Return to the mall

Saeko was checking around the room. Apparently, this place was also some sort of storage room, as she found a couple of small piles of several types of medicine. Shame we had no bags with us, so we could not really take anything. Not that it mattered much for me at the moment, because I was uhh...

(Did that just, really happen? Maybe I actually passed out after I crashed into the window, and a corpse is actually chewing on my face right now…)

I take a quick glance at Saeko before lifting my hand to my face, and give it a strong pinch.

(Ow, F... Yep, definitely not dreaming. So that means…)

I shake my head, put my balaclava and mask back on, and then jump off the table.

(ARGHH. Come on you retard, no time to be a little fucking princess. You got shit that needs doing, you can be all flabbergasted later.)

"Naier, it seems that there are not any of them wandering on the other side of these windows. I think we can leave from here." Saeko speaks up as she checks the windows on the far end of the room for the, fourth time?

"Yeah, but first, I need to find some kind of weapon. I'm almost out of bullets, only two rounds left in the handgun, and I'm all out of shotgun shells. Wonder if there's anything in here that I can use to poke corpses to death..." I respond as I walk up to her while looking around.

"I don't know if you will find anything useful. I searched around the room and saw nothing that could be used as a weapon. All the drawers that are on the right side have bottles and other types of medicine. The rest of the room has nothing even worth mentioning. And lastly, the corpses were unarmed." She replies as she turns around and scans the insides of the room we're in again.

"Ok. So, then..."

"Don't worry. I will deal with anything that will try to get in our way." She cuts me off as she turns to me and smiles.

"I can't just sit back and let you do all the work now, can I? " I answer as I look at her.

"But. You can rely on me. I want you, to rely on me." Saeko responds as she turns her sight towards the window.

I raise my hand towards my head and point at the ceiling as I open my mouth. But, I couldn't really think of anything to say.

"And how am I supposed to reply to something like that?" I ask as I let my hand drop.

Saeko just closes her eyes and laughs lightly through her nose before turning to me. She looked much happier now, as if a weight had fallen off her shoulders.

"Fine, until I find something, I'll stay behind you." I add as I fold my arms. Saeko responded with a nod, and a smile.

"So, let's get out of here?" I 'ask' as I give the other side of the window one last check.

With a nod from Saeko, I then jump over to the grassy ground on the other side.

Straight ahead of me, was now a concrete fence wall. To my left, I could see the road that connected to the front part of the clinic. To the right, a path that led to the back of the building. Another road was visible there, after what seemed to be, a small park? Behind me, the window I just exited, and Saeko.

"We need to go left if we want to go back on the road we used to arrive. The front door was definitely overrun with corpses, so going that general direction is probably a bad idea. But lets at least check how bad it is, if it's too much, we have to go out from the back." I speak up in a low tone as I turn to Saeko.

She nods and starts walking towards the front, her hand resting on her Katana.

And, we didn't actually have to reach the end of the path to start hearing corpse moans. And the moment we did reach the end…

"Yeah, no. Judging just from how many corpses are flocking around the road we need to take? I'll take it that our group was not very stealthy after leaving. It's not just the front entrance that's overcrowded right now." I whisper as I look at the road that was overrunning with corpses...

"We go from the back then?" Saeko whispers without turning to look at me.

"Yeah, probably." I answer as I pat her shoulder and turn around.

We then walked back all the way to the other side of the clinic. Upon reaching the end, we again checked the road in front of us.

"There are a bunch of corpses that seem to be crawling towards the clinic, probably drawn by the noise we made. They're quite spread out though, and they're all still in the small, uhh, park? What do you call it? It has no trees whatsoever, with just a grassy field and some paved walkways. Also see a couple of cars near the edge of the park." I speak up as I scan the area ahead of us.

"Still, we should be able to run past the corpses, and the road behind them looks clear. Huh, I honestly expected more corpses to be around, but, ehh I'm not complaining." I add as I stare at the corpses that kept shambling towards the clinic.

"After we run past them and reach the street, what then?" Saeko asks as she turns to me.

