The Dark Trinity (Book 1): Shuffle (14 page)

CHAPTER 16 
  SHOPPING
SPREE

Within minutes, Evelyn and Sam reached Northway Mall. It was
by no means the biggest mall in town, but it had a couple decent stores there.
The car sped through the parking lot, weaving around cars that their owners
left behind. Not a soul stirred.

“It’ll be dark in a couple hours, we need to hurry,” Sam
said.

He stopped the car and got out. Evelyn followed. They had
parked in front of the Dick’s Sporting Goods entrance.

“Your one stop zombie apocalypse shop. Planning on starting a
pick-up game of hockey?” she asked sarcastically.

“Quit your sassin’ lady,” he snapped. “This place has guns and
ammo that we need, plus it will have decent outerwear that will keep you warm.
So if you don’t mind, how about you move your pretty little ass inside before
we lose the daylight.”

She frowned at the abrasive response, but complied; not being
able to argue his logic. They walked to the locked doors. After cursing some
ineligible words, Sam picked up the ashtray which sat a few feet away and
proceeded to smash in the glass door. They entered the store and crept their
way towards the hunting department.

“Stick close, there’s no tellin’ if they’ll be more of those
creepers in here,” Sam said in a whisper. Evelyn had to stifle a laugh as the
irony of whispering after smashing through a glass door was completely lost on
the old timer.

A moment later, they were in front of a gun case. Sam used
the butt of his pistol to break the display glass. The noise seemed loud in the
silent store and the two survivors looked around for someone or something to
investigate the commotion. After a minute, they began to pull various guns from
the case.

“I think we’re safe. If no one came to greet us after
crashing through the door, I doubt a display case would attract much attention,”
observed Evelyn.

Sam grunted in acknowledgement while he grabbed shotguns,
rifles, a crossbow and bolts for the crossbow. He also managed to scrounge a
sizable cache of ammunition, gun bags, and several cleaning kits. Once he was
confident that he had enough weaponry, they moved on to the camping gear. He
grabbed a shopping cart that sat in an aisle and began to fill it up. A tent,
lanterns, flashlights, rope, sleeping bags, emergency first aid kit, and a few
boxes of protein bars.

“I think this should be good. I’ve got other supplies at the
shop already. You better go find yourself some better clothes. Be quick about
it.”

“No problem, I’ll be fast,” she replied.

Evelyn found the women’s section and began to scan the racks
and shelves for some good outerwear. Five minutes later, she was clad head to
toe in the latest outdoor survival apparel. Warm, waterproof, and ready to get
the hell out of the creepy abandoned mall, she found Sam by the broken door
they entered in.

“Okay, I’m all set to go,” she said.

Without a word, the two walked out into the parking lot and
loaded up the car with their new gear. Somewhere in the distance, horrific
cries echoed. She thought of Nathan. Worry flooded through her. She pushed back
the urge to cry and prayed that her future husband was still alive and
someplace safe.
He’s barricaded himself in his office at work,
she thought,
to reassure herself. Sam closed the trunk and noticed the look of worry on the
woman’s face. He walked around to the passenger side and placed his hand on her
shoulder.

“Don’t you worry, I’m sure your man is alright. I bet he’s
got a good head on his shoulders; I’m sure he wouldn’t do anything stupid to
get himself hurt.”

She forced a smile and wiped her eyes. “Thanks Sam. You’re
right, he’s probably safe and sound at work.”
This man obviously didn’t know
Nate.
Yes, Nathan was intelligent, but he was also impulsive. Knowing him,
he would have thought of a way out of downtown and most likely would have
attempted to reach her. He wasn’t the sit-and-wait kind of guy. Maybe he made
it out. Maybe he was trying to make his way back to the house. The house which
was now teeming with dead, murderous creatures. A tight knot formed in her
stomach as she opened the car door and got in.

Sam closed his door and started the car. They drove down the
hill and turned onto McKnight Road, the main drag which cut through the North
Hills of Pittsburgh. Lined with various malls, shops, plazas, restaurants, and
bars, the six lane road was usually packed with cars shuttling tweens to the
mall. Today was no different. Vehicles filled the roadway. All abandoned, some
were askew in the road, and others were even flipped over or on fire.

They made it about fifty yards before the road became too
congested to continue on. Sam stopped the car and looked around for an
alternate route. The daylight was waning and shadows grew darker. Evelyn knew
that they needed to get to wherever they were heading, and get there soon. Sam
gave a grunt and backed the car up about twenty feet, then turned right down a
side street. A burning garbage truck blocked their path.

“There’s no way we’re gonna make it down McKnight,” he said,
irritated. “We’ll need to double back.”

Sam put the car in reverse and backed up about twenty yards,
then threw it into drive and turned down an adjacent side street, which doubled
back to Babcock Boulevard. The two survivors drove towards the dangers that
they had escaped just a short time ago. Evelyn looked out the passenger window
as the car sped down the road. Suddenly, the car careened to the left and then
hit what appeared to be a man standing on the berm.

“Jesus Christ!” she yelled, as the body rolled up onto the
hood. Then time seemed to slow down. The face of the man plastered against the
windshield slid up the glass, leaving a slimy, bloody smear as he flipped over
the roof. During this split-second of slow motion, she could just make out the
name tag of the gas station attendant who had given chase the last time they
travelled this road.

