After

Alek Johnson turned the corner with his crossbow leading. It paid to be cautious. If there were to be enemies he would loose the bolt, drop the crossbow and pull his sword. All the while hoping the enemy didn't have friends with arrows, or worse, guns.

Alek stopped holding his breath, the aisle was clear. Guns, he thought, no one has guns anymore. While not entirely true it may as well have been. Not that many people knew how to properly care for guns or reload spent cartridges, Alek certainly didn't. Therefore other forms of self-defense were developed. Alek chose his sword and crossbow. He was fair with the weapons since he never had a need for them before.

Alek started down the aisle and heard a clatter behind him. He turned with his crossbow and saw only Lexi. Her full name was Alexis Johnston. With their names so similar it was lucky for them that she preferred Lexi.

Allek frowned at her for causing a racket and she grimaced an apology. Alek shook his head and turned his attention back to the aisle. Scavenging was turning into a pointless endeavor, most everything had been pretty well picked over. But they had been passing through a small town and thought they might get lucky. It was turning out not to be the case.

After a few more steps Alek stopped when he heard another noise. The sound was distant, letting him know it wasn't Lexi. He looked back at her anyways and she nodded that she heard the noise as well.

Alek turned to the direction of the noise and moved as quietly as he could. At moments like this is when he missed electricity; the darkness of the store made it difficult to see what he was coming up against. Luckily it worked both ways.

“Stop right there!” A voice said as a bright light came on. Alek's eyes had trouble adjusting to the unexpected light. There must have been a generator nearby.

“We mean you no harm,” Alek said. “We are only looking for food.”

“I doubt that,” the voice said. “You're scouts from the Pullmans aren't you?”

“I have no idea what or who you're talking about. My name is Alek Johnson.”

“Yeah? And who's your friend there?”

“Her name is Lexi Johnston.”

“Your sister or wife?” The wife said.

“Neither, why does that matter?” Alek didn't feel it necessary to point out the name differences. He had no idea how many men there were or what weapons they had.

“It doesn't, really, if we want her we'll have her regardless. Now why don't you drop those weapons and cooperate. We may let you live if you do.”

Alek rolled his eyes, the voice sounded like a cliched bad guy from a movie or book he read ages ago. Regardless he obliged the voice even though he figured it wouldn't prolong his lifespan. He hoped Lexi was doing the same behind him.

“Good, now put your hands up.”

Again Alek followed the order and watched calmly as three men came out to gather the weapons. One of the men passed Alek to gather Lexi's weapons while another came to Alek and the final covered them both with his rifle. Regardless of how much ammo was in the rifle the two weapon gatherers made their first mistake: they stepped into the line of fire.

Standing before Alek, the man about to take his smiled showing yellow, rotted teeth behind a thick beard. Alek made a mental note about how people had let themselves go.

As the man stooped down to retrieve the weapons Alek bent his middle finger down and snagged a ring on his sleeve. Quickly jerking the finger up he produced a small knife tucked away in the sleeve. Before anyone noticed it Alek had the knife in hand and was grabbing the man by the hair, pulling him up and pressing the blade to his throat. From the commotion behind him Alek knew Lexi had done the same thing.

The tide had turned. Alek and Lexi were in control of the situation; provided the would-be captors were concerned about killing their own.

“No one has to die,” Alek said. “We just wanted food. Let us get our weapons and we'll be on our way.”

“Too late for that, fucker,” the voice said. “Kill them all!”

Alek cursed as the first shot was fired. He released his hold on his hostage just as the bullet struck the unsavory man. Before the man fell to the floor dead Alek was in an aisle with his knife held close. In seconds Lexi was by his side with an identical knife held close as well. She had an unafraid, determined look.

The gunfire stopped quickly, no point wasting ammo, and silence weighed down on the store. Alek waived for Lexi to go down the aisle to circle around and he waited. Sure enough one of the men circled he corner of the aisle and Alek greeted him with a knife to the chest. While only being fair with a sword and crossbow, he was deadly with a knife.

Alek pulled the knife from the man's chest and backed away from the body. He retreated down the aisle and came up beside Lexi quickly and peered over her shoulder. The vantage point allowed them both to see the remaining three men. Alek cursed himself for not grabbing his crossbow even though it would have been suicide. His mind raced to come up with a strategy to take out the three men but could come up with nothing. Luckily, Lexi had a plan.

She flipped the knife in her hand so she was holding the tip of the blade and looked carefully at her target. In one fluid motion she sent the knife spinning into the spine of one of the men. Before Alek knew it, Lexi had his own knife in her hand and was in the process of throwing it at her next target.

As the second knife struck the other man he moved from his hiding spot. He sprinted over debris before coming up on the first body and removing the knife. Without missing a step he came up on the final man who had finally discovered the death of his two companions. The man's gun come up but before the trigger could be pulled Alek threw his knife. It didn't make contact but it distracted the man long enough for Alek to tackle him to the ground. Without thinking Alek began pummeling the man's head with his fists. As he struck the man a wild scream escaped from Alek and it took Lexi pulling him off for him to stop the punishment.

“He's dead, Alek,” she said in her raspy voice.

Alek sat there a moment staring at the man's destroyed face. “I'm sorry,” he said. “I got carried away.”

“It happens,” Lexi said, shrugging. “I'm going to get our stuff. Clean yourself off.”

Alek nodded and watched as she walked away. She had changed so much since the even, he thought. Of course, a lot had happened to her to take some of that spark from her eyes. Alek felt responsible but he knew she didn't blame him. If she did then why did she continue traveling with him?

Safety in numbers, Alek decided. Granted, two people wasn't a large number but it was better than going solo.

Lexi returned several minutes later with their discarded belongings as well as the attacker's weapons and other belongings.

“Thought we might be able to trade their stuff later,” she said.

“Good thinking. We should probably get going, they might have friends.”

The two left the store with haste. While they did not make off with much foodstuffs they got items to trade with. There was always someone looking for the nostalgia a gun and ammunition could bring. Alek and Lexi just had to find them.