Super Market

Posted on Thu Oct 9th, 2025 @ 1:38pm by Bartholomew Addington & Dmitri Volodin & Juliet Parrish

2,871 words; about a 14 minute read

Juliet kept a watchful eye out and gave a slight smirk at her being placed in the middle of the two men she was accompanying. She was actually quite grateful for the men's natural tendency to protect women though as the seemingly deserted village made her even more nervous. She couldn't shake the feeling that someone or something was watching them.

Bartholomew slipped ahead a little bit as they wound up the road every now and then stopping to glance in side an open door, but nothing came out at them. "The map said it was towards the top of the incline." He said, glancing back. The incline would make getting supplies down a little easier.

Juliet looked up the hill and spotted a building larger than the surrounding structures. A moderate parking area spread out before the building, but was devoid of vehicles. She had seen other deserted villages before, but something about Dunsbrough was different. Some villages looked like they had been frantically abandoned with crashed vehicles and numerous packs of the undead shuffling about. This time it was different. It looked like everyone had just calmly left in a reasonably orderly fashion. Vehicles here were parked in neat rows along the sidewalks. It was rather surreal in a way. "What the heck happened here?"

Bart had the same sense of surrealism. There were not many places untouched to this degree and he should know on his way up the country. “Most likely to many holiday homes and not enough full time villagers.” He said quietly hoping it was not that and it was not like he had seen in an Oxford village where people had all decided to commit suicide together to avoid what was coming. It still haunted him sometimes when he closed his eyes after a long day.

Dmitri and Dobrya slowly edged around several parked cars. If it weren’t for what he’d already experienced, Dmitri could have mistaken this for just another day in the village. Dobrya sniffed and snuffled at various things, picking her head up now and again to look around. Dmitri kept his eyes up and scanned around, his bow ready with a nocked arrow. He wanted to find a tea shop, but he also kept the needs of the group in mind. Anything medically related would be scooped up and taken back to the boat. They’d had some luck in the past by opening cars and removing first aid kits, but most kits wouldn’t have what they desperately needed: antibiotics and pain relievers.

"There is the supermarket.... Flipping heck, it's a Sainsbury's. Not seen one of those since I left London." Bart chuckled. It would be interesting to see inside after 3 years. The rest of the village had been left untouched for the most part, but this supermarket was an unknown as they started across the small car park.

Juliet looked at the door windows that had months, if not years of accumulated dust and dirt. She approached the glass door and peered in. "I can't see anything. Should we circle around and see if there's another way in?"

“Staff entrance,” Bartholomew commented indicated the way he was heading. The way felt longer as it was up stairs but the entrance was shut. The man banged on the door a couple of times to see if anything moved inside, but nothing did, thankfully.

Juliet looked around. There was no movement and no sound. She wondered what could have happened to cause the former inhabitants to leave. She could understand if a horde of the dead had come in, but that didn't appear to be the case in this instance. She glanced at the two men. "What do you think happened here?"

Bartholomew really had no idea as he looked at the metal door in front of him and shrugged a little as he pulled out his locksmith kit and started on the lock. "I really have no idea. It's as if everyone just vanished one day. They could have been one of the early evacuations, or like I said to many holiday homes and not enough full-time villagers. There were not enough people here to care." Bart was hoping they might find some answers in side the supermarket.

Juliet glanced at Dmitri. He had once been a soldier. Perhaps he had an idea of what happened. "Dmitri, you have any clue what happened here?"

Dmitri muttered something under his breath. He looked around, just as confused as the others. It was as if everyone in this village had simply…walked away? But, he told himself, that didn’t make sense. In all the stressful and horrifying situations he’d experienced, humans had done what humans did best: panic. He turned to look at Juliet.

“This is not normal…this is too…” he began, and then struggled to find the right word.

“Calm,” he said after a moment’s thought.

“There should be mess and signs of chaos,” he offered. He shrugged, shook his head, and then turned back to the store, weary of the peaceful appearance.

Juliet pursed her lips in thought as Bartholomew worked on unlocking the door. Then a thought struck her. "Could the army have come and evacuated the population to a safe area?"

"They never got to any of these types of towns and villages. Maybe they grouped together to get to a safe zone and evacuation point, but it is unlikely." Bartholomew commented as the door popped open with a soft noise and he quickly gathered up his tools and popped them back in his rucksack, shouldering it again.

