Apocalypse: The Ice King Returned

Chapter 24: George’s Hardware Store

When Clark saw this, his eyes lit up and he exclaimed, "Luther, that's great!"

"You can learn to do things like that too, with your own powers." Luther replied urgently, "Now hurry up, the ice isn't going to last long. Let's go."

-----

East Ridge was overrun and desolate. Not many people lived here after the virus swept through it. The further they got from the city, the less dangerous it was. There were only a few scattered infected ones hidden in the alleys. But there weren’t enough to pose a threat to the three of them. These zombies were easily defeated.

Before long, they arrived at the hardware store. The shop was not very big and the atmosphere was quaint. It looked like a shop from the old days.

But the hardware store's doors were closed, and Clark stepped up and patted the door. "George, George are you in there?"

Clark was answered by a roar, followed by a thud from inside the hardware store, and the door shook from something slamming into it.

"Don't shout, Clark. The only person in there is brain-dead and bloodthirsty," Luther's words made Clark a little sad at the thought.

Luther just shook his head, then stepped back, holding his sword, and swung it toward the center of the lock on the shutter door.

There was a sound of scraping metal. Luther put away the sword and pulled the door open. He spoke quietly. "Listen, there should be two zombies in here. I'll open the door, but be careful."

With a little effort, Luther pulled the shutters straight up, and right away, a small zombie emerged from inside. Looking closer, Luther noticed that the larger zombie was wearing armor.

Luther took a mental note of this, thinking the armor could be useful. He planned to preserve it during the fight. He swiped the sword up to the zombie’s neck and removed its head with ease.

"George, it’s me!" Clark cried in disbelief, but he was met only by its pale pupils and an angry growl.

"He’s not the store owner anymore, Clark. He’s infected ow. He’s gone." Constance looked at the little zombie. It must have been only seven or eight years old.

But there was nothing they could do now. All Constance could do was sigh, throw a ball of fire, and hit it before it attacked her.

The infected child’s senses were destroyed by the fire, and it screamed and ran at her. Constance picked up an iron bar and slid it deep into the child’s head. After a few seconds, it stopped screaming.

The sound of screaming attracted other infected people to them. Luther ordered them, "Come in, close the shutters."

They stepped into the hardware store where Luther dragged in the remains of the fat zombie and pulled down the shutter. It would take some time for the zombies to destroy the shutters.

Constance made a fire that lit up the dark hardware store.

Luther didn't look for the light switch. It had been several days and the town's power system was no doubt out of service. But if they could find some sort of torches or lights inside the store, that could help them. Sure enough, he looked around and found a flashlight on a shelf, along with some headlights.

Luther flicked it on. The bright light meant that its batteries were full. Then he put on a headlamp and threw two more at Constance and Clark. "Let's find something to fight with," he said.

As Luther removed the armor from the corpse, Constance looked through the tools and asked, "George wasn’t in the hospital when he was infected, so how did the virus get to him?”

Luther listened and looked at Clark. "You should ask him."

Clark stopped and looked at the head of the fat zombie. "I think he was infected by his daughter."

"George loves his daughter. During the outbreak, he put on his armor right away. But he couldn’t stop his daughter from getting infected. He was here at the hardware store with his daughter. His daughter must have bitten him and given him the virus.”

They continued to search in silence after this, the weight of being infected by the family making them heavy with sadness. All you could hear was the sound of metal tools clanging together as they walked through each aisle.

A few moments later, the silence at the hardware store was interrupted by a crash and a roar from the doors outside, and they searched more quickly.

All the armor had been removed from George’s body, and Luther thought, "I don't need all this, Constance. Put some of this armor on."

Constance was touched to know that Luther was trying to protect her, but she shook her head. "I fight from a distance, Luther,” she said, “Give it to Clark. He has to fight with his hands. He needs it."

When Clark tried to contest, Luther stopped him and said, "Put this on, it's best for you, as long as you don't run away."

Without giving Clark time to react, Luther threw the armor at him and picked up a chainsaw. It was an oil-powered lumber saw with a full tank.

"Constance, you're strong enough to protect yourself with this. You'll be fine."

Constance took the saw and swung it twice.

With her leather jacket and the chainsaw, she gave the impression of a steampunk warrior.

Luther nodded in satisfaction. He looked over at Clark. The armor would fit Clark better than it fit George, and the soft leather was a very strong defense against zombies.

In the past doomsday, there were specialized leather armor makers. This was one of the most popular professions for human survivors. After all, defense was a big weakness of human beings. A set of advanced leather armor, which almost tripled the defense of survivors, also greatly increased the chance of them winning a fight with a zombie.

But leather armor was rare in modern society, and Luther was lucky to get it so soon after doomsday had begun.

Then he gave Clark a 1.5-meter shovel to use as a weapon. Clark was reluctant, but Luther said, "Believe me, a spade is better than any other tool here. It's harder and sharper than you would think, not even an ax is this useful."

After taking his advice, Clark looked around again. Sure, the hardware store sold mostly metal tools, and there weren't many weapons. He couldn't fight zombies with a screwdriver. If he got close enough to an infected man, they would be able to knock him down before he could stab it.