Death is only the Beginning (EDITING)

Chapter XI

With suppressed gunshots echoing through the store, he quietly finishes off the small crowd of undead. Just as he was about to reload his rifle, he hears a fast pace set of footsteps from behind getting louder and louder. Just as he turns to the source of the footsteps he suddenly gets knocked against the shelf of the aisle by a great force, the rifle clacking to the ground. It's beam casting one side of the aisle in a beam of light, exposing a horribly rotten man lounging at the Sergeant. The man's skin looks like it's going to fall apart at any moment and his lips have been torn or bitten off, exposing a set of teeth gnashing at the Sergeant as he holds the infected back by its throat.

Blood covers his apron, mouth, and Wallmart uniform. Quickly, he bashes his helmet into the infected's face, screaming "Get the fuck away from me, you fucking ghoul!" as the infected man staggers backwards and falls to the ground.

The ghoulish man quickly recovers, faster than the Sergeant could anticipate, and runs towards the Sergeant in hellish speed. Before the ghoul could even pounce on him he draws a M1911 Mark II from his left chest holster and shoots it in the face. The ghoul jerks its head back and falls to the ground. Loud moaning and footsteps echo from all around the store. Cursing the Sergeant quickly gets up and pulls out a second M1911 from his right chest holster and aims at the end of the aisle casted in a beam of light by his fallen rifle.

The light shining down from his fallen rifle shows him gruesomely torn up men, women, and children approaching him with gnashing teeth. Gunshots echo loudly through the store, causing the Sergeant's ears to ring a little while the rest of the aisle lights up to horribly torn apart infected. More infected keep pouring into the aisle, even after emptying the rest of the 23 rounds onto both ends of the aisle. Quickly he holsters his pistols, snatches his rifle, and climbs up the aisle just as the sea of undead crash upon the shelf.

On top, he slaps in a fresh magazine into his rifle and begins firing at the moaning crowd. His upper hand was short lived as he felt a pair of hands grab his boots from behind and pull him down into a large opening of the store. He hits the ground hard, his rifle hitting the ground again with another loud clank. While shaking off the wave of pain overcoming him, he feels a pair of hands grab him by the shoulder but he reacted quickly and with a flash of his hand he jabs the end of his ka-bar into the forehead of an elderly woman. She falls to the ground with a loud thud as many more infected approach him from all around.

After snatching his rifle for the second time, he reaches below his back and from a sheath attached underneath his pack, the Sergeant pulls out a machete and starts slashing at the approaching infected. It did little to the undead numbers but he kept going. He dodges one infected's attempt of grabbing him and hacks of her head with a swift move before thrusting the long blade into the temple of another infected woman.

Their numbers too great, he sees an opening in the sea of undead and runs, slashing any infected that got too close. Thanks to the light sensitive lenses he could see the store as if it were dimly lit and sees an aisle that has fallen over with an opening underneath. Quickly he drops to his knees and begins crawling through the opening, The dozen or so infected struggled as they trip forward over the fallen isle, with no success trying to grab at him.

At the other side he whips out his rifle again and empties the magazine at the dozens of undead clambering over the fallen isle. With only one magazine left he uses the small window of opportunity to pull out his machete once more and began slashing again.

He kicks an infected man in police uniform back, slashing an infected soldier then the infected police officer. He feels a pair of hands grab him from behind. He elbows the young infected boy in the face before thrusting the blade into it then runs through another opening until he stops at what looks like the center of the store.

He looks around and sees dozen more infected still approaching him but their numbers far smaller than before. Realizing that slashing at so many infected approaching from all sides would probably lead to his demise, he sheaths his blood soaked machete, grabs and reloads his M1911's and proceeds on shooting once more The aisles and empty displays light up with each gunshot, showing torn apart infected jerking their heads back.

In a quick motion, he loads his last magazine into each pistol and continues. He twists and turns delivering clean head shots from both sides, ducking from undead attempting to grab him, smashing the butt of his pistol into the back of their skulls, only to continue firing.

He turns and fires one last time, the infected child hitting the ground with a more muffled thud as it lands on its fallen brethren. Heavy gasps of hair enter and escape the Sergeants filter as he stands there, looking around the store as it falls upon an eerie silence with the exception of his heavy breathing. The guns clank as he releases the pulled back barrels with the click of a button on each gun. After holstering his pistols he glances over the aisles and the fallen undead, making sure that none remain. With the certainty that the store is clear of undead at the moment he reaches up for the send button and calls out to Jenkins.

"Jenkins can you hear me?" He calls out, glancing at each aisle while doing so.

"Loud and clear Sergeant. Heard the gunfire. Is the store clear?"

"At the moment. Hurry fast. The gun fire surely will draw in more Z's," He says as he glances each aisle again and again, expecting another wave of undead to swarm in on him.

"Roger Sergeant. Where are you?" crackles from his radio.

"At the center of the store. Near what once used to hold baby food,"

"Okay Sergeant. Leaving the Employees Lounge and heading towards you,"

"Hurry," The Sergeant says before lowering his hand and then staying put. After a few moments he began hearing footsteps. Not one pair, but multiple coming from behind him. With a fresh magazine fed into his rifle, he spins around only to meet the barrel of a Sig Sauer P226 held by a young brunette with shoulder length hair only a few feet away. Her beautiful face is covered in sweat and dirt and her blouse and jeans have a hard time showing their colors under all that grime and dirt. Behind her he notices a young woman with curly blond hair, holding firmly a blood stained baseball bat. She wore a t-shirt and jeans with equal grime and dirt on them. They both look extremely tired but both kept a complex look on their face.

"Hey! Easy now," the Sergeant says as he slowly backs up, keeping his rifle at hip level. He sees the brunette studying him up and down, the pistol still aimed at his face.

"Whoa whoa he's with me Stacy. That's the Sergeant I was talking about" a man in similar attire as the Sergeant says as it approaches from behind and places his hand on the brunette's pistol, slowly lowering it. She gives the Sergeant a skeptical look, eyes the man in similar attire, then sighs with relief as it puts the pistol away behind her.

"What the hell happened Jenkins?" the Sergeant asks as he gave the man a firm handshake.

"A lot Sergeant, but I owe my life to Stacy and Rebecca here," Jenkins says, pointing at the brunette and curly haired blond. "But I got us a good amount of food and water," he continues, pointing at his tight rucksack.

The brunette then approaches the Sergeant, reaching out a hand.

"Sorry for aiming my pistol at you," she says with a timid voice while trying to smile at him. "My name is Stacy by the way," she continues as the Sergeant shakes her hand. "And over there is my sister Rebecca," she says while pointing at the blond with curly hair. She waves at him but without smiling. She showed more a look of fatigue rather than gratitude.

"All is forgiven. I am Staff Sergeant Michael Robinson. Army Special Forces but you can call me Mike. I see you two have already made an acquaintance with Corporal Jenkins here. I'm glad to see that three of you are in one piece but my gunfire probably has alerted any nearby undead, even with my loud diversion. You two look exhausted. If you want our apartment is not that far away. Get some rest, clean up, and get some warm food. Sound good?" he asks as glances at the entrance of the store. No infected in sight yet.

The sisters both nod as the four survivors then make their way out of the store. The rain is pouring heavily and thunder continues to erupt from the sky, lightning flashing in the ink black sky. Up the hill, dozens or so infected began approaching the store, unaware of the four survivors' presence as the four ran towards a nearby alley. Quietly and masked by the loud thunder the four left the super store behind and headed towards the apartment Mike mentioned.