Merle Dixon's twin shotgun blasts shattered the fragile silence of the alleyway, the sound echoing like a dinner bell through the dead city. Shane's face contorted in a mask of pure fury, but there was no time for reprimands. Ethan's System was already screaming a silent, urgent warning in his mind.
[Massive walker aggro detected! Multiple herds converging on current location due to gunshots! Estimated arrival of first wave at alley entrances: 50 seconds and counting! Immediate entry into department store or full evacuation of area is critical!]
"Walkers! Coming fast! Both ends of the alley!" Ethan yelled, his voice cutting through Merle's defiant smirk. "We gotta get in that service door, NOW!"
Panic, sharp and cold, lanced through the group. The groans of the approaching dead were already audible, growing louder, closer. The service door Jacqui had pointed out was their only hope.
"Morales! T-Dog! Get that damn door open!" Shane roared, shoving Merle roughly aside and raising his own shotgun, ready to cover their entry.
Morales and T-Dog threw their shoulders against the heavy steel service door. It groaned but didn't budge, clearly locked from the inside.
"It's stuck!" T-Dog grunted, his injured arm making him less effective.
Walkers were now visible at the far end of the alley, a shambling tide of rotting flesh beginning to pour in.
Ethan, his mind racing, accessed his System's analysis of the door from their brief earlier scan.
[Service Door: Reinforced steel. Lock type: Heavy-duty commercial deadbolt. Weak point: Lower hinge assembly shows signs of rust and stress. Concentrated, repeated impacts or prying at this point may compromise hinge integrity.]
"The bottom hinge!" Ethan shouted, pointing, his new climbing gloves giving him a sure grip on his machete as he prepared to defend. "It looks rusted! Try kicking it there, or use a crowbar if anyone has one!"
Glenn, who always seemed to have something useful, produced a small, sturdy crowbar from his pack likely one of the items he'd just risked his life for in the city. He and Morales attacked the lower hinge with desperate ferocity while Shane, Ethan, and a now-grumbling Merle formed a tight defensive semi-circle, facing the approaching walkers.
Andrea and Jacqui stood behind them, handguns now drawn (if they had them – let's assume Andrea found one as per canon, and Jacqui, knowing the city, might have a personal one), their faces pale but determined.
The first walkers reached them. Ethan's machete sang, cleaving through a rotten skull. Glenn let out a yell as a walker lunged, and Shane's shotgun boomed, blowing it apart. Merle, surprisingly, was firing with a wild, almost joyful abandon, his shots surprisingly effective at close range, tearing through the front ranks of the dead.
[Multiple Hostiles Neutralized. Battle Points increased. Experience growing.]
Ethan didn't have time to check the specifics, his focus entirely on the fight, the System highlighting targets, warning of lunges from his periphery.
With a final, tortured screech of metal, the lower hinge of the service door gave way. Morales put his boot to it, and it sagged inwards enough for them to squeeze through.
"In! Everybody in!" Shane yelled, blasting another walker that got too close to T-Dog.
It was a chaotic, desperate scramble. Andrea and Jacqui first, then T-Dog and Morales. Glenn provided covering fire with his handgun, then ducked inside. Ethan found himself fighting back-to-back with Merle for a terrifying moment, their combined ferocity holding back the tide.
"Move it, pretty boy!" Merle snarled, shoving Ethan towards the opening before blasting another walker at point-blank range.
Ethan tumbled through the gap, followed almost instantly by Merle, then Shane, who slammed the ruined door shut as best he could, ramming a fallen metal shelf against it from the inside. The sounds of the walker horde outside, their furious snarls and the thudding of their bodies against the steel, were terrifyingly close.
They were inside Harrison's Department Store. The ground floor was a vast, dim expanse, aisles of overturned mannequins, scattered luxury goods, and broken glass glinting in the faint emergency lighting. And they were not alone. More walkers, drawn by the commotion of their entry and Merle's earlier shots, were already shambling towards them from deeper within the store.
"Spread out! Clear this immediate area!" Shane commanded, reloading his shotgun. "Barricade that door better!"
Another brief, brutal fight erupted as they cleared the area around the service entrance, dispatching a dozen more walkers. Ethan's machete was a constant blur, his movements, enhanced by his leveled-up stats, surprisingly effective. He felt his stamina drain, but the System kept him aware: [Stamina: 65/100. Minor combat fatigue setting in.]
Once the immediate vicinity was clear and the service door more securely, if temporarily, barricaded with heavy display counters, a semblance of breathing room was achieved. It was then that Shane whirled on Merle, his face a mask of cold fury.
"You reckless, ignorant son of a bitch!" Shane seethed, getting right in Merle's face. "You nearly got every single one of us killed out there with those damn shotgun blasts! What the hell were you thinking?"
Merle, unfazed, just grinned, a mean, gap-toothed expression. "Thinking I was clearing us a path, Officer Friendly. Seemed to work, didn't it? We're in."
"We're in, and now the whole damn city knows where we are!" T-Dog interjected, clutching his arm where Merle had jostled it. "You always gotta be the loudmouth, always gotta stir up trouble!"
"You got a problem with me, boy?" Merle sneered, stepping towards T-Dog, his hand dropping to the hunting knife on his belt.
"Yeah, I got a problem!" T-Dog shot back, not backing down despite Merle's menacing posture.
"Enough!" Shane roared, stepping between them, his own hand on his sidearm. "Both of you, shut the hell up! We got bigger problems than your damn egos right now. We're trapped in here with God knows how many of those things, and a bigger horde banging on the doors."
His eyes scanned the group. "We need to find a more defensible position, deeper in, maybe higher up. And we need those supplies. We stick to the plan: guns, ammo, food. Then we find another way out of this deathtrap."
He looked at Ethan and Glenn. "You two are still point. Find us a path to the sporting goods on the third floor. And try to do it without leading us into another goddamn swarm."
The tension was thick enough to cut with a knife. Their entry into Harrison's had been anything but smooth, and the internal fractures of the group, particularly Merle Dixon, were already threatening to be as dangerous as the walkers outside.