"Hmmm, we need to turn either left or right, then make another turn on the next intersection, so we can end up going in the opposite direction from where we're going now. The mall is more or less a straight line from the clinic." I answer as I turn to her, she replies with a nod.

And so, after we spend a couple of seconds looking at each other, until it started to get a bit, awkward. We slowly sneaked out of the 'corridor' and started walking towards the small park.

I then also realized why there were not so many corpses walking towards the clinic, or at the street behind them. There was a crapton of them already clawing at the clinic's back wall. Thankfully, they were fairly far away and didn't seem to pay any attention to us. I give Saeko a glance and motion her with my hand before breaking off into a sprint.

We then bolted forward and headed straight towards the road ahead. With Saeko quickly running past me, and effortlessly cut down a couple of spread-out corpses that were in our way...

(I feel like I'm playing a game with cheat codes with her around…)

I chuckle to myself as I run past the fallen corpses, the various abandoned cars and head into the street, where Saeko was waiting for me.

"Left or right?" I ask as I reach her.

"I do not think your plan is going to work Naier." Saeko responds calmly as she turns to me.

"Huh, why? What is the...oh, crabs." My own question got answered the moment I looked at the streets to my left, and right…

Other than that they were both crawling with corpses? A butt-load of crashed, abandoned cars on both streets that would severely limit our mobility. Something that's too much of a danger for my liking...

"The road ahead is clear. Though it seems to be an uphill road, so I can't really tell what might be beyond it." I speak as I look behind Saeko, pointing behind her.

"We do not have much of a choice, do we?" She responds as she tilts her head slightly. I nod.

"Alright, same deal, we go straight ahead, then left or right on the next intersection." I add as I start running, Saeko turning to run next to me.

And so, we both start running up the hill. Which was, well, empty.

(Guess all the corpses got drawn to the clinic.)

The moment we reached the next intersection, which was actually on the top of the hill, the first thing I noticed, was the sea. The ocean was actually straight ahead of us, beyond a now downhill road. Which, was the only positive thing I could see, as everywhere else, looked like shit.

"Ohh come on… " I groan as I look at the toppled big rig that was blocking the right road. Now the road to the left 'was' clear. But...

"I can see the next intersection on the end of the left road. It is… "

"A clusterfuck, I can see it." I cut Saeko off as I look at the distant intersection on the left. I guess that's why the road was clear too. Everything must have gathered at that intersection.

But really, crashed cars, corpses, toppled poles, smoke. That intersection had it all.

"Uhh. So, Saeko, how about a seaside walk?" I 'ask' as I glance at Saeko, before turning towards the road ahead.

It was a straight line towards the street that was next to the beach, about two intersections ahead. The road did have a couple of corpses roaming about, but nothing like the fuck fest that was waiting on the left intersection.

"I did not take you for the romantic type Naier." Saeko responds with a slight smirk.

"Normally, I would now say something in the likes of 'stick around, I'm full of surprises'. But yeah, I'm really not." I answer as I tilt my head and turn to Saeko. She just chuckled in response.

"Well I do not see any other way we could go, so…" She adds as she looks at the road ahead. I nod, and we start moving again.

(We keep going further and further from the mall. But, I'm not complaining. Not when I have Saeko with me.)

"After we reach the road by the sea, we go right. Since the left intersection was a visible hellscape." I say as I keep running.

"And if the right side is a no-go too?" Saeko asks.

"We keep going till we find a clear one." I respond without looking at her...

And so, a couple of tumbling corpses later, we reached the seaside road and turned right. And instantly stopped.

"You know what. I'm not even surprised anymore." I groan as I raise both arms and look at the corpses that had blocked off the street.

"The beach looks empty." Saeko responds as she looks at the beach that was below us to our left.

"Yeah, I can see a couple of stairs a little further off, we go down the beach, walk past the grouped up corpses, then we walk back up to the street again." I add as I point at a staircase that was a couple of meters away ahead of us.

With that, we run to the stairs and pretty much jump down before running straight towards the sea.

After we picked up some distance from the street I stopped and looked around, then turned to Saeko.

