Why do I feel like I know this place?

Evan walked quietly down the long road that lead directly towards a Walmart, standing tall and strong, as if it was held up by many people working together. Amazing. That was a good word to describe the sight of the store standing there, as if nothing had happened to this place. It seemed abandoned, alone in the world. Why was this familiar? Hadn't he heard of something like this?

Memories flooded back to him. A man, more like a teenager, was rocking him back and forth, recalling his good old days to the 'unknowing' baby. That was the only memory of his father that he had.

Baby sat on Abel's head as he watched Evan from the other side of the glass. He cocked his head curiously, and the shadow fell to the ground.

A baseball hat sat on a chair, beside it the owner ran long fingers through bouncy auburn curls. Her eyes were closed and a head ache rocked her skull. At her feet lay a dented metal bat, the leather on the handle gone. In fact, the girl had come to the Wal-Mart to restore her mother's bat. She got to her feet, slapping the base ball cap back on over her almost-frizzy waves, and moved to the sports section of the popular store.

Evan turned his head. Did he hear something? Or is this place just giving him the creeps? Everything seemed to give Evan the creeps. So Evan took his bat from his back and held it in his hand, and started walking cautiously instead of just slowly, looking around to be careful.

Abel walked out of the Wal-Mart, holding a wooden hilt with no blade up defensively. "Who are you?" the little nine year old asked.

"Er, Evan White." Evan said, trying to be cheerful after seeing a kid with a weapon. He stood towering over the little boy. "Whatcha doin' here?"

Abel trembled a little. "I-I'm waiting for my dad. We're waiting for the Apoc... Apocal... Acop... We're waiting for the shadows to go away." he answered.

Evan had many questions about what the boy meant, and even wanted to ask him his name, but the first thing out of his mouth was, "we?"

"There's more people inside." Abel explained.

Ross heard voices. She quickly grabbed the leather tapping material she needed and ran soundlessly towards the two voices. "We're waiting for the Shadows to go away." A younger voice said. But their had been two voices. A quick peek at the scene told her there was an older boy, her age, cornering a younger boy. Rossalynn got ready to jump.

"Oh," Evan said, putting his bat on his back, "that's cool. Can I come inside?" He asked nervously.

"Sure!" Abel invited, walking through the automatic door.

Ross looked at the two, her curious eyes narrowed. Who were the two people? And why did they trust each other. She stood, not realizing she'd been crouching and approached them, nervous hands clenched.

Evan followed the now adorable little boy into the Walmart, and heard someone behind them. He turned around to a see a girl following them.

Ross stopped walking, her red eyes narrowed. "Who are you?" She asked the two of them. A wind blew in from the opened doors, rustling her auburn curls as best it could under her baseball cap.

"Er, I'm Evan White. You are?" He asked, looking at the girl strangely.

Ross starred back at him, tightening the grip on the bat she'd slung into her belt loop. "Name's Ross." Was all she said.

"Ross....Cute name! Er, I don't know his name though." He said pointing to the little boy.

"I'm Abel!" he said excitedly, turning around.

"That's cool! It's good to know some people!" Evan said thrilled.

"Hello." Said Ross in Abel's direction, blushing from the comment Evan made.

Abel smiled. "Yeah!" he said, agreeing with Evan.

Evan's smiled grew. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go in." This boy couldn't possibly get anymore adorable.

Ross shrugged, and followed the boys inside. Not thinking about it, she flattened down her wind blown curls, and straightened her t-shirt.

Abel followed closely behind. He started to skip.