Surviving the Plague 5

In a Rite-Aid within a small town, there was a short female on guard. She remained inside of the building, constantly putting up new barriers. She had a good fence-like border made all the way around the edges of the shop, about 40 feet from the front door. She was a blonde wearing a beanie, her hair had been stained red in the bangs from blood. She also had a handkerchief around her neck that she would pull up over her mouth when need be. It was cold out, and at times it got hard to breathe the icy air. She wore grey, silk-like leggings and a dark blue hoodie and high-tops for shoes.

The air was cold and large snowflakes were just beginning to fall from the gray sky. Breath fogged from Andy's lips as he walked through, the daylight giving him some assurance as he traveled all by himself. He didn't have a coat, but he tried not to think about the cold as the white flakes stuck to his hair and his eyelashes. He wiped them off of his brow and sighed, the frigid air causing a tightness in his chest. He tried not to acknowledge it.

In the distance he saw a wall; a sort of makeshift wall, but it looked rather sturdy... Andy swallowed the anxious feeling in his throat, licking his lips as he hustled closer to the structure. "H-hello?" He shouted as loud as he could, his voice echoing in the wintery air. He coughed, holding back a wheeze. He held the strap of his backpack tight in his hand, trying not to think of the almost-empty inhaler inside.

Nearby, the young man suddenly heard the familiar hiss and crackle of a walkie-talkie establishing connection and then a male voice on the other end. “Dem, there’s a walker outside of your perimeters. He’s in our sights, just tell us if it’s a go or a no.” After the walkie-talkie clicked off once again, Andy knew there was a gun pointed at him somewhere. He choked suddenly on his fear, freezing up as he faced the wall.

He heard a click of a walkie-talkie then and an angry female voice just on the other side of the perimeters replied with a gruff quiet voice, “Thanks for the news flash, moron.”

Demi looked through the hole once more; he was just a normal guy. He looked like he had been walking quite a distance, looking for someone or something… "No." She replied to the walkie-talkie. The blonde girl walked to the door and cracked it open. She held only her arm out which was holding a gun. "Who are you?" She shouted, peeking further to see this boy.

Taking in a breath, Andy eyed the gun and he cleared his throat. He stood his ground, still as he was buffeted against the wind. "I-I'm Anderson Daniels." He told her and he lifted his hands up, palms out at her. "I don't have any weapons, I-I'm looking for materials..." His voice cracked then and he coughed before trying to catch his breath. "I.. I have asthma." He rushed out, his voice a bit hoarse as he watched the blonde, trying not to shake in the cold. Andy hated telling people, but obviously he'd need a reason to get past her.

The wind blew hard, Demi checked him out from head to toe. Her lips went to a hard line and she opened the door. "Come on, Anderson." Demi put her gun down and grabbed his jacket's sleeve, pulling him in the safety of the storms. “I’m Demi," She smirked at the boy. "There are four of us here," She grabbed her walkie and asked the boys to come out.

Suddenly, Andy was pulled into the confines of the walls and the wind had stopped pushing him, instead buffeting the defenses all around him. He straightened out his hoodie and he looked over at the building itself. He wondered slightly if it had any supplies whatsoever, or if they would even share them with him. "Four?" He asked and he swallowed, remembering the voice that he heard her talking to.

The boy blinked then as he saw a figure open the glass doors of the Rite-Aid and come into the open. He was tan with crazy dirt-blonde hair and a scarf over his mouth like some old western bandito. His eyes shown with a smirk. There was a walkie-talkie in his hand and a gun on his back. A shorter, younger boy appeared as well right behind him.

Demi looked over Andy questionably but she did it with a smile. "My younger brother, Oliver, and Blaise." She pointed to each of them. "And then our look-out man.” Her gaze moved up to the top of the building, and she noticed Andy follow her gesture. She laughed slightly. “He doesn't come down."

Oliver walked to his sister, hiding behind her slightly. "I think he's mad."

Demi looked down at Oliver, and she noddd her head gently, eyes softening. "Yeah, he is.” She murmured to the small boy. “Ever since this all has happened.” Demi didn’t look up at Andy, but he sensed for a moment that she was speaking for him to hear. “He won't come down. We have to take the food to him." She put her hand on Oliver's shoulder.

