After about a dozen minutes of storing supplies in their storage rings, both of their rings carried up to 95% of the supplies, including their weapons. They decided to keep a little extra space just in case they were to find something useful.
Acquiring all the supplies they could, Sage and Winter slowly backtracked towards the entrance. When they were far enough, they let out a breath of relief.
Even if—strong if—they could beat the strander, the possibility of getting caught brought unwanted tension. So when their noses were once again assaulted by the scent of burning and rotting corpses, they were somewhat relieved.
Walking a distance from the market, the tension was finally relieved. Winter turned to the side and gave a slap upside the head.
For a second, she was stunned. Glaring at Winter, Sage snapped at him.
"What was that for?!"
Smacking her upside the head again, he held his finger up to his lips.
*Shhh*
Originally, he hit her because she broke an unwritten rule of the apocalypse: no loud noises. But the second time was because he saw a group of survivors making their way into the Safeway.
Winter pointed towards the side of the store. Following his finger, Sage spotted the small group shuffling along the wall.
With a thought, her bow appeared in her hand. An arrow materialized between her fingers as she let it soar. The arrow struck in front of them, piercing the wall.
The group looked around warily when they caught sight of Winter and Sage. He motioned for them to stop as they walked towards them.
Seeing they were both armed, the dark-haired guy in front of the group stepped up.
"Is there a problem? I don't remember offending anyone enough to warrant death," he joked.
Winter chuckled, "If she wanted your head, she wouldn't have missed."
Hearing that, fear suddenly gripped the group's hearts. In the time of the apocalypse, all laws were lost. If the two wanted to kill them, who would stop them?
The tension in the air increased slightly. The group got ready to either put up a fight or run. Fortunately, Sage and Winter weren't looking for any trouble.
"Bad joke. I wasn't trying to threaten you." Winter said awkwardly. "If anything, I wouldn't recommend going in that store."
Nodding, Sage added, "We don't know exactly what it is, but there's a pretty big creature resting inside."
"So basically a variant of a walker on steroids." The dark-haired guy joked.
Winter chuckled, "Basically."
The group sighed heavily. Their hopes of getting supplies were now crushed, like them, if they got caught by the creature in there. Dejectedly, they sat down on the concrete.
Sage noticed their dampened moods and began to feel bad for them. After all, everyone just wanted to survive.
Unhesitantly, she reached into her bag, bringing out some granola bars for the group.
Winter wanted to speak up, but decided against it. It wasn't like they were lacking any food; in fact, they had a surplus, filled with food and supplies in their rings and back home.
"Here, you guys can share these among yourselves. It's not much, but it'll have to make do," she stated.
Sage held out some food for the group, which they stared at reluctantly. On one hand, they didn't want to take the food that she found. But on the other hand, if they didn't eat, they would only grow weaker, unable to protect themselves.
Stuffing the food into a girl's hands, Sage smiled. "I insist."
She received them happily and shared them among the group. The group thanked her simultaneously for her generosity.
Winter noticed a small glint in the man's eyes but made nothing of it. He was likely just hungry as well. He dug through his bag and removed a couple of snack bars.
"Here, you can have these."
The man glanced down at the food in his hands before thanking him profusely.
"Thank you so much! May God bless your soul!" He exclaimed.
Winter gave a nod and signed Sage over. "We'll be on our way now, but if you want to test your luck—"
He signaled towards the entrance. "—He's all yours."
Not saying anymore, Winter turned and walked back in the opposite direction. Sage followed promptly after waving farewell.
-------
It wasn't long before they reached their destination. Thankfully, along the way, they didn't bump into another special variant walker.
The building was multiple stories—the windows suggesting it went up to 9 floors.
As they opened the door to the lobby, the smell of rot and ruin was replaced by a subtle scent of citrus and flowers.
Scanning the area, Winter noted.
"Doesn't look like anyone died in here, nor does it smell."
Sage agreed somewhat optimistically.
Walking through the lobby, Sage moved towards the only door with a stair icon upon it.
She pointed at the door, glancing towards him, "Unless you're an elevator guy."
Winter turned towards the elevator and promptly shook his head. "I don't do elevators."
"Good," she stated. "Because I wasn't getting in it."
They chuckled softly, still wary of their environment; Sage especially after getting hit twice.
Gently pushing, the door to the stairwell creaked.
Sage winced in nervousness, continuing to push it open. After Winter entered the stairwell, she moved her free hand to the other side, slowly guiding the door shut.
Beginning their ascent, Winter questioned. "So, what floor does she live on?"
Awkwardly, she turned towards him with a sorry smile.
"...She lives on the top floor, huh?"
"I mean, not quite," she responded. "My sister lives on the eighth floor..."
Winter's head drooped as he continued his ascent.
Sage internally laughed, skipping steps ahead of him.
"I'll race ya."