"Hey, could you give me a hand with this?" I questioned Blake as we entered our room to grab our weapons. I motioned towards the cabinet near the mattress and he furrowed his eyebrows.

"Uh, sure?" He said, coming over with me to the cabinet.

"On three. One, two, three," I said as we both lifted up the heavy cabinet and moved it aside.

"That's good enough." I said, bending forwards to look at the wall. There it was, Ms. Rupert's famous hidden gem. There was a hole the size of my foot in the wall and you could see the wood and insulation inside.

"What the hell is that?" He laughed and I opened the metal cabinet, looking inside for some anything to move the insulation aside. There was a plastic bag full of math blocks and i dumped it out into the drawer.

"My friends and I were super into parkour in grade 8. This is where my foot went through the wall when I tried to use it as a cement wall. Who would have known it was cheap plaster?" I chuckled and reached in and pulled out a wad of insulation. After clearing off an entire foot of insulation, I threw the bag into the drawer with the insulation and sighed. I grabbed my bag and emptied out the food I had just gotten on our last run and from my house.

"What are you doing?" Blake questioned and I pointed at his bag.

"Emptying out any extra food and hiding it in here so no one steals it. I have a feeling we won't be getting much from the rations so I think it would be better to have a stash in case we need to leave." I said and he nodded, handing me his bag. After sorting out some stuff and keeping what we said we had in our bags with a few bottles of water, we moved the cabinet back into place and left the room.

We walked through the halls in silence, meeting the others as we went along until we reached the exit.

"Something's not right here." Blake said, as we left out the side door of the school. I gave him a sideways look and continued to walk forwards. I was starting to get used to the smell coming from the bodies, but it still made my stomach turn. The grass around the bodies was a vibrant green, the decomposing corpses providing nutrition for the ground.

"There is definitely something going on, there's more to their set up than we know." Paul said, Bev and Kye following closely behind him. We all had our backpacks, empty aside from a few emergency supplies, as we walked down the abandoned street towards our vehicles. Paul somehow got the keys to the truck from Jack, and I was unsure how he had done it. That man swore he would never let anyone take it. Paul must have given him something he couldn't resist; a twinkie.

"The odd thing is that there are none of those things." Karen said, looking down the street.

"Probably because the mutated things claimed this area." I said, pondering that fact as she brought it up. It was quite odd not to see a single dead walking about.

The pile of dead around the school yard's fence at some points topped just over my head. The rest of the school yards grass was a greenish yellow, how most of the grass was around here. No one left would dare waste any water on such a useless thing. I wanted to go back to my house, but I knew the group would never let me. We got to the truck, it roaring to life as the rest of us hopped in. The seats were all taken so I climbed into the box of the truck along with Blake and sat down. I stared at the houses as we passed them. My old neighborhood, once a lively place, was now a silent graveyard.

"Are you okay?" Blake questioned over the hum of the exhaust as he scooched next to me against the back window. The box was covered with a blanket but was still uncomfortable to sit on, the metal of the frame digging into my legs and butt through the fabric.

"I'll never be okay," I said, looking over at Blake. His hair was being whipped in the wind, his eyes full of concern as he stared at me. We studied each other for a few moments then I looked away, holding back tears. Blake put his hand on my knee in attempt to comfort me but I adjusted my legs and brushed him off. My back hurt from sleeping on that horrid mattress and I twisted slightly until I heard a satisfying crack. I looked at Blake who seemed a little hurt from my reaction earlier and frowned. I regretted pushing away the only good thing I had left and leaned my head onto his shoulder. I placed my hand on his propped up knee and sighed, letting a tear slip free from my eye. He wiped away the tear with his thumb and gently ran his fingers through my hair. I gave him a slight smile as the truck slowed and made its way into the parking lot of another store.

It was a warehouse-type building with green exterior paint and large white block letters that still clung to the outer walls. The parking lot had a few vehicles scattered around as well as quite a few overturned shopping carts. Another major characteristic, the only important one in this world, was the amount of dead outside the building.

