chapter 2

Chapter 2

Nacho's eyes opened to the sound of a voice calling his name. He sat up slowly, rubbing his eyes trying to get his head cleared. Finally, he got to his feet while being careful not to step on the kids sleeping by the bed. He moved toward where the voice was coming from, when he saw that Gary, Christina and Johnny had all gone to sleep. He looked around to find that it was Michael calling out to him. The boy was sitting on the ground crying. Nacho bent down to see if he was alright, when Michael turned and bit into Nacho neck, ripping a big chuck of flesh out.

Suddenly Nacho sat up straight, sweat pouring from his face. He quickly looked around to see that everyone else was asleep. He got up and slowly moved toward the front of the store, noticing that Michael was in between his mom and dad fast asleep. Nacho let out the breath he was holding, the thing with Michael earlier had all just been a dream. He started back toward the bed and sat back down, and then looked at his watch it, was 11:30p.m. He lay back on the bed, closed his eyes and fell back into a peaceful sleep.

Nacho awoke to the sounds of kids playing and noticed someone was lying in the same bed as him. That someone turned out to be a young woman sleeping with a three year girl in her arms. He slipped off slowly, trying not to disturb them, and saw Gary, dressed in a new outfit, cooking some food. Nacho walked over there slowly, trying to get himself out a daze of sleep.

"Hey Gary, nice outfit." Nacho said with a laugh.

"Very funny, Nacho." Gary replied.

"So what are we going to do? It seems we are stuck here."

"Ya, well I guess Daniel will just have to wait." Gary said.

"That's if he is still alive." Nacho replied.

"Ya, I never thought of that, he might be dead already."

A ball came flying out of the air; striking Gary on the side of the head, making him spill the food everywhere. Gary's became enraged and was about to drop kick the ball until he saw a little boy no older then four standing there with his hands out grabbing for it. Gary gently set the ball in the boy's hand and sat back down on the floor mumbling a few words under his breath. He looked over at Nacho, who was laughing wildly across from him. Gary punched him in the arm and started cooking again. Behind them though, Christina and Johnny were talking to Mike about something, and by the way Mike was talking and flailing his arms, it's not a good conversation.

"Who in the hell do you two think you are?" Mike said loudly.

"Please keep your voice down." Christina said.

"All we are saying, Mike, is that in a few months the food is going to be gone, especially with all these people." Johnny said.

"I don't think so. We have tons of food here to feed hundreds of people or more."

"You don't understand, staying here for so long isn't a great idea." Johnny replied calmly.

"And what you are suggesting is?" Mike replied.

"Well, at least it gives us a fighting chance of survival." Christina added.

"Then take what you want and leave." Mike turned his back to them both and started walking away as Johnny yelled at him.

"Mike, keeping all these people locked up in here like cattle isn’t safe. It's going to be a blood bath when those things get in here!" Johnny yelled for all to hear. Mike spun around, fear struck eyes, as he hadn't thought of what would happen if those, cannibals, zombies or whatever you wanted to call them got in here. Mike looked over at his wife and two sons, but by the look on his wife face he knew she had heard what Johnny had said. Mike walked back over to where Johnny and Christina stood as Nacho and Gary came up behind them. Mike stopped short of them and then spoke.

"Alright, let’s hear what your guy’s plan is." Mike conceded.

"Well, Mike we are just basically searching for survivors until we reach the city limits." Johnny explained.

"So we give up hiding in here and go back out there?" Mike said pointing at the doors leading outside.

"We will find more places to stop along the way." Christina offered.

"And how do you suppose we get all these people from here, to where ever you are going?" Mike asked. Christina realized then that their only transportation was the S.W.A.T van, and that wouldn't hold anywhere the number of people they had in the building. However, they didn't have to wait too long to get help for a idea.

"Sorry, but I couldn't help but listen to what you guys were talking about." A figure interrupted the conversation.

"Who are you?" Gary asked first.

"Oh, sorry, my name is Jack E. Mendez."

"What can we do for you, Jack?" Christina asked.

"Well, me and a few buddies parked our big rigs out back." Jack said.

"There we go on the transportation. Can we get to them to the back doors?" Nacho asked.

"Two of them are parked right by the roll up doors and the other two are some distance." Jack replied.

"Alright, here's what we are going to do. You get one of your friends to help move the two trucks to the other rolling doors." Nacho instructed.

