Five miles out of Sacramento, Rob saw the first Zombie. It was stumbling across the highway. Rob yelled to Luther, "Hang on, we have ramming speed". Rob ran down the Zombie at full speed. Other than a thud at the moment of impact there was nothing of note from the collision to the APC. The Zombie on the other hand, exhibited significant damage. The last thing that would have passed through his mind, if he had possessed one, was the speeding APC. The only way he would be able to bite someone now would be if they put their hand into its mouth and pushed its jaw shut.
Rob continued south on highway 5 then turned east on interstate 80. Spotting a large shopping mall, Rob shouted to Luther, "I need to pickup some things." As Rob pulled up to an entrance he noted the security bars had not been closed. "Take that 50 cal. and see if you can open the mall doors" Rob said. "No problem, I’ll do what I can." Luther said. After less than a minute of .50 caliber fire, Luther stopped shooting. The glass and aluminum framework was totally blown out of the mall entrance.
Rob navigated past the debris and into the mall. Driving slowly thru the mall he spotted what he was looking for. "Louise’s Metro" was an upscale women’s clothing store. Rob dismounted the APC thru the drivers side hatch. "Ok, Luther keep your eyes open for visitors. Since the security bars had not been lowered this mall must have been overrun by Zombies before they could close it up." Rob told Luther.
Rob grabbed some shopping bags from the register area and walking rack to rack started grabbing dresses, skirts, and blouses at random. Rob also scooped up several arm loads of Jeans and tee shirts as well. "This should please Jenny and make the other neighborhood ladies happy as well." Rob thought to himself. Rob hit the lever to lower the rear door/ramp. Bag after bag was stacked into the APC. Rob asked Luther if there were any sporting goods shops here. Luther said," Yes, ahead and to the left."
Rob jumped behind the controls of the APC and they moved forward toward the center court of the mall. As Rob turned left at the center court they met a mob of possibly 200 Zombies, "Button up!" yelled Rob. Luther dropped down from the turret and slammed the hatch shut. Although they were safe within the vehicle, Rob decided the shopping mall was no longer a viable place for casual shopping.
Even with the 4x4 APC, Rob had difficulty with traction. The mass of bodies between the tires and the cement floor was as slippery as ice. The Zombies pushing and pounding on the side of the APC was causing it to edge sideways, closer and closer into the store fronts. Forward progress extremely slow. As the APC was pushed sideways by the Zombies, the left rear tire caught on the window frame of a toy store. The APC pivoted hard to the right shattering the large glass window. It then shot forward to the opposite side of the hallway, where the floor was not as littered with crushed Zombie bodies. Rob righted the vehicle, and was able to start down the mall hallway toward the center court, where he made a right turn. Rob was able to quickly out distance the Zombies in his race back to the point where they had entered the mall.
Reaching the parking lot, Rob turned the turret of the APC to face the mall doorway. As the Zombies came into view, he fired 2 RPG’s into the crowd. Then, Luther climbed back into the turret and went to work with the .50 caliber. After two or three minutes of firing the .50 caliber, Zombies were no longer moving around the Mall entrance. Luther buttoned up the turret. Rob restarted the APC and quickly accelerated to 70 km/h. Both Luther and Rob were laughing hysterically, "Man that was close! I thought we were going to buy the farm back there." Rob said. About 500 meters from the parking lot, they were both beginning to come down from their adrenalin rush. Thinking about the near death situation caused Rob to start shaking violently. Rob let the APC slow to a stop and they both just sat for a minute in silence. "Right at the Highway" Luther said from the passenger seat. Rob looked over and said, "I’ve got to pee first". "I went a couple minutes ago when we were stuck in the hallway, but maybe I need to check my pants." chucked Luther.
Rob grabbed an M4 and inserted a clip and charged the weapon. Luther repeated the same process. Rob said, "Ready? I’ll go out first, be ready to button back up if I get swarmed." "No problem" Luther said. Rob hit the switch lowering the rear door and ran out. He pivoted 10 feet behind the APC and saw a Zombie. It was just a torso and head it was pawing and waving its one arm stub in his direction. Rob pulled his 9mm pistol and shot it in the forehead. "All clear!" shouted Rob, Luther exited the APC and both of them walked around the APC to the right. It appeared that only one Zombie had held on to the vehicle as they exited the mall.
Both survivors relieved themselves while watching for Zombies. Rob looked at the gore covered APC and shook his head. "Maybe we should clean this thing up before taking it home. And I'd like to go back to that mall Sporting Goods store and get as much ammo as we can find." He said. "There’s a creek about 2 miles up the road" Luther told him. "Great, we’ll call it "decontamination", I don’t want to be teased for stopping to wash the car in the middle of a Zombie war." laughed Rob.
At the creek Rob and Luther roared up and down the shallow creek and were able to dislodge the majority of body parts from the under carriage. Then after throwing buckets of water, they washed most of the remaining blood and bits and pieces off. After 20 minutes the APC was fairly clean of blood and body parts. Rob and Luther drove up the bank and seeing about 20 Zombies on their trail, Rob stopped the APC and mounted the turret. He fired the .50 cal. at the mob. After a 30 second burst most of the Zombies were on the ground, a few continued to stagger and crawl in their direction. Rob and Luther got out of the APC and walked among the Zombies firing M4 rounds into their heads. Rob and Luther then returned to the APC and drove back to the mall. Rob entered the sporting goods store using the APC to break through the Doors. In less than 30 minutes they had cleaned the store shelves of ammunition and weapons. The back of the APC was loaded with stacks of clothing and ammunition boxes and guns. Ralph always says that being able to loot is the only good thing about the Zombies laughed Rob. I think I understands what he means. I really enjoyed this little trip.