DEAD RAIN: A Tale of the Zombie Apocalypse by Joe Augustyn Page A

head.
    Finally she dared to steal a peek. Thankfully, Jurgensen was gone.
    Breathing a sigh of relief she dragged the first aid kit back to the cab and dug out a vial of liquid painkiller. It wasn’t normal policy to administer such medication on the road but she wasn’t about to let her friend suffer, especially under the circumstances. She wasn’t keen on his chances of surviving the insane violence of the night, trapped and helpless as he was, and she saw no point in him dying in pain.
    “Hector. Open up. Keep your head up. That’s it.” Fighting back tears she gave him several drops of the powerful drug. “You should be okay in here. No one will bother you,” she lied , fighting hard to contain her emotions. “Just relax and don’t move. I’ll be back as fast as I can with help and we’ll have you fixed up in no time.”
    Slipping into the rear compartment she found her backpack and loaded it with first aid supplies, which would no doubt come in handy on this hellacious night. Then she made her way through the mess of dislodged equipment, gingerly crawling past the overturned body of the twice-dead zombie, still strapped to its gurney, until she reached the open door.
    Peeking out cautiously she surveyed the scene outside. It was difficult to see through the fog and the smoke from burning vehicles, but madness and mayhem clearly ruled. Headlights kamikazeed through the haze. Tires squealed. Metal crashed. Glass exploded. Cadaverous people staggered about, grappling with passersby. Crash victims limped among them, hard to distinguish in the fog. A hysterical man ran past, screaming in a rippling falsetto. A woman ran the other way and was fried by the high voltage current when she stepped into a puddle.
    Kerri paused for a moment, watching as a hollow-eyed man latched onto a shrieking victim, then she crawled back th rough the ambulance to the cab. She found Hector out cold, blissfully sedated. Reaching over his body she fumbled around until she found Deputy Jurgensen’s Glock.
    She ejected the magazine from the pistol and checked that it was full. Then she slammed it back into the gun and racked the slide, chambering the first round.
    Thank God for action movies, she thought. Then she slipped out into the fog.

 
     
    18
     
     
     
    Ryan reached the hospital to find it in a state that could best be de scribed as hellish. An ambulance stood vacant with its doors hanging open. A gurney lay on its side nearby. Wide-eyed people ran from the building in mindless panic, screaming and crying. Many had bleeding wounds.
    A nurse tripped and fell and before she could get up, a man with a ravaged face pounced onto her back. A sheriff’s deputy ran past her, not stopping to intervene as the man sunk his teeth into her neck. Ryan dashed after him to ask him for help, but as if he had fear blinders on the lawman leaped into his cruiser and sped away. As his car shot out onto the street it was broadsided by a speeding SUV, killing both drivers instantly.
    Ryan turned back to the emergency entrance and gazed through the sliding glass doors. Nurses and doctors and patients and visitors were fighting for their lives, wrestling with hungry dead people trying to bite them. The zombies were slow and clumsy but had the advantage of surprise—nobody knew their true nature unless they’d survived an attack.
    Ryan turned and ran for the mini-mart up the street. I hope Tim’s there to let me in. It’s a good place to hole up ‘til we’re  rescued. Plenty of food and water. But even as the hopeful thoughts passed through his head, he started worrying about the store’s glass walls.
    We can defend it, he reassured himself. Besides, what other option do I have?
    He stopped at the edge of the mini-mart’s parking lot. The place was already under siege. A handful of zombies were pressed against the windows and doors, listlessly pounding on the glass. The people inside were frantically piling boxes and display cases against the