Left for Dead

"It won't stop singing!" Nick roared from the corner of the safe room trying to stop the stereo that was blasting Billy Ray Cyrus' "Achy Breaky Heart" that I had the swift idea to press the power button, which is the reason why we have copious amounts of zombies outside the safe room right now.

"Shut it off!" Ellis exclaimed quickly turning his attention to Nick and then back to the door. Rochelle shot at any zombie that stuck its arms through the door. Coach went over to help Nick. I stayed in the far corner staring at a wall, turning red from trying not to bust out laughing. I had a terrible tendency to burst out laughing in inappropriate times, making it super awkward for me considering once I get like that, I can't stop laughing.

"Fuck it! We have to go!" Coach shouted as he opened the safe room door.

Zombies roared as they charged at us, bullets flying as we made our way through the mall. I was no longer a scared puppy as reality had hit me earlier that this was life or death now, no time to fuck around anymore. It was kill or be killed. I chose kill.

"Get to that elevator!" Ellis shouted as he motioned us to run down the hallway towards the glass elevator. I jogged behind the group towards the elevator noticing a smoker had latched on to Ellis, restricting him and pulling him way behind me. The others were already in the elevator, not really paying attention as they were reloading their weapons. Without any hesitation I spun around and raised my gun, remembering what Ellis had taught me about my stance. "Pretend this fucker just turned your best friend into lunch" I reminisced Ellis' voice in my head as I pulled the trigger, killing the smoker, releasing Ellis, who rose to his feet and ran over to me with a goofy smile.

"Told you" He said proudly. I smiled but my smile was quickly wiped away as a charger came charging toward us. Ellis grabbed my wrist and dragged me with him, almost causing me to trip over my own two feet as he ran towards the elevator, he flung me into the others before grabbing his shotgun, spinning around and shooting the charger in the head. Coach caught me holding me up as I regained my balance. Ellis flew into the elevator, falling down to his knees as Nick pressed the button. The elevator began to lower. Since it was glass, I could see every zombie stare up at the sudden noise of the elevator coming down to the main floor. My heart sunk as I was appalled by how many there were. My attention went from the undead to Jimmy Gibbs Jr's car on display straight ahead, to the left where there was a stand with ammunition and what not.

"Holy...shit..." Ellis trailed as Coach reached out a hand pulling Ellis up to his feet.

"Kill all sons of bitches... right?" Rochelle asked as she handed Ellis his shotgun.

"There's the car. As soon as I pull these doors open, find those gas cans!" Nick instructed as we reached the main floor. The ding from the elevator made me gulp.

"Amber, stay by the car, we will throw the gas cans down to you" Coach said as he looked around. I gulped.

"Where are you guys going to be?" I whimpered.

"There's two stair cases, each stair case brings us to two levels of the mall, there's plenty of gas jugs, we will throw them down at you if were up there and you gas the car up." Rochelle explained with a frown on her face, "How many do we even need?" She asked directing her question to Ellis who was clearly a mechanic.

"With an engine that big and assuming its completely empty... to get to Whispering Oaks... we need at least 10. Grab 13 so we have enough to get to Whispering Oaks" Ellis replied with a sigh and nodded at Nick.

Nick and Coach pried the doors open. We ran out of the elevator. I separated from the group, running over to the stand I had noticed in the elevator. I noticed a abandoned machete and a gas can. I picked the machete up as I spun my gun, that was strapped to me, over my shoulder. I grabbed the gas can in my other hand and sprinted towards the car. I twisted the gas cap off and poured the first jug in. Zombies charged at me immediately after I did so, growling and snapping at me. I spun around and began to defend myself with the machete.

"I got one!" I yelled as I defended myself, zombies falling at my feet. Please God... Please no special infected zombies. I'm all alone down here and I'm fucked if one comes. A gas jug dropped down beside me, the impact of the fall made gas pour out of the jug. I gasped and acted quickly, running over to the leaking gas can picking it up, gas pouring onto me, leading zombies around in a maze as I ran back to the car.

"Come on.. come on.." I said out loud as I began to pour the remaining gas from the can into the car. These fucker's weren't as light as they looked. A sweat bead rolled down my forehead as I lifted the can so it could pour into the car.

"Don't throw them down anymore!" I hollered at the top of my lungs, warning my companions so our time wasn't wasted. Luckily Nick came into view, carrying a gas can in each hand. Ellis following behind him with two jugs of gas in each hand as well. I looked up at the stair cases in panic, Rochelle and Coach were making their way down, both carrying two gas jugs in their hands.