"Mike, is there some way we can get on the roof?" Christina asked.

"At the back of the store. Why?" Mike asked.

"If we are going to get to the trucks, we are going to need cover." Christina replied.

"Oh I get it now, yeah…follow me." Mike said.

"Johnny, Christina…you guys are probably the better shooters of us all, so follow Mike. Nacho and I will go with Jack and his friend." Gary said.

"Alright, we will need to get some two-ways so we can tell you when it is clear to head out." Johnny said.

"We'll send you one when we are ready. Now go get set up. Nacho and I need to still get the weapons and stuff.” Gary said. Christina and Johnny hurried over toward Mike to lead them where they could climb up to the roof. Gary and Nacho also left to go grab their weapons for the mission ahead of them. Nacho and Gary stood at the back door with Jack and a man name Tommy. They had just sent two teenagers to deliver a walkie-talkie to Johnny and Christina. Moments later, Johnny's voice came over the radio.

"You guys ready down there?" Johnny asked.

"Ready as we ever will be." Nacho replied.

"Alright let us clear the one by the door first and then after that, head out."

"Copy that."

Rapid fire could be heard from outside the door, then it stopped and Johnny yelled for them to go. Gary kicked open the door and hurried through, Jack and Tommy right behind him and Nacho coming out last. Gary ran until he was around the first diesel, and smack into a group of zombies stumbling towards him. He picked up his nine millimeter, took close aim and pulled the trigger repeatedly. The zombies fell inches from him. He looked to see the other two diesels were not far from him. Nacho and the other two hurried after Gary, only shooting zombies in the head as they popped out from behind things. Nacho was ambushed by four zombies. He managed to take out the two in front of him while the two from behind were just about to tackle him. Luckily, two shots of Christina’s sniper rifle stopped them. Nacho hurried after Jack and Tommy who were almost to the trucks. Gary had jumped on the back part where the trailer and the diesel joined, shooting zombies at a deadly rate. With the zombies attention on Gary it made it easy for Jack and Tommy to get to their diesels, leaving Nacho to help himself. The two diesels fired up, and the beeping could be heard over the gun shots. Nacho just jumped on the first diesel with Gary, since the path to the second one had been blocked off. The diesels slowly backed up toward the last two roll up doors. The trailer covered the whole roll up door making no way for a zombie to get into the building.

"Umm guys, how are we going to get back into the building?" Gary asked as he noticed the front of the diesel was surrounded by zombies.

"Just hold on one second, we are coming up with a plan." Johnny said.

Jack climbed out of the drivers’ door and hopped onto the hood of the diesel before he maneuvered onto the roof and crossed over onto the trailer. "Quickly, one of you, take my hand."

Nacho and Gary both looked at each other as Nacho put his back to the trailer making it clear who was going to go first. Gary stepped back then took two steps before putting his right foot into Nacho's hands and jumping up to grab Jack's hand. He used his left hand to grab the edge of the trailer, and helped pull himself up. Gary stood up and jumped over to the cab of the diesel quickly laying down on it, putting his hands down for Nacho to grab them, since it would be easier for Nacho to jump to the top of the cab then it probably would the top of the trailer. Soon, Jack was over on the cab ready to help get Nacho up. Nacho took two steps back, then jumped with all the strength his legs had and grabbing a hold of the two men’s hands and pulling himself up with their help. Momentarily, they all laid on the cab for a few to catch their breaths before they all jumped back over and sat down on the trailer. Tommy though was still sitting in the cab of the other diesel, which he had moved to the back of the cab where the bed is. Jack looked at Gary and Nacho, before snatching the walkie-talkie out of Nacho's hand.

Hey, you guys up there we need a way to get off this trailer!" Jack yelled.

"Just hold on we are trying to think of one." Johnny said.

"Screw this I’m getting off of here." Jack said.

"How do you planned on doing that?" Gary asked

"I'm going to jump over all of them and go back through the door, you guys coming?" Jack asked. Nacho and Gary both exchanged confused looks at each other and just nodded. A step back before a giant leap forward and they all leap off the trailer, hitting a ground with a thud. Jack injured his leg and started to limp toward the door with Gary and Nacho on both of his sides, shooting zombies as they walked toward the door. From the roof, Christina, Johnny, Mike and the other hurried to the edge of the building.

