Amanda Carter in the L.A.Z., life after zombies (26 page)

Chapter 44

“
H
ow do we open it?” Sam asked, sounding concerned that they may not be able to check it out after all.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s actually a good thing that it’s locked, that means there might be some valuable things in there for us that haven’t been touched yet. But I don’t really feel much like beating the crap out of the door handle with a sledge hammer right now, so let’s see if our friendly store worker that we bashed has the key on her.”

“Oh,” Sam said, sounding like she wasn’t too keen on going through the pockets of a creeper.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll do it,” Amanda said, walking back to their cart, “besides, I want to go back and check on things with the truck and Red.”

“Sounds good,” Sam said, with renewed excitement.

Amanda pushed the cart into the next aisle, and Sam bashed another creeper that had wandered in on them. Amanda was hoping that an entire horde hadn’t entered the place while they had been at the other end of the store.

“Thirteen,” Sam said, sounding out of breath and a little hoarse.

Even with the bandanas, the smoke was scratching at their throats, burning their lungs and making eyes water. The store had not yet become cloudy with smoke yet, but Amanda hoped to be out of here before that happened.

This aisle had contained batteries, flashlights, lanterns, kerosene, and a few camping type items that were really picked over. Amanda collected up a few of the packs of batteries that remained, but Sam had found more batteries in the pawnshop than there were left over here.

Sam grabbed the last two remaining kerosene lanterns and the six small bottles of kerosene that were scattered across the shelf. Others had already taken the larger bottles and hadn’t been desperate enough to want the smaller ones.

Amanda grabbed eight more plastic tent spikes, some coils of cotton rope, and the last three tarps, one large and two small. There were a small collection of flashlights left out of the dozens that had been displayed, and Amanda scooped those up too. Even though it was a little disappointing to find so little compared to what had been here, it was still a much better haul by far than anything she had previously been accustomed to.

At the end of this aisle were four checkout lines that had once boasted food impulse items and drinks. There was nothing remaining of that except empty boxes strewn about that had once held the items and some empty bottles and wrappers, which indicated that someone hadn’t wanted to wait to consume them.

“Bummer,” said Sam, “I was kinda hoping for some more candy or gum or something.”

“Sorry, kid, we missed the proverbial boat on that one.”

Feeling like the cart was sufficiently loaded for this trip and eager to see what the store looked like farther down toward the truck, Amanda began pushing the cart past the aisles and toward the entrance that they had arrived in, having Sam keep an eye on their surroundings in case there was more to deal with.

As they approached the truck, they could hear Red barking his warning bark, which put them on the alert for trouble. And trouble came shuffling around the corner, in the form of a female creeper that was wearing a light blue smock with a flower imprint. The smock was filthy, and the creeper had recently turned, so she was fast, but not fast enough for Sam’s bat, and she went down.

“I see what you mean about the recently turned ones being fast,” said Sam. “She was nothing like the others.”

The girl’s eyes were alight with the spark of fight, and Amanda was both proud and concerned. It was good that the teen had taken to the job of protecting herself with such gusto, but Amanda worried that there was just a little something wrong with enjoying it so much. She gave the girl a nod.

Another creeper was scraping at the door to the rental truck, and Red was positively irate about it. He was barking and growling and ready to pounce, should someone open the door to free him.

“I’ve got it,” Sam said while Amanda pulled the cart up behind the truck.

Again, there was no hesitation on Sam’s part to jump into the fray.

Sam found that one to be an easy target. In its frustration to reach the wolf dog, it had never seen her coming.

“Fifteen,” the girl said, but at the time, Amanda was sliding the rolling back door of the truck up and couldn’t hear her.

“I’m way in the lead now,” Sam said, coming up behind Amanda.

“I’m happy for you, I truly am, but can you hop in and put this stuff that I’m stacking here in the back?”

“Sure,” Sam said as Amanda began unloading the cart.

Amanda felt a tickle in her throat, and her eyes had begun to water, and then she was coughing and couldn’t seem to stop. Her throat was sore and scratchy from the smoke.

“You okay?” Sam asked, coming back for more items.

Amanda held a finger up to indicate that Sam should hold that question until she could answer it. She went to the truck to grab them each a bottle of water while Sam was busy tucking away their stash. With all the fluid that they were sweating, they had not had nearly enough water for today. That was her fault, she thought, because she had been pushing them so hard today that they really had not even had sufficient to eat for the amount of exertion that they were subjecting their bodies to.

