Shelby, Ryan, and Violet
It was a good thing that Shelby wasn’t claustrophobic, because as soon as they really joined the group trying to escape she lost sight of a lot of things. But they were moving, relatively quickly too for how many people were trying for that door. She’d thrown so many elbows in self-defense that she thought she might have joined the wrong sport - she certainly felt like she could make it through a hockey brawl after this.
The escape would have gone even better if the big guy in front of her hadn’t tried to muscle his way through the back door to the loading bay, and started what looked like the beginnings of a fist fight. He was shoved pretty good back into her, and she landed on her ass on the tiled floor of Walker’s. She threw her arms up instinctively to protect herself from the people that were both trying to get through the door and trying to break up the fight.
“Ouch, shit,” she exclaimed when someone’s knee connected pretty good with her shoulder.
Ryan looked back at the now-familiar voice, frowning as he glimpsed what had just happened. "Hey, get off of her!" he yelled, reaching for the shirt of the guy on top of her and pushing him aside as best as he could. He shifted off, tumbling to the ground next to the woman, and Ryan reached a hand down to help her up. Someone shoved into him, too, but Ryan managed to hold fast. "Come on, we gotta go!"
Nodding in agreement, Shelby hoisted herself back up again with his help, and offered a quick smile and a thank you. There was a small break in the crush around the door after the fight had been broken up. Enough that the two of them were able make it into the back loading area of Walker’s without a lot of problems. Once through, Shelby spotted the double doors that were being used as an exit.
“That way,” she said and pointed. The urgency of escape had amped up her adrenaline and overtaken most of the fear she’d been feeling just minutes before. With a short jog across the room, they made it out into the bright sunlight of the back alley. There was definitely still commotion as people made it out and realized that there were shufflers starting to congregate, but it was nothing like the front of the building yet.
“Good luck!” Shelby offered to the stranger that had helped her, before she started to check for the best way to get back to her car.
Violet was never coming back to this damn grocery store again. Ever. It had been bad enough when zombies showed up outside but now they were right there in the middle of everyone who had just wanted some food. She felt panicked, and so did everyone else from the look of things. It was insanity, and she didn't know where to go or what to do because what could they do, pelt the thing with produce? All she knew was she had to find Ryan, and he had to be okay, and they would get the hell out of there.
All of that would have been much easier if the crowd wasn't complete chaos - and maybe if she wasn't small. A large man slammed into her as he made his way toward the door, knocking her to the ground and not looking back. No one else seemed to notice, lost in the attempt to get out of the enclosed space with undead trying to get at them. Before she could get up, there were feet pinning her down, stepping on her as their owners bolted for the door. Violet only managed to curl into a ball to try and protect herself after some damage had been done - pain shooting through her body and her left arm useless to help her get up once there was a space to try.
She made it outside in a wave of people, holding her arm against her chest and trying to ignore the sharp pain that came with every movement. “Ryan!”