Dying Days 6 (11 page)

Chapter Fourteen

The muffled sound of fighting brought Tosha up and into a fighting stance. She shook her head to wake fully, expecting the door to the room she was hiding in to burst open at any moment.

What was happening in the stockroom?

Something heavy fell and it sounded close, but it was hard to tell.

Tosha wasn’t known for her patience. She went to the door and opened it a crack, her foot behind it in the event someone or something tried to force their way inside.

A short man, hair long and stringy with wild eyes, ran past on the main aisle of the stockroom. He was carrying what looked like two packed duffle bags and had two rifles slung over his back.

The stockroom erupted in noise all around Tosha and she closed the door behind her, hoping to get a glimpse of whatever was going on before she could go back and hide. She didn’t want to be surprised with whoever was out here.

She luckily turned her head to the right just as a zombie reached for her. Tosha grabbed the zombie by the arm and swung it around, slamming it against the concrete wall. She tripped it and stomped on the head twice but couldn’t do anything more because three other zombies were right behind.

Tosha ran into the main aisle and went in the direction of the guy she’d seen as zombies exploded out of aisles, grasping for her. The stockroom was crowded with them.

She got four aisles away, pushing through a few zombies, and saw the ladder leading to the roof. She saw light from above.

By the time she fought her way to the ladder and began climbing, the trapdoor on top had been closed and she heard something heavy being dragged on the roof.

Tosha climbed to the top of the ladder and put a hand above her head, trying to open the door. It budged an inch but the guy had put something heavy on top. Tosha began to bang on it.

“Asshole, open the hatch and let me up. I’m alive. You need to help me,” Tosha yelled.

“Go away, zombie. Nice try,” the guy yelled, his voice muffled but still understandable. “You led them into the mall to kill me. You’ll never turn me into a monster. You’re the damn monster.”

“Is there a smart zombie down here?” Tosha asked. She looked down to see the stockroom floor crowded with zombies, all reaching up silently at her. Her feet were only inches from their grasp.

She didn’t have enough ammo on her to clear the floor and she knew there were so many more she couldn’t see. If she climbed down, she was going to get swallowed up before she could clear a path.

“Open up the hatch, dude, or I swear, if I die, I will come back as a fucking ghost,” Tosha yelled and pounded on the hatch again.

“There’s no such thing as ghosts. Only zombies,” he shouted back.

My sister would beg to differ
, Tosha thought. She wondered where Mathyu had gone off to now. Not that she’d do any good for Tosha. She was there for comic relief, someone Tosha could vent to while she stared quietly.

The only sounds from below were the zombies crowing one another as they tried to get to Tosha. One of them slammed into the ladder and Tosha looked down to see a small gap in the zombies just in sight, from the way she’d come. Were they moving along, already bored with her?

Not quite.

A zombie was tossed into another and as they fell to the floor another joined them, one ripped in half and spilling lazy brown globs of blood to the floor.

Another zombie stepped into the gap but didn’t look up at Tosha. It reached out and gripped another zombie by the neck, twisting it until the zombie went limp in his hands. He tossed the zombie to the ground and stepped on its head with thick bloody work boots.

When the zombie looked up, he was smiling.

“What do we have here? A fresh one, and pretty, too?” the zombie said.

“Fuck off, asshole.”

The zombie laughed. “Too bad you aren’t wearing a skirt. I wonder if you’re wearing any pretty undies?”

“You’ll never know, asshole. I’m sure you’ve got a small dick anyway. Zombie dick or not. Why don’t you do me a favor and get your friends out of here? Give me a head start and let’s make this interesting,” Tosha said. This zombie would simply climb up a couple of rungs, grab her leg and yank her down. She’d be dead in seconds.

Tosha banged on the hatch again.

“Look, I’m sorry for calling you an asshole. I have a real problem, though: there’s a real zombie and he’s going to come up the ladder in a second if you don’t open up and help me. Seriously.” Tosha pulled a weapon but, by the time she aimed, the zombie was out of sight.

“That’s not playing fair, you know?” the zombie was hanging around and another destroyed zombie was flung across the stockroom. “If you toss down your weapons, I promise I won’t hurt you.”

“Somehow I don’t believe you,” Tosha said.

The zombie was laughing. A finger was tossed under the ladder. “I pinkie swear. Get it?”

Great. She was about to be killed by a comedian zombie.

“Go away,” the guy from above yelled. “You’ll get us all killed.”

“You’re going to let me die? I’ll turn into a zombie. I have weapons. I have food and I have a safe haven to get to if you help me,” Tosha said, knowing she was stretching the truth a little. A lot.

Another zombie was dragged out of her sight and it didn’t return. The good news: about half of the zombies below were now gone. The obvious bad news: the smart zombie was taking them out one by one.

“What if I let you live for a day? You could follow me around on a leash and I could show you what fun it is to be a zombie,” the zombie said.

“I’ll pass but thanks for the tempting offer,” Tosha said.

She pushed her head as close to the hatch as she could.

“Please, please open the hatch and let me live,” Tosha said and tapped on it for good measure.

“I can’t,” was the immediate answer from above.

“Why not?”

“You might be trying to trick me.”

“I’m not sure how I prove it but I’m not. I swear,” Tosha said.

