Chapter 29: Unexpected Attack
"Find cover!" Hanks roared, shoving Glenn hard to the ground.
Almost instantly, a spray of bullets tore through the spot where they'd been standing.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Rounds slammed into the shelves and walls behind them, throwing sparks and debris. Glass bottles shattered. Food packaging shredded to ribbons.
"Shit!" Glenn yelped.
He nearly got clipped by a ricochet, scrambling awkwardly with his heavy storage bin behind a toppled shelf.
Hanks was forced into a roll, taking cover behind a pile of collapsed cardboard boxes. The heavy backpack and bin made his movements sluggish.
Gunfire ahead, walker horde behind.
They were completely pinned down at the supermarket entrance, trapped in this narrow kill zone.
The first walkers that burst out lunged close, arms reaching for Glenn's feet.
"Fuck!" Glenn's soul nearly left his body. Survival instinct overrode everything.
He swung the baseball bat he'd been clutching with every ounce of strength, smashing it into the nearest walker's head.
Crack!
A dull thud. The bat connected solidly with the walker's temple.
Its head twisted at a grotesque angle, body staggering sideways, temporarily disabled but not dead. It still clawed uselessly at the floor.
"Finish it! Smash its head!" Hanks's shout came from the other side, where he faced three walkers simultaneously.
Hanks's eyes went cold as blades. Facing three walkers charging at once, he showed no panic whatsoever.
His body weight dropped low, evading the first walker's lunge. The screwdriver struck like a viper.
With pinpoint precision, it drove upward from beneath the jaw, punching through the skull cavity.
The motion didn't pause.
Using the falling corpse's momentum, he spun sideways, seizing the second walker's flailing arm and yanking it down hard.
Crack!
The sickening sound of snapping bone accompanied his right hand screwdriver—still carrying residual blood and brain matter—slashing horizontally. The sharp tip acted like a blade, instantly opening the second walker's throat, even severing part of the spine. Foul black blood sprayed out.
The third walker reached him just then.
Hanks didn't even retreat. He launched a vicious front kick, explosive strength driving his boot into its chest.
WHAM! The walker flew backward.
He followed like a shadow. The instant before it hit the ground, his right hand drove the screwdriver down like a thrown javelin.
Splat! The screwdriver punched through the eye socket, ending the walker completely.
In the span of heartbeats, all three walkers lay dead. The process was clean, efficient, brutally ruthless.
On the other side, Glenn heard the reminder and looked at the walker still struggling on the floor.
He mustered his courage, raised the baseball bat again, and slammed it down with his eyes squeezed shut.
Once. Twice. Three times.
Not until the skull burst like a rotten melon did he stop, gasping for breath, stomach churning.
But the crisis was far from over.
More walkers poured endlessly from the employee room, howling as they charged.
The gunfire outside had stopped. A man's arrogant voice replaced it.
"The hell! We found this supermarket first! Two of our guys died drawing most of those things away!"
"You people inside, listen up!"
"Everything you got! Food! Water! Weapons! Throw it all out here!"
Glenn trembled violently, not just from the walkers but from the people outside. His mindset was still stuck in delivery driver mode. Even facing walkers required mental adjustment before he could bring himself to act.
Hanks ignored the shouting outside. He glanced over.
A walker was lunging from the flank toward Glenn, who was still gasping and dealing with his internal crisis.
Hanks's right hand didn't hesitate. He hurled the screwdriver with force.
The cross-head tool, covered in red and white matter, became a streak of cold light, whistling through the air.
Thunk!
With perfect accuracy it nailed the walker's temple. The massive force made it stagger back two steps before crashing down.
Glenn jumped at the sudden noise. Seeing the fallen walker with the screwdriver embedded in its head, he instantly understood what happened. His face went pale.
"Th-thanks, officer!"
Hanks didn't respond. He'd already drawn his P226 pistol from his waist.
Click! Round chambered.
Facing the surging horde, his expression showed no fluctuation. He raised the gun, aimed, pulled the trigger.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gunfire echoed violently in the enclosed supermarket. Every shot precisely hit a walker's skull.
Foul blood and brain tissue exploded repeatedly. The walkers in front fell like wheat being cut down.
Shell casings clinked to the floor.
Hanks's movements were steady, fast, efficient, not a single motion wasted.
His stability was terrifying. Even his breathing rhythm barely changed.
The muscle memory from his handgun skill let him maintain peak killing efficiency even in desperate circumstances.
His powerful handgun skill and calm mindset displayed themselves to perfection.
The P226 emptied its twenty-round magazine in just seconds.
Over a dozen walkers already lay dead under his gun. The horde's momentum faltered.
The pistol locked back empty. Magazine spent.
Hanks didn't hesitate. His thumb hit the release. The empty magazine dropped. Almost simultaneously, a fresh loaded magazine came out of his tactical pocket with a click, sliding precisely home.
Slide forward. Round chambered again.
The entire process was lightning fast.
Outside the supermarket, hearing the sudden burst of intense gunfire inside, then the abrupt silence—
The survivors outside startled first, then shouted again with deeper greed:
"Shit! You got guns? Sounds like a good piece! Quick! Throw out the guns and food! Otherwise when you run dry, you're dead anyway!"
"Plenty more of those things inside! Let's see how many you can kill! Hand over the goods and maybe we'll be generous enough to let you live!"
"Officer... what do we do now?" Glenn's voice trembled as he looked at Hanks with despair.
Hanks ignored everyone. His brain worked at maximum speed, calculating ammunition, distance, risk.
The walkers in the supermarket seemed endless. The gunfire had only stimulated them into greater frenzy.
Though they hadn't all converged yet, from the sounds they were practically on top of them.
The people outside clearly wanted to wait until Hanks and the walkers wore each other down, or ran out of ammo, then swoop in for easy pickings.
Can't wait.
Hanks made his decision instantly.
"Glenn! Listen! On three, take your food bin and throw it toward those bastards at the entrance with everything you've got!"
"Huh? But our food—"
"Do it! Draw their attention!" Hanks's tone left no room for argument. "Then duck immediately!"
"O-okay!" Glenn knew this was their only chance, despite the loss.
Hanks took a deep breath, adjusting his body to optimal condition like a coiled cheetah.
"One!"
The cursing outside continued.
"Two!"
Walker footsteps closed in again inside the supermarket.
"Three! Throw it!"
Glenn roared, using all his strength to shove the plastic bin full of canned goods toward the supermarket's shattered entrance.
The bin tumbled, contents clanging loudly, instantly drawing every eye outside.