The clothing section was almost empty, even kid's clothes were out of stock.
The only things they could find were a couple of pop-culture shirts, a few good pairs of jeans, and some swim trunks left over from the end-of-summer sale.
"Beggers can't be choosers," Amanda said placing her clothes over her arms.
"That's a stupid phrase, I choose what I beg for all the time," Boulder said, draping his clothes over his shoulder.
"That isn't what that means," Ashure said, chuckling.
"Okay, then what's it mean smart guy?" He asked, mockingly.
"It means...I don't know man. Not that," Ashure said, annoyed.
"Well, sure sounds like that's what it means to me," he said.
"Shut up," Ashure responded. Boulder chuckled and slapped Ashure on the center of his back firmly.
"Okay, let's see if there is any food left," Amanda said, seemingly ignoring the boys' shenanigans.
"Fingers crossed they have a bag of chips, I I've been craving the salty nectar of a potato chip," Boulder said, salivating.
"That shit'll kill ya you know," Ashure said.
"Bro, if a nuclear bomb didn't kill me a bag of chips isn't going to," he replied, smirking. The food aisle was scarce, the shelves were all but empty. Single pieces of candy and empty bottles were left. A few packs of gum and a couple of on-the-go snack packs.
"Well, better than nothing I suppose," Amanda said, grabbing the snack packs and gum packs. She also managed to gather some canned goods that would feed them for a day or two.
"Better? This is nothin," Boulder said, picking up an empty water bottle and dropping it on the floor.
"At least we got something," she said, stuffing the snacks into her pockets. The three of them held items in both arms as they stumbled their way through the store. They kept their eyes open for anything useful as they shined their lights along the bare shelves as they passed.
"We should find something to put all of this in," Boulder said, readjusting the things in his arms.
"Good idea, backpacks should still be out in the back-to-school section near the front," she said, redirecting her light toward the front of the store. Along the way they found themselves grabbing more stuff off of random shelves. They found a few metal water bottles, two half-empty bottles of lukewarm water, and a couple of small blankets. The back-to-school section was riddled with art supplies. There were broken pencil cases and assorted broken crayons smushed into the ground.
Rulers were left in their place slightly tilted on their misplaced peg. The backpacks were scarce a few were left that would be suitable for carrying all of their items. A large military print backpack with a lot of random zippers and pockets, a black leather explorers pouch with straps and buttons, and a tan bag of the same design as the pouch.
"Okay, I get the big camo bag and you two get the pouches," Boulder said, grabbing the large bag off of the floor.
"Deal," Amanda said, pulling Ashure back before he could argue.
"Just means you've gotta carry our larger stuff," She continued, handing her blanket, tent, and clothes to him.
"Have fun with the big bag," Ashure chuckled handing his items over as well.
"I have everything what are y'all going to carry?" He asked.
"Well we have food and the water bottles and some clothes," Amanda said stuffing her bag with the things she listed.
"Here in case you need extra room," Ashure cackled, handing a pink sparkly backpack with animated dogs on the front to him.
"Shut up," He said smacking his hand away. Amazingly he was able to fit all of the clothes and blankets in his bag and secure two tents to the back of it.
"Guess I'll just carry this one," He said gripping the straps in his hand. He stood up and lifted the heavy bag off the ground and secured it to his back releasing a deep grunt as he did. Amanda and Ashure chuckled to themselves watching their large friend struggle to stand straight.
"Shut up," He said, steadying himself. As they approached the exit, still chuckling as Boulder fell behind they heard a commotion outside.
"What the fuck is that!" Someone shouted. Another person screamed. Amanda Ashur and Boulder froze in their tracks.
"More survivors?" Ashure whispered.
"We don't know if we can trust them," Amanda replied, inching toward the broken door. The sound of Thicket stamping the ground rang through the store before he let out a loud cry.
"Fuck this," Ashure said, gripping his pellet gun and racing out of the door. Amanda tried to stop him but couldn't grip his clothes fast enough.
"Ashure, wait," She said following close behind him.
"Stick them up now!" He yelled, raising his gun to his shoulder as he stepped through the broken door. Thicket huffed and stamped slowly. As five people moved out from next to him.
