Love Never Dies (Ianthony)

Chapter 3

Anthony's POV
We scramble our way to the supermarket and slam the doors shut, quad checking it's locked before taking steps back, not taking our eyes off of Joe.

"Holy fuck." Ian manages through his gritted teeth. I look over at him, his jaw is clenched and his nostrils flare when he breathes heavily out.
"I almost..... God." He lets out a deep breath through his mouth and closes his bloodshot eyes.

He relaxes his body,
"Would you quit staring? It's making me uncomfortable...." He runs his arms down his mud stained jeans and looks back up at me.

I whip my head around and try to burry my urge to tackle him football style onto the floor. I don't know where to look so I turn around and observe the dark aisles behind us.

Anything could be lurking down in the deep, dark, depths of the unlit building corners. I look over at the closest wall and search for a light switch, hopefully this place is 'uninhabited'.
"Lights." I notify Ian and he nods turning the opposite direction in a thorough search.

I slide my hand along the painted white walls and chalky dust peels off onto my hand. The ceiling lights flicker then switch on to fade brighter slowly and gradually.

"Found it!" Ian shouts.
"Great! Let's go check out what we've got here." I brush the dust off of my hands and rub them together violently.

I shiver against the cold and walk swiftly towards the closest aisle. I examine the freshness of the products and start to jog to the next aisle of cosmetics. I think we can survive with the materials that are provided.
"I'm going to check the front desks!" I shout over to Ian, "OK! I'll check round the back!"

I search the counters for anything useful. A panic alarm? I note it's there even though I don't know what I'll use it for since the police probably don't exist anymore. Cash, lots of it. Unfortunately that won't be me issues anymore. They don't have weapons unsurprisingly except for some generic scissors.

I begin to rummage through under the shelves but I'm cut short by Ian's urgent yells,
"ANTHONY!! Get over here!" I sprint over to the door that Ian entered and swing my head around to where he stands.

I release the breath I was holding tensely as I see he is fine.
"Who.....?" I exclaim gesturing towards a group of about 6 people all warmly smiling at me.

"This is the Creaney Family, they are willing to help us survive!" I don't know about this, I don't trust them. They hold their smiles and wait for my reaction.

I nod and force a ridged smile, "That's great!" They look delighted. They don't even check us for bites or infection! I give Ian a few looks across the night to warn him not to get too settled. What if this is like the 'walking dead' and they're canabals*?! They hand around warm soup around one of those camping portable stoves to keep us warm.

*i don't know how to spell it

I try to make conversation between us,
"So-" the older, grandmother looking woman speaks over me rudely,
"What brings you here?"
"Well with the whole zombie apocalypse thing going on, we kinda thought the store would be a good 'base'." I explain, Ian nods in agreement, spooning the soup down hungrily.

I'm starting to regret Ian's choice in staying with these people, he is smart but can make dumb decisions sometimes.

The chubby bearded man, a husband of the blonder, younger woman I suspect, with grey uneven striped down his side burns has been looking up at me from his large bowl and hasn't looked away.

He opens his mouth to speak in a low gravelly voice, "Ya know, there is a way to salve the whole end a' the world prablem." I place my China empty bowl on the floor in front of me and keep my eyes on him.

He continues, "About 400 miles away from here, a real tall tawer stands. In that tawer, you can distribute gas fram et. If you get the right chemical antidote, you could cure the world!" He takes lots of pauses and it keeps me hanging.

I'm about to ask where to get the antitote before his wife starts,
"Steve dear, you knaw thayts just a myth!" She rests her hand on his knee and rubs it while turning to me, "Dant get ya hopes up honey."

She's acting like he's crazy but it would be worth a try, at least.