Claustrophobic | Skephalo

Shoplifting

hehe this got 1 vote so i decided to update again

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Zak

The sun shone down on Zak as he stumbled out of the building he had been staying in. A fresh headache had formed, and it took him by complete surprise.

I gotta find some Advil or something first.

One bonus about being one of the last humans on Earth is getting pretty much anything you want. Currency doesn't exist anymore, so Zak can just take whatever he needs. It's not like zombies get headaches, anyway. Of course, in a couple of years after everything is expired it will be a problem, but Zak decided to wait until that happens to worry about it. It's hard enough living through the apocalypse.

Prying open the automatic doors of a Target, Zak is instantly met with the smell of rotting flesh. It was dark inside, the only light source being the flickering and dim lights above his head.

Let's make this quick.

Zak headed towards the back of the store where the pharmacy is, and grabbed four bottles of Advil off the shelf so he wouldn't have to come back any time soon. Cringing at the rattling noise they made, he shoved the bottles into the side pocket of his backpack.

Now for food.

He had only seen one or two zombies near the pharmacy, and sneaking past them was easy. The food isles, however, were always more crowded. Zombies just love to eat anything they can get their hands on. Luckily, Zak had dealt with the food isle zombies before and used a random metal bar he found on the ground to cause a distraction.

Zombies are attracted to noise, so once the bar clanged against the ground, the food was Zak's for the taking. He stuffed his backpack until things began to fall out, and then filled his pockets and arms too.

Then he ran, as the zombies came back towards the isle.

Don't trip. Don't trip. Please don't trip.

Zak dashed back towards the exit, jumping over a ton of old toys or other random items that had fallen off their shelves. He eventually pushed through the Target doors, taking a deep breath of fresh air.

"Find anything good in there?" Darryl was leaning against the wall behind Zak, startling him.

"Jesus, don't sneak up on me like that!" Zak exhaled, jumping back.

"Sorry. I saw you go in. I just wanted to make sure you got out okay."

"It's fine, I go in all the time for food and stuff. The zombies in there are pretty dumb." Zak laughs.

"Yeah, I heard some loud noise. It was smart to cause a distraction with sound. But they'll learn, eventually."

"Seriously?"

Darryl nodded. "They might be rotting, but they still have brains. Just be careful." He glances down at Zak's backpack. "What's with all the pills?"

"I'm just not feeling great."

"You're sick? You didn't get bit, did you?" Concern flashed in Darryl's eyes, as he scanned around Zak's open skin.

Zak crosses his arms. "No! It's just a headache. Why would you care, anyway?"

"I don't know. I guess I just haven't talked to anyone in a really long time. It would stink if my only friend turned into a monster."

A small smile formed on Zak's lips. Although he knew almost nothing about Darryl, it sounded really nice to have a friend in this broken world.

"Okay, friend. I promise I didn't get bit." Zak says, while popping two Advils into his mouth and pulling out a granola bar.

"Good." Daryl glances up at the sky, and then back down at his watch. "I gotta go take care of something. I'll see you later, okay?"

Zak pouts. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, there's just something I have to do. It shouldn't take long. Why don't you go find somewhere you can stay tonight? I'll find you when I'm done."

"Whatever. You and your weird monster hunting. I'll see you soon, Darryl." Zak shrugs and walks away, only turning to look back at Darryl once. Crunching on his granola bar, he scans the area for any buildings that don't look like they're completely falling apart.

He doesn't have much luck.

The only place that looked remotely safe was a little red house a few blocks from the Target. Zak entered quietly, to make sure he wouldn't be ambushed, and swept the house for anything else living inside.

This could work. It's a little tight, but at least it's safe.

Zak placed everything he was carrying down in one of the rooms upstairs, and laid out his sleeping bag. He managed to rip some old wooden planks off a broken bed frame and balance them in front of the window. This way, if anything came near it in the middle of the night, it would fall and wake him up. There was no nails or a hammer that Zak could use to actually board the place up.

Perfect.

He flopped down onto his sleeping bag, with a headache that was seemingly just getting worse. Now, Zak was bored. Of course, he was used to being completely alone before, but now? He couldn't wait until Darryl found him. The thought of actual human interaction gave Zak butterflies in his stomach. He was nearly twitching with anticipation for Darryl to tell him all about his monster hunt, or all the other cool adventures he might have gone on.

What should I tell him about me?

Zak didn't really have any cool stories to tell. Most of his time in the apocalypse was spent running and hiding. In fact, the most interesting thing that happened to him was when the giant spider broke into his house. But Darryl was there too.

I should make something up. Oh! I'll tell him I killed two— no, three zombies while I was in Target! He'll totally be impressed. One man versus three zombies! With only a metal bar!

Zak was satisfied with his story. For the most part.

Wait, what if he asks for proof? Is that weird? Oh, it doesn't matter. I could get something from a zombie anywhere. A finger, a tooth, even a piece of a stupid blue shirt. That's what I can do while I'm waiting for Darryl to get here! Genius!

So Zak stood up, now determined to kill, or at least injure, an actual zombie.