When everyone was sitting and listening, Alex stood at the head of the table. He raised two fingers.
"You have two options," he started, his voice all business. "The first is, you wait here. You wait for rescue."
Mina, clearly the most "educated" about their current scenario from movies, let out a loud, sharp scoff.
"Rescue?" she said, her voice dripping with disdain. "Who wants to wait for that? There's barely enough food left in the city, and you think those camps are any better? I've read enough comics to know how that ends. They'll cram millions of people into a place not even as big as a city, force everyone to do odd jobs, and hand out half-rations. No, thank you."
She then turned to Alex, her entire demeanor shifting in an instant, her eyes wide and cutesy. "C'mon, Alex, tell them the second option! That one sounds way better, right?"
Alex let out a small chuckle. "Mina isn't entirely wrong. I'm sure the rescue teams are operating 24/7. But the situation in those camps... it's probably bad. Low food, low water, no space." His gaze swept over the group. "And frankly, amongst us, Mark is the only one who's half-useful to them. He's educated, he can work on their systems. But the three of you..." He thought for a bit. "Your skillsets are probably not on their priority list. So... I wouldn't recommend it."
Seeing they weren't really interested in that option, he continued. "The second option... is to come with me."
Their eyes lit up.
"I have a place we can go to. It's not too far from the city. For my safety, and that place's safety, I can only tell you that. You'll have to work—all of you. It won't be a holiday. But... it wouldn't be too bad. You'll have almost everything you need to live normally."
"Really?" Jenna asked, her voice full of a hope she hadn't had a minute ago.
"BUT," Alex raised his voice, silencing them. "There are rules. On the way there, and at the place, my say is absolute. If I say 'go left,' you won't even look right. Understood? And... just so you know, and I don't want you to get the wrong idea... this is a one-way trip. Until the world is restored to what it used to be... I probably won't let you leave."
The cold, hard finality of that statement sobered them.
"The choice is yours," Alex finished. "If you want to wait here, I'll unlock that cabinet. I'll give you everything I've hidden here. With that, you can probably last 'til a rescue squad finds you."
A minute of heavy silence passed. No one spoke, but they all looked at each other. Mark glanced at Jenna, who gave a small, determined nod. They both looked at Alice. Alice let out a long, slow breath and gave her sister a single, firm nod.
Mina, ever the first to act now that she had the "go" sign, humphed. "Who wants to stay here and fight for that stupid rescue? Just for them to not appreciate my talents." She stood up. "I can do any work you need! And... and!" She puffed her chest out, clearly satisfied with her own tactical genius. "If you want my body, you can just have my sister! She's prettier, anyway!"
Alice, caught completely off guard, just stared, her mouth open.
Alex's jaw dropped. His eyes started to twitch.
"Okay," he said, his voice flat. "You can't come."
Mina's face fell. "What?!"
"You. Mina. You're staying. I will probably end myself from annoyance before we even get there."
"No! Wait!" Mina's face crumpled, and she ran over to him, pleading. "I didn't mean it like that! I was joking! I know Big Brother Alex is a good guy with a heart of gold!" She turned to her sister, her eyes wide with panic. "Sis! Help me! Tell him!"
Alice just shook her head in disbelief, her face in her hands. "Mina, he is making a fool of you for all the stupid things you're saying."
Mina "hehe-ed" sheepishly and made a funny face.
Alex, rubbing his temples, turned to the other two. "You two?"
Mark let out a breath. "Well, first, I'm a bit offended you think I'm only 'half-useful.' But... I can't possibly leave my best friend to go on this... this new adventure without me. So, I'll reluctantly go with you." He shrugged, his voice turning more serious. "Besides, my parents are in California. It's... unlikely we'd meet up at a rescue camp here anyway. I'm just... claiming they're alive and well on their own."
Jenna nodded, placing her hand on Mark's. "I feel the same. My family's in Florida. I'll go with Mark." She looked at Alex, her expression earnest. "Thank you, Alex. For... for giving us this choice."
