Belle was silently weeping as she listened to him but she had a look of determination on her face. I couldn’t believe what the guy was saying as I looked around the sunny early evening scenery we were passing. Except for all the car crashes and the occasional person walking on the road that tried to wave us down, everything looked normal. The world this guy was describing just didn’t make sense. His harsh voice broke me out of my trance.
“How old are you, son?”
I scowled at his reflection in the mirror before answering, “I’m eleven and I’m not your son!” I was still angry that he hadn’t stopped to help us earlier and I let him be the target for all the emotion of the day.
“Sorry, but listen up! You have to help your Mom protect the smaller kids. She’s going to need you to survive this!”
I glared at him and tried to scream that she wasn’t my Mom. That my Mom was dead back in the car he had passed but nothing came out. His words about helping my Mom had sent a spike of pain and guilt through my chest.
Belle must have said something to him because he frowned and shook his head.
“Hey, I’m sorry kid, I didn’t know.” It got very quiet and we drove in silence for a while until Belle asked him what his name was.
He glanced at her and back at us before telling us, “Daniel Ross.”
We left the highway just as signs for the town came into view and the guy made turn after turn on back roads until he finally came to a stop. We sat in the silence as the man squeezed the steering wheel and sat with his eyes closed and his head bowed for a minute. He took a deep breath and let go before turning to us in his seat. He looked at Belle and then looked back at me. He looked down at his watch and then addressed us.
“Ok, the store is just on the other side of those trees. Hopefully we won’t have any problems and we can do this fast. I’m leaving that store in exactly forty-five minutes, no exceptions. Once I have what I need, I’ll help you as much as I can but I have my own family I have to get back to. Don’t wait for me; get to work as soon as I tell you to go.” He nodded at Belle. “You, start with water. Grab a few carts and pile them high with as many jugs as you can.” He turned to me. “You, go for food. Get cans of soup and ready to eat stuff, lots of cans of tuna and boxes of crackers and juice. Just think of easy to prepare stuff that will last.” When I only nodded, he looked at Sasha. “You’ll have to look after the baby. We’ll get you a cart and he can sit in it while you help get baby food and diapers. That’s where I’m heading so I’ll help you.” He took another deep breath. “Let’s go!”
Once we were all out of the truck and ready to go, Daniel grabbed my suitcase out of the truck bed and then the stroller. He looked at it and then at the trees.
“I wouldn’t bother fighting with this thing through those trees.”
Belle waved it away and turned to head towards them but I grabbed Matty’s diaper bag from underneath it. I had put Mom’s purse inside of it and I wasn’t going to lose it.
It was just a thin strip of trees we had to cross and I could see the huge store on the other side of it. We stayed together as we crossed over and walked across the parking lot that ran behind the store. There was a line of cars parked in a row marked staff parking and some of them had doors hanging open and hoods up like people had tried to get them started before just walking away. As we got closer to the store we heard cursing coming from under one of the car’s hoods and a loud bang as the hood was slammed down. An older man stepped away from the car he had been working on and put his hands on his hips. He caught sight of us walking towards the store and shook his head before heading towards us.
The older man was still shaking his head when he met up with our group and he started talking right away.
“Sorry folks, store’s closed! We lost power a few hours ago and it never came back on so I sent the staff home and just locked it up. Now it seems the cars aren’t working either!”
Daniel Ross quickly explained about the bombs and what was coming. The store manager’s face went from disbelief to panic before he made a move to run past us. Daniel grabbed his arm to keep him with us.
“We need the keys to the store! We need some supplies from in there.”
The store manager started shaking his head. “No, I have to go get my wife. I need to go. Besides, none of the cash registers work, I can’t help you!”
“Listen to me! Things are going to get really bad in a few hours when people figure out what’s happening. There will be looting and fighting and your store will be hit hard. I’m trying to give these kids a chance to survive that!” Daniel pulled an envelope from inside his jacket and handed it to the man. “There’s ten grand in there, take it and we’ll call it square. There’s no way we can carry that much stuff out of your store with no working vehicle. Help us out here and we’ll lock the door on our way out and leave the keys in your car.” When the man still hesitated, Daniel’s face went hard. “You can either help us now or we’ll wait till you’re gone and bust the door open!”
The manager looked back at his store before looking down at the envelope filled with cash. He took a step back and fished a set of keys out of his pocket and threw them on the ground between us. With a glare at Daniel and the money clutched to his chest, the guy bolted past us and around the corner of the store. We all watched him go and stood, staring at the corner like we thought he would come back until Daniel finally got us moving.
“Well, that was easier than I thought it would be! Let’s get going, we have a lot of work to do and the clock is ticking.”
As we made our way towards the back door, Belle kept staring at Daniel with big amazed eyes until he looked at her.
“I can’t believe you just gave that guy ten grand for us!”
He shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. “That money isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. Money won’t mean anything in the coming days. Food, water, heat and safety will be all anyone wants. That reminds me! After you get all the food and water you need to stock up on warm clothes and blankets.”
Belle looked at him in confusion. “It’s August and I’m sure this will all be resolved before winter hits.”
Daniel came to a stop and closed his eyes in patience. “Over two thousand bombs dropped that I know of. That will send so much debris and ash into the atmosphere that it will block out the sun. It’s going to get cold, really cold for a very long time.”
He strode away from us at a quicker pace and quickly got the back door open. We filed into the dim back room that was filled with pallets of shrink wrapped goods and stood around not sure what to do next. Daniel locked the door we came in behind us and immediately started searching the huge area we were in. He checked every door he could find before finally coming back to our little group.
“Ok, I don’t think this place has a basement but I found a staff room that should work. There are no windows and it has a lock on the door that you can re-enforce. There’s also a small bathroom. Let’s get out into the store and get some carts. We need to get to work.”
We followed him like sheep out onto the main floor of the store and up to the front where he gave us all carts before we scattered to different departments. I was nervous about being separated from Matty, but if the guy was telling the truth about what was going to happen then I knew we would need everything we could get so I hit the food aisles and started dumping stuff into my cart.
It didn’t take long for my cart to be overflowing so I headed back to the staff room with it. There were already two carts filled to the brim at the door. One was filled with water bottles and the other with baby supplies. I left my cart with the others and headed back to the front of the store for a new one.
I filled seven carts of food in under twenty-five minutes. When I dropped the last cart off at the staff room it was in a line of others that Belle and Sasha were starting to unload. The back door opened flooding the dim area with natural light, causing me to jump. I breathed out a sigh of relief when I saw it was Daniel.
He must have been loading his truck with the supplies he had come for. He gave me a brisk nod and went to the carts that were waiting to be unloaded. He scanned each one and glanced into the staff room to see what the girls had unloaded before waving at me to join him out in the store.
As we walked back to get more carts he looked down at me.
“You did good with the food, kid. I’m out of here in less than twenty minutes and all the stuff I came for is packed in the truck. We’re going to head over to the health section and I’ll show you what to grab from there before I go into the pharmacy. After that, I’ll head over to hardware and camping. I’ll get you guys some camping gear and fuel for heat and to cook with as well as some padlocks to install on that door.” He pulled a watch out of his pocket that still had a tag on it and handed it to me. “This is a wind-up watch so it’ll still work if you keep it wound up. After I’m gone you’ll only have two hours before you need to lock that door for good so grab whatever else you can think of but be inside when it hits the two-hour mark. Radiation poisoning is an ugly and agonizing way to die.”
I only nodded at his warning. As mad as I was that he had not stopped to help Matty and me earlier, I had to admit that he was making up for it with all he was doing now. He could have split as soon as he had what he needed but he was staying to help us. We got to the health section and Daniel started to point out what I should take.
“All the multi-vitamins, all the C’s and D’s and omega’s. Take all the hand sanitizer and disinfectant as well as the iodine. The iodine is very important! You and the girls need to take a teaspoon of it in the morning and at night and give the baby one teaspoon a day. It helps with the radiation. Grab a bunch of different sizes of bandages as well then go for the painkillers and cold meds. Don’t forget children’s medicine for your brother, he can’t take the adult stuff. After your cart’s full, come back with another one and start on the hygiene stuff like soap and toothpaste and toothbrushes. I’ll see you back at the staff room.”
He ruffled my hair as he walked passed me just like my Dad used to do making me think of him. When Daniel had said that Vancouver had been bombed I blocked out the fact that my Dad lived in the city’s southern suburb. I wondered if that meant he was dead and if I would ever know.
My mind was in a fog as I swept pill bottles from the shelves into my cart. The word orphan kept replaying on a loop. All I had left was Matty and I knew I would do anything to protect him. Tears kept coming to my eyes but I refused to let them fall. I had to be strong now. My baby brother was counting on me.
By the time I pushed my full cart back to the staff room Daniel had already returned and was screwing the extra locks to the door. He was giving more instructions to Belle as he worked. She was holding a duffle bag open and looking into it.
“Once things settle down, communities of survivors will form. Kindness to strangers and good will towards others will be gone. Each person will have to have value in skills or goods to rate protection. It might not happen at first but as time goes by and food and water become scarce it will turn cutthroat. The pills and medications in that bag will be your security. Get some Ziploc bags and divide them up and then hide them in different places. Be very cautious because stealing will be the norm. Keep them hidden for as long as you can until the shift happens and then use them sparingly as currency. The hardest part for you will be hardening your heart to others. Your natural reaction will be to help in any way you can. I’m not saying don’t help others but always remember that your help to others will be taking away from the ones you love the most.” Daniel tightened the last screw on the third lock he had installed and stepped back from the door. He rubbed his chin in thought before looking around the room at all the supplies the girls had dumped everywhere.
