“Thanks Danny. I don’t know how we would have fared without your help, and I do not want to sound ungrateful or anything of the sort but… why are you carrying a hammer in your backpack?” Carl asked.

Now that the most pressing issue was dealt with - they made sure that every corpse would stay down - Carl took the opportunity to ask what had been bothering him.

When Danny took his weapon out of his backpack, the situation was highly chaotic, thus almost no one realized where he took the hammer from before he rushed the zombie. They only found out he was armed when he was already in the thick of it.

Carl however was trying to separate the old man from the clutches of his former wife at the time Danny was going through his bag. Coincidentally, he was positioned in a way that allowed him to see every one of Danny’s actions perfectly, making him the only person who actually knew Danny was carrying the tool all along.

As soon as he said those words, everyone looked at Danny with raised eyebrows and inquisitive gazes. It was very weird to carry a hammer concealed in a common looking bag after all.

From their point of view, there was no way that the reason Danny was walking around carrying a weapon was because he knew in advance that he would need it. It was too far-fetched to come to this conclusion in the end. Such hypothesis did not even cross their minds. Therefore, they found the fact that he had a weapon concealed in his backpack disturbing.

It would be an entirely different manner if he was carrying a shopping bag from a tool shop or a hardware store and happened to have the hammer at hand at that moment. However, given that it was concealed in his backpack, it brought forth a completely different story and raised many questions.

It was worth pondering: what would lead a person to carry, hidden in his bag, what could be undoubtedly classified as a weapon? The question by itself was already enough to cause unease in those around the room.

Imagine that a person is walking alone on the street at night. After a while, that person stops at a crosswalk waiting for a chance to make to the other side of the street. At that spot, there are two other people waiting as well. Suddenly, one of those waiting asks the other one why he was carrying a weapon hidden inside his backpack.

Would that first person feel unbothered by that information and go on as if nothing happened? Or would the question make that person feel uneasy and unsafe?

Different people would feel differently upon such a situation. However, it was safe to assume that most would at very least feel bothered by the fact that the person next to them was holding something that could inflict serious harm to them.

It was way out of norm in the current society to carry a weapon like that. Since it was strange and unusual, it would cause apprehension. That was also why it would not be anything worth fretting over if such weapon was contained in the appropriate shopping bag, as that would be seen as an everyday occurrence, something that conformed to society’s rules, thus people would gloss over the issue and not think twice over it.

Did Danny not realize this fact when he brought over the hammer concealed inside his bag? That was not the case. However, Danny had his own considerations about what he should and could do at the time.

For one, Danny did not plan to meet his classmates beforehand. Their encounter was something that he decided in the spur of the moment, so he could not prepare too well.

He also had no time to plot a better lie, or to detour and gather any other items that would enable him to better prepare a ruse since time was pressing.

In addition, Danny was not clear about the whole picture. Danny’s information about what was happening came exclusively from Tutu and was largely incomplete and unreliable.

To the very last minute, Danny still harbored doubts over whether anything would happen at all. Thus, Danny chose to hide the hammer, given that – if Tutu’s words proved to be false in the end – he would not have to explain why he was carrying the tool in the first place.

Even though he knew complications might arise in the future if he was forced to use the hammer, he felt hiding it was the best course of action taking the possible outcomes and risks into account. Therefore, Danny chose the simpler approach to merely hide the truth and play by it by ear going forward.

Despite all that, Danny was unconcerned over the apprehension and curiosity everyone was directing towards him. He felt that such minor things would be of no relevance very soon in their perspective.

“What the hell Danny? Why the fuck are you walking around with a hammer hidden in your bag like some kind of psycho serial-killer?” While everyone else simply stared, it was still the more outspoken Janice who put what they were all thinking into words. She didn’t mince her words as well.

“Do you seriously want to go over this right now? I think we have more pressing issues to deal with.” Danny solely raised his chin towards the complete broken windows, pointing out the chaotic sound coming from the outside.

After being reminded they were not safe yet, everyone paled. Carl gave Danny a deep and meaningful gaze without saying anything else, while Janice simply snorted before dropping the subject. She and Carl were not satisfied to have their questions deflected this way, but they could only bury their misgivings for now in the face of bigger concerns.

“What should we do now?” Carl asked, while he still held the piece of pipe he had found before. He did not feel comfortable enough in the current situation to put down his improvised weapon.

“Maybe we should stay put and wait for help? We can try to barricade ourselves in the kitchen. I have the key.” The clerk spoke up for the first time since the tremors started.

“What is your name kid?” Jane asked smiling.

“Do-Donovan. I am not a kid. I am 17 already” The boy spoke without too much confidence while blushing. The perilous circumstances were clearly no enough to prevent him from being dazzled by Jane’s smile and beauty while trying to assert his maturity.

“I wish it was under better circumstances, but nice to meet you, Donovan. This is Janice, Carl, Chris and Danny. My name is Jane by the way.” Jane introduced everybody by pointing out each one and speaking their respective names with a welcoming smile.

