“What? We have to get out of here!” Dr. Evans exclaimed.
“Nope. We’re staying and fighting this one.” Rick shook his head defiantly.
“Are you insane?!” Jane looked at him, her eyes wide and her face covered in fear.
“They’re terrible shots. And listen—they’re running straight down here at us. We have to get out through the main entrance if we want a clear shot back at our car. Our best bet is to challenge them, kill as many as we can and push them back. Once we do that we’ll take the cart and run straight out the front of the building.”
“What if there are more out there?”
“There won’t be.”
“How can you possibly know that?” Dr. Evans huffed as he watched out into the store, nervously awaiting the imminent arrival of the hostile group.
“Because people who attack willy-nilly like this don’t think strategically.”
“Are you willing to bet our lives on it?” Jane asked quietly.
“One hundred percent.” Rick nodded, confident not so much in his assessment of the situation but in the knowledge that if they didn’t put up a strong defense against their attackers then they’d be at a serious disadvantage trying to retreat farther into the store.
“Okay, what do we do?”
“Dr. Eva
ns, you stay here. Keep the door closed and locked. If you see anyone coming close, shoot through the glass. Aim for the chest and prepare yourself for the recoil of the gun. I need you waiting there with the supplies ready to move out on my signal. Jane, you come with me.” Rick pushed open the door into the area of the pharmacy where the pharmacists and assistants spent their time, stepping over empty shelves and pill bottles that had long since been ransacked. “Stay here, under the counter. Keep your gun ready but don’t shoot unless I tell you. We need to conserve ammo for that thing.”
Jane nodded, squatting down so that she could just barely see over the pickup counter. Rick scurried down and around to the drop-off counter and knelt down. He took two of the spare magazines for the pistol from his pocket and dumped a few dozen rounds of ammunition onto the ground from one of the boxes he had grabbed from the shopping cart. He quickly loaded one of the magazines and put it back into his pocket. He was halfway through loading the second when he heard the sound of nearby footsteps and paused, placing the half-filled magazine on the ground and gripping his weapon firmly with both hands.
The first figure to pop out was a young woman, her face covered with dirt and her clothes both torn and a size or two too large for her frame. She ran along, holding a rifle in her hands as she looked to the left and right, searching for Rick, Jane and Dr. Evans. Rick popped up from behind the counter and squeezed the trigger, emptying his magazine in the woman’s direction. At least three of the rounds connected with the torso and legs and she screamed in pain as she fell, her body making a sound like a sack of mashed potatoes hitting the ground.
Rick dropped back behind the counter and ejected the magazine before popping a fresh one in and popping the slide forward. He glanced over at Jane who had her hands over her ears as she watched him. “Come here!” He waved at her as he whispered and she crawled to him. “See this?” He held up the partially filled magazine and pointed at the bullets on the floor. “Push them in from the top and line them up with the others like this. Once you do this one, fill this empty one, too. Make sure you put them in correctly, though!”
Jane nodded and got to work while Rick glanced back up over the counter. The woman he had shot was gone, but there was a long streak of blood on the main aisle twenty feet away where she had fallen. As he glanced around two more people ran out into the main aisle, though they were slightly more prepared than the first had been. They tried to stay in cover, ducking behind display stands and flimsy metal shelves, mimicking what Jane, Rick and Dr. Evans had done when they were escaping from the initial assault.
Seriously? Rick popped up again and dumped half of his magazine into the metal shelf where one of the people was trying to hide. The thin sheet metal offered practically no resistance to the bullets and the person shouted out in pain. Rick then turned his attention to the other person who was across the main aisle, hiding behind a cardboard center display unit. Rick finished emptying his magazine into the cardboard, spreading out his shots to magnify his chances of landing one on his target. He was rewarded with yet another scream and the hasty retreat of someone clutching their wounded arm.
Stung by the vicious counterattack by their “victims,” the group beat a hasty and noisy retreat across the store, away from both the main entrance and the pharmacy. Rick watched them as they ran and realized that he, Jane and Dr. Evans wouldn’t get a better chance to escape.
“Here!” Jane held out the full magazine as Rick popped out the empty one. He slammed the fresh one home and turned to look across the room and down the hallway at Dr. Evans.
“You ready?” Dr. Evans gulped nervously and nodded. “Good. Jane, you stay behind me and help him with the cart. Collect any guns, ammo or supplies from anyone we drop along the way.” Jane nodded numbly and followed Rick as he ran back to Dr. Evans.
Rick pushed open the door and held it while Dr. Evans and Jane got the cart out of the hall and back into the store. They made a beeline through the pharmacy area, stopping briefly at the body of the first person Rick had shot so that they could collect the woman’s backpack and rifle. After they finished they continued on towards the entrance of the store and emerged unscathed out into the street.
“Which way to the car?” Jane looked around, realizing that she couldn’t remember where to go.
“That way!” Dr. Evans pointed down the street and the trio took off running. Jane and Dr. Evans stayed in the lead, navigating the shopping cart full of supplies through the cracked and debris-riddled sidewalks and streets. Rick took up a position as a rearguard, watching their back and flanks for any signs of their attackers.
The three moved through the streets quickly and neither saw nor heard any signs of anyone ahead or behind. The distant, unsettling rumbling that they had heard while inside the store came back three times on the way back to the car and each time it was accompanied by the sound of distant metal and glass shifting and breaking.
“What the hell is that? An aftershock or something?” Rick spoke quietly to Dr. Evans.
“Possibly.”
“Great. All the more reason to get out of here.”
When they arrived at the parking lot they saw that their car was sitting where they had left it, untouched and ready to go. “How long do you think we have till they follow us here?” Rick whispered to Dr. Evans, not wanting to draw the attention of anyone who might be lurking in the area.
“You killed at least one, perhaps two of them. I don’t think they’d follow us.”