"I can't see a single corpse on the beach. Guess nobody thought of running here?" I nod as I turn to look at the clogged road behind her.

"Works perfectly for us, does it not?" she responds.

"Yeah. Come on, better we don't get any attention now, I don't feel like running on sand." I chuckle as I motion her with my hand and turn to walk towards the left. Saeko nodded and started walking next to me…

We then walked in silence for a few minutes, before said silence became a bit, 'too' boring...

"In the end, we ended up on a seaside walk after all." I chuckle, Saeko responds with a giggle.

"Still, I never realized we were this close to the sea." I turn to look at the calm ocean to my left as I continue speaking.

"Me neither." Saeko responds. I turn to her and tilt my head.

"Really? Are you not from around here?" I ask, Saeko shakes her head after hearing my question.

"No. And, between my studies and my training. I did not have much free time to take leisure walks." She responds.

"Hmm. I guess we would all still be in our own little worlds, was it not for the outbreak." I add as I turn to look at the sea again.

(And my world, would probably be a prison, or at the bottom of a pier with concrete shoes.)

"Our, worlds… " Saeko lowered her head slightly as she spoke.

"If, you do not mind me asking Naier, what did you usually do before the outbreak? Helping people film their guns aside… " She asked as she lifted her head towards me.

"I'm not sure that you would want to know. Trust me, my daily life was very boring." I respond as I turn to her, she just kept staring at me with that 'tell me' expression.

And after she kept staring at me for a couple of seconds. I capitulated.

"Other than the gun thing and occasionally exercising? I, uhh, stayed home and played video games. That's it." I answer as I tilt my head, Saeko just kept looking at me, seemingly thinking of what to say.

(Well, that's what I did before I arrived 'here'. So I guess it's not technically a lie? I didn't really have the spare time for gaming after I realized where I was…)

"In the end, it took a zombie outbreak to make me leave my room and talk to people." I add as I laugh through my teeth, Saeko just smiles as she closes her eyes and laughs lightly through her nose.

"So, you did not go out much?" She asks.

"Much? Let's just say that if I didn't have a reason to leave the house, I didn't leave the house." I answer. Saeko just looked at me without responding.

"Disappointed?" I ask. Saeko snaps out of what she was thinking, she then shakes her head as she lifts her hand and shakes it as well.

"Ohh, no no. I just, did not expect you to be an indoors type… " She replies.

"Well I am, was, am? Can't really tell anymore… " I tilt my head from left to right as I speak.

We then kept silent for a couple of minutes as we walked down the empty beach, the corpses on the road to our right staying ever oblivious.

"It's funny you know. If this didn't happen, I would probably have never met any of you." I speak up as I keep walking. Saeko just glances at me before looking at the ground.

"Y, yeah..." Was all she said, her eyes still looking at her feet. I glance at her. And take a big breath.

(And I just fucked the mood. Good job me. Time for the best method in saving a subject. Joke about it like a retard.)

"I mean, just think about it. Saeko Busujima, esteemed Kendo club leader and winner of the Kyoto Kendo Tournament caught kissing with a shut-in whose surname is pronounced wrong by half the school staff." I say as I try to sound as dramatic as I can. And hold my back my laughter, raising both arms and spreading them like I was showing off a billboard.

Saeko lifts her head and looks at me with a raised eyebrow, until. I looked away from her, a bit too earnest-looking eyes.

"Khh. Sorry, sorry. I know it's not really something I should joke about. But, you looked down in the dumps, and I couldn't think of anything better." I add as I turn to look at her.

She says nothing. Just, looks at me and smiles. Then she moves closer and passes her arm around mine, locking it between her arm and, uhh, breast.

I decided to just keep my mouth shut, as I had a feeling that anything I might have said now, would have ended up, ruining the mood, or with a trap question...

(I could tell her that I killed Shido and Tsunoda. But I don't want her to believe that I only accepted her because I've done worse. I would still have accepted her no matter the case. The fact that I killed those two had nothing to do with this.)

We kept moving down the beach like that for some time…

(We have already moved past a couple of intersections. But, uhh, Saeko's not complaining, and I sure as hell do not mind taking the, long way around right now.)

