I settle at a table across from Rex and return his welcoming smile. We haven’t had much time together one on one but I’m looking forward to spending more time with him once most of our major projects are finished. After a few bites of breakfast, Joslin comes in and nods tentatively at me when I raise my eyebrows at her. I turn down the table to where Lance is sitting.
“Joslin’s going to come with us today to help.”
He looks over at her in surprise but just nods his head in agreement. I look past him and see Sasha who has an expression of longing on her face. I open my mouth to invite her to come with us, she must be ready for a change of scenery too, but a glance at Belle has me closing my mouth. Belle’s expression tells me she doesn’t want Sasha going anywhere. She’s kept her daughter on a tight leash since our last blow up so I’ll leave it to her to decide where Sasha goes and with who. Belle leans forward and looks down the table at the rest of us with a forced smile.
“Sasha and I are going to be busy today as well. We’re going to make bread and buns now that Lance has gotten the ovens working.” She turns to the younger boys. “Ben, Matty, it’s a very big job so we’re going to need both of you to help us. Are you up for it?”
Both boys nod in excitement and I try not to laugh. I know they’re not excited about the work but about getting first dibs on whatever Belle and Sasha bake.
Ethan does laugh. “Well, I’m looking forward to whatever you produce. Fresh bread sounds great. Jackson and I are going to set up our mini medical clinic today while you’re gone. I don’t expect any of us to have any injuries but it’s best to be prepared just in case.”
Lance finishes the last bite on his plate and stands to carry it over to the dirty dish bin. We’ve all been taking turns on cleanup duty but Belle has been doing most of the cooking since we got here. She seems to really enjoy it so I don’t feel guilty leaving the work to her.
Lance leaves his plate in the bin and heads for the door calling over his shoulder. “Okay, finish up and meet me at the truck. We might need to do more than one load so we should get going soon. Make sure you check your weapons before we leave. I doubt we will have any problems but like Ethan said, it’s best to be prepared for anything.”
I’m just finishing the last of my eggs when Marsh pushes back from the table and gets to his feet. He glances briefly at Rex before looking down at Jackson. “Hey man, why don’t you come with us? I’m sure my dad doesn’t really need any help setting up his clinic.”
I grit my teeth in annoyance. I know Marsh is just trying to help get Jackson more engaged but I’m really looking forward to getting away from the tension and I already caved and invited Joslin to come with us. Jackson doesn’t even look up from his plate when he grunts out a “no”.
Marsh tries again. “Dude, come on. It’ll be fun. There’s a lot of cool stuff over there to check out.”
Jackson shoves away from the table to his feet and barks back at him, “I said no!”, before turning on his heel and stomping out of the room leaving his dirty dish on the table.
I glare at his back as he leaves the room. I get that the guy is in pain but I’m getting really sick of his attitude and how he keeps taking it out on us.
Marsh shakes his head and sighs. “Man, I hope that guy snaps out of it soon.”
Ethan frowns toward the door Jackson exited and then turns to Marsh. “We just need to have patience with him. He’s going through a lot right now and it’s going to take him a while to work his way through it.”
Marsh makes a face at that. “I get it Dad but it’s still hard to deal with him when he stonewalls us at every turn. We’ve been trying to get him to talk to us at night in our cabin but he just ignores us and rolls over on his bunk giving us his back. Honestly, he’s treating us like we’re the enemy and he’s our prisoner or something.”
Ethan nods. “He’s a very angry young man right now. Try not to take it personally. You guys should get going, Lance is waiting for you. I’ll talk to Jackson today while you’re gone and see if I can get him to loosen up a bit. Be safe out there kids and I’ll see you when you get back.”
That’s all I need to hear to push it from my mind. Let Ethan deal with Jackson, I have some plans for today that don’t involve walking on eggshells around anyone. The rest of us take our plates and leave them in the bin for washing and head out to meet Lance at the truck. Joslin follows along behind me like a puppy dog without saying a word. I’m not the only one that’s going to benefit from being away from Jackson and all the tension today.