"Who is he?" Oliver whispered to Demi, his large eyes on the strange man.

Andy looked at the young boy, and a part of him felt bad but it also made him slightly happy. This kid had his sister to rely on and protect him, to teach him everything he needed to know about how to survive... But at the same time, if Oliver lost Demi, he might be traumatized... Andy wetted his lips and he knelt down, lowering himself to Oliver's level. "I'm Andy." He told him with a quiet voice, and the faintest touch of a smile.

Oliver smiled back, looking at the man. Demi pushed him out from behind her and spoke, "Well, say hi.” Her tone was sort of demanding, but subtle. Oliver had big eyes as he was pushed away from his sister. He looked like a fawn whose mother had pushed him forward.

He looked at the brown-haired teenager. "Hi," His eyes were big, but truthfully, Oliver felt like he could instantly trust Andy. On the inside, Oliver looked up to Andy already. He was an independent, bad-ass teenager! "I'm Oli." A toothy smile was on his face.

The older brunette smiled quickly and he straightened back up again. "So um..." He looked back to Demi once again, and Blaise, nearly anxious. Blaise had been quiet, and he felt as if a gun was still being pointed at him, somewhere from above. He cleared his throat. "I was wondering if you had any medical supplies?" He asked them both and he glanced back towards the main building. It was like the little inhaler in his bag weighed 50 pounds just because he knew it was empty.

"Yes we do.” Demi answered him with a nod. “I'll take you to the back." Demi smirked and began to walk toward the front entrance of the store. "Oli, watch front for me okay?" Oliver smiled widely and ran off. As Demi escorted Andy through the glass doors which were boarded up. They moved past piles of boards and weapons, to the back of the Pharmacy. They passed through a maze of knocked over aisles. The shelves were cleaned of product and everything that hadn’t been raided before they had settled here was moved to the back. "So, Andy. Where are you going?" She raised a counter top and allowed Andy to pass.

Andy followed her through the aisles and things towards the back of the building and he moved through the counter space. "Oh, I'm not really sure..." He told her honestly. He looked at the glass windows behind the counter and passed through the door there. That's where the shelves were and they were fairly well stocked. His eyes went wide as he instantly moved to the supplies. "I didn't have any plans when this all started.” He told her. “I don't really have a destination of where to go..." Andy glanced back her before he continued on, looking for the package that he knew pretty well. This was the main reason why he was traveling at all. He needed his medicine… He figured that the blonde could guess that much.

Demi looked him over and smiled. "You should stay here” She suggested off-handedly. “We could certainly put you to good use, and you have your meds, a sufficient amount of supplies in general." She didn't want to seem too pushy or demanding. Although that's who she was, but if she wanted to become a leader she would have to be kind to fellow humans and not to force people around.
Over the radio, Oliver's voice was quiet. "Dem?"

Demi picked up the walkie-talkie and she immediately responded to the young boy. Her voice was hard but still somehow gentle. "What's up, Oli?"

The offer seemed pretty good to Andy, actually. In all reality, if he didn't have a friend already, he probably would've taken up that offer like nobody's business. But he had to think of Jay, and how he sort of left her hanging at the wacko's church... Guilt seemed to swell in his stomach like a sickening hunger. Oliver's voice jolted him from his thoughts, and he blinked in concern towards the child before he turned his attention back to the shelves. He didn’t want to eavesdrop, and he was looking for something important.

She had turned and moved away from Andy, as if the conversation was meant to be private, so Andy happily pushed their voices out of his head and did not listen to them. He heard her sigh though, and when he glanced over he saw her rifling through packages of band aids, organizing them accordingly to size as she talked to the boy. She must've been a damn good multitasker.

