After the events of 2020, all of us were glad to move on. By late 2023, I think we were ready to just live life again. I know I was. It was a time to make new friends and put the past to rest. Rayne and I hadn't known each other long, but we were building a solid friendship, nothing more. It was our common interests that sent us on vacation together to my remote cabin.
>EXCERPT
At first, the store smelled like day-old gym socks left in the hamper for a week and wet cardboard. The further we advanced, the worse it became. We were passing by all of the rotting meat, fruit, vegetables, and a pair of severely bloated bodies. There was a third one, but it had already exploded its innards all over the floor in a black pool that was writhing with maggots and flies.
Rayne wisely picked up the pace and pushed us through a pair of doors that were marked for employees only. The smell was slightly better back here. We worked our way to the back wall, and I found the loading dock doors where we'd backed the moving trucks in. Sweeping my flashlight along the wall and high ceiling, I found what I was looking for, sort of. I'd been hoping for stairs but found a wall-mounted ladder that led to the roof access. It was probably a forty, maybe fifty-foot climb to the roof access hatch.
"There," I motioned for the base of the ladder. "You gonna be able to climb that?"
"Do I have a choice?" she tried a small smile as she looked up to the hatch above us.