Lexi allowed the boys to sleep for as long as they wanted to. She didn't see the point in waking them up in a hurry. No obligations, no alarm clocks, and certainly nowhere to really be anymore, they all deserved a long rest. The clothes they'd worn throughout the night were still mostly wet and cold, and Lexi shivered in her seat by the window. She really wished they had second sets of clothes to change into, but in an effort to save room for supplies, they'd ditched their secondary pairs at the last place they'd barricaded.
Since she'd been the last watch of the night, she felt well-rested already and surprisingly didn't feel the need to get any more sleep. It gave her an opportunity to have some time to herself to think, too. To…reflect.
Being in a group again was…new. Definitely not easy, per se. Sometimes, she surprised herself by seeing one of the boys behind her, or she'd turn the corner of a room and see all three of them and have a mini panic attack. Being solitary for so long had changed her outlook on other people. And after being captured by Damien's group, she'd been sure that she'd never integrate well with anyone else again.
Thankfully, that wasn't true. Despite her small moments of fear at seeing them nearby, Lexi was still very grateful that they'd taken her in. Traveling by herself was so very lonely, and it was a dozen times more stressful securing a place to sleep for the night when there was no one around to help keep watch. She couldn't recall a time when she'd had such a deep sleep like the one last night. It did wonders for her mental fortitude.
Not only that, but seeing that they weren't any different than how they'd been every time they'd encountered each other before was comforting. Their personalities were genuine. Real. She could be certain that they were indeed who they presented themselves as. Penguin and Shachi always bickered quietly between themselves, and Law was still the same, moderately distrustful and stoic man she'd always recalled him to be.
But she'd also seen an entirely different side to him as well. He still cared about people, and maintained some level of humanity. Though, she hadn't been around them enough to know exactly how they reacted to some harrowing situations…Rescuing her and the other women of Woodsfield had definitely shown that they are at least capable of kindness. He could have simply allowed them to be killed, but he'd gone out of his way to establish them somewhere else. She didn't blame him for not sticking around longer. His obligation had only extended so far, and it wasn't as if Lexi had any connections to them either. They'd resented her almost the entire time they'd known her.
Law intrigued her so much. Maybe that was why she trusted him so much. Maybe it was why she…wanted to get to know him so badly. Without really meaning to, she turned her head from the small hole in the duct tape and watched their unspoken leader's peaceful expression. When he was awake, it was always marked with lines of worry and concentration. His focus was never turned off. But while sleeping he…looked so handsome. Not that he didn't while he was conscious, but…there was something about his face that was so visually appealing to her when he wasn't thinking hard about what their next step would be. When he wasn't worried whether they'd live to see another day or not.
She caught herself staring and quickly jerked her gaze back to the window. Thank goodness he was still sleeping, because it would have been hard to explain why she'd been laser focused on him for so long had he asked her about it.
After some time, the boys began to stir from their slumber. Shachi was the first, groggily turning over onto his side with a groan. With a hand swiping at his crusty eyes, he sat himself up.
"Mor'ing…" He yawned blearily, looking around at the others. "How was watch?"
Lexi shrugged, watching him. "Eh. Nothing worth waking up over. Just a few that came close to the window. They wandered away after a few minutes. Sleep well?"
"For only having the hard linoleum floor beneath me…not bad. My back is gonna hurt like hell once we get moving though. Always does when we sleep rough." He responded quietly, leaning forward and rubbing at the part of him in question.
"I always tried to find apartments or a place with an actual bed just for that reason." The brunette smiled, glancing at the window again when movement caught her eye. Just a newspaper flying along with the wind. "Sometimes I didn't have the option, but I'd much prefer a mattress over the floor any day."
"Same." He visibly shivered. "Fuck, it's cold as hell…That storm didn't do us any favors."
Lexi didn't know if their quiet discussion was what woke Penguin up for not, but he gave a long stretch from his spot on the floor as they talked. He gave a loud sniff to clear his nose, which inadvertently woke Law up as well. The survivor's eyes snapped open with a start, before realizing where he was and relaxing just a tad.
Lexi and Shachi watched their friends wake from their sleep, slowly orienting themselves to their surroundings and the fact that their limbs were sore from the hard surface of the floor. Penguin bemoaned this, just as Shachi had done.
"Son of a bitch…I almost feel worse than yesterday." He gritted out, trying to stretch out the kinks in his side without much success.
"How aren't you used to this by now?" Law muttered, running a stray hand through his mess of hair.
