The Dead and the Restless (Completed with undergoing editing)

Chapter Twenty-Five

After a few hours of going place to place with Liam, we didn't find much. We both had a system down though with scoping out the place and searching for food. It didn't matter though, this whole town was picked clean. It was understandable though, because the city was only miles away. At least Liam and I had loosened up more and we started joking around like we used to. But there was still a grim air that filled the car, because all we managed to get was a box full of canned food. That was all we had to bring back to everyone so far, and we knew what this meant if the next place didn't provide. We had one last place left that was the central town grocery store. It was the only store that we hadn't gone to in the area.

"There," Liam said pointing at a grocery store.

"Good eyes," I said, pulling into the parking lot there. There were a few overturned cars and corpses all over. There were maybe ten Snappers in the lot and they were pretty slow. I pulled out my machete and Liam readied his crossbow. Then, we got out of the car and made our way towards the grocery store. It was a Jewel Osco. I have to say, the place looked like crap. A lot of places nowadays looked like crap though. There were no people to upkeep the place so it just fell apart.

We made it across the lot easily, but I knew the inside would be a little more difficult. The front doors were broken and on the ground. A horrid scent was coming from the store, worse than what I smelled at the hospital, and anywhere else for that matter. It helped that the doors were wide open though, I guess. I took bandanas out of my backpack and handed one to Liam. It helped deter the smells from our noses, but it still burned.

We walked a few feet into the store and looked around. It was pitch black in there. We backed out and stood in the doorway and overlooked the store.

"I'll go this way, you go that way," Liam said and started heading off somewhere. I caught up to him and grabbed his arm.

"You're kidding me right?"

"Got ya," He said, smirking. I punched him in the arm.

"You're an ass."

"A nice one."

"Oh, shut up."

I shook my head at him, and then looked back toward the grocery store doors.

"This is dangerous," I started. "Its pitch black in there and this place is probably filled with snappers hurtling right toward us now."

"Well," Liam said slowly, "Why don't we just turn on the lights, then? That way if there are tons of snappers heading toward us, we'll be able to see them."

"I don't know how," I said. I didn't. "I mean, I never exactly saw a light switch in a Jewel before."

"That's where I come in," He said, flashing me his smile. "I used to work at Walt's."

"This is Jewel."

"Same thing," He said, waving me off. "Well, practically."

"Well," I said, as we walked back in front of the doors. "After you."

"Such a gentleman," He said, rolling his eyes "And please tell me you brought a flashlight."

"I brought everything," I said, getting it out of my backpack and handing it to him.

"Follow my lead," He said as he turned the flashlight on. It was hard for me to see even though I stayed close to him. We got maybe twenty feet in when I fell on something.

"Shit," I breathed, pushing myself up off the floor.

"Are you okay?" Liam asked me, alarmed. He searched with the flashlight on me, and I pulled up a hand to block the light from blinding me.