Free And This Too: A Modern Fable by Emily Owenn McIntyre

they pulled into the Park ‘n’ Mart parking lot, the stoners saw nothing wrong with the scattered cars, some of them parked askew and all of them abandoned.
                  “Dude, I could really go for a Tastee Kake right now.”
                  “Yeah, a whole box of Tastee Kakes…each.”
                  Andre and Mikey giggled as they walked through the automated doors.
                  The whole Park ‘n’ Mart seemed to be empty. Andre didn’t really mind, it just meant more munchies for them, Mikey, however was growing queasy. He stopped walking and put his hand on Andre’s chest in order to stop him.
                  “Do you see something wrong with this picture?” Mikey asked, looking around the nearly empty store with unease.
                  There were a few convenience store goers shuffling brainlessly around the store, but that was it.
                  “What?”
                  “It’s deserted, man.”
                  “Mikey, don’t get so worked up, let’s get the Tastee Kakes and chips and pop and get outta here.”
                  “But there’s no one at the register.”
                  “We’ll leave the money on the counter,” Andre smiled dopily.
                  Mikey’s gut growled, his fear was holstered by his hunger. “Alright…but let’s hurry up.”
                  Andre ran to the aisle lined with rows and rows of boxes filled with cream stuffed pastry treat that had become a stoner favorite by making their mascot a cartoon Tastee Kake with a “hippy headband” on and ,if you looked closely, glassy eyes. Andre's mouth began to water. He grabbed three boxes, turned and snagged a bag of Non-Heinous brand Munch-iez, another pot-head classic. The boom of the medical marijuana industry had also created a plethora of stoner themed food products.
                  “Come on, dude,” Mikey whined, standing at the end of the aisle, anxiously glancing around.
                  “Hold on man, should we get one or two bags of these chips?”
              “I don’t care ,” Mikey whined again.
                  “nUuuugh.”
                  “Dude, control your stomach,” snapped Andre.
                  “nUUUUUUUUUUuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh.”
                  “That’s not me, man.”
                  Four or five people came ambling up behind Andre.
                  “Holy Shit!” Mikey breathed, nearly relieving himself in his pants.
                  The group had tar-like gunk dripping from their mouths. A couple of them had bulbous, nearly glowing pimples all over their faces. Andre turned on his heel to go towards the counter, saw the growing crowd and dropped his snacks.
                  “What the hell?!”
                  A woman dressed in a torn skirt suit nearly fell to the floor before puking black gunk all over the turquoise and white, checkered tile. Andre and Mikey screamed as they ran out of the convenience store with seven zombies lumbering after them. The two flew around the back of the store and then, once they were convinced that they had lost their undead stalkers, headed back to the van and hopped in. Two more walkers came out of the Park ‘n’ Mart via the automated doors. Other zombies were now making their way to the roar of the engine.
                  As Mikey drove and Andre complained about his empty stomach, more of the infected emerged from the shadows and began following the van. Right at the city limits, the van shrugged to a stop. They were out of fuel. The two got out and began walking away from the carnage. But it seemed useless. The infected citizens of the small town were closing the gap.
                  Andre had to stop at