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After the way that last mission ended, scavenging for supplies at an office store seemed like a cozy gig. Bing had a new escort this time. The old lady from the Junkyard, Adelaide.

"- can you believe it? Kid out an' out flirts with us while we're lookin' for Undying." he exclaimed, one hand resting on Adelaide's good shoulder as she guided them into the building. Bing could hear the quality of the sound change around them, and lowered his voice. "We inside?"

"Give me a shove in a direction, and just keep me in sight, okay?" Bing replied, lightly squeezing her shoulder. The old broad was alright by him. Shame about her arm. This set up seemed fairly ideal, though. She was the eyes, and he the brawn. He was hoping they wouldn't need brawn here, but you never know.

Once shoved, Bing stayed low, one hand on the ground, the other outstretched to search for anything laying around. A bit of quiet shuffling, and the hand on the ground bumped into something. Bing stopped to investigate, using both hands to feel the item. It felt remarkably like a stapler, he decided, but someone was still holding onto it. There was no resistance to his examination, and no dead-body weight on the end of it, so Bing came to the conclusion that someone had lost an arm trying to keep hold of it.

He waved the prize above his head, to show Adelaide his find, before stuffing it into a potato sack provided for the job. The Harbingers could figure out how to pry it loose, he figured.

"Pretty weird that people raided this place so thoroughly." Bing commented, heading off in the new direction. "Wouldn't think that an office supply place would get such top priority in a zombe apocalypse."

Bing quieted as heard a noise. It was very faint, and he raised a hand to forestall any further conversation from Adelaide. Using his ears to orient himself, he headed towards the sound. It soon resolved itself into very soft squeaking. Rodents of some kind, then?

"Rats?" he asked. It sounded like a bunch of them. Well, these weren't office supplies, but they'd make a good bit of meat in a pinch. The rats were surprisingly at ease with his presence. He thought there'd be a good bit more panicking if he had them backed in a corner, but they just seemed to be... hanging out.

"Huh."

He had a thought, and opened his sack, mouth facing the group of rats.

"Nice, half eaten bit of flesh in here, rats, come have a chew." he tempted them. And to his surprise, he felt tiny claws on the fabric of the sack. The entire group just waltzed right in. Either they'd taken the bait, or something was really wrong with this group. Bing knotted the top of the sack, and tried to ignore the wriggling.

"Hope we can make it back before they decide to start chewing through the sack."

"Heh. One thing about rats, there are always more where that came from." Bing replied, hoisting the now still sack onto his shoulder. He readily followed Adelaide wherever she was headed, figuring she'd seen something worth checking out.

Another noise caught his attention, though. What now?

He took a few steps towards it, wondering if they'd found another rat jackpot, but before he gone more than a few feet, he heard a loud hiss, followed by the low growl of a pissed off cat.

"Same one?" he asked Adelaide, backing off. Trying to catch an angry cat would be more trouble than it was worth, but he didn't need a feline stalker when they had to be on the alert for the larger zombie threat.

"No kiddin'." Bing agreed. He made an aggressive movement in the cats' direction, which was answered by a hiss and the scrabble of claws on linoleum. "Hopefully that'll keep it from following us anymore. "

His own interest was piqued when he heard booze, and he uttered a disappointed tsk when it turned out to be a hoax.

"Wouldn't have pegged you as the nice stationery kind of lady." he remarked. "Seem more like the roller derby type."

He fumbled about in the nearby area, but came up with nothing. As he moved on, he realized he could hear something. And whatever it was, it was making a lot more noise than a cat.

"Hsst, Adelaide. 10 o'clock. Whaddaya see?" he whispered, grasping out blindly for her. He really hoped it wasn't what he thought it was.

Bing didn't need to be told twice, he crouched as low as he could near the old lady. Several intense minutes followed, as Bing felt Adelaide's hand tremble on his shoulder. He could hear the Undying shuffling about nearby, very, very close. Adelaide was squeezing the crap out of his shoulder, her breathing short and panicky. Bing tensed, anticipating that the Undying would discover them any second, and that he'd have to fight it to let them escape. Thankfully, he didn't. When he could no longer hear its movements, Adelaide sounded the all clear, and Bing couldn't agree more when she suggested they head back.

"Sounds like a plan to me, Adelaide. The Harbingers can make do with the staplers and rats."

When they finally did make it, Bing handed the sack over to one of the members, explained what they'd managed to find, and warned them of the presence of the Undying in Staples.

"'Nother favor down, Adelaide. Thanks for bein' my eyes."