The Last Loaf: How Shaw's Looked Night Before The Storm

MELROSE, MA — I've never been part of a zombie apocalypse, but the scene Wednesday night at Shaw's wasn't so different from what I imagine the aftermath of an undead rising looking like. "Stock up on bread and milk" seems to have run its course; The old storm saying doesn't account for bananas, raw meat, frozen pizzas, or anything else you'd have a tough time coming across at 10:30 p.m. on the eve of 12-18 inches of snow hitting us over the head.

There were so few loaves of bread left when you enter the store that you almost felt sorry for the survivors. I think I heard the 12-grain whimper "Why not me?" I spotted one loaf in the entire bakery. It was open, ruffled through, and had a pig on the bag.

The bananas? There were a couple dozen Patch-green ones strewn about. I've never heard such astonishment as I did from one last-second shopper bustling into the produce section: "S--t, do people just eat bananas during a storm?"

The desecration of the milk section was a sight to behold. You never realize how rare it is to see the back of a dairy shelf until it's staring you in the face. I guess it isn't a never-ending row of milks after all.

Some items appeared to have held firm. The peanut butter boldly remained, the oatmeal will live to tell about it, and let's be honest, you're never buying all the Pepsi from one store.

The voice from the ceiling gave a war-torn 15-minute warning at 10:45. It was almost time for shelf-stockers to take stock of their existence, returning home to lick their wounds. Only to show up again tomorrow at 7 a.m. "We'll be here," a cashier said.

I won't. My two eyes can only take so much in one week.

At least the zombies would have left the ripe bananas.

Read: Grocery Store Survival 101 (You're Driving Other Shoppers Nuts)

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Photos by Mike Carraggi