"Where did they all go?" Mike asked. Johnny looked over his shoulder to the side while Christina’s eye brows arched upwards.

"What?" Christina took off running off toward the ladder. Johnny's head turned back toward the ground and spotted the group half way to the door. Johnny runs after Christina, scrambling down the ladder. When he reaches the bottom, Christina already had the door open and rapid fire of gun shots was heard. The bullet shells fell back into view as the three come tumbling in whit Christina latching the door shut behind them. Christina noticed Jack grabbing his left leg.

"You there, go ask if there is a doctor or a nurse in the crowed out there." Christina snapped at the boy, who left in a hurry through the double swinging doors. Christina looked at Gary and Nacho, still trying to catch their breath. "Are you to ok?"

"I think I’ll live." Gary said. The boy returns through the door with a lady. She walked over to Jack and bent down, looking over his leg.

"Do any of you have a knife or something I can cut the pants leg with?" The lady asked. The boy tapped her on the shoulder and held out a little pocket knife.

"Here you go Mum." The boy said. The lady took it with a smile, then turned back and slowly pushed it through the rough jeans. Then with one quick slash up, the pants leg came apart revealing a bone popping out. The boy that had handed the pocket knife turned around and puked all over the floor, Johnny grabbed him and quickly moved him away from where Jack was at.

"That looks bad. You need to go to the hospital."

"That's not going to be happing anytime soon." Mike said in agony

The lady looked over at Gary and Nacho, then back at Mike.

"How was he hurt?" The lady asked.

"I jumped off the trailer and landed wrong." Jack said in between deep gushes of breath.

"Let’s move him in the actual building where I can get a medic pack. By the way, my name is Jessica, the little boy name is David, my son."

"Hi Jessica, I'm Christina and that’s Gary, Nacho, and Mike."

"Nice to meet you guys."

"Hello, can we take me to a bed now please?" Mike asked.

"Ya Jack.” Christina glanced to Nacho and Gary, “You think you two can grab him?" Christina asked. Nacho and Gary nodded and bent down allowing Jack to place his arms around each of their necks. They started walking behind Jessica, Christina, and Johnny who were now conversing with each other. They came through the two swinging doors and started back toward the side of the store where Jack’s bed lay. Jack's wife ran over to him when she saw Gary and Nacho helping him on to the bed, while Jessica looked him over. Gary quickly moved back over by Christina and whispered something into her ear before he turned back the way he came. Gary stopped at the two doors, taking a sharp left and continued walking until he grabbed a 20 pack before returning to the doors. He hurried up the ladder and climbed back onto the roof, finding a folding chair and walked with it to where the lower part of the roof was. He propped his feet up on the edge and popped open a beer. Gary glanced out toward the mountains to see a sunset.

The sunset made Gary think about home, his family and friends. His daydream was crushed as a pile of blankets were dropped on his head by Christina. Gary quickly knocked the covers off his head and looked up at Christina who was laughing now. "What was that for?"

"Thought you might want some blankets."

"Oh, well thanks, but I coming back into the store in a few." Gary replied.

"Oh ok, that's good cause some of us are having a dinner for Mike's birthday."

"Sweet, I'll be there after I make my bed." Gary said.

"Alright see you in a few." Christina turned and went back to the ladder. Gary stayed were he was sitting, until he finished his beer. When he was done, he tossed it over the edge of the building, resulting in a moan came echoing back that made Gary laugh. He grabbed the blankets plus pillow and started toward the ladder—reaching the ladder after about ten steps—and dropped the blankets and pillow down first before grabbing the ladder, and heading back down. He let himself drop the last five steps, picking up the blankets and pillows the scattered everywhere when he had dropped them. After retrieving them, Gary started down the hall to the double doors leading into the store. He pushed them open with his back, then turned around and started walking toward the front of the store, noticing that everyone was putting their kids to bed. He stopped and looked down at his watch, it was only seven o'clock, but it was already pitch black outside. Gary started toward the front again, locating a spot he could make a bed on the ground, so he moved over to it and started to spread the covers out. When he was about done Nacho came walking up.

"Hey, Gary, you coming? Everyone is waiting on you." Nacho said.

