Chapter One: A Stop-Start Beginning

A/N: Don't expect a fast update on this. This is purely a casual story I'm making up as I go. I have no idea how long it'll be or how it will end. I only even have a vague notion of what I want to happen at some point. If that bugs you, don't bitch, don't complain, just don't read.

Disclaimer: Guess what I got for Christmas!...Not this show. I know, I'm just as disappointed as you.

Fingers tightened automatically around the shotgun, green eyes scanning the empty parking lot for the noise that (she may have well imagined) had reached her ears a few seconds before. It was stupid, coming to a gas station at night, but their supply had dipped just past the "we need more gas now" point and Penny wasn't willing to risk the next town being a dry one.

"That's the last one," came the child-like voice of one part of their traveling trio, and Penny gives a quick nod, backing up the few steps needed to place the shotgun into the other woman's waiting hands as she stooped to snatch two of the five fire engine red canisters surrounding Bernadette's feet. The petite woman had virtually no upper body strength.

Placing the canisters in the open trunk and then shutting the lid, Penny stood for a few moments, eyeing the dark, seemingly empty, building before glancing briefly at the back seat, and more specifically, the man curled up asleep across the space. She hates to wake him, but the bitching out she'd receive from the lanky doctor for not getting an adequate number of R.E.M sleeping hours was nothing to the damn, near hysterical, chewing out she'd get for not notifying him of their group being temporarily separated.

The blonde ex-waitress/actress opens the back passenger door on her Volkswagen (the red vehicle has held up surprisingly well, check engine light be damned), tapping Sheldon's leg while calling his name, an insistence on his part so he'd know she was a "friendly," and the young physicist gives a jerk as he wakes.

"Bernadette and I are going to look for supplies inside," she says quietly, rising to place one hand on the top of the car as she keeps her head at eye level to the genius.

Sheldon looks past her, blue eyes scanning the building once before he gives a crisp nod. "That is acceptable." He sits up, turning to face forward and setting his sights on the velvet black view through the windshield.

She shuts the door with a soft thud before turning back to her companion. "Ready?"

A quick nod from the slightly smiling microbiologist-in-training, and Penny's reaching behind to pull the small revolver tucked into the waist band of her work skirt (and why the world had to end and send her, her new co-worker and wacky neighbor scrambling to get out of Pasadena before she had a chance to change, or even grab any of her other clothes, she'd never understand) and holding it in her hand, nose pointed downward.

The pair moved forward as quietly as possible, shotgun held diagonally across the smaller woman's body. Bernadette wouldn't use it, a natural talent for first shooter video games and paintball nights with her boys adding up to Penny being a much better marks-man than the bubbly young student, but it's amazing what a visual of being prepared does to keep others at a safe distance.

One of the door's frames is empty, the glass having been shattered, if the jagged pieces clinging to the edges like rows of teeth in an open mouth are anything to go by. Penny shakes off the image as she steps forward, olive tinted irises scanning for signs of life in the dark interior. There's no glass on the floor around the entrance, and the one-time waitress pictures someone distinctly Sheldon-like sweeping the floor with careful precision after shattering the window and she smiles slightly at the thought.

Both doors appear unlocked, and Penny reaches her left hand out to give a soft testing pull. The door swings easily towards her and she tightens her fingers, wrapping them more firmly around the handle and dragging it fully open. She leads the way, trusting Bernadette to have her back as she scans the convenience store. It's been picked over; empty racks and silent, bare coolers. The two girls split, eyes carefully scanning as they make their way towards the back, their soft steps shockingly loud in the still quiet.

It's damn near pitch black down the back hall, Penny is barely able to make out a couple of doors and she mentally curses that none of them have been able to get a hold of a flashlight.

"Penny?" She turns at the sound of the other girl's voice, seeing the tiny blonde holdup a shiny silver Zippo lighter, her shot gun transferred to rest against her left shoulder. "Will this help?" The grin on Bernadette's face is huge and Penny can't stop the curving of her own mouth in response.

"Where'd you get that?"

The smaller woman flips the top, thumbing coming out, flicking the igniter and a small flame appearing as she answers, "Behind the register. Must've missed it in the scramble for the cigarettes. Also found some Tylenol packets." Penny grins at the flame, golden-green eyes drinking in the soft glowing light.

Bernadette steps closer and Penny can just make out the green cannabis leaf imprinted on the front, surrounded by what looked to be smaller bits of the same foliage. Not really her style, but she wasn't going to complain about a new light source, or finally being able to keep Sheldon from insisting that he can use a flint stone to create a campfire, further proof in her mind that knowing how something works, and the mechanics of it, are no match for actual experience, and Sheldon is no Boy Scout.

The tiny tongue of flame flickers as they move, Penny noting the unisex sign on the first door, the word "Restroom" printed below in chipped black plastic and the pass it in favor of the next. Ignoring the "Employees Only" warning, Penny reaches out her unoccupied hand to slowly open the door, surprised when she finds it gives her a bit of resistance before popping open. She squints at the lock in the dim light, noting the worn nature of the door jam and handle.

They enter what was probably some combination of break and storage room, shelves a jumbled mess on the floor and what appears to be a counter along one side. Bernadette's feeble light casts shadows, revealing a strange shape that has Penny dropping down and tugging on a bit of plastic and cardboard tucked into a corner, her companion kneeling beside her, weapon placed across her feet for easy access.

