Sh!t for Brainz

;; Chapter two ;;

It was a long walk back to the school, but that only gave him more time to search for resources he may have missed along the way. The streets were scattered with the living dead, groaning and limping around in search of anything with a heartbeat they could sink their teeth into. As the sun beamed down against the city, melting the flesh of those less fortunate, Leon found himself in a small shop near the outskirts of town. He was grasping at the bandaged wound on his side, still groaning softly in pain as he stumbled across the tile flooring. It looked to be some kind of abandoned convenience store, things that hadn't been necessities lining the aisles, though most of it was already cleared out. How convenient. The Bass Pro was around 5 hours away from the school, so the walk to and from had taken a good chunk of his day. Luckily, this part of town saw less activity, making it easier to scramble by and get to the back entrance of the school without running into any brain-munchers. Because of this, he took another moment to catch his breath. He removed his backpack and set it on a counter, spilling the contents out to look over what he had managed to gather.

There were two knives, which belonged to him, his walkie-talkie, medical supplies, and some cans of food. He loved Spam, being the only meat you could find that wasn’t contaminated by the fungus—or at least he thought. Spam usually lasted around 2 to 5 years, so most of it was probably made and packaged before things went to shit. He focused on the expiration dates of different cans, some being veggies, others being fruits, but most of them being the salted meat he cherished. Being big on staying healthy, protein was his best friend. He tried his hardest to find the original flavor, though he grabbed the others as well when he found them. Protein was protein, and it was better than eating corn for the rest of your life.

As he was going over the expiration dates on the back of the cans, setting one down to the side and immediately picking up another, he heard something deeper within the convenience store fall off its shelf. It was instinct at this point, a reflex to turn and whip out his shotgun towards the noise. Oh right. He didn't have it anymore. Swallowing hard and turning his gaze from his shoulder to the aisle in front of him, he crouched low, pulled out a knife, and slowly made his way to glance down the surrounding aisles.

He knew that if it happened to be Nick, or anyone else stupid enough to try and steal, he couldn't leave his things unattended. Looking down the aisles, his eyes scanning the darkness and finding no sign of movement, he eased up slightly and turned to walk back over to the cash register where he'd set his bag. He closed his knife, stuffing it in his pocket, and began to pack his things.

“Can never catch a break..” he whispered, the breathiness of his words betraying his heavy exhaustion and frustration. He rubbed his eye a bit, kind of just shoving things into his bag as he gave half of his attention to his actions. And then he heard it again. The noise was closer this time, causing him to slightly turn his head in hopes of not scaring off whatever it was. The windows of the store were all shut—and even if they weren't there was barely any wind blowing outside. The store had returned to its once silent state, sounds of birds and distant screaming of the flesh-eaters outside being all he could pick up.

However, as he returned to his bag, he heard something shifting within the darkness beside him. He immediately reached for his knife, turning to face… the zombie from before? It was peeking out from behind some shelving, looking at him with one wide eye and an expectant gaze. He blinked a few times, glancing down at his bag only to remeet the creature's gaze. As Leon hesitantly lowered his hand, the zombie’s expression grew lighter and he came out from behind the shelf. It seemed happy to see the other kid, which was surprising at first. Then he saw what was in its hands, and he knew why he’d been followed. The zombie was holding his shotgun, and dangerously at that. It fidgeted with it, furrowing its eyebrows as it flipped it around quickly causing a shell to fly out. Leon raised an eyebrow, unamused, watching the zombie give a guilty expression as it looked for the shell that had fallen on the ground.