The rain had been fairly light throughout the morning hours despite the thick overcast. Now nearing the afternoon hour, the sky had started to completely clear of clouds letting the suns bight beams to pour over the puddles covering the road and give them a glimmering glow. Randy did his best to avoid the small sink holes in the concrete as he closed in on the small suburb area, he'd been working towards for the past three weeks. After the male squirrel found a suitable place to set up a camp inside the small city limits, he'd attempt to scavenge the modest sized mall he'd seen advertised for the past 20 mile. Randy had been following the extra-large highway for the past week but being sure to keep off to the side just in case he needed to duck out of sight. So far, he'd been fortunate to only come across few of the lesser undead, and just one roaming band of thugs as of late.
His boots squeaked as water spilled out of the many holes he'd picked up over the past six months while searching for his sister. The brown and tan furred squirrel, who had yet to hit 30 years of age, tried to ignore the constant discomforted he'd endured since stepping foot outside into this unknown territory. He had known it was risky going after Sandy into this world, but he honestly wasn't expecting to find himself in this mess. He was well aware his twin was a tough enough type that she'd still be alive, and likely trying to right whatever wrong had taken over this now dying land.
Randy couldn't help but grin as the forest started to thin out more and the buildings on the outskirts of the city came into view. He fought back the urge to find the first type of shelter and sleep until the next morning. He needed to make use to this good weather. The last small group of decent people he ran across had informed him that this was currently the rainy season for this region. There were times the rain would come down so hard his vision became severely impaired. Plus, his feet had started to ache due to the excess moisture that was now penetrating his once waterproof work boots.
There were still a few hours of daylight to spare by the time Randy had come upon the once upscale oversized shopping structure. Randy found a suitable place to take shelter in for the night in a nearby fast-food joint. If shit hit the fan inside the mall the building was far enough away, he could hunker down for a day or two if he happened to run into the more dangerous variety of hell spawn. Usually the demons, as he'd grown accustomed to call the black-eyed devils, didn't follow one for long. However, while those monster where on hunt there was almost no stopping them once they got fully out of their usual hibernating state. Lucky for Randy what he lacked in book smarts he made up for with physical power and speed, and could usually put enough distance between himself and all of the undead before they could fully trail him for long.
After setting up an easy way to get back into the facility, but also be able to tell if someone else entered before him, he finally set out to take a look around the mall. There were more than a few things he needed, but the main items on his list were shoes, and a more in-depth map of the greater area. He'd taken note of a few places of interest where his sister might have been, according to locals of the land he'd run into, but so far, he only knew where one of those places were located. That one place happened to be how he had arrived on this world in the first place. It was unfortunate there was no one around during his materialization to give him any information on his sister, or the detreated state of things. An apocalypse made one hell of a learning curve when getting use to one's new surroundings.
Slipping past a few randomly scattered lesser undead came easily to Randy at this point. A smile crossed his face as he made it to a sporting goods store attached to the mall complex. More than a few windows had already been broken. Surprisingly many of the goods where still in the shop, even if scattered about wildly. From what he was told when the virus first stuck it moved fast and most people put their trust in government agency grabbing all they could carry before heading to shelter areas. Half of which became overrun within only weeks.
It was no wonder he ran into so few people still out in the bad lands. Those that weren't lucky enough to get into the facilities that relocated to seemingly safter ground ended up turning in the highly tightly help compounds. All of them waiting like a ticking time bomb for anyone dumb enough to try to enter those so-called safe zones. The ones that didn't make it to the government sites in time, or those like himself who would rather rely on their own skills, stayed out to deal the roaming undead. Still a far better fate than watching your loved ones being eaten alive in a crowed, so-called protected facility.
Randy was thankful for many of the living he'd come across in this world. Had he not met some of them he likely would be dead just from lack of information on dangerous areas, but more commonly his constant lack of clean water. Right now, he had a nice stash of drinkable liquid, but he wouldn't turn down the chance to pick up a few more clean bottles if he ran across them while poking around the mall.
