127 Anna

Inside the living room two people were busily moving about.

A man stood at the center of the room with a table in front of him. The man held a crossbow and nervously watched the door.

A woman tapped his shoulder from behind and made him shocked.

\"You can do it! Just do it according to plan.\"

She then went and stood next to the door while her back was against the wall. She took one last glance towards the man and nodded her head.

The man replied back with a nod and grasped his crossbow tighter.

It was Emman and Erin.

The two finally agreed to take on the carriers since there's only a few of them.

Since Emman already came clean that he wasn't an expert at using the crossbow, Erin had to improvise a plan where they don't have to comfront all of the carriers at the same time.

And this is what she came up with.

Emman stood ten meters away from the door since this was his effective range. Any further and his hit rate would plummet down.

Erin slowly held the doorknob and listened on the pounding door. She wa waiting for the moment when the carriers hit the door and after that would have to stop for a second due to the rebound.

When she heard the carriers finished mauling the door, she opened the door hastily.

When the door opened wide, Emman saw two carriers standing on the front door staring at him. Since he was already aiming before the door even opened, it only took him a second to adjust his aim and quickly pulled the trigger.

The bolt zoomed past Erin and struck the carriers shoulder. She didn't wait another second and quickly closed the door.

\"Did you kill it?\"

\"No...I-Im sorry.\"

\"That's okay! That's okay. Just reload, and we'll try again.\"

Emman set the crossbow on the ground and pulled back the string. He took one bolt from the remaining four on the table and reloaded it.

At the same time that he was reloading, the pounding on the door was getting harder and harsher as if the ones outside couldn't wait any longer to meet them.

\"I'm ready!\" said Emman as he raised the crossbow.

Erin took a deep breathe, then yelled, \"On three! One, two, three!\"

Erin quickly opened the door and sticked closely to the wall.

This time, Emman managed to hit the carrier in the head.

\"I did it!\" exclaimed Emman as he watched the body slowly fell forward after getting pushed by the ones behind it. \"No, close it!\"

Erin hurriedly closed the door but it was too late. half of the carriers body already entered through the door. She pushed back as powerful as she could and only managed to close the door by a tiny bit. Afterwards, she slowly kneeled down while exerting force on the door.

She held the carriers head to loot the body, wanting to make it disappear. With its body gone, she should be able to lock the door.

She succeeded.

The body turned to bright stardust and she was able to close the door. Her back ache from the continous pounding of the door.

Afterwards, she felt weird when the hard wood she was leaning on disappeared. Also, she felt her body slowly tilting backwards with her vision changing at an unusal way.

She was now lying down on the floor of the hallway while staring at the carriers faces. Fear and desperation showed upon her face. She quickly placed her arms above her as she rolled to the side of the hallway.

A bolt was fired and knocked back one of the carriers.

Two carriers hurriedly pounced down and missed Erin by a hair's breadth. The last one managed to grab her arms and bite it.

Tears fell by the corners of her eyes while fury rose inside her. Erin cried as she stood up while stabbing the carrier by the side of its head.

All of a sudden, something swooshed past her and struck one of the carrier at the center of its head. When she turned around, she saw a woman holding onto a recurve bow and just released another shot.

The same sound passed by and once again hit its target.

Emman became excited when he saw the carriers falling down one by one. With renewed hope, he aimed one more time and killed the already unstable carrier. He got excited as he packed his things and went outside.

\"Thank you for helping us! We really—\"

\"Drop your weapon and hand over the bag.\"

A bow and arrow was aiming at Emman as soon as he stepped out of the room, He grudgingly followed what he was ordered to and threw his bag over. He gently placed the crossbow on the floor.

\"Purify the bodies. You know what to do, right?\"

Emman nodded his head as he knelt down and started looting the bodies.

The girl then turned to Erin and motioned for her to face the wall.

When the woman noticed that Erin wasn't willing as if wanting to fight back, she focused on her and drawed the string further back.

\"Please don't try and do something stupid. We both want to live for another day. I saw you enter the pharmacy earlier and I really need medicine.\"

\"You're quite fine... unlike me who's bitten and got beat by those—\"

\"It's not for me... Just face the wall please? I don't want to this too. Believe me.\"

As the two stared at each other, a voice came from downstairs and called for someone.

