Rotter Apocalypse (3 page)

Dravko helped empty the crates. “You get the peanut butter and powdered milk. I’ll take care of the cheese and jerky.”

“Gotcha.” Robson placed half the empty crates back on the cart and wheeled it toward the grocery section. He emptied the shelves of peanut butter before switching aisles and doing the same with the powdered milk. When he pushed the cart back toward the dairy section, he found Dravko crouched, examining something on the floor. The concern on the vampire’s face bothered him.

“What’s wrong?” Robson asked.

“Look at this.”

Robson knelt beside Dravko and flashed his light onto a dried pool of blood that stained the tiles. The blood had been smeared around. Hand and footprints were mixed in among the streaks.

“Fuck,” mumbled Robson.

“We definitely are.”

*  *  *

Linda found the health and beauty section and headed straight for the vitamin aisle. She ran the flashlight along the shelves, relieved to find the bottles still there. Waving for Tibor to follow, she wandered to the pharmacy. As expected, the gates had been pulled down over the service windows and secured, and the door leading to the office had been bolted shut.

She stepped back and motioned to the handle. “Can you open it?”

“No problem.”

Tibor stepped around Linda. Leaning to one side, he slammed his shoulder into the deadbolt. The frame shook but did not give. Tibor rammed it again, this time harder. The metal door swung open and crashed against the wall. Moving to one side, he made a melodramatic gesture with his hand for Linda to proceed first. She entered and shone the flashlight around. Jackpot. No one had touched the stocks since the outbreak, and everything she would need to assist the others in recovering was right here.

Off to her left sat a two-wheeled dolly stacked with four gray plastic crates used to transport pharmaceuticals. She picked up the two top crates, emptied the contents onto the floor, and handed them to Tibor. “Take these. Fill one with multi-vitamins and the other with protein mixes.”

Tibor took the crates and left. Linda emptied the next two containers and proceeded to fill them with antibiotics and other drugs.

*  *  *

Roberta and DeWitt approached the double doors leading to the storage room when they heard a noise that sounded like something being dragged across the floor. They spun around, panning their flashlights into the store, and saw nothing.

“What was that?” DeWitt whispered.

“I don’t know, and I don’t feel like hanging around to find out.” Roberta grabbed her cart and pushed it into the storage room. “Let’s load this stuff on the truck so we can get out of here when the others get back.”

*  *  *

Tibor finished loading one crate with multi-vitamins. When he knelt down to close the lid, he heard something running, followed by a snarl. Four swarmers in soiled National Guard cammies were rushing toward him. The nearest, only ten feet away, had no left arm; tendons and strips of decayed flesh hung from the empty socket. A second swarmer followed close behind, with a third fifty feet to the rear, hobbling along on legs that had chunks of flesh and muscle chewed out of them. The last of the living dead broke away from the pack and headed down a separate aisle toward the pharmacy.

Lowering his right shoulder, Tibor dove to the side, colliding with the closest swarmer’s legs and knocking it to the floor. Coming out of his roll, he jumped up in front of the second swarmer. It lunged at him. Tibor dug his left hand into the swarmer’s chest to hold it in place and wrapped the right behind its head, cupping its chin. The swarmer flailed its head, trying to find flesh to bury its teeth in. Tibor yanked his right arm to the side, twisting the swarmer’s head around. The vertebrae crunched as the bones shattered. The swarmer dropped to the floor, motionless except for its mouth that still bit at its missed meal.

A hand clasped Tibor’s shoulder. The one-armed swarmer had gotten back to its feet and resumed its attack. Tibor tried to yank himself free, but the swarmer clutched his jacket and would not let go. The two fell forward, crashed against the shelves, and sprawled to the floor amidst a cascade of plastic vitamin bottles. Tibor tried to stand, but couldn’t find a good foothold. He moved forward and twisted from side to side to keep the swarmer off balance. If it bit his exposed neck or shoulders, he was as good as dead. He crawled to a section of the aisle free of plastic bottles and stood up, dragging the one-armed swarmer with him. It leaned closer, and Tibor felt its teeth near his neck. He spun to his right to throw the swarmer off balance.