He moved some boxes but then he reached the end of the aisle and he turned toward the other shelf. Then there was a box that jumped out to him. He grabbed it quickly and read the back, though it was pretty hard to read honestly. It'd been awhile since he read anything. Yes, this was what he needed. He held onto the box and let out a breath of relief. In a quick movement, he dropped his backpack onto the floor and took out his MDI. He replaced the empty canister and he felt his chest get lighter, like some weight was off of him. "Alright." He cleared his throat loud enough for Demi to hear. "That was all I wanted." He told her and he found the waste bin in the nook of the room to toss the box and the empty can.

Demi looked over her shoulder at Andy, with her eyebrow raised. "You can stay the night here and stock up on supplies if you want to." She had slightly watery eyes. They would always pretend of fighting zombies when they were kids but nothing like this. This was a reality and it was scary to think that your life depends on if your party of people are trustworthy. So far Andy seemed fine. "The sun goes down around 9PM, and its 8 o'clock right now. You wouldn't get too far on your way before having to stop and make camp." Demi sniffed her emotions back and started to walk back out to the front of the store. She took her beanie hat off her head and sat it on the counter of the store.

Oli skipped over to them both and the small boy smiled wide at Andy. "There's no one out there. I checked lots." Feeling rather comforted by this, Andy gave him a small smile back and ruffled the young boy’s hair.

Andy had settled. It was late, and they were going to bed. He figured he would follow suit, considering they offered him a sleeping bag. He pulled it up over his head, trying to ignore the cold air outside of his cocoon. He shut his eyes and took a deep breath, determined to just fall straight to sleep...

The low noises of the fire crackled and the embers rose to the tops of the trees. Nightfall crawled and the forest became very dark, if you walked out of the light you could not see anything. Jay was sat near the warm flames and she hugged her knees and had her cheek pressed against her arm. The dark haired girl was frightened of losing her new friend, ever since she had found them again it was like nothing existed. The curse of the flesh eaters was lifted and she couldn't care less about it. Jay looked over at Andy, who had brought back the last of the fire wood. "Do you think that's enough for the night?" She looked up at him with her green eyes dancing against the essence of the fire.

Andy felt the bark stabbing his hands from the rough and jagged sticks and branches he had retrieved for the fire. The cold was making most of his body numb actually, but as he approached the warmth of the flames, he felt the cold sort of melt away. He haphazardly tossed in the sticks and kicked the edges of the burning material closer to the burning center. "I think so." He told her and he grunted as he sat down a foot or so away from Jay. He looked up at her and he saw his breath fog up from his lips, and he watched her face... It was so odd, though, he didn't really remember how she had gotten here... Or where she came from... But she was here now. Had he just forgotten? He coughed from the cold in his lungs, and he scooted a bit closer. "I-I'm sorry, that I left..." Andy started.

"I thought you'd be safe.." He cast his gaze to the fire, then, not wanting to look at her in the face anymore. "I had to leave... I had to get my medicine..." He waited a long minute for a question, or something, but it never came. He glanced back at her again, "Jay?" Andy barely got her name out before suddenly, a disgusting, grimy, decaying hand grabbed onto his arm. Long and dirty nails dug into his skin and he wheezed in a breath for a long second as he stared into the soulless-looking eyes of what looked to be a deathly pale, shriveling, bony, skeleton-like Jay. Her cracked lips parted as she leaned dangerously close to his face and she croaked out a deathly groan straight into his face. Her eyes looked so lifeless.

Andy snapped awake with a start, his chest heaving. "Holy shit..." He breathed and he patted himself all over, looking at his arms, raking his hands through his hair. He was shaking, he was shaking hard. He tried to catch his breath as he threw the sleeping bag away from him. It was cold in the store. He looked around, seeing another bedroll a few feet away. He couldn't tell who it was for a long moment, but he decided that by the look of the gun near the bag, it was probably Blaise. Andy wondered if he was there to protect them from the corpses, or if he was there to protect the others from ... well, Andy.

The dark-haired boy had finally settled into a steady breath as he looked around the empty darkness. He walked towards the glass panes in the front of the building. They had kept the glass there, however they had boarded all of the windows from both the inside and the out. There was one gap though that they could see clearly through, which he thought was smart. He stared out into the dark night outside and he listened very closely, wondering if they were near here...

He heard what sounded like footsteps. Andy tensed up.