The hardware store's shelves had already been half-cleared by the time the group finished their sweep of the first two aisles, and Erik was midway through directing the second wave toward the back storage room when the shouting started.
"That's our haul! We saw it first!"
A cluster of five men emerged from the loading dock at the rear of the store, weapons raised, faces gaunt with the particular hollow desperation that had become common enough across the flooded city that none of them fully registered the danger fast enough.
"We didn't see any markers claiming this place," Erik said, already positioning himself between the men and the rest of the group. "There's enough here for both parties if we're reasonable about it."
"We don't want reasonable," the lead man snapped, gesturing his group forward. "We want what we came for."
