“Twelve in the infantry. You?”

  “Ten, then I joined Hamilton County.”

  He frowned. “You’re a cop? You’re a cop?” he stammered.

  “Oh he’s a bright spark,” Ryland said. “Light dawns on marble head.”

  He shuffled in his seat. “Let me out.”

  “We’ll let you out once we have what we need. Don’t worry, we aren’t going to take everything.”

  “Really? And there was me thinking we were going to strip this place bare,” Ryland said looking in the drawers for a set of keys to open up the glass cabinet. “Hey mister, where are the keys?”

  When he didn’t respond fast enough, Ryland reared his foot back and smashed the front.

  “Hey! Come on, man.”

  “I gave you a chance.”

  “I was about to tell you.”

  “Oh? My bad.” Ryland crouched and reached in and started hauling out boxes of ammo. “Right, what do we need?”

  “.40 cal,” Lola said. She already knew, making Ryland glance at her like she was some kind of expert.

  “Remarkable. How long have you known how to fire one of those?”

  “Two years.”

  He pulled a face then handed her a box of .40 S&W.

  “I can’t believe it. How can you live with yourself? You’re a cop. You’re meant to stop this kind of shit.”

  “It was a career choice, not a calling,” he responded. “And quite frankly, it was a little overrated. I spent more time as a glorified pen pusher than dealing with anything exciting. Then if you take into consideration all the criminals that are still out there because the justice system let them go free, or gave them the minimum sentence, yeah, you could say I’m a little jaded by it all.”

  “So now you lead this band of hooligans?”

  Daniels was checking out a Mossberg Chainsaw pump-action shotgun.

  “Me? No. Don’t lump me in with them. I just can’t seem to shake them.”

  I chuckled. “By the way, what happened to the shotgun from your house?”

  “It’s jammed down someone’s throat. Ran out of ammo, had to improvise.” He sniffed hard and pulled down a tactical duffel bag, unzipped it and tossed the shotgun in.

  “That’s going to cost you six hundred,” the old man said.

  Daniels laughed. “Put it on my tab, I’ll clear it as soon as the world goes back to normal.”

  “Bastard. You’re a disgrace to the shield.”

  “Whatever, buddy.” He turned his attention to the rest of us. “Just take whatever you can carry. We don’t want to strip the old man bare.”

  I grabbed a large black duffel bag and went to work loading it with three AR-15s, two Glocks and enough ammo to last a couple of days. I didn’t want to carry too much.

  “Oh beauty!” Ryland said reaching for a top-of-the-line crossbow. He looked down and sucked air between his teeth. “I’ve gotta have this bad boy. Oh, and…” He reached over and pulled off a Marlin 336 lever action.

  Over the next ten minutes we went on a shopping spree while the old guy looked on despondently. In that time it would have been easy to forget that Jamal, and the others were still outside trapped in the vehicle. Ryland looked over the moon. There was a new sense of hope. I’d never fired a gun in my life but I figured it couldn’t be too hard. Diehard gun owners might have wanted to give me a lecture on safety, handling and all that jazz but right then I didn’t think it mattered. Besides, I considered myself a quick learner.

  “You got any vests?” Daniels asked. The old man scowled at him. He wasn’t going to make it easy for us. While Daniels went out back to search boxes, I turned my attention to the guy.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Vern Michaels.”

  “When did you close up shop?”

  “Two days ago.”

  “You wouldn’t have seen a tall guy, goatee, wearing a Yankees baseball cap, would you?” I was referring to Nick. After what Felix from the gun store in Long Lake had said, I figured they might have come this way.

  “Kid, I’ve seen a lot of folks.”

  “What about an oversized, musclebound dude wearing hunting gear and a cap that said Prepare Today, Survive Tomorrow?” Ryland asked. Vern gave him a look of disgust.

  “Maybe I did see them, maybe I didn’t. I’m not telling you shit.”

  “Yeah, real nice. Maybe we should strip this place bare,” I said. I started to lose my temper. All I wanted to know was where my brother was, and I was in no mood for some asshole who had a chip on his shoulder.

