As Logan and Akane left the aisle and walked past Leah's, they saw her just finishing her final dead. The naive girl looked up to see them and frowned.
"He was already done, wasn't he?" she said, and Akane nodded. "Damn, and we were working together!" Leah said while wiping down her weapons.
"Ehh, to be fair, I saw not as nearly as many dead on the ground in his aisle, so he didn't have to cut through the numbers we did," Akane said, making Leah nod at that mercy at least. She joined them at the end of the aisle near the back of the store. As she did, they all heard the sound of steel sliding across the waxed floor as garden shears slid towards them. This made the three look up to see Tallahassee standing over the last dead in their aisle. Both he and Columbus were covered in blood as the two had been close together the entire time they killed the horde down the aisle.
"Whoooh!" Tally screamed into the air as he took a deep breath from the exertion. "now that shit will keep you young, Mmh!" The man was ecstatic as she swung his arms to stretch out the worked muscles. "Ahh, you three good on your end?" he said, giving the three a look over to make sure no one got bitten as he walked up to them.
"Where good, how about you two?" Akane said, making Columbus nod and start to speak. When he gazed down the aisle, Leah and Akane had just gone through.
"Holy fuck" he whispered as Tally whistled out at the practically black-blood-covered aisle.
"Sweet Caroline, and here I thought we filled a graveyard," Tally chuckled while comparing the mess the two women made with the one he and Columbus had just finished. If he had to make a call, he'd say they just eeked out a bigger number of kills based on the number of heads he could make out on the aisle, but that wasn't saying that the sight in front of him was nothing but impressive. Akane grinned while Leah just rolled her shoulder to help relieve some stress she had built up after so many swings.
"Yeah, got to say it's good to get the blood pumping by stopping blood from pumping in others," the Black-haired shorty said with bloodlust sparkling in her eyes. Leah just smiled at her lover's infectious nature before seeing a fallen plastic basket that wasn't covered in blood, and quickly picked it up.
"Alright, enough praise. These dead bodies are going to start stinking worse than they are now, and I'd like to be done shopping before that happens," Leah said before walking away with Logan behind her. Akane snickered as she followed, noticing the slight red her lover's darker skin hid from the two canon characters after being complimented. She assumed it must have felt good to be praised for being the badass that she was, then the fool who got fucked over by a joke badass zombie.
"Right you are," Tally nodded along to Leah's words and turned to start looking for his Twinkie when he saw a living, breathing woman emerging from the employee doors at the back of the store. Raven-haired with a leather jacket and tight-fitting jeans, the girl looked distraught.
"Oh, thing, god!" she whimpered, making Columbus turn and grow wide-eyed at the girl. "Please! Come quickly... my sister, she... hic... she got out before running back through the doors. Tally sighed and looked back to gauge the other three on what to do, but found them gone. Sighing at just missing the three, he turned back and started after the woman, with Columbus behind him.
"Oh, hang on a sec?" Columbus requested, making Tallahassee look to see him pause and grab a box on the ground, not too far away. Quickly running away, he opened a side exit, checked outside, and then placed a box to keep it open. "Rule #22: when in doubt, know your way out," he said, making Tally shake his head as he followed the little spitfuck deeper into the store.
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As the two left the main store area, Akane leaned out from the aisle the three had walked down to hide from the event. "So it seemed the grifting sisters are alive and kicking," she said to Leah and Logan. "Better acting, too," she commented further after catching what she believed was a genuine look of sadness in the Emma Stone lookalike. In the movie, her take on the scene was hammed up to a sad degree for a character who was an experienced liar. This true version, however, was a real fucking pro, if the tear that streamed down her face was any indication.
"Guess so," Logan answered offhandedly. "How do you want to handle them if the con is pulled off?" Logan asked as he grabbed a couple of supplies Orlando had asked them to get. The three had actively hidden, so Wichita hadn't seen them when she came out. The three knew Tallahassee wouldn't speak of their presence in the first place, and Columbus was so caught up in romanticizing the pretty girl that He likely wouldn't even remember we existed in the first place.
"I think we should do something before they get outside," Leah said as she popped open a plastic tube of wet wipes to clean off her hands and face. Akane and Logan grabbed one as well when offered. "To us, the two are lovable characters. To Orlando? Two grifters who took her brother's gun and are using it to rob us." Logan and Akane nodded at that in silent agreement.
"Yeah, good point," Akane said, "I guess we stop them in the store." The other two agreed and started to shop a bit faster, so they were ready to leave before having to save the two men from a pretty face. As they did, Akane spotted something that gave her a great idea for a bit of punishment for the two grifters. While she liked the spunk of the two, that didn't mean she wouldn't let them off with a warning if she had the chance at something much greater.
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Columbus was ecstatic as he followed the girl down the hallway. It was inconceivable that he had met four women of Marriageable age in a mere day and a half! Yes, the three before this one seemed to be taken or quick to shoot him down before he even tried, but! Now he saw one that didn't seem to have any partner. Yes, she was dragging them down the hall to what was likely a sick, dying, and possibly infected friend or family member, which didn't exactly make for a great introduction. Plus, he wasn't a heartless monster who would see a broken girl crying and take advantage to try anything like latching affection from the dead friend to himself. Making him the sole life support she had and thus influencing her mind to see him as the perfect partner and not just some loser nerd with a double-barreled shotgun...
