in each hand. I follow behind with my trusty tire iron, version 3.0 or something. I’ve gotten used to the weight and grip and would be lost without it at this point.
Manny takes up the rear, his lean face grave as he swivels his head in all directions. We slowly stalk through the store, starting at the far end and walking aisle by aisle.
This is a scenario out of any good horror film, and I can’t help but think we should be running for our lives instead of stupidly walking further into the pitch-black store. My heart, thundering in my chest, concurs.
Cole’s steps are cautious ahead of me, and I struggle to remain equally quiet because sound definitely attracts the buggers, so silence has become our friend.
The store, or what I can see of it in Cole’s flashlight, is ransacked. The goods are now flung in every direction with dummies lying on their sides, clothes pulled from the racks, and smaller items between, rolling and crackling as I step on them.
Manny’s deep breathing behind me isn’t helping because the noise is loud in my ears, and I’m gripping the tire iron so tensely that I’m not sure there is any blood flow in my hands at this point, which is why I almost jump out of my skin when Cole rounds a corner, and a zombie pops up with a hiss. I fight back the scream that crawls to the edge of my mouth and pull the tire iron up in a defensive motion, but Cole drops the zombie with the butt of his gun before I can move.
I can tell from the seesawing breaths chuffing from his mouth that he was taken by surprise as well, and it’s clear that the residents of Flag had not cleared this store, or if they had, there were stragglers hidden away in the shadows.
Cole brings his arms back up and sweeps the flashlight back and forth, pausing on dozens of eyes staring back at us. There must be fifty or so zombies hanging out in the electronics section until we disrupted their shopping.
I can’t stop the words tumbling from my mouth and cringe when I say them, “Oh, shit.”
It’s low enough not to be heard too far away, but it’s too late anyway because they spotted us as soon as we rounded the corner, and Cole took the first one down.
He moves his flashlight over the sea of faces, their heads dark in the gloom but their eyes predatory, before he steps back and says, urgently, “Run!”
I swivel on my feet and take off. I can’t see anything because my flashlight is in my bag, but Manny has his pulled out, and he scans the area with it as we make our way back around the chaos littering the floor. Slipping a little on debris, my legs widen to a painful degree before Cole grasps my arm tightly and pulls me up.
The hold makes me wince, but I’m focused on survival and the tiny aches and pains take a backseat to the real shit. After what feels like hours but is only minutes, we’re back where we started, but when we emerge, Enzo, Sofia, and their sidekick are nowhere in sight.