Frostbite

Late in the night, the snow fell heavy against the earth. A hooded man carrying a satchel embarked down the street with caution, he knew if he was too loud they would come. This man went by the name Thorin, and by drawing the short stick, his group had sent him around the block In search of more supplies. His nephew, Kili, had recently taken a rather bad hit to the leg whilst defending them, and they were in dire need of medical assistance. As talented as their healer Oin was, he was self-taught and didn't know how to help him beyond simple disinfectant.

Thorin supposed it was only fair that he make the trip, seeing as his sister had trusted him with her two sons, but still detested the thought of having to see the horrid sight that was a walker again. Coming to a stop, he first noticed a small, worn down grocery store, but quickly dismissed the possibility of finding anything useful there. Those were always the first places to be cleared out. Instead he turned his attention to a convenience store just next door. The thing about it that stood out to him was that, unlike almost every other store down this way, its lights were on. If the power was on it could mean one of two things, someone recently left there and there may still be supplies, or someone was currently in there with the supplies. Resting his shotgun against his shoulder, he made for the door. Whoever was in there could either be smart and give him what he needed, or meet the barrel of his gun.

Pushing open the doors, he made sure not to open them all the way and cause the door to ring. He could here shuffling in the back office, and the occasional banging against metal. Thorin could feel the repressed worry of attracting a horde rise in his gut. Whoever, or whatever was in there needed to be silenced and soon. He hastily stalked over to the office and thankfully found the door was unlocked. Upon opening it, he was slightly startled by what he found.

A young man, seemingly in his early thirties, struggled to keep a walker at bay with only a golf club, and a small bottle of what looked to be an air freshener. His protective instincts kicking in, Thorin quickly made for the corpse and promptly whacked it upside the head with the end of his gun. The startled man backed away as he delivered a killing blow to its head. After dislodging the back of his gun from it's skull, he turned toward the still shocked man. Looking him over Thorin assumed he must have been a resident living nearby to have survived the trip with so little. He was only equipped with the aforementioned golf club, a med kit of some sort, and a pocket knife protruding from the pocket of his black bubble vest.

"Who are you?" The shorter man demanded. Funny, thorin thought, seeing as he wasn't the one with the superior weapon.

"Just another survivor looking for medical supplies, is this place cleared out?" He knew he didn't want to waste much time here, but it didn't feel right to him to kill and steal from the living. "Do you have a group your traveling with? Anyone looking for you?"

"N-no, all my family members live further out in the country...There's not much here but its better than nothing. What do you need it for?"

"Just another member of our group..." He didn't think it necessary to say anything more to a stranger.

"Um...Would it be to much trouble to ask if I might tag along with you for a while? I might be able to help your friend, I was in medical school before this all happened..." He trailed off nervously.

Thorin thought for a moment, they had enough supplies he supposed, but wouldn't someone so flimsy slow them down? Still there was the matter of Kili, and if this man really knew what he was doing he could be of help in the future. He sighed and responded.

"If you think you can help us then you can follow our company for a while."

The man visibly perked up at this and gave a hint of a smile, "thank you! I've been stuck in this neighborhood for ages! Oh! um... I'm Bilbo by the way,"

"Thorin." he simply provided.

After giving the store one more thorough search for anymore supplies, the two departed back down the street, the snow having settled and their feet making small footprints.

~~:/:~~