KAT'S POV
It's been eerily quiet for a little over a week now. Every day less and less cars drive by, every day more and more gunshots can be heard. Miraculously we still have power. Apparently it's not bad or getting worse along the west coast. At least that's what the news broadcasts say.
"We need to go get some more groceries." Dad says, gesturing towards the empty refrigerator.
I ask, "Do you think we need to bring any money?" I know that the police and fire department have put all their attention towards fighting the living dead, but do the simple things like paper money still matter?
Dad replies, "Probably not, but bring some just in case honey. I just want to be well stocked before they run out of supplies."
"Okay. I'll call Isaac and we'll drive over to the store."
"Can I come?" Courtney asks, striding into the room wearing her pajamas. She yawns loudly.
"Sure."
"Okay sweet. Where are we going?"
"Grocery store."
"Great, I need to get out of this damn house. Gimmie a minute to change."
While Court changes, I call Isaac to have him pick us up. His sisters and him took my truck to check out their apartment and see if they could pick up anything. The last time he texted me, they were helping some neighbors pack their things. He pulls into the driveway ten minutes later. Several garbage bags and suitcases sit in the truck bed covered with a light layer of snow. I didn't even notice it was snowing again.
Courtney finishes changing and comes with me to help them move their stuff inside. We have to walk around to the back door because we permanently blocked off the front door with wooden panels. The windows are also boarded up, except for a little gap in each one that can be used to see out onto the street.
"You can set up in the spare bedroom upstairs." I tell the sisters as we head outside. The crisp crunch of snow on the ground reminds me of the horrible munching sounds the monster made while eating one of the robbers last week. None of us have gotten sick since. That disproves the theory that the virus is transmitted through the air, at least. Since the incident, we've start a watch cycle every night to ensure something like that doesn't catch us off guard again.
While my mind wanders, the three of us enter my black Ram truck, Isaac in the drivers' seat. It's toasty warm inside the cab. I take off my gloves and shrug off my scarf after i've shut the door. Isaac pulls out of the driveway and starts down the street wordlessly. He drives at a reluctant 25 MPH. The plows haven't bothered to do their job since it began snowing earlier this week. Traveling through town we don't encounter many cars. The ones we actually do see speed by at blinding speeds to who knows where.
I watch two people fight on the sidewalk. "Isaac, do you have your pistol?"
"Of course. You have your shotgun?"
"Yeah." I reply.
"Good. I don't know how it's gonna be at the store. Maybe it'll be normal." He wishes out loud.
"Let's hope so." Courtney says. "Listen, I don't have a weapon. Can you two watch out for me in there?"
"I got you." Isaac beats me to the punch. "We'll have to find you a weapon. Do you think the gun store is safe?"
"Probably already looted. What about Wal-Mart? Don't they keep guns?" Courtney suggests.
"Yeah, but if they're still in business we'll have to buy one." Isaac points out. A wicked idea pops into my head.
"Why don't we just take some?"
Courtney and Isaac both look at me like i'm mad.
"What? Everybody else is doing it!" I point out. "We'd never get busted! And you said it yourself man, it's the freaking end of days! Who the hell cares if we rob Wal-Mart? What's the worst that can happen to us, jail? Nobody has time anymore."
"She does make a good point." Courtney says. "And, it'd be pretty kickass to rob Wal-Mart."
Isaac just shakes his head, but at least he's smiling. "Let's get the grocery store out of the way, and then we'll talk about other criminal endeavours. Deal?"
"Deal." Courtney and I say as we pull into the grocery store parking lot. As we exit my truck I see a group of people run out of the store, each with shopping carts full of groceries.
"Well, that answers your earlier question, Kat. Looks like we don't need any money." Isaac jokes. "Let's try and keep it civil though, please. I don't want any confrontations."
"Sure thing, boss man." Courtney says with a wink. We're cautious as we approach the automatic doors. I have my shotgun pumped and ready for use, just in case there's some crazies in there somewhere. We walk into chaos. People, some in masks, some not, roam around the store wildly, dumping supplies into shopping carts. Several skirmishes break out and then dissipate as people move on. It sounds more like a crowded gymnasium than a grocery store. Somebody runs by us without even looking, another person hot on their heels trying to grab something off of them. There aren't even any damn cashiers.
