You Want to Die?!

The more Grant watched Robin, the more he realized something was wrong and he was wrong in his belief that she was unaffected by what she was doing.

He could see the determination plastered all over her face, but her eyes were telling a different story. He could tell from the look in her eyes that she was hurting and that killing the zombies was in fact a difficult task for her.

The look in her eyes was the same look that his aunt had given him the day she had lost her husband. Physically she appeared fine, but mentally, a part of her was dead.

Grant felt a knot in his chest when he finally understood what was going on. He struggled with the idea of stopping her or letting her continue. He considered that by allowing her to continue it would force her to accept the new circumstances of the world, which would ultimately be the best thing he could do for her at this time.

On the other hand, however, was that this moment could traumatize her for the rest of her life and permanently alter her state of mind. He didn't want to lose the happy, bubbly little girl he had met when he first woke up after his fight.

Her smile had given him strength when he was in pain. To know that he was the cause of that smile never returning, was something he didn't think he could accept.

Lucky for Grant, before he could come to a decision, Richard started walking towards his sister. When he finally reached her, he put his hand on her shoulder and stopped her from moving to the next zombie.

It seemed as if Richard had noticed the sudden change in his sister as well, because he was looking at her with a sympathetic gaze. He too was fighting back tears, but for an entirely different reason than Robin.

"Robin. I am proud of you but you need to leave some for me. Go stand by Grant and let me take care of the rest."

Without giving an answer or changing the expression on her face, Robin gave a small nod to Richard before she walked over and stood next to Grant.

Grant had never been an affectionate person and he wasn't all that concerned with how other people felt most of the time, but he knew that he needed to do something right in that moment.

So without saying anything, Grant bent over and picked Robin up with his one good arm. He wasn't sure what he could say to her to help, so he decided to pick her up as a gesture that she wasn't alone and could rely on him.

Robin didn't resist him and let herself be picked up.

Once she was situated on his side, with his arm supporting her, she wrapped her arms around his neck and put her face against his shoulder.

Neither of them said anything even after Robin had gotten situated, so Grant just continued to watch the surroundings.

After a few moments, Grant could feel a warm sensation spreading down his chest and instantly knew that Robin was crying. Since he only had the one arm, he had no way of patting her on the back to comfort her or anything, so he just held her tightly against his chest.

Richard, who had been watching Robin since she walked away from him, watched Grant pick her up in his arm before he gave a slight nod to Grant. He turned back towards the meat slabs that were still scattered around himself and steeled his expression. He focused on killing the rest of the incapacitated zombies as quickly as he could.

A few minutes when by as Richard dispatched the rest of the zombies.

Knowing that it would be difficult to continue with the kid's current mental states, Grant suggested that they look for a place to take a short break.

He wanted to give Robin a chance to pull herself together and thought that maybe Richard could help her more than he could. Although she was friendly with him and they got along well, he was never good with situations like this so he didn't want to make it worse inadvertently by saying something stupid.

Richard and Grant decided to walked toward the closest building they could find, which turned out to be the local grocery store for the neighborhood they were in.

Grant carried Robin the entire way to the store because he could tell that she was still crying and he wanted to give her time to let all the emotions out while she could.

The building wasn't very far away from where they had been fighting so they were able to reach the building without attracting the attention of any more monsters. If they saw any approaching, they would either creep by from a distance or wait until the monster itself passed by.

When they inevitably reached the front door, they realized the doors were already open.

Richard and Grant both looked at each other and gave each a nod to make sure they were both ready. Then they quietly advanced into the building.

After entering, they didn't notice any monsters within the initial entry way so Grant led them further inside, to where the break room for the staff was located.

Grant could sense a large number of monsters or zombies in the surrounding store, but since they hadn't been forced to make noise opening the doors, it looked like they had avoided attracting their attention.

Grant had actually worked at this particular grocery store when he was a teenager so he knew the layout of the building quite well and was able to lead them through the hallways quickly.

The break room for staff was located on the second floor so he thought it would be a good place for the kids to rest because they could look out over the store and watch for any incoming dangers.

Once they reached the break room, Grant opened the door and went through the area with Robin still in his arm, making sure there were no dangers. Not seeing any monsters, Grant walked over to one of the tables and finally put Robin down in one of the chairs.