"Drop it numbnuts, we already know about the guns," Scott said, stepping out first.
"Scott?" He said, lowering his gun.
"No fuckin way, peanut dick? How the hell are you?" Scott asked, chuckling approaching him quickly.
"Of course, you fucking survived," he said, annoyed.
"Who do we have here? Holy shit, is that Henderson number three?" Scott asked, pointing to Amanda.
"W...What is that thing?" Selena chimed in, pointing to a now calmed Thicket.
"His name is Thicket, he's a buck...We think," Ashure replied.
"We found him in the woods well, he found us," Amanda said.
"So, you...kept him?" Eden asked, looking at the large beast.
"He saved our lives in the woods, we were attacked by a...Moose," Boulder paused.
"Why'd you hesitate on moose?" Scott asked, curiously.
"It was...huge and its face was decaying and it had this huge glowing blue streak wrapping its body. It seemed like it wanted to...eat us," he said, remembering the dark creature in the woods.
"So you were attacked by a...dead-moose?" Scott asked, skeptically.
"Dead-moose, yeah we were attacked by a dead-moose," Ashure said, nodding slightly.
"Sure, and we just fought off a band of giant chipmunks that exploded when you hit them," Scott scoffed.
"Really?" Ashure asked, worriedly. Boulder tapped him on his back lightly and shook his head.
"No not really, just like you idiots didn't fight a dead-moose," he said, chuckling.
"Probably just a bad dream, or a good dream for you ay peanut dick?" He said, laughing harder.
"What are you guys doing here?" Eden asked, shoving Scott out of the way.
"We came looking for answers, like why we're being attacked by dead animals, and whatever Thicket's deal is," Amanda said, gesturing to the buck as he drank from a puddle on the ground.
"I'd also love to find my family," She continued.
"Well, Miles is alive," A voice said, standing behind the group.
"Who's that?" Amanda asked, trying to see who said those hopeful words that replayed in her mind as she did. Beck and Ace stepped forward into the shallow light the moon created.
"Beck!" Amanda shouted excitedly, rushing to hug her.
"Hey, it's good to see you too," She said hugging her back.
"You said Miles is alive?" Amanda asked, filled with excitement.
"Yeah, he came here with us, after we gathered supplies he left to find you and Abel at your old house," she replied, pointing down the street.
"Abel isn't with us, I haven't seen him since he left us at the lake," Amanda replied, looking at Ashure and Boulder.
"I guess he assumed you two met up after you guys left," she said, shrugging.
"No, I was hoping he might've come back, I tried to but I got turned around and ended up passing out in a barn where these two took care of me," She said dropping her head.
"Well, if you and Miles survived then Abel has to be out there somewhere. You go find Miles, if he shows up before you two do we'll send him that way," Beck said, gesturing to the road Miles took.
"Okay you two stay here with the group, I'll go get my brother and we'll all go to the military base together," Amanda said turning to Boulder and Ashure.
"Well, what about you?" Ashure asked, concerned.
"I've got a machete, and most importantly I'll have Thicket if anything goes wrong," She said, smirking slightly.
"Did she just say military base?" Scott asked.
"That's the only place we thought might have some answers," Boulder said.
"How are you planning on getting inside?" Scott asked, confused.
"Everyone has been...husked, if worse comes to worst we'll break the door down," Amanda said, before making her way to Thicket.
"Genius plan. Next, you'll tell me, we have to steal a jet," he, scoffed.
"All ears if you've got something different," she said, climbing onto Thicket's back.
"What the fuck is she doing?" He asked, watching as she situated herself on the large beast.
"Going to find her brother," Ashure said, watching Amanda.
"Hiya!" She shouted, pulling firmly on Thicket's fur. Thicket ran toward the road, bouncing her up and down as his hooves clopped loudly.
"She rides it, cool," Scott said, throwing his hands up dramatically
"Somebody help me break into this car," He said, walking toward a red sedan parked next to the rest of the group. The remaining members of the group looked around waiting for someone to volunteer, but nobody did.
"Yeah, I got you," Ace said, rolling his eyes and following closely behind him.