Goodbye to a World | shane walsh

16 | red icing

Even though it had been years since the outbreak started, there were still some things that felt as fresh as it did that first life changing day. Something about driving through completely abandoned towns left a haunting feeling in Nola's chest, something unsettling to the core. A place meant to be full of life and joy was now filled with death and fear, and it followed her everywhere she went. The unnatural silence when walking past a park and the absence of fluorescent light in a general store, or the smell of blood and offal in a daycare. 

No matter how much time had passed, it would never feel normal.

But Alexandria did a fantastic job in tricking her to think that maybe all of it could be. 

What a joke.

Nola kept her knife closed tightly in her fist as she treaded behind Shane. The two were scoping through a small town a couple miles out of Alexandria, called Blackridge. Aaron and Eric hadn't gone out this far, hell no one from that fairytale of a town had. Far was dangerous for them. And, because they never further developed their skill, they only scavenged a small radius around the place, clearing it dry of anything useful.

So, her and Shane were sent out to do the dirty work. She feared this would become a common theme until their gun training really started solidifying in those people's heads. But would that be enough?

There's no use in knowing how to shoot a gun if you're too scated to kill, and that's exactly what they are.

The two entered a small grocery store, an old rickety wooden sign painted blue and yellow barely reading 'Drummond's Market' swung from rusty chains on the outside. The dim interior seemed to be relatively untouched, though it reeked of rotten produce and human flesh.

A few rotters came up to them, Shane got rid of them easily. Nola peeled off to the other side to scan through the shelves for anything useful. She dragged her arm along shelves that had cans and filled the duffle bag she had up quite quickly. She also found powdered milk and some ground and instant coffee, keeping a pouch of the grinded up beans in her personal bag.

She then went over to the toiletries section, finding a few expired painkillers, some gauze, hardened toothpaste, and half evaporated sanitizer. There were a few lighters and bottles of water on the ground or hiding under knocked over shelves. 

Weirdly enough, the condiments and baking isle seemed to be utterly untouched, like it had just been freshly stocked. As she stepped down the isle, she noticed that none of the cans or boxes had collected dust. Like the shelves had been wiped and products dusted recently. Nola stood there for a moment, wondering why, suddenly alert of her surroundings, but took a small bottle of sprinkles knowing Jessie or Maya might enjoy it for something.

"Jesus,"

Nola's head peered to the side as she saw Shane had opened some type of closet door and was looking inside it. "What?" She asked with concern, walking over slowly. He didn't say anything and just stepped aside and let her look as he held the flashlight and aimed it into the room.

Inside lay the rotting corpse of an old woman who had shot herself in the head with a shotgun. She'd been there a while by the looks and smell of her. Blood was smeared on the wall, almost artistically, with spatters across it. Like the shot had come after. In the woman's hand she clutched a light pink spatula, and she wore a similarly coloured apron with the faint trace of little cupcake patterns on it, covered by decay and grime.

What a brutal end.

Nola's face went still as she stared off for a moment, her vision blurred as she was taken away in her mind. Shane put a hand on her shoulder and brought her out of her thoughts. His eyes were asking if she was good to leave, and she nodded, following behind him.