Extinction Event¹ ━ FTWD

CHAPTER 3: Behavioral Sink

EXTINCTION EVENT

chapter three: behavioral sink

[ season 1, episode 2; so close, yet so far ]

DAY 03

It took some time to get there, as Heather was unfamiliar with navigating such a dense city, but eventually they managed to squeeze the rental into a tight space before a shopping square that reminded her of one of the cheap strip malls from back home.

The hunting store was well-stocked, as far as Heather could tell. Crossbows and compound bows were lined along the wall alongside broadheads, field tips, training arrows, and the like. Archery gloves and armbands hung near the front of the store, alongside posed mannequins donning the latest Sitka gear.

The bell above the door dinged as they entered, earning a brief glance from the cashier on duty before his attention was recaptured by the events unfolding on the TV above his head.

Heather's eyes locked on the flickering screen with curiosity. It appeared to be covering a live demonstration somewhere downtown, over the murder of a homeless man by LAPD. Onscreen, a man chanted beside a teen around her age holding a camera up to the police barricade. Before she returned to scanning the store, she caught sight of shaggy black hair and rich brown skin, and the boy's black 'POMONA' hoodie.

In the back of her mind, Heather wondered if the homeless man was anything like the man on the leaked footage from earlier. Unarmed, but lethal all the same.

"Heather," Katie hissed under her breath and snapped the teen back to reality. "We need to hurry."

"Right," the girl nodded and went to stand by her mother, glancing outside one more time, noticing a group of people rushing down the street before focusing again on the task at hand.

The wall was lined with crossbows in styles Heather didn't recognize — out of the two of them, Meghan was the archer, not her. Still, Heather had (albeit unintentionally) absorbed some of her sister's knowledge on the sport over the years, and was at least able to recognize a style similar to the one her sister preferred.

"This one," Heather determined, pointing out a crossbow about two and a half feet long by a foot wide.

"That one?" Katie seemed dubious. "It's not very big."

"Neither is Meghan. If we get one that's too big, it'll be out of her size range, and she won't have the strength to handle the draw weight," Heather insisted, speaking up over the rising din outside. "Look, it's a recurve with an adjustable stock, and a 4x32 scope."

"What does the 4x32 scope magnify it by?"

"I don't know, but Meghan mentions her 4x32 scope a lot so I assume it's a good one."