and when they came around they could fire the weapons through the fence and hopefully thin out the hoard of zombies.

  The men all started screaming and jumping up and down and sure enough the zombies found their way to the fence.

  “This is going to be like shooting fish in a barrel,” one of the hunters said.

  The zombies came close to the fence but again showed no climbing ability. The men took their guns and started firing into the night. Most of the bullets hit their marks and the men shouted with the joy of having thinned out the large group of zombies.

  There must have been over a hundred zombies and the bodies continued to fall as each blast rang out into the night. Finally the survivors had the upper hand. All but ten of the zombies were dead. The hunters talked about it and took aim at the last ten standing and fired. All the zombies in the parking lot were now on the ground unmoving, dead.

  The hunters went inside and reported the good news over the intercom. The people cheered and ran to the barred windows for a look outside. It was dark but no zombies were out.

  They remained happy. At 9:00PM dinner was served.

  There was pizza for the youth, tacos for whoever wanted them, salads, and sandwiches. It was a large feast and everybody was fed.

  Things were definitely looking up. Danny was hopeful that they would all be rescued and taken somewhere much safer, where they could actually have individual rooms, bathrooms, kitchens, play areas and everything they needed to start life over.

  They knew with the staggering number of survivors found in that one church that they must go out tomorrow and look for more survivors. Danny and Tom went to the youth pastor and asked him if he would be willing to drive the church bus to look for more survivors.

  "Of course," the youth pastor said. “I will do anything to serve, and if you think there might be more survivors I will be willing to pick them up.”

  The youth pastor found four other men and brought them to the hidden room where Samantha, William, Mark, Tom, and Danny were sitting

  He said, “Here are some more drivers.”

  Danny looked up and greeted all four men and said how thankful he was to have people ready and willing to go on the dangerous mission of locating survivors.

  Each driver would drive his own van and they made plans that night to rescue more human lives.

  Everybody found a place to lay a pillow and a blanket, when they ran out of pillows they would find towels and clothing to lay on and then they all got ready and said goodnight. The time now was 11:55PM.

  Day 5

  Tom, Danny, the youth pastor, and the four other drivers went out the front door and into the parking lot. They were welcomed by a sound that they hadn't heard for days; the sounds of birds chirping. The sky was a brilliant blue; not a zombie in sight, but the stench of the dead lingered in the air.

  Tom and Danny told the other men that if they saw bodies lying on the ground not to go near them, because the zombies sleep during the day.

  Tom and Danny jumped into the black SUV and wired the car where the engine would start again. They led the bus and the four vans out of the parking lot.

  They made their way back over the mountain roads and passed the first church they had been to. A few blocks away they turned into the parking lot of another. There were bodies on the pavement.

  Each man was armed with a gun, and they carried plenty of bullets. They just hoped they would not have to use them.

  One of the bodies got up and made a long groaning sound and it seemed that he was communicating with the other zombies. One by one they started to stand.

  Tom put the Black SUV in drive and started hitting them. He took out six and he didn't give any others time to jump up, he just started running over the lifeless bodies. The SUV bounced over them with ease. On every bounce you could hear them giving way with a thud.

  Tom drove all the way around the church, back to the front entrance, and put the SUV in park. Danny and Tom got out of the vehicle and walked to the doors of the church. They pulled out their weapons and tried to push the door open, but it was locked.

  Tom went to the window and tried to look in. It was impossible to see in through the stained glass windows. He took out his hand gun and shattered the glass. Inside he could see movement, he smelled death. He tried to look into the window but he still only saw shadows moving, he called in through the broken class that he was there to help.

  Suddenly a wide eyed man burst through the window and grabbed Tom by the neck. Danny was fast to react and he kicked the zombie in the face.

  It was too late. Tom had been scratched.

  More zombies appeared at the shattered window. Others came from the back of the church through an open door they had somehow missed when they drove around the building.

  Danny told Tom everything would be alright. They would make him as comfortable as possible when they got back to the Buy-Right super center.

