Chapter 16

"We'll leave the rest for now." Jim announced. "The next group can get it. We've made it easy enough." We closed the store and headed to the next; it was basically next door as we only walked for ten minutes to get there, though this team, we could hear the faint sound of growls in the distance.

"You guys stay here, I'll go check it out, tell you if it's safe enough." Glenn volunteered. I really like this guy, dependable and ready to get shit done when everyone's hesitant.

The store wasn't anything fancy; it only had cheap clothes but they were practical. I took several items, all in black color when I found them for 'camouflage in the night': jackets, vests, sweaters, t-shirts and shirts with long sleeves. I had to use my inventory a lot when no one was looking, it's a good thing they already had enough clothes, it wasn't their first time making runs to the city. I only 'took a few' because we didn't have enough space. I changed to a comfortable vest and sports pants: I had too much skin exposed, and I'd get hurt easily if I fell while running. The clothes provided some protection in that regard.

Glenn came back by the time I was done, an unsightly expression on his face.

"It's bad." He said. "I found the pharmacy, but the place is full of walkers. I counted fifteen." He had barely finished his sentence, and I could already tell the plan was to get the hell away from this place.

"Looks like we're gonna have to forget about drugs for now." Andrea commented, when no one said anything.

"Are there no other walkers beside those you saw?" I asked.

"No." Glenn shook his head. "I double checked, went around them to another block. Nothing. They're the only ones in the area." I was thinking about the possibilities, how do we deal with fifteen walkers with our small group. I wouldn't even try to convince them if I didn't have a sure fire way to do it.

"Are you seriously thinking of fighting them again?" Andrea looked at me incredulously. Even Jim and Theodore knew it was almost impossible this time around.

"Look at it this way." I reasoned. "If we deal with them now, we'll have this part of town clear for several days at least, more than enough to sweep it clean of anything we might need. If we don't… the walkers attract more walkers, and eventually, we won't be able to come here at all. And when we start needing medicine, we'll have to go deeper into the city."

"Yes, but those are fifteen walkers! It's five times the amount you fought previously, and you could hardly move after that fight! It's madness!" Andrea exclaimed.

"I know." I nodded, keeping calm. Getting worked up wouldn't solve anything here. "That's why we shouldn't do it, unless we are absolutely sure of our victory."

"I just don't see us winning against those numbers, man. It's suicide." Theodore and Jim shook their head, though I know they agreed with me to some degree.

With my new weapon, I was sure I could dispose of the walkers far more easily, especially if I could score a single clean hit on them.

'If only we were better equipped… I know in the show, Rick and his group could easily deal with this situation… Hold on a second… What if we could get better equipment?' My eyes widened in realization.

"Say, Glenn, is there any Hardware store nearby?" I asked him, he took a few seconds to think, before nodding. "Yeah, there is one a few minutes walk from here."

"We should go there." I proposed. "See if there is anything useful to us there."

"What's that got to do with what we were talking about?" Theodore asked me, a bit annoyed at the change of subject, expecting me to come up with some magical solution, probably.

"I can't argue without having something to backup my claim. If we find what I'm looking for, then I'll try convincing you again. If we don't, then it's better to just go back to camp." I shrugged.

"We need more tools anyway." Jim said in agreement. "Dale gets all cranky if we lose any of his."

"But let's take everything back to the cars first. No reason to keep such big baggage with us." Jacqui advised, to which we all agreed.