Outbreak

This caused his heart jumped into his throat for a second 'til he realized who it was. It was the girl; he could see her peeking around the corner of the mostly empty can goods aisle and she seemed to be just looking around which was bad enough. Oh great he thought, bring trouble right to me why don't you.

To make matters worse she looked right at him then as if reading his thoughts, but if she could she certainly didn't leave like he would have wanted her too.

Staying as deep in the shadows of his hiding place as he could, Kevin decided she couldn't really see him from over there, but she definitely could see the open door he was hiding inside of.

In fact he could almost imagine the gears turning in her head wondering if she could make it without being spotted. They both heard someone shout from behind her and that seemed to give her the motivation she needed to try for it.

Kevin just had time to duck back further out of sight behind a large stainless steel cart of some kind before the girl darted through the door and pressed herself up against the wall.

From his new hiding place Kevin watched her take a moment to pull herself together then even with her hands locked behind her back. She started trying the doors looking for a way out; he already knew that this area of the store didn't have any exits but was worried that she was making enough of a racked to get some ones attention.

Considering this Kevin decided he really didn't have much choice but to grab her and shut her up. So putting down his shotgun he waited for her to turn her back and started moving toward her as quietly as he could.

Kelly found herself starting to panic now; she had gambled that she'd find an exit in here but the only doors out of this room other than the one she came in seemed to lead to some kind of walk-in refrigerators. Not exactly what she had in mind since she was almost certainly trapped in here now.

Desperately trying to decide what she should do now Kelly didn't hear anyone coming up behind her over the pounding of her heart. In fact the first warning she had was when a sweaty hand clamped over her mouth and an arm snaked around her middle, lifting her petite body off the ground.

Kevin was at first glad that the girl looked pretty short, since he thought it would make her easier to control once he had a hold of her, but as soon as he grabbed her she went berserk and it took all the strength he had just to hold onto her.

To top it off if it wasn't for the hand over her mouth he was sure that she would have been howling like a banshee. Kevin knew neither of them could afford all this noise, deciding to quickly do something about it he tightened his grip and hissed into her ear to shut the hell up!

Kelly who had been fighting with all the strength she could muster to get lose that is 'til a voice she didn't recognize told her to shut and stop fighting.

"This is strictly business!" the voice went on hissing to her. "I'm not going to hurt you but you have to be still!"

The young woman really didn't have any reason to trust whoever it was that had a hold of her, not after everything she had been through that morning already but with what could be called a leap of faith she chose to believe this so far unseen person that was holding her.

Kevin felt her relax in his arms and breathed his own sigh of relief. "Now I'm going to let you go so don't make a sound unless you want to get both of us killed. Nod if you understand." he whispered to her. Feeling her nod in response, he loosened his grip and she wiggled free of his embrace. This was a tense moment for if she started screaming or took off he would have to do the same and just hope he could get out of here in one piece. But thankfully she didn't do either; she just slowly turned to looked at him.

Getting her first look as her rescuer Kelly really couldn't see him too well in the darkened room. Though she already knew he smelled better than the other three she had been with. He was taller than she was but that wasn't unusual since she only stood 5 feet herself. He was also wearing some kind of body armor she recognized from her time at the hospital in Lincoln, all the soldiers there had worn things like it too, but his looked different; she just hoped it worked as well as theirs did.

Kevin took a moment to take a look at her as well. She wasn't bad looking he figured with her dark hair and complexion but he put those thoughts aside for the moment since he clearly had other things to worry about right now.

By this time Mike had made his way through the grocery aisles and was starting to wonder where this damn woman had hidden herself. Once again he wondered if he could have walked right passed her in the stores gloomy interior and not known it? He sure hoped not. Earl wouldn't let him live that down; it was bad enough that she had gotten away from him in the first place but to add insult to injury like that would be just too much, he grumbled to himself.

Having moved to the very end of the row and unable to go forward any further Mike looked around and could see an open door ahead. He wasn't sure where it led but figured that if he had been her, he might have run in there to hide. Well one way to find out, he decided with a shrug and started forward.

Kevin was about to ask the lady he now found himself with who she was, when he caught some motion out of the corner of his eye; instinctively glancing at it he saw someone coming right at them. With the one glance he got, Kevin could see they were in trouble. The guy was armed for one thing with a double barrel shotgun, and if one of them were here then the others couldn't be far away. Fortunately he didn't seem particularly alert for trouble. That was good as far as Kevin was concerned, but unfortunately the two of them were still trapped in here.

Grabbing the girl he whispered to her to be quiet and pulled her around behind the stainless steel cart he had hidden behind before, hoping that the new arrival would just take a quick peek and then leave. Getting her down on her knees beside him he picked up his shotgun again and tried to get ready for the showdown he didn't want.

Not expecting any real danger since he was only looking for an unarmed and handcuffed women, Mike just came walking in. It was dark in here, even gloomier than it was in the rest of the store since as least out there they had sky lights to give some light to most of the open space in the store. But in here only a single dim night light was on.

