They picked up some plastic storage tubs as they moved through the building, and when they entered the empty nurses office they quietly closed the door and allowed themselves a brief moment of celebration.
They opened every cupboard and drawer, pulling out first aid supplies and piling them into the storage boxes. They broke the lock off a sealed cabinet and found boxes of pills and bottles with names on the front.
"Just grab everything," Miguel said. "We can sort it later, back at the house."
"Hey, Amoxicillin is an antibiotic, right?" Robby asked, holding up a large bottle.
"Yeah, I think so," Miguel said, as he stuffed another arm full of medications into the box.
Robby shook the bottle. "This is a liquid version."
"Mr. LaRusso said that different ones treat different illnesses. How do we know it's the right one?"
"If we had the internet we could find out pretty quick," Robby said, as he moved over towards a shelf. "Of course, we could do what people did before they had the internet, and actually look it up in a book."
Miguel watched as Robby started pulling books off the shelf, scanning through the contents, then abandoning them. "Do they make books about medications?"
"Only one way to find out," Robby said, as he pulled a book off the shelf and threw it towards Miguel.
Miguel caught the book, and started flipping through it. He abandoned the book, then moved over to the shelves and joined Robby, picking up random books and flipping through them.
"Hey, this one's laid out like a dictionary," Robby said.
"Go to A and see if it's there," Miguel said, as he moved to Robby's side.
"Shit, are these drugs?" Robby asked, as he moved through the As.
"Acarbose... Alf-Alf... Hell, I can't even say that one," Miguel said.
"Amlodipine... Amoxicillin!" Robby read triumphantly. "It treats Sinusitis, Chronic Pulmonary Disease, Pneumonia! It even says how much we should give him!"
"Put it in the box," Miguel said with a smile. "We just need the oxygen now."
As Robby shoved the book into the storage box, Miguel looked round the room. All that was left now was a large metal cabinet with a padlock on the front. He looked round the office for something heavy to smash the lock with, and found a metal letter opener instead.
Miguel stuck the letter opener in between the metal bars of the padlock, then picked up the baseball bat. "Might wanna step back," he said, as he raised the bat, then smashed it down onto the letter opener.
The padlock broke, flying across the room, and the cabinet doors flew open.
"Oh my god," Miguel said, as he picked up a cannister that stood inside. It was a metal cylinder, with a series of valves and dials at the top, and attached to it was a long piece of tubing and a mask at the end.
"Is that it?" Robby asked.
"It's oxygen," Miguel said excitedly as he turned it over in his hands and looked at the label. "We actually found one!"
"Check see if there's any more," Robby said, as Miguel handed it to him.
Miguel pulled open the other cabinet door, and was dismayed to find there was no more. "Looks like that was the only one."
He turned around, and Robby was flicking the dial with his fingertip, then his face fell.
"What's wrong?" Miguel asked.
"I think it's empty," Robby said.
"No, no, it can't be," Miguel said, taking it back. He twisted the metal tap at the top of the tank, then twisted it the other way, but the dial didn't move. "Why would they keep an empty one?"
"I guess they can't just toss them in the trash," Robby said as he slid down the wall and came to a rest on the floor, stretching his legs out in front of him. "If someone had one, and they were using it when this happened, it'll be empty too," he said.
"We can't just give up," Miguel said. "If we don't find it Johnny's going to... He needs it, OK? We can't let him down."
"So what should we do?" Robby asked, looking up at him. "Fight our way through the whole place? Have you seen how many windows there are? There could be hundreds of zombies in here. By the time we killed them all and got back to the house it'd be too late."
"We have to try," Miguel said desperately.
Robby looked down, then sniffed. He wiped his face and said, "I shouldn't have broken that syringe."
"What?" Miguel snapped. "You can't really be thinking that?"
"You saw how much pain he was in!" Robby said, as tears spilled down his cheeks. "Mr. LaRusso was right. He's going to die in agony and it's my fault."
"That's not happening," Miguel said, as he handed Robby the oxygen bottle. "I'm not letting that happen."
Miguel turned back towards the cabinet, and started pulling out everything that was inside and throwing it on the floor. "There has to be something in here. A clue as to where they store the full ones."
"You're wasting your time," Robby said, wiping his face.
"See, this is why I don't believe your bullshit about you not staying at the house," Miguel said, as he turned back. He could feel his own panic starting to rise again, and he blinked away tears. "You keep saying you don't care about him, but you plainly do."
Robby shrugged, and looked away as he sniffed. He rolled the cylinder against the floor idly, moving it between his hands, and the white label on the bottom of the bottle spun back and forth.
"Wait," Miguel said. "What does that label say?"