Sam let out a loud, cigarette-crackling laugh as the zombie
continued up over the roof and onto the pavement. Immediately, he slammed on
the brakes and proceeded to back the car over the dazed creature. Popping it
back into drive, he floored the gas and spun the wheels, peeling flesh and gore
from the clerk pinned beneath. A red mist of nastiness spewed forth from the
churning tires until finally, the wheels hit pavement, catapulting the car
forward.

“Damn, that was fun!” Sam hollered as they continued on.

“Holy shit, Sam! Was that necessary?”

“No, I suppose not, but it sure helped morale now, didn’t
it?” he asked.

She gave him a disapproving look. “We're in the dark about
these things. For all we know, some kind of new disease is turning people into
these godforsaken things. If that’s the case, we don’t know how it’s spread.
Splashing blood and guts around might just be making things worse.”

The old man glared at her. “Worse? Worse? How in the hell
could this get worse?”

“Well, for one, we could get infected blood in our eyes or
mouth and end up turning into one of those fuckers ourselves.”

Sam opened his mouth to retort, but closed it, aware that she
was right. He felt like an ass. The fact of the matter was that they didn’t
know why people were ghouling-out. If it was due to some kind of virus, making
a mess every time they encountered one probably wasn’t the best idea. He turned
his attention back to the road and brooded quietly as they continued their
journey.

CHAPTER 17 
  THE
MARATHON

The dog ran at a steady pace down the median of Interstate
279 South towards downtown Pittsburgh, cutting a narrow path through the snow.
The highway was a venerable battlefield, with cars jamming all outbound lanes.
Some cars even used the inbound lanes to flee the carnage that was transpiring
in the city. This of course, caused many pile-ups, as those escaping crashed
into the oncoming drivers who weren’t aware of the situation in town.

Horns honked, people cursed and yelled at each other, and in
the distance, Boomer heard humans screaming. Nobody took notice of the mutt as
he continued to run south, determined to find his master. His shoulder ached
from the wound inflicted by the strange intruder. Luckily, the gash wasn’t deep
and had already clotted, despite the heavy exertion.

There were more of those strange humans with the dead smell
here on the road. They moved through the sea of cars, attacking people in their
vehicles or among the gridlock. Blood flowed, painting the snowy landscape of
the interstate with red. Boomer paused behind a piece of wreckage as some of
the dead things ran near him. Once he was confident that he wasn’t spotted, he
pushed forward. The little dog stayed focused and continued towards the city.
Towards Master.

CHAPTER 18 
  THE QUEEN

The young zombie stood at the top of the staircase at the
Steel Plaza subway station. She knew that her prey had eluded her. She could
sense the anger and frustration in her followers below as they tried to pursue
the man down the train tunnel. It was unfortunate that her minions were stupid.
It made her angry that, for all their physical perfection, her warriors
couldn’t figure out how to get through a train door.

She opened her grotesque mouth and screeched down the stairs.
The scream echoed throughout the zombie-filled station as she pivoted in place
and walked out onto the street. She closed her eyes and allowed the cold winter
air to blast against her alabaster skin. She couldn’t feel it, of course, at
least not like a human would feel it. Her nerves tingled as snowflakes landed
on her cheeks. As she stood there, she could feel the man. He was still in the
tunnel, although he had managed to put some distance between him and the
station. She sensed the infection spreading through him, already starting to
reconfigure his DNA structure.

Soon,
she thought. Soon his transformation would be
complete, and then he would join her ranks. She didn’t know why it was so
important for her to turn the man. He looked like any other prey that her horde
had overrun and converted; nothing special or extraordinary about him.
Something in her senses told her otherwise though and that drove her to capture
this human. At all costs.

The Horde made its way up the stairs, onto the street and
spread out behind her like obedient drones. She was their queen. Their brains.
They stood there and waited for her command. Sunshine opened her eyes. There
was a presence nearby, different from the others. It wasn’t one of her brood,
nor was it human. She moved her eyes up the facades of the buildings in front
of her and scanned for movement or a heat signature in one of the countless
dark windows. As she continued to probe with her senses, she gleaned no other
stimuli aside from that strange presence and the unquestionable feeling that someone
was watching her.

There, at the top of the building. A dark silhouette peered
over the roof ledge. Then, in a split second, the shadow disappeared. That had
to have been the presence that she had felt. She continued to stare at the roof
a few moments longer. Then, with a low, gurgling grunt, she turned to the mass
of zombies behind her. Their attention had been on the roof as well, trying to
see what their queen had been so gazing at. As one, they dropped their gaze to
her. She looked over her ranks for a moment, then turned and began to walk down
Grant Street towards the inferno that was burning across the river.

Immediately, the mass of creepers followed. A few of the dead
warriors raced ahead to scout the area for any possible threat to their leader.
Sunshine walked at a slow, deliberate pace. The bloody teddy bear still
clutched in her hand. The shadowy figure on the rooftops unsettled her. It
wasn’t one of her children and it wasn’t human. That much she knew. What she
didn’t know, was whether it was her enemy. It didn’t matter. All that mattered
was the man. Capture the man. Grow her army. If the shadow returned and
interfered, then it, whatever it was, would be sorry. The Horde shambled on as
the night grew darker.