And as we kept walking, I spotted an actual change in the distance, a house by the top part of the beach...

I could also see a path that went all the way to the sea from it, the path ending with what seemed to be a small cement dock. The house itself was surrounded by a tall fence too.

"That house in the distance, with the small dock. If it's clear let's take a break there before we go back into running in the streets." I speak up as I point at it with my free hand. Saeko nods as she looks at where I was pointing.

As the beach was clear, reaching said house did not really take much effort. And once near, we headed to check the back gate that led into the house.

"Locked, and I don't see any corpses inside," I say as I try the door, and look into the house's backyard.

"Think there are survivors inside?" She asks as she looks at the closed windows, curtains obstructing the view inside. Letting of my arms in the process.

"If there are, they're doing a terrible job at fortifying this place." I respond as I pass my arm between the steel pickets and press on the gate's handle. The gate then opened effortlessly.

I walk inside, and motion Saeko to come with my head. The moment she walked in, I closed the gate and pulled the handgun.

"Let's do a quick sweep around the house's yard, then check the insides." I whisper as I lift the handgun.

I then moved straight ahead towards the right side of the house. While Saeko went to the left to check the other side.

(This place has its own garage. This could be a perfect place to stash the Humvee if it's clear.)

I think as I keep moving. Upon reaching the front side of the yard, I head to the front gate.

(Locked. Good thing too, the front road of the house has corpses roaming about.)

Then at the front fence door.

(Also locked…)

By the time I was done with the doors, Saeko had also reached the front yard. And upon turning towards her, she nodded at me. I then turned to look at the house's main entrance.

(Huh? The door's half-open…)

I point at the door as I look at Saeko, she nods again and starts moving towards it. With my gun pointed at the door, I also started to move...

After we climbed the front porch stairs and reached the door, I gave it a light kick and moved aside.

Yet, nothing happened. And after peeking inside, I found that it looked as clear as it could be. From here at least. As the only thing I could see was a small opening, that then led to an open room that had a big table set in the middle. I give Saeko a quick glance, and with a nod, we move into the house.

The moment we stepped in, I scanned the insides.

To my left, a couple of meters away, I could see a door under a big widescreen TV, probably leading to the garage. In front of me, in what I assume is the living room, a big table. A few meters behind it, closed curtains and a relatively big sliding glass door. To my right, I could see an open wall kitchen, in the far end of the room. Next to it was a staircase, followed by a wall that ran all the way to where I was standing. That wall also had one door in it, along with several painting portraits.

"Whoever was here, wasn't short on cash." I whisper as I look around the room.

(There's no sign of struggle anywhere, guess they left when shit hit the fan?)

"I will go check the upper floor." Saeko whispers shortly after as she starts to move towards the staircase.

"I will check the two doors on the first floor, then join up with you. Be careful." I responded. And with that, we split up.

(I know she can handle herself. But, uhh, yeah I'm worried. Hope she won't do anything stupid from now on. God, if I start getting clingy now. Ughh, everything with moderation, everything with moderation.)

I shake my head and head to the door that was to my left, under the giant TV. Opening the door, I find myself in the garage.

Other than a small workstation that had various tools on it to my left, there were two things that caught my attention. A big ass jeep, and a wooden boat.

The jeep looked like a silver Maserati Levante, shaded windows and all. So I guess I was right, these people must have been loaded. Which made it all the weirder as the boat was a small wooden one, no engine, just paddles. It was well-preserved and on a trailer that was linked up to the car.

(What's with the boat? If the people here were decked I would expect that they at least had a zodiac not a wooden boat...)

My thoughts then got interrupted by the sound of something 'bumping' into the car. I instantly aim my gun at the car and stare at it. After staring for a while, and seeing nothing. I kneel down and check under the car.

(Clear.)

I then get up again and scan the garage…

(Hmm…)

"Uhhh. Mantis drops organic polymer!" I speak up, the last part with a relatively loud voice. And seconds later, another bump, coming straight from inside the car.

I walk closer to the car and try to see inside, only to see my reflection on the tinted windows again.