"Ya, I just got done making myself a bed." Gary and Nacho started walking toward the front left side of the store, talking lividly as they cut through of what was left of the toy section and get to the designated table. The group smiled when they saw Nacho and Gary arrive. Nacho teasingly slapped Gary on the back and took his seat by David. Gary took a seat and looked around, knowing almost everyone—but there were two sitting on the far side of the table that he didn't know.

Luckily, Jessica stood up, "Oh sorry, Gary this is Drops and Bella."

"Drops, what kind of name is that?"

"It's my nickname from an internet board I’m from."

"Really now?" Gary said amusingly. Drops was just about to answer when he was cut off by Jessica.

"You guys can talk about that later…now let’s eat." Everyone agreed and started in on the food. After enjoying the food for forty minutes, everyone settled into talking and laughing. Mike excused himself from the table and carefully picked up a sleeping Michael next to his older brother Sam, who also fell asleep. With Michael in hand, Mike tapped his oldest son on the shoulder and motioned for the boy to follow him. Mike left the table—passing Jessica, who left earlier to tuck David into bed. Jessica took her seat again, listening to everyone asking the others what where their best thing to do for killing time before all this had happened. She jumped into the conversation and asked Johnny the same question.

"Umm, I would have to say going to my kids’ basketball and football games."

Everyone went quiet at Johnny's answer; they never knew Johnny had kids. Even Christina looked shocked. Johnny got up and headed toward his bed. Drops got up and mentioned that he is going to bed also. Jessica, Nacho, Bella, Mike and his wife left the table soon after. Only Gary and Christina were left sitting at the table, until Christina pushed her chair back and stood up.

"Well, I think I’m going to bed."

"Ya I think I’m going too." Gary replied.

"Ok, See ya in the morning Gary."

"Oh, crap we forgot about Tommy."

"Well, I don't think we can do something for him right now."

"We need to go get him out." Gary said.

"Gary listen, Tommy will be fine until tomorrow unless he opens the door, but I seriously don't think he will."

"Yeah, I guess you are right."

"Well Gary I think we should get some sleep, and then we can go help Tommy tomorrow."

"Alright." Gary replied. Christina and Gary parted, each headed back to their beds. Gary slid under the covers and fired up his mp3 player, sticking the head phones in his ears before rolling over and falling asleep. An hour later, Gary's eyes popped open as a sudden pain rushed through his back and he realized it was from Michael lying on top of him. "Hey, Michael, can you get off of me please?"

"Sorry Gary, I didn't notice you while I was running for the football." Gary helped the lad up and handed the football back. "Thanks! Gary, you want to play?" "Maybe in a few, I want to shower and eat some breakfast."

"Alright Gary, see ya in a few." Michael threw the ball back at his brother before taking off in that direction. Gary got up and headed toward what everyone called the diner—which the aroma of food wafted from. As Gary walked toward the front, he spotted Christina with a shopping cart.

"Christina!" Gary yelled. Christina turned to see Gary strolling up.

"Hey Gary, you might want to hurry up and shower, we came up with a plan to get Tommy out." Christina said.

"Alright, I'll be as quick as I can. Where are we going to meet at?" Gary asked.

"The roof of course—be there in thirty minutes." Christina started for another part of the store. Gary decided just to skip breakfast and head straight for the showers. As he grabbed a towel he saw Christina hurrying back toward the front of the store. Gary shook his head with a laugh and entered the room where the showers were located. Christina saw Mike and Nacho were talking to Johnny, but stopped when they saw her approaching them. "Hey Christina, did you get all the supplies?" Johnny waved her over.

"Yeah, everything is in here." Christina motioned to the cart.

"Good! Oh, Nacho and Mike would like to start working on the trailers—getting them ready for us to leave. What do you think?"

"That might be better.” Christina nodded. “So we should probably go get set up." Johnny grabbed the cart and started toward the back of the store, leaving Christina to discuss with Mike and Nacho what they needed in the back of the trailer. "Ok, these trailers are big so what should we have in them?" Christina asked.

"Well I think we should fill at least one with supplies and probably the rest of the guns and ammo from your S.W.A.T van."

"That's a great idea Mike. And we should probably put beds and things like that, oh and we will need something to hold on to." Christina added

"You have any ideas Nacho?" Mike asked.

"What? Sorry I was writing all the ideas down." Nacho replied with a short chuckle. Mike and Christina looked at each other and then started laughing. They were cut short when Johnny and Gary came strolling up.

