[center][u]Nathalie Soltero – Food Court – Finn & Nicole[/u][/center]

[i]’What if they’re just playing you? What if they use you and leave?’[/i] As the young woman walked off on her own, the little voice inside her head wouldn’t stop bringing up the negative thoughts that Nat had tried so hard to push away. [i]’No! They are good people; they won’t do that. I need them to be good people.’[/i] She shook her head as she arrived at the first little restaurant inside the food court, easily hopping over the check out counter using only one hand to keep her up. She began to scan every inch of the counters, neatly growling out of frustration when she saw it had been ransacked already. Hopefully they hadn’t gotten as much in the back. Her eyes wandered over to the door that lead to the back which was the kitchen. She didn’t want to face what may be back there alone, but she needed time to prove herself trustworthy to Finn and Nicole. Although the teenager was sweet and welcoming, her older brother seemed skeptical and uneasy around Nathalie. She had come across so many horrible people that all she wanted was a break. She wanted to find someone that would be as reliable as she could be, and not expect more from her. Although the day was hot, she could not stop herself from shivering at the memory of the most recent men that she had ran into and their “requirements” for protection and for her to be able to stay and scavenge with them.

Nathalie inhaled deeply before exhaling until she had gotten over it. She stood in front of the door which held back the unknown. Ever so softly, she placed her hands on it and pushed; trying her best not to make noise. She heard little to nothing, so she made her way in, propping the door open as she went. The back room was darker than the front side. The light entering from both the front open door and the back-door window helped illuminate, but it was not enough to walk around comfortably.

Sheathing her machete, Nat immediately went to work, trying to find anything that could possibly help the three of them. As she moved slowly, combing through the selves and cabinets, all she was able to find were 3 cans. One of sweet corn, one of lentils, and another of pineapple chunks. She decided to check them and continued to the next food shop, then the next one, then the next. Two small bottles of water which seemed kid sized, a bottle of wine, four cans of god damn chili, two Powerade’s. “Do these expire?” Her voice came out as a hushed mutter, but that seemed to be enough to wake up one of the dead that she had yet to see. Its moans and groans snapped Nathalie out of her reverie, damning herself for assuming that the kitchen would be clear like the others before it. She immediately unsheathed her blade and started slowly walking towards the sound of the monstrosity. To her surprise, when she turned the corner, it was on the floor. “Broke your legs, huh?” She crouched down to try and get a good look at it, immediately covering her nose and mouth and standing back up. “Oh man you smell so bad up close. Fucking gross.” Her eyes narrowed as the dead reached its arms out ever so slowly to try and get her. [i]’This was somebody. They had a home and family.’[/i] “Yeah well they’re dead now,” she responded to her inner thoughts, taking only another second to look at the corpse before shoving her machete into its skull.

Gagging, nearly throwing up, Nathalie used all of her body to pull out the blade. She walked over to a pile of aprons and wiped off any blood that she could find either on her weapon or herself before grabbing what she found in the kitchen. In total aside from what she had found earlier, the final shop was fruitful; four full size bottles of water, seven cans of lentils – some with bacon in it, and in the first aid kit she found six pads and two tampons. As Nathalie tried to organize her findings, the sudden sound of commotion coming from out in the food court caught her attention. [b]”Hey you! Yeah you, over here!”[/b] Cursing under her breath, Nathalie ran out to see what was going on but she had arrived only to see the dead on the ground. “Oh my god, are y’all okay?” She quickly jumped over the counter and ran over to see what had happened. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here to help.” [i]’They’re going to hate you.’[/i] She stood a bit awkwardly as she wanted to get near and make sure they were alright but wanted to give them some room to not overstep her boundaries. “I, um, I found some stuff. Do y’all want to get moving before more of them come and then we can see what we managed to score? I got some stuff for Nicole too.” She smiled at the young girl and looked over at Finn, hoping he wouldn’t be mad or blame them being attacked on her for bringing them. “I’ll go grab the stuff that I left back there. Be right back.” Looking at them both, Nat turned on her heel and ran back into the shop that she had just been in. She took little to no time in stacking the cans in her backpack. The wine bottle she had found she had to carry but it wasn’t a big deal as her machete was heavier than the bottle itself.

After all was said and done, she neared the other two and smiled sheepishly. “I have wine!”

[@Juniper]