The Guy Wasn't Bad

Gavin caught the keys and tossed them straight to Madison.

Madison took the keys over to the old Ford belonging to William and Eugene, opened the door, and quickly rummaged through it.

About thirty seconds later, he returned with a scope and a short-barreled shotgun. His pockets were stuffed with shotgun shells, too.

"Gavin, look what I found."

He held up the shotgun as he spoke.

"There's another one in their car—a lever-action shotgun used by the Governor. A Winchester M1887. Cool as hell!"

"Is that so? Is that why you took so long?"

Gavin took the scope, weighed it in his hand, then shook his head.

"If you'd been any later, we wouldn't have had any use for this."

As he spoke, Gavin raised the scope and peered into the distance by moonlight and the faint glow of the streetlamps.

The figure had come much closer. It was already fairly clear.

But Gavin wanted to see whether there were any more figures behind it.

Once he confirmed that the staggering figure on the road was alone, Gavin let out a breath, hung the scope from his belt, and turned back.

"Just one zombie. He's wearing gas station clothes. The guy came out to collect our bill, boys."

"Is that so? Then we'd better have a nice little chat about the price."

Madison replied with a grin. At the same time, he worked the lever on the Governor's shotgun to chamber a round, then aimed it at Eugene on the ground.

William stood nearby, dazed and lost in his grief. Eugene, on the other hand, was still reeking of booze, but he'd caught what Gavin said and quickly asked, "You're saying that figure over there is a fucking zombie? Is that some kind of metaphor, or are you fucking making fun of me for crashing into a movie set?"

"Heh."

Gavin didn't answer Eugene. Instead, he went over to Madison, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "Keep an eye on them. I'll take care of it."

"By yourself?"

"What's the problem? We'll have to get used to dealing with zombies sooner or later. There's only one of them, so we might as well use it for practice."

"Besides, I can't be bothered to explain all the details to those two. Better to give them a little shock-and-awe."

With that, Gavin holstered his Colt, went back into the store, and picked up his combat knife.

Carrying the knife, Gavin got into the truck. As he drove, he kept an eye on the distance between himself and the zombie.

At that moment, his truck was about six hundred meters from the lone zombie.

As the truck continued forward, Gavin watched the zombie on the road intently, until he was only a hundred and forty meters away.

Gavin noticed that the zombie, which had been jogging along slowly, suddenly broke into an all-out sprint.

"An ordinary engine can attract zombies from about a hundred and forty meters away."

After muttering that, Gavin stopped the truck, got out with his knife, and waited for the zombie to approach.

As it came closer, Gavin jogged forward a couple of steps, closed in on it, and slashed its shoulder.

He was so strong that the zombie, which had been about to lunge and bite him, was knocked flat by the blow.

Before it could get back up, Gavin's knife came down again and again, chopping its head clean off.

Even after its head was severed, the gas station attendant zombie, like Gigi, kept opening its mouth as if to howl.

Gavin spat, bent down, grabbed the attendant by the hair, and carried the head back to the truck.

He hung the head out the window to keep blood from staining the inside, then carried it over to Eugene and William.

William was still a little dazed. The moment Eugene saw the head, though, he let out a stunned shout.

"Goddamn it, that thing's still moving!"

"He killed someone? Gavin actually killed someone!"

William shouted in sudden realization, but before he could finish, Eugene smacked him on the ass.

After cutting off William's stupid remark, Eugene gritted his teeth and continued, "Look closely. That head's moving. Did I get too fucking high?"

"Shit, it really is moving!"

After Eugene pointed it out again and again, William finally saw the zombie's mouth moving.

Just then, Gavin casually tossed the zombie's head at their feet.

The head hit the ground, rolled twice, and stopped by William's feet.

In the gas station's light, William stared in shock as the headless zombie tried to bite his shoe.

Terrified, William kicked out with his right foot, sending the zombie's head flying.

