"Was that guy a cop? He didn't look like a cop. Why did he shoot at the drone?" Donny asked with unease.

"It seems like they're already wary of other humans. The government issued the warning not to deal with the zeroes unless absolutely necessary but they seemed to have ignored it, the area around the station is completely clear." Will tossed the now useless controller into a nearby trashcan. "They're armed and organized enough to already start clearing out corpses around the building, so there's a good chance they aren't the police or if they are, they went rogue."

"What do we do now? We won't be able to get rid of the evidence like this." Donny tried to scratch his head but ended up rubbing his helmet.

"We'll just leave." Will shrugged. "We have months before everything is up and running again. Maybe these guys will leave by then. If not, we'll just come back when we're stronger."

"I see...so this is like a high level area."

"It's about to become a dangerous high level area, so we better leave." Will said, getting into the car and starting the engine.

"What do you mean?" Donny climbed into the passenger seat.

"That gunshot will attract the attention of zeroes."

"What a noob. Pulling aggro." Donny said as they drove away.

"I don't think they care, or rather, I think they did it on purpose in order to clear out the entire area. Did you see all the stores around the station?"

"No...but look." Donny pointed down at a parallel street where a large group of zeroes we're scampering in the direction of the police station.

Will adjusted his course and made a turn to avoid running into more of them. "All the doors were wide open or were being propped open, they've been raiding everything nearby."

Will would have preferred luring the zeroes away as opposed to gunning them all down but this group was sitting on top of an armory after all.

"Aren't those guys adapting a little too fast?"

"I've met a lot of people who do pretty well in the future. Whenever the conversation about how they dealt with all the changes comes up, a reason I come across often is from watching zom...apocalypse movies or games." Will glanced at Donny from the corner of his eye and saw him grinning like he had won an unknown contest.

"I guess that makes sense...it would be weird if everyone was completely clueless about what to do or what a walking dead is, like in those movies."

Will drove around, dodging cars and stray zeroes, he had to hit a few that moved into their path. There was a small pharmacy on the way so they made a quick stop to grab some of the items that were harder for them to normally get without a prescription.

The two next arrived at an Over Buy—a large electronic retail store. The doors were closed and this store didn't have any windows to peek into from the outside. After using the spare drone they had to check that there was no movement around, Will and Donny approached the entrance.

The store was dark inside but almost completely untouched.

"Why is there nothing here?" Donny asked.

"They're looking for food, if they can't find anything they'll leave. As for people...from their perspective, an apocalypse and zeroes, power outages and electronics, plus they also need to eat. Take a guess." Will said, taking out his flashlight.

"Hehe, more for us." Donny giggled like a child in a toy store.

After clearing the main room, they found no signs of anyone.

"The door to the back is locked." Donny said.

"Pry it open." Will instructed. He had the shield up and ready while Donny pried it open with the forked end—similar to a crowbar.

Snap. There was a snap as the lock broke and the door opened up.

"Who's there!?" A shout came from the end of the hallway.

"Donny! Who are you?"

"Jason! What are you doing here?"

"Shopping. You?"

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Hiding. How did the two of you get here?" A young man walked out from a side room at the back. He was wearing protective sports gear and holding a flashlight and fire axe.

"We drove. You?"

"I also drove but lost my keys. You guys aren't cops are you?" Jason asked in hope.

"No." Donny answered but had no more questions, finally breaking their answer and question streak.

"I thought so." Jason sighed. "You guys don't look old enough to be cops. Can you guy take me somewhere nearby? I can show you guys where everything is in here, I spent the night here."

Donny looked over to Will.

"Where do you need to go?" Will asked.

"The mall, there are a bunch of people holed up there. I was scouting with someone else but ended being chased by a zombie dog and got split up. Had to hide in here and wait it out. That little shit was scary man. I saw it bash in a car door with it's arm. Straight up horror movie type shit." Jason hugged himself and shivered. "You guys can join us if you want. You're looking strapped up and we could use the help."

"We have things we need to do." Will declined the offer. "But we can take you back to the mall."

"Thanks, you guys are a life saver. What are you guys shopping for anyways?" He put an emphasis on the word, knowing what shopping actually meant.

"Drones and stuff."

"Hey, that's a good idea. I never thought of that. I was stocking up on flashlights and radios." He pointed at the a door on the side with his flashlight. "The stock room is over here."

They followed Jason into the stock room. There was a box filled with flashlights and radios on the side.

