Ill

Maybe if I were smart enough that day, I would've paid more attention the woman in the back wrapped in blankets and sweating bullets on the bus. It was the middle of May, for God's sake. Maybe then I would have noticed her get off the bus after me as I walked past the parking lot and into work. If I would have just turned around, maybe I would've noticed her pass out on the floor and die. And then come back to life. It still makes me shiver that I was right fucking there. When we watched back the security tapes, I couldn't handle how badly that made my stomach churn. But I'll get into that later.

I can't exactly say that I was happy to be at work. I mean, I hated the customers and the pay was shit, but my coworkers were amazing, and making lattes was sort of relaxing.

“Oh my God, Reina's here!” Candace exclaimed happily from behind the register. She did this every time I came into a shift. I smiled brightly as I got my apron from the back room where I was met by Axel, Lindsey, and Zeke. I received a round of “heys” and nods before they walked back out front to help Candace with the line.

“Hey Reina, my break is in ten. Would you mind restocking everything before I leave? We haven't gotten a chance to yet because these damn zombies keep coming in waves." I remember laughing at that comment. I was the one that started referring to customers as zombies; zombies of consumerism. It still pisses me off to this day. I was just bringing out the heavy ice bucket when the first scream erupted from the mall-side entrance.

“What the fuck!” Lindsey screamed as we all watched in horror as a security guard bit off a huge chunk of Walter's neck. He was an employee that worked in receiving and was just bringing out an empty crate. It all happened so fucking fast. People were screaming and running to the door towards the parking lot. They trampled over each other and eventually piled up on top of each other all trying to get out. It was chaos. My heart sank as I heard the desperate cries of the people that had gotten stuck in the doorway and couldn't get out. They just made it so easy. The ones that realized it was hopeless that way, took a chance to try and get past the security guard that was currently biting Walter's mouth off. It was like a demented, bloody kiss and I sobbed loudly, completely unsure of just what in the hell we were supposed to do. Axel ran over to the trash can and vomited at the sight. Lindsey sat in the corner and cried, and Zeke just looked at me calmly. That is, until the traumatic cacophony of screams attracted more of those rabid things into the store. And they ran straight towards the horde of terrified customers at the door.

Axel grabbed Lindsey and Candace and pulled them through the swinging doors as one of those things gunned their way towards us. Zeke quickly grabbed the bucket of ice from the floor and yelled, “Duck!” as he swung it at the guy that leaped over the counter. He, or it, fell down in a heap, whimpering like a hurt puppy. I glanced wide eyed between it and Zeke, who was steadily walking closer in its direction. Immediately I was thinking about double-tap and how most likely it was going to spring up and attack him. So I picked up one of the sharp, sandwich knives from the counter top and intercepted when the thing did just that. Zeke screamed loudly in surprise as he tripped and fell backwards. I was visibly trembling, finding it difficult to pull out the knife from its head once it went limp.

Zeke scrambled up from the floor to help me and cringed at the gushy sound it made coming out. We were both breathing heavily, and Zeke ran his hands over his pants to try and rid the sweat on his palms. He jumped over the body and grabbed the other knives over by the grill. I merely stood there shaking at the fact that I killed someone, crazy or not.