Fight for your life

Chapter Fourteen

Aside from the occasional awkward moment with David, and weird looks from his 'crew' at meals, the next few days went by with ease. We all had jobs- Donnie helped with the animals and garden, Barrett with the cars, and the rest of us were supply runners- and today was our first run. We agreed Donnie should go so we weren't separated, and she agreed heartily.
"So, the town is pretty deserted along the edge, which is were we stay, but today we're wanting to go a little farther," David says, gesturing to an area we can't see from the back of the van. "First we can stop by the clothes store, and the gas station, and you guys can look around a little, but at," he looks down at the watch on his wrist, and I do the same, eyeing the small feminine watch Joan gave me before we left. "6:30 were going to meet back at the front of the clothes store."
"That gives us an hour," I confirm, nodding.
"Right. Then we'll go a little deeper, towards the mall."
"Avoid guns if you can," Barrett adds, looking at the three boys. "Around the edges is fine, but when there are more than three, avoid guns. The sound draws more."
I roll my eyes at the obvious advice, but David nods, like he's never considered it. "That makes sense."
"Oh my god we're gonna die," Scout mutters, laying her head on my shoulder. I smile and lay my head on hers, thinking about the new group.
"We just might," I answer, and she rolls her eyes.
"You're supposed to say, we won't die! Everything's going to be fine!" She teases, and I laugh a little.
After a short pause, I say, "You know I won't let you die."
"You're like, a big brother who beats up everyone that's mean to us," Donnie says, and scout laughs, adding,
"Yeah, only the ones who are mean to us are the dead, coming back to kill us."
"And that's not very nice, now is it?" I ask, smiling and looking to Murdoc, who's across from me, sitting stiffly next to David, who he hasn't forgiven. He smiles back, and seems to relax for a moment, until  David chimes in.
"How long have you all known each other?"
"A few months now?" Donnie says, looking at us for confirmation.
"Yeah, me and Barrett met first, the Mudz, Scout and then Donnie." I say, lifting my head from Scout's.
"Man, that feels like it was years ago," Barrett says, shaking his head.
"It really does," I agree, smiling with pride at how long we've managed to stay alive. I'm pulled out of my pleasantness when the car starts to stop, and I look forward- the town was closer than I thought.
"Alright," Conner says, opening the door and coming around to open ours. We all shuffle out of the van and stand still, taking in our surroundings. "So we have the gas station," He points. "The clothing store, the old candle shop," he continues, moving his hand with each store. "The book store, the old bakery, the thrift shop-"
"I think they get the point, Conner," James says, rolling his eyes. "We get supplies from the camping shop, down there, and I wouldn't recommend going past that corner, sometimes they crowd in big groups in alleys and stuff, chasing animals."
"Alright," I say, nodding as we look around.
"6:30," David confirms before the three go off.
"6:30," I say, nodding.
"Well," Scout says, flipping her faded pink hair from her face. "You all know where I'm going, who's coming with?"
"Me," Donnie says happily, turning with her to go to the clothing store.
"I'll meet you there soon," I say, nodding. "I'm going to the thrift store."
"I'll go with you," Murdoc says, and I nod. "Barrett?"
"The camping shop is next," He answers, following us to the door.
"You and Murdoc can go together," I agree, nodding.
The door is broken in, glass shattered around it. I gently push the door and pause, looking around silently, waiting for some sign of life. Instead, we're greeted by silence and a lot of dust, but an all together beautiful shop. The walls have a pretty, faded floral wallpaper, with dark brown shelves holding up various items. There was a lot of useless junk- baskets and ancient toys, along with lots of little hand bags and pieces of jewelry. Not everything was totally worthless, though. In fact, after about ten minutes, Murdoc watched me struggle to hold my treasures, that consisted of: a black belt, a pair of camo cargo pants- a size too big, (hence the belt), a yellow rain jacket, a pair of gardening gloves, two large woven blankets, a tshirt, a heavy, dark and ugly dark green sweater, along with a small dark red beanie, and a pair of old white tennis shoes, topped off with a small light green teddy bear, for Lily.
"Need a hand?" He asks, lifting a large backpack with many pockets.
"Nice," I say, nodding and walking towards him as he holds the bag open. I push my things inside, aside from the blankets, and keep moving. "Thanks."
"Barrett found a few knives, and I found a base ball bat," he says, nodding and holding it up a little as he pulls the backpack on.
"Alright, should we move on?" I ask, right as Barrett yells,
"Oh hell yeah!" He whips around the corner, holding a small pistol up proudly. "Found it behind the front counter."
"Seriously?" I ask, a little annoyed. David and his friends are kind of useless.
"Yeah! Are we done?" He asks, looking around the store. I nod in confirmation, and he grins stupidly. "Alright, Murdoc? Ready to go?"
He nods silently, and I smile. "Alright, be safe you guys."
"You too," Murdoc says, nodding to me as I scan the room one more time before head out the front door, the boys close behind.
"It's been about 15 minutes," I add, turning to them. "Try not to be gone too long."
The clothing store is, of course, the highlight of Scout's life currently. When I walk in, I see her standing in front of a mirror, wearing a sparkly silver form fitting dress, with matching heels. She gasps happily and jogs to me surprisingly well in such a tight dress and large heels. "Ricky! I found stuff for you too! Come try some things on!" She says, picking up a small stack of dark clothes.
