Class of 2013 - 29

Chapter Twenty Nine

A few moments later we found ourselves inside the abandoned store; greeted only by silence and the sickeningly sweet scent of death. The interior was somehow both calming… and a complete fucking horror show. There were no zombies in sight, but we weren’t about to let our guard down just yet. There were corpses littering the floor of the store in every direction that we looked, though it appeared that most of them were right near the front. The plague had swept through and the infection had spread just like it had done at P.M.A. – the people at the front hadn’t stood a chance. A few more detailed looks around and we found that the Customer Services section at the front was clear, as were the restrooms, the checkout, and the McDonald’s that was there at the front of the store.

A few more minutes passed and we were finally pretty sure that the store was clear, but we decided to stay in the group as we moved toward the rear of the store – and the electronics section. It didn’t take more than a couple minutes to reach it, and after a security check we all began looking through the various communications devices. About ten minutes of rummaging through various cell phones later, and we came to the disturbing conclusion that this entire mission was a wild goose chase.

“Well, this is a bust.” I said as I leaned on the display case for the phones. “I can’t believe it. A store that has everything you might need, but they don’t carry sat-phones.”

Chien shook his head. “Maybe Radio Shack has some.”

Lea shrugged, “Possible, but I kinda doubt it. We can always go and look though.”

James piped up next, “Well what do we do in the meantime?”

Johnny was the first to answer, “We’re already here and there doesn’t seem to be any zombies…” He paused as his left fist clenched, looking as if he was having a cramp in his arm, “…we might as well look around.”

I raised a brow curiously, “You okay, Johnny?”

“Yeah, I’m fine…” He said slowly as his fist unclenched after a moment, “…just… aftershocks, I guess you could call it. Probably gonna be a couple days before I’m completely back to normal, y’know?”

Chien nodded, “Alright. Well… with this place clear, you can go back out to the SUV if you want. You should probably be resting. The rest of us can look around the store for anything useful, and then we’ll be on our way too. We can probably swing by Radio Shack on the way back to check and see if they have anything there.”

Johnny nodded, “Alright. I’ll see you guys in a while. I think I’m gonna take a nap, so don’t rush.” He smiled a bit, though it didn’t seem to quite reach his eyes. “Besides, I think we could all use a break, and… well…” He looked pointedly over to where the demo game systems were, “…Everyone could use a break, right?”

James and I grinned as we looked toward the games. “Yeah, a break sounds pretty good.”

Chien just shook his head as we headed toward them… and then quickly followed us as Lea laughed, strolling along behind him.

==X==X==X==

The passage of time was a funny thing. Before we knew it, the four of us had been at those gaming systems for over an hour, and when we realized that, we decided that enough was enough for now. We hadn’t come here to play video games – even if it was a nice distraction from the state of the world. Granted, we had ended up playing Nazi Zombies, so… it really was questionable how distracting from reality it had been. Once we decided to stop playing though, Chien told us that we should split up and look for anything that might be useful to us. That way, at least the mission wouldn’t be a total bust. Soon enough, Chien and Lea had headed off toward to front of the store, leaving James and I in the rear.

Probably not the best idea, because as soon as they were gone, we decided on having one more round of Nazi Zombies – with the sound turned down, of course. We didn’t want to be read the riot act by Chien for screwing around. I admit, that’s exactly what we were doing, and we both knew it, but we didn’t want to hear about it.

Another few minutes passed by before the round ended and we decided to stop for good – knowing that we really did need to gather things. I elected to stay in the electronics section to try and dismantle the displays that held the game systems, and James went to… well, pretty much just explore… in the direction of the toy section. High school students though we were, the four of us still usually ended up gravitating toward the more childish things whenever we had the opportunity. Though, I had the feeling that when he was done with the toy section he’d head for the sporting goods. If you could make weapons and armor out of anything in here, it would probably be knee and elbow pads combined with shin-guards… or something to that effect.

