Two Alive, стр. 48
“Wow, oh wow! Y’all got everything in here! Y’all got everything!” Miles shouted, and his head zipped back and forth, taking in everything on the shelves.
“Oh shit! They got Power Ranger armors and swords! Miles, look!” Antonio pointed off in the distance at a toy aisle where he could see the costumes, hanging from corners.
“Keep moving!” Baker yelled from the front and hit a corner so fast half his men kept running straight.
Miles and Antonio both managed to make the sharp left and continued after Baker. The other military men turned around to follow suit and they raced up the aisle with the two boys, who were moving fast. When Baker reached the air horns, Miles and Antonio pulled up right behind him; the boys taking stock of everything else in the aisle when they got the chance to look around again. The other soldiers arrived soon after, breathing hard and fighting to catch their breath.
Baker looked at the two boys, neither of them drained from the light jog like the rest of his men, and the captain scoffed at them and said, “Grab as many as you can carry and then we’ll go to the front door!”
Antonio grabbed two horns and stuffed them in the pouch of his sweatshirt. He took another and pressed the button, making the device scream in Miles’ face.
“Stoooppp!” Miles shouted and took a horn to blast in Antonio’s face.
The brothers went back and forth for a minute before Baker roared at them to stop. The boys exchanged a scolded look and pocketed the horns. When Baker and his men had grabbed all the small air horns from the shelf, he took off running for the front of the store. But the boys took off in the opposite direction, towards the back of the store.
“Where the hell are you two going?” Baker almost dropped down to aim his rifle at the boys.
“We need our armor!” Antonio called back.
“What the fuck. Lincoln, Bryant, go after them.”
Two of the soldiers went chasing the boys and the captain wet his lips before he turned on his heel and took off towards the front of the store.
Anderson stood up from his chair at the front door when he saw the captain. “Captain Baker?”
“Status?” Baker posed the question and ordered for the glass sliding doors to be opened so he could take a look for himself.
There was a barricade of wooden panels on either side of the doors to reinforce the glass entrance and beyond that was the steal shutter—what was left of it—pulled down as a wonky barrier. The entrance to the Costco was smashed in and in shambles from the events of nearly two years ago. There was still glass and scorch marks on the floor where Major Carver had set off a grenade.
They managed to fix the steal shutters as best they could, but it was a hollow barrier just meant to deter the infected and any passing survivors. Still, it was a good first defense and Baker was thankful it was still standing, and the blockade had held since they first installed the wood frames. The air whistled through cracks and small openings in the wood and small slits in the shutter door that Baker used to view the outside.
“Uh, everything’s quiet here sir.” Anderson responded finally. “Nothing but a few of the slower freaks. I think they hear the hive in the back and are going around the store.”
“Alright. Get ready to open the shutter. Anderson, you’re with me. We’re going out to take care of that infected crowd at the back doors.”
Anderson’s eyes went wide with fear, “What? Si--sir?”
“Those kids said there’s some kind of madhouse going on back there and we have to lure them to the woods before they break in.” The captain looked past Anderson and saw Bates approaching with a woman; trying to impress her and show off his gun.
When Bates saw the captain, he was startled and jogged over to meet his commanding officer. “Sir?”
Baker glanced at the woman and she spun around to go the other way. “Get this door open and watch the entrance.” The captain ordered.
“Sir, you goin’ out there?” Bates looked eager and held his Adaptive Combat rifle tighter.
Back in the monitor room, Carver, Julia and Nadine were startled when Ben came rushing into the room, short of breath. “What the hell’s going on?” He was breathing hard and after all the running, he decided to walk to the monitor table.
“Things outside have turned worse,” Julia responded. “We’re sending the boys out to take care of it.”
“What?”
Then Miles and Antonio came charging in from the doorway and ran to the office to gather their equipment and gear to put on over the new clothes they put on this morning.
“What the hell are you two doing?” Carver shouted. “I thought you said you were going to handle those freaks outside!” He stomped his way to the office door. As he did, the two soldiers who had been following the boys showed up. “What the hell is going on Lincoln?” the major shouted again, but the big black man just shrugged and stammered in response.
“We goin’! We gotta put on our gear first!” Antonio was strapping his combat vest tight over his sweatshirt and put on the hood.
Miles kicked off the sneakers he was wearing and put on his steel-toed boots. The shorts and shirt weren’t as many layers as the boy was used to when he would