"You ready to work?" Johnny eyed each of them in turn. Everyone rolled their eyes at Johnny as Christina gently punched him in the arm.

"Let’s just get this over with. Gary, are you going to help Nacho and Mike?” Christina asked.

"No, he's with us.” Johnny chimed in before Gary could answer. Gary looked at Johnny and then he saw Christina shaking her head telling him not to worry about it. Nacho and Mike left to get started on the trailers. Johnny, Christina, and Gary started toward the back yet again, but they stopped to get some more man power to help so they would be able to pull Tommy while someone got him. They all looked off of the edge of the roof down at the diesel trailer where Tommy was trapped.

"So who is going to be the lucky person to go get him?" Drops asked.

"We draw sticks and the one with the smallest gets to go." Johnny said.

Johnny moved around the group as each person picked a Popsicle stick. Each of them held up their chosen stick and the winner was a sixteen year old.

"Well this sucks." Drops grunted.

"What's your name Kid?" Johnny asked.

"Zachary, Zachary Thompson."

"Well Zachary, there is nothing to worry about. All you will be doing is cutting a square in the cab roof, and that's it." Johnny eased the boys’ nervous look.

"Alright, set me up." Zachary said.

Johnny started to lead Zachary to the harness, until Drops spoke up. "Hey I don't think this is a great idea!” He glanced at Zachary, “Nothing against you but you’re just a kid."

"I'm not a kid." Zachary argues.

"It's alright, he didn't mean it.” Johnny started toward the harness again, “All set, lets go."

They led Zachary to the edge and had him get ready. He gave them the thumbs up and they slowly lowered him down until he touched the trailer and yelled for them to stop. He unclipped himself from the rope and yelled for them to send down the saw, to which they slowly lowered the saw down. Zachary grabbed it and started toward the cab, hopping onto it and set the bag that was around his shoulder down. He grabbed the cord on the saw and yanked on it to start it. After about the third time, the saw fired to life and he started down on the cab, making a giant gap for Tommy to fit through. After about ten minutes, Zachary had the square cut. He moved to the other side snatching a small hand held hammer out of the bag and used it to knock the cut slab into the cab. Back in his original position, Zachary could now see into the cab. Tommy appeared and jumped up, grabbing the top of the cab. Not caring that Zachary is right in front of him, Tommy pushed the kid out of the way causing Zachary to fall between the space where the diesel and trailer connected. Instantly his arm snapped and the boy cries out in pain. Tommy jumped over from the cab to the trailer, running towards the rope to pull himself up until he grabbed the edge of the roof—pulling himself up to roll onto the roof.

Drops and the others come running up to him. "Where is Zachary?" Drops asked.

Tommy doesn't answer—too busy staring up at the sky. The group noticed Tommy’s hand had a chunk of flesh is missing from the side. Everyone stood back and shook their heads, but then Drops and Gary took off and jumped from the roof to the trailer eight feet below. They hit hard but Drops—being an ex-movie stunt man—knew how to land, unlike Gary, before they continued toward the front of the trailer. Drops stopped at the edge of the trailer and looked down to see that Zachary had passed out from pain. He doesn't wait, soon landing next to Zachary, grabbing the hammer and slamming it into the side of the head of a zombie that had got too close. He was about to hit another until shots were heard from just above them. Drops looked up to see Gary holding a pistol, who stared firing again. Drops quickly positioned Zachary to lift the boy up to Gary. Suddenly, Jack and Bella appeared and they laid down to grab Zachary.

"Watch his arm it's broke." Drops warned the duo.

"Alright, we got him." Jack said. They slid Zachary onto the trailer. Bella moved him out of the way so that Jack and Gary could grab Drops. He moved back to the cab and jumped up and grabbed hold of both of the hands of Jack and Gary. After a bit of a struggle, Jack and Gary finally had Drops up on top of the trailer.

Drops quickly moved over to Zachary and looked down at him, then over at Bella. "How is he doing?"

"He doesn’t look too good. We need to get him back into the store so Jessica can look at him." Bella replied.

"Right, after we get back up there, you can bring him up."

