Two Alive, стр. 99
“Just go!”
“It ain’t like some shit like you keepin’ somebody infected in there, is you? If so, then you crazy.”
Carver stepped forward but Antonio tightened his finger on the trigger and the major back down.
“But naw. You ain’t that crazy.” Antonio pointed the gun down and fired at the lock and blew it off.
Carver growled and prepared to charge again, but Antonio turned his gun on him and pulled the trigger again. But nothing. The weapon was empty. The corner of Carver’s mouth went up and he ran at the young boy with newfound vigor.
Always check your ammo. The old man would be pissed. Antonio was pissed. Because of the overstuffed backpack on his back and the bag on his front, he couldn’t reach his knife and Carver was on him before he could do anything else. The weak front the major was putting on a second ago was gone and he was big veteran muscle as he grabbed Antonio by the throat and slammed him on the ground. Antonio fought to get Carver’s hand from around his neck and tried to overpower the bigger, older man, but couldn’t.
Don’t be greedy. The old man would’ve been pissed he stopped to check the truck trailer. But it was Miles’ fault for making him check the file cabinet. There was nothing in there but there’s definitely something in that trailer. Otherwise, why would Carver fight so hard to stop him. He was willing to kill Antonio to keep him from getting what was inside. It was Miles’ fault they were ever here to begin with. Miles was the one who was greedy. Miles chose to come to this store in the first place. Miles was going to be responsible for another death. Just like the old man. Antonio could feel himself starting to blackout as his windpipe was being squeezed close. He fumbled around with his hands trying to grab anything or punch Carver in his smiling face.
Then a loud pop could be heard coming from the other side of the store and Carver snapped his head around in a panic and felt his chest tighten with fear. What was that? Where did it come from? What’s going on in the store? Then a knife was driven deep into his side and the major looked down to see Antonio’s hand holding the handle.
To the last bullet. The old man would be proud. Antonio couldn’t leave Miles behind on his own. His dumb tail would come back looking for him and get himself killed or do something stupid. And even if he did keep going on his own, Miles would blame himself for everything. And the old man told Antonio to keep Miles safe. Antonio looked the major in the eyes and pushed the older man off him.
Weaker now, Carver wheezed and collapsed to the ground fighting desperately to breathe. But his lungs burned, and his heart struggled with every pump. He coughed hard and long and his body quaked with pain. He looked up at Antonio and watched the teen climb to his feet. They looked at each other for a long time, both struggling to catch their breaths. Carver quivered again and rolled on his back to look up at the sky. What would happen to the store without him? How would they carry on? When Antonio lifted the trailer door and Carver heard it bang, he winced and slowly began to close his eyes.
Inside the store, Chakrabarti was rummaging through the cabinets in Manson’s bathroom, “Shit! Where is everything?”
The man with the gun stood near the door, nervous. “Is everything ok? Dr. Martyn? Is Major Carver going to be ok?”
“No! I mean, yes! But… we need to hurry!” The doctor knocked the cabinet over in a fit of rage, “Damn it Manson! Where is the medical equipment? The chest pads… alcohol! You bastard, did you take everything with you?”
“I think I should get back to my family.” The man at the door was sweating profusely. “This is all a bit too much for me. Escorting crazy kids who came in from outside and now the major’s sick. I don’t think I can handle all this in one day.” The man chuckled, “I wanted to join the military guys and be like Captain Baker and help protect the store, but… I don’t even know how to shoot a gun really.”
Chakrabarti sighed and went to open the bathroom stall doors, “What the hell is that smell?” He kicked open the door to the handicapped stall and saw a rotting corpse, wrapped in a clear trash bag, sitting on the seat. “Oh my god!”
The man at the door looked up and saw the creature in front of Chakrabarti. He was frozen solid for a full second, but then raised his gun and pointed it at the dead thing. “Oh my god! Is it still alive?”
“Relax, relax. It looks dead.” Chakrabarti urged the man to lower the gun. “Didn’t you just say you don’t--”
A loud bang could be heard from somewhere in the store and the building shook. The vibration caused the corpse to shake and it started to fall forward. The man at the door saw it move and felt the door behind him burst open with a gust of wind. The man screamed and opened fire, spraying bullets at the corpse, through Dr. Chakrabarti. The gunfire had ended and Chakrabarti fell to the floor, bleeding from his abdomen.
The two men at the door argued about what happened and what that loud noise was. But neither of them had an answer for anything. They didn’t even have an answer about what to do with the doctor. So they just ran out of the