The lights were broken. The doors were sealed shut with metal wires, a lock dangling loosely. Janice scanned the area for a rock or something heavy to break the glass, while Hanish searched for a key.

  Leaning down, Janice noticed a crack in the storefront. Shopping carts were scattered haphazardly across the parking lot, and a large “closed” sign was prominently displayed on the wall.

  Spotting an opportunity, Janice saw a baseball bat leaning against the side of the store near a trashcan. She picked it up and looked at Hanish, who was still searching the ground for a key. “Step back,” she said, lifting the bat and pointing it at the door. She swung. The bat smacked against the glass, but it didn’t break. She was never good at sports.

  She swung again, hitting the glass harder, but it still didn’t break. “Fuck it,” she muttered, grabbing Hanish’s pistol and aiming it at the door.

  The force of the shot nearly knocked her backward. The recoil clipped her hand, causing her to drop the gun, but the glass shattered. Hanish stared at her, shocked.

  She stepped over the broken door frame and into the store. It was like stepping into a magical kingdom, even better than she remembered. She felt as if she were in a dream, recalling zombie films with empty stores, or the movie “Where the Heart Is.” She had always dreamed of living in a department store.

  Bloodstains marked the floor, surrounded by shattered shelves and broken items strewn haphazardly. Janice and Hanish carefully stepped around the food scattered.

  “Make sure to stay away from the fridge section,” Hanish said, certain that those foods would be spoiled by now. She nodded and went in, immediately starting to check things. She noticed a chair for sale in the distance: an oval wicker chair. She forgot about everything she had seen earlier as she sank into the chair.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  Hanish wandered through the store until he located the outdoor section. A display of various weapons caught his eye, and he examined each one with interest. He then spotted inflatable mattresses in the camping area and picked up two before turning to Janice, who was still sitting in a chair, tears streaming down her face.

  “Are you okay?” he asked as he approached.

  She dug her nails into her knees, groaning in pain. “Lila was back there.” She scratched herself until she bled. Leaning forward, she noticed her toenails had grown, and her feet were dirty. She hadn’t been wearing shoes this whole time.

  She realized she had stepped on glass; her feet were cut, the pain now a distant echo.

  “What was Lila to you?” Hanish asked, crouching beside her. She wiped her eyes and looked at him.

  “Everything,” Janice said, her voice softening. She gazed up at the ceiling.

  Janice reminisced about Lila and herself, recounting to Hanish how she became Lila’s support system two years into her brother’s marriage.

  Initially, their relationship was a simple friendship. However, as Lila grew increasingly distressed by Janice’s brother’s abusive behavior, Janice found herself falling in love with Lila. They began an affair and made plans to run away together, but the undead attacked that very day, thwarting their escape. Janice assumed her brother had been unaware of their relationship. She expected the truth to surface when he trapped them both, but her brother was so gullible that it was easy to manipulate him. They needed him alive until Lila, finally reaching her breaking point, shot Ivan in the head.

  ” She killed him?” Hanish asked concerning growing for Janice. Janice nodded.

  “We left the bunker and.. Lila was attacked, ” she told him, leaning into her hand. ” she wasn’t the same.”

  “Well, how did you get glass embedded into your stomach?” He asked, wondering if she did it out of desperation.

  “I was being chased by my undead brother, and while I escaped.. it was my only choice, ” she said as her hand drifted to touch her stomach. ” It was the kitchen window..” I fell threw it,” she said. He wondered how she managed to get all the way to his hour a mile away with cuts all in her and away from the undead with that kind of injury.

  She was scared, and if it hadn’t been for being covered in her and her brother’s blood. They didn’t seem to notice her.

  ” Their blood.” She said, looking at him.