\"Ate [1]Anna! Ate Anna! Grandma's burning up again!\"

A young girl, around nine or ten, peeked from downstairs and saw the scene on the hallway. Several dead bodies while a fight might happen at any moment.

\"Ate Anna! What are you doing!?\"

\"Go back downstairs Chloe. Just stay by Lola's [2]side. I'll be right there soon.\"

Chloe observed the situation and figured out what was happening. Though she wasn't that old, it doesn't mean that she was ignorant of the world.

\"Are you robbing them?\" said Chloe wide-eyed. \"I'll tell grandma about this!\"

The little girl then ran down the stairs and went out of the front door.

When Chloe left, Anna stared at Erin and Erin stared back at her.

\"I need antibiotics. Open the bag and hand them over. I don't need many, just hurry up.\"

Erin glared at her but slowly went for Emman's bag.

\"Its on the first zipper.\" said Emman who was busy looting the bodies.

Erin turned to him while glaring. She didn't appreciate his \"help\" at all.

Erin found the antibiotics and handed over the whole pack.

\"Sorry about this.\"

Anna apologized as she slowly retreated before running down the stairs.

Erin who finally felt relieve after releasing the tension all over her body, slouched down and leaned on the wall.

Erin snorted as she breathe in and exhaled. \"What a bitch! I'll return this favor one day.\"

Emman shook his head. \"Come on, let it go. I think her grandmother needed it. Don't you have a grandmother?\"

Erin glared at his back and shook her head. \"You're this easy to rob? I'm never going on a run with you again. And I'll tell the group that you're a fake!\"

Emman turned around and faced her. \"Hey, hey, calm down. You cab tell that to the group but that doesn't that I'm a fake. I can still shoot you know? I'm just not an expert at it. Besides, the group needed the extra body for night duties, right?\"

Erin stared at him and sighed.

\"Fuck this...\"

***

\"Chloe slow down!\" Anna softly said as she try to catch up with her niece.

Chloe stopped at the intersection and crossed the road before turning east. She nimbly avoided detection as she jogged on the sidewalk. Before reaching another corner, she slowed down and entered one of the stores.

Anna finally caught up to her and followed her inside.

The store was a furniture store and has a wide variety on display. On one corner, there's a living room set while on the other was a kitchen furniture set. There's also miscellanous things and finally, she passed by the bedroom sets.

On one of the beds lay an old woman. She appeared unwell and would sometimes mumble unintelligible things. Sweat also covered her forehead and some actually slid to the sides.

Below the side of the bed were numerous empty cups of instant noodles.

Anna hastily sat down beside her grandmother.

A towel appeared on her hand and she used it to wipe her grandmother's forehead.

Afterwards, she turned to Chloe and glared at her.

\"I told you not to leave her side!\" said Anna.

\"But grandma was calling for you!\" rebuked Chloe.

\"You! You're talking back now? Who taught you that!\"

Chloe lowered her head as she accepted the scolding.

Anna was enrage since she was being disrespected by her niece. It was normal for an older relative to guide the young ones and it is considered rude to answer back when you are being scolded. You are expected to listen while being scolded and has to reflect right after. That's what  has been taught to them and everyone on the family.

\"Sorry Ate [3]Anna.\" replied Chloe dejectedly. \"I just got scared since gLola [4]was calling for you.\"

After seeing her niece's sorry look, Anna felt apologetic. She took a chocolate bar from her dimensional storage and gave it to Chloe.

\"Here take it. We'll eat later.\"

\"Is it cup noodles again?\"

Anna patted her niece's head and said, \"Yes... for now. The next time the bell rings, I'll get us something good.\"

Anna turned on the electric lamp on the bed and the two chatted as they prepared their meal. Anna brought out a kettle and went into a corner where a gas stove was set upped.

They have already lived here for some time and have the neccessities in order. Though there's numerous living people in the area, they never got disturbed or ransacked.

Simply because they're in a furniture store.

Besides furnitures, there's nothing useful that could be found here.

[1] Ate = sister

[2] Lola = Grandma

[3] sister

[4] grandma