Free Vaccination by Phillip Tomasso Page B

exposure to the infected was limited, I had not heard a single one of the creatures talk. They moaned. They grunted. They bit. They ate. That I’d witnessed. Talking, not so much.
    “Help! Please! Please, God, help me!”
    I didn’t know where he thought help might come from. I did know his screaming sure as shit attracted the unwanted attention. The creatures that had reached the Lexus turned, almost as one, and faced the running man. The expensive sedan forgotten, they moved -- a bit quicker, as if with more purpose -- toward the screamer. The other twelve also seemed to zero in on the man.
    “What do we do?” Allison had a hand on her iron.
    “What do you mean?”
    “How do we help him?”
    This time I planted my hand on her shoulder. “We’re going to the sporting goods store. He’s created a perfect diversion for us.”
    Allison stared at me, eyebrows furrowed. “Chase, he’s a person. Not a diversion.”
    “He’s an asshole. Why the hell was he screaming, why was he running--?”
    Then I saw it. Them . No other way to classify it other than a herd. Not like cattle. Maybe a pack was a better description. Like wolves. Another fifteen, I don’t know, could have been as many as twenty zombies, rounded the corner by the Sears building. Rounded that corner like a New York Yankee rounding first, sprinting for second.
    “Are you shitting me?” I said out loud. “This asshole's going to get all three of us killed. He’s running right for us.”
    And closing the distance fast.
    “Okay. Okay,” Allison stumbled. “So now what do we do?
    Where do we go? We need to hide.”
    I didn’t remind her that a mere second ago she was trying to get me to help the madman. Didn’t blame her. Maybe we could have saved him from a handful. The zombies in the parking lot had been slow movers. Everything changed with the new . . . pack added to the equation.
    Hated to admit it, but part of me hoped the guy was taken down. It was a heartless thought, possibly a chicken shit thought, but there it was, swimming around in my brain. I needed to get to my kids. I needed weapons. I didn’t know this guy. He meant nothing to me. It was not much different from the training I’d received at work. One call at a time. Enter the job and don’t look back. Go on to the next call.
    “Chase?”
    I opened my mouth, about to suggest a solution, when they got him. One zombie from the pack leaped forward. It was a great tackle. Arms wrapped the running man’s waist, and legs, while its shoulder drove into the back, and down the two went.
    The group was on them instantaneously. A genuine dog pile.
    “We have to go,” I said. “Diversion or not, this is our chance.”
    Allison stared at the unfolding feast. Eyes wide. She didn’t respond, but followed behind me. We stayed low and ran as fast, and as quietly, as we could. We skirted the parking lot, staying out of the spray of lights.
    I kept one eye on the massacre. Aside from the fast zombies, the slow moving ones were closing in. Couldn’t imagine there would be much meat left for sharing.
    God, did I just think that?
    What was wrong with me? There wasn’t much meat left. I shook my head. I needed to stop. Allison was right. That had been a man, someone probably with a family. I had wanted to use his . . . screaming, as a chance for us to escape. That was terrible enough. I didn’t need to think of him as mere meat, too.
    We made it to a caravan. We slammed our backs up to the side panel. We were out of view, could no longer see the man being devoured. Ripped apart. Hopefully, they not only could not see us, but had not noticed us, either.
    “I was going to let him die,” I said.
    “What?”
    “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. That man, I had no intention of helping him. None.”
    Allison took my hand, gave it a squeeze. “We need to get into the store.”
    She was right. Nothing I could do now. Maybe nothing could have been done, regardless. Still, I was pissed. Mad at