Marcus’s eyes winced along with every subtle twinge of pain that seemed to afflict Kristie as she set about explaining what she had planned and what she intended to set up around the perimeters to act as an early warning system should any of the deadheads wander too close to their enclave; but much of what she said was lost to him as he was focused on the way she was trying to mask the pain she was in, something that seemed to be getting increasingly difficult for her; whatever robust painkillers she had been taking now seemed to be wearing off and it was unlikely that HomeDepot would provide anything to replace them.  For a moment he thought about offering her a sip from his flask, but given her reaction earlier and the fact that there wasn’t enough in there to deaden the pain to any great effect anyway, he let that thought pass him by.<br/><br/>He watched as she headed off towards the stairs.  His attention returned to Jake and Dinah and tuned his eyes to the glass frontage, it was certainly a weak point and if it were breached then they would have problems. In some small way it was like a fantasy of his to wander around a store just loading up a trolley with stuff and not having to worry about which of his credit cards wasn’t maxed out when he got back to the counter; though he would have favoured a liquor store to a home supply warehouse.<br/><br/>He glanced across to Dinah as she opted to go in search of supplies and he slipped from the checkout to his feet and bought the shotgun into a comforting rest in his arms as he told hold of the airhorn Jake offered and not having any suitable pockets, he put it in the side pocket of his pack.<br/><br/>“This is on me.” he said to no one in particular as he pulled his Visa card from his pocket and placed it on the till.  He walked across to the door and pulled it closed to, sliding the bolts into place at the top and bottom of both doors, then taking a step back and watching the world beyond as the sky began to hint towards dusk; the soft blue sky turning ochre as the column of thick black smoke continued to jab towards the heavens.<br/>