Glenn was having a great day scavenging. He had avoided the walkers easily and didn't make any noise to attract them. He had scored a pile of unopened and only slightly damaged cans from a supermarket and was making his way across the rooftops to his hidden and concealed alleyway crossings, when he saw an idiot shooting off a handgun and attracting all of the geeks.

He stopped on the rooftop and watched as the idiot climbed into the armored tank that the National Guard had foolishly driven into the city of Atlanta to try and repress the insurgents, not realizing the insurgents were undead and didn't care if an armored vehicle was there to intimidate them. They had swarmed it and killed everyone inside.

Glenn wasn't sure if the idiot even realized what he was doing, locking himself inside a coffin, so he reluctantly took out his walkie-talkie and set it for the National Guard frequency. “Hey, dumbass.”

There was no response, so he chuckled.

“Yes, I mean you, there in the tank. Good job locking yourself into a death trap.” Glenn said.

A few seconds later, the walkie-talkie clicked. “Who is this?”

“I'm the guy looking at a dumbass that locked himself inside an immobilized tank that's surrounded by geeks.” Glenn said and clicked off before he laughed.

“Yeah? Well, what do you recommend I do about it?” The guy asked him.

“You run and make a break for it.” Glenn said, as if that was the basic response.

“Are you serious?” The man asked.

“The geeks are ignoring you and are swarming the horse you rode in on. If you get out of there and take off to the east, I can meet you in an alley on the next right about 50 feet from the main street.”

The man didn't say anything for a moment. “You think that's a good idea?”

“You're running out of time, man. Either go or die. It's up to you.” Glenn said and clicked off. He needed to move to get to the right spot to meet the new guy. Why he was risking himself like this for someone he had never met, was beyond him at the moment. He took off and ran as fast as he could and went down the stairs of the fire escape and ran to the fenced off area.

*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*

The moron isn't even trying to be quiet. Glenn thought and opened the gate. He had no choice but to leave it open when the guy wearing a policeman's uniform showed up and shoved a gun into his face. “I'M NOT DEAD!” He shouted and the guy dressed like a state trooper lowered the gun. “We have to run!”

The guy nodded and followed him down the alleyway and several more gunshots echoed off of the walls of the buildings as the guy shot the geeks. It would bring the geeks even faster, because it was so loud.

Glenn reached the emergency ladder and started to climb. “What the hell are you waiting for?!?”

The new guy emptied his gun and followed him up the ladder to the first landing and Glenn stopped to catch his breath. The new guy was right there with him.

“Are you an idiot or something?” Glenn asked him.

The guy sighed and shook his head as he held a hand out. “I'm Rick.”

Glenn glanced at him for a moment and realized the guy really was an idiot to offer a bare hand to another person without checking for an infection first. He shook the hand briefly. “I'm Glenn.”

There were several groans and growls down below and they both looked down at the gathering dead.

“We need to go.” Glenn said and looked up at the top of the tall building. “On the bright side, it'll be the fall that kills us. I'm a glass half-full kinda guy.” He said and started climbing.

They reached the fifteenth floor and he opened an unlocked window, climbed inside, and let the new guy come in as well. He closed the window and shoved a small metal bar into the lock. They went down the stairs and out a maintenance door to a small walkway that led to another building.

“Are you the one that barricaded the alley?” Rick asked.

“Somebody did. When the city was overrun, not many geeks could get through.” Glenn said and jogged to a skylight. He had used this escape route several times already.

“Back at the tank. Why did you stick you neck out for me?” Rick asked.

“Call it a foolish naive hope.” Glenn said and tossed his backpack down into the darkness. “That if I'm ever that far up shit creek, somebody might do the same for me.” He said and started to climb down the ladder. “I guess I'm a bigger dumbass than you.”

The new guy followed him and climbed down into the darkness. They exited out into the fourth floor of the building and ran cross the small space, then went out through the fire exit. It led to several flights of external stairs and Glenn called his buddies and warned them of several geeks in the alley and that he had a guest with him.