"It sucks just as much as it did 6 months ago, that's all. I'd love to wake up one day without any aches and pains." Penguin said.
Shachi gave a humorless huff. "Maybe the next person we recruit will be a masseuse. Unless Lexi has been holding out on us this whole time." He swung his gaze over to her and she grinned.
"You're outta luck, sorry."
The group all took a few minutes to fully wake from their rest, stretching and groaning and standing to walk around a bit and loosen their limbs. Law did a sweep of the place to make sure none of their defenses had weakened overnight. Lexi had raised a brow, feeling as though there was being cautious, and there was whatever it was Law was doing.
"He's like that." Shachi had explained when their leader had left the room. "You'll get used to it pretty quick."
"Yeah, I'm starting to see that now." She replied, spotting him crossing the hallway further on to check the mail room. "Seems a bit excessive though. We had someone on watch all night long. Nothing happened."
"He won't take any chances." Penguin added with a shrug.
None of them really had anything else to say to that, so they went quiet. Law returned a few minutes later, satisfied that no one had tried getting in the night before without them knowing. He leaned against the doorframe and addressed them all.
"Looks like the rain has stopped. The skies look pretty clear. We shouldn't have a problem moving around today."
"Are we scavenging, then?" Shachi guessed, and Law nodded. "Maybe we can find a new set of clothes for us to wear. These are still wet." He said, picking at the damp shirt that still stuck to his skin uncomfortably. They were all in a much similar state of discomfort with their clothes.
"I agree. Clothes will be a priority today. And anything else useful we can find. Food and water are always needed, of course. Medicine, if possible." Law listed out, giving examples just as an aside.
"Should we split the group, two and two? We can cover more ground that way, while still having someone to watch each other's back." Lexi suggested.
"Hmm." Law thought on what she'd said, before eventually nodding. "Now that we have another person, I actually agree with you. We can hit double the number of buildings in half the time. Good idea."
Lexi smiled, feeling proud that her suggestion was being acknowledged. It felt nice to contribute something, even if she knew one of the others probably would have said the same thing had she not done it first. Small victories.
"Penguin, take Lexi and see what you can find up North. Shachi and I will head East. We'll meet up here to regroup and assess our next move." He pushed off from the doorframe and stooped to grab his backpack. "Let's eat something first, to get our strength up."
No one was going to complain about that, and the group settled in for a quiet breakfast together.
Well, as quiet as Shachi and Penguin could manage. As usual, they couldn't help but bicker between themselves. Lexi couldn't help but feel that, with time, she'd come to appreciate their useless arguments. As she sipped at her water bottle beside them, the corners of her mouth were upturned on either side of the bottle's opening.
"We should stick to the middle of the road, just in case." Lexi suggested, hiking the worn backpack a little further up her shoulder after they'd waved their goodbyes and good lucks to Law and Shachi. They'd split up right in front of the post office, off to explore and scavenge their own parts of the city. "We'll be able to see behind and in front of us a lot easier that way. And I don't like the idea of getting trapped in some back alley."
"Hmm, sounds just like something Law would say." Penguin said with a nod, following her as they walked right down the middle line in the road. "You two really are scarily similar, you know."
Lexi made an incredulous expression, glancing his way for a split second before returning to the road. "I don't see it."
"Pff, that's because you don't want to. But to me and Shachi? It's so obvious."
Lexi wasn't quite sure in which regard her and Law were supposedly similar, nor was she inclined to ask, and decided to drop that particular subject then and there. But, of course, with it's mention, she couldn't help but begin to wonder and ponder the idea internally for several minutes after they'd stopped talking. Were they alike? In what way? Was that a good thing or a bad thing? Damn Penguin and his big mouth, she thought with a shake of her head.
Their steps were quiet, despite the emptiness in the street. Well, near-emptiness. The occasional zombie dotted the area, shuffling towards them at various speeds when they noticed living, breathing humans were nearby. Their rotting and decaying skin and meat produced a foul smell that fortunately-or unfortunately, depending on how you looked at it-both survivors were fairly adjusted to.
They had little trouble killing them off, save for the moment where Lexi tripped on a piece of trash by her feet and nearly went sailing straight into the maw of the hostile zombie in front of her. Penguin was able to stab it through it's brain before the point of no return, and so she windmilled for a few seconds before falling to the side as it collapsed. She'd never hear the end of it, by Penguin's own admission. Great.