  “I guess we’ll take everything then,” I said.

  “Please. This is my livelihood.”

  I got real close to him and looked him in the eye. “So did you see him?”

  He sniffed, a final act of defiance.

  “Okay, maybe you need a little incentive.”

  I walked over to the counter, dropped the bag down and took out a magazine, loaded it with bullets and slapped it back in, bringing one into the chamber. I headed across and pressed it against the front of his head. “Now let’s do this again.”

  “Scott, put it down,” Daniels said.

  “Not until he answers the fucking question. DID YOU SEE HIM?”

  “Yes!” he hollered back. “Yes. He was in here with the other guy, looking for ammo. They purchased a couple of boxes and headed out. Seemed like they were in a hurry. That’s all I know.”

  “Which way did they go?”

  He didn’t respond so I shouted the question in his face again as that was all that seemed to get through to him.

  “North,” he spat out. “That’s all I know.”

  North? Where were you going, Nick? I pulled the gun away from Vern’s face.

  “Now was that hard?”

  He spat a wad of phlegm near my feet and I threatened to backhand him. He flinched, and I shook my head. “You’re not worth it.”

  We continued filling up the bags with a few more guns. I took a few extras for the others, there was no telling when we would come across another store. The fact that this place hadn’t been raided was a miracle in itself. Then again, maybe Vern had managed to keep others at bay.

  “All right, you ready to head out?” Daniels asked.

  “Nearly,” Ryland said. Daniels walked over and asked me if I knew how to shoot.

  I admitted I didn’t, and that got a laugh out of Vern. “Fucking amateurs.”

  “Watch your tongue,” I replied. “Or maybe we’ll leave a shutter open.”

  His cast his gaze down at the floor while Daniels went over some basics. Once he was done, I wandered off down the hall to find a bathroom. A quick piss and I’d be ready to head out. That was another thing we had to start thinking about — hygiene. It wouldn’t be long before the water would shut off. With no one to man the machines, society would eventually come to a grinding halt.

  “Hurry it up,” Daniels said. “I want to get out of here before several hundred zombies make their way inside.”

  “If they do, it’s because of you all,” Vern added with a scowl on his face.

  I wandered up the corridor using an LED flashlight that I’d snagged from behind the counter. I trudged up the stairs to the second floor and located the washroom at the end of the hall. I pushed the door open and approached the toilet. The shower curtain was pulled closed. I unzipped and went about relieving myself when I heard movement. At first it was subtle, then more noticeable. I finished up and put the small flashlight in my mouth and brought the Glock up. My pulse started racing, and I felt my throat go dry as I reached for the curtain. Three, two, one… I yanked it open… and I couldn’t believe my eyes. Huddled together were an adult male, a woman in her twenties and a kid not much older than seven. Their mouths were gagged, and they had been bound together. Rope had been tied over the showerhead. They jerked back, a look of fear on their faces. What the hell?

  “I’m not going to hurt you,” I said leaning in and pulling off masking tape from the man’s lips. “Who are you?”

  “Please. Help.”

  “Who are you?” I repeated.

  “He put us here. We just…”

  He didn’t need to tell me but he went into detail explaining how they had tried to get a gun to protect themselves. Vern had tied them up. If I hadn’t seen what he had attempted to do to us, I wouldn’t have believed it. I figured when all hell broke loose, people would have killed, maybe scared others away but not taken them captive. There were definitely a few screws loose in Vern’s head. I released their binds and helped them out of the bathroom before heading downstairs. When I walked in the room, the guy I’d released rushed past me and threw a hook punch to Vern’s jaw knocking him off the chair. Daniels was quick to get between them.

  “What the hell is going on?”

  “Found them upstairs. He wasn’t lying about us not being the only ones who tried to get in.”

  Daniels turned to Vern and scowled. “And you had the nerve to call me out?”

  “They were going to rob me.”

  The man I’d freed lunged forward, slipping around Daniels and kicking Vern in the gut.

  “Sonofabitch!” He heaved and groaned in pain.

  “All we wanted was a gun. One lousy gun.”

