The city felt eerie as Piper rode her bicycle through the crumbling streets. She felt so alone and yet watched at the same time. She certainly didn't feel safe. There were too many places for things to hide: natural and not so much.<br/><br/>She rode down a street labelled Carter Madison Blvd. into the heart of the city. The bag on her back which a month ago was full to bursting, had once again been depleted. Piper herself had no real hunting ability but she could fish and forage. The problem with foraging however, was that is was dependent upon being in a place of abundant life. Piper did not have much experience foraging in the Midwestern desert, and she was beginning to taste the pickle-like flavor of cactus in her dreams.<br/><br/>So she decided it was time to chance a trip into the city to fill her bag once more. She listened to the sounds of the city: animals communicating unseen all around her, the sound of her bicycle tires on the crunching gravel, the sound of the warm wind as it whipped at her face. Eventually, she came upon a small, beat down pharmacy nestled between larger buildings. Some of the windows had been busted out already, telling her that the pharmacy would likely be slim pickings at best and empty at worse.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Still,</span>Piper thought,<span style="font-style: italic"> a peek couldn't hurt.<br/></span><br/>Then, as if on cue, she felt a familiar pang of pain in her chest followed by a sudden racing heart beat. She clutched her chest as an ache spread from her rib cage, up her neck, and into her face. It became hard to see and she felt light headed and dizzy.<br/><br/>With difficulty, she managed to pull herself through the window but then-<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Gunfire...</span><br/><br/>Piper dropped to the cracking linoleum floor of the pharmacy. She waited, listening intently for a few seconds. A quick glance outside and no sounds of footsteps told her she was safe. For now. Still, now that she knew she wasn't alone, she really didn't want to stick around to meet whoever had fired that gun.<br/><br/>She rummaged through the drugs that resided behind the counter. Before the black clouds had blocked out the sun and... changed things... There would have been a cute pharmacist standing there to greet her or sorting through prescriptions. Now it was empty of life. And most of the more expensive drugs. Piper rummaged through the shelves, grabbing a small vial of hydrocodone that had managed to escape some looter's notice. She grabbed muscle relaxers and anticoagulants and vials of liquid medicines and tossed them all in a bag. And then she saw what she now needed: metoprolol, also known as beta blockers. She reached for the pills, opened it and swallowed a dose. The pounding of her heart began to slow.<br/><br/>Feeling more at ease she browsed the shelves for anything that could refill her depleted bag: beef jerky, nuts, dried fruits... Her eyes settled on a snack-cake glinting in the light filtering through the dirty window.<br/><br/>"Well you're suppsed to take it with food..." she muttered and ripped the package open.<br/><br/>In the distance she heard a pack of wild dogs, but since she crawled in through the window she didn't feel the need to hide. Still, Piper pulled her handgun from it's hip holster with one hand and munched on the chocolaty snack cake with the other.<br/><br/>Saline! She dropped the last bottle into her bag.<br/><br/>"Still no antibiotics," she muttered when another gunshot sounded. This time it came from the roof. Piper jumped and crouched behind the shelf with her gun at the ready. She heard movement: a shuffling of feet and clumsy rummaging of the shelves. As quietly as possible, she crept towards the front door with the intent to shoot out the glass and bolt for it. The snack cake package crunched under her foot and Piper heard the cock of a rifle.<br/><br/>"Don't shoot!" She called. "I'm not one of them. But um... I'm armed! And if you try to shoot me... I - I'll shoot you back!" She mentally kicked herself.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">This is how you die, Piper,</span>she thought,<span style="font-style: italic">crouched behind a convenience store shelf, with a ho-ho in your fist.</span>