==X==X==X==

The store being as empty as it was remained an unsettling thing, especially with the corpses that littered the various aisles. Perhaps the worst smelling, most gut wrenching, place was the pet section – specifically the aisle dedicated to the fish tanks. Said fish tanks were full of fish that hadn’t been fed in nearly two weeks… and had lights near the top for heating the tanks. Imagine, if you will, what it might smell like if McDonald’s sold sushi… and someone left California Rolls under the heating lamps for a week. Yeah, that was almost as bad as this. Combine the rotting sushi smell with that of a few decomposing human corpses in the surrounding area, and you’ve pretty much got an idea of what this place smelled like. Well… at least as close to one as you can get without actually having been there. Hallelujah.

AR-15 shouldered, Lea strolled somewhat aimlessly around the front corner of the store, not far from the fish tanks. She wasn’t sure what she had intended to find, really, but walking around was at least a sure way to potentially stumble onto something. Of course, when she actually entered the aquarium section, the putrid odor nearly knocked her on her ever-so-lovely ass – but she held her footing in spite of it. Stepping over the human corpses that displayed many of the folkloric signs of vampirism, she gazed at the fish tanks with a sad expression.

“Poor little fish…” She said softly, running her fingertips over the cloudy glass, though her eyes shot wide and she stepped back as she saw something move in the tank. Blinking as she quickly recovered, she leaned in a bit and squinted, until she saw the little monster inside the tank swim past the glass a couple times… before going up to one of the dead goldfish and apparently sucking off some of the flesh. Glancing at the little notecards about the fish in the tanks, she discovered that the heinous little ingrate was none other than a Plecostomus – a tropical sucker fish. Glaring at the tropical bottom feeder as it attached itself to the wall of the tank, she leaned down. “Fuck you, your hell-spawn laying mother, and your whole fucking species… your brother assassinated my goldfish, and he had plenty to eat still.”

Holding that glare, she took out one of the nine-millimeter pistols from her holsters and tapped the muzzle against the glass – watching as the sucker fish fled off into the corner of the tank that it called home. She could just imagine that it was glaring right back at her, and had it been able to live out of water, might have hissed at her. She’d always hated that kind of fish, ever since we were about twelve years old and my mom and dad got us each a tank of goldfish. We’d both gotten one of those sucker fishes too – and in both cases they’d ended up attacking the goldfish in the tanks. Some real horror show shit ensued too – dead fish, pieces laying around, and the few that were left living were missing pieces; a couple of them had even had their eyes torn off by those little monsters. I couldn’t blame Lea for hating those fish after that.

Though taking her tank outside and dropping an M-80 in it might have been a bit much…

…but then again, those fucking fish deserved to be depth charged.

Taking a breath, she stepped back from the aquariums, and began looking from one to the next. In each one it was the same story – the only fish left alive were those bottom feeders, assuming they had been in the tank. The beautiful fish with the long colorful manes were just as dead as the common goldfish, and algae infested each and every tank. So long as the Plecos had enough oxygen to keep going, they’d be just fine while the rest of the fish were dead and gone. A soft sigh and she stepped away, heading toward the back of the aisle. Rounding the corner, she bumped into someone, and was about to chastise one of our members… until she opened her eyes and saw the ginger-haired young woman in front of her.

Eyes shot wide, and as if the girl was a mirror the same expression crossed her face as they both hopped a step back. A second later and the nine millimeter pistol she’d been holding was raised – but in that same amount of time the ginger had notched an arrow into the bow she held; drawn back and ready to fire. At this range, neither would miss their chosen target – in Lea’s case, the head, and in the ginger-haired archer’s case, the heart. Both breathed deeply, but slowly, and kept their head. If either of them let loose with their weapon, it would be the end for both of them, and they both knew it instinctively. A small smile gradually came to Lea’s lips, and when her counterpart arched a questioning brow, she spoke.

“We’ve got two options…” She said slowly, “…we can kill each other… or… we could make out. And y’know… I would really rather not kill a creature as lovely as you.”

The archer grinned playfully, “Oh really now…?” She said, wiggling her eyebrows.

“Yeah… really…” Lea smiled softly, and slowly moved her weapon off target, the archer doing the same. Once the pistol was back in Lea’s holster, her counterpart slid the arrow back into the quiver on her back, and the bow over her shoulder. “My name’s Lea. Who’re you?” She asked, offering her hand to shake.