More out of curiosity than anything, Mike opened the large door to the first cooler to see both what was in there as well as to see where the girl was hiding. After closing the door he saw the light switch on the wall and on a whim, based on a lifetime of doing it without a second thought, decided to try it out and see if they still worked. Flipping the switches, he was rewarded with the hum of the florescent lights snapping on flooding the room with light.

As soon as the uninvited guest went for the unexpectedly working light switch Kevin knew he would have to take action, since with the lights on the few shadows that were giving the two of them some protection would be gone and both of them would be seen as soon as this guy turned around. In addition to that, Kevin cursed his own stupidity; he hadn't even thought to try the lights when he was here alone. He'd just automatically thought that they were out along with the rest of the lights in the building. Now that lack of forethought on his part could very well get them both killed.

Steeling himself he signaled for the girl to stay put and with his shotgun at his shoulder he moved forward. Unfortunately the boots he was wearing gave off a squeak as he moved across the tile floor. Reacting at once Kevin took another quick step to get to nearly point blank range, so if this guy wanted to be a hero there was no way he could possibly miss now.

With the lights on Mike felt better but his comfort was cut short by the sound of rubber squeaking behind him. With a start he turned and found himself staring down the barrel of what looked from his up close and personal perspective to be the world's biggest gun. Frozen in shock at the unexpected turn of events he gave the other man all the time he needed.

Kevin quickly took control of the situation as well as he could, since the surprise of finding him here was about all he had going for him. "Hello there, now you do exactly what I say and no one needs to get hurt here ok?"

The kid, which it was clear that was all he was, managed a shaky nod. Kevin liked that response; it meant the kid was listening.

"Now I want you to drop the gun, just put it down." Mike didn't understand for a second 'til he realized he still had his own shotgun resting uselessly in his hand. For a moment he thought about trying to get a hold of it to use it but what he was thinking must have appeared on his face for the man confronting him quickly reacted to it.

Kevin could see exactly what was going through the younger man's mind when he remembered he still had his own gun. He really didn't want him to do something stupid so he calmly nipped that idea in the bud.

"Don't even think about it!" he told the younger man calmly but with a level of certainty that let him know that he would kill him if he had too.

Mike might not have been the smartest guy in the world but he knew that if he tried for his shotgun this man would kill him. So he did the only thing he could and set it down on the white tile floor and raised his hands.

"Good, that's good," Kevin told him. He wanted to keep things as friendly as possible, and certainly didn't want to provoke anyone into doing anything rash.

Then a thought occurred to him and he asked his new acquaintance. "You don't have the key to the lady's handcuffs do you?" Mike hadn't even thought about that, but no, he didn't have them, Earl still did.

"Just nod if you have them," the man with the big gun asked again. Mike hoping he wasn't about to get shot could only shake his head.

Kevin was a little disappointed about that, but it had been a long shot anyway, oh well down to business, in as calm and even of a voice as he could manage he told the other man, "Ok here's the thing, I don't want to kill you and I don't think you want to be dead so what do you say we all try to work together to make sure that on one dies today, ok?" Not waiting for a response he continued, "So with that in mind the lady and I are walking out of here."

"Lady, come on." Not hearing any movement from his prompt after a moment Kevin stepped back and to the side enough to get a look at her without taking his eyes completely off the man to his front.

She was still where he'd left her seemingly frozen in place. Kevin knew that he'd told her not to move and while under other conditions he might be grateful for her ability to follow directions this wasn't the right time for that and knowing he didn't have the patience for this right now Kevin simply chose to laid down the rules. "Look," he said trying to look her in the eye, "I'm going if you want to stay here with him," he said motioning toward Mike with the end of his shotgun, "that's fine with me but I'm going."

Kelly who had been more than happy to stay where he had told her too and had watched the confrontation unfold in front of her now had to make a choice. That was whether to trust this man that until a few minutes ago she had never seen before or take her chances with the other three.

Finally hearing that he would leave her if she didn't get moving spurred her to action and she stood up from behind the cart she'd been using to hide and moved over to her apparent savior. Seeing her at last make her choice, Kevin simply told her to stay behind him then turned back fully to his other uninvited guest. "Now me and the lady are walking out of here, so just be calm and we can all get on with our day."

Then with the girl behind him Kevin started backing out the door, he knew they would have to make a run for his truck at some point, but the longer he could put that off the better.

After the two of them had crossed about halfway to the relative safety of the empty grocery aisles, Kevin decided they'd backed up far enough and told his traveling companion, "Let's go," and started to turn.

It was at this moment he heard a shout of warning from the girl. Fortunately he'd turned to his left toward the front of the store, so he saw the reason for the shout at once; one of the other guys this young kid had been with was standing next to a vegetable display case with only a few now spoiled examples left in it but more importantly he was raising his pistol for a shot. His adrenaline already pumping, Kevin reacted first and got his shot off a fraction of a second before the other guy did.

It was also fortunate that even though the shot was hurried and a little off target the #1 buckshot his Remington 870 was loaded with meant that it didn't matter. With the range of only about 60 feet the pattern for the shot only expanded to about 20 inches. Well over half the pattern found its mark.

The arriving buckshot caught Ted from the neck down to the middle of his chest. He never knew what hit him. Ted did fire his own shot but it went wide of its mark, hitting somewhere at the far end of the store.

