Volume 1 - Chapter 10

Shopping With Zombies

The florist van had a full tank. I was lucky.

I managed to drive around the crowd of zombies. They were headed to the loud noise at the flower shop as we made it across the street.

After reversing and getting out, I opened the back doors of the florist van, preparing for whatever we might load up.

Ryotaro and I exchanged a quick glance before turning our attention to the front doors of Komeri, the hardware store. It was eerily quiet now that zombies were leaving.

Ryotaro suddenly spoke up, "I'm sorry, Hachiro. I left my baseball bat in the backseat of Aiko's car."

I felt a pang of embarrassment as I realized I had forgotten my knife too. "It's okay," I say, trying to sound confident. "We'll find new weapons inside."

We cautiously approached the entrance, scanning the area for any signs of movement. The store was dark, and the only light came from a few clear skylights in the ceiling. Without them, it would have been very dark.

I could hear bare feet shuffling as they echoed around the big store.

"Definitely still in here," I whispered.

"Yes," Ryotaro whispered back.

We tried to walk very quietly past the registers. I saw too many aisles, and most of the shelves looked untouched. No one had looted this place at all.

The smell of sawdust, plastic, wood, and metal hit my nose. The store was full of tools and supplies that no one would ever buy.

I grabbed a crowbar off the shelf, feeling its weight in my hand. It wasn't ideal, but it was the first weapon I saw and better than nothing.

Ryotaro was right behind me, choosing not to pick anything up yet.

I whispered, "do you know where the drills are?"

"Yes," he said, maybe a little too loudly.

We heard a loud crash from a few aisles over and my heart started racing. I froze, listening for any other sounds.

Long seconds of silence felt drawn out to the point of fear. Then we heard groaning and footsteps.

I pointed, and Ryotaro understood. The old man turned and pointed in another direction. I looked down the long aisle and saw shelves of power tools at the far end.

I nodded, understanding. We both wanted to get the power tools without fighting a zombie. There might be more of the creatures, and making noise would draw them all towards us.

We slowly walked down the aisle, making as little noise as possible. We headed directly towards the power tools. I could hear the zombie shuffling about mindless, but it seemed to be moving away from us.

As we neared the end of the aisle, Ryotaro suddenly stopped. I looked at him, wondering why, and then realized he was looking at different drill bits.

He carefully selected one each of six different bits. Some were displayed as having different applications. I was glad he knew what to grab. All I would have done is grabbed the first one that indicated it was for metal.

We continued walking towards the power tools. I gripped the crowbar tightly, ready to use it if necessary. Ryotaro seemed calm and collected, but I could see the determination in his eyes.

We finally reached the power tools. Ryotaro looked over them. After a few seconds he grabbed two different battery-powered drills and stacked them up in his arms.

Then he pointed at some replaceable batteries that matched the drills. I realized his hands were full, so I grabbed the batteries and carried them myself.

I knew I wouldn't be able to fight if I was carrying stuff.

As we turned to leave, we heard the sound of shuffling footsteps approaching. My heart raced, and I looked at Ryotaro. He nodded, and I prepared myself for a fight.

A zombie appeared at the end of the aisle near us, glazed eyes fixed on our location. He let out a low growl and moved faster. I had no choice but to drop the batteries and raise the crowbar, ready to strike.

The boxes hit the floor just as the zombie groaned out with excitement and reached to grab us.

I swung the crowbar with all my might. It connected with the zombie's head and put a big gash in the creature, sinking in like a hook. I couldn't pull the crowbar away and the thing clawed back at me, forcing me to let go of the metal weapon.

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"Go to the van!" I told Ryotaro.

I backed away from the zombie. The old man didn't question me. He jogged away with the two power drills and the drill bits.

The zombie stumbled towards me with a crowbar hanging from his head. I would have laughed if my life wasn't in danger. I knew I should have hit him the opposite way, with the curved side, but I had panicked in the moment.

I only had a split second to think about my actions, and next time I would know better.

Backing away quickly, I realized I could run down the aisle to make it chase me, and then run back to pick up the batteries. I was likely faster than the zombie.

I turned, looking to the paint aisle. It was directly behind me.

Running down the paint aisle, the zombie gave chase. It turned out I was faster than the creature with the crowbar stuck in his head. The thing was so slow, this was an easy task.

He stumbled along behind me, hungry for my brains, and meanwhile had no recognition of the crowbar stuck in his own brain. It swung back and forth with each of his awkward steps, dangling there.

I turned at the end of the aisle and doubled back down a different one. This one was full of nails, screws, hammers, and all kinds of other stuff I didn't have time to look at.

I got to the end. The back half of the store was empty. There were still no other zombies or people. Judging by the noise we had made, any other zombies near us would have appeared.

Instead of picking up the batteries, I changed my thinking and looked for a new weapon. I spotted a display of sledgehammers and grabbed one, feeling its weight in my hands.

It was much better than the crowbar and way heavier than a baseball bat. I could barely lift it. The thing would take all of my bodyweight to swing, and if I missed, I might get eaten.