Tibor stared directly into the lifeless eyes of the leg-ravaged swarmer that had closed the distance between them.

*  *  *

Linda heard the commotion outside the pharmacy and looked through the customer window, unable to see anything because of the closed grating.

“Tibor, are you okay?”

Something growled. Linda knew right away what had made the noise. She sprinted to the door. A swarmer in National Guard cammies with the skin stripped off its chest, its abdomen exposed and empty, rushed toward her from inside the store. She reached the door first, closed it shut, and reached up to secure the bolt. The swarmer slammed into the other side. The door burst open, smashing Linda in the face and knocking her back against a shelf of prescription drugs. The swarmer pushed its way into the pharmacy and lunged, pinning her against the shelf. Though stunned, she had the presence of mind to stop it. Her fingers clutched its ribcage, slipping through the rotting muscles and gore. She swallowed back the vomit rising in her throat and locked her elbows, keeping the swarmer at arms’ length. It tore at her arms, snarling and gnashing.

Linda felt her muscles giving way under the onslaught.

*  *  *

Robson and Dravko had pushed their cart halfway back to the storage room when they heard the commotion around the pharmacy near the center of the store. Both men stopped. Robson shut off his flashlight and switched to the night vision goggles. He couldn’t see the entire store; however, in those sections within his line of sight, rotters climbed to their feet. He counted over a dozen, each spread out across the main floor. They twisted their heads, trying to determine where the noise came from. A loud bang from the pharmacy caught their attention, and the rotters lumbered off in that direction.

“Take this back to the truck,” ordered Robson, pushing the cart toward Dravko. “I’ll check on Tibor and Linda.”

“No.” Dravko grabbed his arm. “Tibor is from my coven. Let me go.”

“Yell if you need help.”

Robson pushed the cart toward the storage room. Dravko headed for the pharmacy.

*  *  *

Roberta and DeWitt pushed open the double doors leading into the storage room when they heard all hell break lose in the pharmacy. DeWitt raised the flashlight. Roberta placed her hand on the light and lowered the beam to the floor.

“Don’t do that,” she whispered. “If there are rotters in here, the light will attract them.”

“What about the others?”

“They’ll be heading this way soon.”

DeWitt stared at her in disbelief and contempt. Realizing how cowardly her remarks sounded, she explained, “Robson expects everyone to meet back here. If we go off searching for them, we’re liable to get separated.”

DeWitt scrunched his lips. “Makes sense.”

Roberta shoved the cart inside, and then took the wheeled clothes rack from DeWitt. “Wait here by the door. If anyone calls for help, we’ll go after them.”

“What are you going to do?” DeWitt asked.

“I’m going to load this stuff onto the truck.”

Roberta pushed the cart and rack over to the loading dock door. She panned the flashlight from one end of the storage room to the other. Once certain that nothing lurked in the shadows, she crouched down, grabbed the handle, and lifted. The sickeningly sweet stench of rotting flesh wafted through the opening, accompanied by a dozen decaying hands. One clasped her ankle and pulled, knocking her over backward. Her flashlight fell to the floor and rolled so the beam shone outside. Roberta saw a dozen rotters on either side of the Ryder, crowded in front of the loading deck. Another twenty or thirty moved toward them from a clump of tress on the opposite side of the parking lot.

A second and third pair of dead hands grabbed Roberta’s ankle and tried to pull her off the platform.

*  *  *

The ravaged-leg swarmer reached out for Tibor. Raising his right leg, Tibor kicked it in the chest. The swarmer fell back several feet, giving the vampire the few seconds he needed. Tibor brought down his leg, bent the knee, and crouched to his right while simultaneously digging both hands into the one-armed swarmer’s right shoulder. The move pulled the swarmer off of Tibor’s back and he threw it over his shoulder. When it crashed to the floor, Tibor took the talons of the middle and forefingers of his right hand and plunged them through the one-armed swarmer’s eyes. It spasmed once and went limp. Tibor jumped back to his feet to confront the ravaged-leg swarmer, which had closed to within five feet of him.

