Cast Out - Part 14

Sunrise came to the parking lot of the Club Store, with many cars already parked near the front. A few people had begun to mill around the entrance, waiting for it to open and talking amongst themselves. Some of them were armed with handguns, not quite hidden by their jackets. Others were trying to look inside the store, while some had decided to stay in their vehicles until the store opened.


At 7AM, the store opened and the parking lot seemed to come to life. Some of those who had been in the front of the store began to push their way inside. People began to shout and then scream as the panic started.

Someone fired a gun. More screams and panic ensued. People were being trampled on as their bodies blocked the front of the store.

Then some of them started to get up.

Some got up like they were awakening from sleep, looked around, and then began to attack those trying to get by them, grabbing them by the legs and pulling them down. Screams and more gunshots filled the air, as blood sprayed the air, ground and windows.

A handful of people who had been sitting in their vehicles got out and made their way to the trunks of their cars and backs of their trucks. They began to unload their hunting rifles and shotguns, grabbing a few stray shopping carts and loading them with ammo crates. While panic ensued at the front of the store, they nodded to each other and began to push their carts towards the entrance. One of them without a cart walked in front of the rest, pulling his pistol from behind his back. Seeing this group, several more people began to get out of their cars and followed.

He calmly walked towards the mayhem, paused, raised his gun, and shouted out “Hey! Over here!” One of the bodies on the ground turned looked at him. The body had black eyes. Before it could raise itself off the ground, a bullet ripped the top of its head off. More of the infested bodies started to stand, but were quickly dispatched themselves.

After the entrance was cleared of bodies, the group pushed their carts forward. Loud moans made them stop.

The noise had attracted ghouls within a radius of the Club Store. They were now swarming to the source of the commotion.

The people slowly making their way to the entrance looked to the left side of the store. About 20 figures were making their way towards them. On the right side of the store, about 15 more bodies. And behind them, more were coming from the direction of the street. A few stumbled out of the restaurant from across the parking lot.

“There’s too many! Get inside the store!” said the shooter.

The group quickly pushed the carts around the bodies and into the store, while the shooter yelled at everyone else to get inside. Others were already inside, screaming at the store manager to close the doors.

At last the shooter came in and said “That’s it! Close the doors! No one else is out there!”

The dead were getting closer with every moment.

“Lock the doors!” the shooter shouted. Others shouted as well. The shooter turned around to face the crowd.

“Who’s locking the doors!?” NOW!!”

“ME!” said a running man with a vest. With the shooter next to him, the manager locked the outer glass doors. They turned around and faced a gun pointed past them.

“NO!!” said the shooter. “No shooting outside! You’ll break the windows! Get inside the store!”

Between the glass doors the store, they had warehouse rollup doors.

“Can we lock those doors?” the shooter asked.

“Try and stop me!” the manager yelled.

Once they got everyone else inside, they closed the doors and secured them.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Some sat on the floor and cried.

“Thanks.” The shooter said to the manager, breathing heavy. Looking at the managers nametag, he asked him, “Randy? That you?”

“Yeah, no problem. Good job yourself.” The manager said to the shooter, also out of breath. “You?”, he said with a head nod.

“Dan”.

“So Dan, how did you…..get to be a..such a good shot?” Randy asked.

Dan replied, “Comes with being a cop”. Randy nodded, as did Dan. They both looked down at the floor.

Blood had been tracked all over the floor.

Both of them exhaled, and said nothing.