  Tom couldn't believe what just happened. He knew that soon the infection would take hold and he would become one of “them”.

  Danny jumped behind the wheel of the black SUV and led the bus and four vans to the safety of the Buy-Right super center.

  It was still early in the day when they reached the store. The sun was high in the sky and the clouds made it look like it would rain. Danny and Tom went into the store together.

  It wasn't long before Tom started having symptoms: the blurred vision, slurred speech, going from extreme hot to extreme cold, vomiting, and diarrhea. They both knew it was only a matter of time before he would change. They had to figure out what to do, and fast.

  Tom and Danny agreed on putting a cot from the camping department outside of the lawn and garden section just outside of the 12 foot high fence. They got the cot and made their way out the front of the store to the side of the building.

  They both worked on piling the dead zombies onto each other and they ran into the store to get some flammable things so they could burn the zombie bodies.

  They found large cans of Kerosene and poured it all over the zombies. Danny went inside and grabbed a Zippo lighter, a case of beer and a pack of cigarettes.

  They sat outside for a couple of hours, watching the zombies burn.

  They smoked their cigarettes, talking about how to go about finding more survivors. The day was still pretty young but they both knew they didn't have much more time to spend together.

  Tom started complaining about feeling nothing. Shortly after that he raised his left arm and bit it. As soon as he got his first taste of blood his eyes became large and he became wild. Danny almost didn't have time to react.

  He raised the crossbow took aim at Tom's face and pulled the trigger.

  The arrow flew into one of Tom's wild eyes. Blood and pus oozed out of the empty eye socket. The arrow didn't stop until it was half way out the back of Tom's head. He fell to the ground with a thud.

  Danny went inside the front of the store and asked one of the men to help move the body into the burn pile.

  One of them stepped forward and followed Danny outside. They picked up the body and tossed it into the now raging fire. Thunder rolled in the distance.

  “Looks like we are in for a storm,” Danny said.

  He was now desensitized. He had killed his wife, his friend Tom, and watched as other zombies were blown to pieces by the hunters. Now his heart was an abysmal vessel of hatred. He no longer cared to find other survivors, but it was Tom's dying wish.

  With a storm brewing up Danny jumped into the black SUV and he went in search of more living in the world of the dead. This time they only took one bus, driven by the youth pastor.

  The rain started out as a tiny drizzle. By the time they reached the last church in town, it was pouring and pounding on the windows. The windshield wipers were moving at the fastest settings and Danny still couldn't see through the fogged up windshield. He turned the defroster on low heat and it cleared up the fog but nothing was allowing him to see through the rain.

  He
was hoping that he would find survivors in this church. He got out of the SUV and ran up the steps to the church doors. He flung them opened and called inside.

  “Hello is there anybody in here” his voice echoed off the walls as he stepped inside. He opened the double doors that lead into the sanctuary and found it to be empty.

  “What a waste of time!” Danny said as he rushed out of the church and into the rain. He slipped on the first stair and fell the rest of the way down.

  The young youth pastor rushed out to help him. Danny got to his feet and found out he couldn't put any pressure on his left ankle. He thought it must be broken or really badly twisted.

  The young pastor helped him on the bus and closed the doors. “Are you OK?” he asked.

  Danny replied, “I've seen better days.”

  The youth pastor started the bus and drove it back to the Buy-Right super center.

  The burning zombies had been reduced to a pile of ashes. The rain put the fire out and the air smelt strangely of electricity.

  The young pastor and Danny made their way to the entrance of the massive store and waited for someone to unlock the front doors. A few minutes after waiting in the pouring rain someone finally came to open them.

  Danny and the youth pastor made their way to the hidden room in the back of the store where Danny could lay on the sofa and keep the weight off of his left ankle.

  Samantha went to the pharmacy and used a crowbar to break into the locked door. On her way out of the pharmacy she found the most expensive ankle brace, thinking it would
Patrick Walston's Novels