The Rain (Book 3 - The Evolving)

Chapter 13 - L'approvisionnement en eau dangereuse et vœux vides

They shuffled towards the pharmacy, standing in a circle back to back. Nate held his gun up, looking down the barrel and the silver silencer. Alex held his machete tight in his hand, keeping his eyes narrowed as they scanned the centre. Ross held the torch in one hand, lighting up their way and the long hunting knife in his other.

The second floor was dark, small beams of light managed to tear through gaps in the boarded up windows but it did not allow Ross, Nate and Alex to see more than four metres in front of them.

Litter lined the floor, paper and blood clung to the marble ground. They shot around at the sound of a bark echoing through the entire shopping centre. Their eyes were wide, weapons raised and backs straight, ready to pounce.

The growls rumbled up to the second floor, the sounds of flesh tearing pierced the silence that the boys were once immersed in. Their muscles relaxed as they continued moving towards the pharmacy.

Nate's hand pounded, he could feel the blood running down his fingers onto the floor. He feared that the dogs would smell it and come running but he knew that they were occupied. He took a deep breath and followed after Alex who seemed calmer than ever.

He pressed his shoulder against the wall, holding the machete tight in his grip. Alex looked around to Ross and nodded, watching as he walked towards the window. Ross peered through the glass, shining his torch in through the window.

The interior was a mess. Shelves were knocked into one another and a dead body lay in the centre of the shop floor. Ross looked back to Nate and Alex, nodding firmly to tell them that it was clear. He pushed the door open with his hand that held the knife, hearing it clink off the glass door.

He stepped inside, closing the door once they were all in. The small shop was quiet and the three boys stood in a row, their narrowed eyes studying every object.

Alex stepped forward first, kicking a box out of the way. Nate and Ross listened as it scuttled across the floor, hitting off a fallen shelf. Alex continued through the store, crouching under a knocked shelf and placing his machete on the counter as he made his way into the back where the serious drugs were kept.

Ross split off, moving to the left side of the shop. The beam of light from his torch bounced across the shop, shining on every single thing as he shoved anything he could lay his hands on into the empty bag.

Nate made his way to the right side of the shop where the shelves had fallen to the ground, leaving his aisle to be much wider and open. He lay his silenced gun on the shelf as he knelt down to sift through the items scattered across the floor. He picked up a light packet of paracetamol, holding it up so that he could read the words in the light that broke through the window.

The box had a few dots of dried blood on it and as he turned the packet in his hands, he could tell that it was empty. His face fell when he didn't hear anything move inside the box. He sighed and shook it, not being met with any sound. Nate threw the box onto the floor and shuffled along the ground in his crouched position, moving towards the counter where he could hear Alex rustling around in the back.

Ross ransacked every shelf and every inch of the ground but found very little. In his bag, he'd stuffed some bandages, tweezers, painkillers and some creams that helped to heal. He turned from the shelf and took a step towards the open bag. He stopped, his foot in mid-air. His eyes widened and his head snapped in the direction of the shop window.

Beams of light broke through gaps in the wooden panels that lined the glass windows, the ground of the second floor was lit up in certain patches with a bright golden light from the sun. Ross slid the knife out of his holster and raised it up, ready to strike. He cautiously made his way toward the window, his eyes scanning the entire second floor. He leant against a waist-high shelf, feeling the wooden boards dig into his thigh.