Juliet seemed bewildered by the lack of living, dead and not dead enough. What happened here, she wondered.

"I will lead." Bartholomew offered quickly as he kicked open the door, but nothing came out, which was always a nice relief. He raised the crowbar he had, as the spear he liked normally was just too bulky in this type of battleground. The staff entrance was dark, but the torch the man had clipped to his rucksack lit the room up, revealing it was like a reception area.

Juliet followed the torchlight. It was silent as a tomb. No sounds of movement, no hum of machinery. It was somewhat creepy.

Dmitri winced slightly at the sound of the door being kicked open, but when nothing came out at the group, he breathed a sigh of relief and crossed himself in thanks.

He walked backward into the store, keeping his bow trained on the doorway and the street beyond. Having a pohani vyrodky or, God forbid, a group of them, sneak up behind the group was the last thing Dmitri wanted. Just inside the threshold, Dmitri paused and switched from his bow to his trusty machete.

This is necessary , he told the logical paratrooper side of his brain before it could protest, even if I don’t like it.

The pohani vyrodky might be in here and get close. Then, what good will the bow be, he reasoned internally.

Dmitri habitually pulled a scarf up over his nose in preparation for the smells of the expired food.

Juliet glanced at Dmitri. "I doubt you'll need that yet Dmitri. The freshest stuff we're going to be looking for is probably on shelves back here. Speaking of which, we should focus on canned, boxed and dry or baking goods. Seasoning and spices too, especially salt."

“Produce and fresh will be long gone after 3 years.” Bartholomew commented as he led the pair down some stairs listening carefully as they stepped down into the warehouse. “If only we had more storage space on the boat.” He said looking at the pallets unopened which would hold items they could use.

Juliet shrugged her shoulders with a wry smile on her face. "We could always hide stuff we can't get home on this trip and come back for more later on."

Bartholomew nodded at the woman. “That’s a great idea and probably what we need to do. I do not think your boat could take all the things here.” The man said as he heard a sound behind them and whirled around.

Dmitri paused for a split second and then pulled the scarf up anyway. While it was true that fresh food was long gone, people may not have been. Squatters and people on the move were not known for being particularly thoughtful about…well, anything.

“This is true,” Dmitri acknowledged, “but I have old habits.” He was just about to decide on what to look or scrounge for first - medical supplies or, barring those, substitutes that could be adapted, when he saw Bartholomew's reaction. Following the man's gaze, Dmitri turned and raised his bow to cover the group's rear. Dobrya, sensing Dmitri's move turned, as well. She went the opposite way from the group and scooted behind cover, angling to ambush any threats if needed.

Juliet saw the men spin and did so herself. She panned the light from her own torch from left to right before speaking in a voice that was meant to convince herself...but missing the mark by a country mile. "Perhaps...it was just a mouse."

"Maybe," Bartholomew said as he raised his crowbar and took several steps towards the noise with his torch shining in the direction. He took several steps, and a moan echoed around them. He held up a finger and motioned for them to be quiet. He held up a finger to signify it was only one.

Juliet glanced at the knife in her hand. It was a rather pathetic excuse for a weapon. She hated weapons though. She just couldn't see herself hurting someone. She rarely left the safety of Thistledrift. This excursion had been a last minute endeavor to find food and medical supplies. She hadn’t thought too much about what they might encounter on the expedition.

Dmitri nodded to Bartholomew’s signal and covered him with the bow and arrow until the other reached a stack of pallets. Once Bartholomew started to slink around the stack, Dmitri turned the opposite way, the way the group had been headed initially, to make sure they didn’t get ambushed. He felt confident that Dobrya and Bartholomew could handle the creature.

Bartholomew moved around the pallet stack from which the moan had come and found the zombie. Once a woman carrying groceries home, now a sagging corpse in a torn dress. The bag still dangled from her hand, which had caught on the planet of cleaning equipment. Her jaw worked compulsively, a grotesque parody of domestic routine, as though memory clings faintly even as life itself has rotted away. "Well, aren't you in a bad way?" He muttered, watching as the zombie turned at his voice.

Dmitri scanned the area ahead of him, pulling slightly on the bow’s string. In his peripheral vision, he spotted something inviting: an unopened package of Sainsbury’s brand Digestives biscuits. Dmitri glanced around, making sure everything was clear, released the slight tension on the string, and then cautiously reached for the biscuits. He was sure that, having put his hand on the package, something horrible would happen.

