virago|c.g.|

xviii

As Clary parked and turned off the car, she allowed her eyes to wander over to the teenage boy that sat in the passenger seat. She noticed that his attention had averted his attention to his bag, looking through it for something she knew not of. She paid no mind to it, rather grateful for his attention not on her as she looked to him.

She didn't want to admit the differences she already saw when comparing the boy with her to the boy that had hurt her. Her realization began as she remembered how much Ashton had hated when she sang, saying it was annoying as she never tried to be good. But Carl had only joined in with a smile on his face, joining in her god awful singing. Ashton would never had done so, rather just shutting off the radio entirely, but Carl did so with a smile and with laughter. And he was trying, that much she could see. Not wanting to think of it any longer, she shook off the thoughts as she exited the car, shutting the door to the drivers side before opening the door to the backseat and clipping her sword to her belt.

Shouldering her pack, she holstered her gun and shut the door, looking across the roof to see Carl checking the magazine of his gun before sending her a nod and holstering his own weapon. She made her way around the car, stopping close to Carl as he turned to her. "So we got a thrift store, veterinary office, a small mom and pop shop, and an ice cream parlor that I really doubt has any more ice cream," Carl listed, frowning slightly at the parlor. Clary raised an eyebrow towards Carl, who met her questioning gaze. "What?" Clary only shook her head, forgetting about the hint of childlike disappointment he had held. "We should go check the veterinary office first. There'll be medicine that hopefully no ones looted." Carl nodded, making sure he had his weapons on him. "You know what to look for?" Carl questioned. Clary started walking towards the veterinary office, turning to face Carl as she walked backwards. "I'm sure we can figure it out. You coming?" With a nod, Carl joined her.

With his assurance, Clary gave a short nod before turning back around and entering the office, scrunching her nose at the smell. She only saw a single decayed corpse but had no idea why the smell was so strong. Bringing her hand to her nose, unsheathing her sword with her other hand, she went to where the smell was strongest and pushed open a door. "Oh, gross." She saw that the smell had come from the many cages that were in the office, some with the long decayed corpses of what used to be pets. Along with that was a walker sitting against the wall. She was surprised to hear its raspy groans, it's head creaking as it looked up at her. Clary was quick to stab it in the head, pulling out her blade and allowing its head to fall. She turned back to see Carl right behind her, cringing at the view until he looked to her. "Medicine?" Carl questioned, to which Clary shook her head. "I hope it's not in here." Carl nodded in agreement before they pulled out of the room, walking towards the other side to see a door with bright red lettering saying 'Clinic Personnel Only'.

Placing her hand on the door knob, she let out a frustrated sigh as she felt it resist, signifying it was locked. She heard Carl groan. "Well, there goes that." Clary rolled her eyes, digging through her pack and finding her lock picking tools. Crouching down to the lock, she quickly went to work, hearing the click and smiling. Placing her tools back in her pack, she looked back to Carl before swinging open the door. "You give up too easily." Wiping the surprised look off of his face, Carl shook his head. "Not always. I mean, I didn't give up on trying to get you to trust me." Clary let out a chuckle. "Hmm, we'll see about that. Remember, you still have a ways to go."

As the two walked into the room, they were grateful for the smell to not be as bad, but even happier when they saw small shelves of medicine. As the two made their way towards the shelves, picking up some bottles, Carl let out a surprised noise before speaking. "How'd you know to check out a vet clinic? I would've thought the medicine was only for animals." Clary shrugged. "It's supposed to be, but a lot of it are similar to human medications just in different forms or dosages." Placing down some bottles, she looked at the other shelves. "Look for penicillin and cephalexin, they're antibiotics to treat infections. Also carprofen, it's an anti-inflammatory. And there should even be some pain relievers, so look for oxycodone, hydromorphone, and fentanyl." Clary began looking for the medications she had spoken about until she felt eyes on her.