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the top teeth were exposed. The man tried to drive another bullet home, but it was too late. The ghoul fell on him with limbs thrashing and teeth gnashing. Its blood-covered teeth sank into the man’s forearm. His attempt to keep the zombie at bay proved to be futile.     
    He screamed in brutal agony. As he tried to wrestle free from the creature’s powerful jaws, the rifle fell to the floor. The zombie thrashed and shook, tearing away meat as a shark in a feeding frenzy. In a wild panic to escape, the man fell to his knees, and his blood came gushing out. As he tried to cover the gaping hole on his arm, blood flooded through his fingers down both arms.
    The hideous creature hovering over him was momentarily pleased as it chewed and swallowed a large portion of muscle. Red slobber dripped from its gore covered chin. The zombie opened its mouth wide, presenting rotting, stained teeth with small bits of flesh stuck in between. Just before it lashed out again, an un-chewed chunk plunged to the tile from its mouth. The man’s screams quickly turned to muffled gurgles. The zombie ripped out his Adam’s apple with its bare hands. Blood gushed free as his throat filled with bubbled attempts to shout out in pain.
    “Fuck this man. We got to do something.”
    Chris looked back to find Steve pulling boxes away from the walk-in cooler’s access door.
    “Wait a second, dude. What the hell do you plan on doing exactly? We can’t help those guys!”
    “He’s right, Chris. We need to get out while we can. With the firefight covering our noise, we might have a chance.” Stephanie stood to her feet.
    “A chance. A chance for what? It’s a fucking war zone out there. We need to sit tight until this thing blows over.”
    “And what if it doesn’t blow over, Chris? If we are going to hold up somewhere, it needs to be somewhere secure. Somewhere less populated.” Stephanie helped Steve with the boxes.
    Chris stood to his feet too. Flustered and not wanting to leave, he wasn’t about to be left alone to die. Besides, he knew they were right. Not only would the waging chaos outside help cover their escape, he knew that soon there would be more of the undead. In time, the constant volley of a redneck rampage would pull more zombies from the surrounding area. If they were going to act, it needed to be now, before the entire block was swarming with the plague of death.
    Steve and Stephanie cleared the doorway. Chris held the handgun up, fidgeting with it, trying to get an idea of how it worked. Sure, you point and shoot, but how many bullets are left? Thumbing the release, the clip dropped out hitting the cold floor. It startled Steve and Stephanie.
    “Sorry,” Chris said, and picked up the clip. It had at least three bullets left. He drove the clip back home. A reassuring ‘click’ ensured that he locked it in place. After a second, he figured out were the safety was. Did the red button mean ‘die’ or ‘stop’? He would find out soon enough.
    “Well?” Steve asked.
    He looked up from the pistol at Steve and Stephanie.
    “We going to do this?” Steve asked shaking the bat in his hands.
    “Fuck it, dude. Let’s go!” Chris nodded.
    Stephanie grabbed the door handle.
    “Wait… what’s the plan?” Chris stepped up and laid his hand on hers.
    “Hell, I don’t know,” she said. “My house is probably twenty minutes from here. It’s not in the middle of nowhere, but it’s a lot less populated than this!”
    Chris played a few scenarios out in his head. He put one hand up against the door to let them know he wasn’t ready to bolt just yet. The three just stood there tense and tired.
    “Okay, this is the game plan. We hit the front doors fast. Since we have two of those things in the store, we can’t delay. One is by the counter and one is almost right at the front door. Once we’re outside, we do one of two things. You said your place is twenty minutes away. That’s a bit of a walk, so we need some