  “It wasn’t yours to take,” Vern said through gritted teeth.

  Daniels nudged me. “Any more back there?”

  “No, that’s it,” Vern replied. We gave him a skeptical look. “See for yourself.”

  Daniels headed out and went through the rooms clearing them. He returned within a few minutes and approached Vern. “We’re heading out. We’ll close the shutters behind us.” He motioned for us to leave. We would exit via the shutter on the east side of the house. We’d entered on the west. Daniels and I were the last ones out of the room.

  “Hey! What about letting me out of this zip tie?”

  Daniels paused in the doorway. “Find your own way out.”

  Oh Brother

  Emerging from that gun store, we felt a hell of a lot more prepared. Sure, it didn’t make me feel any less fearful, but we didn’t have as hard a time working our way back to the truck. It hadn’t got any better outside. It was darker, and that meant it was going to be harder to find Nick. I was beginning to think I wouldn’t see him again. Doubt crept in at the back of my mind. What if he was out there, shuffling along with the rest of the mindless freaks, nothing more than a shell of a human? I hadn’t stopped to think about what losing him might mean, or what any of this meant to the others. Tobias was suffering, his sister wasn’t here, and his father, well there was no telling if he’d bitten the dust. The rest of us had no clue about our parents. Were they alive or dead? All we had was a faint sliver of hope keeping us moving. I glanced at the others as I got inside. They could have left, but they hadn’t. Why not?

  “About time. We were about to leave your asses.”

  “I bet you were,” Daniels said.

  “Hey, remember, we’re the ones giving you a ride.”

  “Give it a rest, Jamal,” I said, getting comfortable. I unzipped the bag and started handing out handguns to Alexa and Eli. The truck rumbled away knocking over three Zs and crushing them below the wheels. The family we’d saved headed for their home close to the store. We offered them a ride but they declined. At least now they were armed.

  “Where’s mine?”

  “Oh, I got something real special for you,” I replied reaching into the bag and pulling out a small flick knife. We all chuckled as Jamal looked on in disgust. We drove towards McLaughlin Avenue. I could hear Daniels quietly talking to his daughter, trying to reassure her that everything was going to be okay. Though she could probably shoot an apple off someone’s head at a hundred yards, that didn’t mean she was immune to anxiety and the fear of the unknown.

  “What house number is it?” Jamal asked.

  Daniels told him and he gave the engine more gas. When we arrived, Daniels insisted that we go on. He hopped out taking his duffel bag loaded up with all that he needed to ride out the storm.

  “We’ll wait for you.”

  “No we won’t,” Jamal said.

  He waved us off. “It’s okay.”

  “We’ll swing by and check on you before we leave.”

  “No we won’t,” Jamal added again, this time not even looking at us.

  Daniels put a hand on my shoulder and smiled. “You got balls, kid.” He winked. “Try not to shoot them off with that gun. Remember what I told you.”

  “I got it.”

  “Oh and look for an antibiotic by the name of Cephalexin. It’s commonly used with wound infections. Best of luck.” He turned, and they jogged off around the back of the red brick house. Lola looked back then caught up with her father. I could tell she knew that safety was in numbers but right now finding out if her mother was alive or dead took precedence.

  “Earth to Scotty, I hate to rush you but we got company.”

  I hopped back in and we tore away heading north to the Rite Aid Pharmacy located on Pleasant Avenue. It didn’t take us more than a few minutes. While the truck made it easy to get around and kept us relatively safe, the noise of the engine attracted attention. My head was down as the truck veered into the parking lot. The first thing I noticed after Jamal stopped was that the windows of the pharmacy had been smashed.

  It was dark, wet and dismal-looking outside.

  The wipers pushed the rain from side to side, in a hypnotic fashion.

  “Chances of us finding what we need are slim to none. Look at the state of that place.” Someone had driven a vehicle through the double doors, then ripped off the hinges and left them strewn across the floor. There were several shopping carts toppled over and a number of shelving units outside. Blood was all over the place, and multiple bodies were lying in various states of decay. Our arrival drew the attention of a gaggle of zombies; it was a mix of employees and regular citizens.

