SHTF (NOLA Zombie Book 0) by Gillian Zane Page A

me since I was forced to push the basket filled with food.
    I only paused for a second when I noticed a group of people all converged in the center of the lot. I took in their demeanor and movements. They were infected. There were infected in the parking lot, I had to get us out of here.
    They were crowded around a body on the concrete, blood pooling around their knees as they feasted on the intestines of what used to be a living, breathing human. When we ran past them, their heads shot up and one got to its feet to follow us.
    "Go to the SUV, Alicia!" I pushed her forward and stopped in my tracks to face the infected. But again she froze in place and stared at them stupidly, obviously her fight or flight reactions were broken, she just froze.
    The infected man ambled toward me. It was obviously injured. There was a bite wound on its face, its cheek bloody and ripped open. It was a male, but small in stature and its clothing was so covered in so much blood that I couldn't tell its age. The skin had the tell-tale sign of the infection, that gray, deathly tone that looked like dead skin. Its eyes were the worst though, those vacant eyes focused on me and they didn't see me, they only saw food. When it realized I was viable prey its pace increased. It came for me, arms outstretched, reaching to take me down. Its mouth opened wide and those teeth began to clamp open and shut as if it could almost taste me.
    I stood my ground and held the shovel across my chest in an attack stance. This was a person, an infected, dangerous person that wanted to kill me and my family, but before it was bitten, it was just an innocent human being. It was no more aware of what it was doing than a rabid dog. But, it was him or me and I was a selfish motherfucker. When it got close enough for me to reach it, I took a swing. I aimed for the head and slammed it hard against the temple. It went down, but it got right back up. Arms again outstretched for me, feet shuffling forward in an ambling pace.
    I swung again, this time not with the flat of the shovel, but with the blade end. I aimed it for the temple and it went in with a sickening crunch. Blood sprayed everywhere as the shovel decimated the person's head. I almost scalped it I swung so hard and this time it went down hard. I didn't stick around to see if it would get up again. I ran for the SUV, pulling Alicia behind me.
    Barbara and Hank had already loaded up their provisions and Hank was behind the wheel looking nervous. He had the vehicle idling, waiting for me and Alicia. I just picked up the boxes of food and threw them into the back of SUV quickly, then I slid into the back with Alicia and shouted, "Get out of here now!" before the door was even shut.
    Hank was so desperate to leave the parking lot, now full of screaming people, that he spun the tires and nearly crashed us into another fleeing vehicle. He had to put it in reverse and back-up to get around the obstacle. I turned around in the seat to look back at the shopping center. People were running from the building and I cringed as I saw other limping figures jump on them and bring them down. The amount of infected must have increased significantly in the last ten minutes, they were everywhere. It had only taken a few minutes for the man in the baked good section to get up and start to attack. At this rate, the infection could spread across the city in just a few days. I didn't like these implications. It looked like the worst case scenario was in full effect.

Fifteen

Fubar
    I held on for dear life as Hank showed off his extreme driving skills. They were shit and I restrained myself from back-seat driving him into more stress. I loved my brother, but he needed to be taught some serious life skills.
    My phone started ringing as we barreled down Carrolton Avenue and tried to merge into the ever thickening traffic. Looks like everyone had the same idea as we did. In just a few blocks, the traffic had us puttering to a crawl and I craned my