Joseph Talluto - White Flag of the Dead

We moved down Oak Lawn Avenue towards the office center, and didn’t see any more activity. Part of me wondered where everyone was, the other part was grateful it was quiet. I saw more evidence of hurried exits, and in a parking lot several cars looked like they had been broken into. We moved past a tanning spa and saw two police cars sitting in the parking lot. I waved Tommy to a halt and rode over to investigate. Checking the windows, I didn’t see anything in the vehicles. Trying the door on the first one, I found it unlocked. The car had nothing of value in it, so I decided to pop the trunk and see if there was anything in there.

My eyes widened at the sight of the trunk. There was an AR style rifle, extra magazines, extra ammunition for the rifle, plus 9mm ammo. There was shotgun ammunition, but no shotgun. I found some gloves, a balaclava, and some goggles. I guessed this was some kind of riot gear. What they needed it for in Turley Park, I could only guess. I grabbed what I could and brought it back to the car. Duncan’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head when I brought up the booty, and he jumped out to help me. Tommy jumped out to check the other car, but it was locked. He smashed the window and popped the trunk. He didn’t find another AR, but he did find some 40 S amp;W ammo, another set of gloves, and a bulletproof vest. He took it all and headed back to the car, stopping to give me the ammo for my gun.

We were grinning like idiots when the wall fell in. Literally. Tommy’s smashing of the window must have roused the local zombies, because they managed to cave in the section of fence of the yard they were stuck in. There had to be fifty of them, and they came boiling out of the yard like a fetid, pus-filled avalanche. Their groans chorused as they saw us and started to give chase. They were ten yards from us and closing fast. I ran to the bike and hopped on, throwing the gear and ammo on top of my carefully piled stuff.

Duncan froze for a second, then drew his weapon and fired at the mass. His bullet stuck a man squarely in the chest, knocking him down, but causing no real damage. Jake screamed at the noise, and the zombies groaned louder.

“Save it!” I yelled, pedaling away. “Get moving, there’s too many!”

Tommy gunned the engine and Duncan barely closed the door as zombies slammed into the car, clawing at the metal and glass. The car shook off the zombies and caught up to me, with the crowd in pursuit. Tommy leaned out the window. “Where now?”

I shook my head as I pedaled for all I was worth. Jake was crying, and I could hear groans all around me as the moans of our pursuers called forth the minions of hell. I was thinking furiously of where we could go, when the answer came literally around the corner.

I spotted a gas station down a crossroad and headed for it. It was one of those large stations with a big convenience store. It was out of the line of sight of the zombies chasing us, and I hoped like hell they wouldn’t see us going for it.

I sped into the station and zipped around to the back of the building. There was a wall behind separating it from a subdivision and little else. A dumpster was nearby, but it was empty. I jumped off the bike and tried the back door. It was locked. Naturally, I thought. I grabbed my crowbar and went to work on the door, trying to open it as quickly and quietly as I could without damaging it.

I managed to pry the frame just enough to get the door open and I pushed the bike and trailer inside. Just as I got the trailer in I was wondering where my new friends had gone off to. I got my answer as a now-quiet car coasted to the back of the station, and Tommy and Duncan both jumped out, grabbing weapons and ammo.

As they jumped inside, Tommy said breathlessly, “Would you believe we ran out of fucking gas?”

I just shook my head at the irony and closed the door, using the crowbar to bend the frame back and secure the door. Tommy had run to the front door to make sure it was locked, and came skidding back to the counter, unlimbering his rifle and spreading out the clips on the counter. Duncan set up a position by the soft drinks section, after being shown how to use the rifle by Tommy, and I stayed over by the drink machine. I still had a crying Jake with me, and pulled out a bottle for him to take for lunch. I prayed it would keep him quiet until the worst of the danger had passed, if it did. I laid my carbine on the floor in front of me and sat back against the machine. I pulled out a spare magazine and placed it nearby.

We were actually in a better position than I could have hoped for. The glass windows were mostly covered in advertising posters, and stacks of water softener salt reinforced the windows up to chest height. Shelving units further obstructed anything looking in, and the place was in sufficient disarray that we would be hard to spot if we held still. The only thing that might give us away was sound, and my big concern on that was Jake. He was generally a happy baby, and liked to hear himself. Unfortunately, in our current situation, that could prove fatal.

We waited in silence for the ghouls to show up, the only noise was Jake slurping on his bottle. He fussed a bit from time to time and my heart was in my throat. We didn’t have long to wait. The first one, a bald zombie with a hand missing, slowly walked through the gas station. His head turned slowly from side to side, and I could see his nostrils flaring. Right behind him was another man, this one a grayish color, and in an advanced state of decay. Skin was hanging off him, and in more than one place I could see bone showing through. A woman came next and she gave us the worst scare. She came around the corner, with a ripped up shoulder and bite marks down one bare arm. She was right up to the window, and we all froze in place. She slid along the front, leaving a greasy trail on the glass, and stopped right at the door. She faced the door, and looked right into the store. None of us dared to move, and we all wondered how to get her to move on. Her dead eyes just stared, and I could see her nose flatten a little as she pressed her face to the door.

I suddenly realized what she was doing. She was trying to sniff us out, and if we had passed through that door, she would have found us. We waited in silence, and I was afraid to even look in another direction. She stayed at the door, and one hand rose to scrape against the glass. Another zombie saw what she was doing and came to investigate. He wasn’t in as bad shape, and I couldn’t see any trauma on him. He must have turned from internal infection. He walked up to the door and put both hands on the glass. I was getting anxious. Jake was about to finish his bottle and was going to need to burp. If I didn’t move him, he was going to get fussy and loud.

The zombies stopped moving and slowly put their hands down at their sides. I was stunned when I saw them actually close their eyes. What the heck was up with that? I wasn’t about to question their motives, I just decided to use the opportunity. I slid down further towards the floor and sat behind a shelving unit. I couldn’t see the zombies, and hoped they couldn’t see me. I shifted Jake, and he let out a small but forceful belch. I couldn’t see the zombies, but I saw Tommy tense.

“Their eyes just opened again” he whispered in a barely audible voice, not daring to move even his lips.

“Christ, they have good hearing,” I whispered back, just as quietly. I was silently praying that Jake would not make any more noise. I had to assume the store was currently surrounded, and we would be in serious trouble if they found out we were in here. For right now, I had to assume they knew we were somewhere, they just didn’t know where.

“How many are out there?” I whispered to Tommy. I couldn’t see from my hiding place behind the shelves.