Page 11 of Twelve Days in Hell

talking about the games and some new challenges were made for the following day.

  Danny, William, Samantha, and Mark sat together in the smoker's section talking about how much fun they had playing games all day.

  They finished smoking and went to the electronics department together. They started looking through the CD section and found some of their favorite music and then they went to a computer and ripped the music from the disks they then found their favorite colored MP3 Players and added the music to the players by using a USB cable. They picked out some high quality head phones and they started to enjoy their portable sounds.

  The teens hadn't thought about doing that before, but now, seeing their elders with MP3 players they thought it was a good idea and they started their own search for music.

  Danny was sitting up on a recliner in the hidden room listening to his MP3 player while reading his e book. He was completely lost into the story.

  He enjoyed reading so much more than watching movies. If the author was good enough he could paint a picture with his words and your imagination could take over from there. Movies were too Black and White, you see what you get.

  Samantha was on the sofa talking to William, and Mark was playing a basketball game on the game system. Everyone was doing their own thing.

  In the main store all was calm. A few of the kids were writing letters back and fourth to each other. No doubt they were the kind of letters that a child cherishes and wants to keep forever. A few kids were in the crafts section making friendship bracelets and putting together puzzles. Some of the teenagers were building model cars, others were drawing pictures or writing stories. Most of the girls were at the jewelry counter picking out some nice pieces that looked good on them.

  Some of the older people were drinking beers, telling jokes or just sitting around doing nothing. It had been a good say and a lot of the kids were still chattering excitedly about the games that they played earlier in the day. All in all it wasn't such a bad day being stuck inside a shopping center.

  Day 10

  When Danny looked up from his e book reader he saw that it was 3:00AM.

  He had to use the restroom so bad he couldn't stand it. He got up, walked to the restroom, and relieved himself in a urinal.

  As he washed his hands, he stared at himself in the mirror and saw that there were large purplish black bags under his eyes.

  He thought it was time to get some sleep but he knew when he returned to the hidden room that he wouldn't be able to fall into sleep.

  He headed back toward the hidden room, and then changed his mind. He was in the mood for another cigarette. He stopped dead, turned around, and headed for the break room.

  He walked into the smoker's section and he lit up another cigarette. He filled his lungs with the exotic blend cigarette smoke and exhaled slowly.

  His nerves were calmer already. He just sat back and relaxed while puffing smoke. When he finished with the cigarette he headed back to the hidden room. He found it difficult to fall into sleep; so he continued reading his e book.

  He got so wrapped up in the book that he almost missed out on breakfast at 8:30AM. The volunteers had prepared biscuits, gravy, scrambled eggs and orange juice. Everybody enjoyed their breakfast.

  After he finished his morning cigarette he asked one of the volunteers how much food was left.

  She told him that the food would last for maybe a month, maybe less.

  He told her to let the other survivors know and to only give seconds to the children and young adults.

  She let the other volunteers know what Danny had said, then she grabbed the phone in the break room, pressed the intercom button, and made the announcement to the whole store.

  They had known the food shortage would happen sooner or later, but they'd been hoping for later. There were still aisles full of canned goods, but the reality that they couldn't live in the store forever was dawning on everyone at the same time.

  They had been counting on a rescue that now didn't seem likely to happen. Then again, they hadn't thought they were going to be rescued in the church, either. Nothing was set in stone.

  Morning gave way to noon time and everyone lined up for lunch.

  Danny wasn't feeling good, so he headed to the smoker's section, lit up a cigarette, and tried to think of a solution to the problem. After five minutes of smoking and thinking he came up with nothing.

  There was nothing more that he could do. He made his way to the hidden room to have a much needed nap.

  Danny awoke from his nap at 6:30PM. He decided to go for a walk. He made his way to the lawn and garden area.

  He heard moaning and chattering from beyond the newly constructed door.

  He had known that the dead would find them. When he opened the door, he saw a horrific sight.