“Artemis.” The redhead grinned, taking Lea’s hand. Instead of a shake though, she abruptly pulled her in close, “Now, I seem to remember something about a kiss being mentioned…”

Lea blushed a bit, “Yeah, well… I…”

Without a bit of hesitation, Artemis turned and dipped the sniperess, leaning in as if to kiss her with passion and hunger – but the pressure that she felt upon her lips was not that of another pair of lips, but rather… a digit. Blinking a bit as Artemis pulled back slightly, Lea had a curious look on her face – one that Artemis immediately addressed.

“Stage kiss.” Artemis beamed happily.

Lea simply burst out laughing.

==X==X==X==

The toy section had certainly been entertaining enough for James thus-far. He’d always had this way about him where he was thinking about how he could turn things into movie props. With the power still on, at least for now, he was still thinking about it. After all, had to do something in our down time so we didn’t go insane. Why not try and make a web series? Hell, with nobody to tell us not to go places to film, it wouldn’t be all that hard to pick locations for backdrops. In fact, with everything now basically being free, if we could learn to use the software then editing and even CGI wouldn’t be out of our reach. Granted, it would be better if we could find someone that knew how to do this stuff already, but if not… oh well.

Nerf weapons had always been a favorite of his to tinker with. So that aisle had caught his attention for some time. For the last ten minutes he’d been in there, looking at the various toy weapons – everything from guns to swords; even a freakin’ battleaxe and war hammer. It was all there. Of course, we had the real weapons, but having a hobby was usually a good thing. As well, despite knowing that there were no zombies in the immediate area, he hadn’t shouldered his shotgun like the rest of us had done with our weapons. No, he was paranoid like that, but we all had to admit that his paranoia was, at times, well founded. When the time finally came that he decided to leave the toy section, he raised up the shotgun and moved as if he were having to clear the aisles that he was headed toward.

What he had never expected was for a lean, muscular, blonde haired Viking dressed like a biker to come walking out from one of the aisles – with a sawed-off shotgun in his hand, resting over his shoulder, and a cut-down sledgehammer hanging at his hip. The Viking didn’t even pause when he saw the shotgun in James’ hands and the way he was moving. James looked like someone that was hunting something down, and in his mind, that thing was likely him. Without a second of hesitation, the blonde biker brought the sawed-off to bare and fired twice before ducking into an aisle. James had done the same, but had only gotten off one thunderous shot before he dove down his own and racked another round into the pump action. The words ‘shit’ and ‘fuck’ had never been used by two people in such rapid succession at any other point in history up ‘til now.

Peeking around the corner as he made his way to the other end of the aisle, James quickly ducked back before a hail of buckshot could get up close and personal with his face. Looking out at the bin in the middle of the floor path beyond the aisle, he took a couple steps back and then ran forward, diving for it and firing off a shot as the blonde biker fired back; ducking around his own corner to reload. Racking another round, James rose up from behind the bin and fired toward the corner as he made his way toward it – repeating the action as he did. Racking his final round, he came around the corner, ready to fire, only to see… nothing. Nobody. It wasn’t until he heard the whistle from above him that he glanced up to see that the Viking was standing atop the racks of sporting goods. Seeing that, James’ eyes went wide as dinner plates, and he dove, rolling and skittering behind another bin – buckshot whizzing past his head as the blonde’s two shots were fired in rapid succession.

Popping up and firing quickly, he missed the Viking, but hit the rack good enough that it collapsed beneath the blonde; sending him to the ground. Pumping the shotgun and ejecting the spent shell, he quickly realized that he’d fired all five of his shots. At that point, he had multiple options, chief among them being the simple choice of pulling the Colt .45 he had and finishing this up… hopefully. Somehow he doubted that the blonde hadn’t recovered fairly quickly from the fall, and might have even had the sawed-off reloaded by now. It didn’t take long to reload one of those, after all. That in mind, combined with his natural sportsman’s drive, made him bolt in the other direction; toward the center of the store.

Reloading the shotgun as he went, he found out quickly that he’d been right about the reload time. Two shots rang out as he ducked down an aisle; ceramic and glass decorations on shelves shattering behind him. As he moved, he heard a call over the radio in Chien’s voice.

“James, what the fuck is going on?!”

Grabbing the radio from his belt, he all but shouted into it.

“I’m getting shot at by a fucking Viking! That’s what the fuck is going on!”

