He looked over the edge again at the ladder. Shaun walked around the perimeter of the building again. The snow was finally coming to an end and with it, like most horrible storms in Iowa, brought the winds to an end. Now that he could see further than his own hand, he could tell that going down on the outside there was one ladder to escape by. He was well aware that if they saw him, and he tried to jump, that he’d surely end up with a matching set of broken legs. He looked down at his chest and ran his hands over his gear and counted the grenades. When he looked at the surroundings there was a strip mall and a B-Bops hamburger place. The fifties and sixties music that usually blared out of its speakers was no longer playing as it had once did when patrons went through the drive up.
He knew that given enough time there was probably a smarter plan to be had but at this point not a single damn one presented itself to him. Shaun wished that time wasn’t a commodity right and that they had time to waste, but unfortunately it wasn’t and they didn't. Shaun hoped that he was making the right play and knelt down on the edge of the building’s front. He lined up the grenades that he had been wearing in a straight line on the ledge.
He ran over his plan multiple times in his head trying to think of a better one. When he realized this was currently as good as could be, he pulled the first grenade pin followed by a second. Shaun heaved them as far from the building as possible. He pulled the third and fourth not letting go of them just yet. He waited for the first two that had disappeared into the blinding snow then ducked down behind the edge of the building and held his ears as tightly as he could.
When the first exploded it shook the ground and building. Shaun let go of the third grenade and pitched it into the same spot as the first. He watched this one for a second, seeing what he prayed for which was the Turned running towards the sound of the explosion and not away from the blast. He wasn’t sure what was going to happen to them. He, at the least, hoped that he’d be able to remove enough of their limbs that they would be handicapped enough to be able to pick them off like fish in a barrel.
Shaun did not wait for third blast to go off. He launched the fourth grenade where he was confident the Turned would be. The blasts went off in succession of a fire filled hell for the dead. Shaun peered over the edge of the building and was glad that he’d been holding his ears the best that he could.
He watched and waited for the smoke to clear. He knew that he definitely had gotten a few of them as the unmistakable smell of burnt meat drifted through the air towards him was growing stronger and more potent by the second.
When it was clear he saw dozens on the ground trying to crawl but they were unable to because they had no limbs. Shaun felt the slightest bit of temporary relief when he saw the carnage displayed below him.
Shaun heard a muffled screaming which was growing louder with every passing second. His fear materialized becoming real when he saw Greg sprinting out the front doors of the store, confused and worried like he hadn’t experienced since seeing Christy with a hole through her chest nine months ago almost to the day.
Shaun yelled for Greg but couldn’t be heard over the horde’s screams. Greg ran into the group of the fallen Turned, steering clear of their very functional jaws that, regardless of the havoc that had taken place on their bodies, were still very able and willing to eat. Shaun knew that Greg was coming to save him and instantly felt like shit for his plan. Shaun had felt the slightest relief when he saw the fallen Turned, but this faded into nothingness when he watched Greg circle around looking for Shaun. He had his rifle up and screaming Shaun’s name over and over again. Greg paused when those on the outside of the charred circle began to rise, though now injured and much slower. They began to close in on Greg who was now terrified and very aware of his surroundings and situation he had placed himself in.
Greg knew he didn’t have a shortage of rounds but didn’t know if he was going to have the valuable time that he needed to take out all of the Turned. He debated making a break for it but was aware that it would just mean he was going to die tired and out of breath. He still was looking for Shaun who was nowhere to be seen. The second he took off they would group together and hunt him down like a pack, tearing him apart leaving nothing to turn.
Greg decided he’d take the first option and at least try and take out as many as he could, which he’d figured must have been what Shaun had done in the end. Greg shouldered his rifle, looked down the iron sights and aimed at the one closest to him. Just as he started to pull the trigger, a succession of rifle fire erupted, filling the air.
The Turned he’d been sighting in on had its head explode, sending blood and brains to paint the snow ten feet away. The Turned around him started falling impossibly fast. Greg looked around, confused and thankful at the exact same time. Greg searched and finally saw Shaun alive and standing on top of the roof firing as quickly as he could. Greg shook his head, happy Shaun was alive and ready at the same time to kill his best friend for making him think that he was dead and gone. Greg started firing saying aloud to himself, “Of course he’s on the effing roof Greg, why, because only you are stupid enough to be on the ground in the middle of an effing zombie circle.”
When those Turned who had populated the parking lot were all taken down, Shaun released his magazine and replaced it with a fresh one in the rifle, not worrying about putting the used one in his bag. He surveyed their handy work. The once crisp, white snow was now looking more like the painting of a very disturbed individual. The parking lot was covered with the dead. Their brains, hair, gore, and other unidentifiable parts were strewn about as the after effects of the bomb blasts.
The middle was the starting point in which the multiple grenades had blasted holes into the parking lot and were now the only spots which were not covered with snow. The smell of flesh was distinct and strong in the air. It was still sizzling and cooking on the fallen Turned’s bones. The smell was strong enough to make both of the boys stomachs do backflips. Shaun deemed the parking lot temporarily safe and ran across the roof to meet Greg in the front of the store. Looking down to his friend he asked, “Where is Ellie? Is she ok? What are you doing out here?”
“Hell if I know. I’d have to say no, Shaun. She still won’t respond, she isn’t awake and she’s pale on top of everything. I’d ask who she’s been hanging around with but I know you were a choir boy before her. Or at least you didn’t have any opp-”
“We need to get out of here Greg!” Shaun yelled. “This break in the dead is only going to last for so long. We have to find somewhere else that we can stay. Somewhere that none of these things will be able to break into. This place just screams for the Turned to come and after that display of firepower, we are only going to have so much time. This building is too vulnerable”
Greg said, “Then maybe you shouldn’t have thrown off a group of grenades Shaun.”
