— THE SUPERMARKET LOOKED THE SAME as when Zoe and Nate had last seen it, meaning that no one has been inside since they had spotted it on their run a few weeks ago. It didn't take that long to get there, either, so if the group managed to get in and find what they needed within a short amount of time, they could make it back home in no time; although, Zoe and Nate quite liked being outside of the prison, it gave them a sense of freedom — after all, they were living in a prison, after all. "Army came in, put these fences up, made it a place for people to go." Daryl explained to the group, as Zoe and Nate stood besides Glenn. "Last week, when Zo and Nate spotted this place, there was a bunch of walkers behind this chain link, keeping people out like a bunch of guard dogs." He carried on, as the new guy, Bob, asked where they had all gone, and if they had just left. Zoe and Nate smiled to themselves at the man's question, knowing that they were the reason the walkers weren't here anymore — it had been Nate's idea, drawing them away, and Zoe couldn't be more proud.
Sasha also smiled at the two young adults, knowing that their idea was brilliant, "Give a listen." She told Bob, as everyone went quiet for a few seconds, instantly hearing the faint sound of music in the distance, the exact same music Nate and Zoe listened to daily, and every time they went on a run.
"You drew them out." Michonne stated, surprised that the two had figured something so smart out, she was actually impressed.
"We put our boom box there about three days ago. Our favourite album." Zoe revealed, smiling up at Nate as he draped his arm around his girl, pulling her close.
"Yeah, we hooked it up to two car batteries so it wouldn't die out. It's been playing out there since." Nate explained further, as everyone nodded their heads as they were impressed.
"All right, let's make a sweep." Daryl spoke up, having heard what Nate and Zoe did with the boom box days ago, he had been impressed when they first told him, now it had faded and he just wanted to get this supply run done and dusted. "Make sure it's safe, grab what you can, we'll come back tomorrow with more people." He explained, as everyone began to follow him and squeeze through the gate.
Zoe and Nate had barely been able to look around this place before they had to draw the walkers out, but this place wasn't touched, it hadn't been since the outbreak had occurred. This was a place in which they were holding people away from the walkers, but by the looks of it, they had become overrun, and it had fallen as quickly as it had been built. With rotted corpses everywhere, Zoe cringed at the sight, following closely behind Nate who made sure to stay close to her, he couldn't risk loosing her in this place, especially since they didn't know what was inside. Daryl knocked on the door, a tactic they all used to lure the walkers inside to the front so they could take them all out; it was less risky then walking in blindly and being attacked by a whole group. Nate and Zoe stood on the right side of Daryl whilst some of the others stood on the other side — the pair didn't mind Sasha and Tyreese, as they often pulled their weight and helped them get to Andrea, but the new people, they weren't so keen on, mostly because they didn't know them as of yet..
"Okay, I think I got it." Zach spoke up, breaking the silence between them all, when Michonne asked what he got, the boy smugly smiled, "Oh, I've been trying to guess what Daryl did before the turn." He said, taking a seat next to Daryl as the man rolled his eyes.
"He's been trying to guess for like, six weeks." Daryl told Michonne, Nate and Zoe, who all watched.
Zoe didn't mind Zach all that much, since the guy was practically the same age as her; they had spoken a few times with each other since his group had been brought to the prison, but Nate didn't exactly find him likeable. Zoe gathered it was because Zach had tried asking her out when he first spoke with her, clearly, not everyone had gathered that the girl was taken — but when she told him that she was with Nate, he quickly backed off. Nate still hadn't gotten over it, and was holding a grudge against the kid for asking out his girl; he was glad that Zoe had told him, though, it showed that the two of them had no secrets between them.
When Daryl told Zach to guess again, the guy nodded, "Well, the way you are at the prison, you being on the council, you're able to track, you're helping people, but you're still being kind of surly. Big swing here.. Homicide cop." The boy finished, everyone around him instantly laughing at his words, including Zoe and Nate, who couldn't help but find humour in the fact he thought that Daryl used to be a cop, the mere idea of that made them laugh out loud.
"What's so funny?" Daryl asked the two of them, as well as Michonne, who also broke out in laughter at the thought of Daryl being a cop.
Nate shrugged, as Zoe shook her head, the smile still on her face, "Nothing." She spoke for both of them.
"Yeah, it makes perfect sense." Michonne added, exchanging looks with Nate and Zoe and laughing lightly again.
Daryl rolled his eyes again, "Actually, the man's right. Undercover." He lied to Zach, the boy instantly believing him.
