Despite the dimness of the environment I could faintly make out that we were parked in the middle of what looked to be some kind of parking lot. "I'm guessing this used to be where some car dealership used to store their stock of cars, not sure which company, since the brutal snow storms have done a good job of making any billboards and lettering on the sides of this building illegible," Andrew said as he adjusted his to lean back.
"Looks like there was a clearance sale here recently there isn't a single car in sight apart from ours," I said sourly.
"Yeah, looters sure cleaned this place up didn't they?" he said wrapping himself with a blanket. "Now if you don't mind Daniel I think I'll catch up on my beauty sleep," Andrew said as he sat back and drifted off almost immediately to sleep.

I gently moved Stacey's head of my shoulder and draped my end of the electric blanket onto her as I began to make my way across the backseat and toward the left car door. Immediately upon opening the door my face was struck by the almost unbearable temperature of the warehouse. I swiftly stepped out of the vehicle and onto the parking lot, and gently closed the door not wanting to wake up my friends. The ground beneath my feet felt unreal after all it wasn't everyday that I could trod on familiar ground. Unzipping the left pouch on my coat I dug my hand through and pulled out a flashlight. It was the kind that you had to shake in order for it to project a faint white light. It was a vastly improved version over the previous models. Still It wasn't quite as effective as battery powered flashlights. The days when those were in everyday use were long gone now. I sighed remembering how easy life was before World War III. Now it was a struggle just to survive another day.
It wasn't that I couldn't get my hands on a heavy duty flashlight right now. I mean there were two right now in the back of the Hummer somewhere among the clutter of canned foods, bottled waters, fire arms, and anything else that me and the others deemed essential for survival. It was actually because our supply of batteries was nearly exhausted. I shook my head when I saw that the west end of the warehouse had one of its garage doors lying on the ground where Andrew must have rammed the Hummer through. Outside all that could be seen was the swirling snow and what looked like a couple of stores across the street, which were probably stripped clean by looters long ago. The visibility through the storm was begging to improve meaning it should be ending soon.
Not going anywhere in particular I began to explore the warehouse How did Andrew get in here I wondered as I began exploring the vast parking space. My boots sent an echo across the warehouse with every step. It was kind of creepy walking out here all by myself even though I was in a relatively safe place. But, I knew that I had to keep on my toes, because in this world you only need to let your guard down for a split second for something to come along. It could be anything from wild animal attacks, sudden changes in the weather, our worst of all your fellow humans taking advantage of a world without government. Hmm, I wonder where that leads, I thought as I made my way to a gray door on the far end of the parking rows.
I ran the distance to the door and checked to see if it was unlocked. To my surprise it was and I enthusiastically thrust it open. The door wasn't as heavy as I thought it was and it violently struck the wall sending an ear piercing echo throughout the warehouse. Inside it was pitch black, all I could see was a segment of tiled floor beyond that was nothing but shadow. Holding the knob on the door I gently closed it behind. My nose immediately cringed as I entered the room. The air was thick and acrid. I aimed the flashlight ahead and flipped it on. The white glow emitting from the flashlight penetrated the darkness giving much needed illumination to the room. Scanning the room with the flashlight the state that it was in sent goose bumps down my arms, it looked like a tornado had passed through. Desks and furniture were in pieces all over the place along with papers scattered about. I knew I shouldn't expect to find the other rooms in better condition but I carried on regardless, curious about the state of the other offices.
I tried the first door on the right marked Employee lounge. Inside the windowless room things were no different. Caught in the glow of the flashlight were drawers laying on their sides the contents in heaps around them. Two smashed coffee machines were at the far end of the room. Not bothering to step foot in the room I continued down a long hallway that forked up ahead. I carried on to the right. Five yards ahead of me the flashlight washed over what looked like some sort of waiting room, miraculously it was seemingly untouched by looters for the chairs were set up neatly the walls as if they were used just recently. Even the receptionists’ desk was in good condition apart from the emptied drawers. Looters had apparently stolen a computer off the desk leaving the monitor behind. I stopped dead in my tracks; there was some kind of scratching sound coming from somewhere further down the waiting room. The glow of the flashlight whipped wildly around me as I franticly scanned around my surroundings. Not knowing were the sounds were coming from I foolishly pushed on my curiosity getting the best of me. The scratching sounds continued as I made my way past the waiting room.
Maybe the wind is scraping debris on a door, I thought as I made my way past the waiting room and to a sturdy looking door, were the sounds were coming from. "What am I doing," I said aloud as I made my way to the door, my heart began to pound rapidly as if I were running a marathon. The scratching sounds ceased when I made it two yards to the door, the only sounds were the beating of my heart… It must be some kind of animal, I thought as I weighed the danger of the situation at hand. I assumed it must be a wolf out there, because I couldn’t imagine any other animal could survive out in the wild during these dark times. I wasn't exactly looking forward to meeting a hungry wolf either, at least not with the rifles back at the Hummer which seemed miles away right now.
Very carefully I made my way back to the waiting room careful not to get the attention of whatever was out there. Safety making it to the waiting room I pondered with the idea that it may have been a person outside, but I ruled that out because a human would have knocked or yelled to be let in not scratch at the door like an animal. I picked up the pace as the scratching sounds at the door became increasing more violent. The sounds escalated until they were downright unnerving that I broke into a brisk jog down the hallway flaying the flashlight wildly.