After a brief moment of abject panic from Joe, the children led him over to a small cage made of chicken wire and a few metal poles, held up by cords leading to a pulley on the roof. It looked like the pulley had been attached to some bait, and when the bait had been pulled down, the pulley pulled the door up and it shut. Freckle looked a bit like a feral animal, sitting in the middle of the cage, his pupils dilated, gnawing on what looked like raw chicken.
"Poor Freckle…" Joe said. "He must've gone feral from all the human smell around here."
"Why didn't he eat you?" A little girl asked.
"Zombies don't want to eat me. Apparently I don't smell like a human."
"Yeah you stink," said a little boy with dirt all over his face.
Joe was too worried to acknowledge the comment. "I don't know how to bring him out of it again...it would probably require you all to go hide again."
"Why don't we just kill it?" Asked a pre-teen.
"Yeah! Kill it! Kill it!" The children started to chant.
"NO!" Joe shouted. "Freckle is my friend."
"You named the zombie?" Asked the girl from the box. "You shouldn't name zombies, then you get attached to them."
"You don't understand. When zombies aren't around humans they act completely normal. They're still people, just a little...dead. And you shouldn't kill them again."
The children mumbled among themselves for a second. One of them raised their hand. "That sounds fake."
Joe frowned. He didn't have time to deal with this. He fished the cloth mask out of his backpack's side pocket and climbed over the cage walls. Freckle glanced at him, a little nervously, but he seemed to recognize Joe on some level. He went back to gnawing on the chicken meat.
"Please spit that out," Joe said, exasperated. "That can't be good for you."
Freckle narrowed his eyes and continued to gnaw.
Joe turned to the crowd of children. "Do you have any other raw meat?"
"That was the last of our zombie bait."
Joe took a packet of beef jerky out of his backpack. He waved a piece in front of Freckle, and his eyes followed it back and forth. He dropped the chicken and grabbed the beef jerky.
"Alright, you kids back off now and lower the cage. I'll lure him out with the jerky. Make sure to hide far away so he doesn't go after your smell, alright?"
"What if he does though?"
"I'll restrain him. You should run though."
A kid pulled out a taser, another pulled out a large pocket knife, and another a lighter and a can of aerosol.
"...What are you three doing?"
"We don't trust you to restrain a zombie, man." Said the aerosol kid. "Your arms are like twigs."
"Please don't burn my friend."
The kid shrugged. "Let's just say, that I'm not gonna get bit because some rando got attached to a zombie."
The kids scurried off back into the dark corners of the store, except for one girl who went to the end of the pulley system.
"Ready?" She called, her hands on the knot. "Go!" She pulled the knot loose and one of the walls of the cage came down with a smash.
Freckle snarled, bringing his hands to his ears. While he was distracted, Joe took the opportunity to move behind him and put the mask over his mouth and nose. Freckle whipped around and snarled. Joe quickly waved around another piece of jerky and his aggression wavered. Joe tossed the jerky over Freckle's head, then skirted around the cage to the door, where he put another piece on the ground. He made a trail like that all the way to the exit of the Walmart.
Freckle followed the trail for a bit, collecting the bits of jerky in his hand, until he stopped, sniffing the air.
"Please don't run off please don't run off please don't--" Joe muttered under his breath as he got closer and prepared to restrain Freckle. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the glint of metal and the flash of a grin as Pocket Knife Kid got ready.
Joe threw all caution to the wind and suddenly grabbed Freckle by the shoulders. It seemed to startle him out of his trance for a second, and Joe looked him dead in the eyes.
"Freckle! Stay with me, man."
Freckle seemed to give up; his head lolled to the side and he went a little slack.
"Come on," Joe said encouragingly, lifting him up by the arm and forcing him towards the exit. "We're almost there."
They reached the doors of the Walmart, where the light streamed in. They were almost out into the fresh air.
There came the harsh sound of rubber shoes skidding as a little girl almost fell off the shelf to their left. She lost her grip and tumbled down, landing just feet from Freckle and Joe.
Their eyes met. Freckle's pupils dilated. The girl stayed still as a statue, staring into his half-rotted face with horror written on every feature.
Joe lunged forward, grabbing Freckle under his arms. With an enormous burst of effort, he pulled Freckle away from the girl and out of the Walmart before Freckle's zombie strength kicked in.
The fresh air hit Freckle like a truck. He stood up straighter as the fungus relinquished control of his brain. Joe was still dragging him further away from the doors when he got on his feet and walked, trying to put himself as far away from the Walmart as possible.
Joe followed him. "Are you okay? Can you see me, Freckle?"
Freckle nodded and swallowed.
Joe heaved a heavy sigh. "That's a relief. That's...that's a relief. Thought I might've lost you there."
Freckle looked at Joe sideways.
"Oh, you lost your notebook, didn't you?" Joe said, looking around. "Umm...why don't you go over to that Taco Bell and rest for a minute. I'll go back in and find it for you." He hurried off towards the Walmart again.
Freckle glanced over at the Taco Bell, then at the road leading back to the highway.