She felt the pressure on the ladder and fired a shot before she had time to set and look.

When she did, she saw the bottom of the ladder was empty.

“Good shot. You literally came within two inches of shooting me in the head,” the zombie said from somewhere in the stockroom.

“What was that?” the guy from above asked.

“I was trying to shoot the zombie,” Tosha said. Her arms were getting tired and her legs would cramp soon from just standing on the rungs. She couldn’t do this all day and night.

“Why?”

Tosha stopped herself from calling him an asshole again. She needed to get him to open the hatch. At some point the zombie was going to grow tired of this game and make his real move, and she didn’t know if bullets could keep it down.

“He’s trying to kill me. I’d much rather be safe on the roof. I could be an asset to you. I have things. I know things,” Tosha said. She sighed, knowing every guy was the same in the end no matter what was going on. “Look, I’ll give you a blowjob if you open the hatch.”

“Hey… uh… my wife and daughter are up here. How dare you,” the man yelled, a little too loudly. Tosha was sure he was red-faced and embarrassed, which made her feel a little better.

“I’m sorry. I’m just hanging on for dear life. Not figuratively, either. I can help you and your family. I’ll make sure I protect everyone. Please,” Tosha said, letting her words get high-pitched and whiny, which always seemed to work on dudes when they thought she was begging.

Guys were idiots.

“I should be offended,” the zombie said from below. “All this time I thought you were playing hard to get. We could’ve been something. I’ve never dated a redhead.”

“And you won’t, if I can help it,” Tosha said. She was about to tap on the hatch again as her left calf cramped.

The weight from above started to move and she heard it sliding away from the hatch.

Tosha looked down as the zombie rushed the ladder, attempting to climb it quickly.

She fired three times, hitting it in the head and shoulder and finally in the chest as it fell to the ground. Tosha pulled the trigger to fire ten more times but the gun was empty.

The zombie was staring, lifeless, up at her.

Faint sunlight filtered from above as the hatch opened.

The man was standing there, looking scared.

“Thanks,” Tosha said. She climbed up and pulled herself onto the roof.

“What were you firing at?” the man asked.

“I killed the zombie,” Tosha said and looked down the hole.

The zombie was gone.

A woman and young girl, no more than ten, were standing off to the side. They’d built a makeshift structure with tents and cardboard boxes in the center of the roof.

The man and Tosha piled the heavy items off to the side back onto the hatch.

“I’m Farley,” the man said.

Tosha put the .22 to his head and smiled. “I’m Tosha.”

Chapter Fifteen

Bernie couldn't outrun the zombie but she was going to try. She'd rather die trying to flee than stand still and let the zombie have his way with her.

Her heart was racing too fast, even for someone running, and she knew she was in a blind panic as she ran back onto the road and slammed into a walking zombie, stumbling.

Now she was really in a panic as she began to fall, putting her hands out as her feet skipped across the pavement, trying to get a grip on the road.

Bernie stumbled a few feet but didn't go down, her momentum carrying her down the embankment and into a retention pond, where her feet sunk into the muck.

"You got yourself all dirty. Was it worth it? Now I'll have to bathe you like a child before I rip you apart," the zombie called down. He was standing at the lip of the pond with hands on hips, smiling and seeming to enjoy her new plight.

Bernie didn't waste energy yelling back. She pulled herself free from the mud and climbed up the other side, watching to see if he was going to cut her off before she got out.

He seemed satisfied to simply stare at her. He was going to draw her terror out before he caught Bernie and ripped her apart. She knew it.

When she started to run towards the exit ramp to the highway, the zombie began his pursuit, walking quickly but not running. His smile told Bernie all she needed to know: he was going to string her along. This was a game to him.

"I'm not sure where you think you're going, sweetheart," the zombie yelled.

Bernie easily dodged past a couple of zombies and was on I-95 heading north, but there were too many zombies on the road. She'd never make it, either getting attacked or these zombies slowing her down so she couldn't escape.

She wasn't sure if simply hiding in an abandoned car again would work, especially since so many zombies were now focused on her.

"Downtown is a mess, honey. The traffic is bumper to bumper. You thought the park had too many homeless people before? Now it's packed with them, all looking for a bite to eat. You'll be the perfect meal. Come back and let me finish you off quickly," the zombie yelled.

He was still taking his time, arrogantly walking down the median in the middle of the highway while Bernie had to get around so many zombies trying to get her. She kept looking back to make sure he hadn't tried to sneak up on her. If she could put some distance between them and not get hung up, she had a slim chance.

Bernie started to run, heart pounding and dodging zombies as she moved.

If she could keep him amused, following at a distance, perhaps she could find a weapon lying around on the ground or an escape route.

"Was it something I said? Bad breath? Are you mad because I slept with your sister?" the zombie yelled.

At least he had a sense of humor
, Bernie thought. He'd make her laugh before he eviscerated her. She knew she was slipping away and, if she didn't get a grip on her thoughts and concentrate on escape, she'd simply fall to her knees, close her eyes and wait for the killing strike.

Bernie was getting tired and she knew the zombie wouldn't ever be slowed unless he was preoccupied with another victim.

She felt horrible inside thinking about it, but it held true: if he saw another, an easier victim, he might go after them. Bernie didn't need to outrun the bear; she needed to outrun the other human.