The sound of the gun shots going off inside the otherwise quiet store was astonishing to all of them; in fact the muzzle flash from his own shot nearly blinded him for a moment.

Kevin had never actually shot any one before, even during his time in the Air Force; he'd never fired a weapon in anger. Now he'd taken a life, not in some far away land but right here in his own home town, he found himself frozen for a second in shock at what he'd done.

Fortunately though he snapped out of it quickly, remembering he still had another bad guy right near him, he worked the action with a satisfying chunk- chnunk sound that is unforgettable to anyone that ever heard it and even though all this had only taken a few seconds the young kid they had confronted first had already snatched up his own shotgun and looked like he wanted to take a shot of his own.

Turning back to his first target Kevin fired at once, more in the interest of getting the other guy to have to take cover than in any belief he would actually hit anything, Mike had seen the guy in the body armor who had apparently shot Ted now turning back to him and decided that discretion was the better part of valor and did duck around the corner just before the shot aimed at him shredded the thin swinging metal door he would have used for cover.

Firing again for good measure Kevin now knew it was definitely time to get the hell out of here. He didn't really think that he'd hit the second guy but he also knew he wasn't going to hang around to check. Turning back to the girl he grabbed her and jerked her along with him as he headed back through the mostly empty canned goods aisle.

Kelly didn't know what to think. One second they were just trying to get out of a dangerous situation alive and now the man who had apparently saved her had shot one man for sure and maybe shot another one and now they were running for their lives though a deserted Wal-Mart. It was insane!

Kevin found himself very busy what with trying to reload, keeping an eye on the women he had helped, and trying to navigate through the darkened store all at the same time, it could be forgiven that he forgot for a moment there was another potential bad guy out there that might not be in the best of moods now that the shooting had started.

Earl much to his own irritation had found himself the furthest away when the action had started, but after hearing all the shouting then shots he wasn't sure exactly what had happened but whatever it was he knew he wouldn't like it.

But then he found his luck apparently changing when as he moved to the sound of all the excitement he saw two people running across the aisle from the grocery section of the store to the dry goods, he only had a second to size up the situation but he recognized the women at once but the man with her he hadn't seen before.

Figuring he had found the source of their current problems. Earl pulled up the muzzle of his AK-47 and starting firing from the hip. It was unfortunate for the would be evangelist that he had seen too many movies. Shooting from the hip like he was all he managed to do was alert the people he was shooting at that he was there and punch a few holes in some consumer products.

Hearing the unexpected shots ringing out Kevin instinctively dove for cover behind a display of paper towels. Hearing the distinctive sound of the AK-47 Kevin only then remembered with a grimace there had been three of them who had come into the store together. But with his own gun now at the ready he rolled over to look around the corner. But after taking a peek he could see that the other guy was already gone. Kevin allowed himself to relax for a second but only then realized that the girl was gone too.

Quickly looking around he couldn't see her anywhere. Cursing his luck today he considered just leaving her for a second and slipping out of the store while these rednecks chased after her. But he rejected that idea almost immediately.

While he might be very interested in saving his own skin right now but he just couldn't leave her here to these assholes tender mercies. So rolling back to his feet Kevin started after her likely course hoping he could find his wayward partner before they did.

After taking his shot at whoever it was that was helping the girl, Earl figured that he needed to check on his two compatriots rather than taking on whoever it was out there alone. So heading around the other way he used a row of display cases for cover and moved toward where he had heard all the initial shooting.

Only now with the sudden quiet settling over the scene did Mike finally work up the nerve to come out of the back room he'd been hiding in after the shooting had started. With his double barrel shotgun at the ready he eased out of his hiding place to take a look around.

All he found were Ted's legs poking out into the aisle. Anticipating that he really wasn't going to like what he was gong to find, Mike figured though he still really should take a look so he eased over to check on his temporary compatriot.

Mike would be the first to tell anyone that asked that he didn't know much about medicine. But even to his untrained eye one look at what was left of Ted told him there wasn't anything he could do for him.

Sensing someone coming up behind him then, Mike whirled with his finger on the trigger only to stop at the last second from shooting at Earl who had finally made his way over to them.

Earl almost asked where Ted was that is 'til he saw the same pair of twitching legs that had drawn Mikes attention taking a closer look for himself he came to the saw conclusion as Mike had, the guy whoever he was had got him good.

While his follower was still alive, it was clear from the gurgling sound his friend was making as well as the ever expanding pool of blood forming on the floor around his body that he wouldn't be for much longer.

Grabbing Mike, Earl turned him away from his gruesome fascination with what he was seeing with Ted and toward him.

Looking the younger man in the eyes he said, "There's nothing we can do for Ted but we can get some payback on the fucker that shot him, you with me!"

With one last look at Ted, Mike reached the same conclusion as Earl had. Amazed at his own clarity of thought, he took the time to pick up Ted's dropped pistol and even remembered to get the extra clip of ammunition the dying man had for it in his pocket. With that now in hand Mike did one last service for Ted when he after looking the unfamiliar weapon over for a second, he pointed it at Ted and pulled the trigger.