Amanda drank her bottle right away, and the coughing subsided. Thank God, she thought, because she felt as if she were about to hack up one of her lungs if it continued. She chucked the empty bottle and heard it bump along the floor as she walked back to Sam.

“Thanks,” said Sam as Amanda handed her a bottle.

The girl was red-faced, and it occurred to Amanda that it must be hot inside the van portion of the rental truck. She didn’t want the girl spending too much time in there without a break. They were too close now to exiting this store with a really sweet haul, and she didn’t want anything getting in their way because there was no question that the fire was coming, and soon.

“I’ll go and check her pockets,” Amanda said, nodding to the direction of the downed ex-employee of the store.

“Thanks, because I’d rather not,” Sam said, also chucking her bottle out of the back of the moving truck.

The bottle was caught by the wind and took off out into the parking lot. With no aspirations of slowing down, the bottle swirled and eddied with the other debris that it had met up with, looking like it had taken on a life of its own.

Amanda had never felt the need to dig through a dead creeper’s pockets before, and if that locked room hadn’t been holding such an alluring appeal to her, she wouldn’t be doing it now. She approached the creeper with a determined stride, being sure to check down the long aisle that led to the back and down the adjoining aisle, just to make sure that it was all clear. The last thing she needed was to be caught down in a compromising position and end up being attacked.

She went back and knelt down by the woman that could easily have earned herself an employee of the year trophy for her extreme dedication to the store. Inexplicably, she felt like she should apologize first, as if that would do any good for her now. Instead, she rolled the woman over and thrust her hand into the pocket that she could see had a bulge in it. Even with gloves on, she could tell that she had grasped a set of keys, now she could only hope that they were the ones that she was looking for.

Amanda held up two sets of keys, one was obviously a home-and-car set, while the other had a fob on it with the store’s name on it.
With any luck
, she thought,
I just found our way into that
room
.

Sam was looking a little tired and wilted when she made it back to the truck. Strong surges of adrenaline could be cruel to the body when they wore off. The high that Sam had been experiencing had obviously worn off by the looks of her slouched body and tired eyes.

“How’d it go?” Sam asked, and even her voice sounded deflated.

“I managed to get my hands on a set of store keys, now whether they’ll unlock the door or not, I don’t know, but are you ready to find out?”

“Sure thing,” she said, walking down the ramp with a little more ambition than she had been showing upon arrival.

“Let’s put the ramp up before we go,” Amanda said.

“Seriously,” said Sam, “that’s so much work, taking this thing up and down like that. Why couldn’t it be one of those powered elevator ramps that you can ride on?” the girl said whining.

“Don’t forget that we might need to head out of here fast. It’s bad enough that we pulled in nose first. I don’t want to compound our chances of getting out of here by having that ramp down in an emergency. You need to use your head a little bit and think things through if you’re going to be truly good at these runs.”

“Okay, makes sense,” she said, reaching to grab one side of the ramp while Amanda grabbed the other. “Where do you suppose the fire is now?” she asked after sniffing at the air.

“Closer than I’d like. Now, one, two, three, and shove,” Amanda said, and the ramp rolled back into place easily.

“Can I ride on the cart again? That was so much fun.”

“What do you think, I’m a perpetual motion machine?” Amanda said, eyeing the girl skeptically.

“A what machine?” Sam asked. “I’ll take that as a no,” she said when Amanda gave her another no-nonsense look.

“In fact, I think it’s your turn to roll this thing,” she said, walking away and leaving Sam to push the cart.

“What are you, miffed at me or something?”

“Just try to stay focused, okay?”

“Sure, roger that,” Sam said, sounding sarcastic.

Now, there’s the Sam I know and love
, thought Amanda wryly. But who could blame her for reverting back to her old teenage self after being so overworked, overheated, and underfed?

Chapter 45

T
here were three keys on the store key chain, and Amanda surmised correctly the first time, the one that would unlock the door. Not knowing what to expect, Amanda opened the door slowly, ready for trouble. When she determined that there were no threats in the area, she opened one of the double doors all the way and then shoved the cart up to it to prop it open. She could already tell, by just the little that she had seen in here, that this had been a smart move on their part.

The room was narrow and long, with big glass windows high up that let in enough sunlight for her to have no need of the flashlight. It was probable that even during store hours back when they had been open for business, they had had no need for artificial lighting during the daytime. It was designed well as a catch-all room for storing extra store merchandise. And as an additional bonus, everything was neatly organized and easily accessible. There were big roll-down doors, where trucks had come to deliver, on the far side of the room that had remained closed this entire time, fortunately for them.