With Jason's assistance, the two went on a giant shopping spree. They stocked up on a large supply of drones, phones, laptops, tablets, and anything they thought could be of use. To save space so that they would be able to pack more, they unpacked everything and piled them together in a few large boxes. Jason also snatched up many drones.

"What do you guys need all those for anyways?" Jason asked as they began to load up a dolly.

"Backup. We have a generator." Donny explained.

"That's a lot of backup. We also have a generator at the mall but they'd never let us waste it on charging our shit."

"Is someone in charge at the mall?"

"There's a group that's taken lead, they're already starting to ration everything. People are getting all political and shit. That's how I ended up on scout duty."

"Sounds rough, man."

"What can you do?" Jason shrugged, taking out a pack of cigarettes and offering it to the two. "At least I get first dibs on anything I find."

Will declined but Donny took one.

"Thanks. I've got a bunch of these, you can take this pack." Donny offered him his own pack.

"I usually don't smoke menthol but thanks. This the second time you saved my ass today." Jason accepted it gratefully.

"You guys haven't given your group or the mall some kind of pretentious name have you?"

"No? Half of them are too busy freaking out to do anything like that. Some people think it's the end of the world, some people don't want to do anything other than wait for help, others are just losing their shit. It's a shitstorm and a half." Jason said.

They transferred all the boxes outside via the dolly.

"What would a pretentious name sound like anyways?" Jason asked as they moved the boxes to the car.

"Like sanctuary, that's a common one. Sanctum, trinity or the survivors. The harbor, haven, or beacon are also commonly used." Jason's face twisted more and more as Donny listed out names. "Oh, there's also terminus."

"What does terminus even mean?"

"The final stop or the end." Will explained, keeping a lookout for any dangers. "Or the final point in space or time."

"Ah, I see. Terminus and terminal."

"How do you even know that?" Donny asked.

Will shrugged, he didn't want to mention that there was a place named Terminus in the future.

"I half expect the city to be renamed to New Toronto very soon too." Donny said.

Once they were done moving boxes, Donny and Jason finished up their cigarettes and Will gave Donny the key to the jeep.

"You drive."

"Huh? Oh, okay." Donny accepted the key in confusion.

Will sat in the back while Jason took the passenger seat. Will's hand had been ready to reach for his firearm the entire time. They drove to the mall a block away to find the main entrance had been blocked by a bunch of SUV and trucks that had been lined up. A mob of zeroes were climbing all over them trying to get inside.

"That's freaky, man. They don't even make any noise. No groaning or screaming. If those roamers weren't climbing and banging against those cars, you wouldn't even know so many of them were there. Ugh." Donny shuddered.

"Go to the cinema. There's an emergency exit there." Jason pointed.

Donny drove around to the cinema and found the emergency exit.

There were a few zeroes that discovered them and the three of them had to get out to deal with them. Will jogged ahead, luring four of them his way and took advantage of the cars in the parking lot to narrow their pathing and quickly dispatched them.

Donny was getting a little more used to using the halligan bar and took down two of them on his own. Jason also seemed to have adapted to the new way of life and axed two of them in the head.

Jason then approached the exit and knocked on it while Donny entered the jeep and backed it in close so the trunk faced the door. The door was answered by a older man who was relieved to see Jason back.

"Did Harold make it back?" Jason asked.

"He hasn't come back yet." The man answered.

"I see..." After Jason took his boxes inside, he thanked the two. "If you guys need somewhere to go, there's always space here."

"Thanks." Donny exchanged handshakes with him.

"I never got your name." Jason turned to Will and held out his hand.

"Will." The two shook hands. "By the way, what did that dog look like?"

"I don't know much about dog types. It was like medium sized for a dog and had like tan or beige colored fur."

"Alright, thanks."

"Thanks a lot, you guys are real ones. Stay safe out there."

"Pretty cool dude." Donny said once they returned to the car, Will taking the driver seat again. The two quickly left the mall area. "Is there something wrong with that dog?"

"He said it bashed a car door with it's foreleg strength. It's too early for a Category 1 to appear, so I think this one might have a Parasite already."

"Then?"

"No change of plans. If we run into it, we'll try to catch it, otherwise, we'll just keep note of it, but there's nothing we can do with a Parasite until we evolve."

"Alright, time for the last stop on our shopping list—the terminus." Donny grinned in amusement.

The two of them later arrived at a satellite ground station—also known as an earth terminal.