"Fucking tinted windows, ain't that supposed to be illegal or something? Really pinging that 'criminal' meter here. I dub thee, Yakuza family..." I groan under my breath as I move to the front of the car...

Thankfully, the front windshield was not shaded, so I had a clear view of the insides now.

"Well. that explains the bumping." I say as I look at the zombified people in the car.

A well-dressed man in a suit and a woman in a nightdress were on the front seats, both corpses. The man, who was in the driver's seat, had a small part of his neck missing, on the right part. While the woman had a small bite mark on her left arm. And, I could see a small kid on the back, shuffling about. Next to it, the remains of another kid?

"Guess being rich ain't gonna help ya, if your own kid comes after you." I whisper as I move towards the boat, lowering the gun.

"Still, why a wooden boat people? At least get something bigger, aren't you guys rich?" I add as I glance at the Jeep's trunk. Obviously, I got no response, other than even more bumping.

I then leave the garage, closing the door behind me.

"Next, the door next to the stairs. I don't think the corpses in the car can get out, and if they can. They still will be locked inside the garage." I say to myself as I pass by the giant table in the living room.

Upon reaching the door, I ready my gun again and grab the handle. I then swing the door open and make a quick jump back, pointing the gun towards the open door.

(Empty. Expected as much. But not being careful is equal to suicide, I'd rather look like an idiot and stay alive.)

Still, I did take a quick glance around me to make sure Saeko did not come back down before moving into the room.

The room, well it looked like a study. I could see an expensive-looking desk on the far end of the room to my left. The wall ahead of me was made up of windows, with the curtains all closed. And the wall adjacent to the door was made of a long bookcase, filled with books.

I walk up to the bookcase and pick a book, the sign of the medical cross on it. I then put it back and picked another. A medical book again. I repeated the process a couple of times, to the same result.

(Hmm, one of those two corpses back there was a doctor?)

I think as I leave the book in my hands on a stand next to me. I then look at the room again, my eyes stopping on a wooden door behind the desk.

Walking up to the door I again grab the handle and ready the gun. Swinging the door open I sidestep while moving backward, and stare at the insides of the new room.

(Ehhh, it's only a bathroom. Well, it could have some medical stuff, but we just looted a shit ton of that crap in the clinic. And again, carrying shit while trying to dodge zombies? A bad idea.)

I shake my head and turn around, giving the room one last glance before leaving.

Upon returning to the living room, I move towards the stairs to my right. Going up the stairs I found myself in a rather big corridor with five doors, two doors on each wall to my left and right and one door straight ahead, three of the doors, were open. I walked to the furthest open door that was to my right and peek inside. Saeko was there, looking at dresses that were inside a wardrobe.

"Umm, Saeko? I think monsters usually hide under the bed." I speak up as I point at the double bed next to Saeko.

Reacting to my voice, she closes the wardrobe and turns to me.

"These people must have been pretty wealthy. Everything in here is rather expensive." She responds.

"Ohh, I know. You must see their car, could give our Humvee a run for its money in terms of price. Didn't save them though." I nod as I turn to look back towards the stairs. Saeko stayed quiet for a couple of seconds.

"You found the owner of the house?" She asks.

"Yea, inside the car, corpsified. Think one of their kids got infected, and then turned inside the car." I answer as I turn to her again. She responded by staying quiet.

"I also found a small wooden boat." I add up.

"Small wooden boat? Are you sure it was theirs? They don't look like people to have such a thing." She asks again.

"Yeah, don't ask me. Maybe they liked passing their time rowing the sea in a dinghy boat like the rest of us plain people." I answer as I shrug, Saeko responds with a chuckle.

"Normal people row the seas in dinghy boats? I didn't know that." She responds as she tilts her head slightly with a smile.

"Ehh, probably? Never rowed a boat in my life. Come on, let's check the last two rooms." I chuckle as I turn around, Saeko nods and follows behind me.

The next room ahead of us was a kid's room. And honestly, I could not tell if it was for a boy or a girl. It looked, plain, no toys whatsoever. It did have an expensive-looking computer and another double-sized bed though. Shame the computer no longer worked, must have been quite the beast.

