章 300: fd6
Arc 1: Arrival
Part 6: Early
Driving to the nearby town of Dawson took a bit longer than I had originally intended. There were some vehicles scattered on the road, obviously abandoned or crashed by their occupants. A few were even still occupied.
I took the time to move the vehicles off to the side of the road. It was annoying, sure, as was putting the zombies out of their misery, but the long term benefit of actually having a clear route between the town and my compound was worth the time investment. It did slow me down enough that I resolved myself to staying in the town overnight. I wasn't going to be comfortable driving back at night, especially since the trip might draw a zombie trail after me. If I had to do zombie cleanup I wanted it to be daylight and be fully awake while doing so.
As the road approached the town it crested a hill, curving and providing a decent view over the otherwise flat congregation of buildings.
The road I was on obviously came in on what would be called the backside of the town. Neighborhoods formed a rough U-shape around the town center, with a number of factories and warehouses situated off to one side and with a bit of empty fields and a small wood separating them from direct view. Only my current height above the town allowed me to catch sight of them.
The city center, which included the local primary and high schools as well as the majority of the businesses in the small town, butted up against a large mall, which appeared to be the centerpoint of an even larger shopping complex situated right where the local highway came through.
Given it's size, the indoor mall probably drew business from a number of the nearby towns, as it was far too big to be solely supported by this town.
I used the sights on my pistol as an impromptu. zoom. It wasn't perfect, but it allowed me to catch sight of a number of zombies wandering around some of the nearer streets. In addition, from what I could see of the parking lot around the mall it appeared that some people may have used it for shelter.
"That could be good." I muttered to myself as I contemplated the possibility of finding actual survivors. "Or it could be very, very bad."
I remembered vaguely that my world had possessed a video game with a zombie apocalypse set in a mall.
I glanced down at my weapon as I lowered it.
"Good thing it's pretty much impossible for this thing to jam, or run out of ammo." I said with a laugh.
I returned my gaze to the town before me. On the one hand, the mall was full of all variety of stores. If it was secure, or could be made secure, I could probably use it as a base for my operations.
I cocked my head while I considered what I knew, or at least thought I knew.
A mall like that would assuredly have loading and unloading docks designed for big rigs to back their trailers right up to them, situated at a level allowing pallets to be loaded and unloaded. If there was a working forklift or pallet jack, I could stack and wrap pallets of whatever supplies I scavenged for easier transport.
In addition, if I was able to scavenge supplies from the mall, particularly non-food related items, they would be more likely pristine and in sealed packaging. Idly I wondered what sort of games and movies this world had. The stress of several days of isolation and possible future isolation was already starting to creep up on me. I'd never been good about that. The silence alone was all consuming, and I figured it would only be a handful more days before I became desperate for some music or other audio to fall asleep to.
"Headphones." I said as I got back into the cab of the APC. "Remind me to find a pair of headphones."
"Sure thing, Chief." Cortana replied, starting the engine again.
Behind us the other three vehicles started up as well, following us as my small convoy continued its journey down the curved road into the town of Dawson.
I had a mall to explore, and supplies to gather.
I couldn't help the odd sensation that being in the equivalent of a zombie apocalypse video game was not nearly as frightening as playing one had been.
Then again, I couldn't remember a zombie video game where you walked around in armor built on mass effect technology with a gun that wouldn't run out of ammo.
That probably explained why I was surprisingly calm about scavenging from a potentially zombie infested mall.
Yeah, that had to be the reason.
XxXxXxX
The drive through town finally gave me a real, close up look at the early days of a zombie apocalypse. Beyond the obvious damage from the chaos, and zombies trying to get at people inside houses, everything was in remarkably good condition. My supposition of arriving early after the outbreak seemed to be holding.
The relatively low number of zombies we ran over on our way to the mall seemed like a good sign, certainly. Maybe I was stressing over nothing. Given the chaos of an outbreak, people probably either holed up inside their houses or hopped in their cars and made a break for government relief zones.
The relatively low number of cars I could see around in town indicated that the latter was more likely.
The large number that seemed to be situated inside the mall parking lot gave me an idea of where one of those 'government relief zones' probably was, or at least had been. The fences which had been set up near the building were down in several locations, and I saw no evidence of government vehicles.
On the other hand, I did see a large number of zombies milling about the closest entrance, slowly pressing against the closed glass doors.
As my convoy approached, the sounds of the engines began to draw attention. As the Zs slowly noticed it they began to pay more attention to the current noise than whatever movement or sound had originally drawn them towards the mall.
I grinned as we pulled through the parking lot.
"Cortana, why don't you use the vehicles to scout around the outside of the building. Draw off some of the zombies from the entrance. Play a bit of Grand Theft Auto with them if you'd like."
Cortana's answering grin was predatory.
"With relish, Chief. May I ask, what are you going to do?"
I was eyeing a fire-escape artfully concealed on the outside of the building.
"While you're doing that, I'm going to find another way into the building. If there are survivors inside I'd rather not let in a zombie horde to kill them. And if not, then at least I haven't damaged the potential security of the perimeter."
