Dead Life (Book 2) by D. Harrison Schleicher

store. 
                  They stood at the exit door.  Josh nodded to Al.  That was when all hell broke loose.  Al pushed the door open and fired the shotgun out the door.  He racked back the pump and continued firing five  rounds of buckshot in quick succession.  Any of the undead standing outside that door had to have been shredded.  He stepped back and looked at Josh.  Neither one of them said a word.  Josh stepped out and Al closed the door behind him.
                  I sat in the truck and watched Josh walk out into that sea of monsters.  I thought to myself that Josh was walking into the Dead Sea.  Al climbed into the cab of the truck and rolled down the window on the passenger side.  There was a raised walkway to the man door leading into the receiving area.  This is where Josh walked, firing short bursts from the Bushmaster and then walking forward to fire again.  The zombies surrounding the Hummer moved off towards Josh. 
                  “It's almost clear.  Wait for a few more to move off and then go for it.  Don't fire the shotgun until you have to.  Try to shoot in front of Josh.  Clear a path for him.  Maybe he can make it to the Hummer.  Go now!”  Al shouted.
                  As I opened the door of the truck, I could hear the zombies hitting the back of it.  They were in the store.  We'd gotten out just in time.  It was clear so I opened the door to the Hummer and got in.  I slid over to the passenger side and rolled down the window.  Al's shotgun roared.  He was sitting on the  sill of the open window of the truck firing into the mass of bodies surrounding Josh.  I opened fire also.  It was pointless.  They were going to get him no matter what we did.
                  He wasn't ten feet from me and there was nothing I could do to save him.  He fired the Bushmaster one last time and it was empty.  Josh looked at me and said, “You better go now.  Here.”  Josh threw the rifle to me.  I reached out the window and caught it.  I couldn't believe how calm he was.  The undead swarmed him.  As they grabbed, bit, and clawed him, he pulled the pin on the grenade.  I had eight seconds to haul ass.
                  From the corner of my eye, I saw the truck move forward.  Al wasn't waiting for that grenade to blow shit out of everything and neither was I.  The Hummer fired right up.  I threw it in reverse and stomped on the gas.  The explosion from the grenade rocked the Hummer but somehow I made it out.  I guess there were enough bodies surrounding Josh to absorb the shrapnel.  At least Josh didn't suffer long.  He most certainly died instantly. I couldn't help but think about the eight seconds of hell he must have gone through, waiting for the grenade to go off.
                  I looked for the truck.  Al was sitting about a hundred feet away. Waiting to see if I would make it out of there or not.  He started forward again and I followed in his tracks.  Most of the zombies had made it into the store but there were still plenty left on the lot for Al to run down on his way out.
                  Instead of heading straight out onto the street, Al made a point of swerving around a bit.  He enjoyed killing the zombies.  Maybe he enjoyed it a little too much.  It was almost as if he was afraid we were going to run out of zombies before he had destroyed his fair share.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 12
                  There was a highway right in front of the store but the National Guard trucks were blocking access to the on ramp.  It really didn't make a difference because traffic was blocking all the lanes.  It looked like a parking lot.  There was no reason to even try using it as a way out of the city.  We were going to have to use side streets to get out of St. Charles.  There were several different roads accessing