Zoe knew that Daryl had the mindset and the skills to be a cop, for sure, but his behaviour on the other hand, was the complete opposite to what it should be. Take Zoe's dad for example, he was very calm, he could be reasonable, and he always heard people out, Daryl was more of a 'shoot first ask questions later' kind of guy, and that just wasn't the mindset you needed to be a cop. Zach realised that Daryl was joking, agreeing to being a cop, and the boy sighed, claiming that he would just have to keep guessing. As the walkers banged on the glass behind them, Nate followed Daryl and Michonne to end them all, as Zoe stayed back with Zach, "Life before this doesn't matter anymore." She told the boy, as he looked up at her, "Plus, you'll never guess what Daryl did before this. No one knows." Zoe added, as Zach looked shocked that even she didn't know. The girl walked past him to help out with the clear out, leaving Zach to wonder what Daryl did before all of this, wanting to find out now more than ever..
Zoe and Nate gave each other a smirk as they followed behind the group and into the supermarket, the both of them having not been inside one for so long. The girl grabbed a trolley, and whistled for Nate's attention, "Ready to shop?" She asked, as Nate smiled back at her.
Nate kissed the side of Zoe's head as he took the trolley from her hands, "Let's get this shop on." He joked, as Zoe began to follow behind him; it was nice, the two of them shopping — it felt like they had their own apartment, living together, and shopping for that apartment, it was fun, and a change of scenery.
The couple headed to the back of the store to start their shop, and instantly, Zoe saw something that caught her eye, a Polaroid camera, "Nate." The girl whispered, as she grabbed the box from the shelf, holding it up to show him, "Look." She said, a bright smile on her face when she realised that they could actually get a photo taken together. Zoe's biggest fear was being separated from him, and the rest of her family, so if that were ever to happen, she would love it if she had something to remember him by if that were ever to happen. That, and she could place it on their night side table, a nice picture for them to look at every morning.
"I'm not a photo guy." Nate told her, hoping that she would put the camera back. He had never enjoyed having his photo taken, and he wasn't going to start today — although, he wouldn't mind a photo of Zoe to carry around with him at all times, so he could remind himself of the beautiful girl he had.
Zoe rolled her eyes, placing the box into her backpack and closing it back up, "You are now." She told him, raising a brow at his facial expression. Although, Nate didn't protest when she did so, simply carrying on behind her when she set off again for the food isle — Nate knew that this is what it would've been like to shop with his girl, Zoe taking charge and buying what they needed. It was nice, to see her in this light, being the boss; it was sexy.
Zoe began to place tins of food into the shopping cart, anything that would last longer than any other type of food, and water, as much as she could fit into the cart, without it being to heavy to push. They could only fit what would fit in their trunk, so they didn't go too overboard, but within a few minutes, they were pretty much set for today's supply run, happy with what they were able to find. The couple were headed back to their car with their shopping cart, when they both heard a loud crash, followed by a grunt — they didn't think twice before leaving the trolley at the front door and heading back to see who had been injured. When they approached the scene where the shelf had fallen, they saw Daryl, crouched besides the scene, with Bob stuck underneath.. Zoe stood back and watched as the men lifted the shelf off of Bob, waiting for the man to be free so she could check his ankle when he made it out. If Bob was injured, she was going to have to take him back home, they couldn't have any chances in case they got overrun.
"I was driving fast, man. I dove right into the drinks." Bob explained, as Tyreese tried to lift the shelf off of him.
"Is your ankle okay? Like can you move your toes or anything? I'm going to have to.." Zoe began to explain, before the roof caved in, and a walker fell through, his guts keeping him hung from the ceiling, like a decoration. The girl quickly jumped back behind Nate as they all looked up at the ceiling, wondering how on Earth it had even gotten up there.
"Uh, yeah, we should probably all go now." Glenn spoke up, not liking the look of their situation.
"Bob's still stuck, we gotta get him out." Zoe pointed out, knowing that they weren't about to leave this poor man stuck under a shelf with walkers all around the market. Zach helped Nate grab onto the shelf and try to lift it up, when suddenly, another part of the roof had collapsed, along with a walker falling right into the supermarket, this time, not getting caught in the roof and landing on the floor with a thud. And then more fell. And then another, and another, and soon enough, it was raining walkers, and no one knew what to do.
