The Truck Stop Part Two
Robert Van Dusen
The pitiful, gnawed things that used to be people had tumbled out of the back of the semi's trailer, and now they stood outside the Gas 'N Gulp. Their gore spattered hands slapped wetly against the store's plate glass windows. The glass was sturdy, though really only meant to withstand the odd sandstorm or perhaps a vandal throwing a brick at worst. Already the heavy double panes of glass were cracking or starting to come loose from their frames. It was only a matter of time before they got inside.
California Highway Patrol Officer Diane Farrow chewed her bottom lip for a moment, keenly aware that the handful of men in the store were all looking at her. A few of them seemed like the sheep farmers or cowboys that still lived around here. The clerk was an old man, probably in his sixties, and looked like he might drop dead of a stroke at any moment. A scruffy Latino lurked near the back of the store, standing out to her mainly because he was wearing the loudest Hawaiian shirt she had ever seen. His hair was long as well, and for some reason he seemed more wary of her than the things pounding on the glass outside.
The slender blonde woman took a deep breath as she squared her shoulders and swallowed the lump in her throat. "Okay..." she said quickly, looking around the store for a moment and making eye contact with each of the men. "Help's coming." Diane smiled somewhat awkwardly as she caught her breath. "It's coming, but we'll have to hang tight for a little while, though." The young policewoman turned to one of the farmers, a dark haired guy who'd introduced himself as Kevin. "Kevin, pick a couple folks and fill up some bags with snacks and stuff in case we gotta go up on the roof. Get all the water you can find, too." She turned to the clerk. "Is there a way up to the roof from here?" The old man only stared at her glassy eyed, so she repeated the question, though perhaps a little louder than she intended.
The clerk started like Diane had given him a jolt with her taser. "Wha? Um...no...there's a ladder out back." he muttered with a vague gesture toward the back of the store. They all jumped when one of the things outside slammed its fist against the window, knocking the cardboard cigarette ad off, which fell loudly against a display of candy bars. A loud metallic screech filled the air as a gnawed, disemboweled thing that used to be a rotund Hispanic man succeeded in getting knocking one of the storefront windows out of its frame enough to get his fingers through the hole.
A couple of the cowboys ran over to the window and started trying to shove the plate glass back into place. A pane of glass in the automatic door at the side of the store fractured into a spiderweb of cracks, then fell to the floor where it shattered like a bomb. A thin woman in a gore spattered sundress reached through the gap, her spindly arms groping for the two men a few feet away. "Grab some food and water!" Diane shouted, reaching over the counter and grabbing a handful of plastic bags, then shoving them into Kevin's hands. "I'll distract 'em while you guys get up on the roof!" Diane shouted over the din of groans and breaking glass. "I'll try and get to my cruiser!"
Kevin stopped scooping armfuls of snack cakes into a plastic bag. "What?!" he shouted, dropping the bag as he whirled about to face the policewoman. One of the windows cracked and fell partly out of its frame, allowing what was left of a chewed up young man in a blood stained tee shirt to land sprawling on the floor. Diane drew her sidearm and fired three times, the first two rounds missing before the third found its mark, evaporating the back half of the thing's skull. Already two more were starting to wriggle through the hole and another was half in the store though the broken door at the back of the building.
Diane ran to the back of the store, put her pistol against the man's forehead and fired, then grabbed the man by the collar of his shirt and slung him out onto the concrete. "FUCKING /=GO!=/" she shouted over the ringing in her ears as she unlocked the back door, then turned and shoved her way past a couple of the store patrons. Diane careened off one of the rows of shelves, knocking overpriced boxes of cereal to the floor, then righted herself and made her way toward the front of the store. One of the big picture windows finally gave way with a thunderous crash, and the groaning things on the other side tumbled through the open window.
For a moment, all Diane could do was stare at the men writhing on the floor as they tried to regain their feet. The shards of broken glass split their palms and knees open, though they didn't appear to even notice. She nearly jumped out of her skin when the window at her shoulder exploded inward, and she flinched away, raising a hand to protect her face from the flying glass. "DIANE! C'MON!" Kevin roared from the back door. He waved frantically toward the open door, obviously trying to get her to follow him outside. A glance at the window the two creatures had busted in told her that she might be able to make a run for it to her cruiser that way...