This story contains graphic material of the violent nature. There are also gay relationships in the story. If any of this disturbs you then this story if probably not a good fit.
There is drug use in this story. Do not take this as a suggestion to use drugs. They are illegal. Until then, make your decisions wisely. Do not blame this story for your decisions, no one will buy it.
If you would like to make a comment or suggestion or send some love, it is always appreciated. Emails can be directed to johnashton07@gmail.com
Lucas was just about to open his door when he heard the sound of shattering glass. He let out a scream as a decaying hand pulled him back against the door. He saw Samantha raise her gun and was pulled back against the door again. His head slammed into the frame of the window, and his world went black.
Samantha lowered her weapon and opened her door cautiously. Travis pulled Lucas into an upright position from the back seat. As Samantha rounded the car looking for any sign of more zombies she noticed that there were gouges in the back of the jeep. Travis got out of the jeep and kicked the now dead zombie so that it turned over.
"Help me move this piece of shit out of the way." Travis said bending over to grab one of it's legs.
"Where did he come from?" Samantha said bending over to grab the other. "There are no more around. I have never seen just one."
"I don't know, but it is dead. That is what counts." Travis said standing upright again and walking to the driver's door.
"Is he alright?" Samantha asked looking over Travis' shoulder as he bent in to check on Lucas.
"Hell if I know, but he is out cold. He doesn't have any bite marks, but damn, how much can this guy take to the head?" Travis said pulling Lucas from the car and laying him on a clear spot on the ground. "Keep a look out for a second would ya?"
Samantha turned to look around the Jeep. The gashes in the back were new. She looked down at the dead remains of the zombie. She looked at his hands and let out a gasp. His hands had been decayed back, but instead of a typical bone, a hook structure protruded from it's wrists.
"The fuck is that!?" Samantha shouted.
"Shut the fuck up!" Travis whisper-yelled. "What is? Oh shit!"
Travis noticed the hooks too. He stood up and walked over to the corpse. He kicked at the hook and it curled in slightly. It looked sharp. He looked back at the jeep and noticed the gouges in the back.
"The bastard must have grabbed on for a ride." Travis said.
There was a moaning and rustling a few feet away and Samantha turned quickly, her gun ready to fire. She lowered it when she realized it was only Lucas, coming to. She and Travis went over to help him sit upright.
"Are you alright Lucas?" Samantha questioned.
"What happened?" Lucas said looking around and seeing the zombie on the ground a few feet away.
"Bastard clamped onto your jeep and attacked when we stopped. This isn't your run of the mill zombie either. He has hook hands!" Samantha said, a bit too loud for the setting.
"Would you be quiet?" Travis said slapping at her.
"Stop slapping me!" Samantha said in a quieted yell.
"Lets just get in there you two. Jeze! Why am I the sensible one? I have been unconscious more than awake in the last four days." Lucas said trying to stand up.
Travis helped him to his feet and they started toward the door. The Walmart was part of a larger mall. It stretched on a great distance and would have been a bit intimidating in the night time if not for the huge yellow and black smiley face on the front of the building. The mall must have a good sized generator hooked up, as there was still light inside. The doors did not respond to the motion sensors, and they had to force the doors open.
When they walked inside the store looked empty. There was no sound to be heard but the slight hum of the lights. The trio walked over to the grocery section before either of them spoke a word.
"This is eerie. It has not been touched." Lucas said quietly.
"I know. Something is off about this." Travis said.
"Maybe we are the only survivors. It has been four days." Samantha suggested.
"No, there are people around here somewhere. Power is out in the city, and the generator would have to have been refilled with fuel. Even our generator at the complex has had to be refueled already, and it is bigger than most mall's backups." Travis said quietly.
Lucas walked up to a shelf and began grabbing canned tuna, as much as he could carry.
"This stuff is full of oils, and nutrients. We should take as much as we can. Come on, we will take a load to the jeep and come back for more." Lucas said.
