Perhaps We'll Meet Another Day

Trust

Part 1

Her eyes pierced through the dark street, settling on the dangling and decrepit sign of the pharmacy, it's neon long having been used up and the colors fading rapidly with each rain that came down. From behind the overturned and burned-out car on the opposite side of the road, she could spot the large white metal shelves inside the pharmacy, hopefully still full of medicine and other health supplements.

If the city hadn't have been so populated when the outbreak hit them, this wouldn't be so dangerous, she thought, eyes catching movement to the side. Two shambling figures, slow and mindless, meandered their way across the sidewalk. Their ashy gray skin and torn sections of flesh looked even more disgusting and menacing in the dark. Zombies. Even from a distance, their ragged moans carried on the wind, and she winced at the sound. Lexi never could get used to their sounds, the thought of them having once been people still at the back of her mind.

They walked their way across the road, to the right of the pharmacy, until they disappeared behind the buildings on the other side. At least she knew they were there. The silent and unseen ones were the most dangerous. And she could handle just two, idly touching the handle of the hunting knife on her belt. Any more than that and things could get complicated.

Deciding that she'd waited long enough to survey the location, Lexi hoisted up her trusty AR-15 and rose from her cover behind the ruined car. Her boots made only hollow thuds against the ground as she half-walked, half-jogged towards the next available object to hide behind. This car, once a bright red, wasn't burned but scratched all over the sides and doors, crushed beyond use. From this new vantage point closer to the street intersection, she dropped a knee and peered over the wreck.

To her right she could see the two undead from before, still oblivious to her presence. Her gaze swung left. Further down there was a group of four or five more zombies, still quite a ways and of no concern to her if she was quiet enough. Some stood, swaying with the wind, while the rest shambled aimlessly in the street.

Lexi trained her eyes on the drug store entrance, not seeing any significant defensive value in the glass thing. She sighed, reaching for the pack on her back. It was lighter than she would have liked it to be, but that was why she was braving the more dangerous streets of the city to begin with. Having little food or medicine would kill her off far quicker than those mindless husks of what were once human. Unlatching the hooks, she opened the flap, reaching inside to grab her thick padlock, the key dangled on her necklace so she wouldn't lose it.

It seemed she'd have to improvise some sort of barricade once she got inside. She didn't like using her padlock very much, simply because in a tight spot it was very easy to forget about it. Pharmacies usually had large metal shelving units that held the medication. Lexi didn't know how heavy they were, or how loud it would be to move them, but maybe it would work out to use those instead. But all of that was warranted on the door being open. There was no telling what the state of the door or inside would be until she actually got there.

Adjusting her army cap in place, and double-checking her assault rifle, she watched only for a second longer before ducking out from behind the crushed car. Kicking away trash and debris from underfoot, her ear was trained on the two closer zombies, waiting for that distinct wail that they'd picked up her fleshy scent. In this moment, the darkness aided her, shielding her from the diminished sights of the moaning and groaning undead. It also looked like the ones further down hadn't spotted her, for which she breathed a sigh of thanks. Her hurried steps took her straight to the door, grabbing the handle with a quick tug. It stuck.

'Dammit.' She thought, scowling at the thing and dropping to a crouch on the ground. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. She reevaluated her options.