Shep whined at me, putting her head down on the seat and covering her face with her paws. It was a very human gesture, and made me laugh. I ruffled her ears as I prepared to ditch out of the APC while it was stopped. Already the zombies gathered in front of the entrance to the mall were beginning to shamble towards my vehicles.
"It's okay, girl. You just stay here with Cortana while she runs over all the nasty zombies. I wouldn't want you to get bit. Who else would I have dinner with if that happened?"
As I left the APC and ducked behind a nearby SUV, waiting for Cortana to draw off the small zombie herd, I could have sworn I heard Cortana reply "Me, that's who."
I tried my best not to think about that. If my subconscious influenced my creations, I didn't want to consider what that meant.
Once Cortana had drawn the zombie's around the nearest corner of the building, which took several minutes as she had to drive slowly and wait for the shambling horde to keep pace, I sprinted across the intervening distance between me and the building. Once there I moved along the side towards where I could now see the bottom of the stairs up to the second story emergency exit. I also absentmindedly gave mercy to a zombie someone had pinned between a Toyota Camry and one of the poles supporting the lights for the parking lot.
When I found the exit at the top of the stairs it was less than encouraging. The door had clearly been broken open at some point. Examining it more closely, I realized that someone had broken a hole clear through it so that the release bar on the inside could be triggered. The partial barricade I could see on the other side indicated that survivors had been present at one point. The lack of any watchers told me that either there were none left, too few to maintain a watch, or what there were felt perfectly comfortable not maintaining a watch.
I wasn't actually sure which I was hoping for more.
Carefully I reached through the gap and opened the door, slipping inside and closing it securely behind me. No sense in giving the zombies a way to follow me in.
Inside was dark, only the emergency chemical lighting operating. I turned on the flashlight beams on my helmet and held my gun in a ready position as I advanced inward. Vaulting over the barricade was easy, and once beyond it I found that I was in a long hallway lit with the emergency lighting, stretching in either direction. Various signs on the wall led me to believe this had been a 'behind-the-scenes' employees only section, or perhaps simply a corridor leading from emergency exit doors inside the mall to fire escapes like the one I had entered from.
Checking both directions for any sign of activity, and finding none, I chose to head to my right and slowly advanced down the hallway. There was a door on the opposite side from where I'd entered the hall about thirty feet down, and I tentatively pulled it open. There was no resistance, and I soon found myself standing in the kitchen of a Hot-Dog-on-a-Stick.
I blinked at that. Apparently I had found the food court. I examined the place as I walked through. With the power out, food was starting to go bad. But it didn't look like it had been off for all that long. Maybe a week, tops? That meant that either this place had it's own generators, or the powergrid had only recently gone down. So, more evidence that it was still early in the outbreak.
I saw evidence that someone had probably been eating food in here at one point, and the way some of the food supplies were missing wholesale, this place had possibly been raided for supplies before the power went out.
Finding no other relevant evidence I pushed forward and exited into the food court itself. The interior of the mall was faintly lit by sunlight coming through skylights. I almost immediately turned and fired my gun, a single headshot taking down the zombie who had turned at my arrival. The sound was low, inconsequential.
The presence of the zombie however meant that my chances of finding survivors was low.
"Nice shot." A man's voice with a thick southern drawl echoed from behind me. "I was just waiting for it to get closer so I could pike it, but that works too."
Or maybe not.
I began to turn around, lowering my gun towards the ground, only to come face to face with a dirty man in his thirties standing holding an old Remington trained on me.
"Easy there. I don't know you from Adam, so why don't you just put that fancy piece of yours down and we can talk."
I resisted the instinctive urge to flinch from the rifle aimed at my chest. On the one hand, I distinctly knew the relative capabilities of my armor and an old slug shooter like that wouldn't even breach my shields. On the other hand, it was less than a week since I had experienced being shot in the chest and apparently killed.
PTSD is like that, it can override even our rational thought. I lowered my gun onto the nearest table. It's not like he could use it even if he stole it. It was biometrically locked to me and my armor. I didn't want to lose it though, since I apparently couldn't make a second one.
"Easy, friend." I replied, raising both hands in a nonthreatening manner. "Not here to hurt you."
"No." The man said, clearly wary. "But you've broken into my shelter. Looks like you're here to steal my stuff."
I shook my head slowly.
"Steal, no. DIdn't know anyone was alive in here. Was just planning to scavenge some supplies, take em back to my camp."
The man huffed, gun still trained on me.
"Well, you're not taking any of my stuff. So why don't you just wander on back out whatever hole you came in from and I won't have to get nasty."
On the one hand, leaving would mean I didn't have to contend with a territorial and apparently less-than-eager to make friends southerner.
Again, on the other hand, I'd just caught sight of a sign for Gamestop and another for Best Buy on the other side of the mall.
Surely this guy had no need for consumer electronics, right? Given his territoriality I'd probably have to make a trade, but I could certainly bargain a good deal out of him.
Afterall, the more time goes by the more things like video games and televisions will end up damaged or destroyed. Might as well preserve what I can now, right?