 Blake and I turned and sat on our knees, counting the amount of wandering dead there were; I counted at least 20. Beverly, as I looked through the back window, didn't seem to notice all the dead around us.

"We should go to another store, this is way too dangerous!" I whispered to Blake over the hum of the engine. He nodded, unsheathing his machete.

"He seems set on this one," Blake mumbled as Paul pulled right up to the front doors. Blake hopped out of the trunk as soon as we stopped, slicing his blade through the neck of the nearest dead thing with little effort. I pulled my knife out of my boot and carefully climbed out, not wanting to chance a sprained ankle.

Everyone got out of the truck and started to hold their ground against the dead. A newer looking dead charged towards me and I grabbed it by the shoulder and dug my knife into its skull. The lifeless body fell to the ground, my knife still stuck in its head.

I tried pulling it out when I was rammed by another new-looking dead. I was slammed into the ground, my back cracking on impact. My hands shot out to keep the dead things teeth away from me, grabbing it by the neck. I struggled on the ground, pushing at the dead as it kept growling and clicking its teeth together over and over as it tried to bite into me. I didn't have anything to kill it, my gun having fallen a few feet away. I reached for anything but there was nothing, not even a rock or a stick. I didn't want to yell or scream because that would only make the situation worse, bringing more of these things.

I shushed as loud as I could and Paul turned, seeing me on the ground under this thing. He grabbed at his utility belt and threw me a hammer as he continued to fight off the ones around him. I grabbed the hammer off the ground and swung as hard as I could with my left hand, my right pushing the dead at the same time.

Its body slumped and I rolled it off of me, pushing as hard as I can. I sat up quickly and rushed to stand, swinging the hammer at another dead. I cracked the metal end across its temple and it groaned. I hit it again until it quieted, its body landing on top of the other. I looked at the hammer in my hand, liking the perfectly balanced weight it contained. I went over to the first dead one, putting my boot on its head and pulling my knife out and wiping it on the base of my pants. I shoved it in its holder in my boot and continued on with the hammer.

Our group cleared the parking lot in about 20 minutes after a continuous fight. A few stragglers had joined the heard and we took those out too. My arm was shaking by the time we had finished, and I let the hammer fall from my hand and hit the ground. I picked up my gun off the ground and put it back into its holster.

Blake sat down on the open hatch of the truck, taking a sip from his water bottle. I put my hands on my knees and looked at them. They were covered in dry crusty blood which had started to peel off. I looked over at Karen who was cleaning her knife with a dark rag. I made my way over to Blake and sat down next to him. He handed me his water bottle and I graciously took it, taking one swig before handing it back to him. He put it back into his bag and stood up, putting his hands out to help me up. I groaned and leaned back, laying onto the metal box and stretching my arms above my head.

The sun was beaming down onto my skin and I had to keep my eyes closed. I felt a tap on my knee and reached for my gun when a hand placed itself on mine. I opened my eyes and saw Blake smiling down at me. I shoved at his shoulder and smiled back. He helped me stand from the box and I looked around.

Bev and Kye were looking in the windows of the old grocery store. I grabbed Blake by the arm and stuck my tongue out, then walked towards the store. As I walked, I leaned down to pick up the hammer and continued into the store.

I stepped through the old glass sliding doors gripping the end of the hammer in my hand. I grabbed an upright cart and pushed it down one of the aisles, the tires squeaking a little as I went and I stopped to wait. I waited for any sound or  the slightest bit of movement to notify me if there was anything else in the store.

It was silent until there was a sound of crunching glass behind me. I turned to see Bev looking down at the glass under her feet on the ground and cringing.

"Sorry!" She whispered out, Kye coming in behind her, side stepping the glass. Behind him was Karen, Paul and Blake chatting quietly. I grabbed the empty cart that I had pushed down the aisle and looked around. There was a lot, but it had been skimmed through.

I walked past the aisles, looking up at the old dusty green signs that used to describe what was down each aisle. I saw "Soups + Canned Fruits" on the sign and turned down that aisle. The aisle was a complete mess; cans of soup cracked open on the ground, glass containers smashed to pieces. There was a fowl smell, as there was in every store, but it wasn't as bad as the other we had been in previously.