"Okay, we need non-perishable food items. Nothing that has to be refrigerated. Courtney and I will take a cart together, Kat you grab another one. If anything happens, call for me." Isaac and Courtney take off towards one end of the store while I the other. I pick an aisle that's not crowded to walk down. I make a quick sweep, dumping boxes of instant oatmeal and mashed potatoes into the cart. At the last second, I run back and grab some cereal. Reese's Peanut Butter Crunch specifically, because damn who doesn't like that stuff?
The next aisle is a little more packed, but I still manage to get through unscathed. I pick up cans of ravioli and soup, corn and peas and every other vegetable I see. Bottles of ketchup and mustard are added to my growing stash. It's in the third aisle I sweep that I encounter trouble. Strolling down the junk food aisle, several people try to elbow me out of their way as they reach for gummy bears. I promptly kick them in the shins and grab the candy they were reaching for. Dirty glares are cast my way, but they get over it.
After several more minutes of shopping, I wheel my full car around to the front of the store, wedging it between a cashier's booth and the magazine rack. I text Isaac telling him to come up front so we can leave. As I go to put my phone away, some guy in a suit tries to grab it from me. I slap him in the face but he keeps trying to grab it, ignoring my attempts to stop him completely.
"Get the fuck away from me, creep!" I shriek, hitting him in the temple with my shotgun. It accidentally goes off. The man covers his ears in pain and stumbles away holding his head. I turn around to see somebody grabbing stuff out of my cart. Two skinny teenagers that look tweeked out. I shout at them, but they don't listen. I warned you, I think as I shoot the floor near their feet. They finally get my message and run, dropping items they grabbed as they go.
"Hey sweetie, you should give me the gun." Another guy has materialized behind me. I spin around, aiming the gun in his dirt coated face. I notice a grisly bite wound on his outstretched arm. The bite marks are crusted over with blood, but the center looks nasty. Yellow pus and blood slowly ooze from the wound onto the floor. The man doesn't seem to care. I take a step back, disgusted.
"Were you bit?" I ask sternly.
"By one of those dead things. Doesn't matter. Hand over the gun, doll." He makes a grab for my gun. I sidestep him, allowing Isaac to promptly shove him to the ground.
"Let's get the hell out of here." He says. "You okay?"
"Yeah, just a little rattled." We exit the store with two full carts. Isaac shoos away a couple people that try to mooch off of our haul by growling at them. He's a pretty big dude, but wearing a dark grey hoodie and black jeans with a machete strapped on his belt? No wonder why people didn't bother him in the store. Together, the three of us load the back of the truck full of food. We end up tossing in the carts as well, because why not?
"Now, onto Wal-Mart!" Courtney says valiantly. She doesn't get any resistance. There are many more people at Wal-Mart than at the grocery store, but that only means a bigger scale chaotic mess. We run for the back of the store, Courtney grabbing several items of clothing off the racks as we go. The sporting goods part of the store is dismantled. Fishing gear and basketballs everywhere.
"Quick sweep, and then we're out of here." Isaac says. The three of us each take an aisle to forage from. I grab a couple metal water bottles and some basic sleeping bags, because that's all that's left on the shelves. We meet up at the back of the store. Courtney has several pairs of hunting jackets shoved into a cart along with her other clothes. Isaac and I dump our hauls in the cart as well.
"The gun section was completely raided." He starts, "But I managed to find this!" He holds out a small pistol to Courtney. She goes ecstatic. Isaac flashes a couple boxes of ammo. "This is all they had, so use it sparingly. Let's ditch this place."
"Bitches better watch out! Courtney Waters, armed and dangerous!" Courtney bellows as we leave the store. "Get wrecked!" She yells as she fires several shots into the air. Oh brother. Armed with her new gun, Court wants to raid some more poor businesses. I admit it is actually kind of fun, yes I know that sounds sick, but Isaac shuts her idea down.
"We're doing this out of necessity, not for the fun of it."
"I'm here for the fun of it." I joke. They both laugh.
"Seriously guys." He says seriously, but he breaks up laughing a couple seconds later. The ride home is much better than the ride before. We arrive home with an impressive bounty. Everybody comes out to help us bring in and organize the goods. We stack all the food in a neat pile in the unfinished basement along with the sleeping bags I picked up.
