Grocery is a young man’s game. I
have said that from the beginning back when I got my first job in between my
sophomore and junior year of high school. I would say half of our employees
were under the age of 18 but most of them were in school when Zero Hour hit.
Most of the employees in the store at the time of the attack were older
individuals. Two notable exceptions are Dillon Hernden and Kanen Kraig. Both
these kids graduated from high school last year and were attending night
classes in college, which put them working at Reason’s during the day when Zero
Hour hit.
Kanen
Kraig: I know Kanen
pretty well because he was originally hired in Produce. He jumped over to the
Meat Department where he worked with Luke as the kid that would do clean up at
night and stock anything in the department that didn’t require being prepped by
a Meat Cutter (lunch meat, frozen items, etc.). So when Zero Hour started, he
was isolated, working in the middle of the Meat Department’s main cooler (the
area that is now our shower). He was just stacking off pallets of newly
delivered product and had no idea anything was wrong until the panicked call
came over the intercom to lock all the doors.
I cannot think of anyone that doesn’t
like Kanen. He is one of those good kids with a pretty infectious smile. He is
the consummate definition of IDGAF. He is shirtless more often than not. He has
that invincibility that comes with youth and I have to admit, he has adapted
quite well to this new world that we are in. I don’t want to type this out and
make it seem like he is an unfeeling sociopath but Kanen has seemed to
disconnect from the old world quite cleanly compared to everyone else. There have
been times where I have heard him talk about his parents and his family members
but he transcended into the Zombie World by just completely unhooking and
leaving the past behind. People twice his age are not ask skilled as Kanen was
when it came to this and I feel like being able to unplug and move on is
something that you have to be able to do in order to survive.
Now, last week, we had our first
sortie run outside and I don’t think anyone was more excited to see this than
Kanen. He is one of those crazy guys that you see doing all the racing on dirt
bikes where the guys are all dressed from head to toe in that sports leather
and plastic body armor. I know he wants to get back to his house (which is not
far from the store) and grab his motorcycle and gear to bring back here. I have
to admit, having some fast moving vehicles like motorcycles or four-wheelers
would be pretty handy to have. If it works, Kanen will spearhead what we are
calling the “Baiter” plan. More on that if it happens.
Dillon
Hernden: Just now, as
I sit down to write about Dillon, I have to admit I do not know him that well.
I know the basics. He graduated from high school last year and was going to
college. He was attending classes at night while working during the day. I know
he was really sweet on the girl he was dating. But I cannot tell you much about
his family, if he has brothers or sisters, or what his plan was after college.
(I cannot even tell you what he was studying.) I need to work on that. I know
if you look at his picture, you might be saying to yourself, “Three gingers
trapped in that store? What are the odds?” Well, like Lance and Hunter, Dillon
is a Daywalker and since he doesn’t have a soul, perhaps it helped him attune
to the harsh new realities we are facing.
Kanen and Dillon have built a pretty
strong rapport with one another so it is not a coincidence that I have paired
them together here for Survivor Profile Friday. You can constantly find them
working out together and they do cardio laps around the perimeter of the store
together to keep each other motivated. I need to learn more about him and post
it along here. Don’t worry. I will get to that.
