| Empty Graves Part Seventeen: At the End of the Aisle Now standing inside the store, the group of four looked around the immediate area once more, just in case there was company waiting for them, but it seemed okay and they proceeded further into the store. "Right, first thing's first, get as much water as we can carry and dried foods. Then we'll get onto the impulse buying," laughed Saul. "And I suppose you want to get a couple of lucky lotto tickets too right?" asked Jake. "Hell yeah, who knows, this could be my lucky week!" As Saul disappeared to the back of the store to grab as many six packs of bottled water as he could, Jake stepped back a little and just watched his new comrade in survival. Was he mad or was he just clinging to any humanity he had left? Meanwhile, Mary grabbed the remaining pallets of tinned food adjacent to Jake's position as Gareth proceeded to check out the storeroom. "Be careful back there," said Jake. "Don't worry," replied Gareth as he lifted his large boot to the handle, thrusting it into the frame, forcing the door open. "Nice, nice and subtle," said Jake. "You could have just used the key you know." Gareth shrugged and entered the storeroom. It was dark and the windows had long since been boarded up for one reason or another. It was cold and the air was stale, but the new influx made the dust surrounding him on all surfaces stir into the air making it harder to breathe again. Now coughing into his jacket, Gareth continued about his exploration. There were tins of tried fruit and other such meals all packed away in boxes. There were crates of yet more water, it was a gold mine. "Hey Jake, you might wanna check this out sometime," he said. "Why? What did you find?" "A king's ransom in dried food and bottled water!" Jake's eyes lit up at the sound of what had been found and immediately proceeded over to the storeroom door. "Jesus Christ!" gasped Jake. There was enough food and water in the back room as well as more perishable items to last the small group back at the docks for god knows how long if it was rationed correctly. "Looks like he got his last order in just before the shit hit the fan," said Gareth, stepping further into the mess of boarded windows, jumbled boxes and crates. "I don't think we'll be able to take all this now, in fact, we won't be able to. Do you think we can somehow grab a truck from somewhere?" asked Jake. Gareth looked to the floor for a moment thinking of where there might be a truck. "What about at that large garage back that way?" asked Gareth as he pointed behind him with his thumb. "Damn it, that's brilliant!" replied Jake eagerly. "Well are we going to go and get it now or are we going to get it later?" asked Gareth. "Play it safe. We get the stuff from the store loaded into the car and take it back, then we'll have at least some food to survive on. The last thing we want is to get all hyped up and see the shit hit the fan, then we'd have no food. We'd better take some back now and then go out for a truck." "Good thinking," replied Gareth. "Thanks." "Maybe you're not so young after all," smiled Gareth as he continued to fish about the contents of the storeroom. "You guys get the stuff you can loaded into the car, I'm gonna look around back here for a while. Maybe I can get some stuff organised for later." Jake nodded and proceeded out into the store itself where Mary and Saul were already beginning to load the car up with supplies. "Damn, you guys work fast," said Jake. "No time to waste when you get supplied with a bounty such as this, we got starving folk back home," replied Saul. Jake nodded and proceeded to help the other two carry the foodstuffs from the store out to the trunk of his car. It was all happening so fast and so well. Jake shivered for a moment, this was too easy. Shuffling around in the storeroom, Gareth could hear the others lugging the water and tinned food out to the car, but he was more preoccupied with the harvest he had just found. Organising the boxes into piles, whether it be water or dried fruits or other items, Gareth was unaware to the large steel closet ahead of him. It was battered and looked very cold and the door handles were locked off with a broom that was crammed awkwardly in place. The boxes were quite heavy, but Gareth continued about his stock taking until he heard a rattling from the closet in front of him. Alerting his attention to the fact that there was someone else in the room, Gareth dropped the box he was holding to the floor and proceeded to step over to the crudely locked closet. The rattling came again and a slight wheezing sound could be heard. Stepping back for a moment in shock, Gareth acted on impulse, forgetting all about the world's infestation so that he could remove the broom from the handles. As the doors swung open, he realised why the closet was locked so hurriedly and why the storeroom was also locked. Bursting from the cold, dark metal closet, Gareth was confronted with what must have been the only zombie occupying Halifax at that moment. It was hungry and hadn't eaten in weeks. For Gareth, it was all over. |