Meanwhile the others were in the break room preparing another large dinner to feed the massive amount of survivors. The children were hooking up game systems to TV sets. A few children were passing around a hand held system that took mini disks and small memory sticks. Some of the adults were talking amongst themselves about how much life has changed since the sickness hit.
Mark and William set up a TV in the hidden room and connected it to the cable to see if there were any news stations available. They started flipping through the channels and they actually found a news broadcast about the sickness.
It said that the government was searching for a cure and the army was starting to search for survivors of the plague. Millions of people had been killed across the USA. The best thing to do was to stay inside until help arrived. Military bases across America had troops roaming from town to town, door to door, seeking out survivors and destroying the infected.
The living, were more numerous than anyone could have imagined. The tally of survivors was growing with every day.
The broadcast kept repeating itself over and over. It must have been broadcasting in a loop, just in case survivors turned on their TVs to see if there was any new news.
This was wonderful news that they thought they must share with everyone. Mark went to the telephone, pressed intercom, and got everybody's attention and told of the news broadcast. He survivors all cheered and it gave him hope that soon they too would be rescued.
It was only 9:30PM. The survivors scattered across the store to eat dinner.
Danny was wearing his new ankle brace and was walking with the help of a pair of crutches also found in the pharmacy department. He was also thankful to be on the pain killers. He hopped his way to the smoking section of the break room, shut the door and lit up another cigarette. He inhaled deeply letting the smoke completely fill his lungs. He held it in for about two seconds and blew the smoke out of his mouth and nose.
He was only in there for about two minutes, when Mark walked in and asked to bum a smoke. Knowing that there were plenty of smokes lined up at isle 16 behind the register he pulled a smoke from the package and handed one to Mark.
“Thanks” said Mark as he took the cigarette and the Zippo lighter from Danny. He lit the smoke and drew in a nice breath full of smoke. He hadn't smoked in a while so he developed a head rush and had to sit down before he fell down.
Danny said, “Yeah, these things have been known to kill, you know.”
Mark smiled and drew in another puff.
“Do you think that they will come?” Mark asked.
Danny leaned forward and said “I know they will show up but I don't think they will be happy with the way we have just taken what we need from the store.”
“Under the circumstances, I don't think they will mind” Mark said as he finished his smoke.
William and Samantha entered the break room together. Danny offered them a smoke.
William just said, “I don't smoke. I only wanted to check to see how you were feeling after that fall.”
Samantha reached across the table to the opened pack of cigarettes and pulled one out for herself. She asked for the lighter and Danny handed it to her. She lit the cigarette and she began to cry.
It was not necessary to ask her what was the matter, everyone who was in the room already knew. Tom had been kind of like her man, they'd had a strong connection when they first met and they'd bonded together nicely.
Nobody had the words to say to make her feel better. So everyone kept silent as she pulled herself together.
“So what are your plans when we get rescued?” she asked.
Nobody had given it much thought, possibly because they didn't think it would truly happen.
They stayed in the room staring out the glass that divided them from the non smokers. “What do you think they will do?” asked William.
Danny looked over and said “I think they will carry on like the rest of us, with scars so deep they will never heal and will never go away.”
After everyone got their fill of dinner, they went off into the store to find something else that would distract them from the horror that they have lived through. Until they were rescued and on their way to a new life, it wasn't over.
Some people were sitting in metal chairs reading books, Other people were sitting at computers playing the newest and hottest games. The teens were still playing on game systems and watching movies on the TVs. It seemed like there was something for everybody at Buy-Right super center.
Mark, William, Samantha and Danny all decided to make their way to the security room. They turned on all the cameras and watched over their new found friends. They also turned on the outside cameras and started counting the cars in the parking lot.
They counted Danny's green dodge neon, the large church bus, four of the church vans, and they saw that there were more vehicles lined up in the parking lot. More survivors had showed up.
They grabbed flash lights and radios and made their way to the front of the store. They hurried out the front door, went to the new line of vehicles, and started searching for survivors.
They found twenty five survivors in all and welcomed them into the store. Most of them had suitcases with them and they carried them in one by one until everyone was in. Danny was thankful that so many had showed up instead of him having to go look for them.
Many of them had said they've been traveling when the sickness struck. They had some how avoided the illness but when they stopped for gas it was clear that something was very wrong.
They told of how they had all met at the bottom of the mountain and took turns filling their fuel tanks from a tanker truck that was parked at a gas station, in the middle of nowhere.
They decided it was not safe to travel alone so they followed each other one by one up the steep mountains that led to this town. They saw the lights on at the Buy-Right super center and they saw no signs of the walking dead, so they thought it would be safe to spend the night in the parking lot.
They were amazed at how many other survivors were in the store. That's when Danny told them of the repeating news broadcast. They all looked a little puzzled.
They said, “We've been driving from town to town, there are no signs of military vehicles or the army.”
“They will come. It will take them awhile to come up the mountain, but we have enough food and supplies to last a good while.”
“Do you have any fuel for our cars?”
Danny remembered that behind the super center there were gas pumps.
“Yes we have plenty of fuel for all the vehicles. The gas station is around the back of the store. We can fill up your cars first thing tomorrow.”
Day 6
Everyone awoke to the sound of the intercom clicking on and the announcement that breakfast was ready and everyone should meet up at the front of the store.
The children and young adults ate first, then everyone else got in line. After everyone was fed they all gathered at the front of the store.
“OK everybody here?” came a voice from the karaoke machine.
“We will be taking a trip today” the voice continued, “so everyone get a shower and pick out some new clothes. Bring only what you need. It's going to be a trip to the bottom of the mountains.”
Some were very confused, and the question popped up from somewhere in the middle of the large group of people. “Why are we going to leave if we have everything we need right here?”
“Excellent question” said Danny over the karaoke machine. “We have a gas station behind the store. We can all fuel up and search for another store at the bottom of the mountains. We stand a better chance of getting rescued in the lower elevations.”
The people all looked around at one another and started to talk amongst themselves. They all agreed it might be the best chance of rescue they would have.
The youth pastor was the first one to pull to the gas pumps in the church bus and he filled it all the way
to the top. Next the four church vans pulled into the station and they topped off. Then the individual cars started fueling up. After a while everyone had a full tank of gas. Every car was loaded with weapons and whatever ammo they could find.
The children and teens all climbed in the large church bus. All together there were now fifty kids and teens on the church bus. Each church van held ten passengers, the left over persons climbed into the individual cars.
————
Samantha, William, Mark, and Danny all climbed into Danny's green Neon. They left the safety of the super center followed by the bus, four vans, and a line of cars. They all had a long drive ahead of them, but they knew at the bottom of the mountain there was another fuel truck just waiting for them.
The line of cars drove slowly out of town and started off down the mountain. If there had been any other cars on the road it would have looked like a strange funeral procession, but there was no other traffic.
They could all see bodies lying in the streets off to the side of the road.
“Are they dead?” Samantha asked.
Danny kept his eyes on the road and said, “I wouldn't count on it.”
They continued down the steep, curvy roads. It turned out to be a real nice day.
“Great day for a drive.” Danny said as he turned on the radio and slipped a CD in the CD player. “Not Falling” from Mudvayne started blaring through the speakers.
They didn't know where they were going. All they knew was that they had to get there.