As he kicked it straight into the convenience store door, William shook his right foot wildly and screamed, "Fuck, I didn't get a good look at it, you idiot!"

Eugene didn't laugh. He just cursed William in annoyance, then leaned in to get a closer look at the zombie's head.

But the moment he tried to move, Madison pressed the shotgun's muzzle against him.

Eugene had no choice but to lower his eyes and look at Gavin.

Gavin waved a hand. "That's enough, Old Mac."

"Hmph. You're lucky!"

Old Mac nodded, then hit Eugene in the back with the shotgun's stock.

Eugene ignored Old Mac and rushed straight to the zombie's head. His eyes went wide as he picked it up.

"Fuck..."

He stared into the zombie's eyes for a long time, then held the head up in front of William.

"Come on. Get in the car. We're going home!"

"What... What do you mean, going home? Fuck, why is the head still moving after it's been cut off? Am I dreaming, Eugene?"

"Get a fucking grip. We have to get home, fast!"

"My sister and nephew are still there, and so are your damned dad and brother. Haven't you realized Texas is in trouble? I don't have to go to jail anymore, but this is worse than jail, fuck!"

Eugene threw down the zombie's head, then dragged the bewildered William back to the car.

As he shoved William into the passenger seat, he turned and glared at Gavin and Madison.

After a moment of silence, he moved his lips.

"Next time... Next time we see each other, I'll blow your heads off from a few hundred meters away!"

"Idiot. Save the threats for if there's a next time. Be careful on the way back, and think about all those zombie movies."

Gavin waved cheerfully at Eugene as he made his threat.

With his face flushed red and green, Eugene climbed into the car and drove off in the old Ford.

Only after the old Ford disappeared from view did Madison sidle up to Gavin and nudge his arm.

"That guy's not bad. I mean that short guy with the buzz cut, Eugene. You just let them go? They'd be more useful if we kept them here."

Eugene was only about 175 centimeters tall, and he kept his hair short. Standing next to the two of them, he really did look short.

At Madison's suggestion, Gavin shrugged and teased him. "I thought you couldn't stand that guy. You two were cursing each other out."

"So what? I know guys like him. You have to be tough with people like that. But he's pretty sharp and cautious."

"The little cop named William is a bit of a dimwit, but Eugene's an old hand. I can hate his mouth and still respect him."

When he finished, Madison looked at Gavin expectantly.

Gavin shook his head. "Didn't you hear him? They have to go home. In a disaster like this, who'd stop a man from seeing his family?"

"Fair enough. That's one of the reasons I think he's decent. At least the first people he thought of were his sister and that dimwit's asshole of a dad."

After chatting, Madison went back to the store to pack up without Gavin having to remind him.

Gavin lit a cigarette, savored the smoke, and continued picking through the goods in the store.

Convenience stores in America were generally well-stocked—or you could say they were a mess. Gavin even found a box of simple gas masks.

But trying to haul an entire convenience store away in a single pickup was pure fantasy. After the two of them picked through the goods for six or seven minutes, the bed of the pickup was nearly full.

Gavin tossed two cases of bottled water into the truck bed, looked over the load, and muttered, "That's about enough. Let's go. We might even reach my place before sunrise."

"Your call. Besides, this little convenience store doesn't have much worth taking. It doesn't even have a fleshlight."

Madison said with a cheeky grin, then stacked the last four cans of gas in the truck bed.

Afterward, he looked over at the driver's seat.

"I'll drive this time. You really should take a break. I know the way to Karens Town. Your place is near there, right?"

"Yeah."

Gavin agreed and went straight to the passenger seat. Madison eagerly climbed into the driver's seat and gave the steering wheel a vigorous rub.

As Madison started the truck, Gavin tapped on the window with his finger and reminded him, "Don't stay on the main road the whole way. Up ahead, it runs straight between Ennis Town and Corsicana Town."

"I know. We need to stay away from crowded places. But speaking of Ennis..."

Madison couldn't help looking at Gavin.