The Orphans (Book 4): White Lie (7 page)

Joey smiled and tapped Greg on the head. “You gotta hit them right here, and Mr. Clary said if you do it hard enough Joey that you crack their head open.”

Greg went to say something but the Turned that had fallen dead slid past the two of them. When the fact that something slid past them registered, the two stared at each other as they pushed up from the ground. Joey asked, “Can you run Greg?”

Greg kept his balance while wobbling just a bit and said, “Do I have a choice in the matter?”

Joey looked around the corner and saw that the one he had taken out had friends, and in no shortage. He said, “Doesn’t look like it.”

Joey pulled him the rest of the way to his feet and Greg went to shoot but Joey yelled, “Greg don’t shoot them, you’ll bring the rest of them if there’s more.”

Greg gripped his rifle and the two sprinted through the aisles in the opposite direction that they were being chased. Greg looked over his shoulder and slowed down just a bit for Joey and saw the Turned running behind them and leaping across the top of the shelves. When one of them was within the same aisle as them, Greg pulled his pistol and fired over his shoulder twice, missing with the first shot and putting the second into its kneecap. Its leg gave out and it disappeared, collapsing onto the floor screaming at them. They looked down the aisles and found that there were dead everywhere starting to follow them.

*****

Shaun and Ellie snapped their heads around when they heard the gunshots but both were unsure where they’d come from as they echoed filling the large store. Ellie whispered, “What the hell’s going on Shaun?”

He looked at her while shaking his head and put a finger to his lips. He saw Greg and Joey both running towards them not holding anything back and both knowing that they were running for their lives that they desperately wished to continue. When he saw them he pulled Ellie to the side and against one of the racks. He peered around the corner, waiting a second for Greg and Joey to fly past him, and then held out the rifle and rested it against the shelf.

The Turned were running with so much force that it never knew what was coming. Greg looked over his shoulder at the sound of Shaun’s grunt and saw possibly the worse and greatest thing ever as he knew how close he was to dying. The Turned ran directly into the bayonet attached to the end of Shaun’s rifle and with all of the force behind their speed, decapitated itself. The liquid that left its body was blackened. There was almost no reddish tint to it whatsoever. The Turned’s head rolled backwards into the next aisle over while its body fell limp onto the ground, sliding and streaking the white tile floors with its blood.

Shaun looked back to see Ellie was aiming a rifle directly over his shoulder. Shaun felt a hand on his shoulder which instantly went limp once Ellie’s rifle erupted. When they looked at Joey’s face his expression screamed that the two who’d been sent to their final resting place were absolutely, by no means, not alone. Ellie pulled Shaun behind her and the four sprinted through the store. Greg started to lag behind and Shaun screamed, “Don’t slow down Greg, don’t ever slow down, remember -”

Greg snapped over his shoulder, “For God sake’s Shaun, I’ve been doing the same PT that you have for months on end.”

They both spun on a heel when they heard Ellie scream in pain. Shaun saw more than just one thing that scared him. He was having serious deja vu from when his dad had been bitten on the ankle on day one. He walked forward a step, not feeling threatened by the Turned that was standing behind Ellie and roaring at the four of them. Time was passing as if the hourglass was full on both ends. Shaun didn’t know if he had said the words aloud or if he had only thought them in his mind.

Shaun stared at Ellie and his entire world stopped as he watched each and every drip of her blood hitting the floor and causing it to splash into a small, dark pool. Ellie’s face was losing color and fading into a sickly white and was getting more and more pale by the second. Her legs began to wobble and her eyes rolled into the back of her head as she fell forward. Her rifle fell to the ground as she followed suit.

Shaun stuck his arm out to catch her, bringing Shaun mere feet from the Turned. As it reached forward for Shaun, he extended the rifle one handed and rested the end of the barrel under its chin.

Shaun stared into its dead eyes that were peering back at him as he squeezed the trigger once, sending a single, full metal jacket through the back of its head and covering the ceiling ten feet above with rotted brains and scalp fragments across the previous aisle.