"It says it's Oxygen," Robby said quietly.
"Not the one on the side, genius," Miguel said rolling his eyes. "There's something stuck on the bottom."
"What?" Robby asked, as he picked up the bottle and turned it over.
"What does it say?" Miguel asked.
"It's an address," Robby said. "It came from a place on Sherman Oaks Avenue, about 5 minutes walk from here."
"We did it," Miguel said, barely able to contain his smile. "We actually did it!"
It took them two circuits round the block to actually find the place. It looked like a normal house, and the windows into the showroom were hidden behind bushes. It's name above the door was written in small, pale green letters.
They peered through the large windows, then tapped on the door, waiting to see if anything was inside. When nothing appeared they tried the door, but it was locked.
"You see anything?" Miguel asked.
Robby stepped back into the street, and looked in both directions. "Nope, nothing."
Miguel took a deep breath, then kicked the door as hard as he could, and was surprised when it popped open, smashing into the wall behind it.
Miguel stepped inside the building and looked around. The main showroom was large, with comfortable chairs at one end, and the walls were lined with small machines.
Robby stepped inside, and closed the door after himself. "Is this what we need?" he asked, as he took one down from the shelf. "It says it's an Oxygen Concentrator, but I don't even know what that is."
"These looks like display models," Miguel said. "We need something with instructions, so we need to find the stock room."
There was two doors leading off the showroom. Miguel walked to the back window, and looked out of it. He pointed to the closest door and said, "OK, this one here looks like it only goes to a small room."
"Break room maybe?" Robby said.
"It's possible," Miguel said, as he moved over to the door. He raised his hand and rapped his knuckles against the wood.
The response was immediate. Something bumped against the door, then started moaning loudly. The zombie on the other side started scratching its nails against the wood, and Miguel stepped back. "OK, so we don't go in there."
"You think this is the stock room?" Robby asked, pointing to the other door.
Miguel nodded, and said, "This whole thing started early on a Saturday morning, and this place doesn't look like it'd be busy."
Miguel moved forward and rapped his knuckles against the door. He waited, and heard nothing respond. "Sounds good," he said.
Robby raised his bat. "Open it."
Miguel opened the door and stepped back. He clapped his hands and waited, but there was nothing. He stepped forward, into the stock room, and looked at the shelves. They were stacked high with boxes, and in the corner he saw a rack full of oxygen cylinders.
They were minutes from the house, but Johnny always told Miguel he had to go slow once he was in the streets near home, and that he always had to drive round the block at least once, to check that nothing was following them.
"We're going to have to do something about Mr. LaRusso," Robby said. "Has he ever talked to you about his family?"
"A little," Miguel replied, as he slowly drove down Haskell. "I've seen photos of them on the wall. He's shared a few happy stories."
"He mentioned about them dying in a car. Do you know anything about that?"
"No," Miguel said, shaking his head. "Eli was with him at the start though. He might know more. We could ask him."
"That's a good idea, yeah," Robby replied, as he unscrewed the plastic apparatus from the top of the empty bottle they'd found in the retirement village, and screwed it onto the top a full bottle they'd found in the O2 shop.
"I know..." Miguel started. He wasn't sure how to broach the subject. It wasn't exactly something that people would want to hear, but Robby needed to hear it. He had to know how Johnny was struggling, but doing his best despite it.
"Look, I know your dad has a lot of mental health problems," Miguel said. "He's never really talked to me about the time he spent with Kreese, but I know he cut the guys hand off while he was still alive to try to save him, and it didn't work."
"He what?" Robby asked, his head snapping round.
"Yeah, the whole thing was pretty messed up," Miguel said. "He kept him in a cage after he died. You know about that, right?"
"Yeah, Mr. LaRusso told me about that," Robby said, lowering his eyes.
"When we were out on the road I nearly got bitten," Miguel admitted, and he turned the car onto Dickens street, and looked out of the rear view mirror. "It was my own stupid fault, but Johnny had some kind of nervous breakdown down after it. Didn't get out of bed for days. They think I don't know this stuff, but they can't hide anything as well as they think."
"They don't want to worry us," Robby said. "We're just kids."
Miguel nodded. "And in doing that Daniel is taking too much on himself. I don't think he's given himself time to grieve over his family."
"So what can we do to help them?"
"First we have to make sure Johnny's going to be OK," Miguel said, as he turned the car onto Woodvale. "After that we need to step up because we need to look after them as much as they look after us. It's a shame all the therapists are dead, because Mr. LaRusso could probably use it."
"Pffft," Robby said, letting out a wheezing laugh. "After 30 years of repressing the fact that they were in love with each other, I think they could both use therapy."
