| Empty Graves Part Thirteen: Seeking To Save What Was Lost Halifax was new and was totally deserted when Jake and Mary arrived. They drove into the city and straight through it as well, not seeing a single walking corpse anywhere in the vicinity. It seemed safe, perhaps too safe. The seaside was beautiful in the morning sun, Jake and Mary having been in Halifax for a few hours now. The ocean lapped in and out as its gentle sound caressed their ears, the breeze stroking their faces gently. "Jake, it's beautiful here," said Mary as she held on tightly to Jake's hand. Jake looked out to the ocean, watching the reflection of the sunlight bob up and down in front of him before he turned to face Mary, gripping her hand with all his love and affection. "It is beautiful, and you are beautiful too." Mary smiled and for that moment, all seemed right with the world again. The threat of the undead and the fact that they were out in the open seemed of little or no importance to either of them. As long as the dead were still a long way to the west of them, they were going to soak up as much fresh, sea air as possible. "Where are we going to hide Jake? When they get here, where are we going to go?" asked Mary. "I figured we'd go and check out that situation today. House hunting so to speak." Mary smiled again as she almost felt like her parents must have felt when they set up house together more than twenty years ago. Jake led Mary back off towards the car, away from the beauty of the sea lapping at the beach and slowly, Jake began to drive the car away to investigate potential hiding places. "I figure we should also try and get some food and water. Perhaps the stores are still okay, maybe they're intact," said Jake. "But what if they aren't?" asked Mary as she glanced around the landscape. "I'm sure there's something here somewhere. There has to be." The city itself was desolate of any form of life still. Perhaps it was safe after all. But this was not going to stop them from finding the safest place to hide possible. As Jake and Mary drove about the buildings, the sight of smashed windows and looted stores became a familiar site. Perhaps there was no food in Halifax, no food for humans anyway. The last store that they came to however, was still in tact. It was one of those Kwik-e-Mart places. They pulled up outside it and got out, walking towards it with wonder, but an element of caution as well. They were as yet to explore any of the buildings in the city. "Stick close to me all the time, but be ready to carry as much food as possible," said Jake as he took a hold of Mary's hand. The sight of the abandoned, yet intact Kwik-e-Mart was bemusing as well as somewhat intimidating. Was there a reason it was not damaged? Or had it just missed out on the looting and carnage this city had seen in the last number of weeks? The couple entered the store, the halogen lights still burning brightly. There was obviously still power coming from somewhere, presumably one of those big power stations they had seen on their travels. Foodstuffs covered the walls, as did bottles of alcohol and other refreshing drinks, including many crates of bottled water. "I think we're going to be busy here," said Jake as he eyed up the contents of the store. "We should go for the longest lasting stuff too, we need to get our worth out of this, see if you can find a set of keys. Maybe we can lock this place up and save it for later if necessary." Mary complied and went about searching behind the counter for a set of keys, but found nothing. She then proceeded to venture carefully into the store office behind a door that sat quietly ajar as Jake went about pulling six-packs of water from the shelves, taking a bottle of coke too to whet his whistle. He was thirsty and needed a quick sugar high. The office was small and totally empty of anything resembling life. It didn't even have any windows, only a stale smell left behind by its occupier some many, many weeks ago. A small desk opposite the entrance to the room sat awkwardly positioned, possibly having been knocked out of kilter during the owner's rush to escape the onslaught of the dead. This was the most likely place for a set of keys thought Mary, and so she began to rummage around the contents. After a couple of minutes she had found nothing, but the bottom drawer proved to be the jackpot and she retrieved a set of keys. "Jake! I found them," she shouted. "Good, now come here and help me get this stuff near the door," he replied. If they were going to be caught short getting the car loaded up, Jake sure as hell didn't want to be going back and forth to the rear of the store amongst all the aisles to get the food. Mary entered the main floor of the store and saw Jake moving two crates of water over to the door. "I've got the necessities laid out back there, just bring 'em over here and then we can get loaded up. Mary complied with Jake's orders and proceeded to help drag the food and water towards the front of the store. Eventually they managed to get all the food stacked by the door. "Right, now we just gotta get it into the trunk and the back seats. If any zombies show up we work fast, and if they get close I'll lock this place up while you get the car running. We could come back later in that case to finish getting everything loaded up," said Jake as he hoisted two crates of water and a box of dried and tinned products into his arms, walking outside towards the car quickly. Mary followed suit and carried as much as she could at any one time and in no time they had the car loaded up and ready to go without a single sign of a zombie anywhere that they could see. Maybe Halifax would stay deserted, or maybe they were just setting themselves up for a big fall. But whatever the outcome, Jake was determined to live as long as he could, and he was going to make sure that Mary was there for every second of that existence. "Right, get in the car, I'll lock up," said Jake as Mary carried the last crate of water over to the car, placing it in the front beside her feet. Jake pulled the keys from his pocket and fiddled around with them, trying a couple and then finding the right one to lock up. As he pulled the keys from the lock and began to walk over to the car he suddenly felt a sense of dread consume him, but he didn't know why or if it had any significance. All he knew is that he didn't like that feeling, and he wanted to get driving and be safe in the car once more. |