Zoe shook her head.
Rachel looked over her shoulder. "Would you lower your weapons?"
The gruff sounding man barked back, "Like it or not, that's a zombie and—"
"Colonel!" she shouted. "We have an opportunity here. If you want to fight off this threat then we need every advantage and this is one advantage we'd better not let go!"
He looked to the other man, and nodded, and both lowered their weapons.
Looking back to the girl, she stood and offered her hand. "Come on, Zoe. Let's get you up."
Zoe's eyes widened and she shook her head.
"Come on," Rachel urged in a voice that sounded like she was talking to a puppy. "Get up off of the floor. Nobody's going to hurt you."
The girl's eyes shifted to the men behind the woman.
With a heavy sigh behind his gas mask, the gruff sounding man growled, "Okay, men. Let's set up a perimeter and secure the area.
Zoe watched as the two men departed, then she hesitantly took the woman's hand and, still clutching her teddy bear to her, she got to her feet, backing up a step as she huddled herself as small as she could get. She tensed up and half turned as the man behind her tapped her on the shoulder, and she looked up at him with horrified eyes.
He offered her the can and said, "I believe you dropped this."
Looking down to the can, she gingerly took it, then bowed her head, drawing her shoulders up as she shuffled away from him a couple of steps.
He reached up and took his gas mask off, revealing quite a handsome face with powerful features, dark green eyes and a clean shaven face. The cleft in his heavy chin caught the girl's eye as she glanced up at him, but she would not make eye contact with him.
Also pulling the hood from his head to reveal very short brown hair that was military cut, he looked to Rachel and raised his chin as he informed, "We'll have the perimeter secure in a few minutes, Doctor Caswell. You may as well get started with the operation so that we can get out of here quicker." When she nodded to him, he grasped his weapon with both hands and added as he walked away, "Just shout if you need anything, and remember to shoot for the head."
"Thanks, Sergeant Morris," Rachel offered as he strode away. "I think I can handle it."
Zoe finally raised her eyes and watched as this biggest of the men went to join the others.
"Okay, Zoe," Rachel started, "we came to collect supplies. Do you want to help?"
The girl looked to the floor and nodded. She usually liked to keep to herself, but under the circumstances a little company was a welcome thing.
Within the hour, they had about five shopping carts full of food, bathroom supplies and a few other items pushed up to the front door. Zoe found herself enjoying Doctor Caswell's company and the Doctor discovered how much this girl loved to laugh, and she took every opportunity to say something to make that happen.
Still brandishing his weapon, Sergeant Morris strode through the front door of the store and looked over what they had collected, raising his brow as he nodded. "Nice job, ladies. Looks like we'll eat okay for a while."
"We got, like, a hundred cans of Spaghetti-O's!" Zoe reported with girlish enthusiasm. "We got the ones with the meatballs, too. Those are my favorites!"
"Sounds good," he commended, then he raised his chin and looked to her with a little suspicion in his eyes. "Wait a minute. You eat…" his eyes shifted to the doctor.
Rachel raised her brow and informed, "There is quite a bit about this young lady that might surprise you, Tex."
"Well, we're about ready to load up and go," he said straightly, "so let's get with the program."
Zoe watched him turn and stride out and she bit her lip a little, and this did not go unnoticed.
"He is quite a looker, isn't he?" Doctor Caswell asked with a little smile.
Turning her eyes down, Zoe smiled shyly and just shrugged.
"Well," Rachel urged, "we need to get going. Can you help us load all of this?"
Something very solemn was in the girl's expression as she glanced at the Doctor, and she drew her shoulders up slightly.
"Are you okay?" the Doctor asked as she gently took the girl's shoulder.
"Can, um," Zoe started hesitantly, "um, can I, um…"
Doctor Caswell seemed to know what the girl wanted to ask her, and she seemed to know that she could not somehow, so she raised her brow and said, "I was hoping you could come with us."
Zoe's attention snapped to the doctor and she did not seem to know what to say.
"We have all of the Spaghetti-O's," Rachel pointed out, "so you may as well come with us. I think Tex would really like you to come, too."
Biting her lip again, Zoe stared back for long seconds before she asked in the voice of a little girl, "Really?"
"I think so," the Doctor confirmed, "and so would I. So are you coming or do you intend to stay here with the zombies?"
"I'll come!" the girl barked. "I just have to run to the back to get my stuff and my teddy bear and I'll be right back!"
Rachel watched the girl turn and sprint to the back of the store, and she had a strange little smile on her face as she shook her head.
Outside, the three men in the commando gear stood watch. Three eight wheeled armored attack vehicles—Strykers—were backed up outside with their rear hatches open. There were other men out there as well, one each on machine guns on top of the assault vehicles and a few more who had established a perimeter further out. These were all dressed in jungle camouflage and armed with M-16's. More men similarly dressed were in the front seats of the Strykers, one driving and a passenger who kept his M-16 directed out the window.
All of these armed men about made Zoe uneasy and as she pushed a shopping cart full of food outside beside Doctor Caswell, she drew her shoulders up as she glanced about with a tense brow and her lips parted nervously.
"Just relax," Rachel advised. "Nobody's going to hurt you, okay?"
Zoe just nodded and continued to glance about.
In no time they got all five shopping carts pushed inside one of the Strykers and the men closed in the perimeter to mount the machines and be on their way. None of the men who looked toward the girl did so with anything but mistrust and suspicion.
The gruff sounding man finally removed his gas mask, revealing bushy white eyebrows and a face that had some deep wrinkles in it around the eyes especially. This was a man of many years of experience in the military and all of them were evident on his face, as was the suspicious look in his eyes as he approached and demanded, "Doctor Caswell, what do you think you're doing?"
"I'm taking her with us," Rachel insisted as she turned to face him.
"You really think that's a good idea?" he grumbled.
"First of all, Colonel," she began with a harshness to her words, "yes, I do. I'll not just leave her here by herself. Second, she may just hold some of the secrets we've been looking for and with her we may finally have the advantage we've been looking for to stop this epidemic."
The Colonel kept his eyes on the girl as he seemed to consider.
"She can ride with me in the truck with the supplies," Rachel offered.
"We can't afford anything happening to you," the Colonel pointed out. He considered a moment more, then he rubbed his mouth and face with his hand and barked, "Corporal Jackson."
One of the men in camouflage ran to him, brandishing an M-16 and smartly reported, "Sir!"
"This moaner's coming with us," the Colonel informed. "Get her cuffed and strapped into Ranger 2, and make sure she's secure."
"Now wait a minute!" Rachel shouted.
"Doctor!" the Colonel shouted back. "I'm allowing your pet zombie to come with us. She either gets secure for the ride or I shoot her and leave her here. Your call."