"No!" Mary cries out, clinging to Alex tightly.  "Please don't go!  You'll DIE!  Come with us.  We can make it."

"Yeah, come on guys", the little girl's father argues.  "The thing with the truck is a fool's errand.  We can't stop you, but we'd rather have you come with us than needlessly die.  This will work.  I know it."

A stillness hangs in the air for a moment that no one dares to break.  Everyone notices just how cold it's become within the store now that the power has died, their breath hanging icily in the air.  Then, as if on cue, the moaning outside picksup and something begins rattling within the walls of the convenience store.

"You do what you need to do," the girls father says as he pulls a tear Mary away from Alex, "but don't bother coming back, because we won't be here.  Good luck and God speed."

As the group begins moving toward the back door where the ladder awaits, Mary looks pleadingly at Alex.  "Please, no..." she mouths wordlessly to Alex, her hand making a reluctant reaching gesture.

Outside, Hal can see several zombies, all violently shaking and howling mindlessly for no apparent reason.