"I'm going back out there. We need to stockpile as much stuff as we can. Anybody coming with me?" Isaac announces once we completely finish unloading all out goodies.
"I'm going for sure!" Josh proclaims, along with Veronica.
"Kat?" He asks tentatively.
"I'll pass. I've had my share of robbery and crime for the day. I'm gonna go take a nap." I settle down on the couch as they leave.
ISAAC'S POV
I still can't believe that we actually robbed a couple stores. What's even more disturbing though, is that nobody tried to stop us. It was some kind of sick feeding frenzy. Courtney and Kat seemed to enjoy it plenty enough, but it's still gnawing at my stomach. That's not who we are. We don't steal for fun. It's not some kind of game, it's serious. A million different things could've happened, somebody could have gotten hurt. Ask my father, currently doing time for armed robbery in Georgia.
"Almost done pumping gas?" I ask Veronica as Josh and I leave the gas station. There wasn't much left, it was one of the first places to get pillaged. We scooped up some junk food and cigarettes mainly, because I know Dave smokes.
"Yeah, managed to fill the tank and all of these." She gestures to the array of gas cans in the back of the truck.
"Impressive work, lieutenant. I'm surprised there was anything left." We're the only people here. Everybody else who's still out has set their sights on the bigger stores.
"Right?" My sister smiles. "It's getting dark, we should be heading back. As if to hammer in the point, I see one of the walking dead appear around the corner of the building. It snarls when it sees us, picking up its pace.
"Oh god, kill it!" Josh shrieks, stepping back a couple feet.
"Get in the truck, i'll handle it." Reluctantly, I pull out my machete and advance. The former person snarls louder, reaching his hands out in anticipation of a meal. It saddens me to drive my weapon through his skull. The body goes limp as it falls to the snow covered asphalt. Blackish red blood stains the snow. The smell is horrible.
"I can't believe this." I say when I return to the truck. "That was a person, probably just a couple days ago. It's insane..."
"It's just how it is now, bro. We'll make it." My sister pats my shoulder. "Let's get home before it gets too dark. I don't wanna be stuck out here with them at night."
"Yeah, I guess." I mumble, starting the truck. The drive home is silent and slow. I have to maneuver around two accidents on main street and avoid several undead monsters. It seems they've been drawn to the crashes. Does noise attract them?
When we return, we park the truck close to the side of the house. Vanessa and Dave come out to check on us. Together the five of us haul the gasoline into the house, storing it at the far end of the basement. Dave makes a quick dinner. Kat's woken up. We all sit in the living room to eat while catching up on the latest news.
"The following cities have now set up refugee camps: Atlanta, San Antonio, San Francisco, Baltimore, Buffalo and Green Bay. Citizens should report to the nearest safe zone in the calmest fashion possible. Avoid the highways if possible. If you encounter any reanimated, avoid them at all costs. If this is impossible, the only known way to kill them is by damaging their brain. I repeat, the only known way to kill the reanimated is by damaging the brain. We go now to-"
The power goes out.
"Damn it!" Dave curses, struggling to his feet. "Damn transformer must've went down somewhere."
"Look outside, guys." Josh says, pulling back the curtains a little. "Everything is dark. What do we do?"
"It's gonna get cold soon with the heat off. Do we still have running water?" Vanessa asks.
"Probably not. Kat honey, go and grab some candles from the basement. We all should turn in. Isaac, you take first watch."
With a lone candle resting on the floor next to me, I sit near the front door watching the outside from the small hole we've cut out. The silence is deafening, but it's broken by a piercing scream from somewhere outside. Scanning the street, I see a woman running down the street in tattered clothes. I can't really tell with the lack of light, but I think there's blood running from her neck.
She falls to her knees just as a pair of walking dead appear. They pounce on her. I turn away as the grisly sounds echo across the neighborhood. Suddenly a car comes storming down the street. It crashes into the corpses, obliterating them. The driver looses control of their vehicle and crashes into a house on the other side of the street. The car starts on fire. I hear moans of the dead as they're drawn towards the light.
This is only the beginning, I realize with a jolt of panic. It's about to get much, much worse.
*Note: No Wal-Mart stores were damaged in the writing of this fanfiction. I don't own Wal-Mart, and I certainly don't have anything against the company.