Jon strummed his guitar and shook his head. "Sorry I don't know that one, haven't even heard of it.." He replied to the request looking slightly sad, he did want to make everyone happy but he didn't know every song.. He just knew what.. well what he knew. He walked through the darkness with Chuck. Luckily the doors weren't that damaged but they would need some work. He was still on edge from the darkness and everything that had happened. He needed to relax.

"Lets go over to power tools and bring some stuff over, and then we'll narrow down exactly what we've got to do here."

Jon nodded. He never liked being told what to do before this but he felt out of place if here were to make any suggestions, which he usually did. He followed Chuck towards the tools.

"So what do we need?"

Taylor nodded and began to head toward the "home" section. There should be some stuff there, although being in a Lowe's would have made this a much easier job. "We'll go this way and get what we can. I think we can get Alex some gauze this way too." Pushing the cart forward, Taylor couldn't help but to put her foot up on the cart and kick it forward, hanging on for the short ride.

"So, Sara, what do you think of this hell we are currently living in? Any thoughts on how all this happened?" she asked without looking back at her. There wasn't much else to talk about, and right now, family and friends would just be a touchy topic that Taylor was sure nobody was ready to talk about. At least not yet.

Waiting for her to reply, Taylor pulled her cart to a halt at the pharmacy section. Moving away from the cart, she carefully walked down the hall, and help up the flashlight to help her read the labels and sections. "No, no, no..." she mumbled then finally found the gauze. Grabbing several boxes and then a about 5 packs of advil, she tossed them in the cart to continued to find lights.

Alex watched as the others went off and tended to their individual tasks. He was happy to now have something to write with, he would have to remember to thank Sara when she got back.
He carefully hopped down off the truck and unbuckled his sword belt, laying it inside the bed of the truck. Limping to the front of the truck he grabbed his gloves, coif, and helmet, then returned to the back of the truck and placed them in the bed. He liked to keep his things organized for quick access.
Using the tailgate as a makeshift table, he opened one of the notepads and grabbed a pen. He wasn’t a great artist, but he could sketch out the Wal-Mart just fine, and probably a low detail map of the area and important spots therein.
The sketch was done and he reviewed it. This map should help keep all their efforts coordinated. He put down the pen and paper. Turning towards the front doors he looked at the unsecured openings. There were two things he could do that didn’t require too much strength. One was lower the security gates, and the other was closing the basket return gate they had driven the truck through.
Limping towards the cart gate, he found the keys still in the lock. Turning the, he grabbed the gate and yanked it down. The clanking of metal as the gate closed echoed through the Wal Mart. He turned the keys and herd the lock engage. Next he hobbled over to a small box next to the front doors. Opening the box he inserted the corresponding key and turned. Security gates lowered slowly from above. They were meant to protect the building from theft and should keep out most humans.
As the gate closed he removed the keys and clipped them to his belt for safekeeping. Gazing out into the darkness he stood there, just thinking on current events. It was so beautiful and at the same terrifying…

She followed Taylor through the aisles and stated what she had observed. "Gauze will help and if in 2 hours, the bruising becomes more purplish, that's a good sign. It would mean it's just a hairline fracture and not that one of his ribs are cracked." Saras smiled as Taylor performed the trick with the cart. But she immediately sobered as she remembered how her youngest brother used to do the same thing and how she would give him alittle push so that the cart would move further. Clearing her throat, she pushed the thoughts away for they would do no good here. She had grabbed another cart and was now pushing it behind Taylor. The more they could get the better.

"So, Saras, what do you think of this hell we are currently living in? Any thoughts on how all this happened?" Taylor asked her and Saras immediately replied.

"I've got a million theories and one of them is that we've died and this is hell. Or we could just blame all of this on some dumb scientist who decided to perform experiments." Saras paused behind Taylor and grabbed some of the gauze and antiseptic and placed it in her cart. She had her own torchlight but it was in her bag back in the room. She had to get it her stuff later but for now, they could stock up on more torchlights or basically lights of any kind.

