Jun

They had entered the store. Toshi and Raiden were ready with their Katanas for any upcoming trouble but the store looked dead empty. Jun also stood on his grounds, he was not nervous anymore.

The store was a big one with lots of big shelves everywhere filled with different items.

Toshi held out his sword and clashed it with the glass gates of the store. The collision made a little sound and it echoed in that empty store.

Jun got startled by the sudden sound but Raiden did not flinch.

Toshi made the sound to see if any of the monsters were still inside the store. It was better to take care of them beforehand than get taken by them when you have your guard down.

They waited by the entrance for a few minutes but to their surprise, no one came out from that store. Now, it was confirmed that the store was empty or else the monster would have come by now, because of the sound.

"Looks like it's empty," Toshi whispered so that only those two could hear it.

"Yes, but still, do not let your guard down at any cost," Raiden said.

Toshi and Jun nodded.

"Let's split into two groups. Toshi you go to the left. I and Jun will go right. Scream if you get in trouble."

"You got it," Toshi left the group and made his way deeper into the store to explore the left side.

"Let us get moving, too," Raiden said while looking at Jun.

"Yeah," Jun replied.

Raiden had his scabbard stuck inside the belt of his jeans. It was to get easy access to his Katana and he did not have to keep on holding it in his hands.

On the other hand, Jun had a machete in his hands. It was the same one which they found in Raiden's house's basement.

Raiden believed in Toshi so he let him go alone to the other side of the store. But, he did not want to leave Jun alone. Jun was already nervous and could not have been left alone to explore the store.

Raiden and Jun had also gotten deep inside the store. They came by the shelves where all the food items were placed. They opened the chains of their bags and started filling them in with all the food items.

With the two being there, it was efficient. They were taking the food and filling it in their bags. Different canned foods, meats, vegetables and water bottles. They were stuffing their bags with all the items available in that store.

They completed taking stuff over from the first row. Now, they started going in deeper.

As soon as they went in more deep a bad smell hit them hard. It felt like the smell of a rotten corpse. They had to cover their nose to not smell more of it.

The smell was bad but they had to move in to get more food. So, they were not stopped by the smell and kept on moving ahead. The smell kept on getting stronger as they moved in deeper. They came by the end of that shelf and they could see a lot of flies flying around behind the shelf.

They had to cross it so they moved forward and came by to see the source of the smell. It was a corpse lying down behind the shelf. It had its head chewed out all the way in. Its body was also torn apart from multiple places.

Jun saw that and felt like puking.

Raiden immediately took him away from there. They reached the other section where all the food was placed.

They again started packing in their bags with the food.

"So, it's like this everywhere?" Jun asked as he filled in his bag.

"Yeah, pretty much."

They put more food items in their bags.

Jun picked up an item but stopped before placing it in his bag.

"Hey, Raiden! I did not come here to get ready for tomorrow."

Raiden also stopped midway and looked at jun.

"Then why come here?"

Jun also faced Raiden.

"To take responsibility."

"Responsibility?"

"Yeah, I know my sister is better at everything than me but…. But I can't call myself her brother if I fail to protect her. Like it was her who made all the decisions in the past. To come and hide in your house or to go to the store to get the food… it was all her. I don't know what we would have done if I was in the lead. That's why…. That's why I wanted to be responsible.

And, after seeing you guys, I got a feeling that I can become like you two if I try. That's why I came here."

"Jun, you can take the responsibility. I think you are worthy of it."

Jun could tell that Raiden was not joking. He was serious about that.

"Am I really though? I want to protect the people I care about but I can't help but get the feeling that I would just fail. You know, I'm not the smartest gut neither I'm strong nor have any type of guts. I just can't help but get enough of the feeling that I would be the first to die among all of us."

"Hey! Jun! Don't say things like that," Raiden got really angry after Jun said that.

But, a sad smile appeared on Jun's face as he looked up to face Raiden, "Hey, Raiden! Promise me…. Promise me if I die..... then you would take care of Sheila and protect her at all cost."

Jun held out his hand toward Raiden as a seal for the promise.

Raiden grabbed onto his hand and said, "Listen, I won't let anything happen to you or Sheila. And, you will not die Jun. Not under my watch. I won't let any of my friends die ever again. Trust me and have that written down in your brain."

Jun chuckled.

"Thanks, for considering me as your friend. And, yeah, I trust you."

"Yeah, so don't you ever say that kind of thing ever again."

"Okay! Okay! So, let's get back on to do the thing, shall we?"

"Yeah."

The two shared some deep words with one another and got back to picking up the food again.

They completely packed up their bags with all the food that they could take. It was time to head out of the store.

They made their way back and reached the exit to the store.

Toshi was waiting for them there. "Got the goods?" He asked.

"Yup, nice and packed," Raiden replied.

"We got a ton more from last time," Jun said. "We were too nervous to completely fill up the bags last time."

"Yeah, let's get moving then," Raiden said.

The others nodded and they all stepped out of the store.

The night had taken over all of them and it was dark everywhere.

But, they were not afraid of that dark. They had each other that would look after them.

Their raid of the store was a success. Now, all that was left was for them to make it back home.

And, tomorrow, a new journey for them would begin.

As tomorrow was the day that they would move out of the house to leave the city.

To escape from the monsters.

To escape from the nightmares.

They had to move out.