Absent But Not Forgotten || Jinki & BoA
The door to the mini-market opened with ease considering the years it lacked maintenance. There was barely an audible creak of the worn and old metal as she forced it open all the way. She stepped inside, peering at her surroundings with held in one hand and the other ready to get her revolver out of her waist holster if she needed to. Her years of experience told her that, no matter how good things might seem (or how innocent people might seem) it was never good to let your guard down. Especially in unknown places, though not limited to them.
She walked sideways through the isles, on foot in front of the other, and keeping her knife chest-level. She didn’t have to wait and get used to the less lighting, like she did in the previous building she had been in, since the glass window provided sufficient natural light to keep the place lighted up without having to take out her flashlight. And that was a very good thing, considering she was running out of batteries. No need to waste what might save her life later on, especially now that she was roaming on the free district.
Making sure there wasn’t anyone on the isle she was in, nor in the next one or down the rows of isles, Boa dropped her bag gently, on the floor. She took the few canned foods she found, some dropped on the floor, others on the shelves. She moved down each isle, getting in her bag whatever she could, until she arrived at the other end of the store, the single place where the sun didn’t blast through, illuminating the whole place. She was about to sent her bag down to get whatever else she could when the figure of someone on the floor.
Boa stiffened and adjusted her bag on her back before drawing up her revolver, her hunting knife beside the weapon in a fighting stance. “Who are you?” She asked with a tight and dangerous tone in her voice.
The shop was like heaven on earth. It was not only a quiet place, free from Infected (except for the few that were groaning in the backroom but the entrance to that room was professionally closed off), but there were some provisions as well. Most food cans and drinks had been looted, but there were a few boxes and cans still scattered on the floor and a few neatly left on the shelves. In a little corner at the back of the store, Jinki checked the boxes he had been able to gather when entering, feeling a little excited when he discovered the looters had left some bouillon blocks and sugar behind. They could give that little extra to an otherwise bland meal.
The nurse was carefully packing the bouillon blocks and the little bag of sugar in his backpack, when the front door of the shop opened with an almost inaudible creak. Jinki held his breath and listened to the shuffling footsteps that entered the shop. There was no inhumane groaning following the creak, which indicated it was another survivor and not an infected. But was it a good thing that it was another human and not a monster? In this world it was hard to say which one was more dangerous.
Drained off energy, Jinki didn’t feel like confronting the survivor who had just entered the shop. He had never been a real fighter, but due to the events of the past few days his will to fight had reached its lowest level. He hid in a dark corner next to an old, foul-smelling refrigerator and hoped the other survivor would leave before noticing him in the corner. But an intelligent survivor would never leave such a place without checking every nook and cranny. And this survivor proved to be very intelligent.
As he heard the survivor coming closer step by step, Jinki tucked himself into a little ball. He wrapped his arms around his knees and pressed his cheeks against his knees. He wanted to shut his eyes close, but his survival instinct was telling him to keep them open and watch the dim-lit alley.
Only seconds later, a young woman with blonde hair appeared behind the corner. She looked calm and happy to have found this place, but the moment she noticed Jinki sitting in the corner her instinct and fighting skills kicked in. She drew up her revolver, while holding her hunting knife in the other.
“I am Lee Jinki,” the nurse said calmly. “Survivor just like you… looking for a place to calm down for a little bit before continuing my journey. I mean absolutely no harm, so could you perhaps put away the revolver? And may I ask your name?”
Boa was more than a little unconvinced to lower her weapons, one could never know what other survivors would do to get you to lower your guard. She didn’t really see any weapon on him for the ready but you could never really know, especially since that side of the store was relatively dark compared to the blaring sun that illuminated the rest of the place. And talking about seeing...
“Take off your mask,” she wasn’t really one to back down. Thought, his curled up position wasn’t one to take when on the offensive, which made her believe that he was the type that stayed in groups. Also, he sounded young, maybe young like her or maybe younger. She didn’t know but, those were also the kind of people that're mostly never alone and she couldn’t take her chances. And, when out here, people were mostly never up to no good. In her opinion, they were almost as bad as the infected, but only almost. Because fuck, did she hate Clickers. However, something about him-- maybe the way he spoke while adding how defenseless and defeated he looked-- made the option of him being separated from his group like a real possibility. But so was him waiting for someone there. Either way, she couldn’t completely shake off her instincts.
There was a small moment of pause where she could hear the moans and groans of infected. Her eyes shifted to the backdoor at the end of the corridor before her eyes planted themselves on him again. “You look well taken care of for you to be a lone wolf. Where’s your group?”, she asked with her weapons still on the ready. She had her sense on overdrive, not only from the experience she had a few minutes ago with all the damn Clickers on the apartment building but now with this survivor hiding in the shadows with the great possibility of others around and adding to that the infected just a door away. This expedition journey she set herself in was having way too many sour moments for her taste. Good thing years of experience tough her how to deal with all types of scenarios.
“And no lies or I’ll leave a bullet in your head,” her voice was stern and dangerous, conveying her seriousness because she wouldn’t even blink when killing, even humans, if the need to be done. She wouldn’t have made it to her late to twenties, just a few months shy from thirty, if wasn’t careful and, at necessary times, hardhearted.