  Beyond the fence, zombies were shoulder to shoulder throughout the whole parking lot.

  He picked up the phone and paged William, Samantha and Mark.

  When they got there, they saw a sea of zombies coming, wave after wave. They stank of rotting flesh.

  They looked nothing like the living people they had once been. All of them were now skinny, with blackened skin all crawling with maggots. They were obviously in the advanced stages of decomposition.

  The smell was too much for Samantha. She vomited into an empty flower pot.

  They had thought these stinking creatures would have starved to death by now.

  They didn't have enough bullets to kill all the zombies. They were now trapped, with no way out.

  At least the zombies hadn't figured out how to get in.

  Danny, Samantha, William and Mark made their way to the front of the store. When they looked out, they saw zombies stumbling around in the parking lot.

  Danny made an announcement over the intercom to let everyone know that the zombies were back, and to tell them to stay away from the doors and windows.

  The hunters and sharpshooters grabbed their weapons and made their way to the lawn and garden. They opened the newly constructed door and walked up to the 12 foot high fence.

  They took aim and started to fire into the massive crowed of zombies. Zombie after zombie went down with the sound of each gun blast. They continued shooting until they were out of bullets. Surprisingly, they cleared out a large portion of the living dead.

  Now there was nothing more that could be done. These damned creatures couldn't live forever. Sooner or later they would drop from starvation.

  Danny went to the smoker's section of the break room and lit a cigarette. He knew that everything was going to be all right. The creatures were in bad shape, the last stages of decomposition. Soon there would be nothing but bones.

  After finishing his cigarette Danny headed to bed. It was 9:30PM.

  Day 11

  Morning came quickly, and breakfast was served.

  No one seemed to mind the zombies outside. They felt safe and secure in the super center. Many of the kids and teens went back to playing the games set up in the front of the store. The adults were placing bets on how long the zombies could survive.

  Danny, Samantha, Mark and William watched the living dead through the fence in the lawn and garden center. The zombies were all asleep on the black top. The stench of death was all around.

  Danny lit a cigarette and started puffing on it nervously. He wondered how many of those bodies would get up and start to walk when the evening came.

  Samantha, Mark and William were talking about making explosive devices out of house hold items. William knew a little too much about making homemade bombs, but no one was complaining about that at this point in time. They had devised a plan to rid themselves of the zombies once and for all.

  William went inside with Samantha and Mark. Danny stayed outside to finish his smoke. The zombies were still lying motionless in the parking lot. Danny finished his smoke and went back into the main store.

  Samantha and Mark were on a quest to find the materials needed for the bombs. William was in
charge of building the explosives. As the day went on he made a few small explosives and a couple of pipe bombs. He took the bombs out to the lawn and garden center along with a couple of RC cars.

  The plan was simple—attach a homemade bomb to an RC car and ram it into a pile of zombies. The impact would be enough to set off the explosive. Everyone was confident in the plan and Danny was sorry it had taken so long to think up such a clever one.

  At noontime lunch was served. It was spaghetti rings with meatballs and grilled cheese sandwiches.

  The survivors were excitedly talking about the new plan to destroy the zombies. There were also questions arising about what to do once the zombies were destroyed.

  The dead would be up and walking again by five or six o'clock. Everyone still had plenty of time to kill before the firework show.

  Someone had the idea to have a movie night. They found a video projector, hooked it up to a TV with a built in VCR and DVD player, and also hooked up a stereo sound system so that everyone watching the movie was sure to hear it. The video selected for the night was Ghost Busters.

  The movie would not be played until later on in the night when all the living dead returned to the dead.

  During the rest of the day the survivors were extremely happy. They were in high spirits and couldn’t help but to put together a party. The celebrations lasted until 6:30PM.

  At 6:45PM the leftover zombies were already up and walking around, much slower than they had been in the days before. The zombies were in fact beginning to die a second death.

  William cut a hole in the bottom
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