Shotgun
Henry gently opened the door of the police car.
In the glove compartment of the passenger side, he found two pairs of handcuffs and a walkie-talkie.
On the passenger seat, there was a fast food box.
He couldn't tell what had been inside.
It was now completely overrun with various colorful molds.
A fuzzy mass that was quite nauseating to look at.
Clearly, it was worthless!
Henry searched around further but didn't find anything else.
He decided to check the trunk.
At the rear of the car, he lifted the trunk lid gently.
Inside, to his surprise, lay a shotgun with two boxes of shotgun shells next to it.
Well, this was indeed a heavy weapon!
Although he was only dealing with regular zombies for now, who knew if there were any mutated zombies in this world?
A shotgun, at close range, could turn a zombie into a sieve.
And if aimed for the head, the damage could be significantly more devastating!
This was a major find!
Henry quickly removed a baton from his backpack and tucked it into the big bag that was holding the shotgun.
He stored the shotgun and all the shells in his storage ring.
It was best to keep valuable items in the storage ring to prevent loss.
The baton, not so valuable.
With his backpack overflowing, it seemed like a trip home was necessary before heading to the supermarket.
Now armed with a pistol and a shotgun, Henry felt much more confident in his movements!
Back home, Henry removed everything from his storage space except for the two guns and the ammunition.
He stored the rest of the items in his house.
Then he turned on the gas stove, took some frozen meat out of the fridge.
He thawed it briefly in the microwave, sliced two thick pieces,
and started cooking in a pan with some soy sauce and black pepper.
Cooking raw meat was demanding, requiring fire, oil, a pan, seasonings... everything...
Fortunately, with electricity, it was manageable.
If there's a power outage, dealing with this frozen meat could become very troublesome.
It's not like canned luncheon meat that you can just open and eat anytime!
So, Henry decided to prioritize consuming these more perishable food items first.
Watching the red meat sizzle and pop in the frying pan, the aroma of the meat mixed with the seasonings wafted through the exhaust duct of the range hood and drifted out the window,
slowly wafting into a window of Building 5.
On the third-floor landing of Building 5, two men sat wearing tank tops, their arms covered in intricate tattoos.
One was tall and thin, the other short and stout.
The tall man's nose twitched, then he took a deep gulp of saliva and said,
"...You smell that? I think I smell meat!"
"It smells like someone is frying meat... beef... slurp!"
"It's ridiculously luxurious, someone can still eat meat in these times!"
The short stout man sniffed, smelling nothing but the dust and the scent of canned luncheon meat in the air.
"You must be hallucinating from hunger, where's any frying meat coming from!"
"Besides, we're in the apocalypse!"
"See if there's any meat for sale on the auction trading system?"
"We should be thankful for having canned luncheon meat!"
He said, scooping a large spoonful of luncheon meat from the can and shoving it into his mouth.
Only a third was left, which he handed to the tall man.
"Guess you're right!"
"Must be craving meat too much..."
The latter made no ceremony and quickly finished it off.
"Um..."
At that moment, a woman squatting in the corner of the stairs spoke up.
She was the woman from yesterday who had been trapped on the canopy in the low-cut dress.
Now her hair was disheveled, her clothes untidy, curled up in the corner.
Watching the two men heartily sharing her food and water, she was furious but dared not speak out.
"What? You got something to say?" the stout man glanced at the woman and asked.
"I... I haven't eaten yet..."
"Weren't you guys going to save me some?"
The woman licked her dry, cracked lips, her voice hoarse as she spoke.
"Come on, you still have the nerve to say that? This is the price for us saving you!"
"If it weren't for us, you wouldn't have survived the night!"
"You should be thanking us properly!" the short, stout man said with a scoff.
"But... but to repay you..."
"Yesterday you both already..."
"You can't just take advantage of me like that..." the woman protested weakly.
"What? Were only we two happy yesterday?"
"Weren't you happy yourself?"
"Besides, that was compensation for us rescuing you from the canopy!"
"You said it yourself, as long as we got you down, anything goes!"
"Today's lunch meat is compensation for letting you stay overnight without kicking you out!"
"With all the zombies outside, without this sturdy door, could you have safely made it through the night?"
"You'd probably have been zombie food by now!" the stout man said viciously.
He and the tall, thin man had known each other already, and it just so happened that they both ended up in the same building's apartment.
When the game started, the zombies in the room were inactive.
In a panic, they grabbed kitchen knives and ran out of the room.
Afterward, they "wisely" closed the room door!
This indeed trapped the zombies inside, unable to get out.
But they also ended up trapped in the stairwell, sleeping on the cold ground overnight.
When they rescued the woman yesterday, they were lusting after her body.
Now that food and water were running low, they felt she was more of a burden.
So, naturally, their tone was not kind.
"We even ate this girl's lunch meat and drank her water!"
"Now we really don't have any food or water left!"
"If we don't find some food soon... we might starve to death here!" the tall, thin man said with a grimace.
"No worries, I've already thought of a plan!"
"Look over there!" the stout man said, pointing out the window.
Building 5 was right next to the road.
From here, you could directly see the small square at the main entrance of the neighborhood.
On either side of the square, there was a supermarket and a bakery.
"See that? A restaurant and a supermarket, there's definitely food to be found there!"
"As long as we can get there, food won't be a problem!" the stout man stated confidently.
"But... with so many zombies... how can just the two of us get through?" the tall, thin man asked, looking worried.
These zombies, each with a fierce appearance, ran as if they were unstoppable.
Just one bite or scratch, and you'd turn into a zombie!
Even the thought of facing a zombie one-on-one didn't fill him with confidence...
Let alone so many?!
Going out would be like walking into death...
"Don't worry, I've already thought of a strategy!" the stout man said with a mysterious smile, then his gaze shifted to the woman...