The last room? Turned out to be another plain-looking bathroom.

"Well I think we're in the clear." I stretch one arm as I walk towards the stairs.

"Yes, the house seems clear. So, do we stay here for some time?" Saeko asks.

"Taking a break sounds nice, and I want to check the study again, it was full of medical books. Might find something helpful." I nod as I look back at Saeko.

Yet before either of us could react, I heard a loud growl, coming from my stomach. Reminding me that I have not eaten for well, quite sometime now. Saeko just stared at me.

"I'm going to the study… " I add as I quickly turn around and walk down the stairs.

(Jeez, thanks body, next time ruin the moment by making other weird fucking noises.)

As a response, my stomach made another low growl.

(Maybe I should check the kitchen for something before checking the study. The truth is I have not eaten for a day or so….)

And so, I went to the first floor, stormed the kitchen and stole two carrots. Yeah, carrots, and then headed back to the study.

-Half an hour later-

(Hmm, interesting.)

I slowly bit down on the second carrot as I leaned my back on the expensive, boss-style chair.

(Indeed, very interesting. This is the sixth book I tried to read, and I still don't understand jack shit...) I shut the book, and lean back on the chair.

(But they could be helpful for Shizuka. Hmm, I should check for a bag, gamble for it and take the ones that looks the most fancy.)

I get up and throw the two carrot stumps in the trash bin that was next to the desk.

(Yeah, let's do that, the jeep in the garage might have bags in the trunk. Mister and Miss Yakuza seemed to be ready to bail the house before tragedy struck.)

Yet, the moment I opened the study's door. Something else caught my attention, and nose. I was smelling cooked, meat?

(The hell? Am I going delirious? Didn't realize that I was THAT hungry.)

But I soon realized I was not smelling things. Saeko was in the kitchen, in what I suspect was a male, long-sleeved, buttoned shirt. Her hair tied up to a ponytail as she stood over a gas-operated stove. On the table behind her two dishes laid side by side, I could already see some cut vegetables on the plates.

Probably hearing the door closing behind me, Saeko turns to me.

"Food is almost ready, you might want to take off your gloves and jacket. And the mask. Or you can somehow pass things through it?" She asks with a smile.

"Huh… what. Who, what… uuuuhh?" I tilted my head in confusion as my mouth did its best expression of a caveman. Saeko just giggled.

"The fridge here is pretty good, everything inside was still cold, and I found this gas cooker in a shelf. Soo… " She turns her head back to the cooker, looking at the sizzling meat on the pan. I, just scratched my mask.

(Well, she did find out that I was hungry. But still, I'm moved.)

"Uhh, ok. But, why are you wearing, that?" I ask as I keep staring at Saeko...

"Hmm, my clothes were a little dirty, so I tossed a shirt over them. That way I would not get anything on the food by accident." She responds.

"Makes sense. Well uhh, I'll check the garage for something then go to the bathroom." I say as I turn around and head toward the garage.

The moment I got inside, I went to the trunk of the car and tried my best opening it, the trunk did not budge though.

"Huh, figures. Gonna need the keys, or breaking the glass." I speak to myself as I look at the tool rack.

On it, I could see several screwdrivers, some saws, a blowtorch and a crowbar. The last two things seemed, interesting. The blowtorch could easily start fires, the crowbar? Let's just say that I had corpses that needed dealing with. And all crowbars, are Gordon freeman approved.

I grab the crowbar and go to the front door, then give it a knock.

"Sir, do you know how fast you were going?" I say with a serious tone as I look at the window. As I could not see inside, I waited for a bit, until I heard something bumping against said window.

"I would like you to get out of the car and walk in a straight line sir." I pull the door's handle, and using it as cover, I quickly open it while staying behind it.

The corpse man almost jumps out of the car, and lands on the floor with a growl. I quickly close the door and walk up to the corpse.

"Nope, that ain't walking, sir." I bring the straight point of the crowbar down on the back part of the corpse's head, before pulling it back out and leaving it, on the tool table.