==X==X==X==

Chien and I, having come to stand together – as he had wandered back over to me and begun helping me disassemble the displays – looked at one another. We weren’t sure if he was being serious about claiming that an actual, living, breathing Viking was after him, or if he was simply referencing the man’s looks. We assumed the latter, and prayed that was what he meant. If not, we might have to have his head checked. A moment later, we grabbed our weapons and were on our way as the thunderous retorts of shotgun fire traveled through the store. At the very least, the two combatants thankfully wouldn’t be difficult to find.

==X==X==X==

“Really? You got both of them in on it just to mess with the guys?” Artemis chuckled, shaking her head and offering a fist for a knuckle-bump – which was quickly given by Lea.

“Sure did… Molly was willing to help, and Sophie is like a big sister to me; she loves helping me with all my little schemes and machinations. I almost feel bad about it, but then again… it was too good to pass up.” Lea shrugged a bit, “Part of me wishes we had really done it, but I also know it’s way too soon for that. We’ve only been together a little over a week. It just wouldn’t be in good taste to have sex so soon.” She sighed, “That and with my arm aching like it does, it wouldn’t be the best idea.”

Artemis smirked, “Wouldn’t be in good taste?” She looked at her slyly, “I think your arm might have more to do with it than taste does, Lea.” She teased, and then tilted her head slightly, “But… what has your arm hurting?”

A quick raspberry was blown Artemis’ way, and then Lea pouted, looking at her shoulder. “I had a really bad bruise. It’s gone now, but I still get this dull ache sometimes. It’s getting better, so I don’t think it’ll be permanent, I just have to lay off it. That’s all.” It really hadn’t helped that she’d been doing pushups and pull-ups while her shoulder had been jacked up.

“Well, I hope it gets better soon.” Artemis said, giving her new friend a hug.

Lea giggled in a girlish, airy way – something she rarely seemed to do – and hugged the archer back. “Thank you, oh Ranger of Gondor.”

Artemis leaned back and blinked, looking at her. “You recognize my costume?”

“Psh, yeah…” Lea grinned, “I went to Comic-Con last year as Aragorn. King has to know who’s on his side, doesn’t he?”

Artemis blinked, looking from Lea’s face to her chest and back. “Did you…?”

“I never said I was comfortable in the costume.”

Artemis winced, rubbing her chest. “Sympathy pains…”

Lea chuckled, “Wasn’t too bad. I loosened the bindings after a little while. The rest of the costume was able to hide my bust pretty well, actually.”

“Well that’s good.”

“So what about you? Where’d this come from?” Lea asked as she touched the fabric of Artemis’ attire. “It’s very well made.”

“Thank you.” Artemis beamed, “I made it myself, actually.”

“Get out… really?” Lea said in awe, “No kidding?”

“Nope! The fabric was a bit pricey, but I made everything myself.” Artemis paused, “Well, except the metal work. My brother helped me with that. I know a little smithing, but he has a lot more experience than I do. He even made my arrowheads.”

“Wow… now that’s skill…” Lea said, then added, “For both of you I mean.”

Artemis smiled, “Thanks.”

“So what gave you the idea to wear it now?” Lea asked, tilting her head slightly.

Artemis shrugged, “I’m good at archery. It just… felt right, I guess.”

Lea nodded. “Yeah, I can see that.”

And that was the moment that the firefight across the store began. Both young women paused, and then quickly scrambled up onto a rack to try and get a better view. Bringing the rifle from her shoulder, Lea looked through the scope to see James and the blonde that he was battling for a brief moment before they went out of sight. A moment later was the radio conversation and they heard that as well.

“Lemme guess,” Lea began as she looked to Artemis after they hopped off the rack, “the one with the cut off sledgehammer is your brother?”

Artemis sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose, “Yeah…”

“Had a feeling.” Lea said, then grabbed Artemis’ wrist, dragging her along behind her as she began running toward where the two had been, “Come on, we gotta stop them from killing each other!”

Artemis blinked a bit as she picked up her own pace, falling in stride with Lea, “Lea, use your radio!”

“Right!” The sniperess replied as they ran, grabbing her radio from her pants and keying the mike, “James! Stop fighting! That guy is on our side!”