"Point, you two," Shane commanded, his shotgun held low and ready. "Find us a way up to sporting goods, third floor. Quietly this time, if Merle hasn't already called every damn walker in the city down on us." His glare at the smirking Dixon was venomous.
Ethan and Glenn nodded, moving out from the relative security of their hastily barricaded service entrance. The main floor of Harrison's Department Store was a vast, dim cavern of shattered illusions. Luxury displays lay in ruins, mannequins toppled like fallen idols, their painted smiles macabre in the faint emergency lighting. Distant groans echoed from deeper within the store.
Ethan's enhanced Perception (P:14) was immediately put to use. The System's passive scanning fed him information, its interface calm in his vision.
[System map: Ground floor layout partially charted. Multiple walker signatures detected, scattered. Primary targets: Escalators and Stairwell A (North Quadrant) for upper floor access.]
"Escalators are probably jammed with bodies or debris," Glenn whispered, eyeing a distant, dark shape. "Stairwell might be our only bet."
"Agreed," Ethan murmured back. "North side of the store, according to the directory I saw near the main entrance." He was already processing the safest approach.
They moved with Ethan's Basic Stealth Movement skill active, his steps uncannily quiet. He felt more confident now, his attributes boosted, his understanding of the System growing. When his System highlighted two walkers near a cosmetics counter, he didn't just signal Glenn; he took the initiative.
"Glenn, left. I'll take right," he whispered, and before Glenn could fully react, Ethan had darted forward, machete a blur, dispatching his target with a swift, clean strike to the temple. Glenn, recovering quickly, dealt with the other.
[Walker Neutralized. Battle Points increased. Experience gained.]
The System's quiet acknowledgment was all the confirmation he needed. He was getting better at this, faster.
The team followed, Shane keeping a close eye on Merle, who was already looking restless. As they reached Stairwell A, dark and ominous, the System pinged.
[System scan (Stairwell A): Minor walker presence detected (2 individuals on landing between first and second floors). Structural integrity: Sound. Proceed with caution.]
"Two of 'em on the first landing," Ethan announced quietly to Shane and Glenn. "We should be able to take them without much noise if we're coordinated."
His confident assessment earned him a surprised look from Shane, but he nodded. "Alright, Miller. You and Glenn take lead on this one. Show us how it's done."
Ethan and Glenn cleared the stairwell with brutal efficiency, Ethan's earlier hesitation replaced with a cold focus. This wasn't just about survival anymore; it was about protecting those who would eventually become his responsibility, about ensuring this timeline had a fighting chance.
The second floor was mostly looted. It was here Merle's patience, already thin, snapped. He started pocketing useless trinkets, his movements careless, his voice louder.
[System warning: Noise levels from Merle Dixon approaching threshold likely to attract ambient walkers from adjacent sectors.]
"Merle, keep it down!" Ethan said, his voice sharper than he intended, earning a glare from the older Dixon but also a nod of approval from Shane. "You want to bring the whole damn store down on us before we even find what we came for?"
Merle scoffed but grudgingly quieted for a moment.
They finally reached the third floor and the "SPORTING GOODS & OUTDOOR ADVENTURE" section. It was a potential armory. Rifles, shotguns, ammunition, knives, camping gear – much of it still locked in cases.
"Alright," Shane breathed, a predatory grin on his face. "Jackpot."
As Glenn and Morales began carefully working on the gun case locks, and Andrea showed a surprising aptitude for checking firearm mechanisms, Merle's simmering rage finally boiled over. Finding a discarded bottle of pills which he quickly dry-swallowed, his eyes took on a wilder glint. He turned on T-Dog, who was carefully selecting a sturdy looking pry bar.
"Still think you're part of the team, huh, boy?" Merle sneered, shoving T-Dog hard with racist venom.
"Get off me, you crazy cracker!" T-Dog roared, shoving back.
The fight exploded instantly, a brutal, clumsy brawl amidst the racks of camping gear, sending displays crashing.
The System screamed in Ethan's vision, its yellow alert text pulsing: [Massive auditory disturbance! Multiple walker groups from all floors and exterior now converging rapidly on this location! Estimated arrival of first internal wave: 45 seconds! External horde will reach service entrance barricade within 2 minutes!]
"Walkers! Lots of them! Merle, you damn fool, they're coming!" Ethan yelled, his voice cutting through the shouts of the fight. He didn't wait for orders. He saw Andrea and Jacqui, caught off guard near a display of fishing gear, with walkers already appearing at the far end of the aisle. "Andrea! Jacqui! This way! Back towards the stairwell, try to hold it!"
His decisive shout, and his immediate move to create a defensive point, seemed to momentarily break the paralysis of some of the others.
Shane, Morales, and Glenn were struggling to pull Merle off T-Dog, who was dazed and bleeding from a cut above his eye. Merle was fighting like a cornered animal, high on whatever he'd taken, laughing maniacally.
The sounds of the approaching dead were undeniable now, a rising chorus of moans and a new, terrifying sound: the crashing of walkers breaking through weaker internal doors and displays on the floor below, heading for the noise.
"Damn you to hell, Dixon!" Shane roared, finally landing a solid punch that staggered Merle. Seeing the walkers now pouring into the sporting goods section from multiple directions, he knew their scavenging run had just turned into a fight for their lives, with their most volatile member actively working against them. "We're trapped! Everyone, find cover, prepare to fight our way out!"
The department store had become a deathtrap, and the discordant seeds Merle had sown were about to reap a bloody harvest.