Glenn and Rick ran down the stairs and saw two walking dead near them and two at the far end of the alley. The door across from them opened and two kevlar armored men stepped out with baseball bats. They took down the two geeks near them and Rick and Glenn ran by and entered the door. Glenn couldn't warn the new guy before the blonde woman pulled a handgun and shoved it into Rick's face.

“Son of a bitch, we should kill you!” The blonde woman said.

“Chill out.” A black woman said.

“Andrea, back off.” One of the armored men said as he discarded his extra protection.

“You're kidding me, right? We're dead because of this stupid asshole.” Andrea said and cocked the gun.

“Andrea.” The now unarmored man said. “I said, back the hell off.” He paused and stared at her. “I'll pull the trigger if it's necessary.”

Andrea stared at Rick and her face almost teared up as she finally backed off. “We're dead. All of us. Because of you.”

“I don't understand.” Rick said to them.

“Look, we came into the city to scavenge supplies.” The bushy-haired guy said and pushed Rick out of the room. “You know what the key to scavenging is? Surviving. You know what the key to surviving is? Sneaking in and out. Tiptoeing. Not shooting up the street like it's the O.K. Corral.” He said and they stopped in the front room of a department store. “Every geek for miles around heard you popping off rounds.”

“You just rang the dinner bell.” Andrea added, sadly.

“Get the picture now?” The bushy-haired guy asked the new guy.

Rick stared at the front window display and the dozens of walking dead pressed against the glass. Some were hitting it and one even had a big rock it had picked up from somewhere. There was a smattering of conversation about contacting others that Rick kind of ignored until the large black guy mentioned not having a signal and wanting to go to the roof.

There was the sound of a rifle being fired, then it happened again. Most of the group let out a sigh and a name, Merle, and they all went for the stairwell to go up the stairs. Rick followed them, even though he didn't know what was going on.

They exited the stairwell on the floor where the door to the roof stairway was and the black guy noticed a dark blue door next to the exit sign. He came to a stop, even though they could still hear the gunshots, and looked at the others.

“I don't remember that door being blue.” The black guy said and took out his pistol.

The others followed suit, except for Glenn and Rick, whom had been disarmed.

“We should be stopping Merle from bringing more of the geeks to us, not storming a strange room.” The bushy-haired guy said.

“I don't like things changing around us, especially here.” The black guy said and braced himself against the door as his free hand gripped the door handle. “Who takes the time during an apocalypse to paint a door?”

“Someone who wants attention.” Rick answered, even though he knew the question was rhetorical.

“Then let's give it to them.” The black guy said and turned the handle, then he stormed in with his gun ready to shoot anything that moved.

The others quickly followed him inside and they all skidded to a stop at seeing a bare-bones storeroom that was piled with everything they had been scavenging for the last week. Food, blankets, lights, knives, batteries, and even baseball bats.

“Oh! My first customers!” A male voice exclaimed from the corner of the small room.

The black guy let out a yell and fired, because he hadn't seen the shabbily dressed man that had stood so still behind the counter. His aim was spot-on and the bullet hit the man square in the forehead, snapped the head backwards, and the body dropped to the floor and out of sight.

“NO!” The black woman gasped and covered her mouth. “You killed him!”

“I didn't mean to!” The black guy shouted back.

“It doesn't matter now! He's dead! Grab everything that you can and let's get out of here!” Andrea urged them and grabbed an armful of the MREs. The whole group would be eating well for a long time with so many easy meals.

The only one that didn't try to grab something was Rick. His mind replaying the scene, both before and after the blatant accidental murder, and he was sure that he didn't want any part of a group that shot first and asked questions later. His decision wouldn't matter, because he was the only one that didn't have gun and saw the body stand back up from behind the counter.

*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*

As Rick shouted that he wasn't with them and was unarmed, another shot rang out and the back of his head disappeared.

