HIDEOUT

8. Condition

Ashton: "What condition?" he whispered.

"I can let you stay here as long as you need, but I don't have any food stored. So, I want you to go to the supermarket, which is at the right end of the colony, and get as much food stock as possible. You'll have to do this tomorrow itself because after that, we'll run out of food," she explained.

"What the hell are you saying? The right end of the colony? That's too far! And God knows how many zombies are roaming out there!" Alex yelled at her.

Victor shushed him, and Ashton tried to reason, "We don't even know if the supermarket has food left or people have already taken it!"

Victor ran his hand through his messy hair and spoke, "Guys, she is right. Even we need food to survive." He looked at Sophie and said, "Alright, it's a deal. Tomorrow morning, we'll go to the supermarket in search of food. So now, let us in."

She let them get in and closed the door, just as she finished putting the latch she heard a very loud growing voice near the door, she froze in her spot, her heart racing. Victor slowly kept his baseball bat on the kitchen counter, he moved Sophie out of the way and picked up the axe which Sophie was carrying earlier, his eyes darting around the room for any potential threats.

Suddenly, there was a loud thud against the door, causing everyone to jump in fear. Ashton quickly grabbed a nearby chair and wedged it under the doorknob for extra reinforcement.

Victor peeped out through the small hole in the door, his eyes widening at the sight of the zombie inches away from the entrance. He turned and signaled for the others to keep quiet and not to move, fear creeping up their spines.

With bated breath, they watched as Victor kept a watchful eye on the zombie until it slowly turned around and faced away from the door. Victor slowly opened the door, his axe raised high above his head, ready to strike at any moment. With a single sharp blow of the axe, he chopped off the head of the zombie, the sound of flesh and bone cracking echoing through the air. The zombie fell to the ground, its lifeless body twitching on the ground.

Victor quickly moved around and checked the vicinity to see if there were any more zombies out there, his senses on high alert. But there were none, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Ashton came back and brought Alex out from the shock, his hands shaking as he helped to throw the dead zombie out of the compound wall. They all knew they had to barricade the shorter side of the wall, the same wall from where they had entered. It was the easiest way for any potential threat to enter, and they couldn't afford to take any chances.

Victor washed the blood off the axe and walked inside the house, his mind racing with thoughts of the dangers that lay ahead.

Sophie was standing still, her eyes wide with shock, as she struggled to come to terms with what had just happened.

Victor stood beside her and asked her if she was fine, his voice soft and reassuring, but the fear still lingered in the air.

By then, both Ashton and Alex had returned, their faces set with determination as they knew what was at stake.

"Let's get inside," Ashton said, breaking the silence.