The buildings on both sides of the street were visibly looted and decrepit, as most places were now. A few stood out whose integrity looked less compromised, but cautious and quick searches gained them nothing of value in the end. Another hour into searching yielded nothing. They didn't have much time to just waste wandering around, and they both were growing frustrated. Surely there was somewhere here that had yet to be taken already?
The rain storm from the night before had passed entirely, and the sun was out in full force now, shining freely down on the two survivors. The warmth felt amazing on their still-damp clothing. Lexi took a moment to appreciate the moment of peace and tranquility it somehow brought her, before realizing something as she peered up and down the street.
"Doesn't this place feel a little...strange?" She asked suddenly, and Penguin looked at her.
"Strange how?"
"I don't know, just...I expected there to be a lot more zombies around here." She gestured to the barren street before them with a shrug, and he followed her indication. "Seems a little too empty."
"Kinda, but we've seen something like it before. Back when we found Woodsville, the city nearby was mostly cleared out of zombies. The survivors had slowly killed them off over the past few years, so...it's not entirely impossible." He concluded, not thinking too much about it. "Maybe there are survivors who've holed up in this city and are doing the same thing."
"Yeah. Maybe." She finished, figuring she was just looking into it way too much. If something had a simply solution, chances are that was most likely to be the truth. They had to traverse a four-car pile up that blocked the width of the main road, and they filed that fact aware for later, just in case a fast and tactical retreat was needed.
They continued walking and searching for places to scavenge, eventually coming across a big outdoorsman's depot at the corner of one of the streets. Lexi and Penguin shared a glance.
"Ten bucks says we find beef jerky somewhere inside. Not the cheap, shitty kind, but like, the premium kind that's still juicy and easy to chew." Penguin mused aloud, and Lexi's head tilted to the side briefly.
"Neither of us has money to bet anymore." She logically reminded him, then shrugged. "But twenty says this place is actually gutted on the inside."
The place was surprisingly intact. Windows that had been shattered had been boarded and barricaded rather effectively with sturdy wood timbers and planks. Most of the glass panes were still intact, though rather dirty given how long it had been since anyone had cared to wash them. The front sign proclaimed it to be a S-ortsman's -areho-e, as a few of the letters had fallen to the ground outside the front entrance.
"Sortsmans are hoe..." Penguin muttered under his breath, just loud enough for her to hear. He let out a snicker and Lexi elbowed him in the side.
"Real mature." Unfortunately, she couldn't prevent the grin from spreading across her own face.
Of course, what with power having been cut off long ago, there were no lights inside of the building to see the state of the interior. They wouldn't be able to know what was inside until actually entering. They came up to the front entrance and tried the handle, but it was futile. A large metal chain was wrapped around the handles tightly, preventing it from being opened.
"Damn." Lexi muttered. "Someone really didn't want anyone getting in here."
Penguin stared at the chains for a second, but eventually shook his head. "We don't have anything that could cut it. Maybe there's a side or back entrance." He suggested.
Figuring he was right, Lexi followed her hatted friend past the front entrance and around the corner of the main building. A metal fence blocked their way, but chain links had never stopped them before. Well, at least, after humanity went to shit, that is.
The fence rattled under their feet as they swung over to the other side and dropped to the ground. Despite keeping a vigilant lookout for any sign of the undead, there didn't appear to be any in the fenced-off area behind the department store. Strange...They expected at least a handful if nothing else.
Penguin went first, slowly edging his way against the building's concrete wall further into the lot. Large pallets and shipping containers were laid out in neat rows. Most of the pallets were empty, save for bits of the clear plastic covering they'd been wrapped in, breezing gently in the soft wind. One of the shipping containers was open and apparently empty, but the rest appeared untouched.
"Wonder what good shit is in those things..." Penguin muttered eagerly.
Lexi sighed. "We'd need a sledgehammer to break those padlocks, though, and that'd basically be ringing the dinner bell for any nearby zombies if we tried."
"That's always the case, isn't it? The best stuff is always just out of reach somehow. Fucking sucks..." He grumped, knowing she spoke the truth. Still, both of them were insanely curious and yearning to get a peak of what goodies were laying inside those containers.
Forgetting them for the time being, Lexi followed after Penguin as they neared a side door. They stopped and hesitated, Penguin placing his ear against the outside to try hearing anything. With a glance and a shrug at his companion, he reached for the handle and tested it...
There was a small creak as the door swung away from the frame, making Penguin freeze. Then, he slowly opened it further when the noise quieted, peering inside the several inches gap he'd created.
