The Adventures of Steve and Terry: The Zombie Chronicles by Mark de Jong Page B

this part of the city. They seemed to be wandering,
changing direction every time they encountered walkers. Finally, they fled into
an apartment building. They didn’t stop in any of the apartments, having
learned early that many times they housed zombies and were more death traps
than sanctuary. They ran all the way to the roof, bursting through the door and
out into the open. Dave immediately looked for a way to bar the door. He found
some racks, looking like someone at one time had a garden on the roof. He moved
these with some effort to block the door.
    He and Jill quickly ran to all
sides to see if the dead had followed, but so far they were safe. Just then
they heard an explosion. It had come from the other side of the building. They
rushed to the other side to see dead knocked to the ground. They watched as a
small, round object flew from inside a convenience store, out into the street.
They realized what it was a second later when it exploded. Suddenly, two
slightly overweight men, covered in blue paint, ran from the store carrying
armloads of what looked like soda and chips. They rushed to an SUV and threw
the loot in the back. Then, they jumped in the vehicle and sped off with the
sound of screeching tires.
    “Looks like they made it,” Jill
said.
    “Yeah,” Dave said, in complete
shock. “Do you think they just fought off a horde of undead for— chips and
soda ?”
    Jill shook her head with a small
laugh. “It did look that way, didn’t it?”
    “It looks clear, we should keep
moving.”
    They made their way from the
building and continued through the streets. It was nearing dusk when they
rounded a corner and came face to face with the same SUV they had seen the two
pudgy men speed off in, only now it was abandoned. Dave motioned for Jill and
Paul to wait and went ahead. He kept his gun ready, checking for the vehicle’s
owners. He didn’t see anyone. He opened the driver’s side door to find the keys
still in it. He checked the back to see food, soda, and water.
    He quickly motioned for Jill and
Paul to join him. They ran for the SUV but screamed and stopped when bullets
sprayed the street in front of them. Dave spun toward the gunfire. He spotted
one of the men and leveled his gun, but didn’t fire when he felt a cold gun
muzzle against his neck.
    “No sudden moves,” someone said.
“Drop the gun.” Dave did as instructed. “Hey Steve, I got him.”
    The man Dave had been aiming at
stepped out from where he had been hidden. “Good.” Steve said. “We’ve lost too
many cars, lately, man.”
    “We’re sorry we tried to take your
car,” Dave said. “But please, let the woman and boy go.” Paul suddenly ran for
Dave. “No Paul, stay where you are!” But too late; the boy was wrapped around
Dave’s midsection.
    “Ah, dammit!” the man behind Dave
suddenly swore.
    “Agreed,” Steve said.
    “What? What happened?” Dave asked,
worried. He suddenly felt the gun removed from his head. He stepped away slowly
and turned cautiously.
    “We’re not gonna kill you,” the
man said.
    “O-okay. Thank you.”
    “Terry, this sucks!” Steve said.
    Dave suddenly realized Steve must
really have wanted to kill him. He was shocked then, when Terry spun the
assault rifle, he had held on Dave, around, and held it out to him butt first.
    “Is this some sort of sick joke?”
Dave asked, wondering what type of game they were playing at.
    “No joke,” Terry said. “Take it.”
    Dave reached out tentatively and
took the gun. He quickly shouldered it. He spun to check on Jill to see Steve
handing her his weapon, as well.
    “What are you guys doing?” Dave
asked.
    “You got a kid man,” Steve said.
    “Yeah?”
    “And he doesn’t look anything like
you,” Terry said.
    “Yeah?” Dave asked again,
confused.
    “Which means you saved him,” Steve
said. “And damn if that doesn’t take a special kinda person.”
    “What’s going on?” Jill asked.
    “Take the car, and the guns,”
Terry