I moved past the body and headed straight to the infant clothes. Where there was one Lurker there was certainly another and I sure as hell wasn't going to stick around to run into it. I made it to the racks a couple of feet away and pulled of my camouflage pack and started stuffing clothes inside. Every couple of seconds I'd glance back at the body, paranoia haunting me. I walked out of the clothes section and approached the front of the store. The guest service counter was directly in front of my with the cash registered off to my right. There was blood all over the counters and floors. I noticed a few bodies by the entrances to the double, sliding doors but I wasn't worried their spines had been ripped out and one of the guys, maybe Spanish, had his head hanging off. He looked like a Pez dispenser. I shuffled quickly to my left; I could see the baby monitors on the racks. I grabbed one with a video feed and one of the old-fashioned ones. That's when I heard a squeak and then a deep sigh. I spun around, my hands up and out ready to shoot.
There was 2 more dead employees in front of me and what looked like a ups delivery man in front of my. The two employees were white, one with dirty blond hair and a tribal neck tattoo just visible above his purple Babies R Us shirt. Wearing the standard khakis and black sneakers you couldn't tell he was even dead except for the fact that his right arm was ripped off and a portion of his fibula was dangling from what was left of his elbow. The bile rushed up into my mouth again and I swallowed it back down, ugh gross. The other employee had half his face shredded so I couldn't really tell what he looked like apart from his bald head and a wedding ring on his hand. Their name tags indicated that the armless one was named John and the other Samuel. The UPS driver wore brown shirt and shorts was an average looking black dude, nothing special. He had a large bite mark on his calf and scratch marks on his legs and arms.
I knew I only had 3 more rounds in my 9mm, maybe 4 if I was luckily. I couldn't take these three out. I could take down one maybe two before the 3 one was upon me teeth barred aiming for my jugular. And being nearly 7 months pregnant I knew I couldn't out maneuver them. S o I took a deep breath and fired one shot at the one armless John catching his just above his right. I shifted and fired two shots in quick succession into the chest of Samuel and the ups guy. The bullets whooshed through the air and hit them each in the chest they grunted and stumbled back from the force of the impact. And that's when I ran for it. Holding my belly, I belted to the right and ran straight up the aisle headed for the swinging double doors of the storage are. One the way out I saw a cool looking army green stroller with a car seat in it and quickly grabbed the handle, swung my pack into the car seat and picked up the pace. I could hear the town remaining Lurkers shuffling towards me, speed walking my way. Lurkers couldn't run but they didn't get tired either. They'd follow you for miles before losing interested and my pregnant ass couldn't run for miles. I skidded into the back of the store and came to the door I had squeezed into before and came to a crashing halt "shit!!" I turned from the door and went towards the docking doors used for unloading trucks. Running to the side I hit the button for the lift and watched as the bay door creaked and rose painfully slow. The Lurkers turn the corner and continued shuffling towards me. When the door was high enough for me to duck under I pushed the carriage off the dock my pack and all and sat down on the ground at the edge of the bay. It was some 4 feet high and I couldn't jump it.
I scooted to the edge and lowered myself down my back towards the Lurkers. I felt a tug on my hair and I screamed. One of them had my ponytail and came along for the jump down it lost its grip and the ups driver fell forward on its face, hitting the concrete hard breaking its neck. I ran to the carriage and righted it and took off at a jogging pace. Looking over my shoulder I saw the other employee fall over the bay edge, stand up and continue following me. I stopped for a second and looked straight ahead. If I made it across the parking lot and around the corner the Lurker would lose sight and interest. Placing a hand on the top of my belly I took a deep breath and stirred the carriage toward the entrance to the parking lot, littered with cars and dead bodies. "Ok little one let's do this" I reloaded my 9 and picked up the speed. All I had to do was make it across the lot. Fuck.