“Whoa! Would you look at that,” Sam exclaimed.

Amanda was experiencing that same sense of elation even though she had been stunned speechless by the sight.

There stacked tidily, directly in front of them was a pile of foodstuff. There were no less than six unopened boxes of energy bars, four cases of small water bottles, four cases of gallon jugs of water with four-gallons to a case. Next to that were six cases of energy drinks, three cases of sports drinks, multiple new boxes of gum of varying types, and a wide assortment of candy bars in a number of other boxes. And stacked on top of everything were four cases of beef jerky, with each case holding ten bags of jerky. The jerky was in original, barbeque, teriyaki, and pepper flavors.

“This is what they used to refill the front shelves,” Sam said, in a whisper because she was too stunned to speak at a higher octave.

“Yep, they must have just got their order delivered when all this broke out,” Amanda said. “I’m surprised with all the runs on the stores before society collapsed, that they didn’t bring this forward.”

“It’s just sitting right here, ready to go, it’s so perfect,” Sam said, still whispering but making no move toward it, almost as if she thought it may be a trap.

“I suppose it’s possible that someone that worked here decided to hold on to it in the hopes of coming back for it for themselves,” Amanda said.

“Maybe it was the woman that you got the key from?” said Sam, finally finding her voice again. “It wouldn’t have been easy to get in here after things got bad. Maybe she didn’t make it this far?”

“Could be,” Amanda said, sharing Sam’s feeling that this was all too good to be true, but not wanting to miss out on it either. “Let’s load up, quick.”

Amanda moved the cart, getting it snug with the pile so that they could easily begin stacking items as fast as possible. With this kind of haul, they would be risking death should anyone see them with it, and then there was the approaching fire to consider, along with the hordes that were drawn to it.

Now Amanda was not as worried for the future of the group as she had been. They would have enough food to last them long enough to attempt to grow something. That is, she considered, if she made it back with this and the rest of the inventory she needed to make that possible for them.

It quickly became apparent that they were not going to be able to take everything on this trip and that they would need to come back for the other half of it. Amanda hoped that they would not have any trouble and that the fire would hold off long enough for them to finish up in here and allow them a chance to gather a few more items from the front of the store as well.

“Let’s move,” Amanda said once the cart was as full as they could make it without risking a catastrophic spill somewhere along the way.

“This thing’s heavy, you’re going to make me push it?” Sam asked with a whine.

“Yep.”

Amanda had already grabbed two full five-gallon propane tanks that sported tags naming the owners who had dropped them off to be filled, and she had both of her hands full because the tanks were heavy and awkward to carry. There was one more full tank; they had all apparently belonged to the same owner: a Mr. Timms. But they were hers now, and with the fire consuming all the propane tanks in its path, they would need everything that she could find.

“That’s so not fair,” Sam said, huffing as she lined the cart up with the door.

Amanda ignored the girl, being sure to check the area once she had opened the door for Sam and the cart. There appeared to be no new developments, and they began their slow roll to the truck.

“There’s no sense in both of us pushing it,” Amanda said. “We have to roll slowly, or the stuff will fall off, and I really need to take your mother some more propane for that cook stove.”

“Whatev,” said Sam, looking more red-faced than she had before, as she pushed her body weight into the cart to keep it rolling along at a slow and even pace.

“Look, don’t go giving me any attitude now. Who was the one that got to do their batting practice on the creepers while I pushed my ass off?”

“All right, you have a point,” said Sam, sounding winded.

“Sorry,” Amanda said, honestly sounding apologetic. “But life became so not fair six months ago, and nothing’s changed yet, except that for now we’ll have more food than we usually do.”

“Okay, I get it. But my body hurts, and my stomach is growling and I’m hot,” the girl said, managing to sound pathetic.

“I’m sorry about that too,” Amanda said. “I’ve been pushing us hard, and we all need a break and something to eat and definitely more water. But this fire isn’t showing any mercy, and we can’t stop here.”

“Got it,” the girl said as she pushed and huffed.

The trip back to the truck was gratefully uneventful, and they were quick to roll out the ramp and begin stacking their cache in the truck. The only problem that they noticed on this trip was that the smoke from the fire was now visible in wafts blown in by the wind. Smokey gray wisps floated across the parking lot and some of it was becoming trapped in the store with them. They now had very little time before the fire and the creepers would overtake them, if they didn’t succumb to smoke inhalation first. Just seven months ago, Amanda could not have ever imagined putting herself in a situation like this, yet here she was.

