Malcolm, Riley

Checking the map, Malcolm finds that medical supply vendors had congregated in the school's former nurse's office and a neighboring room. When he and Riley get there, they find a collection of tables piled with various medical supplies. Some of it is straightforward first aid supplies such as bandages, splints, and antiseptic, but it also includes painkillers, antibiotics, various pills and drugs, and even a table with "natural" remedies that are, tragically, unlabeled and unidentifiable. Rounding out the supplies are a few long-term medical devices such as crutches, wheelchairs, and stretchers, and even some dubiously "medical" goods such as hygiene products and sunscreen.

Chris K

Guns and ammo are stocked in one location, and clean clothes in another. Chris K notices from the map that the guns and ammo, in the gymnasium, have a lot more space than the clothes. It's his choice which he wants to check out first.

Ramona

Ramona's search for books brings her back to the library. It still reeks of chlorine, though less headache-inducingly strong, and the remaining food on the tables are untouched.

Most of the bookshelves have been pushed to the back of the library to make room for more tables. Since then, something has toppled half of them over like dominoes, spilling hundreds of books onto the floor. They, along with the other books in the library, are mostly suited to elementary-aged children, but there are a few young adult novels and age-non-specific non-fiction books in the mix.

"You think they've got any of those, uh, Hairy Wizard books here?" Tamara asks. She's at the bookshelf, but her head is turned over her shoulder, looking wistfully at the food. "There's some kids back at the motel that would like that."

Before heading off, Chris asks Malcolm "I'm gonna head for weaponry. I'll get some more ammo for the weapons we got yesterday if I can - what sort of calibres did you have?"

Fashion was never high on Chris's agenda, and even less so now, so he heads to where the weapons and ammo are checking out any side rooms enroute - to eliminate any zeds, but als to see whats there. Once at the weapons area, he'll look for ammo for his M4, a pistol and ammo, and some sort of axe as well(in that order).

Riley spent a considerable amount of time narrowing down anything she could identify to be useful in the nurse's office. After gathering everything she found, she began examining the table that held various oddities.

One of the bottle caught Riley's eye and she snatched it in between her fingers. With great caution, she lifted up the bottle and wobbled gently to observe the liquid inside.

"You know what these are? I'm not sure if we should bring these back." She set the bottle down. "Maybe one of the doctors will know what they are if they looked at them?" Riley thought out loud.

"Small." Malcolm answers Chris' question. "Twenty twos, nines, things like that I think. Grab some shotgun shells too though. Good luck!" Malcolm said, walking with Riley into the nurses room.

"I can't believe this luck. I really cant." he said as he took to grabbing everything in sight, shoving it into his pockets and backpack. He glanced over at Riley's question. Shaking his head.

"I have no idea. If you can find room for it we should take it though. If docs can use it its a plus, if not then whatever." He walks over to grab the crutches. "Man look at this shit. Think of how rare this shit is gonna be in just a year from now."

"Lemme know when you're ready, we should grab some clothes before all the fashionable items are taken." The kid says, glancing at some of the painkiller bottles he had stuffed in his pocket.

Now that Ramona was alone with Tamara again, she welcomed the familiar company; even if they were alone in a chlorine-filled library that looked like a hurricane swept through it. Ramona took her time to sift through the books, only to glare at her sister for erroneously naming her favorite book series. It's Harry Potter, she signed, rolling her eyes. They were easy for a recovering boxer to read, but she had the feeling that Tamara enjoyed poking fun at her so-called 'obsession' with them. Now and then, Ramona wondered if the newest book, 'Order of the Phoenix,' managed to publish before the outbreak hit. Her search took on a greater fervor once the possibility that it could be in this library crossed her mind.

Chris K

The gymnasium holding the weapons is located as far as possible from the school's entrance, presumably to discourage looters of the market's hottest commodities. As such, the number of classrooms, bathrooms, and other side rooms preclude Chris K from thoroughly searching each one unless he wants to spend the entire outing doing so. A quick look into each classroom window, however, suggests that there are no more walkers in plan sight on the route to the gymnasium.

The gymnasium is crowded with tables, all laden with guns, including handguns, rifles, and some firearms in between. More exotic weapons, such as hunting bows, crossbows, and black powder weapons lay on the outskirts of the room. There are definitely no shortage of twenty twos, nines, and things like that, nor shotgun shells.

Ramona

"Ohhh, yeah," Tamara says, rubbing her thumb and forefinger on her chin. "I forgot. I wonder if - what's her name again? - J. K. Tolkien, yeah, if she's still alive. Maybe she's writing another book. Cor blimey, it's the walking dead! Abracadabra, hey presto, phoenix down!"

She's quiet for a moment, running a finger over a table covered with food when she walks past. She looks up and adds, "I'm glad you're still working on it. It's easy to let that kind of thing slide when you're under stress, and now...well, I just...I'm proud of you. That's it."

Riley abandoned the questionable chemical fluids on the table and proceeded to stock whatever's useful into her backpack.

"There better be someone that still knows how to make these out there. Let's go." She took a last glance at the mysterious bottles before leaving with Malcolm.

