SHANE'S POV:

Even though it was almost winter, it was still extremely hot. I fanned myself with my hand as I rested against the brick wall of an old Home Depot.

Rick sighed and fell to the ground, leaning back on the wooden gate across from me. My hand itched to grab the gun out of my holster and shoot him in the face right now. No… Remember what Merle said, we have to be patient. Never thought I would team up with a random redneck who was helping me to kill my best friend. But then again, I bet Merle never thought he would be partnering up with a cop to bring about the demise of a man who caused the loss of his left hand.

Daryl, ever the composed (more or less) hunter, just stood and surveyed the surrounding area. I eyes his ripped off sleeves enviously. With I had done that… But if I do it now, I'll look like a poser. "What's the plan?" Daryl drawled at Rick, cutting off my immature thoughts.

Maybe Bowling for Soup really was right… High school didn't ever end. Even in the apocalypse.

Rick took a moment to take some deep breaths and collect his thoughts. "We'll have to sneak our way into that K-mart over there," he gestured across the street at a store with plenty of walkers milling about without purpose, and, for right now anyway, without drive. "Shane and I will cause a distraction outside, drawing them away from the store. While they're focused, Daryl, you make your way into the store and gather the supplies."

"Why does Daryl have to do it?"

Rick gave me an annoyed look. "Because he's the quietest and lightest on his feet other than Kaiya and she's not here right now."

I still saw one major flaw in this plan. "How do we get back to the motel?"

He fell silent, biting his cheek as he thought.

"Yeah, and what's the distraction gonna be?" Daryl asked skeptically.

Rick stared at the parking lot outside the building for a minute before he said, "We'll hotwire some cars, set off the horns and do donuts in the parking lot. More of them will be too interested in all the noise to notice Daryl going by them. And that way we have two getaway vehicles. That way if Daryl cant get to one, there's a backup. When Daryl comes out, we all head back to the motel."

Daryl snorted. "Hot wirin' cars, disturbin' the peace, and destruction of public property. You pigs are startin' to turn around."

"So are we gonna do this or not?" I asked, shouldering my shotgun.

Rick and Daryl nodded once and we took off, sneaking cautiously across the street. We looked like paranoid wannabe ninjas. Or at least Rick and I did. Daryl simply turned into the lithe and feral hunter we all know and loved to hate. It was a short distance from our original stopping point to the parking lot, but the feat that a walker could pop up at any moment made it feel like a lifetime. No moment of gushy "If-I-don't-make-it-back" shit passed between us. We simply split up when we reached the entrance to the parking lot. Daryl stayed behind the buggy return and Rick and I went in different directions to find a car.

I ran, trying to stay low, toward an old red sedan I had locked in my sights. I was nearing the car when a single walker, much farther off than the rest, looked up in interest at me. I picked up speed and pulled on the door's handle.

But it didn't move. The door was locked. I looked back. The walker still had a little way to go, but he was becoming enraged with the fact that his food was about to get away. Thankfully he could only move so fast on those busted up legs.

I looked around on the asphalt. Wire hanger…. Hanger, hanger, hanger… Crowbar? That'll work.

I picked the hot metal up and, before I could chicken out, smashed the window, drawing the attention of more walkers. The alarm went off. More perfect for the diversion. Way less perfect for my health. Several other walkers looked up, groaning and shuffling over to me. I reached inside the busted window and popped the lock.

I hopped in and leaned down, pulling the wires out for easier access. The first walker was at the back of the car.

"Shit," I grumbled, cutting the wires. I was twisting them together when a hand reached inside the broken window and grabbed my shirt. I kept the wires in a tight grip, trying to keep calm as I pulled away and continued twisting.

"Start," I yelled at the steering wheel. "Start, damn it!"

The walker was trying to force itself through the window and into the car. The other walkers were in a mob-like formation, stumbling close to the hood of the car. Then the radio started playing.

I grinned, quickly stomping on the gas, sending the walker to the pavement. Another walker ended up sprawled out on the hood, but the others still kept coming, no sense of self-preservation guiding them. I threw the car into reverse and shot backward, the walker on the hood rolling off.

Through the commotion, I could see Rick's car spinning on the other side of the parking lot, hitting walkers left and right, as well as Daryl, sneaking silently through the store's door.

"You had better hurry, Dixon," I said, unsure why I was talking to him when I knew he couldn't hear me. I stomped on the gar once again and started making serpentine figures, skating the car in and out of the group of walkers, occasionally hitting walkers. I even started awarding myself points.

DARYL'S POV:

I've said it before and I'll say it again: shopping is a pain in my ass.

I could hear Shane and Rick out in the parking lot over the noise of the walkers, their brakes screeching as their tires slid across the parking lot.

I was able to sneak my way through most of the store unnoticed by any walkers. I had made it to the backpack area and grabbed a couple to load up our junk in, then gone to the canned foods section when I ran into the first one. Luckily, I had been able to do away with it before it could do anything to me or call others' attention to me.

I was also able to scavenge 6 or 7 cans of food. I wasn't sure what they were due to the busted lights of the store.

I quickly ran across the clothing aisle, picking random pieces of clothing up as well as ass-loads of under-things, thinking that surely someone would need these.

Then I had a dilemma. I still had plenty of room in the bags for the medicine and medical devices we could definitely use. But, as I paused right before the pharmacy section, I saw a large group of walkers, lazily groaning and barely moving from where they sat.

I needed to get into the back part where the pharmacists usually were. All I needed were a few minutes to run to the door and get inside. I felt around on the ground around me (there were random things from all over the store laying in the floor due to the initial panic the up cropping of walkers had caused) and picked up a…well, I'm not completely sure what it was but it did the trick.

I stood back up silently and threw it sideways over the aisles beside me, going for distance. I heard the whatever hit the ground with a clatter. I could clearly make out the silhouetted shapes of the walkers in front of the pharmacy, suddenly get the motivation to move a little faster and chase after the noise.

When they were all a safe distance from the door, I ran, not stopping to look back, and barely pausing to open the door. I still kept quiet; for all I knew there were more back here than out there. I scooped everything I could get into the bag with minimal noise.

When I was done, I went back out of the door. But this time I had been an idiot and not bothered being quiet. Those walkers must've gotten bored with my little diversion. They were back and even in the darkness I could see they were pissed.

"Fuck," I spat, running as fast as I could back in the direction of the store's entrance.

I could hear even more walkers joining my followers and I picked up my speed, now able to see the sunlight coming in from the door. I chanced a glance backward. Oh damn, that's more than seven.

These damn bags were weighing me down. But I couldn't ditch them, they were the whole reason we had come here in the first place and all of this careful planning would have been a waste of time and energy.

So I took a tighter hold on the bags, keeping up my pace and raced out of the door, unsure if I would make it back to Kaiya again or not.


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