Gary and Jack headed back toward the rope and started to climb it, reaching the top before they turn and wait for Drops to finish helping Bella get the other harness on. Drops helped her put Zachary with her to keep the kid from being tussled and then he yells for Jack and Gary to lift them up. Being careful not to drop them, Gary and Jack finally grabbed Zachary and Bella, tugging them over the edge and unbuckling Zachary—laying him down on the roof. Then they lower the rope for Drops—who climbed halfway before reaching for Gary and Jack's hands. Drops stood up, not even caring for Zachary right now, walked over to Johnny and punched him right in the nose. Gary and Jack rush over to stop the fight before it goes any farther.

Gary grabs Drops and Jack grabs Johnny—who is yelling at Drops for hitting him. "What in the hell was that for?"

"You told him he had nothing to worry about you a*s hole." Drops spat.

"How was I supposed to know that Tommy would push him like that?" Johnny asked honestly.

Suddenly, Christina rushed up and everyone turned toward her. "Tommy is dead."

"What? He seemed fine just a few minutes ago." Johnny said. The group noticed behind her that Tommy has gotten back up and looked right at Christina.

"Christina, behind you!" Johnny yelled.

Christina turned to see that Tommy had gotten up, ran and jumped on her--knocking her to the roof. Suddenly Drops grabbed Tommy and spun with him before throwing him off the roof. Tommy hits the ground with a thud, but then just gets right back up, reaching the door and banging on it. Drops went over to Zachary and picked him up and then he followed Bella, Gary and Jack over to the ladder. Gary hurried back to snatch the rope they had used to lower Zachary down into the trailer earlier. He hooked Zachary back up, then they slowly lowered him down as Bella climbed down the ladder—giving a yell, letting them know that she reached the floor. They all let the rope go and Drops got down first and picked up Zachary and headed back for the front of the store. When they all got to the door, Gary saw David playing with Michael and told David to go get his mom again. David nodded and hurried off to find his mom. Drops lead the others over to a bed where he laid Zachary down as Jessica came hurrying over to look at his arm.

"We are going to need to pop it back into place. Bella will you go get a splint for his arm?" Jessica asked.

"Yeah, I’ll be back in a second." Bella left as Gary and Drops stood back. Jessica looked up at them. “Can you guys come hold him just in case he wakes and screams out in pain?” Drops and Gary moved back to the bed and Jessica grabbed the boys’ arm--placing one hand on his wrist and one about his elbow. Just as she slightly pushed the arm back up into place, Bella returned with the splint and handed it to Jessica.

“Alright, I’ll stay here and watch him for the time being, but we’ll have to switch through the night.” Jessica advised. Everyone nodded in agreement as Drops looked over claimed he would go next.

Jessica smiled gratefully and sat back as Drops turned to Gary. “Well that was fun.”

“Not really.” Gary replied angrily.

“Oh calm down Gary. I was Only Kidding.”

“I’m calm; I just need to walk around a bit.” Gary replied and started to walk toward the front of the store leaving Drops with Jessica and Zachary.

“Hey Jess, you want something to eat?” Drops asked shaking his fist.

“Yeah, a little, but let me check that hand for you first.” Jessica said.

“It will be fine. I will ice it later tonight just in case.” Drops mad a motion to leave, “I’ll be right back with your food.” Drops headed toward the front of the store, running into Christina and Johnny.

“Where you going Drops?” Christina asked.

“Going to get some food for Jessica and Zachary.”

“Oh we will walk with you then.” The three headed toward the front of store, quickly reaching the diner. They found Nacho and Mike sitting at a table.

“You guys done for the day?” Johnny asked.

“No, just came to get a bit to eat before going back to finish the last trailer.” Nacho replied.

“Wow, you’re already on the last trailer.” Christina was surprised. Johnny left as Christina took a seat and started to talk with Mike and Nacho. Drops quickly grabbed three plates, gathering foods that he thought Zachary and Jessica would like. Once the plates were full, he stuck them on a tray and started back where Jessica and Zachary were. He set the tray down and tapped Jessica on the shoulder.

“Here is your plate.” Drops said.

“Thank you.” Jessica said grabbing her plate.

“How is he doing?”

“Not good, I think he is starting to get a fever.” Jessica replied.

“Well is there anything we can do for it?”

“He needs medicine that only a hospital would have. And I don’t think we will be going there anytime soon.” Drops was about to reply when a football hit him in the back of the head. He turned around to find David and Michael walking up.

“David Lee Kennedy, did you throw that football.” Jessica scolded.

“No, Mommy, it wasn’t me.”

“Are you lying to me young man?”

