[quote=@Lady of Lore]
[color=7bcdc8]“Hey,”[/color] she whispered, gesturing towards his gun with a shake of her head. [color=7bcdc8]“Too noisy. That’ll draw more, we need to stay quiet. Use something else. We need to hunt them down before they get to—”[/color][/quote]

[color=00a651]"...what draws more, Grant-package-friend, is out-of-towner backpackers shopping for batteries."[/color] 

He was already watching the old-lady-stinker approach from between two end cap displays (Spice up YOUR cooking with 'Shake & Bake!,' $1.19 each *SALE* choose from Turkey, Chicken and Fine Herbs.) She was wearing a rain coat and one rubber boot. The other foot was missing, her uneasy movement supported by the gleaming white bone of her lower leg. [color=00a651]"They have rubber boots available in all sizes... aisle 23..."[/color] 

She gurgled in reply (Listerine, $3.29, Aisle 2A) [color=00a651]"Shut UP!"[/color] as Ryan quietly set the pistol on a nearby cash register station (Checkout #4, beer & alcohol purchases at #20, please...) and drew his trusty bat (Easton "Big Barrel," $250, sporting goods - out of stock) and in one fluid, golf-swing motion shattered her jaw, teeth spraying (Chicklets, $.89, Checkout impulse-buy side caps, multi-fruit flavours!) and followed that swing with a second that dropped grandma. 

The second one had been a girl, maybe Ryan's own age. From the level of decay and bloating, it was hard to tell what she may once have looked like, but there was no denying the fact that she was naked, save a pair of flip-flops. He was distracted by the flip-flops so badly (how? how did those stay on??) that she nearly walked right up to him. Only the bump of her left elbow against his sternum broke him of his daze, and Ryan hit her in the face with the butt-end of his baseball bat, staggering her back. She howled wetly, a sound that seemed to come from underwater and a mile away, before Ryan's bat met her left temple, and she was on the floor.