The decision hung in the air, heavy and final. The "holiday" was over. Alex immediately went into mission mode.
"Right," he said, and the air in the room crackled with his renewed energy. "We pack. Now."
He started moving, grabbing the remaining food from the kitchen, stowing it in one of the larger hiking packs. He went to his room and emerged a minute later, changed. He was wearing dark, practical cargo pants with a lot of pockets, sturdy-looking hiking boots, and a tactical belt.
As he efficiently organized their supplies into five distinct loads, he noticed the girls. They were in a tight, whispering huddle by the window. He stopped, zipping up a bag.
"What's the problem?"
Jenna and Mina instantly "gently" pushed Alice forward, a unified, silent shove. Alice stumbled a step, shooting them a look of betrayal.
"Uh... Alex?" she started, her voice nervous.
He raised an eyebrow.
"It's just... we're... we're going to this... 'farm,' right? Well, Jenna... she only has the clothes she's wearing. And Mina and I... we only packed for a single night at the dorm."
Alex nodded, his mind already on the solution. "Okay. And? I have clothes at the house. T-shirts, sweats. You can wear mine. We can sew them over so they fit."
The girls stopped, thinking it was a reasonable, if slightly weird, solution. But the clothes weren't the main objective. Mina gave Alice a sharp poke in the back.
"Right," Alice continued, her face flushing. "That's... great. But... it's also... well, we noticed you don't really have any... supplies... here. In this flat. For... you know. Girls." She rushed the last part. "And... and our own are starting to run out. If you don't have any at the 'farm'... we'll... we'll have a problem. We need... sanitary products. And girl things."
Alex, who had been focused on calculating their water-weight ratio, just... stopped. He looked at Alice. He looked at Mina. He looked at Jenna. His brain processed the information. And for the first time, a look of pure, dawning realization hit him.
"Oh."
He'd planned for nuclear fallout, for armed sieges, for 10-year food shortages, for infected hordes. He had not, in any way, planned for... this. He understood. Women needed specific things for specific uses. It was a logistical oversight.
He was quiet for a long, deep minute, thinking. "Okay. You're right." He scrubbed a hand over his face. "Do you know any specific location? One place. Where we can get... clothes, and... that. At the same time."
The girls, visibly relieved he hadn't just scoffed, huddled up again. "What about that 'City's Edge' plaza?" Jenna suggested. "It's right by the highway, it has a Target, a big pharmacy, and an outdoor supply store."
"Yes! That's perfect!"
Alice turned back. "There's a smaller plaza, an outdoor mall, at the edge of the city. On the way to the highway."
Alex nodded. "It's worth a shot. But... one stop. That's it. We get in, we get what you need, we get out. We are not going on a shopping spree. Understood?"
The girls nodded readily.
"Good. Get your shoes on."
Alex walked over to a simple, framed photo of the NYC skyline on his wall. He pushed the side of the frame, and the "decoration" clicked, popping open like a box. It was a hidden, in-wall safe. Inside sat a black semi-automatic pistol, three extra magazines, and a single, heavy-duty car key.
The group went silent. This was new.
Alex, with practiced, no-nonsense movements, fastened a holster to his tactical belt. He seated the pistol. He thugged the magazines into the fitting pouches on the belt's other side. He grabbed the key. He turned to them, his face all business.
"Ready?"
Mina, eyeing the five full backpacks, the five people, and then the key in his hand, asked skeptically, "What kind of car do you have that's going to fit all this?"
Alex just grinned, a rare, genuine flash of pride. He slung his own pack on. "Follow me."
He unlocked the door and led them down to the garage he'd cleared an hour earlier. It took a few minutes to reach the B-level parking. He hit the 'unlock' button on his fob.