“No, Mommy I promise.” David stuttered slightly.

“It was me. I’m sorry Sir.” Michael admitted.

“It’s alright, but Jessica I think you need to tell David you are sorry.” Drops spoke up.

“I’m sorry honey. I’m just so worked up with all the things that have happened.”

Jessica broke down and started to cry. David assured his mom that it was ok. Drops turned to David and Michael, quickly whispering something in their ears. Then he handed them their football and both of them took off passing the football back to each other. Drops turned back to Jessica and moved over to her.

“Hey now, you need to stop this crying, where did this come from?” Drops asked surprised.

“I’m sorry; my husband was killed helping us get here.” Jessica replied.

“Oh, I’m so sorry.”

“The only thing that has kept me going is David…and look how I treat him.”

“No, you treat him like a mom would and you protect him by acting this way.” Drops replied.

Zachary then snapped awake. “What happened?”

“Easy kiddo, you have a broken arm.” Jessica replied.

“I’m thirsty.” Zachary said.

“Here have some of my water.” Drops offered. Jessica held the water bottle up to Zachary’s mouth. When he finished, she set it down in front of the bed. Johnny appeared behind Jessica and Drops.

“Is he alright?”

“He is fine, but it seems like he is getting a fever.” Jessica explains to Johnny.

“I’ll go see if I can fine some medicine for him to take.” Johnny left again as Jessica turned back to Zachary who is crying.

“What’s wrong sweetie?” Jessica asked. Zachary doesn’t answer as Johnny came running back over.

“Jessica, where is David and Michael at?” Johnny asked out of breath.

“They should be up front with Mike.” Drops replied.

“Why?” Jessica asked. Johnny doesn’t answer; instead he just took off running. He reached the front of the store to fine Christina talking to Mike. He hurried over to them.

“Hey Mike, where is Michael?”

“Should be over there playing catch with David.” Mike motioned to a direction and Johnny looked up to find the two boys playing catch. He slowly looked down at Christina and Mike.

“I think someone may have gone outside.”

“What; why do you say that?” Christina asked.

“When I was looking for medicine for Zachary, I went into the back of the store and found a door leading to the outside open.”

“Does that mean Zombies may have gotten in here?” Mike asked just as a loud scream came not far from them. Jack came running toward them and fell. The three rushed over to help him. Johnny grabbed him by his arm and waist and slowly turned him over. Jack was pale as a ghost; he suddenly started to cough up blood.

“Jack what happened?” Jack doesn’t answer Johnny. Jack’s eyes slowly rolled into the back of his head and he stopped breathing.

“What happened to him?” Mike asked shocked. Christina suddenly poked Johnny in his arm and pointed at Jack’s hip. Johnny reached over and grabbed a hand full of Jack’s shirt, which most of it came off in his hand. They all looked down at Jack to find a bit mark on his hip plus eight or nine scratch marks.

“Why in the hell would he go outside?” Mike asked confused.

“That’s not what I’m worry about, if he got back in what else did also?”

“I think we have been here long enough.” Christina said.

“Yeah. I think so to. Let’s get everyone to the trailers and head for the city limits.” Johnny advised as they all turned away from Jack’s body.

Before they knew it, Jack jumped up and landed on Mike, biting down hard into his forearm. Mike let out a harsh scream as Johnny grabbed Jack and sent him flying through the air. Jack landed a few feet from where David and Michael were. The two boys saw Jack and started to back up right into a shopping cart. They both froze, terrified to move. Jack jumped up, roaring like a mountain lion, making them both jump in fright. He quickly moved toward the two boys. They both started to scream and cry. Gary appeared from behind the shopping cart, jumping between Jack and the boys, shooting Jack twice in the head. Jack fell to the ground, permanently dead. Gary turned around to the boys—who still had their eyes closed waiting for the end to come.

“It’s alright you can open your eyes.” Gary said to them both. They both open their eyes as told and saw Jack lifeless body on the ground and they both let out the breath they were holding.

“You two wait right here.” Gary said cheerfully. They both nodded as Gary turned around and started toward Johnny and Christina, noticing Mike was lying on the floor.

“What happened?”

“Where the hell have you been?” Johnny asked.

“I was up on the roof getting all the stuff down, and who the hell do you think you are?” Gary asked outraged.

“Knock it off, you two; we need to get everyone out of here now.” Christina replied.