“At the time it seemed like it was the only option that I had. They were going to break through that glass at the front of the store. I figured if I could take out the immediate threat, that it would buy us some time. I knew that more would come but they wouldn’t know that something was on the inside and that if we kept away from the door we could hide in the back hopefully.”
“Wait, so now you do want to stay here?”
Shaun said, “I don’t know what I want. I want all those effers dead and I want shit back to normal, that’s what I want.”
“Right, but since that isn’t going to happen today, do you have any other ideas?”
“I say that every hour on the hour we start rolling through all the channels on the radio until someone sees that we are gone and they decide to start checking radio signals. It’s the only thing that I can think of.”
Greg said it before thinking about it. “You realize how many channels there are, that’s going to take forever Shaun.”
“Well if you wouldn’t have lied to your best friends about having the permission needed to leave, then this probably wouldn’t be an issue Greg. So until you come up with some other plan, this is the plan.”
Greg was sick of this even though he knew the blame was definitely all his to take. “What the hell Shaun, do you think I had plans to have this happen? I figured we’d cruise into town, get a few supplies, and could see if there are any survivors and bring them back or at least make arrangements with them to get a bigger group and bring them back later.”
“I just hope that you realize that I'll be taking this to new levels of pissed if what I don’t even want to say happens to Ellie because of this.”
“Shaun, do you really think that I need to hear that? That by some chance I’m stupid enough to not know this already?”
“Well, I just want to make shit clear with you. If she doesn’t make it there is no more you and I to be considered!” Shaun gave him a look that was as good as a thousand words about how angry he was. He ran to the back and found Joey standing in front of a shelf where he’d hidden Ellie out of sight.
Joey saw Shaun and asked, “Are you ok Shaun? You aren’t gonna be a zombie are you?”
Shaun saw Ellie and ignored Joey’s question. He knelt down and saw she wasn’t lying down curled in a ball or looking like she’d tried to make herself comfortable. She was just lying exactly how she’d been placed on the metal shelf which in the cooler made him think of a morgue all too easily.
“When is help coming Shaun? They’ll figure out eventually that we aren’t there won’t they?” Joey asked.
Shaun couldn’t think of a reason to tell him the truth and get him worked up. “Joey, I don’t know, but I'm sure eventually someone will realize we aren’t there and then it’ll just be a matter of time for them to come and get us.”
Shaun leaned over Ellie and brushed the hair from her face and could see sweat on her brow. He rolled her over as gently as he could, getting close to examine her blood covered coat. When he saw the bandaged wound it scared him to know that he didn't have an idea if it was from the metal shelving that had caused it, or if something that would turn her into a monster had been responsible for it.
He kissed her forehead, leaving his lips on her skin for a minute while trying to think, and then said, “Joey, you’re pretty handy right? I want you to make Ellie a sled ok, can you do that for me? There should be enough stuff back here with all of this shelving to make her something small.”
Joey asked, “I don’t understand, what are we going to do?”
“Well I want you to be able to pull her behind you if you guys need to leave. I think she needs a safer spot to be hidden.”
“But don’t you mean we need a safer spot Shaun? Where are you going?”
“To take care of the threat Joey. You make sure you take care of her, she can’t do it herself. You know she’d do it for you if she could.”
Joey stood there thinking for a second and then asked, “Shaun, am I going to see you again?”
Shaun looked at Ellie and the last nine months ran through his head in a blur, the endless amount of training, the two of them sneaking away on base and talking into the early hours of the morning flashed before his eyes. He took a deep breath hoping to push back a slew of tears that wanted to materialize. He kissed her on the lips then got up, and for once, beat Joey to the hug and gave him a long one. Joey patted Shaun on the back and Shaun whispered, “Get going on the sled Joey.”
Joey said, “Ok Shaun I’ll get it made, I'll see you later ok.”
Shaun didn’t say anything. He turned around and walked back towards the front, seeing Greg on his way out. Greg said, “Where are you going now? There’s still plenty of those things out there aren’t there?”
“Yes there are too many of them right now. You’ll never be able to make a break for it hauling Ellie. We passed plenty of apartments on our way here. If you make your way up top to one of them you should have plenty of line of sight to know when someone finally comes looking for us on the main road. There’s no way they are going to take the interstate with as many cars that were flooding the road.”
“So what are you getting at? I know we’ve been on lock down there for a while. I know you want to take out the Turned but I've told you, Ellie’s told you, and I am sure others have also. You can’t always throw yourself in harm’s way you need to worry about yourself as much as others sometimes Shaun.”
Shaun walked back to the rear entrance, shielding his eyes and trying to not let the newly exposed sunlight leave him entering the outside blinded. “I probably should take people's advice but with the way today’s going and Ellie’s condition, there isn’t a lot I can do about it.”
Greg said, “Well then let me go. If I hadn’t lied in the first place we wouldn’t have been out here.”
Shaun didn’t respond, his adrenaline was flowing and he was having issues dealing with his feelings towards Greg at the moment. The vision of Ellie on that slab was making him sick. Shaun said coldly, “Give me a half hour and try and get to one of those apartments or condos. You can fire off a couple shots and keep trying the radio if you see someone. Just leave out the front. I’m going to draw them away on the side.”
“But did you hear me? I said I could-”
Shaun cut him off. “You could’ve done a lot of things Greg. I don’t think that lying should have been one of them.”
“But we’ve been locked down forever. What’s the point in living if we are just going to die locked away and hiding?”