Free SHTF (NOLA Zombie Book 0) by Gillian Zane Page B

tight. When the infected's teeth began to snap, trying to bite her, Alicia began to scream.
    "Tim! Tim!" she yelled my name. I couldn't get to her side quick enough, almost tripping over spilled blueberry muffins that must have gone down in the attack.
    I stood over Alicia and the infected woman and grabbed the woman by the back of the shirt. I yanked hard, pulling her from Alicia and causing both of them to slide across the floor. I yanked harder and managed to fling the woman off of Alicia and into a shelf full of sliced bread. The whole shelf came crashing to the ground, bread flying everywhere.
    Was I too late?
    Had she bitten Alicia?
    Alicia whimpered in pain and my whole insides clenched. She was bitten, she would turn. I couldn't deal with this.
    The infected woman got up fast and slammed into me from behind. I fell forward, twisting around to keep her face away from my skin. Alicia was still on her ass in the middle of the floor. Trying to avoid her and fight off this woman was becoming a little too much.
    "Get out of the way!" I screamed at Alicia who didn't get up, she just pushed back with her feet until she scooted across the floor and made contact with the pastry display.
    I didn't want to hurt the woman, but her attack was proving too much for me. I couldn't take her down without doing serious damage. I kept thinking of the woman from last night's leg and how she had walked on it, not caring about the pain, all she wanted to do was get to me.
    Someone pulled the woman off of me and I nodded gratefully to a man who had yanked her from me and thrown her across the aisle. We both turned as the woman got back up and this time went for the newcomer. He didn't do as good of a job protecting his skin and the moment she got him on the floor her teeth were snapping at him.
    "Watch out!" I cried, but I was too late.
    The woman bit down on the man's arm and he screamed in pain and fell back, the infected woman turning to straddle him as his back hit the floor. She went for his face. She bit into him, yanking and pulling like a carnivore devouring its prey. Pieces of his cheek ripped away and blood sprayed as I watched in horror.
    The man screamed as the woman moved down his body in a horrific parody of sex and went for his guts. He was still screaming as she ripped him apart, chewing into his stomach and pulling his intestines out to munch on.
    Other patrons were pressing closer to witness the bloodbath. Women held hands to their mouths as the horror played out. I watched as a man vomited, but still stared at the carnage in sick fascination. Everyone was frozen, enraptured by the scene.
    I pushed myself off the floor and my heart sped up as I noticed two other people, walking oddly from the back of the store. They were both dressed in the vests that declared them employees, but you could barely see the Costco logo because they were so completely covered in blood. One, a young female, who couldn't even be old enough to drink, was shuffling forward in an odd gait. Something was seriously wrong with her and it took me a moment to figure out what it was. Her intestines were dragging behind her, leaving a bloody trail in their wake. Every now and again they would snag on something and it would cause a hitch in her step. The man was a little cleaner, but there was an obvious bite wound on his arm.
    The two infected dropped to their knees when they got to the Good Samaritan and they too began to feast. They ate him alive as he screamed his final breaths and all I could do was stare.
    When the first person began to scream, a woman, clutching a child to her chest, the three infected looked up from their meal, their sightless eyes focused on the noise. They stood as one and began walking in the direction of the scream. They were in pursuit of their next meal.
    I looked back to the man that had saved me; he was a bloody mess of limbs and pieces, abandoned on the floor. When his leg twitched and he rolled toward me, his mouth chomping,