Nate felt awful, but he didn't think twice before leaving Bob under the shelf and rushing towards Zoe, pulling her back with him as they both kept their eyes on the ceiling and the walkers falling down from the sky. Zoe lost Zach, but she couldn't do much about it, as Nate was dragging her back and away from the centre of the store where most of the walkers were falling down. The pair turned the corner, but Zoe felt Nate's hold loosen on her, and before she knew it, he was gone, and she couldn't see him anywhere. "Nate!" She yelled, pulling out her machete and bringing it down on a walkers head as she stumbled back, falling on another walkers dead body and landing on the ground with a grunt.
Zoe couldn't even think straight when a walker fell on top of her, the thing instantly trying to bite at her skin, her machete had fallen out of her hands at the impact, and all she could do was kick at the walker, and pull herself backwards in order to reach her weapon.
It was hard, and the girl was aching, but she eventually was able to reach her weapon, and her fingers tightened around it, before she brung it down on the walkers brain, the thing instantly going limp on her. She cringed at the smell, throwing the walker off of her, before she pulled herself up and rushed back to the place where Nate had been pulled away from her — she turned the corner with her machete held up, only to see two walkers on top of her boyfriend, and Nate struggling to reach for his gun laid across from him. Zoe didn't think twice before rushing to his aid, bringing her machete down on the walker attached to his legs, and Nate able to push the other one off of him, Zoe bringing down her machete on that one, too. Nate pulled himself up off of the ground and grabbed his gun, standing up and nodding to Zoe gratefully, not knowing what he would have done if she wasn't there. He was just glad she was okay.
In the distance, they heard Bob yell for help, but they couldn't do much, when four more walkers came towards them, hungry girl meat — Nate shot one in the head whilst Zoe brought her machete down on another, the pair working back to back to clear the walkers coming near them. It was working well, the two keeping off the walkers coming towards them, but the more they came, the less the pair believed they could keep them off for much longer. "We gotta move." Nate shouted, Zoe instantly following his lead as she ran behind him and back to the others, where they were all fighting off the walkers as the more came.
Daryl and Zach were lifting the shelf off of Bob, Zoe instantly rushing to their aid to help Bob as he had an injured ankle, but the second she here Zach yell, her eyes widened, seeing that a walker had bitten into his ankle and dragged him down on the ground. The girl went to help, but Nate didn't think twice before dragging his girlfriend back, knowing that Zach had no chance to make it back to the prison without either bleeding out, or the infection reaching him and finally taking over, "We can't leave him!" Zoe argued, trying to get out of Nate's hold, but when the walker bit done on Zach's neck, ripping it open, she knew that the boy had to chance. It was sad to see him die, he was a nice guy, he just wanted to fit in; now he was dead, and he wasn't coming back.
Nate and Zoe rushed off with the others, running away from the collapsing ceiling and out of the supermarket, making it out just before they were squished to death by the fallen helicopter from the roof. They left all of their shopping carts behind, leaving with absolutely nothing, and Zoe couldn't help but think that it was their fault, she and Nate had found the place, they claimed that it was empty, yet they never thought about checking the roof — even Nate felt partly to blame, knowing that if they had just done more research on the place, none of that would have happened. Their shopping trip had ended early, and now they had nothing, right back at the start again, and they all knew that if they didn't find more supplies soon, the prison would be going through trouble, and they would soon run out.
They needed to do another supply run.
As Zoe drove the car down the road, she couldn't help but sigh in annoyance, "All of that food, left behind." She spoke up, breaking the silence between the two, Nate leaning his head on the window as he tried to comprehend what the hell had just happened back there — everything was going great, until suddenly, it wasn't.
"We should've checked the roof." He muttered, shaking his head; he felt the same amount of guilt that Zoe did, and he hated that someone had died because of the fact they didn't check the place thoroughly. "Why didn't we think to check the roof.." He carried on, Zoe glancing over at him worriedly, having not seen him act like this before; he was always so head on, and now, he just looked completely defeated.
"We couldn't have known." Zoe said, keeping her eyes on the road — after the car accident with her mother back when they lived at the farm, she didn't want to take any chances, but Nate was a pretty good teacher, so she wasn't all that bad at driving.
"We should've." Nate told her, not taking in her words; they were better than this, they had been through so much, they should've known to check everywhere. They were so proud about finding the whole supermarket, and luring the walkers away, that they didn't think to check any other areas; they didn't even think it was possible to get to the roof, and he hated that they didn't..
"They'll be another chance. We just gotta keep looking." Zoe told him, reaching over and taking his hand in hers, the man instantly tightening his fingers around hers. Because no matter what Nate was feeling, the touch from Zoe always made him feel better.