“Hi guys. I also wish it was under better circumstances, but nice to meet you all”. The boy tried his best to return a smile, but it was strained under the pressure he felt.

“I don’t think it is a good idea to trap ourselves. We have no idea what is happening outside right now. Why are zombies cropping up after that earthquake? Does anyone have their phone? I can’t seem to find mine.” After the pleasantries were minimally done, Janice quickly steered the conversation back on track.

Although they were in a perilous situation, it was best to dedicate a moment or two to get acquainted with Donovan, given that they would probably have to rely on each other to overcome this predicament. Also, some simple introductions did not take more than a few seconds, so they might as well.

“They are not working Janice. We already tried it several times when you were dealing with that senior’s wounds.” Jane answered Janice, and gazed towards the broken corpse with sympathy. The old couple had a really miserable ending.

“Damn, so we have no clue about what is happening outside and have no way to contact the authorities and ask for help. That’s just great” Janice raised her arms and gestured towards no one in particular in mock celebration.

Despite the fact that Chris and Jane did not manage to help with fighting, they weren’t sitting around twirling their thumbs either. While Danny finished the zombie together with Carl and Janice, they were trying to make their cell phones work, unsuccessfully nonetheless.

Donovan stood still watching the prone body in a fear induced daze though. He was just a kid after all and this was his first experience with death, no one would blame him for getting paralyzed.

They even managed to locate the local landline in the corner of the shop eventually, but it was not working any better than the mobile phones.

“Everybody should grab something to arm themselves with at the very least.” Danny spoke on his own initiative for the first time while looking towards the unarmed trio. “Regardless of what we choose to do, everyone should at least have a way to defend themselves, even if you don’t feel confident in doing it”.

Every person in the room nodded at that. Danny’s words made a lot of sense, and after his prompt, Jane, Chris and Donovan rummaged through the store looking for something useful, while they continued to discuss their options in lowered voices with the others.

Just like Carl, Janice also still held on to her improvised choice of weapon, not willing to part with it and lower her guard.

“I do not think is wise to hole up in here.” Danny continued. “Like Janice said, this place is too cramped for all of us, and if we lock ourselves behind the kitchen’s door, we might get trapped. As we don’t know if or when help is coming, this is just too much of a risk.” Danny said.

“Besides, without our phones, how would the rescue even know where to look for us? It would take forever for them to stumble on our location.” Janice completed.

“We could try to make a signal or something…” Chris added, his tone revealing his doubt on the efficacy of this method.

Carl looked at his best-friend and shook his head, showing his disapproval towards this course of action. Even if the rescue eventually showed up and saw their sign, how long would that take? What about food and water? What if they ran out of provisions while waiting but could no longer get out of there? Carl was not confident in making this gamble.

“What would you suggest us to do then?” Carl looked towards Danny and asked. He was impressed by the decisiveness with which Danny carried himself a few moments ago, and he thought that decisiveness was exactly what they needed now, no matter how sketchy he felt Danny’s refusal to answer about the purpose of the hammer was.

Besides, since Danny was the one to first object against the plan of holing up in there, Carl hoped he had thought of a better alternative already.

“I actually have rented a place nearby, just a few meters across the street. It has a brick wall fencing the property and enough space for all of us to crash there in relative comfort. Everything else following that can be discussed in further detail once we reach there and secure ourselves behind the gate”.

At this point, Jane, Chris and Donovan had already returned from their search, carrying the best self-defense tools they could find in such a short notice. Donovan came back holding a broom, while Chris armed himself with a kitchen knife and Jane took another table leg like Janice.

Carl and the others were very surprised and ecstatic to find out that they could reach relative safety without having to travel too far.

Nobody expected Danny to provide such a favorable and reasonable way out when asked. To them it seemed like a coincidental solution had just popped out of nowhere when they needed it the most.

Of course, not one of them even knew why Danny was around that area to begin with, so they could not foresee this outcome, much less Donovan that had just met them all for the first time that day. Danny’s classmates only knew he lived outside the campus, but where exactly no one had any clue.

The group – other than Danny – exchanged glances with one another and saw the agreement and determination in each other’s eyes, nodding at each other in order to encourage themselves to face the dangers present out there on the streets.

No words were spoken. They could all immediately tell this was the most appropriate action, so there was no reason to comment on it.

When they looked back at Danny, portraying a wide range of emotions, from Janice’s confidence to Donovan’s fear, Danny could nevertheless feel their resolve. He then took a deep breath and gave one last advice:

“Okay then, since the plan is now set, I suggest we quickly grab anything useful we can find before we leave. Look for essential things, like food and water and don’t bother being through. No matter what or how much you find, take only what you can carry while still being able to defend yourself, everything else has to be left behind.” Danny stopped for a moment, and seeing he got their attention and approval, he then continued: “Let us gather near the entrance in two minutes, the longer we drag this on, the bigger the chance of mishaps occurring.”