“We aren’t done with this.” Johnny said.

“Mike what happened?”

“Jack bit me.” Mike replied. Gary’s face went blank at the sound of that.

“What is it Gary? Do you know something we don’t?” Mike asked.

“Well, how many times did we speak about zombie movies on Camfans?”

“A lot. Why?” Mike wondered where this was going.

“Cause if you remember right, we said it was the bites and scratches that brought the people back from the dead.”

“How sure are you?” Mike asked.

“Pretty sure.”

“Mike, don’t worry about it, he could be wrong.” Johnny said.

“And if he isn’t; I would be putting you all at risk.”

“Sorry, but we will have to talk about this later. Let’s get out of here first.” Christina interrupted.

“Alright, I’ll tell Drops and you tell everyone else.” Johnny took off in the direction where Drops and Jessica were.

Christina stood up and yelled out for everyone to listen up. “Alright everyone, we are leaving! Pack up whatever you can carry!” Mike and Gary heard Michael tell David to go long for a pass and they both watched to see if David would catch the ball. Instead it went over his head.

Mike turned to Gary. “Can you help me up please?” Mike asked through the pain. Gary nodded and moved to grab Mike’s right arm. They both looked over toward David and Michael now noticing that David is heading toward the doors, unaware that the glass is starting to crack from the strain of the weight of the zombies. Gary yelled David’s attention, making the boy turn toward him. The glass finally gave way and tons of zombies fell through and landed on the ground. David started toward Michael, startled as Gary running toward him firing a pistol. David glanced at Mike and saw him hurrying over to his bed, tossing it over to reveal a mini gun lying on the floor. Mike quickly picked it up and started toward Gary and the two boys and started to fire the mini gun.

“Gary, get the boys out of here!” Mike yelled.

“What about you?”

“I’m staying, now go.” Mike said. Gary turned and grabbed Michael and David and started running toward the trailers in the back of the store. Michael yelled for his daddy, but Mike never moved a muscle and he just kept on shooting. “Come on, you b******s!”

Gary reached the trailers and saw that everyone was piling in to them. Christina, Johnny, Drops, Bella, and Nacho were helping people in when they noticed him. “Where is mike?” Johnny asked. Gary just shook his head; Johnny didn’t say a word about it. “Alright get in there.”

Gary stuck Michael and David in the trailer first before climbing in himself. He then turned and closed the roll up door and locked it from the inside. The beating sun poured in from two giant holes in the top of the trailer. Gary quickly grabbed a ladder, climbed it and looked out to see Johnny, Christina, Aaron, and Barry coming down on different diesels. Barry ran across the trailer that Gary was peeking out of and jumped to the cab before slowly climbing into it. The diesel fired up and slowly crept down the parking lot, followed by the other ones. Gary stayed where he was until the diesel picked up speed. He quickly climbed down and moved over to David and Michael—who were now crying. Gary sat between them, allowing Michael to rest his head on his shoulder and cry himself to sleep.

The diesel traveled down a long highway at a very slow speed to easily dodge the scattered overturned cars. They finally reached the exit leading toward the Mall and pulled up it about thirty minutes later. Gary awoke to the sound of the beeping signifying that the diesel was backing up until the trailer suddenly slammed into the building causing everyone to jolt awake. Gary slowly stood up, grabbed the ladder and started to climb toward the roof of the trailer. He peeked out and looked around to find that they had made it to the Pleasant Grove mall. Gary slowly climbed back down and told everyone that was in the trailer of their arrival.

Everyone just mumbled, still half asleep as a man looked up at him. “How do you know we are in a safe spot?”

Gary didn’t have an answer for the man’s question. He was about to ascend up the ladder again when Barry had started down it. Barry was this muscular South African, who didn’t acknowledge anyone as he just went straight to the front of the trailer and grabbed an unlit torch. He then walked slowly up to the trailer door and unlatched the locks and threw the door up, revealing that he had backed the trailer up to the metal mall doors. Barry quickly lit the torch and started to cut through the metal door. Gary moved everything and everyone away from the torch, which was throwing sparks everywhere. Gary quickly moved to the front of the trailer and picked up some weapons—2 pistols and 4 clips. A dinging sound made everyone turn and notice that Barry had finally cut through the metal door—which would lead them into the Pleasant Grove mall.