I knelt down and grabbed cans off the shelves that were still intact. I took off my bag and put two cans of soup in my bag, then about 40 into the cart. I pushed the cart to the other end of the store where the clothing aisles and appliances were. I pulled the cart to the edge of an aisle and left it at the end.

I wondered about the school. How many people had Taylor let into the school with her? We're there any children with the group? Infants? Were there more before we got their?

I sifted through the clothing isles and grabbed a couple different sizes of neutral clothing. I continued over to the appliances section. I looked at the refrigerators and microwaves and missed hot food.

Next aisle down was the kitchen section. I walked down the aisle, which was almost completely empty. There was a knife section and I looked at the bottom shelf which still contained a few things scattered across the shelf.

There were four knifes in a box, all the same shape and size. I put them in my bag then grabbed the cart and pushed it over to an aisle that made me stop.

The aisle was full of colorful baby stuff, clothing and other things covering the floor of the aisle. I left the cart sit where it was for a moment, sifting through the things down the aisle. I grabbed a few cans of baby formula and jars of baby food, unaware of any babies at the school but wanting to be sure that we were prepared just in case. At the end of the aisle was a pile of little baby blankets, and a light blue one with a small panda sleeping on it caught my eye. I picked it up and held it close to my stomach, looking down at it.

I sighed, knowing that I will never have kids now, even though I couldn't have kids back in the real world either way. I was something that had always brought my mood down, small children and babies. It wasn't that I didn't like them, it was that I was completely jealous of anyone that could have them.

As a child, I was constantly in pain near my lower abdomen. I had gone through so many blood tests, MRI scans, and a couple CT scans until they discovered what it was before I was even in high school. I was heartbroken when my blood test results had come back positive for endometriosis at the age of twelve. It had become so severe by the time I was fourteen that I had gone sterile and my uterus had to be removed.

Some might have considered it a gift, whereas I saw it as a curse. I couldn't have children, and it was something that I hadn't thought about since before. I kept myself from crying by biting my bottom lip, looking up at the roof. None of my friends knew; I never talked about it with them. That being said, not even Taylor knew.

She was also sterile, but by choice. She had overdosed on her birth control and without letting her doctor know, he gave her the birth control shot that is supposed to last for a few years but in the end, she became sterile due to the drugs in her system. I was upset with her for doing it, but couldn't bring myself to tell her why. I could not understand why she did it, but she had told me that it had been her choice; I wish I had had a choice.

"Hey," Blake said, coming over to me with his shopping bags full of various items. He put them down on the ground next to my shopping cart, coming over to me. I put the blanket back on the shelving unit and pulled him in for a quick hug. I let go and turned away, wiping at my eyes. I brushed past him and pushed the cart all the way back to the front of the store. I went through broken glass doors and out of the store.

"You okay?" Blake questioned, following closely behind me, the items in his bag clanging due to him being in a rush.

"Yup, just fine." I said on the brink of tears, then loaded the stuff into the trunk of the truck. I pushed the cart away from the vehicle aggressively and crawled up into the trunk of the truck, looking off into the distance. A few more bitters were in the area again and it was definitely time to leave the area.

I pulled more food in that was handed to me by Paul and he seemed completely unaware that I was upset or just didn't want to question it. I glanced over at Blake who was staring at me. He looked away, then hopped into the back with me to help load up the last of the items. Karen gave me a once over and Bev gave me a look of concern, then got into the truck without a word.  Blake tried to sit next to me but I had surrounded myself with a wall of supplies that it was near impossible, so he took a seat across from me. I looked through some of the supplies the others had found and most of it was food, aside from one solid bag of batteries. Paul had mentioned something about a generator but knew it would be near impossible with the amount of supplies we already had. It was something to consider coming back for.

Paul started the vehicle and we made our way back to the school as I kept quiet, bottling up my feelings as I tried to control the tears pouring out from my eyes.