  “You really want to do this?” Jamal asked.

  I looked over at Tobias who was still burning up.

  “We don’t have a choice.”

  I was the first one out, I squeezed the trigger and a round dropped the nearest Z. The rest turned our way and lurched forward as one hive mind eager to feast on new flesh. Jamal stayed in the vehicle but wanted to get in on the action so he fired off a few rounds at the foreheads of Zs like it was some fairground attraction. Surprisingly he wasn’t a bad shot, unlike me. I tended to do better with those that were closest. Of course I managed to get a few lucky long-distance kills, but they were the ones that missed those that were ten feet away. I felt like a gun virgin, popping his cherry for the first time. It sure as heck was a lot of fun but it was going to take some getting used to. I made a mental note that if I came out of this unscathed and we found a safe place to rest, I would brush up on my skills.

  We hurried forward, and I dropped one more creature, some rail-thin guy who looked like a meth addict with sunken face and black rings around his eyes. We escaped the horde heading our way and ducked into the store. We switched on the LED flashlights and almost instantly the place lit up to reveal every aisle full of them.

  “Holy fuck!” I exclaimed, backing up. There had to be at least six down each aisle. The shelves inside weren’t as barren as what I expected. I assumed anyone who had attempted to loot the place had wound up as a human shish kebab. I tucked the handgun away and swung around the AR-15. If ever there was a time for something with a bit more power, it was now. I would like to say that I nailed every bastard that came at me with pinpoint accuracy but that would have been a lie. It took me a while to get used to the gun’s kickback but once I had a handle on it, I raked the gun from side-to-side firing into the cluster. Muzzle flashes lit up the inside of the store. We didn’t need to focus on those coming from behind us as Jamal had used his initiative and reversed the truck across the opening. He was also firing at anything that moved and by all the hooting and hollering he was doing, he appeared to be enjoying himself.

  While I appreciated him preventing Zs attacking us from behind, it meant that we had no other option than to push forward.

  “Pick an aisle,” I shouted taking the first of four. I moved down the aisle with a fair amount of ease. Those I didn’t get on the first shot were taken on the second. Nothing but the steady crack of rounds echoing could be heard. As soon as I had worked my way through my side, I yelled, “Clear!”

  Although I wanted to help Eli in the next aisle over that would have put me directly in the line of fire. Instead I pressed on towards the rear and hopped over the prescription pick-up counter. It was a mess back there. Blood all over the ground, a body laid across the counter and the sound of snarls from those that hadn’t found their way out of the pharmaceutical enclosure. I cautiously moved forward searching for the dead while holding a small flashlight in my mouth. The light bounced, casting shadows against the wall. One thing I didn’t think was to grab a tac light. It would have made things a hell of a lot easier, especially now. In the tight space, I switched over to the Glock and kept it close to my body as I rounded the corners and continued to call out to the others to let them know where I was. The last thing I wanted was to end up on the end of a round because they mistook me for a Z. “Over here!”

  It was also a good way to get the remaining Zs to come towards me, instead of me trying to find them. I backed up against a wall and continued to yell, taking out more of the slow suckers. Eventually the gunfire ceased.

  “Clear.”

  I drifted the flashlight beam over the floor. Everywhere were plastic bottles and boxes, some empty, others full. It was as if twenty tweakers had ransacked the place searching for uppers or downers. Where to begin? I tried a light switch on the wall but there was no power. No surprise there. It wasn’t just Long Lake that had been affected, the question was what had caused it? I imagined generators would have kicked in but even if they had, all it took was for one or two power lines to go down and an entire neighborhood could be flooded in darkness.

  Alexa, Eli and Ryland hopped over the counter and waded into the mess.

  “Shit. This is going to take forever.”

  “That’s just the way they like it,” I said. We began the arduous task of looking for Cephalexin. “It reminds me of that time I had a chest infection and my doctor prescribed antibiotics. I show up at my pharmacy on Christmas Eve, there’s only one other person in the entire store and so I hand over the prescription, and you know what the lady says?”

 

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