"Looks clear." He whispered, finally opening the door in full so they could enter the place. He disappeared in the darkness, and Lexi took one final cursory glance around the fenced-in area before trailing after him.
They found themselves in a small office, which was a mess of clutter and trash. Debris and years worth of dust had settled itself in every nook and cranny available. Just as Lexi suspected, any valuable contents had been long-ago scavenged, leaving virtually nothing left to pick through. Even the furniture was chipped and broken in some places. Either there'd been some sort of scuffle here, or someone had just gone through with the intent to vandalize and destroy.
Lexi saw a darkened red stain of old blood splattering the floor, and decided it was definitely the former assumption.
"Definitely ransacked." She commented.
"Yeah. Hopefully they left something behind that we can use." Penguin pushed forward towards the opposite door, which they both assumed led into the main department store itself. This one was much quieter and didn't cause both of them to tense up as it opened.
Lexi was pleasantly proven wrong, as just down a short hallway lay the brunt of the department store's interior, which was not completely gutted of supplies as she'd suspected it would be.
"Called it." Penguin whispered proudly, pumping his fist once in celebratory fashion.
"We haven't found any jerky yet, so don't go thinking you've won." She reminded with a smile.
"You're just salty you were wrong."
"Shut up."
While they conversed, they walked out into the store all the while still looking out for any hidden undead amidst the shelving and clothing racks. The darkness was only punctured by randomly intact windows along the walls, filtering in bright rays of light amongst the dimness within the building. It was a surreal effect, and Lexi couldn't help but stare for a moment at the contrast. Abandoned and forgotten.
"Come on, Lexi." Penguin nudged, gesturing towards some of the closer racks with merchandise still hanging. She nodded, nonverbally apologizing for getting distracted.
They'd wandered into the clothing portion of the store. Most of the camouflage jackets and pants that hunters would use to blend into the forests were left behind, sitting dusty and unmoving on their hangers. They were way too heavy for the currently turbulent and fluctuating weather of fall, even if they'd be immensely helpful in a few months time when the snow fronts would roll in. Having them around just in case would take up too much precious space in their packs and weigh them down in the meantime. What a dilemma.
A few pairs of long underwear and thermal materials were left, and they took a pick of the sparse sizes and types. Penguin seemed to know the others guys' sizes, and packed a few for them as well. If the jackets were too much, then at least they had these as an alternative.
"Ooh, look. Canteens." Lexi said, pointing to a shelf that was bathed in a rare ray of sunlight nearby. "Maybe it would be worth getting some? That way the water bottles won't take up so much space in our bags. We could just sling them over our shoulders or something."
"Alright, grab a few. Wouldn't hurt to bring them back." Penguin encouraged, walking past her to see what else the store had in store for them.
A skittering noise echoed off the walls on the opposite side of the building, and both survivors froze in place. Their eyes having adjusted somewhat to the dim light, they stared at each other with bated breaths. Penguin grabbed his long-bladed knife and held it loosely at his side, alert for anything nearby.
Another sound, much softer and less distinguishable, followed it. Lexi mouthed the word 'zombie' to him, and he shrugged. Normally the undead were pretty noisy creatures, groaning and growling as they shuffled along their random paths without destination in mind. But without prey in sight, who knew? Maybe they just didn't make much noise if left to their own devices.
Several more moments went by without another sound, and that feeling of tension in her shoulders was slowly beginning to dissipate. She shrugged, then pointed to the next row of shelves nearby.
"Let's keep going. There might be more to grab." She whispered.
Penguin stood there for another few moments, listening intently, before nodding in agreement. They'd come this far, and found a promising start of useful stuff. To go back now would be a real shame.
Her friend still maintained a grip on his knife, holding it at the ready should anything jump out and surprise them, so Lexi continued on scavenging for the both of them.
The nearest section to the clothing was the hunting and weapons section. Predictably, the entire gun counter was ransacked. The glass counters and display cases were bust open, a glittering array of shards littering the carpeted flooring. It crunched quietly beneath their shoes as they passed it by. It would be a waste of time to even check, they both thought.
A section past that, taking them about halfway into the bowels of the store, was equipment for camping and fishing. Tackle boxes and jars of bait were broken and mostly taken already. Dozens of poles were tangles together, though a few survived without damage. It wouldn't make much sense to drag along something as long and easily breakable as a rod, but Lexi thought catching their own fish would be a great source of food, should they happen upon a lake or pond.
