Sargent Davis was surprised by how many of the cars had bodies in them. It seemed that in the final days of the disaster, many people had been trying to escape to anywhere, running from a death which was inevitable. Most of the bodies strapped into the cars were nothing more than clothing-covered skeletons. In a heavily rusted Ford minivan, the team saw a tiny skeleton still strapped into a car seat. A faded bonnet rested on the top of the baby's head.

Sergeant Davis led them into the first building they reached, the town's hardware store. The front door was locked, so they went around to the rear of the building and forced the back door open. Afterward, Davis couldn't explain why he'd chosen to go through the back, other than to say it just seemed wrong to smash in the front entrance. They entered the building and looked around, discovering a thick layer of dust on every surface. Tools still filled the shelves and hung on the walls. Davis picked up a DeWalt cordless drill, recalling how he'd considered buying one identical to this… forty-two years before. He put it back down, unable to think of a single thing he could do with it now.

There was some damage overhead, where water had leaked in through holes that had developed in the roof, otherwise, the place was in excellent condition. With a couple of days of effort and a new roof, the store could easily reopen for business. After several minutes recording the condition of the store, Davis determined there were no signs of life and ordered his team to leave through the same door they'd entered.

Next door to the hardware store was Jack's Pizza, the name still clearly legible on the large front glass window. There was a wood framed door beside the window and the store hours were printed in marker on a small red and white plastic sign attached to the glass. The rest of the front wall was in fair shape, but beyond that the roof had caved in at some point, pushing the sidewalls out and partially collapsing the back wall.