Shaun yelled over his shoulder, “Joey come and pick her up, she’s hurt!”

Joey did as he was told and the sound of food being kicked off of nearby shelves was an unwelcomed noise that was getting closer and closer. Greg yelled, “Shaun, we need to find a new place to hold up, come on dude, we need to get out of here. Shaun can you hear me? They’ll be here in seconds!”

Shaun pointed to Ellie hanging limp in Joey’s arms. “Look at her for God sakes we aren’t going anywhere! The truck is ruined. The ground has six inches of snow on it. Where are we going to go with her Greg? Huh, can you tell me that God damn it?”

“Well then, tell me what do you want to do? She got hit by one of them; she might start turning herself any minute if she did. That isn’t something we can take with us,” Greg said.

Shaun walked forward and grabbed Greg’s parka tightly. He never stopped his momentum and slammed Greg into the shelves. He screamed, “We aren’t leaving her until she rips flesh from her own arm and we aren’t counting her out!”

Greg stared at Shaun, dumbfounded. The two of them had never had any serious type of altercation and had never honestly thought that they would have one. “What do you want us to do Shaun? We can’t stay here much longer with these things running throughout the building.”

“Go find yourself a cooler or a closet to hide her in. Greg, you give her the chance though, don’t put her out of a misery that we don’t know is really coming. You don’t do it Greg. You know the signs and you wait for them damn it! She probably just hit her head really damn hard”

Greg asked, “Then you are planning on coming with us aren’t you?”

“I need to secure the doors if we are staying. Those gunshots aren’t going to help us stay safe for long. They sure as hell aren't going to go unnoticed by anyone or any
thing
out there.”

The sounds of the Turned running towards them were getting closer by the second. Joey said, “Greg we need to go, she’s bleeding pretty bad. I don’t know what to do for her.”

Greg pulled out a field kit, grabbing out gauze that he could stuff into the wound as they ran towards the back. Shaun watched, making sure that Greg was listening. When he could see that they were looking for somewhere safe and weren’t going to stay by his side to try and fight, he turned around, shouldered his rifle and walked back towards the sound of the Turned who were quickly making their way towards him. Greg looked back as they ran for safety while watching his best friend in the world walk into the fight by himself and knew that if anything permanent happened to any of them that it would be his fault. Greg looked at Ellie, taking in her pale complexion which did nothing to make him feel better.

Chapter Nine

Shaun stepped over the Turned that Ellie and him had taken out. He wasn’t sure what the feeling was that he was experiencing but it didn’t seem to be a good one. He could feel his movements but felt like he was out of his body and he was moving through quicksand. Four of the Turned were running the aisle toward him at top speed. They were each fighting to be the first to make it to Shaun. Shaun never stopped walking forward, pulling the trigger with each step ensuring that another of the Turned met their demise. They slid to a bloody stop and Shaun didn’t stop firing until they were all down and on the ground. He made sure not to waste bullets, not knowing how long he was going to be here. Shaun knew instantly with the evidence all around him that his headshots weren’t missing.

The vision of Ellie falling to the ground was the only thing threatening Shaun for the moment. The thought of blood streaming from her eyes and ripping skin from her perfect arm was worse than the nightmares that haunted him each night. It was these nightmares that were a part of his reason to always volunteer for guard duty. He tried shaking the thoughts from his mind until finally he was back into the real world. His ears were ringing from the gunfire, but besides the ringing, he did not hear anything else. He knew the Turned were anything but ignorant so he made sure to walk forward slowly and quietly.

A can rolled past Shaun and he spun around, he was ready to squeeze the trigger before he ever saw the Turned. It was reaching for his leg when he squeezed off two rounds. It fell forward towards him and Shaun brought the butt of the rifle up then lunged forward with it, ramming it into its nose, snapping the Turned’s head back. When it fell to the ground Shaun did one final guarantee, bringing the rifle stock down hard enough to finish what the bullets had failed to do, splitting its head open.