"Two in the car so far!" I exclaimed holding my machete up and waiting for the zombie that was running towards me.

I swung the machete as if it were a baseball bat and the zombie was a baseball. Rochelle and Coach finally made their way to the car with the rest of us. Setting the gas jugs down by the car like the others. Rochelle now held her gun, shooting at any zombie that got near us, defending Nick who was pouring the jugs of gas into the car. Ellis ran over to the stand where there was a bunch of supplies. He grabbed a case of water bottles and a few health packs before running back to the car. He opened the drivers door and threw the case of water and first aid kits into the backseat. He sat down in the passenger seat, pulling out a switch blade from his pocket, looking under the steering wheel. He was trying to hot wire the car to start.

"That's ten!" Nick yelled as he threw the last jug at a zombie running towards him. "Three more!" He added motioning Rochelle, Coach and I to follow him upstairs. I glanced back at Ellis who now had wires hanging out from under the steering wheel and the car door now closed. Zombies banged on the car door. Coach and Nick shot down the zombies who were trying to get at Ellis. The familiar growl a hunter nearby made me cringe.

"Help!" Rochelle screamed in terror as the Hunter pounced on her, clawing at her chest.

"Rochelle!" I screamed as I ran over to her. My adrenaline pumped through my veins as I went to save my friend. I used all my strength and rammed the machete blade the hunters back. To my surprise it fell off of Rochelle, who was now badly hurt. I pulled Rochelle up to her feet causing her to wince in pain. Her chest had huge surface gashes across it. I placed her arm over my shoulders and walked her over to the car. She limped as the way there.

"She's hurt bad!" I stated as I opened the passenger car door, leaning Rochelle against the car so that I could fold over the passenger seat. She surprisingly continued to shoot any zombie that ran toward us. I took hold of Rochelle gently, guiding her into the backseat.

"Thank you..." She whispered to me.

"Hang in there Row, we'll be out of here soon" Ellis comforted as he looked back at her from the front seat. The rumble from the car firing up startled me a little.

"Well all fucking right!" Ellis laughed as the car stayed running. He hopped out of the drivers seat and looked over at me.

"Stay here with Rochelle, I'm gonna go help Nick and Coach" Ellis said as he ran off, leaving me no choice but to agree. I held my gun and shot poorly at the zombies.

"What the fuck?" I asked out loud as this sudden rumble from the ground causing my aim to suck worse than it ever has before. A zombie that I had shot in the stomach, crawled its way over to me. I kicked it in the face and looked around. What the hell was going--

A huge zombie that looked like it had taken a shit ton of steroids in its human life, had now just came into view. My jaw dropped in shock. The rumble from the car had caught the attention of this fucking beast. It roared as it noticed the car. Oh fuck! Rochelle! I had to do something before this big fucking thing crushed her and the car. I know it's not a good idea to be a hero, especially in a zombie apocalypse and especially not when you're far from a hero. But Rochelle was my friend. These four are the only friends I have left and I can't afford to lose any of them. Not like this anyway.

"Hey! big foot. Over here" I called out at the zombie beast before shooting at it a couple times. What the fuck am I doing?

"It's a tank! Run!" I heard Coach roar from upstairs. My eyes shifted to my surroundings. Tank was a perfect name for this thing. It made its way towards me. What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do?

I turned on one foot and began to run. It chased after me, throwing zombies out of its way. I had no idea where I would lead this thing and how I would kill it. I shot at it and nothing happened, didn't even inflict pain on the fucking thing. Just caused it's rage to become worse.

"Shit, shit, shit!" I repeated out loud as I ran to the end of the wall. I turned and stood still, closing my eyes. I'm going to die. I'm going to be ripped apart like a fat man who just order a KFC bucket. At least I accomplished what I was trying to do originally. I distracted the tank from the car and Rochelle.

"Amber!" Rochelle screamed as she climbed out of the car. The tank was closing in on me. The bullets that the others were shooting at the tank, were just pissing it off. It picked up a table and threw it in my direction causing me to fly back against the wall. However, I didn't fall to the ground. I was going to die with pride. Die standing up. The tank got close to me and raised its arms above its head preparing to slam it's fists down on me, more than likely shattering my bones. I closed my eyes.
The wind was knocked out of me as Ellis leaped in front of the tank, pushing me out of the way, tackling me to the ground. We slid out of the way as the other three, Rochelle included, ran towards the tank, constantly shooting at it, bringing it down to its knees.