*

Steven was breathing heavy as he came down from his anger surge and his hand gripped the handgun in his hands tightly. He somehow knew that was the incorrect way to hold it and changed it to a more relaxed grip. It hadn't stopped him from giving all the robbers headshots, though.

His breathing slowed down to a normal rate and he walked over to the bodies. He quickly searched them and recovered their guns, spare bullets, and valuables like watches, money, and jewellery. Without a thought, he ignored the bodies for now and started picking up the items they had been stealing from him and putting them back on the shelves.

Steven was delighted when the items were instantly cleaned of blood and gore when put back and smiled at not having to throw out his valuable store stock. When he had all of his store items back on their shelves, he picked up the body of the black man that had shot him and easily shoved him into the trashcan.

A soft laugh escaped Steven because his disposal idea had worked and he quickly added in each of the other dead bodies. He brought out the mop and bucket from the maintenance room and did a quick scrub of the floor to clean up the blood and used a dustpan to pick up the brains and skull pieces he had missed.

With the job completed, Steven walked over to his open door and looked out. He saw that he was inside an industrial building, which hopefully meant he was in a shopping district. People wouldn't come here otherwise. He heard a rifle go off behind the roof access door next to his own and ran back inside his shop to grab a chain and a lock.

Once the door was secure, Steven kept his gun ready and went down the stairs. With luck, he would find a jewellery store or something and could make a mint claiming it for himself. He also wondered if he could add stolen items to his store. As he was thinking that, he came out of the door at the bottom of the stairwell and laughed hard. He was in a huge department store!

Bradbury's was having a huge sale of 70% off and they had everything. Clothing of all kinds, cosmetics, basic electronics, cash registers, hats, purses and wallets, watches galore, some moderate jewellery, a housewares section with paint and appliances, and a small pharmacy. They even had a storeroom with boxes and boxes of everything they hadn't put out for sale.

Steven freely admitted that it was a new store owner's dream come true. Free stock! He thanked his <INVENTORY> for sorting it all as he started walking around and tossing everything inside his storage space, including the freestanding racks for hanging clothes, shelving that he would have had to pay a lot of money for, glass display counters, and everything else his greedy hands could touch.

If it wasn't nailed down, he took it. He could worry about what to do with it all later. For now, he just had to clear the place out and get back to his Store. He hit the back office and break room and took the filing cabinets, the desk, the chairs, the table, the coffee machine, and emptied the cabinets. He even grabbed the two smashed vending machines with the thought that he could repair them.

It wasn't until Steven checked the loading dock near the back door that he found where the thieves had stored their own gathered supplies in dufflebags. It was another treasure trove of items, like the missing contents of the vending machines and various food items and valuables that had been pilfered from other places. He took it all.

With the place cleared out, Steven went back up to the roof access and heard banging on the door. He could hear someone yelling and hitting the door with what sounded like a wooden bat. The chain and lock rattled from each hit and he shook his head. He wasn't letting whomever that angry person was out, only to get shot again.

Steven abandoned the chain and lock as a small price to pay for his safety and entered his store and closed the door. He braced it with a pry bar and a chain to hold the door shut and walked over to his counter. He stored the cheap stool and replaced it with a nice breakroom chair, sat down, and let out an exaggerated sigh.

He knew that he hadn't overreacted after being shot and he still felt guilty about it. Of course, it wasn't until he had been shot and had laid there on the floor that he realized he wasn't dead. It still hurt like a son-of-a-bitch, though. Anger had filled him at almost dying again and losing his next chance at life and he dealt with them all.

Steven wasn't a murder-hobo and didn't like that he had reverted to that mentality, then shrugged. The guilt slowly faded when he remembered they shot him and tried to rob him. He shook his head at so easily justifying his actions and sighed. His eyes went to his basic shelves and he started to smile. He might only have a ten foot by ten foot area; but, he was going to make it look spectacular.