Day 27: Friendly Fire

“Oh my god! Someone just crashed into the car where Dom is hiding!” Veronica shouted. Soon after, something that sounded like firecrackers rattled off outside and she quickly stepped away from the door. “And now someone’s shooting!”

“Shooting? Shooting what?” JC carefully stepped closer and peered out. “I see a truck…someone’s pulling into the station.”

“Who’s shooting?” Jeremiah asked.

“I don’t know. There are two…three people with guns; two guys and a girl and another girl is carrying a few bags with her. Whoa, wait…wait a second, they see Dom! They’re getting to Dom!”

“That’s great!” Veronica exclaimed and hurried back to the window to take a look. Another zombie fell but wasn’t dead. Slowly it crawled, hissing and moaning as it tried lifting itself back to the window of the green car where Dominic hid.

“Josh, check the car,” Jake instructed as he put another bullet in the bride. Katrina moved to his side and continued firing at the incoming zombies. “Kat, aim for the head.”

“I am aiming for the head,” she replied, hitting one in the shoulder. “I’m not a marksman!” The next shot grazed the zombie’s cheek. She stopped, took aim and finally hit her mark, center of the forehead.

“Nice work,” Jake complimented.

“Thanks,” she huffed and glanced back at Elise, dropping the bags to the ground beside theirs. “See if those people back there need help.”

Elise grabbed her gun and started back to Johnathan and the others. “Is it safe to come out?” Liz shouted from the backseat.

“It’s safe but you should probably hurry. We passed more on the way up. They all seem to be headed this way for some reason.”

Johnathan grabbed Nina into his arms and sprinted towards the store as Fadil and Liz followed Elise forward. “You guys got here in the nick of time,” Fadil sighed. “Thank you.”

“Thank Josh, he’s the one that saw you. I’m Elise.” The others introduced themselves as they gathered near the base of the stairs.

“Hey, you alright?” Josh asked, helping Dominic out of the car.

“Yeah, I’m all good. Thank you,” he said looking around the lot at the dead bodies. “Y’all came at the right time. Another 5 minutes and they’d have gotten in.”

“We saw you from the lighthouse tower. We almost didn’t make it. We blew a tire about a half mile back on the road and had to run the rest of the way.”

“Lucky,” Dominic nodded. “Thanks again, man. I’m Dominic.”

“Josh. That’s my cousin Katrina, Jake and Elise. Are you trying to get in the store?”

“Back, yeah. My brother and the rest of my group is inside. I got caught out here trying to clear the doorway so we could get those shutters down.” The sound of the metal shook and Dominic led the others up the stairs.

“DOM!” Both Veronica and Jeremiah rushed down to him. “That was a close one.”

“Yeah it was,” he sighed. “Let’s get everyone inside.” JC closed the shutters as the last person stepped into the door. 

“What happened there?” Fadil asked, noticing Richard bound and gagged to the chair.

“Oh he’s the reason Dom was…” Before Veronica could finish her statement, Dominic had the rope loose and Richard on the floor beneath him. 

He gave no pause before slamming his fist into the man’s face. Richard’s head bounced off the tile and blood poured from his mouth as he was met with another hard blow to the nose. “You think that was cool, you son of a bitch?”

“I’m sorry!”

“SORRY?! I could have been killed you sackless piece of shit!” Dominic hit him three more times until Richard curled into a ball beneath one of the shelves.

“I’m sorry,” he cried again. Holding his ribcage as his side was met by Dominic’s foot.

Katrina, Josh, Jake and Elise stood back, watching as the group handled their business but exchanged looks between each other. Jake grabbed the bag from Elise’s hand and walked it over to a corner, taking a seat at one of the tables. “Hungry?” Katrina asked, dropping a can of Pringles, a sandwich and a cold Mountain Dew on the table in front of him.

“Starved!” he replied, reaching for the plate.

“Nuh uh,” she scolded, slapping his hand. “Food’s in the fridge behind me.” He growled and she smirked before biting into the double-decker ham and cheese. He stood to grab one for himself and she quickly grabbed his wrist. “Wait.” Katrina produced a steak and cheese on toast with a Coke and he sighed.

“You’ve just fulfilled one of man’s biggest fantasies. Only next time, do it with a smile,” he teased and rested back in front of her. “Keep this up, I might start to think you like me.”

“Keep dreaming.”

“Dom, man, you alright?” JC asked, pulling Richard from the floor and tying him up again.

“I’m better now. What happened to his face?” he asked, listening to the man breathing through one nostril. “I didn’t do all that.”

“Oh your girl went ape shit, man,” JC laughed. “I had a hell of a time trying to pull her off too. Richard’s ol’ scary ass was balled up in a corner begging for her to stop. Then she got all dominating and shit ‘tie his ass up!’ I didn’t even try and argue. I didn’t want to end up like him.”

Veronica laughed, her face flushing with embarrassment as JC recounted the events for Dominic. “It wasn’t quite as dramatic as that.”

A wailing noise echoed from outside and everyone stopped and stared. “What’s that?” Liz asked, stepping closer.

“It sounds like a siren and it’s headed this way,” JC said, glancing out the slats. “And that’s not all.”

Dominic moved to the door to take a look. “Shit! They must be attracted by the bright lights.”

“We saw a few pack heading here when we were coming up,” Elise said.

“Yeah well they must have multiplied. That’s easily three dozen of them,” JC replied. “I hope you have enough ammo.”

Continue---->

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