Dravko stood in the center of the aisle. “Are you okay?”

“Nothing I can’t handle,” Tibor grinned. He motioned with his head to the pharmacy. “Help the human.”

Dravko rushed off, and the ravaged-leg swarmer spun around toward him. Tibor took advantage of the opportunity. Launching himself at the swarmer, he grabbed its head in both hands and pushed. The two tumbled over. Tibor straightened his elbows and leaned forward, so when they hit the floor, all his weight was distributed to his hands. The swarmer’s head erupted beneath his palms, splattering brains and skull across the floor and shelves.

Standing up, Tibor flicked away the gore. He heard a muffled snarl. Glancing behind him, he saw the first swarmer whose head he had twisted around spread out amongst the spilled vitamin bottles. Tibor walked over and stared down at it. Its eyes still focused on him, its teeth snapping and grinding. He sneered.

“You’ll never beat me, motherfucker.”

Tibor stomped his foot on the swarmer’s head, crushing it beneath his boot.

*  *  *

Although Linda tried pushing away the swarmer, she knew she couldn’t hold it back any longer. Weeks in the rape camp had left her with no strength. Giving in to the inevitable, she closed her eyes and prayed that the end would be quick, and let her arms collapse.

The swarmer fell against her. Linda cried out in anticipation of being bitten. Instead, something lifted it off of her chest. She opened her eyes to see Dravko behind the swarmer, his hands clasping its neck and head, dragging it away. He smashed its head against the wall several times until the skull shattered, spurting brains and gore in a fan-shaped pattern. Dravko flung the carcass to one side. Linda stared at the corpse, still in a semi-state of shock.

“Are you all right?” asked Dravko.

Linda stared at him. She had not heard the question.

“I asked if you’re all right.”

She responded with barely a nod.

“Good.” Dravko offered his hand. “We have to get out of here.”

“No.” Linda’s head suddenly cleared. She went back into the pharmacy, stopped in front of the plastic crate, and resumed filling it with prescription medicines, grabbing bottles off the shelf and making quick decisions about their usefulness.

“Are you crazy?” Dravko stepped into the pharmacy. “Rotters are closing in on us.”

“A lot of good people are going to die if we don’t bring this stuff back, so let me work.” Linda glanced over at Dravko “I’m almost done. Give me a few minutes.”

Dravko shook his head and stood by the door.

*  *  *

Robson avoided the few rotters throughout the store because their attention was focused on the commotion up front. He breathed a sigh of relief at his good fortune until he neared the storage room and heard Roberta screaming in terror. Leaving the cart in the center of the aisle, Robson swung the AA-12 off of his shoulder and raced the few yards for the swinging double doors leading to the storage room.

He burst through to find Roberta lying by the open door of the loading dock. More than a dozen rotters swarmed around the edge, clutching at her legs. DeWitt crouched behind her, his hands under her arms, trying to pull her away. Too many dead hands grasped her. Roberta yelled and kicked frantically. Every time she broke one rotter’s grip, another took its place. Her pants were torn and blood covered her legs. Robson rushed up beside Roberta, aimed the AA-12 at the rotters closest to her, and pulled the trigger. A rapid-fire barrage of shotgun shells tore into the horde. A cloud of gore formed as heads exploded, torsos burst open, and limbs were severed. Roberta kicked and screamed even louder. This time, with so many of the rotters cut down, DeWitt pulled her away. He dragged her across the floor, still thrashing and screaming. When Robson knelt beside her to offer comfort, she lashed out at him, nearly kicking him in the jaw. Robson grabbed Roberta by the collar, yanked her to her feet, and slapped her across the face. She calmed down instantly.