Amanda led the procession back to the storeroom at a run, prompting Sam to push the cart quickly behind her. The wheels on the cart clattered along, vibrating the metal and creating a loud sound that echoed through the store. The cart made a lot more noise empty and rolling fast than it had with a passenger or a load. Amanda wouldn’t be surprised at all if the noise would draw a few more creepers in on them, but it seemed to her that it was a risk that they needed to take.

Back in the storeroom, they worked quickly, as a team, loading the remaining foodstuff. Amanda grabbed more rolls of duct tape too, before picking up the remaining propane tank and leading them back to the truck.

She had been right, either the nearness of the fire, or the noise from the rolling cart had drawn another four creepers into the store. They had wandered in and became drawn by Red’s growls and barking. The four of them seemed determined to ineffectively claw their way into the driver’s side of the truck.

“I got this,” Sam whispered, moving to pass Amanda up and move in on them.

Amanda put her arm out, firmly stopping the girl.

“Stay put, and I mean that. There’s too much that can go wrong with this many, so just watch and learn and keep half an eye out on the entrance in case there are more.”

The cart had rolled up a lot quieter with the load on it and being so intent upon gaining entry to the cab of the truck, they had not noticed the two women, and Amanda hoped to keep it that way.

She knelt and walked agilely, softly sneaking up behind the one nearest to her. This creeper was clawing at the others because he couldn’t get close enough to the door of the truck to touch it. Amanda had the knife out, holding her breath, not wanting to make a sound. She plunged it into the back of the thing’s head, between the skull and the spine. The knife slid its way out as it went down.

The one farthest to the left noticed her and turned, head cocked for a second before it reached and lunged for her. She sent it reeling backward with a swift kick to its solar plexus, thus creating some distance between her and it. Next, she dodged to the right, stabbing that one in the temple. She was quick to remove the blade. The one that she had kicked backward was close enough to touch her again, and she grabbed it by the arm and spun it into the last one that was still clawing at the truck attempting to reach Red, effectively pinning it. She stabbed the one whose arm she had a hold of. Before the pinned one could spin around, she took it out too. All four creepers had gone down quickly and efficiently, making a small pile beside the truck.

“Incoming!” Sam yelled, beginning to move with the bat.

Amanda turned to see another one staggering in with half of its body on fire and the other half crisped to blackened skin and bone, and she knew that more would be soon to follow, but as of yet, she could see no more behind it.

“Can I have this one?” Sam asked, coming up beside Amanda, looking like she was ready to pounce on it.

“Go ahead,” Amanda said, realizing that since it was on fire, the bat was probably a better tool to take it out with than the knife anyway.

“So we’re even at sixteen and sixteen,” Sam said after giving that one a powerful whack that finished it off.

It was painfully apparent to Amanda that the girl had become an all-out adrenaline junky that was probably not old enough or wise enough to keep herself from getting into a situation that she couldn’t handle. And she felt a pang of regret for helping to let the girl loose out here when Amanda herself may not be around long enough to help the girl temper her passion to pursue the thrill. Sam would one day become a tremendous asset to their group, and in fact, she had already proved herself to be well on the way. The problem was with what Amanda could see in the girl’s face. Sam walked back, eyes alight with a vengeful adrenaline-fueled fury that as yet knew no boundaries.

Amanda knew then that without her mentor by her side, the girl would die a horrible death if she couldn’t learn to keep herself in check.

“That was awesome how you took on four of them like that,” Sam said, still huffing and clearly pumped up.

“We need to off-load this haul and burn our way around the store before there’s a whole pack coming down on us,” Amanda said, realizing that there was no time to go into a debriefing session right now.

“Sure thing,” Sam said, jogging past Amanda to reclaim the cart.

It amazed Amanda that the bedraggled and weary girl of just a few moments ago was now apparently experiencing her second wind. And as much as Amanda thought it wrong to take advantage of the situation, she knew that now was time to get the most out of the girl before the adrenaline buzz wore off and she had a disgruntled teen on her hands again.

Amanda felt guilty as she went to retrieve the propane tank that she had set down. By all rights, she thought, they should be packed up and headed out by now. She knew that there was something wildly wrong about sticking around to finish the job here when every sensibility inside of her was screaming to leave. But when it came down to it, she considered, she and Sam were not so different after all.