They snuck through the city, occasionally ducking into buildings to hide from Kraang droid patrols. After ducking into an alley, they waited for the two droids to move on before speaking.
"So what are we looking for Alex?" Ebony asked, pushing her hood back so that it was held up by her ears.
"Anything we can use, let's start here in the alley." Alex said, also pushing back her hood so she could see better. She looked over the alley. "Like this." She said, walking over to an old couch cushion lying against the dumpster. "We can use this. Eb?" She turned to the panther, who brought out a large trash bag, and held it open for Alex. The wolf picked up the cushion and dumped it into the bag.
After about ten minutes of scavenging in the alley, they found a small mirror Eb wanted, a stuffed bear that Jul insisted they needed to bring home, and a flat sheet for a queen sized bed. Alex growled in frustration.
"No food, ten minutes and no food." She snorted. They could do without the knick-knacks they found, but food was a necessity. She knew that as time went by, they would be less likely to find food, but they still had to look.
"We could look in the apartments." Julie suggested. "I don't think they'll be back for awhile." She added quietly, looking down. Alex looked up to the buildings, considering this.
"Maybe, but there won't be a lot of food that's still good. Remember, everyone's been gone for at least two months. But there could be some supplies we could use."
The blond mouse's shoulders slumped. "Oh right."
Alex saw her eyes wander around the street until they fell on a grocery store. "What about there? If the Kraang didn't cut the power, some of the refrigerated stuff might still be we could get some non-refrigerated stuff, like peanut butter?" She suggested hopefully.
The eldest girl looked over at the store, then smiled a little at her sister in all but blood.
"Good idea Jul, we'll check the store. Eb!" She called, quietly of course. Ebony looked up from the back of the alley. "Come on, we're going to the Wal-Mart across the street."
Eb nodded and walked over, her dark purple dress swishing around her paws.
Alex took the lead, checking for Kraang in the area. One upside to being a wolf mutant: the incredible sense of smell and hearing. After she was satisfied that the coast was clear, she waved the other two ahead of her.
They got across to the store safely, and snuck in. They split up in the store, Eb went to the crafts and fabric aisles, Jul went to find the stuffed toys, and Alex was going to find food.
She turned a corner and looked down the first aisle. Nope, nothing there. She kept looking down the aisles for anything good.
As it turned out, she found several thing that last longer than two months, like peanut butter, cereal, some snack bars, pancake mix, syrup, and water bottles. Sadly, there was no bread or milk. Well, they could use pancakes for peanut butter sandwiches, milk... That they could go without.
She filled a shopping cart with enough food to last them for a while and went to go meet the others, grabbing some paper plates and bowls and plastic utensils on her way.
Ebony's cart had things like fabric and some new sewing supplies, while Julie had picked up a few stuffed animals, some pillows and blankets, and some flashlights.
"Is this enough?" Julie asked before noticing what was in Alex's cart. "You found food!"
"Yeah, you guys ready to go?"
"Yes.." Julie seemed hesitant. "But isn't this stealing?" Alex thought about that for a minute.
"I guess. But we can leave a note for the manager, explaining that we needed the things. Then he can read it when he gets back." She said. But she left out the if. If he came back.
Soon they were on their way again, a note written and left on the manager's desk. Alex again had the lead and was keeping an eye, and ear and nose, out for kraang. They were sneaking down the street with their carts when Jules gasped.
"Alex! Look!" Alex turned to see the mouse pointing to a pizzeria. "I can smell pizza coming out of there!" She was right, when Alex sniffed, she could smell pizza, made recently. And something else... Living beings...
"Yeah, me too. Wait here." She said before slipping off across the street.
She stuck to the shadows as she crept up to the pizzeria. She peeked into the window, but didn't see anything. She could smell things though, there was a rat smell, and turtles? Something else too, humans. There were others? How had they escaped the Kraang? And when? This pizzaria had been as vacant as all the other buildings the last time the girls had gone through that area.
Alex took another whiff and cocked her head to listen for sounds. She didn't hear anything, so either they weren't there at the moment or they were sleeping, maybe the girls could come back later, offer help. Unless Alex and her friends scared them off. She glanced down at her furry, paw-like hands, maybe Eb could make some large hooded coats or something, and gloves.
She was pulled from her thoughts a second later and jerked to attention, her ears erect and listening for sounds, her snout searching for scents. There! She could hear the hum of a Kraang patrol ship. Alex glanced back into the pizzeria before dashing back to her friends.
"Kraang, three, four streets over." She said quickly and quietly. Her friends nodded and the group shoved their carts into a nearby building and ran down the street. All they needed to do was avoid the patrol until they were gone, then they would go back to their carts and go back home.