"I know it sounds strange, but did you ever think that?" Miguel asked. "Did you know how he felt about Daniel?"
"I dunno," Robby said. "I guess it's kinda strange to be that obsessed with someone for that long over a karate tournament. I suppose it was more than that though."
"Get on the radio," Miguel said as he turned onto Valley Meadow Drive. "Tell them we're here."
"Took you long enough," Demetri said, as Miguel stepped out of the car.
"We had zombie trouble," Miguel said. He looked at Demetri for a moment, noting that his eyes looked red as if he'd been crying. "Is everything OK?"
"You should have warned us it was that bad," Demetri snapped, as he opened the back door of the car and started taking out the boxes. "A little heads up would have been nice." He pulled out the storage tub of medications, and said, "Amoxicillin, thank god. It wouldn't have been my first drug of choice. I always prefer Azithromycin for chest infections, but this should do the trick."
"Wait, what?" Miguel asked. "You knew what we should have been looking for and you never told us?"
"Uh, how could I tell you if you never even let me know he was sick before you bailed on us?" Demetri asked. "Seriously, we need way more communication in this house if we're going to survive."
"Come on," Robby said, and headed towards the house, carrying the oxygen cylinder.
Miguel followed closely behind as they ran up the stairs, then turned left towards the master suite. Robby pushed the door open, and Miguel followed him in.
Eli was sat on the empty bed, his head in his hands.
"Where are they?" Miguel asked.
"Bathroom," Eli replied.
There was steam coming from the open door, and as he walked forward, Miguel could hear the sound of Daniel singing gently.
"You should have told us how bad it was," Eli said over his shoulder.
"And even as I wander I'm keeping you in sight," Daniel sang quietly, as he sat on the floor, holding Johnny in his arms in the steam filled bathroom. "You're a candle in the window on a cold, dark winter's night."
Johnny's hands were bandaged loosely, as he lay unconscious against Daniel's chest. His neck was covered in a series of red, raw scratch marks where blood beaded, drying against his skin.
"What happened?" Miguel asked as he crouched down. "What happened to his neck?"
"He was scratching himself," Eli said from the bedroom. "He did it to himself. That's why we bandaged his hands."
"He couldn't breathe, and he was confused," Daniel said. He let out a small sob, then said, "I think he thought someone was choking him."
"Shit," Miguel said. He looked over at the shower, which was running into an empty stall, billowing out clouds of steam from the scorching hot water.
"I thought the steam might help," Daniel said. "It seems to have a little."
"Here," Robby said, as he knelt down. "Lift his head a little."
"What's this?" Daniel asked, as Miguel lifted Johnny's head, and Robby reached out with the mask, stretching the elastic around Johnny's head. "Is that an oxygen tank?"
"Yeah," Miguel said. At this distance he could hear the high pitched whistle every time Johnny drew breath, and he could see his lips looked darker than usual, and almost blue in colour.
Robby turned the tap on the cylinder, and after a few breaths Johnny seemed to visibly relax, sagging against Daniel's chest as the tension drained out of him.
"Thank you," Daniel said, as tears ran down his face. He rested his cheek against Johnny's head, and said, "Thank you both so much."
Miguel stood and reached into the shower cubicle, shutting the water off.
Robby, still kneeling on the floor, said, "Maybe we should get you two somewhere a little more comfortable.
"That's a good idea," Daniel said with a soft smile.
"You wanna give me a hand?" Robby asked.
"Sure," Miguel said, as he moved forward, and put his hands under Johnny's arms.
Robby slipped his hands behind his knees, and together they lifted him, carrying him through to the bedroom. Daniel stood, walking behind them, carrying the precious oxygen bottle and placing it by the bed.
As Miguel pulled the thin sheet over Johnny, Robby asked, "What was that song you were singing to him?"
"REO Speedwagon," Daniel replied, as he sat on the bed. "He likes that one. It always helps him relax."
"I've heard it before," Robby said. "He used to play it in the car."
"Johnny loves music," Daniel said fondly, as he laid back on the high pillows. "I remember when we were kids he always had a Walkman with him. Even at the Halloween dance he had it, and there was a DJ there." He laughed softly, and continued, "I mean, who takes their own music to a dance?"
"I think he's sleeping now," Robby said. "He looks better."
"He does," Daniel said.
Miguel looked at them for a moment. Mr. LaRusso looked exhausted. His eyes were tinged red, and he had dark shadows under them. He looked like he hadn't slept in a week, and his hands shook gently against the cotton sheet.
"I think you should get some sleep too, Mr. LaRusso," Miguel said softly.
"Yeah," Daniel said, as he rested his chin against the side of Johnny's head and closed his eyes. "That's probably a good idea."