Lisa’s Story: Zombie Apocalypse – Chapter Twelve

Content Warning: Zombie child death. Normally I wouldn’t warn about a zombie death but “child” death is a bit different.

I spent a couple of days going from apartment to apartment collecting what food had been left behind. In a couple of apartments, I found small half full cases of bottled water. In the end I had enough to last a few weeks. Maybe, I thought, I didn’t need to go back to the superstore and risk running into Andy. I hadn’t found large stock piles of food and water but it added up. I would have to leave the apartment complex if I wanted to keep finding anything though.

The next day, I walked into the neighborhood that bordered on the apartment complex. Before the zombies, my roommate and I had walked around here for exercise. We had looked at the changing lawn decorations as holidays had come and gone. Judged Christmas lights in the winter and counted flags during the summer.

Now I was looking supplies and hoping to avoid zombies.

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Lisa’s Story: Zombie Apocalypse – Chapter Eleven

The next day my ankle was a bit more sensitive to bearing my weight. I spent time with it elevated while reading and watching outside. The Stand didn’t have quite the same appeal now. I ate cold meals.

Two more days passed in the same way. The bruise on my shoulder ached less and I began practicing with the machete. I tried using my bat in one hand and my machete in the other hand. I found swinging with my left awkward but having an extra weapon might come in handy so I kept practicing.

My previous trips to the superstore insured that I wouldn’t run out of food before my ankle had time to heal but I would need to ration a little. I considered breaking into the other apartments in the complex. Most of my neighbors had left in a hurry probably not taking the time to clear out their pantry. I had avoided breaking in before for much the same reason I had left my roommate’s food alone. I was becoming less concerned with seeming like a upstanding citizen and more concerned with survival.

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Lisa’s Story: Zombie Apocalypse – Chapter Ten

Twenty minutes later, I was ready to get moving. Well most of me was. My ankle still hurt when I put weight on it. Andy found a cane for me after I refused to lean on him. I limped out of the store under my own power while he closed the doors behind us.

My bat and machete were still laying near the bodies. I made my way over to my machete watching the corners of buildings for motion. I started to dip down to retrieve my machete when Andy swooped in and picked it up for me.

“Here you go. I’ll get your bat,” he said walking off. I sheathed the machete and stuck my bat in my pack when he handed it to me.

“We should move the bodies,” I said.

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Lisa’s Story: Zombie Apocalypse – Chapter Nine

We were in the middle of the parking lot when I saw them. Two zombies shuffling out from between a couple of buildings to the north. I touched Andy’s arm and pointed. He stopped and look at me.

“What do we do?” he asked.

I put a finger over my lips. Maybe we weren’t close enough for them to hear but I didn’t want to take the chance. I looked back at the superstore. We were more than half way across the parking lot. I looked at the two figures. One was about my height with short hair the other was shorter and had long hair. A man and a woman probably. They were angling in our direction.

Could we make a run for the store? Maybe we could walk back to the nearest car and hide. Or we could fight them. I didn’t want to fight them. I looked at Andy and motioned toward the store. I began walking slowly, sideways so I could keep an eye on the two zombies. I heard a thump and Andy grunting. I turned to see Andy half sprawled on the hood of a car. He lifted himself off the hood, which popped back out with another thump. I turned back to the zombies in time to see them turn toward us and begin running in our direction.

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Lisa’s story: Zombie Apocalypse – Chapter Eight

We walked out of the electronics and around to the sporting goods section. After a short search, we were found several hooks of plastic encased machetes. Most were simple blades with nylon or canvas sheaths, a few had saw teeth on their back edge or different shapes. One had skulls painted on it. I grabbed the most normal blade I could see that came with a sheathe.

As I struggled with the plastic, Andy pulled out a pocket knife, flicked it open and presented it to me handle first. “Thanks,” I said as I took it and slit the packaging open, “I should probably get a knife for myself.” I carefully handed the knife back to him.

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Lisa’s Story: Zombie Apocalypse – Chapter Seven

The next day I dressed and geared up to go out again. Backpack strapped on, baseball bat in hand, tire iron as backup. I looked through the window for zombies. All clear. After I moved the sofas away from the door, I checked again through the door peephole before exiting.

I stuck close to fences and building while watching my exposed side. Checked around corners carefully. At the first intersection I looked up and down the street. A couple of blocks away, I spotted a couple of zombies shuffling around. They were in the opposite direction I had to go. I watched them for a couple of minutes until I was sure they were facing away from me. I walked quickly, but quietly, watching the zombies. I made it across and stopped, listening for pounding feet. I peeked back around the corner. They hadn’t moved.

I continued on without seeing any more zombies. When I got to Andy’s store a knot formed in my stomach. The glass on one door was broken and there as a dark smear on the floor.

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Lisa’s Story: Zombie Apocalypse – Chapter Six

After returning home, I took a short rest before beginning to fortify my apartment. I started by moving the bookcases and mattresses away form the windows. I pushed the mattresses to the side and emptied the bookcases, pulling out the shelves as I went. The shelves were just long to reach across the window frame. There wouldn’t be a lot of over lap to anchor it and the particle wood they were made from wouldn’t take too many nails too close to together. The best thing would be to nail them on the outside. That way a zombie would have to break the board and push through it to get inside not just pop the nails out of the frame.

This, however, would mark my apartment as being occupied to any people who came along though. Even if Andy wasn’t that dangerous that didn’t mean everyone I met would be as harmless. I debated with myself for several minutes before deciding that zombies were the bigger threat. Also, to see my boarded up windows any potential raiders would have to come into the complex and they would find me anyways if they started searching apartments.

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Lisa’s Story: Zombie Apocalypse – Chapter Five

The next day I headed outside again. This time I took a different route through the neighborhood to avoid the corner store and approach the superstore from the same way I had left yesterday. I was outfitted in much the same way as before, except this time I had a flashlight.

I walked cautiously through the deserted urban setting, bat out and ready, looking for movement and listening for any sound other than birds. Luck was with me and I made it to the superstore without incident. I slid an outer door open, slipped inside, and closed it behind me.

One of the inner doors was open a few inches. Had I left it like that? I thought I had closed it all the way. Maybe I hadn’t. I remember pushing it closed until it stopped moving. Maybe it had snagged on something and not closed all the way and I hadn’t noticed. I pushed against the door and it slid closed easily. So, I had closed it yesterday but today it was partly open. Someone else had been there or might still be there.

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Lisa’s Story: Zombie Apocalypse – Chapter Four

Easing the outer doors open enough to squeeze out, I stepped out of the store. I crouched down, baseball bat clenched in both hands at the ready with an eye on the car I thought I had seen movement behind. Staring at the car, I wondered if I could leave without whatever I had, or had not, seen noticing me. Would it be better to make noise and see if anything happened? Should I try to sneak up on the car? My knees began to ache from crouching too long. Another fight with a zombie was not something I wanted. Any action that might lead to a fight was out. That left sneaking away.

First, I had to close the sliding doors to the store. It would be bad if one or more zombies wandered inside. Picking flashlight up off the ground, I clipped it to a belt loop with the attached carbine. Slipping my bat between the duffel and the small of my back, I turned around and pulled the doors shut. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I looked away from the parking lot. The doors slid closed easily and I scanned the parking lot again. Still empty. I pulled my bat out and began walking keeping an eye on the car.

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