Alone With the Dead-Book 1- Keenan's prospective

Chapter 9

It didn't take too long to get to Bangor. Reason was that every road was just empty. There were a few cars in the middle of the roads every now and then though. I think it's because Bangor is were the virus began to spread even more. So everyone packed up and left. And here I am going into Bangor. What am I doing?

Martin took a right on the roundabout and headed to Tesco. It looked so eerie with no one there. Like we were the only living people left. It scared me in some way. Martin stopped at the entrance. The lights were still functional inside the shop. That's good.
"Be careful in there James." I had a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach.
"Same goes to the both of you." He exited the car with a worried look on his face. Don't blame him.

We went around the car park to look for any signs of life. Unfortunately there was nothing. We went into the petrol station and refuelled. One perk of a deadly virus is you don't have to worry about paying about anything no more. But we did have some money in case the gunshop owner was there. After all, it's one of the safest places to be in these kind of situations.

"You sure you want to do this Keenan? We can try another time if you don't." When he said those words temptation almost took over. But no. I need to do this for everyone. If we want to survive and see our families again. We need to. I nodded in nervousness. I could see the uncertainty in Martins face. No one wanted to do this. But we had to. We took a sharp right and we were there. Usually I'm relieved to get out of the car and have some fresh air. This time I really didn't want to go nowhere. Just home and safe.

I opened the door cautiously, trying to make no noise. It was impossible. The car was ancient. Every millimetre that it moved it creaked. Shit. So I decided just to push it as fast as I could. Almost ripped it off. Martin went to the back of his pickup truck and tossed me a duffle bag. He had the air rifle held firmly in his hands. He had a better aim than me.

As we approached the shop door, you could hear sirens passing by in the distance somewhere. At least there's someone still alive. Martin tried to open the shop door door without making any noise. Not noticing that there was a bell on the floor. Ding! We both looked at each other in fear. Hoping that it didn't attracted any unwanted visitors. Luckily we saw nobody approaching. For now.

As soon as we were both in the shop Martin kept the door open so if something happened we could escape quickly. I turned around to see what was here. I was amazed at how much guns were here. It looked untouched though. Which worried me because it would be one of the first places someone would go to.

"Grab what you can. I'll grab most of the guns. I know what to get. You go get some ammo. Most pistols use 9mm rounds. Grab a few of them and also just a random amount of others. If you see anyone shout me." I didn't bothering replying. I just did what he told me to do.

I went to were the ammunition was. Unzipped my duffle bag and searched for the 9mm rounds. 45mm nope. Rifle, nope. Ah 9mm. Finally. I began to grab the small cardboard boxes and placed them gently into the back. But I couldn't finish getting them. I felt a cold barrel contact the back of my skull. Then I heard the a gun click. I'm dead. That's all that went through my head. My heart was racing. I felt numb. I didn't want to die.

"I'd stop doing that if I was you." It was a girls voice. Sounded pretty young. Who was it? I couldn't really ask in this situation could I? I raised my hands and said nothing.
"Put the gun down." Thanks god! Martin was behind her. She resisted to at first. But then she listened to what Martin said.
"I don't want any trouble! I'm just protecting my shop." It was the owner. We forgot that there might be someone here.
"Us neither. We're here to just try and get some guns to protect ourselves." She didn't looked pleased that we were here.

Her name was Rhian. She owned the shop with her mother. Until her mum passed away a few months back.
"I got nowhere to go. I'm worried that I'll get infected if I stay here though." I knew straight away what she was trying to do. And so did Martin. I don't really trust people that put a gun to my head. My hands were still shaking. I think being held at gunpoint is one if the scariest things that can happen to you.
"I'll cut you a deal, you can come with us if you give us a discount on what we are getting." That seemed reasonable. And it meant we had a arms expert with us as well.
"How about I one up you there. Take whatever you can. Money is useless now isn't it." She had a good point.

We loaded our duffel bags up. Rhian brought a few things as well.
"Where now?" Rhian didn't know about our plan. So we told her what was going. We had to get James from Tescos and then head back. We got in the car and headed to Tesco once more.

The closer we got to getting James, the worse the feeling in the pit of my stomach got. I hope he's okay. I couldn't afford to loose such a close friend so soon. Not yet.
Finally we were here. Martin stopped ay the same place we picked James up. But he wasn't there.
"Where is he?" I started to worry. He better not of been attacked. He got the easy job.
"Maybe he's still getting what we need." Martin could be right. But we were gone for a good hour and the list wasn't to big.

I stepped out the car and grabbed the air rifle. I barley knew how to use it. Didn't stop me from swinging it though. The automatic doors skid open with a distinct squeak. As soon as I stepped in a terrible smell hit me. It was vile. I covered my nose to try and block out the smell. It didn't work very well. I stood there. Thinking where are you James? I was tempted to call for him. But I didn't. Just in case someone was here. It looked a right state. The shelves were empty. Everything on the floor. Maybe James couldn't get what we needed.

I began to search the aisles for James. Lane one, nothing. Lane two, nothing. Lane three I saw someone. On the floor. Please don't be James. I began to slowly approach the body. The putrid stench of something rotting worsened. I began to get a better look at the body. It didn't look alive to me. But was it infected or just dead? I had to check. I got to the feet if the corpse. It had a painful death. It looked like a middle aged man. A large section of its chest had be torn apart. The blood wasn't flowing. It had been there for a while. Its face was even worse. It's right side of it's jaw was dislocated. It's left eye was hanging out of it's eye socket. I couldn't bear looking at it any longer. I walked past it and began to search for James yet again. But when I was about to look a hand grabbed my leg with a firm grip. Shit! It isn't dead. How? How can something that has so many vital injuries be alive? I tried to pull away but I could feel it's decomposed nails dig in to my leg. The pain was excruciating. I fell to the ground and the air rifle slid away. What do I do? I wasn't prepared for this.

I remembered what the reporter said in the news report. "Saliva" so I tried to prevent it from biting me or getting anything on me.
It got up to my chest. I swung my arm towards it's right temple to try and get it off. But it didn't work. It's jaw was snapping at me. Trying to get a slice of flesh off me. Like a dog in a butchers. I was powerless. I didn't know what to do. It got closer to my face and gave another attempt at biting me. I couldn't keep this up for to long. I needed help. I tried calling for help. But no words came out. The fear was eating me alive. Is this how in going to die? In the DIY section of Tesco? It sure looked like it. But then I heard a scream. It was close. Then I saw a flashy adidas trainer connect into the guys head. He tumbled onto the floor. It was James. Thanks god he's okay. He had a screwdriver in his hand. The rotten corpse began to move again. So James gripped on the screwdriver and drove it straight to it's left temple. It fell to ground and the almost black pool of blood began to flow. I couldn't believe it. James just killed a person.

"We need to go." That's one thing that I agreed on. James was a mess. He just killed a person and saved my life. If he wasn't here I doubt I'd be getting out alive. He helped me up to my feet and I grabbed the rifle that was in a pool of milk. James went to the tills and grabbed a duffel bag full of shopping.
"We're lucky we got here when we did. This place is almost empty." I was surprised that he got what he had. We got out of the shop and got in the car.
"What happened in there?" Martin new something was up.
"It's a long story. I'll tell you on the way back." Martin looked confused. And James even more confused when he saw Rhian. Lucky it was a long journey back to the farm then.