Sheila shrieked at each explosion. She shrank away from Pete and fell to her knees. Brad looked down at Sheila and followed her pointing finger. The wolf up ahead was no longer retreating. The eyes were approaching rapidly, and they multiplied.
Brad swung his shotgun around and fired into the dark at the glowing eyes. They kept coming. He pumped the shotgun. Before they’d left the bathroom, he’d loaded five shells in the gun. Behind him, Christine held out five more. He hoped for time to use them. Brad waited for the animals to get closer.
The eyes slowed and spread out as they passed into the edge of the light. He counted four sets.
“I’m going to need help up here,” Brad said.
He aimed at the animal in the middle and pulled the trigger. The thing seemed to sense the shot and it darted left before he’d even felt the recoil. The eyes kept coming. Brad pumped again and figured he was down to two shots.
The wolf circling to the right picked up speed. Brad turned and shot at it. He didn’t kill it, but its front leg buckled and it skidded along the floor for a few feet before it picked itself back up into a three-legged limp. The others darted left, running to flank the group. He aimed with more speed than care and pulled the trigger again. He’d forgotten to pump. The chamber was empty. The closest wolf leapt and passed so close to Brad that its hair brushed against his jacketed arm. The fur made a whispering sound against his jacket before Sheila’s scream buried the gentle sound. She still knelt on the floor. The wolf hit her in the chest as she tried to raise her arms to block the attack.
Brad pumped his shotgun as Nate turned and shot the wolf as it tore into Sheila. Brad turned his gun on the next wolf, which was leaping towards Robby. His shot tore the bottom jaw from the wolf’s face. Robby spun and let the thing sail by. It hit the floor with its front legs splayed and it thrashed its back legs until it ran into the wall.
“Give me one,” Brad said to Christine as he pulled back the action bar. He loaded the shell into the chamber, pushed forward, and fired, taking down the next wolf. When he reached back, Christine slapped another shell into his hand. He glanced back to make sure Nate had control of the wolf attacking Sheila, and then he used his next shot to dispatch the limping wolf off to the right. With the next shell, he took care of the wolf with the missing lower jaw. He scanned his light frantically as he loaded five more shells into his gun.
Behind him, Sheila stopped screaming, but breathed with a loud, gurgling sound. Pete and Lisa crouched beside her. Brad continued to scan the darkness as he listened to the conversation behind him.
“The bullet must have glanced off the wolf’s bone,” Pete said. “It went right through her chest.”
“There’s nothing we can do for her,” Nate said. “Her lung is punctured, and the wolf bit into her shoulder.”
“We’re not leaving her,” Lisa said.
“Nobody said we’re leaving her,” Nate said. “Just put her arm over your shoulder, Pete, and try to put pressure on the wound.”
“We have to move before they respawn,” Robby said.
His statement made Brad turn around and face Robby. “You think they’ll do that?”
“What’s ‘respawn’ mean?" Lisa asked.
“You have reason to think they’ll do that?” Brad asked again.
“Yes, it stands to reason,” Robby said. “They were stuffed—just skin and fur—and now they’re breathing, bleeding animals.”
Pete and Lisa lifted Sheila, who moaned through her gurgling breath. When Pete hugged her close to clamp down on her wound she exhaled a strained sigh. Lisa supported Sheila’s other armpit, but Pete took most of the weight because he was taller.
“What’s ‘respawn’ mean?” Lisa asked again.
“It’s like in a video game, where the monsters come back to life every so often,” Brad said. As he spoke he turned his light back to the darkness, looking for more glowing green eyes.
“Faster,” Nate said. “I don’t want to find out what happens next around here.”
Nate whipped back around when they heard a clattering sound behind them. He turned just in time to see the deer, hooves slipping and leaving bloody footprints, emerge from the hall to the bathroom. It paused for a second, eyes locked with Nate’s headlamp, before it turned and trotted off, deeper into the store.
“Deer respawn,” Nate said. “Move faster.”
Brad and Robby led the group in a fast shuffle. Pete and Lisa tried to move as gently as they could, but Sheila began to convulse and deep red blood spilled from her lips. She couldn’t inhale. Pete compressed her chest with another hug and tried to seal the hole with his finger before air could leak back in around her lungs. Sheila managed one more labored breath before her body shook and her head slumped to her chest. Lisa and Pete exchanged a look over Sheila’s slumped head, and kept carrying her dead weight.
The passed down a long hallway. A pair of moose lay in giant pools of blood, leaning against the windows which stretched from floor to ceiling. The windows revealed nothing but packed snow. Robby walked closest to the moose, leaning in to get a good look at them as they moved by. Brad kept his attention forward, reacting to every glint and reflection coming from the display cases up ahead. In the hunting department, Brad moved quickly down the wide wooden staircase, sweeping his shotgun in wide arcs to inspect every corner as he descended. He waved to the rest and they hurried down the steps. Pete and Lisa fell behind, struggling to wrestle Sheila down the stairs. They reassembled at the bottom and moved as a group to the utility stairs which led to the upstairs offices. Nate closed the twisted door behind them and caught up with the group at the foot of the stairs.
“We’re going to need a hand if we’re taking Sheila out of here,” he said.
“Is she?” Brad asked.
“Yes,” Pete said. “She died back around the moose.”
“Leave her?” Brad asked.
“How can we leave her?" Lisa asked. “One of those things will eat her.” Lisa shifted Sheila’s weight on her shoulder and winced with the effort. She didn’t look like she could carry Sheila another three feet, let alone up three flights of stairs.
“Trade with me,” Romie said. She held out the crossbow.
Lisa took it, but said, “I’m a lousy shot.”
“I’ll take it,” Christine said. “I’m a great shot. Here, you take these.”
Christine gave the bag of shotgun shells to Lisa and took the crossbow.
“Okay?" Nate asked. “All settled? Can we get moving now?”
“Come on,” Romie said. She pulled aggressively towards the stairs. Pete struggled to keep up. When they reached the top floor, Pete was panting, but Romie was still strong.
“Put her down for a second,” Romie said.
Pete rolled his shoulders back and twisted his neck to find relief for his stiff muscles.
The group moved away from the stairs and gravitated to the broken window where they’d entered. Only a faint glow from the cloudy evening came in through the window, but it was still more attractive than the absolute darkness of the snowbound lower floors. Nate closed the door to the stairs and then got Brynn to help pull a desk in front of it.
“What now?" Lisa asked.
“I say we fire those tractors back up and head north right away. We can sleep when we’re dead,” Pete said. He blushed and realized his poor choice of words when he glanced down at Sheila’s lifeless form on the floor.
“Pete’s right,” Nate said. “Let’s put some distance between us and this place. We’re short a couple of drivers, but I can set up Brynn to drive one.”
“We’re not short,” Pete said. “We’ve got Brad now.”