Days passed without them bringing up leaving the city again, although it was something that was playing in both of their minds. Zack knew that sooner or later that they would either run out of places to hide or he would have no more medicine in stock. If the latter were to happen, according to the cardiologists that were probably long gone by this point, his immune system would start to violently attack the heart until it completely killed the organ. He remembered that they said he could expect to live only a week, but it would be the most painful week he would ever experience; even worse than the initial point after his surgery.
It had been about a month since the two of them initially met, the both of them agreeing that it was time for another food run as well as searching for other supplies. This time, they were lucky to have a Wal-Mart only a few blocks away, and even luckier that it was three stories. Zack remembered when he first arrived in Los Angeles and couldn’t believe that such a thing even existed, but he simply wrote it off as being something unique to Los Angeles and other big cities.
The arrangement was similar to what they came up with on their first Wal-Mart trip: Anna would begin to look through the groceries while Zack would search through the pharmacy for more of the pills that would weaken his immune system.
Before walking in, they faced against four of the creatures that were responsible for the way the world was now. Each of them taking on two of the enemies, it was a breeze considering other confrontations they had faced. Anna slammed her axe into the vertebra of one of the zombies while side kicking away another. As soon as it was able to stand on its feet again, the first zombie was decapitated and Anna was already on the way to take out the other.
Zack had already split through the skull of his first one as he was having what seemed to be a sparring session for him. It had been a while since he had an actual challenge against an enemy, so he had to create his own entertainment, even if he had to force it. After about forty-five seconds, he got bored with the zombie and stabbed the creature in its right eye, piecing through the brain, and sliding through the other side.
“Interesting finish,” Anna huffed as she pulled her axe out of her second victim of the day.
“Thanks,” Zack said, catching his breath. “It doesn’t look like there are any more of them around here. If one does show up though, just call for me, got it?”
“Sure, but he’ll be long gone by the time you get here.” Anna teased.
With that, Zack kissed Anna on the cheek before running off. It was a gesture that had introduced itself the night after the two of them had their long talk. At first it felt awkward, especially since neither of them seemed to want to talk about it. However, as time went on, they became more used to it to the point where it didn’t feel weird for either of them. It was only innocent cheek pecking, nothing more between two lonely teenagers who are left to face the end of the world with each other.
Anna ran up to the second floor as Zack stayed on the first. He was able to find exactly where he was supposed to go pretty easily; it may have been three floors, but the layout was still identical to plenty of other Wal-Marts. He thanked who or whatever was watching over him when he saw that the pharmacy window was left wide open. He jumped over the counter and began his search. This particular pharmacy seemed much more organized than any of the ones that he had seen previously. A couple of pills were already scattered around the floor, probably from addicts who somehow survived long enough to get their next fix, but none of them resembled the ones that Zack needed.
Zack felt like he was really testing his luck now. The two specific medicines he needed to prevent rejection, Myfortic and Prograf were found right next to each other. Not only that, but the pharmacy was very well stocked, so much that it could last him for probably the next several weeks, maybe even months. He even found other medicines that he needed, also widely in stock. Quickly and carefully, he poured the medicines into the largest pill containers he could find back there, careful not to drop any on the floor.
Ten minutes passed by him just filling the canisters and packing them into his bag, all while humming the tune that was in his head. He felt that he would need to carry another small backpack just to be able to carry around all of the extra medication. He hurried over to the escalator that didn’t seem to operate anymore as he climbed carefully up the stairs.
Near the top, he ran right into Anna. Excited, he told her about his find only a few minutes earlier. She couldn’t necessarily keep up with all the technical names of his medications, but she was very happy that he seemed to have found enough to make him this happy and energetic. She then explained to him that she finished as much as the shopping that she deemed fit, finding some fresh produce that hadn’t seemed to go bad as well as several frozen meals, well aware that it wasn’t smart for Zack to consume so much canned food.
That was when they heard it, a sound that pierced both ears.