Shaun was breathing heavy and took a calming breath trying to clear his head of the rage that was trying to force its way out. He listened for a moment but did not hear any more Turned approaching. He ran to the store's front which was the first chance he’d had to look outside since they’d entered the grocery store. He stared for a moment, taking in the view and getting less and less confident that they’d be travelling back to the base tonight even if they could get a vehicle. Their plan of finding another running vehicle that had more than likely been sitting dormant for the last nine months was already something that didn’t fill Shaun with hope. He was no mechanic but was not an idiot and knew that the frozen tundra Iowa winters were enough to do major damage on a car’s battery. He was not very confident that if they found a car that had been out through the worst of winter that the battery would still be capable of turning the engine over.

Shaun reassessed the simple sliding glass doors they’d entered not more than a half hour ago and twisted the small locks at the top and bottom. When he tested them there was no give to them at all. The fact that they were made of all glass was not something that made him feel the least bit hopeful.

He rested against the sliding glass door and hit the magazine release from his rifle then put it in his bag in exchange for one of the fresh ones. The window behind him suddenly bounced and the echoing thud accompanying it was just as frightening as the force behind it. One of the Turned had slammed all of its weight into it. The Turned met Shaun’s eyes, only seeing the young man as a meal.

Shaun took a step back ready with his rifle. It started slamming its head into the glass until it managed to split its own head open. The dark, almost black blood dripped down the glass separating the living from the dead. Shaun took a few steps backwards until it stopped slamming its head against the glass and then leaned forward licking the line of blackened blood with its tongue.

Shaun aimed his rifle dead center at its skull. He started to apply pressure to the trigger when shadows began to appear behind their brother in death. It was almost impossible to see with the snow falling but as they got closer their outlines grew stronger. Shaun knew that the glass separating them was not going to be worth very much if the entire horde approaching the store started assaulting it. He thought of them flooding the store and knew that short of a miracle, there would be very little he could do to save Ellie and the others. He walked backwards hoping they would forget about them. He searched the store for a second exit. Shaun was smart enough to know that leaving through the front would be a suicidal decision. He also knew that Ellie was not going anywhere on her own, at least for the time being, unless a miracle happened and she came back around.

Shaun thought about trying to take as many out as possible but realized he’d take some but would also make the glass almost useless and be doing their job for them. The last thing he wanted to do was serve up a platter of flesh for them. He sprinted to the back of the store and to the utility ladder and raced up it to the roof. When he reached the top he started to open the door that led to the roof and as he lifted it up, the door was ripped from his grip, slamming itself open. Shaun climbed back down the steps and pulled his pistol; when no turned came into view he realized it was the strong winds that had taken the door open. He climbed back up and when he climbed out he had to duck down immediately. The strong winter winds were dangerously cold and blowing hard enough to send Shaun over the edge of the building. He peered over the edge of the store looking down and with the snow it was almost impossible to see anything. He knew however that the Turned would not have left this soon and that by now there would surely be no shortage of them.

Shaun sat up there for a while waiting and trying to come up with a plan while not freezing to death. It took less than a half hour then the snow finally started to clear. Shaun saw that there was a propane grill tank exchange up near the front. He thought about taking out as many as he could in one massive explosion but figured they were too close to the front of the grocery store. He had a flashback to Bynum's Hardware and blowing up Andy’s van in front of it and how he’d only taken out one of them and for his trouble, brought all of the Turned in town to the store, which ended up costing an old man his life.

Shaun backed up, knowing everyone on the inside was relying on him to come up with a solution, yet unfortunately he could think of nothing which would save him or his friends. He walked the roof, keeping low and thinking of an ever growing list of those he cared about, his dad, Karen, Lucas, Tina, and Christy. He couldn’t stand to think of having to pull the trigger for anyone whose heart was still beating in the store below.