Tents, generators, lanterns, and sleeping bags were all but cleaned out. Stuff that was all but useless in this electricity and fuel-free world were left sitting dusty and forgotten on the shelves. Lexi was half right, most of the store was left gutted, but some things still remained.
Grabbing a few packs of gloves and a flashlight that had been left there, they moved quietly through the shelving, searching for anything that would be worth bringing back. A nearby, unbroken window provided light for the area, which made scavenging much easier.
"I was hoping for more to be here..." Penguin let out in disappointment, gazing upon the remnants of the merchandise blandly. "Not even a single box of matches, or lighter, or anything."
"Not really surprising, though." Lexi added. "There's nothing left anywhere nowadays. Soon enough, we won't even be able to find this much." She held up the flashlight before stuffing it in the bag.
"Don't bring it up...I don't like to think about it." He replied quietly.
"I just can't help but...sorry."
She felt bad for being so blunt and bring it up in the first place, as Penguin's expression fell in worry. Lexi knew it was true. So did he. Supplies would only last so long. Especially food and water. Soon enough, everything left from the world before would run out, and then what would they do? She'd remembered in history books what sort of measures crisis survivors would resort to in order to survive, but...
A shudder ran down her spine. Not really a comforting train of thought. She shook it aside and discarded the conversation from her mind.
"There might be something left in the sports section." She said, changing the subject in a hurry. "I don't know what, but-"
Cutting off her sentence was the shuffling sound of feet, and they were startled when two people sprung out from the darkness. "Don't fucking move! One step and I blow your brains out!"
"Woah, woah!" Penguin held up his hands, knife still in hand, to show that he wasn't intending any harm. "Easy!"
Adopting a similar pose, Lexi stood beside her friend and faced their two sudden and hostile guests. The man who'd threatened them harm stood rigid, holding the business end of a rifle in their direction. He was scruffy with a unkempt beard and a twitchy right eye, licking his lips to wet them. His hands flexed and clenched the barrel of the rifle, as if he was unsure about using it. His nervousness only served to make the brunette more nervous.
Beside him was a thin woman with short blonde hair. It was badly cut, as if she'd just taken a knife and hacked it off just below her jawline. She had a pistol in hand, though the way she was holding it was shaky and unconfident, as if she'd never held a weapon in her life before.
"Who the fuck are you? How did you find us?" He demanded loudly. Lexi worried he would draw in even the zombies from outside the building at this rate.
"We didn't know anyone was here, dude. We thought this would be a good place to try finding supplies." Penguin placated, keeping his voice calm and his hands up. "We won't cause you trouble, just let us go and we won't come back."
"Bullshit!" He cried out, jabbing the end of the gun a little closer to Penguin. The woman glanced between her husband? and the strangers, a pained expression on her face.
"Ok, I'm gonna put this knife down now," Penguin said quietly, slowly moving into a crouch and setting his weapon on the floor. The gun was trained on him the whole way down, "and then we can have a harmless conversation, right?"
The man said nothing, just squinted at them suspiciously. He suddenly gave Lexi a piercing look, obviously waiting for her to do the same. One hand still raised in the air, she slowly brought the other to her knife holster and unclipped it, letting it fall to the ground uselessly. Just for good measure, she kicked it another foot away.
"There, see? We aren't here to hurt you. We didn't even know anyone was inside of here." She said.
"Yeah. Sure. You didn't noticed the chain front entrance or the barricaded windows? Nice try." His cynicism apparently ran deep.
Finally, the woman at his side spoke up, her wobbly grip on the gun lowering it closer to the ground out of distraction. "I think they might be telling the truth, Jude..."
"For fuck's sake, Amy, they're trespassing on our hideout. You can't believe anything anyone other than me tells you!" He spat in condescension. She bit her lip and looked away quickly, shutting up after that.
Lexi narrowed her eyes with displeasure, learning more about this couple's dynamic in the span of a few seconds than what she'd wanted to. She didn't like Jude at all. If Penguin picked up on the same thing she did, he didn't visibly react to it.
"Now that they know we're here, they could bring back a bigger group and kill us when we least expect it. You can't trust anyone now." He continued.
"We'll leave now and never come back." Penguin promised, meeting the man's wild stare. "We promise you."
"Why the fuck should I believe anything that comes out of your mouth?" The gun in his hands had slowly lowered down so it wasn't pointing directly at Penguin's chest, just in his general direction now, but Lexi still kept her eye on it.