"Ok, that's over, keys." I say as I turn around, then open the door again and take a step back.

Inside, the woman was trying to reach me, her hands extending towards me. The seatbelt was stopping her though. The little one on the back seat was also trying to get to me from the gap between the driver's seat and the driver's door frame. Though, only one of its little hands was sticking out.

I grab the small hand and pull it before slamming the door shut. A loud crack, and the hand got bent in a direction it normally should not.

"Sorry bout that." I say as I open the door again and take the keys out of the ignition switch.

The moment I turned around, the door that led to the living room swung open, Saeko barging in, sword in hand.

"What happened?! Are you alight?" She asks, or well, shouts as she looks at me. Before looking at the corpse on the floor, then at the dangling hand next to the driver's seat, and then back at me.

"I needed the keys? Oh, and I found a weapon." I say as I lift the key and jiggle them with one hand and point the crowbar with the other. Saeko just sighs as she lowers her head before looking back at me.

"You scared me." She responded as she stared at me.

"Sorry…" Was all I said as I moved away from the door, Saeko just kept looking at me.

"Saeko. I made a promise to you, didn't I? I won't be going anywhere for as long as you need me. And a man must never go back on his word, right?" I add as I walk to the trunk, and turn to look at her.

Saeko's eyes went slightly wide as she stared at me before, smiling and turning around.

"Sweet talker." Was all she said before leaving the garage, closing the door behind her.

(Am I? But I really meant it though…)

I think as I open the trunk, and my brain instantly told me that I had to focus on what I was seeing.

"Holy crabs, these people were, prepared… " I think as I take the bags out of the trunk, then close it, so I would not end up having a second on meeting with the small corpse.

"Let's see. Two hiking backpacks and three large duffle bags." I kneel down as I speak and open the first duffle bag.

Clothes, jewelry, high heel shoes, make up, and some uhh. pink proof that the husband did not pay enough attention to somebody on the bed.

"Really? My disappointment is immense and my day is ruined." I groan as I keep searching the bag, but in the end, I found nothing. Nothing that I needed at least.

I grab the duffle bag and toss it aside, then open the second one.

This bag had books, some tools like scalpels inside another, smaller bag. And other medical equipment like disinfectants and such.

"Hmm if the doctor decided to take these books, then they must be the good ones… right?" I take the bag and push it to the side, in the opposite direction of the bag I tossed before, and then open the last duffle bag.

This one, had a good amount of gas canisters inside, along with what seemed to be a gas stove with three burners.

"Ohhh! Now this is something." I say to myself as I keep looking inside.

And soon, I also found another treasure in there.

"Ohhh, wait a minute. This looks like that expensive Canadian water filter I found in the net before the outbreak. It costed like, five hundred dollars? Supposedly, it was designed for military use. Talk about a lucky break." I broke into a grin as I shoved the bulky cylinder back into the bag with the gas canisters and pushed it next to the bag with the medical equipment.

The two hiking bags did not have anything worthy of note. Or well, they had a couple of bottles of water treatment pills and some hiking gear, like ice picks and parts of a tent.

Ok, maybe calling them not worthy of note was a bit stretched, but after finding that duffle bag with the water purifier and the gas canisters, the rest didn't seem to have that much of an impact on me.

"Could I use the ice pick as a weapon? Hmm, with the way it's built though, it looks easy for it to get lodged inside a head and stay there." I shake my head and get up as I look at the bloody crowbar on the tool table.

(No need to fix what ain't broken, the crowbar is good enough for now. Alright, bathroom time.)

Right before I managed to open the door, it opened by itself, Saeko appearing behind it.

"The food is ready… " She says as she glances around before glancing at me. I think her face was, slightly flushed?

"Hm, I was just done, I'll go to the bathroom to clean off my gloves and arm guards." I respond as I nod, Saeko smiles and nods back before turning around.

"And be ready to carry some stuff to the Humvee before we go back to the mall." I add as I walk up next to her.

"Found something good?" She asks as she turns to me and tilts her head.

"Good, is a mighty understatement." I replied with a grin as I glanced behind me.