After finishing the construction of the barricades, that Zane hoped would prevent a more powerful undead from breaking into the second building of the high school campus where he had established his camp. The young loner decided to embark on a far more daring journey.
Supplies were limited in the school, and because of this, Zane knew what he had gathered, and what was left in the cafeteria would last a few days at the most. With this in mind, he began to plot in his own mind, an expedition deeper into the city, in an attempt to scavenge for some much needed supplies.
Whether that was food, medicine, or just simply raw materials. After all. Although Zane had barricaded the doors, there was still some work that needed to be done on the windows. Which as of this moment was the weakest point of potential entry for the undead.
Not only was scavenging for supplies necessary for the short-term survival of him and the others in his group. But going deeper into the city and scouting out the ongoing situation would allow Zane to properly formulate a plan for when he decided to abandon the high school altogether, and stake out on his own.
Though by now, he had invested some resources into both Elena and Olivia, that he felt compelled to bring them along with him. Not that they would allow him to escape from their sight, even if he wanted to. These were the many things Zane thought about as he waited for the sun to go down.
First and foremost, Zane knew that night was more precarious for the living. Not only did they have a disadvantage in terms of being able to properly see at night, whereupon his prior investigation, Zane had determined the dead did not suffer from this penalty.
But the undead were far more active at night. As were those higher tier undead. Leading Zane to believe that the majority of living, who had already come to understand these risks, would choose to stay in their camps during the darkest hours of the day.
And soon enough, night fell upon the world. Allowing Zane to safely abscond from his encampment without alerting anyone else. While this did pose a risk to the camp, by leaving one of the doors unbarricaded.
Almost as if Zane were the only living being to walk among them. This thought was most certainly sobering. But luckily for Zane, the voice in his head was silenced when he came across a local gas station. Which he hoped to scavenge some supplies from.
Zane of course needed to be careful, and thus he gripped his bat in his hand, ready to strike at a moment's notice when he entered the gas station, only to find that it had already, for the most part, been pilfered by looters.
The clerk who once attended this store appeared a little older than Zane himself, and his body was lying behind the register. The man had a bullet wound in his head, which no doubt was caused by one of the looters.
But Zane paid no heed to the dead. If his corpse wasn't reanimated, then Zane had no interest in him. Instead, he searched the ransacked shelves of the convenience store for anything that might help quench his thirst, or quell the hunger in his gut.
Luckily for him, there were still some supplies. But it wasn't much. What lied in front of him were a few forties of malt liquor, a couple of energy drinks. And some unhealthy snacks such as candy, chips, and other such items.
Considering that this was the best Zane could get his hands on. He quickly stuffed the items into one of the backpacks he brought with him. However, it was immediately after doing this that he heard the sound of a vehicle's engine pull up just outside the gas station.
Knowing that he was about to make contact with potential hostiles. Zane quickly ducked behind the shelves, and silently placed his bat on the ground, while withdrawing his pistol from its holster, silently ensuring a round was in the chamber via a slight press check, before taking aim at those who might dare to cause him harm.
But what happened next was completely out of Zane's expectations.