Travis began picking up cans. Samantha ran back to the entrance and returned with 6 shopping baskets. She handed two to Lucas, and two to Travis. She then began filling her baskets as well. When the baskets were full they headed back to the front doors and to the Jeep. They opened the door and dumped the baskets in. When they turned back to get more they heard a slam.
"What was that?" Travis said.
"I don't know, but you take your gun. Samantha, take baskets. We need to hurry and get this done. Either way, we don't have time to waste. The sun is starting to come up." Lucas said, walking toward the entrance.
Samantha and Travis followed close behind. The three of them stopped just inside when they heard voices.
"Woah! Someone has been in here!" A woman yelled out.
"What?" A man called back.
"The tuna! It is all gone! They took every last can!" The woman yelled, louder this time.
Footsteps approached from all around and angry yelling could be heard a few isles away. Lucas crouched down near a check out line, while Samantha and Travis ducked behind a nearby display.
Lucas slowly edged toward them to keep from being separated. It wasn't until he felt a hard bump in the floor that he realized that he had run into someone.
"Look what we have here." A man said. "Stand up. All of you. Drop your weapon."
Another man and woman came around the corner carrying handguns pointed and ready. The woman was Asian. She had long black hair and stood tall. She could not have weighed more than 100 lbs, but she was obviously not someone to mess with. She had a scar running down her chest a good 6 inches before disappearing into her shirt.
The man that was with her was white. He was a bit shorter than she was, but was heavily built. He had his long hair pulled back into a ponytail. He wore a black shirt and jeans with a leather belt. When he walked he had a slight limp.
"What are you doing in our mall?" The woman said walking toward the three. "Stealing food?"
"We need supplies. We didn't know anyone was here. I swear." Lucas said, still looking down.
"Take that gun, Alan. We don't want our guests to get trigger happy, do we?" The woman said.
Alan must be the other man's name. Bent over he was still three fourths the size of either of them standing up. The massive man picked up Travis' gun. He had muscles the bulged from under his shirt. His skin was the color of coal, if not darker.
"Where is the fish?" the woman addressed Lucas.
"Fish?" he responded.
"The tuna!" She yelled back. "The cans you stole!"
Samantha whimpered slightly at the noise. Lucas thought it strange to see Samantha unsettled like this. She usually had a 'bad girl' attitude and to see her this shook made Lucas think twice about his answer.
"There is a jeep, just outside. It is all in there. We will put it back and leave, we are sorry to have disturbed you." Lucas said backing away slightly.
This slight movement seemed to be the wrong choice. Alan grabbed onto his injured arm with enough force to send bolts of pain through it. Lucas let out a yell and his knees fell out from under him.
"Take them to the office, and tie them up. I will get the fish." The woman said, walking toward the entrance.
Alan grabbed took both Lucas and Travis, while the other man grabbed Samantha's arm and pushed a gun to her back. They walked through the store and into the hallway of the mall. Just through true entrance was a small hallway leading to a chain of rooms. They were taken into one of them and handcuffed to a rail that must have been installed recently, as it did not match the rest of the small office.
"Now play nice, and maybe we won't feed you to the zombies. Maybe." The smaller man said with a slight smile as the left the office.
Lucas collapsed to the ground, his hand held above his head still cuffed to the railing. He was thankful that their captors had been kind enough not to cuff his injured arm.
"Knocked out in a closet, knocked out and cut up in Kmart, Pushed down stairs, Knocked out in my jeep, and now this. What the fuck is this? My body can't do this anymore!" Lucas yelled out to no one in particular.
"They are going to kill us!" Samantha yelled out.
"Shut up, both of you!" Travis shouted over them. "This is not helping!"
"Well, what do you suggest? We are locked in an office, who knows how many of these people are out there, and we have no guns." Samantha said hysterically.
Travis reached over and slapped her. She lost it and started swinging and kicking at him. Lucas stood up and threw a leg between them.
"Stop it! Samantha slide down to that end. Travis stop slapping her." Lucas said separating the two of them.