As it turned out, there was no trap. Just a packet of biscuits left out on some boxes. Dmitri quickly pocketed the package in the front pocket of his anorak, to be enjoyed later, and then grasped the string again.

Bartholomew raised his crow bar and slammed in straight through the zombies eyes and watched as rhe caught zombies crumbled to the floor. He glanced to Juliet. “We need to get you a better weapon.” He commented quietly.

Juliet glanced down at the knife in her hand and sighed. "You might be right."

Bartholomew tutted and cleaned the gore off the crowbar with the zombie's clothing before he looked around more. "Come on." He sighed, knowing that once inside, he was looking for a DIY second or... he paused and smirked as he saw the entrance from the warehouse to the store. Just inside of it was an old-fashioned fire alert system with an axe. He raised his crowbar and smashed the glass. "Which one do you want?" He demanded.

Juliet looked at the fire ax and crowbar and gestured to the crowbar. "Pretty sure I don't have the strength for a two handed ax."

"Will need to get those muscles on you Doc." The man laughed trying to lighten the mood. He held out the weapon to her. He waited for her to take the weapon before he started to test the axe's weight for ease. It was a solid axe, it would do for now. Bartholomew glanced at the swing door and slowly pushed it open into the main area of the shop.

Juliet resheathed her knife and took the crowbar. She looked uneasy holding the tool/weapon in her hands, but she knew if they encountered any more of the undead, she was going to need something with a little more reach then the small hunter knife on her belt.

"What I would give for a deli meat counter now." Bartholomew hissed as he kept his ears open for sounds that were not theirs. It was eerie as they walked along the main back aisle of the shop; the shop looked like it had just closed one day and never opened. It was strange but lucky for them. "Where would you like to head first?" He demanded, glancing back at the doctor and his colleague.

Juliet panned her torch light at the signage at the end of the aisles. "Dry or caned goods would be my best recommendation. We're most likely to find items not passed their expiration date in those two places."

“Tins are safe for years after.” Bartholomew commented as he started ahead of the other 2 to check out the way. There were signs of people having taken stuff the further they got into the store. He would have to praise Cassandra for the location of this place as it would be a good supply store for a while.

Dmitri eased his way further down the aisle, looking for other necessities to pick up. Dobrya padded up beside him, and the pair continued to look for essentials.

Dmitri added some sticks of jerky to his pocket, but then ran out of aisle. He hesitated for a moment; if he were alone, he would venture off into the store for what he needed, taking his life and Dobrya’s into his hands. But he wasn’t alone. The others in the group were depending on him as much as he was on them. Not staying with them seemed like a bad idea, he thought.

As if to settle the matter internally, Dmitri nodded slightly and began backing up the aisle to rejoin the others.

Juliet was making a mental note on all the food stuffs they had seen. It was much more than they could fit onto the sailboat they had arrived in. "I think we'll need to make a second trip here before the heavy snow sets in. If Europa were here we be set to get it all back home." She turned to the others. "What do you guys think?"

“Certainly could do with the Europa right now. But happy to stay behind for the night if you want to head back either way first load and come back for me?” Bartholomew offered gently as he grabbed up a packet of beef jerky from a clip display and opened it

“We should find herbs or medicine and leave,” he cautioned when he’d gotten back to the group. He had no idea if there were more infected in the shop, but he didn’t want to find out the hard way either.

“Where there is one pohani vyrodky, there may be others,” he reasoned.

“We could also come back with more people,” he mused aloud.

“Still fresh.” Bartholomew stated smiling happy at the taste he had not had in over a year. It was good to have reminder of what he had used to have often he glanced to Juliet as he shoved the last few pieces in his mouth. “Strength for moving just doc.” he said trying to lighten the mood.

Juliet just shook her head as she looked at Bartholomew. "So. How are we gonna move all this stuff to the boat?"

“Load it on pallets and use trucks to get it down?” Bartholomew suggested softly as he looked around. “Or trolleys?” He offered grabbing one that had been discarded to use to put tins into.

Juliet sighed and followed Bartholomew's lead, grabbing another trolley and started along the other side of the aisle. It didn't take long to fill both trolleys with canned goods. She glanced at the two men. "Well, at least it's all downhill to the boat." She glanced around, a thoughtful expression on her face. "Why is there so much left? And why nis obody here to protect it all?"

"I do not think I actually want to know," Bartholomew admitted. He was just happy they would not starve for a while.

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