Chris was taken aback at the array. Stepping inside, he shut the door behind him, and placed a gun against it so it should fall over in case anyone - or anything - came in.

Taking in the view, really they should clear this place out - purely so no one could use the arsenal against them if for no other reason.

Opening his pack, he stuffed it with the ammunition Malcolm had mentioned, making sure he had plenty for his M4 as well, and topping up his weapon.

He paused every couple of minutes to look around and listen - just in case.

He picked out an automatic pistol for himself, making sure it was compatible with the 9 mm ammo he had, and looking for a holster and spare magazines for it. He also looked for some spare magazines for his M4. When he had finished that, he looked at hand weapons. What he was looking for was a hatchet - something he could use as a tool but also as a weapon.

Finally, he picked up another shotgun, and some rifles - again making sure they used the ammo he had. He put the weapons down the side of his pack. It was heavy and a bit unwieldy, but he could haul it a reasonable distance, and drop it all easily enough if he needed to.

Once finished, he wandered back, trying to find any clothes shops on the way. If he finds one, he'll look for some new trousers - cargo pants, work pants or combats - a better t shirt and a shirt as well. And some spares if possible

Malcolm pops the bottle open and pops two pain killers in his mouth before pocketing the bottle. "Yep lets go." He said, clutching the crutches in one hand and his pistol hanging loose in another. He left to go look for clothes but took the time to "window shop" some of the other rooms they passed. It occurred to him that this will be the closest experience to being in a shopping mall for a very long time.

Malcolm, Riley

Malcolm and Riley collect as many medical supplies as they think necessary, mysterious fluids notwithstanding, before moving on to the clothing options.

Along the way, Malcolm looks through the door windows of the rooms they pass, but the selection is dizzying. Virtually anything that can bought or sold was available at this marketplace; while the rooms that once sold labour are now empty, there is still too wide an assortment for him to mentally categorize everything he sees. Whatever he wants, he can find, but he'll need to know what he wants first.

The two reach the clothing room at the same time as Chris K.



Chris K


Chris K notices another metal canister of the caustic gas in this room. The contraption that topped the canister in the library doesn't seem to be present, but he allows it a wide berth anyway.

Chris K gathers up a hefty arsenal of deadly equipment. Even with proper weight distribution, it's difficult to carry the load. It'll be a relief to drop this in the car's trunk as soon as possible. Nonetheless, the shopping trip is not done yet, and he arrives at the clothing room at the same time as Malcolm and Riley.


Ramona

Tamara waits for an answer from Ramona, but after several seconds, looks away. "Alright," she says quietly, then starts gathering food and drink into a duffle bag.

Whatever moved the bookshelves to the back of the room left them in disarray, and whatever knocked them over spilled hundreds of books to the floor, making it a daunting task to sort through them. Nonetheless, Ramona can tell from a glance that its selection is outdated, probably reliant on donations going back decades. It looks unlikely that this school ever had a copy of Order of the Phoenix, as it was scheduled to hit the shelves just about the time everything started going to hell.

Chris greeted Malcolm and Riley "Hey. I got some more weapons and ammo for the group" pointing to the clothes room he added "And I'm clothes shopping next. Did you manage to get the meds you wanted?" AS he spoke, he peered into the clothes room to make it was clear of zeds, tapping on the door as he did so.

"Sure did." Malcolm said, walking into the room to find some new threads. "Got alot more than I expected. Dunno any of it but know that its important. If this place had beds I'd suggest moving the community here to make use of everything but we don't have that time. A shame to let this all go."

Chris nodded and followed Malcolm in "I thought the same. About using stuff not moving in. Theres a lot of weapons here - and that worries me - could be used against us" He picks himself out some cargo pants, and a spare pair of jeans, as well as a couple of t shirts and shirt, nothing too garish, but he's not overly concerned by the state.

He looks at the woman and says "Look away if youre shy", and then keeping his back to them quickly changes into the cargo pants, putting on a t shirt with a shirt over it, and staching the jeans and other clothes in his pack.

Once hes changed and packed hs says "Ready to roll when you are"

Riley held up the assortment of medicine supplies for Chris to peruse their loot. She turned around to gawk at the clothes while the man changed.

"Just look at all those clothes..." Riley commented, the selection available to her was breathtaking. And... there's no budget! The sight of clothes eradicated her initial skepticism of this trip.

Malcolm, Chris K, Riley

The room is hardly a boutique. Most of the selection is breathtaking in the sense that it is suffocatingly boring, ranging from utilitarian casual wear like jeans and T-shirts to utilitarian work wear like overalls and steel-toed boots. That said, there is a small collection of ritzier clothes, from stylish fashion all the way up to cocktail dresses, tuxedos, and wedding gowns, for those that want to look their best in the worst of times.

The small collection of formal attires captured Riley's attention. She strolled over by the wedding gowns, gently touching the soft fabrics with her hand.

"Mom used to love looking at dresses. Especially fancy ones." Riley thought out loud. With two hands, she snatched one of the tuxedo off the table. "You guys would look good in these." She held up the suit and smiled at the other two.