Heh, who was am I kidding. I wanted games and consoles to play them on once I was fully settled in and could afford to spend some time on leisure. It certainly looked like I was going to have the time for it now.
"Well, maybe we can work out a trade." I offered, giving my best 'you can trust me' smile behind my mask.
Ok, so he couldn't see it, but that didn't stop me from doing it.
The man eyed me warily.
"Trade? What kind of trade?" He asked. So, he apparently might be interested.
I motioned towards the Best Buy.
"Why don't you let me take what I want from the Best Buy and other entertainment stores. You know, televisions, movies, that sort of thing."
"Hrm, and what would you give me in return?" He asked, wary but intrigued.
"Well, what do you need? Food, medicine, ammunition?"
"Ammunition I got." He muttered. "Plenty of food. But medicine, I could use that. Got any vicodin or hydrocodone or oxycontin?"
Oh boy, some sort of druggie. Definitely glad I wasn't inviting him to join me. Then again, I just didn't trust him.
I nodded.
"Yeah, I think I can get you some of that. So, we got a deal?"
He continued to eye me warily for a few moments before lowering his rifle.
"Hmm, I guess we got a deal. But you better be able to come through on your part of the bargain."
I nodded affirmative as I picked my pistol back up and holstered it. I had several hundred vicodin alone in the small emergency kit I'd strapped to my back. I'd figure that having items of trade value might be useful if I ran into survivors. Seems I'd been right.
XxXxXxX
Five hours later and I had moved more electronics into the back of my truck than my entire extended family had probably owned in their entire lifes. Multiple flat panel and plasma televisions. Case after case of computers, accessories and spare components. More or less the entire contents of the Best Buy, used games included. I'd even stolen the full scale cardboard Master Chief standee they'd had set up by the door. I figured it'd be a small bit of amusement for me at the very least. Lord knew I could use it.
The man, Early as he introduced himself, had kept watch for zombies during all this. Well, that's what he claimed he was doing, but I was pretty certain he was just making sure I didn't try to pull a fast one on him. I didn't care, I could at least understand where he was coming from.
In addition to fulfilling a lifelong dream to own enough video games and hardware to fill my entire bedroom back home, I'd also raided a Barnes & Noble and several other entertainment stores. Every spare space in the rear of the truck had been filled with books, movies on dvd and blu-ray, board games, and graphic novels. I kept telling myself I was just taking them for preservation for the future.
I also knew I was lying. I was the sort of guy who when playing Bioware RPGs and other similar games looted EVERYTHING I could find. Call me an acquisitive bastard, but I subscribed to the theory that it was better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
That was also why I raided the entire condom section which Best Buy had situated right next to their pornographic dvd section.
Like I said, rather have them and not need them than need them and not have them.
By the time I was finished the sun was already getting low in the sky. Cortana had amused herself by running over the zombies in the vicinity of the mall, leaving us relatively safe for the night.
Early had relaxed the longer the afternoon went on. Perhaps that was because he had popped three vicodin as soon as I had handed over the bottle to him. Perhaps it was just him becoming more and more convinced I was a man of my word and wasn't a threat. Either way, when we finished and I was debating finding somewhere to hole up for the night versus just camping it in the back of my APC he surprised me by offering to share his shelter here.
Apparently, he had managed to blockade the Macy's Home and Bedroom store against the rest of the mall and the outside. He offered me a bed, and a 'good' meal of baked beans and hot dogs cooked over a camp stove he'd liberated from the local hunting store. I figured that since I'd probably be crossing paths with him more often than not if I kept scavenging in Dawson, that it would be best to be on good terms with him, so I accepted the invitation.
When I woke up a few minutes after midnight to him holding his rifle on me and trying to figure out how to unlatch my helmet I realized the truth. I was just a mark to him, a sucker to kill and rob. Maybe he was just an addict who was that desperate to get any more opioid painkillers I had on me. Maybe he was just a bastard. Either way, I cursed the moment I chose to accept his 'hospitality' as I raised my pistol and fired.
As his body collapsed to the dark floor of the bedroom department, holes in both sides of his skull, I closed my eyes and wept.
I'd never killed anyone before. Giving mercy to the undead wasn't killing, it was garbage duty.
EMERGENCY:Subject Experience Intense Guilt
Stabilizing Neurotransmitters to Ensure Mental HealthBut this, it hurt. It hurt all the more because I didn't actually feel any pain or guilt over it. What kind of person was I that I wasn't feeling guilt over killing another human being, potentially the last I might ever see?
As I slowly cried myself to sleep inside my suit I clung desperately to the only answer I could find.
"The kind who knows how bad and desperate life in a zombie apocalypse can be, and who is saving his compassion for those actually worthy of it."
Deep down, I knew I had to be willing to kill to survive in this world. I also knew that I would avoid it if I could, even if that was going to be impossible in the end. If someone died because I didn't remove a dangerous beast like Early, then their deaths would be on my conscience, and would surely weigh more heavily than any monsters I had to put down in 'self defense
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