The monsters closed around her and she buried her face in her arms and teddy bear to await the worst as she cried out loudly, her body racked by quakes as she wept and hysterically screamed. The inevitable was coming.
Moments passed and she calmed, and slowly raised her head in response to rustling plastic, creaking Styrofoam and a smacking sound. To her bewilderment, she saw all of the zombies eating the meat out of the cooler. They were ignoring her and just eating the raw meat from the coolers. Once again her wide eyes darted from one zombie to the next, and hesitantly she lowered a hand to the floor and pushed herself up. She stood slowly, afraid of attracting their attention, and she continued to glance about at them as she turned and backed away. Her eyes found the Spaghetti-O's and she stopped, and hesitantly she approached again and crouched down, her gaze finding the busy zombies again as she groped for the can, and finally grasped it.
Though they did not seem to be interested in her, Zoe backed away from them and still feared they could turn and attack her. Confident she was far enough away from them, she turned around to flee, then shrieked as she found herself confronting yet another one and backed away a few steps. Moving aside, she watched with all of her attention as he staggered by her toward the others. She drew a breath and backed away more, running into one of the shelves and stopping as she watched the creatures feed. They were tearing into packages of raw meat, forcefully tearing away mouthfuls with their teeth. They were feeding like a pack of animals, even moaning and growling as they ate their grisly meal. She stood perfectly still as she watched them, still fearful of drawing their attention, and she felt a little more secure as she hugged the teddy bear to her chest.
Movement to her right ripped her attention away from the feeding zombies and she barely moved as her eyes panned that way.
A big man in olive green and black commando gear and wearing a full gas mask over his face stalked toward the zombies. He had a weapon, some kind of machine gun, poised to shoot and was clearly taking careful aim at the zombies at the meat cooler as he advanced on them with cautious steps. His were stealthy, silent movements and his weapon was held level and steady. As he passed, Zoe saw that he even had a black hood over his head. He was completely covered and pouches and pockets on his vest and trousers seemed laden with equipment or supplies. He had more on the belt he wore, though the only thing she saw that she could recognize was the big knife that was on his hip.
She saw another enter her field of vision ahead of her, coming out of one of the aisles there and moving in the same way. Still another one beyond that one.
When they were all within about twenty feet of the zombies, they stopped and the big man shouted, "Let 'em have it!"
The loud, sharp crack of the weapons hurt Zoe's ears and she grimaced and raised her hands to her ears, cupping one hand over one and the can over the other. All of the zombies were hit in the head and they dropped quickly. In seconds it was over and the last of the zombies slumped over the cooler and then fell backward to the floor. Black-red blood splattered the wall and butcher's window, the floor and more ran from the bodies that were heaped up where they fell.
"Not too shabby," another man commended as the four of them approached the downed zombies.
"Okay," the first ordered as he lowered his weapon. "Let's load up on the supplies we need." He turned and headed toward the canned goods aisle, the others following as he continued, "We're going to want anything that will last us a while, anything—"
"Another one!" a younger man's voice shouted.
As one raised his weapon toward Zoe, she wheeled around to look behind her and around the end cap she had backed into. When the weapon fired, the burst of bullets hit and shattered the jars she had backed into and she flinched and spun back, seeing them all taking aim at her! Barking a scream, she turned and darted down the aisle right as the weapons fired again, and again she covered her ears as best she could.
She made it to the end of the aisle and looked back as she saw two of them reach the other end and take aim at her and she screamed again as she turned blindly and fled. Something caught her foot and she tripped, instinctively throwing her hands down to break her fall before she hit the tile floor. She had dropped the can and watched as it rolled away from her, and her thoughts shifted fully to it as she scrambled after it, stopping as it was caught under the sole of a big black boot that had lifted up to catch it. Slowly, she turned her eyes up to the big man who stared down at her. He held his weapon at the ready, but not trained on her. Still, with that gas mask on he was a big, imposing sight, a frightening sight, and she whimpered and shrank away from him. Hearing boots coming up behind her, she half turned and looked to see two others had caught up to her, and they were training their weapons on her. She cried out and fell to her side, curling up as small as she could as she hugged the teddy bear to her. Her wide eyes were fixed on the two soldiers who aimed at her and the terror on her face was very easy to read as she began to cry.
"Hold your fire, guys," the big one who had stopped her can ordered.
"She's clearly infected," another pointed out.
"Yeah," the big man agreed, "but this is the first time I've seen one act like this. She's scared out of her mind. Moaners aren't scared of anything. They don't know to be."
Hearing the voices, even from behind the masks, calmed Zoe a little and she was able to stop crying, but she did not move otherwise.
The fourth soldier came up from behind the other two, holding her weapon ready, but this one lowered the muzzle upon seeing the girl. This one was smaller and shaped differently, clearly a woman, but she was just as imposing as the other three.
Daring to approach, though with hesitant movements, the woman slung her weapon behind her and crouched down, holding a palm toward the girl as she ordered, "Just take it easy. Don't move, okay?"
Zoe nodded in quick motions.
"How long ago were you bitten?" the woman asked.
Another whimper escaped the girl as she just stared back with wide eyes.
"Just shoot her," one of the men growled.
The woman reached to her face and tore the gas mask off, looking up at one of the men. She had a pleasant face that showed irritation, and she appeared to be around fifty years old with icy blue eyes. "Would you just back off a minute?" She snapped, then she looked back to Zoe and repeated, "How long ago were you bitten?"
The girl shrugged a little and managed in a very meek voice, "They came at dinner time on Sunday."
The woman raised her head, staring down at the girl as she absently said, "Four days ago. She should have lost all of her cognitive abilities within a few hours."
"You sure she's telling the truth?" one of the men asked.
"She wouldn't have a reason to lie about that," the woman replied. "And look at her eye color. It usually fades to gray or white a few hours after the disease takes hold."
The big man behind took a step to the side and bent down to have a closer look, and when Zoe's attention snapped to him, he drew back and confessed, "That's the first green eyed zombie I've seen."
"This may be what we've been looking for," the woman informed. "Okay, sweetie. Can you tell me your name?"
With a nod, the girl responded in that meek voice, "Zoe Rebecca Templeton."
"Can I call you Zoe?" the woman asked.
Zoe nodded.
"My name is Rachel," the woman introduced. "I'm with the Zombie Response Team. I need to know how you feel right now."
"I'm scared," Zoe whimpered.
"I know you are, sweetie, but how do you feel? Are you cold or hot or do you hurt anywhere?"