"Oh good," I say, smiling softly as Donnie comes out wearing a new pair of skinny jeans and a dark green plaid shirt. Scout giggles happily walks over, putting a little beige cowboy hat on her before pausing to nod in satisfaction.
"All I need now is a braid," she says, laughing gently as I rifle through my stack of clothes, which she has chosen surprisingly well. A pair of black skinny jeans, a dark red hoodie, three tshirts, in various shades of brown, and a few pairs of socks. A few minutes later, Scout comes back out in a pair of light blue jeans and a pink frilly top, which she proudly paraded in front of us.
"I've missed this," she says happily, bringing the silver dress over to a small pile.
"Me too," Donnie says, smiling.
Around 20 minutes later, the boys come back, carrying quiet a few things. "I thought the place would be raided," Barrett says, amazed. "I mean, it was, but not the important things. We found so much cool shit." Murdoc nods in agreement, and we all sit down on the couch by the dressing rooms, going through their findings. "I mean, look at this- a backpacking tent and sleeping bags- they weigh like, nothing," he says, holding up two of the sleeping bags, which were stuffed into a little bag about the size of my head. "And we got some portable hammocks because if we're off the ground the zombies can't get us. Then Murdoc found a nice hunters knife, and a shotgun. This town sucked at raiding."
"Apparently," Scout says in awe as Murdoc nods and holds the gun out. He's also holding two fishing poles, and wearing a dorky fishing hat proudly. "And apparently," she adds, starting to walk away. "We're all getting dorky hats."
Ten minutes of clothes shopping and arguing later, we decide to set off for the gas station, all supporting very dorky hats- Barrett with a gray flat cap, Scout with a fashionable pink beret, and me in a large fur aviator. "If this impairs my hearing," I warn, not really annoyed. "I'm burning it."
"It's not going to affect your hearing," she answers, rolling her eyes as she pushes her shopping cart full of clothes and Donnie out the door. "And if it does, you can just pull the sides up."
"I guess so."
"Okay but, will someone please acknowledge how good Barrett looks in the hat? I don't think I've ever seen someone pull it off." I nod in agreement as Scout laughs.
"It's true," she agrees, nodding as we all stare at him. "I'm impressed."
"What?" Barrett asks, shrugging. "I'm an attractive guy. I can pull off anything."
"Is that a challenge?" Scout asks, grinning. "Because I accept that challenge."
Before he can answer, there's a loud crash, and James, David and Conner all turn the corner, running fast, out of breath. "We gotta go!"
"Oh shit," Barrett mutters as Donnie struggles to get out of the cart. A few seconds later, we see several zombies turn the corner, running as fast as they can after the boys. For a moment it's only the six, and we step forward, but soon more and more come, and we all stop, considering whether or not to fight- and we decide the latter just as the boys reach us. James unlocks the car, and he runs to the driver side door, leaving the rest of us to pile into the back, Scout last. "Scout, just GET IN THE FUCKING CAR!" Barrett yells, jumping out as she tries to lift the cart, so he can stab one of the faster zombies.
"I am not dying because she wants her clothes," Murdoc snaps, jumping out to stab another zombie and then help throw the cart into the van angrily before stabbing another. Scout climbs into the van before turning and kicking on in the head, and once Mudz and Barrett jump in, James starts to drive away, leaving Scout and I to hold the cart in while the boys slam the doors.
"Jesus Christ, Scout!" Barrett yells, pissed as we speed away. "Are you fucking kidding me?"
"We're fine, aren't we?" She asks, and I shake my head as Murdoc mutters about screwed up priorities.
"Seriously Scout," Donnie snaps, looking horrified. "What the hell was that?"
She flinches a little, looking down at the cart, and I can't help but feel bad. I know why she did it, and even if it was very dumb, I won't let them make her feel like shit- that's the last thing she needs. "I just-"
"Never mind that," I say, trying to change the subject as I sit up, nearly blocking her from view. Murdoc and Barrett both object, but I keep going, addressing the other boys. "What happen back there?"
David is panting a little, and I'm amused that none of us are winded. "We were trying to figure out our plan, and what buildings we should go to first, and everything looked clear... so we went to break the door open, and a few heard it from the outside and came for us, and then they just came pouring out of that building," he says, shaking his head. "It looked empty but-"
"What building did you try to get into?" I ask, furrowing my eyebrows.
"Just some connivence store-"
"What?" I snap, annoyed. "Did you try like, I don't know, knocking on the door?"
"But it looked clear," Conner says, shaking his head.
"I'm sure it did, you could see what, four isles from the door?" Barrett asks, finally tearing his angry gaze away from Scout. "That's like, the first place people raid, of course there's going to be a shit ton."
"But before this, the camp store and gas station only had a few in them each-"
"I bet that's because they all died in that fucking store," David snaps, looking very shaken up, as if the reality of their near-dead and stupidity had just hit him.
"Now your using your head," Murdoc mutters, and I smile gently at him, glad he can now be sarcastic about him instead of his usual I'm-going-to-murder-him attitude.
"You guys should have just waited," Barrett says, shaking his head. "We were literally here, with you guys, and this hole mess could have been avoided."
"Don't you think we realize that?" James snaps,  glancing in the rear view mirror, as if they'd somehow still be behind us. "Can we just not talk?"
We all oblige, taking in what happen. Nobody was hurt, and that was the most important thing.