The Ðying Liƒe. »A Walking Dead Fanfic«

25. Surprise

Since the highway wasn't a choice for us, we had to take the back country roads and that meant driving past the pharmacy. When I knew we were close to the run down store, I jumped up to look out the small window over the sink. Dale slowed down just a bit as we passed. The pharmacy looked the same as the first time I laid eyes on it. As it passed the window, I noticed the car was no where to be found. The Walker, however, was still there, almost all rotted away in the hot sun. "Gross," I said to myself and went to sit back down. My brows pulled down as I tried to process the fact of the car going missing. "What is it?" Daryl took in my confused expression. "Its just that when I came out here with Glenn and Maggie, there was a car next to the store and now its gone," I scratched my head. "Maybe someone took it," he said as an explanation. "There were no keys in it though," I replied. "They could have hot wired it. It's not that hard for some people to learn." He really couldn't understand why I cared about this so much and honestly, neither did I. "Guess it's not a big deal," I just shook my head and told myself to forget about the car and that it wasn't important.

I ended up dozing off out of sheer boredom, something that I was good at. I had no idea how long I was out when the sound of Daryl's voice woke me up. Daryl was talking loudly with Dale at the front of the RV. "What the hell does he want to stop here for?" Daryl interrogated Dale. Dale just shrugged, "if Rick wants to stop then we all have to stop, you know that. That's just how it goes." I sat up and looked out the window to see where we were. We were pulled over in the parking lot of a strip mall. My eyes passed over the abandoned businesses. There was a hair salon, a pet store, a clothing store and an outdoor store. All the signs had been sun bleached so I could barely make out the words.

I looked at Andrea who now occupied Daryl's seat across from me, "are we gonna get out here?" I asked with uncertainty in my voice. "I guess so," her tone matched mine. We all got out and stood outside the RV and listened to Rick give us the run down on what we were supposed to be looking for. When we all went to grab our preferred weapons, Rick came up to me and handed me one of the handguns. I gave him a confused look. "I want you to have something a little...more than just the knife this time," he looked a little embarrassed as he said this. I cocked my head to the side, "aw, you do care!" I teased him. "Never said I didn't," he replied. Rick just shook his head and turned to lead us into the outdoor shop.

Judging by the position of the sun in the sky, it was late afternoon so I knew we wouldn't have much time to rummage around the stores. The broken glass that covered the walkway crunched under our feet as we walked through the front door. Rick and Shane were the first ones in and both men raised their guns and pointed them into the store. It was all clear so Daryl, Andrea and I followed them in. I looked at the check out counter and saw that the cash register had been knocked to the ground and cleared out which didn't make much sense to me seeing as money held no value anymore.

Rick, Shane and Daryl all made their way to the back of the store, I assumed to check the storage room. They disappeared behind the door only to be greeted by a loud screech and then we heard a gunshot. "What the hell?" I looked at Andrea. She jerked her head towards the back and I followed her. We stuck our heads through the backdoor and saw the guys standing over the body of a very large walker. "Shit! Thats a big boy!" I couldn't help but say. "Yeah, no kidding," Andrea stated. We all stood for a few moments to take in the sight of the dead body. Then, Shane told Andrea and I that they would search the back and we should stay at the front of the store. So we left the backroom to continue looking around in front.

"Hey! Come here and look at this," Andrea called me over to a glass display case. I stepped over some debris that was in my path and peeked my head around the counter. She was squatted behind the counter going through the cabinet. She stuck her hand up in the air and flicked open a small knife, "found these." "Oh, let me see," I took the knife from her. It was just a small knife, but the blade had an almost oil like, rainbow sheen to it and the handle look like it was made from mother of pearl. "Its so pretty," I laughed, "are there any more in there?" I squatted down next to her. "Yeah, looks like one more," she held another knife in her palm. "You keep that one and I'll keep this one, OK?" She smiled and we attached them to our belt loops.

"Is there anything else you want to look for in here?" Andrea seemed like she was getting bored looking in the store. I scrunched up my face, "No, I don't think there is anything else worth looking through. Besides, I'm sure the guys will grab whatever they need anyway," I replied as I scanned the floor around me. "OK, well, you go on ahead and I'll tell the guys that were leaving," she turned and made her way to the backroom. Lori was sitting on the curb outside the store as I ducked through the broken glass door. "Hey, can you tell Andrea that I'm in that clothing store down there and to come find me when she gets out?" I asked her. "Yeah, I will. Just don't be too long. Rick wants to find a place to camp before the sun goes down," she was being a mother again. "Yup. I got it," I tired not to sound too sarcastic and then turned toward the store.

Just like the outdoor store, the entryway of the clothing store was also broken into. I began making my way through the store, looking through whatever pile of stuff I came across. A blue sweater that was hidden under a clothing rack caught my eye. I yanked it out and looked it over, it seemed a little big, but I couldn't be too picky and I threw it on my shoulder.

The back of the store was lined with changing rooms and in the corner was a pile of overturned jeans. I thought I had hit the jackpot! I dropped my backpack and the sweater on the floor and began picking my way through the jeans, finally finding a pair in my size. Andrea still hadn't made her way over to me, so I went to the changing rooms to try on the jeans, bringing the handgun, just in case. Pulling back the curtain of the changing room, I found it was empty. I tossed the jeans on the bench and placed the gun next to them then pulled my boots and shorts off. As I was holding the jeans up to my waist, looking at them in the mirror, the barrel of a large gun was pressed to the back of my head. Not again, I thought to myself.

"Don't even think about screaming..."