As the zombie came towards me I spun, letting the weight of the heavy hammer swing me around. The hammer connected with the zombie's shoulder and sent him stumbling sideways into a display of empty buckets.

He fell over with the stack of buckets, making a horribly loud noise. If no other zombies appeared after dozens of buckets bounced along the floor then we were certainly alone.

The crowbar finally dislodged from the open wound on his head. It clinked across the concrete floor. I raised the sledgehammer as high as I could and brought it down on the zombie's head, smashing it. The thing twitched a few times and then went limp.

I looked around, making sure there were no other zombies nearby. Then I headed back to the aisle where I dropped the batteries. I picked them up and made my way towards the front of the store.

At he entrance I saw Ryotaro waiting for me by the van. He looked relieved to see me return safely.

"I'm glad you're okay," he said. "I was worried."

"I'm fine. I think it's empty now. We can shop in peace."

I tried to sound more confident than I felt. It was the fourth zombie I had killed. It was already getting easier, but I was still jittery from the fear of almost dying.

One wrong move and that would have been the end of me. It was almost too much to think about, but surviving and gathering supplies was more important.

Across the intersection I could still hear the noise of music playing from the car at the florist. It was muted by the sound of two hundred or more zombies attracted to that noise, crowding the building and the car.

At least we knew the idea worked.

I added the batteries to the van and looked down the way at the supermarket and at Aiko's red car. They were still inside.

I was worried about the beautiful woman who saved me, but I also realized we had an empty van right then at a hardware store that didn't have anymore zombies in it.

"Should we get more stuff here?" I asked, "or go help the ladies?"

Leaving the decision up to Ryotaro seemed like the best option. I was having trouble thinking clearly after killing another zombie.

That zombie dude in there was once a living, breathing soul, and I had just ended him. Deep down inside me, I questioned if there was still a part of the zombies that could heal.

It was a ridiculous thought, I knew, but I wasn't a killer, I was a number cruncher who worked in a bank just one day earlier. Now I was living some type of apocalyptic nightmare.

"We should go to the ladies!" Ryotaro declared, "we have what we came for."

I nodded, accepting his answer without argument. He was right. We needed to stick to the plan since we'd all agreed to it. We could always come back here.

We closed the van doors quietly and I jumped back in the driver's seat. I drove down to the front doors of the supermarket and backed it up beside Aiko's car.

When I got out of the van, I heard a popping noise come from inside. To me it sounded like a single, very loud firecracker.

"That's a gunshot," Ryotaro said.

My mouth hung open in disbelief. I changed my mind, figuring he was right.

I went to the red car and grabbed the weapons we'd left behind earlier. I felt more comfortable with the big knife than I did with the crowbar or the sledgehammer.

Ryotaro and I stepped into the supermarket together, ready to rescue Aiko and Chiemi if we needed to. Unlike the hardware store, the supermarket still had lighting and air conditioning.

The fluorescent lights flickered above us, casting an eerie glow on aisles filled with food and supplies. The cool air was a welcome relief.

There were three dead zombies on the floor, their heads beat in. I imagined that Aiko did most of the damage.

As Ryotaro and I kept walking to the registers at the front of the store, we counted at least a dozen dead zombies. I wondered if Aiko and Chiemi killed all of them.

My god, I thought. I had struggled with just one zombie, but Aiko was able to do all this? She was a goddess. I found myself even more in love with her at every step of the way.

Ryotaro kicked the leg of one of the zombies near us and then whispered to me, "look at this one."

I looked down. It had on a police uniform. I was immediately excited, and I looked over the dead officer. He had a pistol holster, but the pistol was missing.

We heard talking from the back of the store.

It distracted us from the dead police officer. I gripped my knife tighter, feeling the cold metal against my sweaty palm. Ryotaro raised his baseball bat, ready to swing.

We moved cautiously towards the fresh produce area, trying to stay quiet. The closer we got, the more obvious it was. Zombies were groaning and Aiko and Chiemi were talking to each other.

"This way!" Chiemi shouted.

I couldn't see them. They were on the other side of the aisle.

Aiko yelled, "no this way!"

I heard more footsteps, and I looked at Ryotaro. He nodded. It sounded like Aiko and Chiemi were playing misdirection games with a zombie.

"Gotcha!" I heard Aiko say.

Then I heard a loud thunking noise like the sound of a bat crushing in a zombie's head. It was becoming normal. Then I heard the bat smashing out brain matter until wood hit struck the floor.

I looked around the corner. Chiemi had the officer's pistol in her hands. Aiko had killed the last of the zombies. She was standing over it, breathing heavy, but smiling.

"Hachiro!" Aiko called out, looking at me with an affectionate smile. "My new love! You came at just the right time!"

I blushed. I was trying to process that she'd just called me her love. "I did?"

"Yeah," she nodded, "we killed the zombies. Now you and Ryotaro can load up all the groceries for us."

My mouth hung open as I considered Aiko's command over me. I already knew I would do anything this queen of a woman told me to do.