“There wasn’t any trouble on the way to the club. When we got there, the bodies were still strewn about the place. It stank worse than a diaper in a sauna house and the birds eating the bodies made a hell of a noise.
“We headed inside the club and realized the place had been cleaned out after… Well after our last visit. The guns, knives, ammo, everything was gone. It even looked like some of the furniture was gone. We pulled down the smoke alarms and clocks and pulled out the batteries, which were the only decent things we could get from in there.
“That was genius, I wouldn’t have thought of pulling the batteries,” I said.
“We decided to check the bodies and found that most them had been moved or rolled over. No wallet, no jewelry, no watches, no nothing! We headed down to the river so I could check where I was hit with those bloody explosions. Which was lucky we did.”
“The body pieces were left as they were, kinda like no-one was willing to touch ‘em. We found a few guns mate, the bastard of things was bent, melted to themselves or in pieces. All we could scrounge up was a really nice Winchester 308 and a Savage Arms 30/30.”
“That Savage 30/30 is a fantastic rifle, and we have a lot of bullets for it. Great work,” I said.
“Thanks, that’s what I thought. Anyway, we were about to head out when that familiar smell of metal hit me and I was drawn to the car park. I walked straight to a pickup, smashed the window in, opened the door and picked up a duffle bag. I opened it up and the refreshing smell of a Smith and Wesson .38 filled my snout. A five shot with ivory finishing and a box of bullets beside it.”
John was proudly patting it on his chest holster.
“I pulled out a few radios with throat mic thingies and threw one to Marshall. A leather jacket, hygiene kit, first aid kit and a fishing kit was in there, too. We threw the lot in our pickup and tried to siphon the gas from twenty odd vehicles. We barely got a spare gallon after filling up the pickup, but we found a few tools and a bunch of spare tires.
“Anyways, we left the club, headed back down the road, checking each house that we could see from the road, and they were all cleared out, too. Either someone is or was clearing our possible supplies or we have survivors close by.
“It would stand to reason that there are survivors nearby, but if they have the ability to clear houses on such a large scale, we should be careful. I think we should at least check it out,” I said.
“That’s what we thought, too. So, it was an hour or two before sunset when we reached a cat rescue centre and decided it would be the last one of the day. They place had been ransacked too, but there was gear all over the floor. We collected a few bandages, new syringes and shite and then went out back to get a few cages for trapping.
“As we were walking out of the cat place, I whipped out the 9mm and put a bullet straight through a zombie head. It looked rooted with a missing foot, half its guts hanging out and a fresh hole through its right eye. The drag marks looked like it walked straight passed the truck and was going to walk straight past us.
“Poor fucker, he was a civilian medic. Marshall checked him over with a pair of disposable gloves we just scored from inside. He had a picture of his family in his pocket; it reminded me of my boys back in Oz.
“Marshall pulled your rifle up and scanned the area and stopped sweeping when he reached the road. He started adjusting his aim, left a little, up a little, took a deep breath and lowered his shoulder. He repeated the process twice more, readjusting himself before I cracked the shites. I whistled softly, Marshall looked at me and as I looked back at him I raised the 9mm and shot.
“He said something about me being a smart arse and a freak, and said we needed to save the bullets of the rifle anyways. Something about you never bring enough ammo.
I smacked John with my right hand. “Just tell me what you shot!”
“Heh, sorry mate. We shot lunch, a good sized buck at that.”
“Right, so we drove down and Marshall was showing me how to clean it before we brought it back to slice it up when I shoved him down next to the truck and raised both my 9mm’s.”
“Four bodies walked towards us and as I lined them up to figure out if they were alive or not, all four blurred in different directions. Not as quick a Leo, but still hard for me to get a good aim on. They kept diving and hiding behind trees and debris.
“I fired one shot and clipped the closest in the chest before it slid behind a vehicle. Marshall fired off a round and put it through both the car doors, as I fired two rounds each from both pistols in front of the darting zombie. We both hit home and both let out a ‘whoop’ as we tracked the other two. I told ya brother to stay down and keep his aim on the one behind garage wall, and I stood over him with my legs on either side of his body.
“I put a bullet into the fuel tank of the car, and one into the toe of the zombie behind the other tree. I was hoping it would bend down in pain so I could give it lead poisoning, but the prick of a thing didn’t budge.
“Marshall grabbed the pistol from my ankle holster and laid the rifle down and fired two shots at the corner of the wall. We were at a standstill the moment I moved, I knew these things were going to move on your brother and I wasn’t gonna let that happen twice.”
“I was drawn again to behind the tree, the smell of metal floated in the air. I told Marshall to keep his aim three meters right of the wall. ‘In feet!’ he yelled. ‘Oh right, uhh, nine feet. The moment you see him move, pull the trigger, you’ll hit him.’
“The sound disappeared from around us. The same muffled sounds from the club. I stomped my foot and the noise was barely there. I wasn’t sure if I was going deaf from all the bullets I had fired off, or if something was fucking with us.
“The moment my foot hit the ground, Marshall fired his shot and all I could concentrate on was the blur zig-zagging behind obstacles and rolling around. I fired six rounds, all hitting, but not bringing her down. She was leaping over a log when I finally slowed her down. I hit her in the throat, and she hesitated as if she was checking herself to ensure she wasn’t dead…again, and slid behind the car where the other zombie laid with 50 cal in its skull.
“I aimed up a stone below the car and shot it, causing a spark in the now gas drenched ground. Nothing happened and I tried again. Nothing, expect another spark.
“I walked towards the car, firing systematically in the areas where the zombie chick would leave, and as I reached the car, she slid from underneath and grabbed my legs and brought me down.
“She was straddling me, holding both my arms down. A smile crept across her face, I have to admit it, she was good looking and those boobs were distracting. She leant down and whispered, ‘If the zombie chick was really hot, would it be worth getting bitten just a little?’
“A shot rang off from behind me and she released one of my arms as she caught the bullet in her shoulder. She opened her mouth wide and leaned in to rip my throat out. I put the 9mm in her mouth, and blew the back of her head out all over me.
“I looked back to Marshall, and with my blood covered face, I winked and looked to where the zombie hiding behind the wall had clumped to the ground.
“I tried to clean up best I could, but Marshal had to lift the beast in the truck himself. I sat on the bulbar as he drove back, to ensure no blood got on the seats or on the carcass. When we got back, your mother and Leo were not happy that we were late for dinner.”