"Because you're survivors just like us. We get it. You have to think about your loved ones and that might mean causing other people harm in some cases to survive, but we aren't looking to start something here. We don't want to hurt you. We just wanted supplies."
"And now that we know they're yours, we'll back off." Lexi added.
"Exactly."
Amy shifted from one foot to the other, the gun now completely down at her side, staring up at Jude with a hopeful expression. Maybe she believed he would do the right thing and let them walk out of here.
Lexi could see it in his eyes. Calculating his next move. But not one made of mercy, no. She tensed when something clicked behind those dark brown irises, and he smiled in an easy-going way.
"You're right. We do have to think about our loved ones." He said in a calm manner, and Penguin gave a returning smile, muscles a bit more relaxed. The moment his smile dropped, Lexi knew.
The end of the gun's barrel swung up just as the brunette jumped towards her friend, trying to push him out of the way of what was coming. Penguin let out a shout of surprise as Jude pulled the trigger, a deafening bang echoing around the decaying space. The both of them landed in a heap, and Penguin let out a cry of pain.
She couldn't waste time checking on him now. Grabbing his knife that he'd placed by his feet, she sprang up and threw her arm back. She wouldn't make it in time by running up and trying to stab him, so she did the next best thing she could think of. She hurled the knife with as much force as she could, hearing the bolt of the gun reload as he cocked it.
Amy screamed out loud as the knife struck home through his eye socket, burying deep enough to pierce his brain. The expression of shock was frozen on his face as he went limp and collapsed to the ground, his gun falling beside him with a loud clatter. In a flurry of ranting sobs and unintelligible muttering, Amy landed at his side on her knees, cradling his face in between her hands. Her own gun was dropped next to her knee.
Lexi hesitated, witnessing her sorrow, before glancing back at her own injured friend, who was sitting up and cradling his arm with a wince. She pushed back the sympathy with a wall and squashed it to the very back of her mind. No. Penguin would have been killed because of them. Over a stupid misunderstanding and being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Her optimism and belief that humans could still be good people in this hellish world only extended so far.
Grabbing her knife from the holster on the ground, she walked back over to where Amy was mourning her husband or boyfriend or whoever he'd been to her.
When she got close, Amy scrambled for the pistol on the ground, but strangely, Lexi knew that despite her grief and assumed anger at the fact that she'd killed her companion, the brunette wasn't in any danger of being shot. The gun wobbled and bounced in her shaking hands, a tear-streaking face laying just behind it.
"He was...all I...had left..." She choked out, gasping in breaths. Lexi stopped, staring down at the distraught woman, swallowing down the lump in her throat. "He's the only reason...I'm still here."
The air felt stale and the heavy metallic scent of blood began to seep into the space. For several seconds all the two women did was stare at each other. Lexi could see how tired and terrified Amy was, now that Jude was dead. She had no survival skills, no experience with weapons, and now she was alone. This woman wouldn't last a week without her male companion.
"I'm sorry." Was all she replied, before pushing the gun away and stabbing her in the head. She made it quick, as painless as possible, out of respect and mutual pain. Her face stony, she yanked out the weapon and allowed her to fall to the floor, her blood pooling and mixing with her companion's.
"I guess this means you saved my life, huh?" He said with an easy grin. As if he hadn't just been shot a few minutes ago. "I'll even forget the whole 'I slipped and fell into a zombie' incident from earlier as thanks. You're seriously badass."
Lexi shot him a fake smile for his sake. He didn't need to know about her inner pain right now. "I'm glad you're alright. But we need to get that wrapped so it doesn't keep bleeding."
"No worries." He stripped some of the bottom hem off of his t-shirt and used it as a makeshift wrap, tying with a wince and giving a soft pat for good measure. "There, good to go."
He looked over and picked up Jude's gun, checking the ammunition. He also tucked Amy's pistol into the waistband of his pants. "It didn't sound like they have anyone else here. We should check the place for stuff." Penguin suggested, standing straight. "I can keep going, it doesn't hurt too bad. Come on."
Her friend finally grabbed his weapon from Jude's skull and went forward down the shelving. Lexi couldn't bring herself to look away from Amy's prone body, but at Penguin's insistent call for her to catch up, she forcefully tore her stare off the woman. A strange mix of feelings settled in her chest.
Penguin was alive, at the very least. The bullet had gone straight through a non-major part of his arm, and wouldn't cause him too many problems. That's something Lexi was extremely grateful for.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
