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He did the usual listen and watch, and when he deemed it safe enough, they headed inside. The doors had been glass at one point but now were busted out.
Yeah, this wasn’t looking too good in finding shit.
There were two waiting areas, one with a “Sick Child” sign above the chairs, and the other with a “Well Child” taped to the wall above the other set.
A few chairs were knocked over, and they stepped around them. Papers littered the floor, dirt and grime tracked in and out.
“Let’s check the back. There might be some medicine or first aid supplies,” Sasha said and he was proud she was thinking ahead. Then again, she wouldn’t have made it this far if she wasn’t smart as fuck.
Lucy stayed close to Sasha, but then changed direction and stood next to him, slipping her hand in his and stopping. Lucy looked up at Malachi, her eyes wide.
“I’m scared,” she whispered.
He glanced up and saw Sasha looking between her sister and him, anguish in her eyes. Malachi dropped to his haunches so he was eye level with Lucy.
“Listen here,” he said softly but hard enough she’d know he was serious. “Nothing will hurt you. I’ll make sure of that. You just think of me as you and your sister’s personal bodyguard, okay?”
Lucy nodded, seeming visibly relaxed. “You’ll protect us?”
He nodded instantly. “With my life.” He chucked her under the chin and stood, glancing at Sasha. She mouthed “Thank you” and took Lucy’s hand in hers.
They made their way deeper into the office, rummaging through each patient room, the storage closet, the med room. They left no space unturned, collecting a decent amount of first aid supplies, and even found acetaminophen and ibuprofen. In this new world that shit was gold.
They were just about to leave when Lucy ran to the bathroom. “Wait a second.” She darted inside and a second later came back out with three rolls of toilet paper, a huge grin on her face. “Toilet paper, Sasha.”
Sasha chuckled and helped Lucy shove them into her backpack.
They made their way back outside and he motioned for them to head to the pharmacy. After looking through there and mostly seeing a ransacked interior, he’d found some antibiotics under a shelf, nasal spray, eye drops, and a few more first aid supplies.
“Not a bad haul,” he said more to himself. Malachi had hoped to find some ammo or even firearms, but he also wasn’t stupid. That shit would have been snatched up fast as hell when all this had first gone down.
“I’m going to check out the convenience store,” Sasha said and headed over there before he could stop her.
“Shit,” he grumbled under his breath. He took Lucy’s hand and led her to the store. He wasn’t about to let Sasha go in there alone.
They stepped inside but he could tell they wouldn’t find shit. The place was trashed from top to bottom. The scent of rotting fruits and vegetables filled up the small interior.
He headed toward the back and looked out the window, saw two small gas pumps and motioned for them to follow him out. It took some work, but he was able to get the gas out and filled the can.
After screwing on the cap, he looked up at the sky and saw the clouds rolling in, darkness that had nothing to do with the sun setting taking over. There was this smell of rain in the air, the feel of electricity racing along his arms.
“A storm’s coming,” he said and glanced at the girls. Lucy looked scared, clutching at Sasha. But Sasha had that hard mask on her face, that steely reserve that he had fallen for.
She was so strong, and equal to his own brutality in her own right.
“We need to take shelter.” He grabbed Sasha’s hand before she could say anything and was pleased when she didn’t pull it back. He led them down the street, picking up his pace when he heard a boom of thunder and saw a crack of lightning.
There was an old movie theater at the edge of town, the sign hanging on by a few bolts, the door boarded up. He went to work on pulling the pieces of wood off until they could slip through. He had his gun at the ready, had his flashlight in his other hand.
Malachi held up his gun hand for them to stop, and then listened. Silence surrounded them just as another round of thunder boomed the sky.
A few seconds later the lightning flashed bright enough that they saw it through the boarded-up windows. The rain started shortly after, the howl of the wind deafening. Debris kicked up against the side of the building like fingernails along a chalkboard.
He turned and faced the girls. “Looks like this is home for the night, or at least until the storm passes.”