Samantha slid down to the far end of the railing and sat on the floor. She turned herself so that she was facing as away from the other two as she could. Travis followed suit.
"Travis is right. Sitting here panicked is not helping. We have to figure something out." Lucas said sitting back against the wall and cradling his bandaged arm.
"Well where the hell did they go!?" Eric shouted. "Damn them! I am going to kill them myself, I swear. If the zombies haven't got them already!"
"I don't know, but they went East. I watched them." Bradley said. "We have to find them. It is light now, and there should be less of these creatures walking around, but if they are out there they could need help."
"This is why we have rules!" Eric said slamming his fist onto the counter.
"We don't have rules Eric. You have rules. Really, man, you have to stop this. We need to go find them. We need a vehicle and keys, and we need them now. The sun is starting to come up. They could be trapped or worse!"
"Fine! Meet me downstairs, I will get guns and ammo. Amanda, grab the keys to the hummer from our unit." Eric said standing up. He left Bradley's unit without saying another word, though he was mumbling something under his breath.
"Hun, you guys take a radio. Channel 13. I will be listening." Amanda said walking out as well.
Bradley looked over at Adrian who was sitting on the couch across the room. He looked nervous as Bradley had ever seen him.
"Adrian, this is no time for nerves. It is daylight, it should be safer. If you can't do this you need to stay here." Bradley said
"Nah, man. I am coming. Its your sister, and Travis, Lucas too. Can't just leave them out there." Adrian said standing up and looking slightly more sure of himself.
They left the unit and headed for the stairs when they saw a door open. Alex emerged from his room looking sheepish.
"What is up kid?" Bradley said coming to a stop.
"They aren't back yet are they?" Alex said quietly.
"No." Adrian said.
"They said they would be back, by dawn, with food." Alex said.
"You talked to them!?" Bradley said grabbing the teenager by the shoulders. "Where were they going!? What did they say!?"
"They said they would be back with food! That is all they said!" Alex said shakily. "I don't know anything else!"
Amanda came running down the hall and pulled Bradley off of Alex. She rounded on him like a mother protecting her own child.
"Leave him alone! What the hell do you think you are doing?" Amanda chastised. "Here, take these keys and go!"
Bradley looked shocked, but took the keys and headed down the stairs. Eric was waiting for the three of them at the foot of the staircase. He was carrying an arm full of weapons. There was enough to bring down a tank.
"If we are doing this, we are doing it right. Lets go." Eric said pushing the weapons into Adrian's arms and grabbing the keys from Bradley. "And I am driving."
They loaded up into a military style hummer and left the garage traveling in the direction that Bradley had seen the jeep go.
"Right, and then they just let us walk on out of here with the supplies and wave happily at us as we drive away. Unlikely. Next." Samantha said rolling her eyes.
"Well what do you suggest then?" Travis said growing red in the face, again.
"I suggest that you grasp what these people are going to do to us once we knock one of their friends out. I suggest that you get some smarts!" Samantha said with a snarl.
"That is not a plan sister. Give a better idea or shut it!" Travis said.
"Stop it you two, seriously! Travis, we can't just knock someone out. Even if we could get out of here that way, we are chained here and have no weapons. There has to be a way to get out of this, though. Keep thinking." Lucas said.
There was a click at the door and seconds later it opened to show the asian woman standing in the door way with a pistol in one hand and another pair of cuffs in the other.
"Plotting time is over. Do you think we are stupid. This room is bugged and you three disappoint me with your lack of imagination. Besides, there are some people who will be very happy to see you." the woman said as she walked in.
"Since you two can not play nice, I think we will separate you." She said looking back and forth between Samantha and Travis.
She walked over to Samantha and forced her to her feet. With an odd maneuver she had uncuffed her from the railing and placed the new cuffs with her hands behind her back.
"Where are you taking her?" Lucas asked.
"Don't you worry. Soon enough you will find out." the woman said as she pushed Samantha out of the room and closed the door.