She pushed on behind Taylor and threw back at her the same question, "What's your theory?"

"So, what do we need?"

Chuck smiled, "Stuff that turns metal into fire." He picked up a circular saw. "This will do the trick nicely." He grabbed a big drill and handed it to Jon. Grabbing a few other things he seemed satisfied that they could get it done. The his eye feel on one of the most beautiful sights he had seen all day, the car batteries. While they would have to go outside to get gas eventually, it would be nice if he could get most of the store secure before they sent people off into the dark. He found an abandon cart and placed the saw in it, and then a few of the batteries and some terminals. Letting Jon put the drill in the basket he turned to go back to the door, grabbing a heavy duty extension cord on the way.

He set to work taking off the end of the extension cord with his knife and preparing to hard wire it directly to the batteries. The only thing they would have to watch for was over powering the tools, but if he payed attention they would be fine.

He would cut his blocking off of the unbroken dock door, bolt it all to the doors and frame and be done with it, then they could get back to the others and go out to get the gas.

Armed with only a flash light, a fearless attitude, and quick wits, 19 year old Josh walked down the halls of the hospital. The last thing he remebered was they had him on suicide watch. But it wasn't his fault, those kids tried to kill him, he didn't know what to do. They tried to hang him, he didn't do it himself. He's not THAT much of a pussy.

He pulled out his cell phone and tried to call his sister, but nothing. no service, no electricity. Just him and his flash light and what
he thought was a good time. In a strike of fury he threw his cell phone across the room as fast as he could and it flew out of the window. He saw a small flash off in the distance of the window. He walked towards it but a strong smell hit his nose. It smelled of rotted flesh and old meat. Sure enough, he shone his flash light to his left and there were six dead bodies all piled by the door. He was trapped and the only way out was the window. One problem it's a 4 story high window. Although off in the distance he can still see a small light.

"Wonder what that is..." he thought to himself

Only one way to find out. In a sigh of disgust he started kicking the bodies out of the way, the light jolting from left to right from his flash light. He finally got all of the bodies out of the way and shined his light down the hall.

Nothing.

No bodies. No people. Not even a broken light.

Nothing.
At the end of the hall he saw a sign that read Stairway.
"Guess that's where I'm headed." Slightly indifferent, a little annoyed, but for the first time ever, a bit scared, josh headed for the stairwell.

Taylor smirked at her reply. Very quick, very open, and very honest from what it seemed. "I'm leaning more towards a scientific fuck up. They finally bit off more then they could chew and bam, here we are." Taylor pushed her cart on and turned to the left right, entering the home area. There wasn't to much, but it was a start. "Another thing it could be is maybe some kind of terrorist attack. I mean, right now we don't even know if this is a local thing, state wide, country or maybe the world,"

While talking, Taylor lifted her flash light and began to scan the shelves full of pillows rugs and such. Still unable to find lamps. Swinging down the next aisle, she continued talking. "There are a good few things that could have happened in the world. And just to get a little super natural," she said and then held the light under her chin and turned to look at Sara for a half a second, "maybe there is more out there then what we know. Ghosts, aliens and such," she said but laughed at the idea. "And I only say that to try and cover all possibilities."

Finally, after swinging down 2 more aisles, she found the lamps. Walking forward, Taylor began to pull box after box of lamps and lights down. From free standing lamps, to some that you hang, to the lamps with several heads that you can move around. "The only thing that is really odd to me, is how so many of us in the group, if not all, want to go to New York. Maybe it's some kind of signal someone sent out who thinks they can fix this. I don't know."

Saras smiled at Taylor's theories. They ran close to hers and there was something else. It was true that none of them knew if this was a state wide or a global problem. And the mention of supernatural was enough to make Saras wish it wasn't. Logic was easy. Logic was friendly. Logic and science enabled one to come up with justifiable explanations. But supernatural explanations were not logic. In fact it was so flimsy and unexplainable, it made no sense sometimes. Saras preferred logic. "Then why are you following your dreams? Why head down to New York?" The voice at the back of her head taunted her. Saras snuffed it out. She did not believe in her dreams. She was simply going to go to New York because the rest of the survivors wanted to head down to New York. So what if it happened to be the same location her dreams wanted her to go to.

