The Living Dead Boy (The Living Dead Boy #1)(23)

A second later, the popping sound of gunfire erupted outside.





Chapter 14


The store instantly quieted. People froze where they stood, wide-eyed with terror.

The steady pops of gunfire continued outside.

“I need everyone to stay where you are and not go outside,” the Latino officer announced. “Everyone needs to stay calm.”

“What’s going on?” a woman cried out.

“Well, ma’am, there’s a small pack of those... things–” the officer started to reply.

“Zombies,” Troy breathed. “Why won’t they say zombies?”

“–out there. They’re just clearing the area before we move you back onto the vehicles. Remain calm.”

“Shouldn’t we get back to the road and get out of here?” a man with a battered red baseball cap asked.

“Let us secure the location before you go out there. It’s not safe at the moment,” the other officer replied. He was tall, deeply-tanned from hours in the sun, and his pale blue eyes were rimmed with red as though he’d been crying.

“We could make a run for it. You can’t even see those things out there right now,” another man that Josh couldn’t see said.

“I need you to stay inside where it’s safe,” the tall officer answered.

The guy in the cap stalked over to the officers, his hands in tight fists at his side. “I’m not staying in here waiting for them to swarm us!”

“Sir, please stay inside the building where it’s safe. Let the guards finish clearing the area.” The Latino officer raised his hand in front of him. “Just calm down. You’re upsetting the children.”

“I’m not upset. I’m scared that he’s going to do something stupid,” Troy muttered.

“I’m upset,” Sam said. “Really upset. There are zombies out there!”

“You can’t keep me and my family in here. We’re leaving right now before this gets worse,” the angry man declared.

Corina’s fingers gripped Josh’s upper arm. “Josh, what do we do?”

“We do what they say,” Josh replied. The plan made sense even though it was hard to wait for the all-clear. The steady, echoing shots meant the guards were doing their jobs.

The walkie-talkie hissed again. The taller officer grabbed his radio, set it to his ear, and covered the other ear with his hand to listen.

“We’re American citizens. You can’t force us to stay in here. This is dangerous!” the angry man continued.

Still keeping one hand up, the Latino officer said, “Sir, everyone in here needs to remain calm and orderly.”

Josh glanced toward the bus. The doors were closed and he could see some movement inside. Drake, Oscar, and Yessica were safe at least.

The taller officer finished his conversation on the walkie-talkie and turned to face the upset people. “We’re evacuating! In an orderly fashion, please form a line and group together by vehicle. We’ll be escorting each driver outside, and they’ll pull up to the front of the store so the passengers can board as quickly as possible.”

Chaos broke out immediately. The angry man in the battered cap shoved the Latino officer into a display of souvenir key chains and sprinted to the entrance. As the two officers shouted for everyone to stay in the store, the man shoved the doors open and people spilled into the parking lot.

Swearing, the Latino officer shoved through the throng, trying to squeeze out the exit. When he reached outside, he tried to gain control of the situation by directing vehicles away from the pumps and toward the parking lot exit.

After a moment of hesitation, the second officer followed to help.

“Josh, what do we do?” Sam gasped. “Do we run out there with the zombies?”

The man in the cap ran ahead of two other men, a woman, and two small children to a big pickup at one of the pumps. Others ran in packs toward cars, vans, SUVS, and the buses. The situation was out of control, and fear froze Josh to the spot where he stood.

“Should we follow?” Troy asked, his brow furrowing.

“Josh?” Corina tugged on his arm.

Torn, Josh watched the mad scramble to get out the front doors and listened to the roar of the starting engines. The sound of gunfire was increasing, not decreasing. Running outside while people were firing weapons and zombies were nearby was not safe.

“No,” he finally said. His father had stressed trusting the adults in charge. “We need to obey the highway patrolmen.”

“But... but...” Sam stuttered, his eyes wide with fear.

The panic was palatable. The various vehicles all started to move at once. Brakes squealed. Horns honked.

The knot in Josh’s stomach tightened. It was like he was watching a movie and he knew instinctively what was about to happen next.

The man in the red cap rammed his truck into a smaller hybrid car to knock it aside, attempting to skirt through the area between the pumps and the front of the store. The hybrid spun about and slammed into another car trying to squeeze past it. Gunning the engine of the pickup, the man who had caused the panic swerved around the accident he had caused, nearly clipping the tall highway patrolman. An SUV, desperate to escape, plowed forward and struck the front end of the smaller hybrid car again, whacking off its front headlight and bumping it aside.