Hastily she grabbed the dusty packages, always checking her surroundings.
The sharp hissing sounds she became aware of a few minutes ago, had not gone louder, leaving her with a certain calmness.
She had been on her own since when? About 3 months? One lousy corpse would not get in her way of these medications.
After she stored all the ciprofloxacins and doxycyclines into her tan backpack, she rushed to the exit of Grady Memorial. It did not take her long, nor did it scare her. She knew these empty and forgotten halls by heart as she had been working there since two years before the outbreak.
She sneaked around the empty parking lot, grabbing her backpack and her new treasures very tightly. As a nurse she knew the worth of her findings and was not going to lose them.
"HEY!" Her heart almost stopped, as a dark figure got in her way. In the darkness she could only see his broad, bare shoulders, glistening with sweat in the moonlight.
He was armed with a crossbow, so she could tell by the reflections of the metal. Shocked she grabbed her backpack even tighter. No way he would loot all her precious pills. He could take her body for all she cared, as long as he let her live and leave with her stuff. She locked eyes with him, answerin with a firm, proud voice: "Hey what?"
Suddenly, another deep, raspy voice rose up from behind the dark figure. A man, slightly smaller, stepped up from the darkness.
„May we ask who you are?"
"What do you care?" she flustered.
"We're just worried about you wandering around this place all by yourself.", he answered calmly, but still she felt they were a menace.
"Well I can assure you I can take care of myself" , almost to assure herself and to put a certain weight to her words, she grabbed the gun she was wearing in her belt.
The two men stepped back. „Alright girl, listen, we don't want to hurt you ok?" Said the second figure, while the first one got nearer again. "Who are you? What do you have in there?" He asked with the huskiest voice.
A bright shatter filled the nights quiet, a corpse had tumbled into some scrap metal. The two men turned their heads at the sharp sound, holding up their weapons and she took her chance. She fled the scene as fast as her legs carried her, into the warm night. She heard her attackers tumbling to follow her but she knew she was faster. She ran these well known streets to her old home, some corpses tried to get a bite out of her but were no challenge for her or her knife.
Totally shaken and out of breath she arrived at her door, fumbling her keys to get into the safety of her home. A muscular arm shoved into her field of view. Slowly she turned her head to see the face of the intruder. Bright blue eyes which eyed her sternly, salt and pepper beard, all framed with gorgeous brown locks. He started speaking and his throaty, gasping voice revealed him to be the second man from a few minutes ago. "Listen, we don't want any trouble, we can help you." "Yeah sure." "It's true" gasped the first man from earlier. "We got a camp, we can help." He let down his weapon and went through his greasy, chin long hair.
She sighed and admitted her defeat. Not even caring about what would happen next, she turned the key and let them into her home.
"Just so you know, if you try something, I'll kill at least one of you.", she told them still with her brave voice. They nodded understandingly as she lead them into her one and only room.
Their eyes widened at the items in her chamber. Canned goods, water, and a shitload of medication. Both of the intruders grabbed their weapons, pointing at her.: "Who the FUCK are you? Where are your people?", they asked with one voice. "I'm alone" she shrugged. "Yeah right! ", said the guy wielding the crossbow, tossing some cans to the ground. She twitched at the loud noise: "Could you fucking not?"
"If you're alone, then why do you got so much stuff?", the intruder asked angrily.
"Well, I was a hoarder even before the shit hit the fan so... And I thought medication could become the new currency."
The bearded guy raised his eyebrows and eyed her hard.
"The way you moved around the hospital grounds... Did you know this place from before?"
"Yes I did, used to work there as a nurse."
They shared a look. She didn't like that look. Bearded guy spoke again: "You need to come with us!" he whispered.
"Oh hell no dude, Im getting along just fine." she sighed, rolling her eyes at them.
"No you don't understand, this is not a choice!"
Before she could answer, the first man grabbed her wrists and the last thing she thought was 'FUCK'.
For a brief moment, she saw the second guy coming at her with the handle of his gun.
Darkness.