THE PIRATE HIDEOUT

I stared in horror as the pirates all got out of their vehicle and went inside the building cheering and jeering as though there were no zombies around and this was just another weekend for them.

"Not particularly worried about attracting zeds, are they?" Albus said reflecting my thoughts.

"Thinking of which, did we see any zeds on the way over here?" I said thinking of the empty streets.

"The streets were clear though." Carly said thinking hard.

"Why? Do you think that they? You know cleared the streets" Albus said looking a bit marvelled.

"The roads are all clean though if they did kill all of the zeds the street would be covered in blood and guts. I'm thinking that they lured them elsewhere." I conspired "Because look the streets are clears, no stains, and they are acting as though this is the safest spot in the world right now with the noise they are making," I finished as the music started blasting from the building. "The only question remaining is where could they have taken an area full of zombies to."

I was pondering over this fact just as Albus took the lead. "We need to leave this place as quickly as possible."

"Yes, but how?" Carly said voicing my thoughts.

"Well we do need to take all of this stuff with us, don't we?" Just as Albus had finished the sentence a raggedy man came out of the building swaying a bit and squinting his eyes as he got used to the soon to be faded sun.

He locked on to the store we were in and started walking towards it with a bit of a bounce in his step, I and Carly looked at each other wide eyed in horror as we realised what this meant. Just then a head popped out of the top window from where the music originated. The man from the window shouted out, "Hey Kev, get the good stuff this time." The man I assumed was 'Kev' turned and waved to the window guy who just went back inside. As Kev staggered towards the store in an awfully slow pace, I turned the comms on, "Alright guys I have a plan." I quickly whispered the plan to them as Kev arrived. He entered the store, bringing in a stench of very stale smoke and alcohol, it was strong enough to make my eyes water. I nodded to Albus and I tossed a can of peaches towards the counter behind me creating a dull thud in the process, Kev extracted a mean looking twelve-inch knife from the waistband of his jeans. He raised it in one hand and walked over to the counter, as soon as he passed the spot where I was crouched, I moved with lightning speed and I caught Kev in a headlock while Carly punched his knife away effectively disarming him. He struggled a bit against my grip but then after a while he lay still, I checked his pulse and he was still breathing he was unconscious. Carly started to tie him to one of the racks. Albus and I started loading up our car with crates of the stuff we had packed when I came to a sudden realisation.

"Hey, you two, I think that all of this stuff belongs to the pirates." This grabbed their attention but before any of them could react a shout erupted from the building, "Hey Kev, where are you? Kev!"

"Crap! Hurry up these two boxes and we leave!" Carly said in apparent panic. We hurried and quickly loaded up the box while the man in the window kept shouting. As we started the car the window man caught sight of us. "Hey! You there stop, help, help, they are escaping quick!" he started yelling at which more sober men came to the window. Some of them who were armed pulled their guns out and rained bullets down on us just as Albus managed to start the car and out it into reverse. We managed to pull out of the alley but were met with a dead end. Carly and I pulled our own guns out and readied them, Albus drove straight out of the dead end with such speed that would make gran kill him. He reversed the car, spun around and rounded the corner as fast he could with out turning us into pancakes or flipping us over. While turning we caught a glimpse of the thugs who were trying to kill us for stealing their goods. The one in the middle raised his gun and shot at us while the other all were flummoxed and trying to dive out of the way. He shot and the bullet came towards us in slow motion, I tackled Carly down just in time to avoid the bullet or so I thought. Even after her lying flat on her seat the bullet took another second to pass completely.

We drove as fast as we could and we got out of the town, all of us trying to catch our breath.

"Back to the base then?" I asked once I had calmed down a bit.

"Yes, back to base, no detours." Albus replied in an angry voice.

"I still don't know how we are going to tell them about well, all of this." Carly said kicking her seat back and putting her feet up on the front seat, which caused Albus to give her a look of revulsion, which caused her to put her feet down. She then kept her feet down and kept her head in my lap keeping her feet on the window, I tried to ignore the grin from Albus and looked outside the window as if my life depended on it, only problem being where to place my left hand. I leaned back and stared out of the window thinking about what to tell the general and everybody back at the base.