"Hmm, those psych classes might not have been for the best," Columbus thought as he walked, realizing how psychopathic his thoughts had gotten just now. Changing gears, he promised himself to offer a shoulder to cry on when she needed it, mentally crossing his fingers that she would want to come with them afterward. He started to nod when suddenly both Tallahassee and he were stopped by the woman as three pairs of eyes locked onto a small girl holding her hand and looking despondent yet sad, as she sat on a metal table in some backroom prep area for the store. Looking up to them, she looked so scared, and both men looked away as they realized what fate awaited her, and knew the best course of action. Still, Tallahassee wasn't one for complete assholeary when children were involved and so took a steady step forward.
"Hello, little lady, you can call me Tallahassee," the Texan said with a smile, pointing at himself. When he then shifted his fingers at the little girl, she got the hint.
"Little Rock," she answered the unasked question.
"Wichita," came the sad voice of the woman next to the girl.
"Uhhm, hi! Names, Columbus," Columbus said with a raised hand, doing his best to seem casual.
"Great, we all know each other now, so who's gonna pull the trigger, hmm?" Little Rock said casually as she held her hand with a tighter grip. Wichita gripped her hand harder as she frowned at the little girl's words.
"Hey, whoa," Columbus said as he walked towards the two sisters, his shotgun lowered to the ground. "Let's just take a breath, okay. Look, let me see if you're really-Awk*" he started to say, hoping that the wound wasn't what he thought it might be. This, of course, backfired as the festering wound made him gag. "No, okay, yeah, that's a bite," he said mostly to himself as he spun around and nodded to the air, walking away from the gross wound.
"Yep, I'm bit, done, fucking gone in the next few hours," Little Rock said to the three, making Columbus turn back around with a sad frown. Tallahassee just shook his head while Wichita looked away. "Look, my sister and I already said our goodbyes, okay! Unfortunately, we didn't have the gun to make it quick. So, if you could please," she said while waving her hand at Columbus double-barreled before waving it at herself as she bit back the sadness in her expression. The lanky nerd looked down at his firearm and the girl before shaking his head.
"No, look," he said, walking up to her and putting a hand on her shoulder. "Maybe there's a cure we could find; you never know," he started to proclaim when Little Rock interrupted.
"OH MY GOD!" she shouted, making Columbus stumble on his speech, flinching back. "You're GUTLESS!" she said before looking over to Tallahassee. "How about you? Can you please help me?" she said as tears started to fall from her eyes. The Texan sighed but nodded and looked to Columbus. The nerd tried to shake his head, but the Texan gave him a look, and he shrank back before looking down. With weak hands, Columbus handed over the shotgun to the firm hand of Tallahassee. When the gun was passed, the college kid quickly turned around and walked away as he couldn't bear to witness the death. Wichita has moved back behind Tallahassee and looks devastated.
Tallahassee looked at the gun in his hand while using the other to pull the child to his chest, much like he did with his young son, Buck. That thought made him grit his teeth as he remembered Nora's tale of finding Buck just barely hiding from the zombies. Suppose she hadn't been there. Suppose she'd been just a little too late. Suppose his boy was a little less cunning to hide... would he have had to do this to his zombified son, or worse, to his eaten remains? Taking a breath, he shook his head as he pulled away from the girl. She had made the right call to him. Better dead on your feet than undead and monstrous. With steady hands, he pulled the gun up to his shoulder and aimed point-blank at the girl. With a slow curl of his finger, he started to brush up against the trigger, but he was stopped.
"Wait! Wait! Wait!" Wichita said frantically, making the Texan pause and pull back to look at the woman. She had tears in her eyes as he walked forward from behind him and held out her hand. "I'll, I'll do it," she said shakily. The Texan looked at her slightly shocked, yet, at her insistence, reluctantly handed over the gun. Taking a step back, he watched Wichita smile at her sister with tears before leaning in and kissing her on the head. It made him grit his teeth harder at just how fucked the world had become. To have to see family kill family due to this stupid virus.
"I love you," Wichita said, which was quickly mirrored by her sister before the woman checked to see if both barrels were loaded. With a sad smile, she pulled back to aim at her sister, and then... paused. Tallahassee could see the hesitation and leaned forward, ready to take the gun back.
"Do you need some help?" he asked, seeing she couldn't do it.
"Actually," she started to say while lowering the gun. Then, she quickly turned and moved away, flicking the double-barreled gun at Tallahassee. "We'll take your weapons, your car keys, your ammunition," she said with a satisfied smirk. As she did, her sister hopped down and quickly pulled the mare leg from Tally's leg holster and aimed it at Columbus, who at the moment was turning around after having been looking away with his ears plugged.
"What the fuck" Tallahassee said, wide eyed, as Columbus quickly walked over to him with his hands up with a puzzled expression. Both girls smirked as they started to lead the two out of the back. It was always great when a grift worked out perfectly.