Samantha was lead back up the hallway leading to the main mall. The woman was rough in handling her and a few times had dug her nails in to keep Samantha moving, or just for the fun of it. They were headed toward a movie theater and when they passed into it headed down toward one of the auditoriums. They walked up a flight of stairs and when the door at the top was opened she was pushed through into a cloud of the worst smell she had experienced. She saw over the ledge dozens of zombies walking around a bloodied theater below.
"They are hungry. They seem to stink more when they have not eaten in a while. Sit!" the woman said forcing her into a chair. She promptly tied her into the chair.
"They are beautiful aren't they? In their own sickly stupid kind of way. Did you know that they do not eat with no concern? They go for the meatiest pieces first. The neck, the calves, the arms. They must taste better, or have more? nutrients."
"You are insane!" Samantha yelled.
For a moment the sounds from below quieted. However, soon enough the moaning and scraping continued.
"No, not insane. There are just punishments for those that do not obey, and thieves. My pets down there will explain it all in good time." the woman said with a smile.
Samantha rattled in her chair as tears welled up in her eyes. The woman turned and walked toward the door. She paused before leaving and turned back.
"Careful, that would be a nasty fall if you were to slip over the edge there." She said smiling before closing the door behind her.
Samantha struggled against the chains tying her to the chair, but they would not budge. The asian had obviously had experience in tying people up. Suddenly she heard gunshots on the other side of the wall below her. The firing continued for a few seconds and stopped. A woman screamed out and seconds later light filled the bottom floor of the theater as the door opened.
"Oh shit! Close the door, close the door!" Samantha heard below. "Close the door!"
Samantha she screamed out. A few seconds later there were footsteps pounding up the stairs. Light filled the room as the door opened and she saw a familiar face.
"Samantha!" Bradley said running into the room. "Adrian, Eric! Its Samantha!"
Eric and Adrian bounded up the stairs and into the room. Both of them seemed worn out, but they were otherwise unharmed. Eric went back out of the room and returned seconds later with the keys to the lock on the chain. When he released her she shot up and threw her arms around her brother.
"Bradley! How did you find us?" She said nearly suffocating him in a hug.
"No time, where are Travis and Lucas?" He said pulling her off of him so that he could breathe.
"Offices, right outside the Wal-Mart." She said.
Eric handed her a gun and she lead the way out of the balcony. As they came down the stairs a bullet slammed into the wall in front of her.
"On the stairs! Get them!" A man said about ten feet away. Two more men came around a corner and fired shots barely missing Samantha.
"That is my fucking sister!" Bradley said firing shots at the three men .
Two of them dropped. The other one ducked behind the corner giving them enough time to find cover. Shots flew in every direction for minutes until Eric caught the attacker in the head as he peaked out of the corner.
"Lets go!" He said running out of the cover toward Wal-Mart.
Samantha lead the way back through the hallway to the office. They tried the door, but it was locked.
"Shit!" Bradley said. "Who had the key?"
"The asian woman. She had it." Samantha said.
"Move!" Adrian said.
Adrian took the butt of his gun and slammed it on the top of the handle. It broke off and he pushed the other half of the handle through the other side swinging the door open at the same time.
"Holy shit!" Lucas said jumping to his feet. "The hell!?"
"Shut up." Eric said, and Lucas went silent. "Get them off of that shit."
Bradley took the keys from Eric that he had taken from the woman and uncuffed the two prisoners. They both stood up rubbing their wrists.
"How did you find us?" Lucas said. "I thought we were done, for sure."
"No time, we have to get out of here." Eric said.
They ran out of the room and up the hallway. Through the door to the cinema they saw a crowd moving toward the main mall. They were moving fast.
"Shit, they must have broken through!" Adrian said. "Move faster!"
They turned into Wal-Mart and ran though the store. Behind them they could hear the growls and snarls of at least thirty walking corpses, and they were closing in. Eric turned to spray bullets behind him. It was enough to trip a few of them which caused others to trip as well.
