Jason Sanchez - When They Come

Dave looked up in time to watch two of the zombies pulling at the woman’s leg. Her screams only grew louder and louder, pulling more of them to her. They began to grab at their next meal. Dave watched as two of the zombies pulled off her lightly tanned leg. He watched her silhouette recoil back in a terrible scream. He watched her try to pull back the severed leg.

Dave heard the door of the car pop open and he felt a hand grab him. He jumped and looked over.

“Come on, now’s our chance!”, Jason said with urgency.

Both friends grabbed their weapons and got ready to make a dash for the mall.

Dave couldn’t tear his eyes away from the scene of the now weakening girl still trying to grab at her leg. She was watching it be eaten by the zombies that grabbed it while others tried to get at the rest of her.

They both left the car. Most of the zombies in the area were distracted by their noisy meal. The friends ran by many of them

Keeping their bats ready, they ran through the lot, passing the woman in the car. Jason caught her reaching towards the both of them as they ran by. In that split second, Jason’s heart sank at the futility of her situation, but deep down, he was grateful. Her sacrifice caused them to live for a while longer.

He was glad Dave didn’t see that.

The woman’s screams were getting weaker and her movements were slowing down. They needed to get to the mall. Fast.

“We need to hurry, before we lose our distraction!”, Jason said with urgency.

Dave nodded. They both ran as fast and quietly as they could. Their running would have looked funnier to an outside party, but to them, it was all about staying alive.

The glass doors of their new temporary home grew closer and closer as a few of the walking dead seemed almost oblivious to them. Others hungrily limped towards the screaming car.

Jason stopped to look back and saw the woman weakly reaching the stumps that used to be her legs. She was painfully looking at the ghouls eat them right in front of her. Jason caught sight of a zombie pulling at her outstretched hand. He felt a sharp pull and quickly drew the bat.

It was Dave.

“Come on, it’s open! And put that thing down!”

Jason ran in, unable to shake the sight of the woman.

The mall was dark. Barely any light was getting through it’s huge windows. The friends stood quiet, but it was hard since they could still hear the zombies beating on the car where the woman was. It was only a matter of time before the zombies discover anyone else who may be hiding in the other cars in the lot. Jason grabbed his pocket and felt Dave’s car keys inside of them. They were still there. He smiled a little bit at this.

“So, now what, Jay?”, Dave asked

“I’m really not sure, but while we’re here, maybe we can find something useful”, Jason said. He began looking around the mall, holding on tightly to the bat.

Dave pointed to a flickering sign.

“And this?”

“And this, could be very, very handy.” Jason ran his finger up and down looking at the directory.

“Well now, I think we should get some new clothes, don’t you think?”, Jason said.

They both looked down at their disheveled and old clothes.

“Yeah, that could work”, Dave replied, holding in a little bit of laughter.

It was good for the both of them to laugh a bit. It took some of the tension of the situation away slightly.

“Alright then, that’ll be our first stop, and whoa, hey now. Check this out.”

“What?”

“Tanzili’s Gun Emporium, top floor.”

“I love it, it’s a toy store for grown-ups!”

“Alright, let’s get some new threads and get us both some new toys.”

“This pleases me, dude”, Dave happily said. “Come on, my clothes smell like ass.”

“Well, we have the Bulls-Eye men’s clothing emporium on the bottom floor. Clothes first, guns later?”

“That sounds about right to me”, Dave instantly replied.

They heard faint noises; several fast steps in the distance.

“Shit man, you think we’re alone in here?”, Dave asked quietly.

“No, let’s keep quiet and make this quick, and just in case, be ready for anything.”

The steps were still far away. They sounded too coordinated to be from anyone who had already died and returned hungry.

They walked down the escalator, slowly as not to make any noise. Their first stop was to get themselves out of their smelly and sweat covered clothes.

“Well, here it is. Bulls-Eye” , Jason said pointing his bat at the sign.

Dave tugged at the door.

“It’s locked.”

“Hey, I saw this in a movie once. Stand back”, Jason said excitedly.

A bench suddenly flew through the large paned window of the shop and slid a few feet.

“There dude, instant entrance”, Jason said, while cleaning out the glass around the bottom with the bat.

“Whoa, how did you do that, Jay?” Dave was in awe.

“Well, remember all that protein I’ve been taking and all that time at the gym?” Jason replied.

“Yeah?”

“Nothing to do with it, that bench is light and isn’t bolted down.”

“Ass.”

They both climbed in through the glass keeping an eye out for any movement.

“Think that exploding window brought any zombies over?” There was some fear in Dave’s voice.

“No. We didn’t see any on the way here. We should be okay. Whoa! Check this out!”, Jason replied while pointing at the hat rack. “We could always use some hats, and well, we have the end of the world discount!”

Dave put on a golfer’s hat.

“Hey look! I look like a jack-ass!”, Dave said to Jason.

“Yeah I know! And that hat doesn’t help.” Jason said mockingly.

“Ass.”

“Oh man, check this out!” Jason put on a suede black cowboy hat with a chin strap. “Now THIS is fucking awesome! Here, there’s one for you, too!” Jason handed Dave a similar hat, only in brown.”

“I love this thing!” Dave said while stroking the brim of the hat.

“We need more than hats, Dave”, Jason said. “Let’s see what we can find.”

The friends spent a long time going through the aisles, throwing shirts on the floor, unfolding pants, and generally being any retail employee’s nightmare, if there were any left to be annoyed with them, that is.

Jason put on a tight, solid black t-shirt with a pair of good-fitting, dark washed boot cut jeans. He topped it off with a brown, hard cloth jacket with many pockets. He found a pair of brown sneakers to top it off with.

Admiring himself in the mirror, he called to his friend. “Dave! Find anything, yet? We need to keep moving!”

Dave crept out from within the aisles wearing light washed jeans, white sneakers, and a brown torn jacket which barely covered the form fitting “#1 Grandpa” shirt.

“Oh my God, Dave, seriously?”

“What!? It fits and I crack up whenever I see this shirt!”, Dave quickly replied.

“Well, if you insist. We probably won’t be coming back here anytime soon, you know.”

“I’m good, Jay”, Dave replied with seriousness in his voice.

They both took a look at their clothes, that looked much older than they really were, while they stood looking lifeless on the store’s floor. It was a poignant moment for them. There would be no coming back to the store. They both walked out quietly

“Jay! Let’s head to Tanzili’s Gun Shop!”, Dave broke the silence.

“Come on. Let’s go. I need something loud that goes great with this outfit”, Jason said.

Walking up the escalator slowly, the footsteps they heard earlier were much more hurried and accompanied by some noise. All they could make out were muffled voices and the sounds of something soft getting pounded.