“Alright, I’m going to hit camping supplies next and load you up but after that, I have to go. The last thing I’ll do is move that pallet of boxed toasters in front of this door. I’ll leave enough room for you guys to squeeze out but it should keep anyone from looking too closely behind it and finding this door. Don’t forget clothes, winter gear and that the baby is going to get bigger in the future so he’ll need larger sizes, especially footwear. Grab some sewing kits to help make new things as well.” He took another look around the room before leaving.
Belle and I stood staring at each other for a minute. We both were thinking about the future Daniel had painted. She shook her head and sighed deeply before reaching out and rubbing my arm.
“We’ll be ok. We have a really good shot here with all this stuff. Come on sweetie, let’s get the rest of the stuff.”
I could only nod my head as I looked over at my brother who was bouncing happily in a baby seat surrounded by attached toys that Sasha had brought from the baby section. He was giggling at a squeaky cow and I wished I could be as oblivious to what was coming as he was.
I followed Belle through the clothing and shoe departments as she piled both of our carts with warm clothing in larger sizes for Matty, Sasha and me. She kept saying how lucky we were that the stores had started bringing fall and winter wear out so early. When we made it back to the staff room, Daniel was again waiting for us. He stood outside the door with a hydraulic hand dolly. He gave us a hand dumping all the clothes into the disaster of supplies in the staff room. Once the carts had been emptied and moved away he grabbed the dolly and used it to pull the pallet of toasters over in front of the door. Belle and I both made sure we could squeeze past it when we needed to get out.
The three of us stood in the dim stock room and stared at each other for a moment before Belle stepped forward and placed a sweet kiss on Daniel’s cheek.
“We can’t thank you enough, Daniel. You’ve done a truly kind deed by helping us. I hope one day we will meet again and I hope you and your family stay safe.”
Daniel stared at us for another moment before nodding.
“Good luck.”
He turned to leave and took two steps before turning back.
“Stay as long as you can in that room. The longer you stay the better chance you’ll have to survive in the future. Stretch it out until the last drop of water is gone!”
At our nods of understanding, he turned and disappeared out the back door. Belle and I just stood there again, lost in our thoughts, until Matty’s faint shriek of happiness jolted us back to the present. I looked down at my new watch and then up at Belle.
“I think we should get more water.”
Her forehead was creased with worry but she nodded her head. “I think you’re right. Let’s go.”
Chapter Five … Skylar
As I flew across the stage on feet as light as air, the audience cried. It was my big moment. I had practiced the choreography for months for this moment and the audience was ruining it. My pirouettes were perfect and the costume I wore floated and shimmered at my every move. It was the best performance I had ever given but still the audience cried. A hand roughly shook me out of a spin and I turned with anger to see my dad’s grief-ravaged face. There was so much pain in his face I had to look away and my eyes settled on the screaming baby in my arms. Reality crashed down on me as I realized I wasn’t at my dance recital but sitting on the floor beside my dead mother and the fear and anger surged through me.
“Where were YOU? You left us and I couldn’t…” A sob broke my voice and I couldn’t go on.
His head was bowed as he clutched at Mom’s hand and the sounds coming from him were so foreign for my strong dad that I skittered away from him and Mom. With the baby clutched to my chest I heaved myself up and onto the couch and just watched him fall to pieces.
I have no idea how long we sat there with the baby screaming, Dad devastated and silent tears pouring down my face. I jolted away from him like a startled animal when in one smooth move he rose to his feet with Mom in his arms and carried her out of the room. My mind was still in the fog of grief and horror as I bounced the baby and patted his back but nothing would soothe him. It was like he knew his Mo
ther was gone and he grieved with me.
I didn’t register Dad coming back until he tried to take the baby from me. The noise that came from my throat was close to a growl causing him to take a step back. He swallowed hard as he scanned my face and then held out a baby bottle to me.
“He needs to eat. That’s why he won’t stop crying, he’s hungry.”
I snatched the bottle from him and the way the baby’s lips clamped onto the nipple told me he was right but I was so full of fury I snapped at him.
“He’s crying because his mother is dead!”
I saw Dad flinch at my harsh words but I didn’t care. This was his fault. He left us and Mom died. I turned my back to him and hunched over the baby like a lifeline. I had no words for him when I could barely think myself. I just stared at the tiny boy in my arms as he gulped down the formula in the bottle. As his little eyes fluttered down in sleep I briefly wondered where the formula had come from. There hadn’t been any in the bags I snagged from the nursery.
“You have to burp him.” A sad voice said from behind me. I slowly turned around to face Dad. His face looked older and grey but his eyes were glued to the baby in my arms. I wanted to throw myself at him and have his Dad arms pull me close and make everything ok again, but a glance at the blood-stained towels at his feet made me realise that nothing would ever be alright again. I stepped towards him and held the baby out.
Endless Winter Box Set: Books 1 - 4 Page 5