"The only thing that is really odd to me, is how so many of us in the group, if not all, want to go to New York. Maybe it's some kind of signal someone sent out who thinks they can fix this. I don't know." Saras stilled for a second as Taylor said that.

Reasoning out loud, she said, "A signal sounds like the best answer at the moment. Like a radio wave. But it has to be some sort of futuristic technology." Logic, she thought. Stick to logic. God was not putting messages into their heads. She didn't believe in things like that. There was a logical explanation to everything.

Following Taylor's lead, Saras started loading her cart with all sorts of lamps and lights. She even found a small one she wanted to attach to her bow so that she could aim better in the dark. As her cart was almost filled to the brim, she turned to Taylor, "Shall we bring these back to the truck and then we could start setting up some of the lights first. We can come back later for the sleeping bags and whatever is required for comfort."

Jonathan gathered up some more power tools and began to head back. He could hear conversation of the other survivors echoing through the store. The spirits were rising again, a good thing, he thought. He walked back with Chuck back to the damaged door. He sat down the tools and waited for instruction. He was never much of a handy man, he had made his share of tree forts and sets for plays he was in but that's about it, so he didn't really know how to tackle this, task. "So who were you before all this?" he asked medaphorically, who was he? He wondered, it seems he was a killer now.

"I lived in South Carolina till I moved out here about three months ago for work. Wasn't planning on staying more than a year though." Chuck replied. He plugged up the saw and tested it, it worked. He stood next to the unbroken door and set the blade against it. "Watch your eyes." he warned as he set to cutting the door. Sparks rooster tailed off the back end of the saw as he cut a large rectangle out of the door. He gave it a swift kick to knock it out and let it fall to the ground outside.

Hopping out of the newly created hole he and John lifted the sheet back inside and over to the access doors. Moving all the tools into the store they set to work bolting every thing together. Chuck gave Jon pointers one where to drill, and together they got the thing up in short order.

It was an ugly job, but as Chuck gave it a shove he decided it would hold up. "Sounds good. Um, lets grab all this stuff and head up front." He motioned to the battery rig he had made and the tools. "Probably be useful."

Alex sighed and shook his head. There was no use just looking into the darkness, it was starting to depress him. This whole ordeal was starting to depress him in point of fact. Something had just jumped out of the darkness and tried to eat his friends... He laughed at that. Friends. It was funny, he'd had many friends over his lifetime, but he'd trust any of his current companions more then any friend. He'd trust them with his life.
Walking back to the truck Alex pulled himself painfully into the bed and lay down, looking up into the shadows of the Wal Mart's high ceilings. He wondered why that was. Why was it he trusted these strangers more then life long friends? Because they weren't friends, not really. They were comrades, something for more rare and binding. Each one of them depended on the others, no matter how much they may like to deny it. Everyone depended on everyone for survival. Thats why they weren't friends. Thats why he could trust them.
He closed his eyes and attempted to rest his body. Concentrating on his breathing, his heart rate, and his mind. Keeping everything focused and calm was a skill he'd learned from Fencing. When you only had a fraction of a second to make a parry and repost, everything had to be calm and fluid, like water. Alex rested like this and waited for the others to return from their tasks. He hoped it wouldn't take too long...

"A signal sounds like the best answer at the moment. Like a radio wave. But it has to be some sort of futuristic technology." Taylor glanced over her shoulder at Saras, watching her as she spoke. She seemed scared of there possibly being any other option. Looking ahead of her again, Taylor took in a deep breath then slowly let it out. I'll just let that one drop then.

