In the Dead of Autumn

"I'll be back soon! Be good while I'm gone! Maybe I'll think of a name for you while I'm out."

With that, the woman approached the door to the courtyard and slowly opened it. She stepped through it cautiously, looking down the hallway that stretched to either side of her. To her left, where she'd come from, the hallway branched in an intersection. To her right, the hallway ended in a pair of doors. The doors had been shut with a broom or mop handle, and a hand shifted around on the door's window inside. Waiting patiently with her hand resting on her knife's handle, the woman stared at the hand in the window. Eventually the hand shifted to the side, and the owner's head slid into view. It was just a zombie. The woman relaxed and waved cheekily at it before turning her head to her left. Staying totally still, the woman listened intently to the sounds around her.

Besides the groaning of the zombie to her right, she could hear the distant moans and limping walks of the few zombies still hanging around the building. From the sound of it, most of them were probably up in the second level. The woman decided exploring up there and clearing out the rabble would probably be a good idea. She reasoned that the zombies had probably deterred past scavengers from looting in that area, and maybe she could find some useable clothes, or even fill up a container with soap from one of the bathrooms. Before she could move, however, the woman noticed another set of sounds.

Somewhere distant to her left, on the lower level, she could hear the sound of regular footsteps. They stopped occasionally, and the sound of hollow metal being pounded could be heard. Some idiot was trying to open the lockers. As far as the woman could tell, the idiot wasn't heading in her direction, but this was a possible issue best looked into.

Walking as silently as she could, the woman crept down the hallways in the direction of the locker-slamming idiot. Silence wasn't exactly necessary with the racket being created, but precaution is the better part of safety. Eventually she was in the hallway that intersected with the one currently occupied by the locker slammer. Carefully removing the backpack from her shoulder and placing it on the ground, the woman unhooked the sheathed knife from its loop on her hip and replaced it on the loop on her back. There it would sit with a bloody screwdriver, out of sight from the front and partially covered by the woman's sport jacket. The woman slowly poked her head around the corner.

There was a tall, white man kicking a locker about halfway down the hallway. He had a slightly thick physique, and was dressed in loose tracksuit-type material that looked battered to hell. The woman had the strong impression that this guy used to be a car salesman. He was kicking near the lock on the locker. Apparently he was trying to bust the locking mechanism, and looking down the hallway it appeared he'd had occasional success. There was a partially filled garbage bag sitting at the other end of the hallway. Thinking that using a sledgehammer or axe would be much more effective, the woman realized that the idiot probably didn't have any heavy duty tools with him. Why he would decide to loot lockers despite this was anyone's guess. The woman guessed stupidity.

It appeared he didn't have any weapons on him at all, but the woman knew better than to assume. After all, the couple of weapons she had were hidden from sight. The woman quickly checked her watch. It was about five minutes 'till. Pretty good timing. Drawing herself up, the woman rounded the corner and assumed a casual stance next to the wall.

"Uh, hey man. You realize you're gonna draw zumbles for miles, right?"

The man yelped and swung to face her, his face turning pale. He stood like a deer caught in the headlights for a second before relaxing slightly and looking at the woman in apprehension. Taking in her lack of movement and bemused expression, he spoke.

"Um, what? N-no, it's fine. Somebody cleared out most of 'em. I'm just, uh, trying to find what I can y'know?"

The woman nodded.