Kate wasted no time pulling the machete that hung from the side of Nick’s pack cleaving the blade into its neck until the head was attached by a mere string.
The pair stepped into the pharmacy. Aisles of empty shelves stood before them; the only items remaining were of little use to those surviving the new world. Nick and Kate plodded softly across the front of the store, looking down each aisle for horrors, diseased or otherwise. Boxes of hair appliances still lined the walls. A few squares of chewing gum sat in cardboard boxes in front of the registers.
After deciding the store was empty, Kate walked down an aisle and perused a shelf of books, astonished they had not been claimed. She picked up a thriller, turning it around to read the blurb on the back.
“We’re not here to shop,” Nick admonished. Kate frowned at him.
“Just one, please?” Kate begged, affixing her sweetest expression. Nick rolled his eyes as a smirk crept across his lips. She knew exactly how to get what she wanted.
“One,” Nick caved and crossed his arms across his chest as Kate continued to sift through the novels. Finally, she picked a horror novel that followed a group of scientists excavating caves in the North Pole and slipped it into her backpack.
Nick and Kate headed to the back of the store where the pharmacy resided. The heavy metal gates were rolled down and for a moment, Nick wondered if the area had been breached. A quick scan of the blockade revealed that one panel had been pried upward, a shopping cart shoved beneath the gate to prop it open.
Nick slid beneath the gate, crawling on his stomach until he was inside the pharmacy. Once he surveyed his surroundings and deemed them safe, Kate followed.
Being back in a pharmacy sent ripples of memories surging through Kate’s brain as she recalled her times spent in one. The chaotic rush to accomplish queue-based tasks, agitated patients demanding their medication within record time, and laughs shared among coworkers enduring the tortuous workplace sprang to the forefront of thought.
Though Kate did not work at this exact pharmacy, the surroundings were all too familiar. The pharmacist’s station still had baskets full of patients’ labels awaiting their verification. Prescription labels were strewn about the floor, trashoverflowing with private patient information, and blank orange vials filled bins beneath the counters.
While the pharmacy stocked a plethora of drugs that could be used recreationally—benzodiazepines for sedation and euphoria, muscle relaxers, narcotics—Kate ruminated on those who used medications to stay alive. Not all deaths in the world involved flesh being torn apart and consumed. Some perished on their floors from failed hearts or self-inflicted wounds.
Three bays of shelving stood tall to their right, but instead of neatly aligned drug bottles with bold X’s marking the open ones, the surfaces were nearly vacant. Empty containers littered the floor; not a single medication remained.
Kate instinctively headed to the back wall of the pharmacy where the needles had been kept at her workplace. She inspected the bare shelves, finding only leftover eye and ear drops and colonoscopy preps. Kate walked behind the pharmacist’s station and began opening cabinets. On the third try, she discovered a stash of supplies used for giving vaccines.
Handing Nick the supplies, Kate dispensed boxes of syringes, alcohol swabs, and disposable gloves until his pack was nearly full. She loaded the rest into her own bag and they zipped up, ready to move on. Before Nick could make his way around the pharmacist’s station, Kate grabbed his hand. He turned, lifting a brow and meeting her alluring grin.
“We should get these back to Dr. Chamberlain,” Nick said. Kate pulled him close, her back resting against the counter.
“Mhm,” she answered before engulfing him in a kiss. He debated pulling away from her. This was not the time or place, but time and place had no meaning anymore. Nick rested his hand against the counter behind Kate, allowing his body to ignite from her touch. An entreating ache formed in his core as Kate’s hands roamed his chest.
The muscles in Nick’s forearms implored him to move to her waist, her hips, some part of her. Every part of her. For several moments into their kiss, he deliberated with himself. The physical contact would make her uncomfortable. She craved his touch. If Nick did not explore her body the way her hands wandered his, Kate may think she was not wanted.
Before Nick could settle the argument with himself, the scraping of metal against metal startled them. Nick and Kate broke their embrace, eyes wide and hearts racing. Then, the pharmacy gate slammed to the ground.
“Who’s there?” Nick yelled, stalking toward the gate trying to peer through the square blocks. A flash of dark clothing darting through the aisles was the only thing he caught before the person was out of sight.
“We’re locked in,” Kate said, her voice low and bereft of hope.
Nick clutched the bottom of the gate and lifted it with all of his strength. The gate rose only an inch before his muscles gave out.
While he tried several more times with no success, Kate scouted the pharmacy for other options of escape.
“There’s a door!” Kate yelled. Nick raced to the back of the pharmacy and down one of the aisles of empty shelves. Kate was pushing down on the handle of a thick, steel door. Though the handle turned, the door did not give way.
Kate stepped aside to let Nick try; his result was the same.
“It’s locked manually from the other side,” Nick said.
“Nick, what if we can’t get out? We’ll starve in here.” Kate began to fold in on herself as defeat settled in. Nick clutched her shoulders, forcing her to look at him.
“Hey, we’ll get out of here. There’s always a way,” Nick reassured. Kate nodded, trying to accept his words and channel the confidence he emitted so naturally.
“There’s a vent!” Kate announced, pointing to the ceiling. “You can lift me up and I’ll crawl through.”
Nick did not follow her gaze, just nodded slowly at her.
“Uh-huh. So, I lift you. You crawl through and get out. Then what?” Nick watched her playing out the scenario in her head. The door would still be locked. The gate would still be down.
