Regression to the Mean 3: Apocalypse

18 Mile Out (Continued)

"McCall, wake up" Merle's irritating voice thunders through the small enclosure of the car. "We're here, look alive"

"Where's here exactly?" Grace asks as she raise my head up off of Liam's shoulder and look out of the window.

"Everville" Merle grunts as he climbs out of the car.

"It's cute" she mumbles in a reply as Liam follows her out of the car, closing the doors behind us. The three of them look around the empty parking lot of the store not seeing a single car in sight. "It's a little weird. There are no cars. There should be cars"

"Maybe everyone left"

"Or maybe. They're all dead and we'll find 'em a little further int' town"

"Merle, how did you ever get by on that Sally Sunshine attitude around all of your drug dealing biker buddies, that have mom tattooed on their bicep?" Grace asks as she walk to the trunk of her car and pop it open. She begins rifling through the bed, pulling things out and throwing them to the others "Okay, backpack, backpack, whip. Walker hand... EW!" she gasps out, holding up the severed bony appendage that looks to belong to an old lady. "Guys why is there a hand in the trunk of my car?"

"It must have gotten in there when we got hit by the horde"

"Obviously... get rid of that for me, will you?" Grace rolls her eyes and throws the hand to Merle who catches it with a look of disgust. Turning back to the trunk, Grace pulls out the last back pack and a storage crate.

"Here, give me that" Liam reaches over and takes the crate from her.

"You really think there's gonna be enough in there to fill all this?" Merle asks squinting his eyes as he looks up at the sign on the building.

"Better to be prepared" Closing the trunk, Grace moves to Liam and takes the baseball bat out of his hand. "Silent weapons only Merle" she glares at the man as she passes him and makes her way to the entrance of the store. The Automatic doors are locked, probably from when the electricity was cut off. The brightness of the Georgia sun makes it had to see through the closed windows and with the fact that there are posters covering the top half it makes it a lot harder to see inside.

"Anything?" Liam asks as Grace crouches low to see if it is possible to get a better view from lower down.

"It's better, but it's still very dark inside. Can you hear anything?" Grace asks looking up at Liam who stands at the side of the other side of the doors.

"I'll you two hurry up" Merle growls as he stands on guard for any walkers.

"nothing" Liam nods after listening intensely.

"Nothing, not even a shuffle?" she questions

"Nothing"

"Okay, help me pry these open" Grace stands up and place the bat and bag on the ground. Liam follows the action dropping the things in his arms down and moving to join his mate.

"Can't we just smash the doors open?" Liam asks as he stands across from her.

"No, too much noise. We need to do this quietly" Grace stresses again

"Okay" Liam agrees easily and pulls at one door as Grace takes the other. It takes a few seconds but the latches brake inside and the doors slide open.

"Merle, let's go" Grace directs, stepping back and picking up the bat and backpack. They move forward in sync all on high alert just in case. It's dark inside beyond the main entrance. But the stench hits them like a freight train "what the hell is that?" Grace asks, her nose scrunching up at the rotten smell.