Boots, replacement poncho, protein bars, socks, underwear, and even a new coat. Randy's luck had to be running out after such a haul. His bag hadn't been so loaded since he'd gotten here. He even strapped two extra bags to himself to carry a bit more, but it noticeably slowed him down. He decided to keep his extra small totes in the store and circle back to them if he could. He still didn't have his ever-needed map, but he was pretty sure he'd find what he was looking for in a book store. All malls had a book store, right?
He took a deep breath before stepping out into the darkly lit hall of the shopping center as he turned on his flash light. He couldn't waste time, as he knew he didn't have much of a charge in it. The rain the past few weeks had made his portable solar panel, he wore on his backpack, almost useless. He glanced at his watch giving himself fifteen minutes of time just to be safe. There was nothing but silence in this part of the mall, but that didn't mean he had nothing to worry about. The demons stood as still as stone waiting for their targets to come upon them before waking up and tearing into their prey. They were fast, and almost impossible to incapacitate compared to the lesser roamers. The last thing Randy needed was to have a few of them on his ass when he didn't have his bearings.
He needed to focus. In and out. No joyriding. He already had everything else for the time being. Now he just needed a destination. "Sandy." He spoke her name in his mind as he crept forward trying to avoid any unwanted company that may be lurking about.
Trudging through the mud, for once, brought little discomfort as Proton rushed, with two of his higher up men behind him, as they made their way to the main gate of their enclosed community. The rain had been relentless for days, and had even started causing some minimal flooding in what was considered normal drainage areas. Right now, smaller issues like that no longer held his attention. He'd let one of his lesser helpers deal with such trivial matters now, as his attention was called to the finally returned scavenge party. From what little he was told so far there was only a count of five men beyond the gate when there should have been seven. Two good men gone was a devastating blow, but far better than his fear that they had lost all seven, as they were now well over two weeks past due as far as the purple furred leading squirrel was concerned.
"Open the quarantine gate!" Proton yelled over the harsh wind that was beating down with pricing force on all those outside of shelter. "Bring them in!" He demanded again as a few men struggled with wet ropes to open their makeshift barrier to the hell that was now their outside world.
He, and his high ups, waited while drawing their long coats over themselves. due to the weather. The three shivered a bit more than those that had already been stationed outside after making their way up to a high-level platform overseeing both the main gates. Everyone who could get a good look watched as the five men dragged in their findings to the secure, yet sealed off, area before the gate fell down behind them.
"Role call?" Proton asked to the far younger male black ox that had followed him to their now preached position. "Any signs of infection?" The male squirrel then asked the other man that was a cheetah, likely of the same age.
"At least two wounded just from first glance." The cheetah growled with disappointment.
"We're missing Vin, Luke, and Lenny." The Ox noted while writing down his findings.
"What?! That's can't be right, Jason!" Proton looked from his young officer and then down to the returning men to count again.
"Seems we have a new comer, as well." Jason literally pointed out getting Proton's attention to set on the youthful brown male squirrel.
"This is a complete mess." The cheetah sighed. "Don't new comers need to be vetted well before being allowed near our camp? Who is to say he didn't have a hand in some of our men not making it back here?"
"Seems things took a turn for the worse, and risks needed to be taken, Vince." Proton looked at his trusted feline general blankly. "It's very doubtful that our two seemingly uninjured men could have made it back here, with the two maimed men, and the supplies without aid."
"He needs to be locked up." Vince responded. "At least for a few weeks to be safe."
"I fully agree." Jason spoke up before turning his attention back to the three mostly healthy men unloading goods from the two small carts they brought back.
"Of course, we need to be safe." Proton groaned at having to agree to the obvious. "48 hour wait for our men with no issues, and 72 hours for those that do. However, as far as our new guest is concerned..." Proton cleared his throat while looking down on the young man of topic. "After he is clear of infection, we'll put him in a cell for two days... to sort things out.
"Two days isn't nearly long eno-" Vince protested before Proton cut him off.
"We have our men that are able to tell us more about him than they could most, and that matters." The aged squirrel then looked at his two higher ups before making his way down the later. "Please advise me of the situation come tomorrow morning."