Me Vs Zombies [Book 1 & 2]

[Book 2] Chapter 26

[Payton's POV]

'If you find anything you turn right around and come find me first. Alright?' Daryl pulled his leather jacket over my body in irritation. 'And wear better clothing next time.'

'Stop worrying, I've been doing this since your grandma was nothing but an egg in the womb.' I giggled, zipping up the jacket, flicking up the collar and yanked my hair from underneath. 'Honestly, people would think we're a married couple or something.'

Daryl rolled his eyes as he ran his arms down me one last time to check that I had easy access to my weapons but was still protected well enough.

'Right, if you don't find anything in 10 minutes, come out, we've been long enough but we should come back with a little more than what we have which we basically brought for ourselves anyway.'

'Right.' I grinned as I leaned in and kissed him quickly on the lips.

Daryl groaned before turning away and running into the shop beside us while I ran forward into the shop next door, grasping my gun tight between my fingers.

I twisted my way through the open door, avoiding the mess on the floor, boxes were tumbled over and racks were all laying against each other.

'Great, this looks like it's going to be fun... Screw Daryl's rules, I'm a big girl, I've been in a few empty shops looking for supplies in my time, some not even entirely empty so I'm sure I can handle myself if I got happen to come into a little trouble.

I ran my hand along the counter as I crouched down low, staring beneath the tipped shelves and racks.

The room dark, the only light getting in was from the open doorway but that only lit up the front of the store.

I clicked my tongue loudly and whistled as I moved from crouching on one leg to the other, pressing myself away from the counter slightly.

I listened carefully and tried not to move as I listened for the sound of nearby groaning or the scuffing of feet or bodies across the messy floor.

After a few seconds of shifting, lifting up just to drop again, I decided it safe enough for me to stand up and move a little further, whistling a little louder every few moments and listening for a reply straight after.

I made my way over to a tipped shelf and shoved my hand underneath quickly to yank it upright, as I pulled it up I looked around everywhere as the strain of the weight burned my arms.

After a minute of grunting from myself I got it to stand up right and I jumped backwards to listen for more noise or walkers, twisting my hips to quickly till I heard it click.

'Bugger!' I grunted as I forced my hand up to my ears in disgust, realising my mistake and shoving them down again.

Not only did that hurt but I'd made myself feel sick.

I hated that sound of clicking, I thought it unnatural that underneath your skin a bone just did something it shouldn't of and hurt itself, even after seeing corpses with no arms or legs try and get around on their own as they left their intestines as a messy rope dragging behind them I could never get over this "fear."

I whimpered again as I composed myself, searching around frantically again.

I'm so out of routine, honestly, back when I was doing this everyday my hips didn't click like they were out of shape every time I twisted to fast.

'I feel old.' I muttered as I grabbed a plastic bag fluttering around my feet, I grabbed it and forced it into a ball then into my pocket, still holding my gun at shoulders height as I crouched low and made my way forward ever so slowly.