Two sharp beeps echoed in the concrete tomb, and the lights of a massive, jet-black Ford Raptor pick-up truck flashed. It was modified, with a raised suspension, off-road tires, and a locked hard-shell cover over the truck bed.
Alex walked to the back, unlocked the shell, and easily tossed their supplies in. "This," he said, patting the truck's fender, his voice full of pride, "is my all-purpose vehicle."
The Raptor's engine was a low, confident growl in the dead city. Alex sat at the wheel, his entire posture one of focused, coiled energy. Mina, having claimed the front passenger seat, was bouncing her leg, claiming she could "totally guide him from here, it's super easy." Alex was skeptical but agreed; it kept her occupied.
In the back, it was a different world. It was uncomfortably cramped. Mark, Jenna, and Alice were pressed shoulder-to-shoulder, a silent, tense trio of new recruits on their first mission.
Alex put the truck in gear and pulled out onto the street. The drive was a grim tour. The initial chaos of Day 1 had settled into a post-apocalyptic stillness, broken only by their engine. They passed a dozen burned-out military roadblocks, the streets littered with abandoned, looted cars.
He drove with a methodical, cold precision. He didn't swerve for lone shamblers. When an "unruly pedestrian" stumbled into their path, Alex didn't slow down. He hit the gas. The thud as the Raptor's reinforced steel bumper connected was a sick, percussive sound, but it was efficient. The truck was a mechanized-scythe, and Alex used it to clear their path without wasting a single bullet.
After nearly thirty minutes of this tense, brutal navigation, they reached the "City's Edge" plaza. Alex didn't pull into the main lot. He steered the Raptor down a high-walled service alley, parking it in the shadows between the Target and the back of a restaurant. It was concealed, and it had a clear route back to the highway.
He shut down the engine. The sudden, profound silence was deafening. For a full minute, he just sat, his eyes scanning every roofline, every shadowed doorway.
Finally, he turned in his seat, his gaze sweeping over the four nervous faces.
"Okay," he said, his voice low and firm. "It's a few minutes' walk from here. There are probably some... not-too-friendly locals here. So, I will go first. I'll lure them out."
He tapped his backpack. "When you see the signal, you four go in. Get your 'things.' Make sure you stay together. Mark, you're on point for that group. I will come back and join you as soon as I can."
He held their gaze, his eyes hardening. "Be extra vigilant. It's possible some zombies will remain in there, so try to deal with them quietly if you can. Also..." he paused, letting the weight of the next words sink in. "It's not impossible for other survivors to be here. If you see anyone else, you do not engage. You hide. Try to avoid conflict at all costs. Understood?"
They all nodded, their faces pale. "Yes."
"Good."
Alex got out, slinging his pack. He moved with a predatory silence, disappearing into the dark, automatic-door entrance of the Target. Inside, he unpacked the bloodied, bagged bandages from his arm and the shirt from the first fight. He poured a small amount of his drinking water over them, the scent of old, "freshened" blood instantly filling the air.
He made a sharp, deliberate noise, banging his pipe against a metal rack. Clang!
He got a response. Groans echoed from the back aisles. He ran a wide circle around the store's main floor, dragging the scent, and then sprinted back out the entrance. A dozen infected, their heads low, followed the smell, shambling out into the parking lot after him as he led them far away, toward the highway on-ramp.
"That's it," Mark whispered from the alley. "That's the signal."
Alice, Jenna, and Mina nodded. "Okay. Let's go. Fast."
The four of them, a tight, nervous cluster, broke cover and ran into the now-cleared entrance of the store.
All of this—the arrival of the monster truck, the well-armed man, the lure, and the four other survivors (three of them women) heading into the store alone—was witnessed by a pair of greedy, jealous, and lustful eyes.
From the roof of the Applebee's across the lot, Kyle watched. He saw Alex lead the dead away, leaving the others undefended. His heart hammered in his chest. This was it. This was his chance. He scrambled down the ladder, his mind already spinning a web of lies.