Day 03: Alive Inside

“Block the doors, hurry! Don’t let them get inside!” JC Crystal shouted as he and Richard Dietrich pushed themselves against the doors. Veronica Meier shoved items in front of the entrance of the Sheep Mart as more and more infected pushed from the outside. “The fridge! Get that thing over here.”

Dominic Bryant kicked at the cord on the freezer as he moved behind it. Ice cream shook inside the container as he thrust the large appliance against the double doors. “Ok. That should hold them for now,” he sighed, backing away.

“That’s great and all…” Kurt Roderick croaked in a thick country drawl from his position on the floor. He was resting against the liquor shelf, three bottles into a case of Heineken watching their frenetic stacking. “But what are you gonna do in the long run? Because, if you hadn’t noticed, the entire front of this place is glass. And I don’t know about you but, I don’t see those things out there having too much trouble gettin’ through that.”

“He’s right,” Richard agreed, dropping a wooden pallet on the floor in front of them. “We need to gather as many of these as possible from the back room and board this place up. I saw a toolkit in the office. It has nails and everything else we need to safely secure ourselves. Now, I think two of us should stand guard at all times to make sure that crowd out there doesn’t get any bigger and the others should gather up the materials.” 

“Whoa, wait a second…Miah? Miah!” Dominic frantically called, running up a couple of aisles. “Has anyone seen my brother? Jeremiah! He was just standing…” he trailed off, noticing his brother’s red baseball cap in front of the exit. “Oh fuck!”

“Hey, you can’t go out there,” Richard yelled, chasing after Dominic as he started for the front doors of the store.

“My little brother’s out there!” he yelled as Richard continued shoving him away from the door.

“Look, I know it’s hard to hear, but if he’s out there, he’s gone. I’m sorry.”

“Man, you must be out ya damn mind if you think I’m leavin’ him out there like that!”

“Opening those doors puts the rest of us at risk too! I can’t let you do it.”

“You better back the hell up outta my face unless you want to be dead next!”

“I’m not moving. I’m sorry. One life over 5…I’m not letting you jeopardize me or the others.” Dominic shoved Richard to the side and made a mad dash for the exit. Hopping up, he turned just as the man began ripping away the blockade “If you open those doors, we’re all dead!”

Kurt moved quickly, tackling Dominic to the ground before nailing him in the face with a hard right hook. Dominic stopped squirming as the dizzying blow bounced his head off the tile floor, splitting his bottom lip. “Find something and tie his ass up,” Kurt growled, keeping the man pinned beneath him. Richard disappeared to the backroom and moments later emerged with a chair and some rope. 

“You’re crazy if you think I’m dying for you, boy,” he rasped against Dominic’s ear as he forcibly yanked him up and tossed him into the chair. He smirked at the woozy look in Dominic’s eyes before he slumped over on the chair unconscious. Kurt returned to his spot near the booze while the rest of the group got to work boarding up the windows and doors.

Night fell and the group moved to the back of the store. Visceral gurgles and growls were becoming less frequent outside the main doors as the swarm of infected slowly dispersed. For now they appeared safe. Every possible entry, including the air vent on the roof, had been blocked. The door to the dumpster and alley was boarded up and the manager’s office secured. All that remained now was to wait and see if it held.

Groggy moans released through Dominic’s slightly parted lips and he slowly lifted his head. “Hey, welcome back,” Veronica smiled at a sobering Dominic. “That’s quite a bump you got there.” He hissed as the wet cloth made contact with his torn lip. JC had seen to his injuries while he was out but it was Veronica who had come back to check on him and clean up the blood.

As his eyes opened and focused, he located where everyone was around him, glowering in Kurt’s direction. Apparently, dinner time came and he’d missed out on the warmed burritos and hotdogs but the smell still lingered in the room, making his stomach growl. “Are you hungry?” Veronica asked, taking a seat beside him. “You should probably try and eat something.”

“Thanks,” Dominic replied with a noticeably biting tone. “And how exactly am I supposed to do that tied to a chair?” He again eyed Kurt before trailing the look to Richard who had sanctioned the decision. Both men looked unapologetic for their actions as they sat in opposite corners of the room.

“I could give you a hand if you’d like,” Veronica offered, grabbing a sandwich from the fridge. She unwrapped the clear plastic and moved it towards his mouth.

“What is that?” he asked taking a bite and spitting it to the floor.

“Chicken salad,” she answered, rewrapping it and grabbing a ham and cheese instead. “So what’s your name?” she asked, screwing the cap off a bottle of water. But when he didn’t answer, she continued the conversation anyway. “I’m Veronica, but most people call me Roni; my dad especially. He wanted a boy. That guy over there is JC; he’s an EMT for the fire department but is training to become a paramedic. The older one is Richard. He works for the government doing something like crisis management. And the one who hit you, his name is Kurt. He’s just an asshole.”

“So I’ve noticed,” Dominic replied, leaning back in his chair to alleviate the throbbing between his temples. “I’m Dominic.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Dominic. I’m sorry about your brother.”

“Thank you. Jeremiah’s a fighter. If I know that kid, he’s probably found a good hiding spot to wait this thing out. He’s alive; I can feel it.” Dominic paused, noticing the soured look on Veronica’s face. “You lose anybody today?”

“My dad. We were going to the docks today; fishing, my dad loved to fish. But before we got there, we were sideswiped by a speeding truck and rolled into a ditch. After I crawled out, I pulled my dad to the curb and waited for the ambulance but…it was too late. He died in my arms.” 

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“The paramedics said there was nothing else they could do for him and placed him on a gurney. Moments later he…he woke up, but he wasn’t the same. His eyes…they were so red and he didn’t know who I was or what was happening to him. He attacked one of the paramedics; there was blood everywhere. And as he started for the cop, the officer turned around and shot him…I watched him die twice today,” she choked back her tears, fixing her face as she realized she’d captured the entire room’s attention. “I just hope he’s in a better place.”

“I’m sure he is,” Dominic offered her a smile and leaned forward as everyone returned to what they were doing. “Hey, Veronica, you think you could get me something for a headache?”

“Oh sure!”

“Listen up, everybody,” Richard began, getting to his feet in front of the group. “It’s getting late and there’s no telling how many of those things are still out there. So, just to be safe, we need to rotate shifts, 2 on, 3 off. Any volunteers for first watch?” A loud crash emanated from the back room and everyone turned to stare. It sounded like glass breaking followed by metallic scraping. Silence fell over the room as everyone held their breaths for what could be the start of another attack. 

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*Special thanks to Mypalsim for creating the poses used for Dominic and Veronica.*

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