Godead

LI

As Claude and the others continued toward Berkfield, Blair and Amanda stopped at an old strip mall. The building was abandoned, the windows lining the stores broken and shattered. Blair stood in one of the mall's clothing stores, trying on an outfit in front of a large mirror.

"...What do you think?" she asked, somewhat shy.

"Flattering. That looks quite good on you, Blair," Amanda replied.

"Thanks. It's a bit risque, but it's easier to move around in something like this," Blair replied. The policewoman wore small, tight black jean shorts and a matching black and white sleeveless belly shirt, her black leather boots tightly tied as she looked herself over. "...Truth be told, though, I could have just as easily remained buck naked. It was illegal before, but now that things have gone crazy, I doubt those rules apply, anymore. I felt ridiculous like that, though, and if we find a gun, I'll need something to holster it in."

"That's true," Amanda replied. Blair then turned to her.

"Are you sure you don't want to try anything on, Amanda?"

"Yes. With my transformation, I doubt anything will fit properly. And besides, I feel quite comfortable with nothing on."

"Suit yourself," Blair said, tying her hair back in a tight ponytail. She then looked around, spotting several adjoining stores lining the strip mall outside. "I wonder if we can find anything else of use here."

Blair and Amanda left the clothing store, following the cement walkway from store to store. Most were in shambles, though showed little signs of having been ransacked. The strip mall was remote, and the wreckage strewn about suggested zombie activity. As a light drizzle poured from the cloudy skies, Blair suddenly stopped in front of a store.

"...Army surplus, huh? Perfect," she said, entering the shattered glass door along with Amanda. The two looked around, noticing weaponry of all kinds lining the shelves. "This should last us a good long time. We should stock up."

Blair and Amanda then proceeded to take weapons off the shelves, gathering pistols, automatics, shotguns, and everything in between.

"...What's this one?" Amanda asked, curiously looking one of the guns over.

"That's called a Tec-9, a semi-automatic pistol. It's pretty heavy weaponry," Blair said, grabbing it before staring down its scope at a nearby wall. "Do you know how to use a gun, Amanda?"

"I'm afraid not. My family were all liberals. We never got into that whole right wing NRA stuff," Amanda replied.

"I see. Well, you hardly need it. You're plenty powerful enough as it is," Blair said.

Just then, the rear employee entrance of the store burst open. A pair of haggard zombies snarled and groaned, limping before approaching the two girls. As the creatures steadily neared, Blair and Amanda sprang into action. Blair raised her Tec-9, firing a shot and felling one of the zombies. Amanda then raised a wing, slicing the second zombie in half by the stomach. As it fell to the floor, it moaned, continuing to approach by dragging itself along. Amanda raised a brow.

"...Persistent little bugger, aren't you?" she asked, stepping forward before crushing the zombie's head under her foot.

"Well done," Blair said, looking to the zombie corpses.

"You, too," Amanda replied, whipping the blood off her wing.

"We have enough weapons. Let's get out of here," Blair said. The two took their leave, taking the guns back to the car before driving away.

Meanwhile, Abby lead Claude and the others through the Florida woods, finally spotting the town of Berkfield off in the distance.

"There it is!" Abby said.

"Wow. It's actually pretty big," Claude replied.

"Yeah. At least compared to Calbury. How many residents does Berkfield have, anyhow?" Elsa asked.

"Around seven hundred. I'm sure most are dead or zombies by now, though," Reuben said.

"That's fine! Once we slaughter those miserable things, we'll have the place all to ourselves!" Abby replied gingerly.

The four entered town through a small residential area, carefully traversing the streets as Abby hovered high in the air. The occasional zombie wandered near, Abby or Reuben dispatching it as it neared. As the group continued through the streets, a group of four survivors stared out a window from the town library.

"Who the hell are those people?" Ryan asked, nervously looking outside.

"Beats me," Jake replied, adjusting his glasses as he took a closer look.

"Is that girl... flying?!" Jodie asked, worriedly looking on at Abby.

"Sure looks like it," Jake replied.

"Maybe she's like Debra," Caroline said.

"...Let's hope not," Ryan replied, tensely staring out at the group.

Ryan, Jodie, and Jake were average looking middle-aged survivors while Caroline was a fair looking woman in her early thirties. The group barely knew each other, and had banded together only recently in an effort to stay alive.

As Claude and the others approached, Abby suddenly noticed the group through the window. She smirked, swiftly approaching the library as Claude and the others struggled to keep up with her speed.

"I see you!" Abby exclaimed, the survivors nervously backing away in fright. Abby wickedly glared through the window.

"Abby!" Claude exclaimed, catching up with her along with Elsa and Reuben.

"Open up, fools! Or I'll shatter this window wide open!" Abby exclaimed.

"A—Alright!" Jake said, warily approaching the door as the others followed close behind. As Jake undid the lock, Abby kicked the door open as the survivors stepped back.

"Well, now! What have we here? More survivors?" Abby asked, stepping inside before having a look around.

"Pardon the intrusion," Claude said. "but we noticed this town and figured we'd check the situation."

"Are you four alright?" Elsa asked.

"Hell no, we're not alright! We've been barricaded in this damn library for weeks, now! And those damn lunatics at the grocery store are hoggin' up all the food!" Ryan exclaimed.

"Lunatics?" Reuben asked.

"Yeah. Toby and the rest. They've got guns, and are holed up at the grocery store across town," Jodie explained.

"They won't share none of the food, and we're already runnin' low over here! We tried reasoning with 'em, but they just said 'get lost or we'll kill ya'!" Ryan said.

"They already killed Allen. He was part of our group before Toby shot him dead for arguing with him. They've all gone mad," Caroline said, giving Claude a brief appraisal with her eyes.

"That's rough," Claude replied. "How many are there?"

"Five," Jake said. "Toby, George, Liz, Hannah, and old man Caleb. They're all armed, and we're not."

Suddenly, Abby gave a dry grin.

"...Well that's not fair, now, is it?" she asked wryly. "Claude... you wouldn't mind I played the good guy, would you? Just this once...?"