Rounding another corner, Taylor could see the lights from her truck up ahead, and the light mummer of some of the other survivors talking. Smiling lightly to herself, Taylor put her foot on her cart again and kicked forward, riding into the light of the truck. "How goes is fractured ribs boy?" she asked then hopped off her cart. Reaching into her cart, Taylor began to unload her cart full of lights until she found the gauze. Walking to the back of the truck, she gently sat down on the tail gate, careful not to more him much or disrupt the things in the back of her truck. "You ready to try and bandage yourself up?"

"How goes is fractured ribs boy?"

He heard the cart and Taylor’s voice, but didn’t bother sitting up till she was on the tailgate of the truck. Pushing him self up into a sitting position, Alex looked at the girl and then to the supplies she had brought. It was perfect. They would hook them up to the generator as soon as they got some fuel and viola! Light! But onto more current problems…

"You ready to try and bandage yourself up?"

Alex smiled at her and dropped of the truck and stood in front of her.

“While pride may be a sin I fall victim too, I am not without the ability to acknowledge when I need assistance. I would be happy to accept your help in the bandaging process.”

He chuckled and took one of the bandage rolls from her hands.

“I think three should about cover it…”

Unwrapping the package he pulled part of the self-stick cloth free and turn around so Taylor was looking at his back. Alex pulled it across the front of his chest and then held the roll out for her to wrap his back. If she wasn’t a phobic about touching his skin, they should be done in a few moments.

"Yeah, yeah mister ego," she laughed and took the cloth from him and began to carefully, but tightly wrap up his ribs. "Let me know if you can't breath. Then I'll know if I'm doing this right," she said and smiled to herself as she did. Carefully, she kept wrapping, adjusting, wrapping, pulling, working her way up and down his ribs. When she finished the last cloth, she stepped back to look at her work. "Now, no heavy lifting, running, breathing or living. Got me?" she said and reached for her box of frosted flakes again and took a handful, tossing a few into her mouth.

While she wrapped Alex, Taylor noticed the others had finally returned, more and more equipment to light up their area. "How long do you think we'll be here? Something tells me we pissed that thing off enough to make it come back at some point. And personally, I'm not sure it'll come back alone. But that's just me."

Saras followed behind and watched as Taylor rummaged for the gauze and Alex stepped down to gain her assistance. Sliding her cart to a corner, she did the same with Taylor's and then brushed her hands against her jeans. Looking around, she realised she could get other supplies while Taylor helped Alex. Grabbing another cart, Saras swiveled it around and got her bearings before heading down the section with some camping supplies.

Coming to a stop at the aisle, Saras tiptoed and grabbed a few Swiss army blades as well as some knives. Tossing them into the cart. She ambled down the aisle until she came to the mass tins and fuel. She pulled the cart nearer to the area and chucked about 7 tins and extra fuels in. They could use it to cook food. She'd grown up in a family who loved camping so she knew how to cook a decent meal if the rest wanted to eat something other than frozen food.

Trailing along, she found the sleeping bags. Counting, she tossed five sleeping bags but decided to take another five more. It would help to make things more comfortable. She grabbed alot of lighters and matchboxes and placed it in the cart as well. Slowly, she moved the cart towards the room. Her bag and bow were inside. She took in a deep breath before going in. She lifted her eyes as she walked in and took in the blood smeared across the walls. She shook her head as she grabbed her bag and weapons from the table. She accidentally took in a breath of the coppery smell and head to turn her head away. Blood never affected but this much would cause anyone distress and fear. Walking out of the room, she slammed it shut and tossed her stuff into the cart.

She pushed the cart and made her way back to the truck and found that the other survivors were back.

Jon and chuck worked at the door and finally completed it. Not job for under 5 mins. In another world he would have commented that it looked like crap, but now was not the time or the place. Jon chatted as he worked, "South Carolina huh, my friend Josh.. Oh.. I wonder if he.." He said trailing off. He didn't want to think if he had survived or not.. not right now. They finished and walked back to the rest of the group, he didn't know anyone, but he wanted to, he wanted to know everyones story, why they were here, but He guessed what really was important was what he needed to do right now to survive. Sticking with his mainly quiet side for now he only said, "Done" as he returned to the group.

