[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.“Only help I’m getting now is a bullet to my temple.Who’s doing it for me?” Mr.Moore winced again in pain and made a conscious effort to make eye contact with the three other men remaining in the room.McGreevy shook his head in a clear no, stood up, and walked out of the room.He wanted no part of this.The Chief was sobbing now.He buried his face in his father’s chest and hugged him awkwardly.Looking over his son’s shoulder he locked gazes with Phil.Phil knew what had to happen.Mr.Moore nodded ever so slightly, and hugged his son back for the last time.After a moment or two, Mr.Moore said, “Alright, tell your Mother I love her, and you take care of her now.You get your ass home and take care of Stacey and your boy.To hell with the town now, you take care of them.” Mr.Moore’s voice cracked at the end.He saw the writing on the wall, felt his clock ticking down.All the Chief could choke out was a meek, “okay.” He stood up and walked out of the office, pausing only to put a hand reassuringly on Phil’s shoulder.They looked at each other briefly, then the Chief walked past him and out.Phil could hear him starting to sob again as he passed the counter and exited the shop.The two longtime friends just sat still where they were.Neither man looked at each other while they separately contemplated the situation.From the side of the office where the paramedic’s body was, came a scratching noise.Both men looked over in unison and saw that he was twitching.“Shit that’s fast.” Mr.Moore said in a disinterested monotone.“Ayut.” Phil muttered, eyes intently on the convulsing medic.After a few seconds the twitching stopped, and his eyes popped open, fixated on the fallen gun store owner.The undead medic began the slow crawl across the office to get at his prey.He was stopped short.Without missing a beat Phil drew his revolver again and put a.357 round straight into his ear.His head blew wide open and painted the side of the desk a thousand shades of red and pink.Chunks of brain slid slowly down, mixed in with streaks of blood and clear cranial fluid.Mr.Moore watched with no emotion, and nodded his approval.“Nice shot.”“Thanks Boss.”“Okay then.”“Yep.Anything you need me to do?”Mr.Moore squirreled his face up in thought.He thought long and hard about it, but eventually shook his head no.“Okay.I’m gonna grab some stuff here, and head back to Marcy, if that’s ok?” Phil hadn’t moved an inch since he shot the paramedic.“Phil buddy you are gonna blow my head off in a minute.You don’t have to ask me for any permission to do shit.” Mr.Moore smiled.“I know Boss.I guess I’ll see you soon.” Phil’s lip trembled as he steeled himself for what he was about to do.“Not too soon brother.You take care now.” Mr.Moore closed his eyes.Phil raised the revolver and aimed at his longtime friend.He kept it there for too long though, and had to lower it.Finally he choked down a sob, and raised it again.It was the loudest gunshot Phil had ever heard.*****After he gathered himself and stopped crying Phil went back out into the store.He grabbed two of the remaining pistols, several boxes of ammunition, and threw on a hunting vest.He peeked outside to find the ambulance still parked in the lot, but the Chief’s cruiser and McGreevy’s cruiser both long gone.For the first time all day the parking lot was essentially empty.Since the ambulance arrived, no customers had come, so the store was empty.Phil turned off the coffee pot, locked all the gun safes, then unlocked all the gun safes, and walked out.He decided that if anyone needed a gun now, it was better to leave the safes unlocked.Not like he needed any more weapons really.He still had a few more at the house if it came to it.Out of habit the aging gun store clerk almost set the alarm on the door, but caught himself.Not much sense in doing that either he thought.It had gotten pretty warm outside, and the sun was beating down pretty good on his walk home.He kept a good eye out as he walked the vacant sidewalk back.He didn’t want to get jumped by anyone, especially after surviving what just happened at Moore’s.His whole walk home he tried to think of ways to tell his wife that the nightmare was here already.He tried to think of a way to tell his wife how he’d just blown his best friend’s head clean off, and shot a paramedic too.He was never clever with words though, and by the time he got home he still didn’t have any idea what to say to her.As he walked up the steps to his front door he noticed a few dark brown splotches on the concrete.Blood.Phil’s back yelled out in protest as he bent down to touch it.Gooey.Almost dry.He started to worry.The old man with the perpetually disheveled hair let himself into the front door, and drew his handgun again.The door stopped short of opening fully though, and he stumbled a bit, bumping his head on the door.He took a step back and realized the door had hit a human foot.Laying in a heap in the hallway was the body of the female paramedic that David had bitten earlier.Her body here explained why the ambulance was still in the Moore’s parking lot.Heading off in a trail towards the kitchen was a series of blood splatters.Long streaks of blood were on the wall [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]