Entry 48

I spent awhile trying to come up with ways to get into the locked stores. I pondered various ideas and before I fell asleep I had settled on two. Both ideas were based on how I had already bypassed locks on the apartment buildings. The first was to go into one of the unlocked stores and try to cut through the interior walls into the adjacent store. I had never heard about those walls being made any differently than houses or apartments. I figured if I was very careful when I cut away the drywall I would be able to check for wires and pipes. The other idea was a bit riskier but would be the only option if I could not cut through the walls. The fronts of the shops have a big roll-down metal grate behind the glass windows. In a few stores I had seen that they had back doors which led to the alley behind them and there was no metal grate for those. I could simply go around back and drill out the lock like I did on the apartment door. Either way I would be able to get at some much needed items.

Being able to get a backpack or duffel bag meant I could easily carry the rest of the food as well as additional items so I made it my priority to try to get into the sports store at the strip mall before heading back to the restaurant. Carrying around my saw-spear would be a hassle once my hands were full of supplies. I was going to remove the saw from the broom handle but I had a moment of brilliance and realized I could simply tie it to my backpack. I really hope I would never need to use the spear again but keeping it intact makes me feel a bit better. I also put the cordless drill and a handful of bits into my backpack. Hopefully I am able to get a bigger backpack and bags, otherwise I will have wasted valuable space which could be holding food. With what I needed packed and a quick check to ensure the coast was clear I headed towards the mall.

Since I had not seen any zombies yesterday, I worried less about avoiding them and focused on losing as little time as possible. The purse store was a small boutique-type store so, other than a single back room, the entire store was open. The door to the back room was not quite shut. I pulled out the pistol and pushed the door open. The room was in moderate disarray. There was a floor safe which was wide open and a plastic bag half full of money knocked over on the floor. The safe only had some documents and papers in it so I assumed all the money from the bag had come from the safe. I could not help but imagine the owner or some employee realizing everything was going to hell and trying to clean out the safe before leaving. Then perhaps the zombies came in and they had to abandon the money to escape. Even knowing the money had no value anymore, it was hard to resist taking it with me. I could not help but pick up the bag and touch what must have been a couple thousand dollars.

After imagining what I could have done with all the money not too long ago, well actually almost two months ago now, I began to figure out where to start cutting. This store was adjacent to the sports store so there was only one wall between me and the bags I needed. I headed back out to the front of the stores to look inside and figure out where I could cut through. They were a similar layout from what I could tell so as long as I avoided shelves and cabinets I could cut through any portion of wall. I was considering cutting through in the back room but there could be cabinets on the wall. Instead I picked a spot which would put me in the employee area behind the counter with the cash register. I had to cut about a foot from the back office wall to miss the counter so I did a rough estimate and marked out the area with the tip of the saw. I pulled out the pistol and set it down beside me as I began to carefully cut the drywall back.

Even taking my time it was not very long before I had removed a large section between studs. I did learn the walls were a bit different than in the apartment. The studs were actually made of metal rather than wood. I first knew something was odd as I began to saw and the wall resonated louder and in a very different tone. I realized why when I pulled the saw teeth across the metal of one of the studs. I am sure I dulled it a bit more but the teeth did not look any worse for the encounter. Once I had cut out a small hole I was able to see there were some wires but they were zip tied to the stud. From there I enlarged the hole and then made the cuts into the other store.

The second the drywall fell into the room I heard something beeping. I looked inside and realized it was coming from an alarm pad on the wall. I had not thought of alarms being in the stores. I ran over to the keypad to see if there was some way to disarm it. I was trying random codes when I realized it did not matter. Had there been a loud alarm or siren it would likely attract the zombies but the beeping was only audible in the store. It was not like police would be hurrying to the store to stop me from breaking in. With the moment of panic behind me I checked the store a bit more carefully. Luckily there were no zombies inside to attack me while I focused on the alarm. The back room in this store was a bit larger than the purse shop and was less interesting. It was just inventory which was not on the shelves.

With the store clear I turned my attention to grabbing what I needed. The store had a variety of backpacks and duffel bags in the back corner. I picked out one of the smaller hiking packs to replace my current backpack. It was much larger than what a student would use, but not so large it was higher than my head like the biggest packs. It also had all sorts of places you could tie rope to so you could attach bulky items to the outside and several big zippered compartments. The most interesting part was it had a sort of elastic pocket with a couple of straps up the side which held the shotgun perfectly. It was also a very expensive pack, so hopefully that meant it was well made. I transferred over the contents of my backpack, bundled up my old backpack and stuffed it in one of the pockets. Once I had the shotgun secured but accessible I headed over to the duffel bags. I picked a couple of rather rectangular bags with some big padded shoulder straps. I was getting ready to head towards the restaurant when I started to look through the other items in the store.

I had been so focused on getting bags I had looked past most of the other items, but now I was realizing how many useful items were here. This store did not sell guns, but it did have a variety of pocketknives and other larger knives. There was a section that was FULL of flashlights. One aisle had a section devoted to trail food. Pretty quickly I began to fill one of the duffel bags with everything that looked useful. I grabbed a bunch of knives, all of the food, all the empty water bottles, and all the flashlights. They also sold a few hiking boots which would be much more sturdy than my tennis shoes. I grabbed a couple different pairs in my size out of their boxes and tossed those in the bag as well. Pretty soon I had filled most of my backpack and a duffel bag. I had not even made it to the storage room yet so I decided to restrain myself as I headed to the back room. With the backpack full with the food I found in the back I forced myself to leave the rest of the useful items for another day.

I left the filled duffel bag and the backpack inside the door of the purse shop. I was able to sling the empty duffel bag over my shoulder and carry my shotgun as I walked to the restaurant. I carefully checked to ensure it was still empty and then packed the last of the food into the bag. I did one last check of the restaurant which turned up some matches and headed out.

As I walked outside it had grown notably darker. It had become overcast but it was also later than expected. I must have taken longer in the sports store than I realized. I hurried back to get the other bag and backpack. I realized I had grabbed a lot of stuff. Rather than leave something, I decided to try and take it all. I hoped that if something did happen I could just drop the bags and run. It was so heavy I could not run or even walk very quickly. Although very slow and tiring, the trip home was uneventful. Even though I was not able to get everything I still managed plenty of supplies. I am not sure if I will go back for more tomorrow. All I know is I am exhausted and ready for bed.