Chuck set down the tools as Taylor asked about whatever it was that attacked them.

"Well, if Animal planet showed me anything, I doubt it'll be back in a hurry. Of course Animal Planet never had a special on that thing." He shrugged, he didn't want to stay longer than they needed to either way. "You gave that thing a good reason to keep away for a while. But I'd love to be gone as soon as we can, never was a huge fan of Wal Mart." He laughed.

He was about to go on a trip with a group of people who he had just met, to New York, for God only knew what reason. He was supposed to move back home, take a chance on the girl of his dreams, be the lucky guy who got the girl, and live out his days in good old Summerville. The recent events had put a huge damper on that plan. His heart started hurting and he forced himself to think of any thing but home, any thing but her, his friends. He had thought of it all before but this time it hit him like a ton of bricks. Leaning against the wall he let himself slid to the floor and breathe out. He focused on the things at hand.

He was getting tired, after all he hadn't really slept in three days, not well enough to call it sleep. His eyes were getting scratchy, and his stomach picked this moment to remind him he was starving. "Um, you guys don't mind if we find something to cook do you? I'm not to sure how much longer I can run with out some kind of food."

As Chuck said it, he thought it.

"Um, you guys don't mind if we find something to cook do you? I'm not to sure how much longer I can run with out some kind of food."

Jon realized he was starving as well, in fact he was going to walmart to restock for his barracade at home. "I full agree and endorse that idea" he said looking about. "You guys find me
some ingredients and something to cook with, and I'll cook it up and make it seem more edible, I was a chef at a couple restaurants before all this." he chimmed in. He hoped he could be
useful in some way, and hey, every group needs a bard to provide food and spirits right? He thought, thinking back to the one time he played dungeons and dragons, grinning to himself about how quickly It had gone bad and everone fooled around, where he actually wanted to try it.

"Well, if Animal planet showed me anything, I doubt it'll be back in a hurry. Of course Animal Planet never had a special on that thing. You gave that thing a good reason to keep away for a while. But I'd love to be gone as soon as we can, never was a huge fan of Wal Mart."

Alex was busy testing his bandages, flexing his arms up and down to check his movement restrictions. It was a good job, a great job in fact. He smiled and nodded at Taylor. Then look at the gathered team.

“It was a demon. I mean that not in the religious sense, but we all saw what it was capable of. It had reasoning, it was intelligent, and it was deadly. We all saw it go after Taylor instead of the bait… It knew what she was tying to do and it wanted to stop her. We aren’t dealing with an animal, it might as well have been human.”

He looked around, at the faces of his comrades. Alex wanted to make sure every one of them knew just how deadly a creature that was.

“But if it bleeds… We can kill it.”

Grinning, he cracked his knuckles and looked at the front door. The gates he’d lowered should keep anything minor out of their camp sight. They had time to break, eat, maybe even get a little sleep before they started working again.

"Um, you guys don't mind if we find something to cook do you? I'm not to sure how much longer I can run with out some kind of food."

"I full agree and endorse that idea"

Alex looked at Chuck and Jon then nodded.

“You guys find me some ingredients and something to cook with, and I'll cook it up and make it seem more edible, I was a chef at a couple restaurants before all this."

That was a better idea then eating the canned food… For now anyway.

“That’s a good idea. We should use up any items that haven’t already gone bad. Save the canned stuff for when we really need it. We have a camping stove so... what do you need, Jon?”

Jon looked around at them trying to determine what they would all eat. "Well
let's just do something simple, a stor
fry, with veggies and chicken. For that I'll need a stove, probably a camping stove will work, rice, a rice cooker, a frying pan, oo if they have a wok, even better, should be in the kitchen supplies, some veggies, chicken, salt, pepper, oil, canola will work, but if there is olive thatld rock, and soy sauce, oh and utensils, like a knife so I can chop the veggies and chicken." he said without dropping a beat. "They got all that here alex?" he asked hopefully.