In the end, their worst fears had not come to fruition. They did not know about it at the time, but the store did indeed have a backup power generator. Instead of a blaring alarm trigger, the shop was protected by a silent alarm system that would send a signal to a hired security company in case someone broke into the place.

However, at the present situation, such protective measures were as good as nothing and were also the best outcome any of them could have hoped for. It appeared that fortune was smiling upon them this time.

The group then hurried inside and closed the secondary glass door behind them. They did not lower the steel gate again though, as they felt it was better to have a clear view of the streets. They were afraid to get jumped as soon as they left the place if they did not know what was outside the door when leaving.

After closing the door, the group then took in their surroundings. The place was fairly small and did not have much stock. That was to be expected though, since the place was located at the fringe of the town and would probably not see much traffic.

Danny wondered why someone would choose to set such a store in this fairly remote place, given that it would probably be bad for business and there were much better options not so far away.

Those thoughts were quickly discarded, though. Whatever the reason that led someone to set shop at this location, it now benefited Danny and his group.

“Come on guys, let us scour the place but try to be silent about it. Try to get as much ammunition as possible. Empty guns are just fancy pipes”. Carl said after they made sure there really was no one inside. No zombies either.

Chris, Jane and Donovan than took six duffel bags from inside their backpacks, two from each.

Despite the fact that Danny only had the four backpacks that were now being used, he had a bunch of other carriers like those duffel bags. He got those apparels in order to store his provisions in a way that was easy to store and move at that time, so there was no shortage of those for now.

They previously decided to only bring the six, figuring that any more than that would be useless. They were just six people after all, how much would they be able to actually carry? That also while paying attention to any threats and facing or fleeing from them as the situation dictated.

They did not even know if they would make full use of the ones they already brought, and would decide it on the spot, taking into account their mobility, weight, the resistance they would have to face from the zombies and any other issues.

As of now, they could search the place in relative ease and calm. So far, they had managed to stay concealed, thus they were not pressed for time nor were they under pressure. Even so, the faster they got out of there the best.

In a perfect world, they would be able to fill all six bags and manage to bring them to their place without ever having to fight any zombies, but they could only hope for such an outcome. The future was uncertain after all.

The organization of the place was fairly straightforward, so they had no issue locating what they were after. Even the locked drawers and showcases did not prove to be a problem, given that their respective keys were placed in a very obvious and attention-grabbing spot on the walls behind the shop’s counter.

After a few minutes, they already had a pretty good idea of everything the place had to offer. There were a wide variety of weapons, from handguns, rifles, shotguns, machine guns and others. There were also many useful tools like handcuffs, hunting knives, holsters and switchblades.

It appeared that they made the right call to come to this place now.

Worth noting was that they also managed to find two hunting crossbows and a hundred arrows. If they later found out that noise did indeed prove to be a problem, those two crossbows would offer a very useful ranged option for their defense.

The first thing they did was to equip everyone with tool holsters and belts. That would provide them the ability to quickly draw their melee weapons in the blink of an eye, while also freeing one of their hands.

That was a useful piece of gear they could now get and that Danny did not prepare in advance. It was not that Danny did not have the money for it or prioritized getting something else, but he simply did not think of it. That was unavoidable.

Danny was not omniscient neither was he infallible. There were countless things that he could probably have done better and improvements he could have made to better prepare himself and his friend for the troubles that were to follow, but he was only human.

No matter how much time and how many resources one had available to prepare oneself for any kind of challenge, there were bound to be improvements to be made at any given point in time. There is no such thing as perfection, only personal bests.

It was not realistic nor efficient to try to perfect everything possible. As long as your preparations are sufficient to achieve your goals, then that was enough. To seek perfection in everything one does was like chasing after a mirage: no matter how much you walked and how much time passed, you would never reach it.

Given time and effort, anyone would be able to find something they could have done better or something that they had not considered before, not to mention Danny, who only had about a week to consider things and take action. He had accomplished quite a lot in light of the circumstances, and did very well.

After decking their new apparels and filling them with the appropriate tools and weapons, they proceeded to choose what to bring and what to leave behind.

Even though the store was quite small, and also taking into account that they had the four backpacks and six duffel bags to fill, there was still no way they would be able to take everything with them. There were too many weapons, ammunitions and other random stuff available.

They also had to decide how many of the bags they actually wanted to fill and how much weight they were willing to put into each one of them. They had to take into consideration their ability to carry and how much of their movement speed they were willing to compromise, of course. What would be the point of filling the bags until they were bursting at the seams if that meant the group could not carry them back?

It was important to find just the right amount of weight to take, in a way that the bags would not be so heavy that they would be breaking their backs just to lift them, while at same time, would not be so light that they would be wasting the risk they took by going out and throwing away the opportunity before them.

That was a hard trade-off to assess, but worthwhile to do nonetheless. After some time, they decided to be on the careful side just to be safe.

Carl Danny and Janice would take a lighter weighting bag each, and would abandon them on the way if they were had to, depending on their circumstances. There was no loss even if they did drop them on the way, as there was nothing preventing them to come back to retrieve them later, whenever the chance arises.

Jane, Donovan and Chris would each take another bag. Given that each one of this trio would be pretty much exclusively working as a courier, and that they would be personally responsible for their respective baggage, the group had decided that it was better if each one decided individually how much they should stuff inside their bags instead of collectively deciding it together.

It did not make any sense to have the others determining their own burden, since there was no one else that knew where their own personal limits laid better than themselves.

Nobody thought that anyone would slack off and avoid putting their full effort in their endeavor given that they had sharing interests at the moment, and the safety of all of them was directly impacted by their choices. On the contrary, Danny was afraid that they might overestimate themselves and put too much on their plate, leading to mishaps occurring on the way back.

“Do not hesitate on taking a lighter burden if you feel like it is too much. It is better to take too little than taking too much”. Danny reminded them quietly.

The five others nodded their heads in understanding. Yet, searching the whole store did not take as long as organizing their bags. Despite the fact that Danny very quickly got ready to leave, and kept urging the others to move on with increasing worry, people kept taking goods in and out of their packs.

Rationally, they all understood that they could not keep dragging their feet there. However, they could not help themselves. There were just too many useful things they would have to leave behind, so they subconsciously kept going back and forth their luggage, exchanging and adding items as their thoughts changed on what was most important and how critical they were to their situation.

Therefore, they kept placing too many things inside, so when trying to lift their bags, they realized it did not have a manageable weight anymore, and were forced to discard some of the things they had collected, only to repeat the loop a few minutes later in an insane routine that kept going as if endless.

Not everybody could be as decisive as Danny. People were different and had different qualities depending on their experiences and propensity. While Danny’s life made him develop a stronger willpower and more decisive nature than others, most people could not close turn around when faced with so much temptation.

Finally, they all stood ready to rush back to the house after an hour. No matter how unwilling they were to leave so many useful things behind, there was a limit on how long the allure could keep them hypnotized there. Rationality eventually won, returning clarity to their minds, causing them to surely, but unwillingly leave the place.