Riley eyes darted off when she caught a glimpse of the casual wear jeans and T-shirts. She wasted no further time on the formal clothes and moved on to the more practical attire choices. "Oh this is nice... It'll be easy to move in these. Comfortable too I bet." She mumbled to herself as she compared the shirts in both hand.

Mal looks through some of the clothes and glances up to see Riley holding up the tuxedo. He laughed and then a nice maroon long sleeve shirt caught his eye. He grabbed that and a few more shirts that he liked. After all the kid did notice a habit of his clothes getting bullet holes in them. Itd be nice to have spares on hand for next time.

Ramona was never good at accepting compliments, least of all from her older sister. Before the accident, she'd always believed that you could never be good enough; after her career crashed and burned, praise felt like thinly-veiled pity. Out of everyone she knew, however, Ramona trusted Tamara to be genuine -- she simply couldn't think of how to respond. Those seconds of awkward silence led to Tamara going back to work, and Ramona to silently cursing herself for ruining the moment. In lieu of conversation, she set about gathering up any books that othered instructions or suitable entertainment.

Grabbing a few extra pieces of clothing like socks and the like Malcolm turned back towards his two companions. "Lets go find the others, grab some food and get the hell out of here. C'mon." He says.

Chris nods and adds "More water too if we can" and follows after Malcolm

Completely oblivious to Malcolm and Chris, Riley continued her shopping spree. She had already tucked away several sets of clothes before realizing the other two are leaving the room.

"Oh, hang on! I need to pick something for Juan." She rushed over by the clothes she visited earlier to procure a pair of jeans, and a black leather jacket. With her backpack overflowing with clothes she joined the other two to find Ramona.

Malcolm, Chris K, Ramona, Riley

Fortunately, there is no shortage of casual wear. Despite their different sizes, there's clothing to spare for everyone - even Juan, though he doesn't know it yet. There's even enough variety to pull together some decent ensembles, if anyone still cares about that.

Unfortunately, the smell of chlorine still clings to all of the clothing. Though almost undetectable at range, it's enough to irritate the eyes and nose of anyone holding it up to their face - or wearing it. Hopefully, it'll fade if the clothes are given a chance to air out.

Picking through the spilled books is more difficult. Most of them have been spilled onto the floor in flagrant disregard of the Dewey Decimal system, making it difficult for Ramona to target specific genres or subjects. Her difficulty reading them also prevents her from easily skimming their contents, but even so, she can tell that this elementary school library contains relatively little practical information; many books broadly cover subjects like farming or medicine, but few go into usable detail. Still, she collects enough books to keep her busy for a while, at least.

Malcolm, Chris K, and Riley end up heading in Ramona and Tamara's direction, while Ramona and Tamara do the opposite. The meet up near the entrance just in time to see a familiar van rolling to a stop in front of the doors. Chuck, visible through the windshield, throws them a wave before opening the door and stepping out.

"Hey, there!" Chuck calls, walking towards the entrance. Behind him, Buster, Leslie, and Sid step out of the van as well. "Glad we caught you before you started headin' back. We figured we'd take the initiative and get to gathering up the leftover food and water."

Malcolm smiled at the gang, giving them a wave. "Nice, I like the proactivity, great stuff." He shifted his pack burgeoning with items. Despite the trouble in the early morning he was glad members of the community were finding ways to help.

"We grabbed some food too but strip this place of anything edible if you can!" He said, taking some steps over to their car before stopping.

"There some specialty shit in there, alot I didnt have time to go over but maybe theres some use in them. Anything you guys find of interest you grab it alright? We'll see you back soon. Be safe." He says getting into the car.

Chris follows Malcolm to the car and adds "more weapons and ammo as well. Always useful" and puts is pack in the boot, before getting in to drive again.

ooc
Twins have arrived. Not sure how things will pan out on posting. I'll try and keep up as best I can. But going to have 3 weeks paternity leave, so might be more intermittant for that time (as I usually post from work)
This message was last edited by the player at 08:22, Fri 12 July 2019.

Malcolm, Chris K, Ramona, Riley

"That's the plan," Chuck tells Malcolm. Spotting Chris K, he gives him a weird hand gesture that looks like it can't decide whether it's a tip of an imaginary hat or the world's sloppiest salute. "This'll probably take us a few trips, might be busy a while. It'd be easier if we could get our hands on some more wheels, but I sure as shit ain't gonna try getting that bus down here."

He laughs. "Anyway, should be enough food and water for a few days at least. It'll go faster than you think, though. We saw that with Ari. Hope you've got somewhere in mind."

Chuck and the others enter the school. Sid gives a casual wave as she passes, but the only one to pay any real attention is Leslie, whose eyes linger on Chris K until he looks up. Once he does, however, she can only meet his gaze for a few seconds, her expression guilty and uneasy, before looking away.

Malcolm, Chris K, Ramona, Riley, and Tamara stow their findings in the car and pile into its seats. Once the car starts moving, Tamara gently nudges Ramona in the side.

"Hey, I haven't read this myself, but I've heard it's pretty close to those books you like," Tamara whispers. She pushes a book into Ramona's hands, titled Eragon.