Downfall Of The Living: An Anthology Series

The Hitchhiker and The Stranger: Chapter 2

II

"Hey!" Cody woke up the hitchhiker. The hitchhiker jolts towards the window as she awoken. She looked to see Cody, who had nudged her shoulder. Rubbing her eyes, she looked out to see that the time had passed, it was getting darker outside.

"What?" The hitchhiker asked, annoyed that her sleep was interrupted.

Was I asleep? The hitchhiker was aware that she had slept in front of Cody. Letting her guard down as simple as sleeping made her grow cautious of Cody. What could he have done if she wasn't careful enough?

"We're almost there," Cody said. "The town is in the next few minutes."

"Cool," the hitchhiker said. "And the supplies?"

"They're in there, somewhere," Cody said. "I looked over the map a few times and found there's a supermarket. My best guess is that there's something in there or used to. Can't hurt to look."

"And if we don't," the hitchhiker asked.

"Worst case scenario," Cody replied. "There's a neighborhood nearby that we can check. Hopefully, we won't have to."

Cody pulls up to the highway exit and enters the small town. Exiting, they emerge into numerous gas stations and convenience stores. With his map, Cody had driven to the parking lot of an abandoned supermarket. Many vehicles had remained in place since the Downfall, attempting to gather supplies as the inevitable approached them due to their poor planning.

Much to the surprise, there weren't any military vehicles or a presence in the town. The military would've shown some presence in small town had it not been for the mass order to relocate in the bigger cities when initiating quarantine. It could've been that this town only had themselves to defend and the only ones to survive were the ones who left rather than stay.

Cody parked the car near the entrance of the store. The hitchhiker got out of the truck stretching her arms and legs from the long drive.

"This must be the place to start," Cody said. "We should stick together, so we can watch each other's back."

"I'm fine," the hitchhiker said as she walked towards the store.

Cody looked around the nearby cars for a weapon. He had his eyes on a tire iron lodged into the back window of an SUV. After grabbing the tire iron, he quickly catches up with the hitchhiker as she reaches the entrance.

"We're all in this together," Cody said. "I'll call out if I need help. You can do the same."

The hitchhiker didn't respond. The doors to the supermarket were held open by what appeared to be the top half of a corpse that prevented the automatic doors from closing. About a few feet away, following a stretched-out trail of dried blood and intestines, laid the other half of the corpse nearly all but bone.

The long row of cash registers were numbered one to nineteen. Where the small snacks of chocolate or candy would be stocked were gone. The white tile flooring was scratched and worn, the florescent white was now a dull off-white. Shelves in the store were furnished similar to those found in warehouses, some toppled and others were stacked with pallets of appliances or other commodities found before the Downfall.

Cody looked around the area and found no threats nearby. The body near the door did set the tone of what was to come before them. The hitchhiker took out her flashlight and shined the path ahead of them. Cody followed.

The hitchhiker leads the way through the supermarket. Cody looked through the shelves of the empty aisles hoping to find some bit of food, but to no avail. The hitchhiker was on high alert as she crept through the dark supermarket. She looked through the shelves for anything useful, albeit for herself.