Free The Adventures of Steve and Terry: The Zombie Chronicles by Mark de Jong Page B

men hard stares. Steve just smiled at them, not
quite sure why everyone was so pissed off. Robert just shook his head and they
returned to the side entrance of the store. They moved all the debris and were
quickly inside.
    They walked through a long
concrete corridor. Finally, they entered the store itself through a fire door.
Everyone hit the floor as Steve suddenly opened up with a full burst from his
M4. He fired wildly from the hip, screaming a high-pitched war-cry the whole
time. Finally his ammo ran out, his screaming dying off shortly after.
    “What the hell was that?!” Robert
asked angrily as he got to his feet.
    “Sorry, sorry,” Steve said.
“Thought I saw some zombies.”
    Everyone looked incredulously at
the man. They then looked into the department store to see several shattered
mannequins modeling clothes.
    “You thought those were
zombies?”
    “Well, they are pale,”
Steve said defensively.
    “And bald with no arms!”
    “Some zombies don’t have arms,”
Steve said quietly as the group continued on. The group moved quickly, having
visited this store several times. Steve and Terry on the other hand stopped and
stared, Steve letting out an appreciative whistle.
    “I bet they got a lotta good stuff
in here,” Steve said.
    “It kinda reminds me of the mall
we were in that one time,” Terry said.
    “I was thinkin the same thing!”
Both men quickly crossed their hearts. “Hey, have you noticed we seem to
stumble from disaster to disaster?”
    “Yeah, man, people just aren’t as
equipped as we are to handle this plague,” Terry said in all seriousness.
    “It’s kinda sad really,” Steve
said, shaking his head. “But you know, the fit survive man.”
    Terry nodded emphatically. The two
noticed the rest of the group was getting away from them. They shouldered their
growing arsenal and hurried to catch up. The group stopped near the middle of
the store, Robert calling them into a huddle.
    “Okay, people,” the man said. “We
need to split up. We’re looking for anything that can be useful back in camp.”
The group all nodded. Robert looked at Steve and Terry and decided he didn’t
want them wandering off by themselves to wreck god only knew what kind of
havoc. He pulled a small two way radio from his pack and handed it to Terry,
who seemed to be the more responsible of the two. “Okay, you two go up to the
roof, make sure everything is good. Anything out of the ordinary you radio us,
okay?”
    Terry nodded. He and Steve took
off to find a way to the roof. After they were gone, the rest of the group
looked at each other. Finally, Smiles asked what they were all thinking.
    “You really trust them with
something like that?”
    Robert just shook his head. “How
can they screw it up?” he asked. The others all thought about it and then
nodded. It seemed logical. “Alright, let’s split up and get searchin.”
    Steve and Terry both sat collapsed
in the stairwell. Terry was sitting on the steps; Steve was collapsed on his
back on a landing. Both of their chests rose and fell rapidly.
    “Good god!” Steve exclaimed. “How
many damn stairs are there in this place?”
    “I—know,” Terry panted.
    “What floor are we on anyway?”
    Terry looked to the placard above
Steve’s head. “Three,” he exhaled.
    “Ugh! How many floors in this
place again?”
    “At least twelve.”
    “Why do we always get the hard
assignments?” Steve complained.
    “Because we can be counted on,
man,” Terry said, climbing to his feet.
    “Right,” Steve said, determination
filling his eyes. He tried to sit up, but then collapsed back to the ground. He
tried again, but his stomach seemed to be getting in the way. Finally he looked
to Terry. “Uh, a little help here.”
    Terry rolled his eyes and pulled
Steve to his feet. The two soldiered on.
    Robert heard banging, ringing
throughout the store. He followed it to the front where he saw a group of
zombies clustered around the closed glass doors. Several