When he gave us the all-clear, I went in next, moving exactly as Clutch had done. When Jase reached me, he tapped my left shoulder. Ready. I did the same to Clutch’s shoulder, just like how he’d made us practice.
Clutch moved to the edge of the counter and looked left and right. After making a quick hand motion, he crossed the aisle, keeping slow and low, until he flattened against the other side. I moved but abruptly pulled back when I saw a zed in the aisle, sniffing at the air. Taking a breath, I waited until it faced the other direction, and I crossed the aisle. Jase followed.
We continued this process, avoiding zeds and following Clutch, as we moved deep into the belly of the store. For the number of cars outside, there were surprisingly few zeds meandering around, which made me wonder exactly where all the drivers to those cars had gone.
Clutch clearly frequented this store because he led us to the aisle we needed without any wrong turns or detours except to bypass zeds. I opened the duffel, and he slid in several heavy stacks of shingles. Jase stayed at my back and scanned the entire time.
“Uh, guys?” Jase whispered.
I glanced up to see a zed come around the corner and into our aisle. It’d been badly gnawed. One of its arms was nothing but white bone and stringy sinew. We didn’t move, hoping it wouldn’t see us.
We weren’t that lucky.
It only took a couple seconds for the zed to sniff the air and home in on us. It moaned and stumbled toward us. It’s like a fucking bloodhound, I thought to myself. Clutch stood, walked right up to it, and swung, his machete taking off the top of the zed’s head with a single powerful slice. The zed collapsed, and he caught the body just before it hit the floor and laid it down quietly.
He returned and grabbed the duffel as though nothing happened. On our way out, we nearly walked into a small group of zeds and were forced to backtrack. As we neared another aisle, Jase nudged me. “Look,” he whispered and pointed at a glass display case.
My mouth opened, and I tugged Clutch and then pointed.
He saw the display case, looked around, and then headed toward it. On proud display behind the glass was a little piece of heaven. Small camping axes, knives of all sizes, and the Cadillac—black machetes. While Clutch’s arsenal of rifles and pistols was impressive, he had few blades, with the exception of a machete and a wood axe, his blades were knives.
He felt around the back of the display case, then around the edges. When the glass didn’t slide open, he grabbed Jase’s axe.
“It’s locked. Get ready to move fast,” Clutch whispered. “Know what you want, and grab it. Don’t try for everything. We head straight to the truck two seconds after this breaks.”
He stood, laid an empty duffel against the glass, and then brought down the heavy end of the axe. Even with the fabric, the sound of breaking glass echoed through the store.
Clutch grabbed a couple small axes in one swoop, and then got out of the way. Jase and I were smaller and could reach in at the same time. We both went for the machetes, and then I grabbed an axe, sliding both into my belt.
“Let’s go,” Clutch said aloud, and we headed down the aisle.
We made it two rows over before we hit a roadblock of a half dozen zeds. We turned to the left and ran. Jase pulled ahead, though Clutch was quick. I struggled to keep up, my shorter legs a clear detriment in outrunning zeds.
The guys came to a screeching halt in front of me. The zeds had discovered the opened door, and had flocked toward it, moaning as they pressed through. That was, until they saw us, and their moans grew in volume as they changed direction en masse toward us.
A quick glance at the entrance door proved no better option.
Clutch looked around. “There’s a door to the lumberyard on the side.” He took off at a run. We followed, weaving around stray zeds. Clutch kicked the door open, and we burst outside.
I sucked in a breath.