"Jackpot," she whispers as she pulls the half empty case of what appears to be Gatorade into the open. She shoots the other woman a large grin, seeing Bernadette's bright eyes in the soft glow. She snatches up the case under one arm, and a quick exploration of the rest of the room revealing nothing of use.

They step carefully from the room, Bernadette closing the lighter, extinguishing the flame, and slipping the Zippo into a pocket to better hold her firearm in both hands. The two women pause, taking a moment to allow their eyes to adjust before heading for the front. They're half way across the parking lot when a noise has Penny stopping, gun up suddenly and aimed in the direction she swore she heard foot falls. Her pretty blonde co-worker is at her back, shot gun cocked and facing the opposite direction.

She hears her car door open to her left as two men come around the building, their own weapons in hand. They seem surprised, one even stumbling back slightly before their own weapons are up and pointing.

"We were just leaving," she shouts, not wanting more complications than necessary. She takes a side-step towards her vehicle, feeling Bernadette following her moves like a shadow.

She can see the older of the two gentlemen in the moonlight, weighing up the options before shouting a quick, "Alright."

Narrowed green eyes never leave the sight of the two unexpected guests as she moves steadily towards the red Volkswagen. She doesn't want to think of them as dangerous, they probably weren't before, but she's seen the movies, desperate times push people in unthinkable ways. Hell, six months ago if you told her she'd be driving around the country with her neurotic neighbor and a girl she'd knew for less than a single shift carrying guns, she'd have laughed and probably humored them long enough to grab her bat.

The once aspiring actress tightens her grip on the Gatorade pack, signaling to Bernadette to get to the car first, and the other woman follows her lead and moves around the nose of the vehicle. Penny had given her the spare key shortly after California had fallen into the Pacific and it became obvious that power wasn't going to magically restore itself any time soon, and the perky woman fished it from her pocket now as she shoved the shotgun into the still standing Sheldon's arms.

"Get in," Penny hissed, waiting until her companions were safely in the vehicle before reaching behind her and opening the passenger door, she had to take the nose of her revolver off the gentlemen to shut it, but by then the other woman had the car started and ready for the moment Penny's door shut, tossing the Gatorade in the back as she moves.

"Well," stated Sheldon from his position in the backseat, she'll get an ear full for that she suspects, "that was exciting, but as I do not hear gun shots I am thinking those gentlemen are not thinking of overtaking us for our provisions and mode of transportation."

"No," Penny answered, staring behind them as if she could make out shapes in the dark, "I don't think they are, but better to be safe than sorry."

"You are correct," he states, back ramrod straight in the seat behind the driver's, which, Penny noted absently as she turned to face forward once more, was still far enough back that Bernadette was perched on the edge to reach the pedals. "And in light of that fact, perhaps we could pull over to allow a rearranging of our seating positions." And before Penny could so much as open her mouth to reply, he quickly adds, "Shotgun!" A cocky half smirk covers his features and Penny rolls her eyes. He proceeds to hold up the Remington that Bernadette had deposited into his hands earlier, his grin turning whimsical.

She cuts in before he can explain his joke, "Go ahead and pull over, Bernadette." She shifts her own weapon around as the blonde does as she asks, preparing to get in the backseat and let Sheldon have 'his spot,' (because even an apocalypse can't stop Sheldon from being Sheldon) and her eyes catch on it. She knows she has five bullets in the six chamber revolver, knows it's a .45, all surprising bits of knowledge from the tall doctor currently carefully unbuckling his seat belt. And instead of his usual "I'm a physicist with a working blah blah universe blah" ather inquires on how he knew so much about firearms he gave a simple "I'm a Texan," like it explained everything.

She opens her door and stepping out she's surprised to see that Bernadette is doing the same, Sheldon already making his way around the trunk.

"I'm going to get some sleep," she says with a grin as she catches Penny's look, and she's not exactly sure, but she thinks the her co-worker is lying to her, but she doesn't question it as she nods and makes her way to the driver's side. The vehicle is still running as Penny slides in, hearing Bernadette in the back making herself comfortable and her lanky companion settling into the passenger side. She waits for everyone to get situated before pulling back onto near empty highway. Abandoned vehicles litter the free-way like animal carcasses, most people having been considerate enough to pull over, but Penny still has to keep an eye out for the occasional jerk who felt the need to push their automobile every last inch it could go on the asphalt.

Her fingers itch to turn on the headlights, and she knows it must kill Sheldon to refrain from mentioning the safety hazard, but they learned that lesson at the New Mexico border.

Bernadette is asleep, the sound of her soft breathing filling the car before Sheldon speaks up.

"Do you think we will find the others?"

It's not the first time he's asked, but the question has come less over their two month journey, and Penny isn't sure how it is she became their appointed leader in all this, but she's long accepted the role. Taking a steadying breath through her nose, she carefully places her facial expression before turning slightly to look at the man next to her.

"I'm not sure, sweetie." One hand comes out to touch his wrist, thumb rubbing soothing circles. "But we won't stop looking." She puts both hands back on the wheel, eyes back on the road before her as they drive into the night.

A/N: I know Penny's car dies at some point, but I prefer this way. And again, I'm not trying to be canon-compliant. I've seen sporadic episodes from random seasons. This is purely for fun, and I'm not going to break my back trying to make sure everything adds up "just right." That being said, I won't purposely ignore canon (names will still names, and character traits will still be character traits) I just won't follow TBBT time-line and may occasional change things to better suit my whim.