"Keep going!" Eric shouted as the group sprinted to the back entrance.
They pushed through the glass doors and out into the parking lot. Eric, Bradley, Adrian, and Samantha loaded into the hummer, while Travis and Lucas hopped into the jeep. Both vehicles roared to life and they took off down the road. In their rear view mirrors they saw the zombies pour out of the doors. Lucas for the first time took a sigh of relief. Travis collapsed back into the passenger seat.
The two vehicles pulled into the garage and parked. Eric flew out of the drivers seat and over to the jeep. He opened the door and pulled Travis out of his seat, causing him to fall to the ground.
"What the fuck did I tell you?" Eric yelled. "Are you brainless!?"
"Eric, what the fuck?" Travis said pulling himself to his feet.
"There was a lockdown. We don't know how we were detected, and you three go wandering off unannounced!" Eric said.
"Look we needed supplies, people are starving in there! We did what we had to!" Travis said.
"And look where that got you! You three would have been dead if we hadn't come and saved your asses!" Eric yelled, his face red.
Bradley, Samantha, Adrian, and Lucas got out of their perspective vehicles and came around to separate the two.
"It is done. It is over. Lets go inside." Adrian said pulling Eric toward the entrance.
"Lucas, your arm is bleeding through the wrappings. Maybe you should come with me." Eric said calming down a bit, but Lucas understood this as an order more than suggestion.
Adrian, Lucas, and Eric were the first through the door and were greeted by Amanda. She ran up to Eric and threw her arms around him, giving him a kiss for good measure.
"You are safe! Oh lord, thank you!" She said continuing to kiss him.
"Amanda, please! Yes, we are alright." Eric said smiling slightly.
"Lucas, your arm looks horrible!" Amanda said. "My husband may be a veterinarian, but let him help you with that. Eric take him upstairs."
"I am working on it, dear." Eric said leading Lucas past her.
Eric opened the door to his unit, which looked more like an office than an apartment. It was set up with a desk and a patient bed. Eric motioned for Lucas to hop into the bed and he obeyed.
"You guys really pulled a stupid one there. What in God's name where you thinking?" Eric said with his back turned fetching a few medical tools.
"We needed food?" Lucas suggested lamely.
Eric did not respond but turned around red showing back into his face. He moved over to Lucas' arm and began unwinding the bandage.
Lucas stayed silent for a moment. Eric leaned in to look at the wounds to Lucas' arm. He put his arm down and stood back, putting on a serious 'doctor face'.
"Your cut has torn a bit higher. You will need another stitch to hold it closed. You can't be running off and jarring that around if you want it to heal. Rest it as much as you can until those cuts close." Eric said grabbing antiseptic.
Lucas winced as the stinging fluid hit his wound, and again as the stitch was put in place. Eric put knew bandaging around his arm and lead him out of the unit.
"Take it easy. Don't do anything stupid again for a while." Eric said before closing the door.
Lucas walked down the hall toward his unit. At the staircase he met Travis and Samantha. Bradley was close behind them with Adrian.
"How is your arm?" Travis said looking at the fresh wrappings.
"It tore open a bit more, but it should be fine." Lucas said. "Bradley, Adrian, how did you find us?"
"It wasn't all that hard. We knew you had gone East, and when we saw your jeep it made sense. We saw the dead zombie and the door to the store wide open. These guys started shooting at us, but we managed to get through to you all." Adrian said.
"Those people were insane. They had those zombies locked in there and were feeding each other to them." Samantha said.
"We are safe now." Lucas said. "Well, safer."
"Yeah." Travis said. "I need some sleep, guys."
"Me too" They all responded.
They parted to go to their perspective units. Lucas closed to door to his and noticed the blackout paper on the windows had made the lighting a bit more creepy than before. Like the other units, it was given an eerie underground feel, but Lucas didn't care. He laid back on his bed and embraced the first real sleep he had gotten in days.