In Hiding: A Survivors Journal of the Great Outbreak by ichael Elliott Page A

Cody,
Trevor and a young man named Adam headed off together looking for customers we
had missed or something much worse.

 
    I
have to admit I felt a little safer with the shotgun in my hands. However, the
quick tutorial that Anne had given me did very little to calm the uneasiness I
was feeling about actually having to use it. I was also a little worried that
if we did run into something out there, the young woman standing next to me
could do much of anything. She stood about five foot-six and weighed about
hundred pounds or so and I doubted she could muster enough force with that bat
to stop anyone.   But I was hopeful
that it wouldn’t come to that.

 
    Kerri
and I made our way through our section with no real sign of anything. We
checked behind every corner and searched anywhere someone could be hiding. We
were very cautious, we moved slowly and constantly checked our surroundings. We
only stopped once. It was at the front end of the store as we passed the front
doors. Kerri said something that I couldn’t make out and then suddenly she
stopped.

 
    At
first, I didn’t see what she was looking at. The group of Zeds that were
pressed up against the outside set of glass doors were still there and it
appeared that there were more of them then before. Shatterproof glass I
remember telling myself. I felt the need to tell Kerri that as well.

 
    But
that wasn’t what she had been looking at. She pointed out to a silver car that
looked like it had to be from the eighties. The driver’s side door was wide
open, but there was no sign of anyone inside the car. When she told me that the
car belonged to Scott, terrible thoughts filled my head. I tried to tell her
that he most likely had to run away before he could get into his car and that
he was probably safe somewhere down the road. Of course I couldn’t know that
and I don’t think she believed it, but it was enough for both of us to keep
moving.

 
    The
gun was heavy. I had never held a shotgun before and I remember the weight had
caught me by surprise. The store was a ghost town and except for the faint
sounds coming from the other groups it was completely silent. That was about
the point that I realized that the two of us hadn’t really said a word to each
other since we had seen Scott’s car abandoned outside. I think it was probably
because we were both so on edge. The eerie silence was unnerving and my
imagination was running wild with what could be around each corner. So I tried
making small talk despite how forced it must have seemed to her.

 
    Then
as we approached the far end of the grocery department we both heard something.
We stopped. Then we heard it again. It sounded as if someone was banging on a
sheet of metal or pounding on a metal door. My first thought was that it was
one of the other teams trying to force something open but once we realized that
it was coming from the section we were supposed to be searching, we knew it
couldn’t be them. So we did what we were supposed to do. He walked towards the
noise, both scared, both nervous and both unsure of what we might find when we
got there.

 
    We
were able to pin point where the sound had been coming from with relative ease.
We found the exact area where the noise was coming from and found a small
hallway that led to the customer washrooms. It was well lit and had one door on
our left and two on our right. As we moved down the hallway we could tell that
the banging was getting progressively louder. We should have done what we were
supposed to do. We should have gone back and waited for the others. But we
didn’t.  

 
    I
put my ear up against each of the doors and it was clear as day that the sound
was coming from inside the women’s washroom. I looked back at Kerri waiting for
her to talk me out of what we were planning on doing. She didn’t. So I put my
shoulder into the door and slowly pushed it open. Once inside I aimed the
shotgun at the space in front of me only to find that