June 7th, 2023
Panama City, Florida
Mile 312
Lex hurled his arm forward, sinking his dagger into a Turned's head. The Turned made an awful noise, a sort of gurgled grunt that faded as it crumbled to the ground when Lex pulled the dagger out. Lex, revolted by the thing like usual, kicked its unmoving carcass aside as he sealed his dagger back in its pouch that he had on his dark leather belt. Lex cupped his hands around his eyes to see inside a rundown store through a glass window.
Inside the building he could see mostly empty aisles, with the occasional small boxes. The place seemed relatively neat, as though it was deliberately kept clean every day. There was a telephone on the wall, though Lex highly doubted it worked.
Lex's suspicions were confirmed when he heard voices inside of the building. He couldn't tell what they were saying, nor could he see them, but he could tell there were at least two different voices, and they were both presumably male.
Lex spent a few seconds debating on whether or not to go inside. He spun around to see several Turned on their way towards him. They were much slower than him, but it was enough to convince him that he had to go inside, or else he'd be trapped outside and likely have to fight his way through.
Taking a deep breath, Lex opened up the door. He was unsurprised when a small jingle of a bell went off as the door shut. The building was oddly warm, and he noticed inside that the aisles inside all had some forms of medication- this was a pharmacy.
"Hello?" Lex called out, his hands in the air to show he had no weapons in his hands. He didn't know where the people were, he just knew they were somewhere in the building.
"Y...you alive?" Came a voice somewhere to his right. Lex turned, seeing two men standing next to each other. One of them had a gun in hand, though he was not aiming at Lex, he simply had the pistol at his side. He was an attractive man, with curly black hair, hazel eyes, and a solid physique.
Lex gave him a small smile. "Of course."
"Are you armed?"
"I have a dagger on my belt, but I've got no intention of using it right now." Lex lowered his right hand a tad to point to the dagger in it's sheath.
The man with the gun seemed to soften a tad in his posture. "Oh. Okay."
"So..." Lex took a step forward, observing the pharmacy and the two men next to him. All of the windows but one was boarded up, and the door he came through clearly needed to be locked- though there wasn't a lock on it. The Turned seemed to be about a football field away. "How's it going over here?"
"Not fantastic. We've been starving in here for days, and now it seems like we're about to get killed." The man with the gun replied. It occurred to Lex that either the man without a gun was quiet or the man with the gun was just talkative.
Lex grabbed the small bag he had slung over his shoulders and knelt in front of it. He opened it and reached inside. "I have a little bit of food if you guys need it, but we should get going real soon." Lex grabbed two cans of baked beans and tossed them to the men, who both caught them. "I'm really sticking my neck out for you guys here."
"That's great, man. Thanks a ton." The man with the gun says as him and his friend both hurriedly stuff their faces.
"Yeah, don't mention it." Lex said absentmindedly, biting his lip and glancing behind him outside. The Turned were getting closer, but he figured they still had a couple minutes before they really had to do something. "What are your names, anyway?"