He could see that her eyes were puffy and red from all the crying but she had stopped her tears before Grant had set her down.

Seeing that she was still acting as brave as she could, Grant knelt down so that he was at her eye level and placed his good hand on her head and tussled with her hair.

"Robin, you are the bravest girl I have ever met in my life.

I'm sorry."

While sniffling, Robin managed a small smile and said, "Thank you Mr. Carrot. I won't let you down."

Grant winked at Robin and, "You could never let me down mini carrot. If you ever need me, I will be there. You can always rely on me!"

Finally, Robin managed to let a little giggle escape her lips and she smiled a little wider.

With that, Grant also let out a merely imperceptible sigh. He reached out and gave Robin another pat on the head before standing up and looking towards Richard.

He tried to convey with his eyes that Richard needed to be there for his sister and do what he could to make sure that today didn't scar her forever.

Richard seemed to understand, because he walked over to Robin and knelt down next to her chair and then he put his arm around her and gave her a hug.

While they were embracing each other, Grant decided now would be a good time to discuss the plans for what was to come next.

"Okay you two. I need to go to the pharmacy area and look for medication for your Mom. Do not leave here and do not open the door no matter what, unless you hear my voice.

Since we haven't cleared this building, I do not know what dangers lay within."

After they both confirmed that they understood his instructions, Grant walked out the door and headed down to the main floor.

He wasn't sure exactly what he was sensing, but it felt like someone had been watching them since they entered the store. Grant hadn't reacted to it at first because he didn't want to alarm the kids, but he never stopped discreetly searching for the source.

Although he could sense something by instinct, his passive skill wasn't warning him of any imminent danger, so either whoever or whatever was watching them didn't plan to attack them. Or they were capable of masking their intent, which would mean it was more intelligent than Grant wanted it too be.

Grant quietly and discreetly moved through the aisles of the store heading towards the pharmacy area. He stopped in a couple of aisles to grab some food for the two kids before he finally reached his destination. He came across a few small groups of zombies, but he dispatched them quickly and without any issue.

Grant went through all of the shelves grabbing as much medication as he could find and threw it in a large duffle bag he had picked up while he was walking through the store.

He wanted to make sure that he was stocked up on stuff to help heal not only Ally but also himself. He knew that his body could handle most of the healing process just from the mere fact that it had healed so much without any medication already. But he didn't want to take any chances and he wanted to see if he could help speed up the process with some first aid creams.

While he had the time, Grant decided that he should go through the rest of the store and see if there was anything in the non-food section of the store that could be useful to himself or the kids when he left to embark on his journey.

Before he could reach that area though, he heard a scream coming from the direction of the break room where he left Richard and Robin.

Without hesitation, Grant dropped everything that he was carrying and ran as fast as he could towards the break area.

[FUCK I should never have left them! How come I didn't sense anything?! Shit shit shit!]

Sweating bullets Grant pushed his body to the limit. With his stats as high as they were now, he was able to reach the room in a few short moments.

Grant didn't even hesitate to blow through the door and came crashing into the room.

As he scrambled to his feet, he began to look around the room, trying to take in the situation.

Robin was standing in a corner screaming and looking terrified while Richard was on the other side of the room squaring off with a...

[What the hell is that thing?!

A mutated wolf spider?!

Fuckkkkk those things are so fucking ugly!]

It looked like Grant had been able to reach them before the Spider did anything because the sense of danger that Grant was getting from the spider was as equal even greater than what he felt from the giant javelina which meant if it was serious, it could have easily killed the kids already.

Grant yanked Wet Noodle out of its scabbard and rushed to stand in front of Richard. He knew that wolf spiders were some of the fastest spiders on the planet and an evolved one would be extremely dangerous just solely based on its speed.

As if realizing that Grant was the a threat, the spider moved in a half circular motion away from Grant and Richard.

Grant instantly realized he fucked up. He had let the spider position itself between himself and Robin.

The moment that Grant moved to try and get in front of Robin, the spider also began to move. They both were moving in the direction of Robin who was still frozen in the corner. Both with very different yet clear intentions.

"YOU WANT TO DIE YOU EIGHT LEGGED FREAK?!?!!"