He winced as the second shot rang out, but breathed a sign of relief when the vile wretch fell limb and Jake seemed unscathed from the experience;  “Don’t worry about it;” he said with a somewhat humourless grin, “I am sure you will have the opportunity to return the favour before the day is out.<br/><br/>Even before he turned to greet the sight he knew what was coming; he could read it in Jake’s face.  Every fibre of Marcus was screaming at him to run; to hightail it towards the HomeDepot building but he knew the logic of not doing that though; after all, once one of the deadheads knew of their location then more would likely be drawn to it and what he hoped would be their sanctuary would likely become their tomb.<br/><br/>Marcus turned around, the stock of the shotgun bloodied from its deployment as a cudgel.  His heart fell as he watched the six zombies that had been banging against his helicopter now charging through the car park towards them.<em>One hundred feet!</em>Marcus knew full well that for him to have a hope of hitting anything then they would likely have to get closer than that and that was a prospect that filled him complete dread.  They were moving fast, rounding the cars with one goal in mind.  He bought the shotgun up; his finger getting twitchy on the trigger,  Marcus glanced across at his new found companion in arms; his carbine readied and his gaze far more focused that his own.<br/><br/>Now more than ever Marcus felt he could do with a swig from his flask; he had a flash of memory from his youth, his grandfather lived up in Canada and each winter his family would take to his cabin for the Christmas period; his grandfather would take the young Marcus out hunting …how he wished he had actually paid attention to his advice, because he could sure as hell do with it now.<br/><br/>He sighted the dead man dressed in dirty casual attire as he rounded the front end of an abandoned car; he was close, but was he close enough;  Marcus squeezed the trigger and  the shotgun bucked in his hands as the buckshot drove hard into his shoulder and neck as it blew out the windscreen behind him and showered the floor with glittering shards of glass.  The dead man was staggered by the force of the shot and it spun into the hood of the car, but it didn’t remain down, it was soon back on its feet and rushing towards him.  The empty casing bounced on the floor by his feet as another was slot in.<br/><br/><em>Stay calm …hold your breath as you squeeze the trigger …expect it to kick like a mule and brace for it …</em>he could almost see his grandfather’s stern expression.<br/><br/>He sighted the deadhead along the bore and tried to calm the panicked beat of his heart; it was close …too close …he squeezed the trigger; the end of the shotgun lit up with a raw heat as his second shot found its mark.  The entire top quarter of its head exploded in a slick shower of blood, brain chunks and splintered bone as the force knocked the zombie of its feet; coming to rest against the fender of the car, what was left of its head lolled to the side.<br/><br/>“Shit!  I got the mother!” he glanced over to his companion, his expression was of almost childlike glee at being able to take one down; but the sight of the others unswayed and rushing forward caused the glee to turn to ash in his expression as he hastily readied his shotgun for another volley.<br/>