Free Thrust & Parry: Z Day by Luke Ashton Page A

this morning and dug around in his pocket for them. He had one left and it was crushed. He decided it was time to stock up.
    “Freezer clear, building clear!” Jim shouted and heard his voice bouncing around the shop. He slung his weapon over his back and wandered back out to the car. Dan was sat in the car looking like something out of a horror movie. The irony was strong with this one.
    As Jim wandered over, as Dan wound down the window he noticed his right hand man was wheezing slightly.
    “How you feeling mate?” He asked in a concerned voice. Dan chuckled.
    “I feel about the same as these fuckers wandering about.” Jim laughed along as it dawned on him. This could well be the cause of all this. The flu. It might have mutated or something. Jim was deep in thought while they loaded box after box of tinned goods and drinks into Paula’s car. Once they had finished Jim grabbed a trolley and took it to the counter. He leapt over in one bound and began pulling all the packets of cigarettes off the shelves, Followed by the lighters and tobacco, papers and tips. They all went in the trolley. As he was about to leap back over when he spotted the batteries. He thought about it for a minute before pulling all the AA and AAA batteries off and adding them to the stack. He pulled 3 carrier bags from the counter and started ripping the packaging off and filling one bag with AA and another with AAA. The final bag was filled with lighters and tins of lighter fuel. The bags went back in the trolley. He took the trolley over to Dan’s mini and filled the glove box with the bags of batteries. He then got on with stuffing any available space with packets of cigarettes and packs of tobacco. He pushed the bag of lighters under the seat.
    He took the final packet out of the trolley and opened it. He flicked the bottom of the pack and several of the fags jumped up an inch or so. He pulled out the one that was highest and turned it upside down. He would save that one until last. Jim always had a lucky cig. The first time he did it a friend had told him about it and a few minutes later he found a tenner on the floor. Since then it had been a ritual for him. Jim had once heard the history behind it stemmed from world war one when the soldiers received cigarettes in their rations. They would turn one upside down and leave it till last. If they survived long enough to smoke it they were a lucky man. Jim pulled another fag out and lit it. Inhaling deeply he tucked the packet in his arm pocket along with his lighter.
    “Where to now capitaine ?” Paula said with a mock salute.
    “We need to check the police station for weapons, ammo, survivors, zombies…”
    “Tom, Dick, Harry, uncle Bob…” Paula cut in with a smile. She was really starting to open up.
    “You get the picture.” Answered Jim. “We will take the cars down there and I think its best Dan stays in the car. He can watch the street and it saves him exerting himself more that he needs to. ” Dan nodded through the open window as Jim took a thoughtful drag on his cig. “If anything changes out here he can honk the horn so we know. Sound good to you guys?” They both nodded. Jim dropped his cig butt on the floor and jumped in the Mini as Paula climbed into the Punto. Dan had his eyes closed and his head back.
    “He really did look like shit.” Thought Jim as he pulled out of the car park, taking a right back down the street to the police station. He was about 10 feet away from the doors when Paula’s car started to speed up and swerve. From Jim’s rear view mirror it looked like they were fighting. Paula turned the wheel hard right and left the road. The front end of the Punto bucked up as she hit the pavement and as it came back down it hit a tree, hard. Jim slammed on the breaks as he hit the release catch on his seatbelt. He dived out of the car, grabbing his weapon instantly and ran over to the car. There was smoke billowing from the bonnet and the front end was a