Chapter Two
I pulled down the grate to the U-Haul storage unit 54 and locked it from the inside. I stepped down the breaks to the baby carriage and collapsed into the brown recliner I had drug into the storage unit I now called home. I kicked off my sneakers and pulled the latch releasing the foot rest. I sighed and closed my eyes. It had been almost a year since life as we knew it ended. Some weird unknown virus found its way into cases of Poland spring bottled water and killed anyone who drank it within 72 hours. They'd get an upset stomach and start vomiting before suffering from severe dehydration. A fever would set in and eventually they'd have a stroke and die. But the problem was they didn't stay dead. The bodied reanimated, turned into bloodthirsty cannibals; just without a pulse. No one knows what caused it or how the water was contaminated. But the zombie apocalypse came true and nearly everyone died.
The army was slow to mobilize and was slaughtered on their bases before they could coordinate any kinds of attack. Hospitals became death traps for anyone dumb enough to enter the ER. The infection spread and everything was over. I was at the super market when the infection hit Boston. I was standing in front of the deli trying to decide on what type of cheese to get when some woman ran in screaming. Everyone's head turned and a swarm of gangly zombies (or lurkers as I call them now) came shuffling in and started tearing people apart. I booked it and hauled ass to the other side of the store and out the other entrance.
Outside was chaos with people screaming, some getting mauled, cars crashing into each other. It was madness. I ran towards my car, opened the door and got in. But before I could start it someone pulled my door open and stuck me in the head. My world went black and when I woke up I was in the back seat of my car on some side street in Roxbury with the front end wrapped around a light pole. Sitting up I felt this horrible shooting pain in my lower abdomen and looked down. My jeans were gone and my underwear was around one of my ankles. I felt between my legs and winced. My fingers had blood on them and what looked like semen on them too. Who the hell would rape someone during a zombie takeover? I found my pants thrown on the front seat and gently shimmed into them. As I did tears started falling from my face. Everything that had happened since god knows how many hours earlier was just too much. And now on top of the unbelievable reality of zombies I had also been assaulted. But I didn't have time for tears or pain or guilt. I had to get somewhere safe and fast.
The street that I was on was St Paul. I recognized that and knew that it led to Washington Ave. So I got out of the car and started walking, barefoot and in pain. I heard screaming and now and then a car would zoom past but nobody and nothing was on the street. I kept to the side-walk and ducked behind trash bins and cars when I heard anything suspicious. From watching movies I knew that out in the open was not a good place to be. Stepping onto Washington Ave was like walking onto the set of a horror movie. Cars were on fire and people lay dead or dying all around me. I picked up a pipe that was on the ground near me. I saw lurkers shuffling around and groans but everyone was dead. They had made quick work. The shock was too much and I gasped a couple of Lurkers turned towards the direction of the sound and started towards me. Some of them where missing limbs while others were torn open. I screamed and ran up the street. I passed a U-Haul storage rental place and I ran into the office. It was empty. They had to keep the keys to the units somewhere. I found them in a drawer and grabbed the first one. It said 54. I ran out of the office and past the lurkers searching for number 54. Once I found it I stumbled with the lock and dropped the keys a few times but I eventually made it inside and locked it. I fell to the floor and this time I couldn't hold back the tears, the guilt, and the pain.
It was 3 months later I realized I was pregnant. I had turned the storage space into my home. I got a pregnancy test from a Walgreens down the street once I started throwing up almost constantly and my period stopped. My routine from then on in was scavenging at night and trying to get things ready for the baby. Having a baby in itself was mind blowing but being pregnant when zombies roamed the streets and constantly fighting for your life was enough to drive you insane. So many times I had broken down and almost committed suicide because it was all too much to take in. But somehow I found the strength to keep going. As the days wore on the time between seeing regular uninfected people grew longer and longer until the city seemed completely deserted.
My nerves were shot and the pregnancy only increased my anxiety. I was alone in a big city without any friends or family. How was I supposed to survive and bring this baby into the world? I started searching for pregnancy books and I found a few medical books at a nearby library about home births. I read as much as I could to get prepared since I figured I'd be delivery my baby by myself. I raided stores for formula and diapers, bottles, pacifiers and anything else I thought I would need. This brings me back to the present...