It’s a short drive over to the resort from our camp. When Lance drives up to the property I look around eagerly and take my first look at what we have to work with. Rex had told me a little bit about the resort but I’m amazed at just how big it is. It has multiple rows of townhouse-style units surrounding the large central property. I try and picture how it looked before the bombs dropped and killed all the vegetation. I see multiple water features, pathways and flower beds everywhere surrounding the buildings. It would have been so beautiful back then with the mountains as a backdrop. When Lance slowly drives past the main lobby doors I tap his arm.
“You can drop Joslin and me off here.”
He slows to a stop and gives me a confused look. “Why here? We’ve been pulling apart some of the units at the end of that row for building material,” he says while pointing further into the parking lot.
I give him a cheeky smile. “Great! We will meet you guys down there once we’re done. Joslin and I have some shopping to do in the stores here first.”
His expression turns to amusement. “Ah, shopping! Got it.” He looks at Joslin quickly and then back to me. “You guys watch your surroundings. I doubt anyone has been here since we were here yesterday but you just don’t know so keep aware.” He gives us one more look before waving toward the lobby doors. “Have fun ladies!”
Joslin and I jump out of the truck and slam the doors behind us. We stand under the lobby portico watching as the truck drives further into the parking lot toward another building. Once I see it stopped and know where to meet up with them, I turn to Joslin.
“So are you ready to get your shop on?” When she gives a half-hearted shrug, I roll my eyes. “Come on Joslin, this is going to be fun. Rex told me that there’s an entire hallway filled with stores that have been barely touched by looters!”
She looks over at the lobby doors hesitantly and then back to me. “Okay, but what are we looking for?”
I study her for a moment and wonder if I should have pushed Belle to let Sasha come with me instead. I’m looking for a little bit of fun here and a depressed Joslin isn’t helping with that. I’m here with her now though so I try and get a spark going in her.
“When was the last time you had something that was yours? You know, not from the bunker’s inventory but something you picked out just because you liked it?” When she just looks down at her feet sadly, I let out an exasperated sigh. “Joslin, we are going in there and we are picking out some new clothes that WE like. Not clothes that we have to make or anything that looks like a uniform. We will then go and find stupid, totally unnecessary decorations for our rooms and anything else that is fun and pretty and doesn’t contribute in any way, shape or form toward our survival. Got it?”
She looks up at me and a small smile starts to form on her lips when she nods. It’s not a girly squeal of shopping glee, but I’ll take it. I grab her arm and steer her toward the doors.
“All right! Let the shopping montage begin!”
The lobby is filled with early morning sunlight from the large windows letting us clearly see the signs hanging from the ceilings that point us in the direction we need to go. Rex had told me that the hallway of stores was in its own wing and that there was good light from exterior windows but I brought along a couple of flashlights just in case. Excitement builds in me as we come to the entrance to the wing of stores and I stop for a minute and take in the hallway. It’s been a very long time since I’ve been in a
ny kind of store and it brings memories of shopping with my mom flooding back. Shopping was one of the things we loved to do together. We would often spend an entire Saturday just trying on different outfits for fun. I glance over at Joslin who’s looking from store to store and hope she’ll get into the spirit of this. Even if she doesn’t, I have enough excitement for both of us.
The first store in the hallway is a huge gift shop that has shelves of artisan gifts, crafts and racks of clothing with the resort logo on them. Everything from t-shirts, sweaters and winter jackets hang waiting for us to sort through them. Everything has a coating of dust on it but there’s no damage to the store that I can see. I’m sure that the guests staying here when the bombs dropped were more concerned with getting back to their homes then looting a gift shop. When I move deeper into the store I do see that the food area where guests would find snacks has been completely emptied out. I step behind the counter and grab a bunch of plastic bags with the resort logo on them and hand half to Joslin. We separate and I start pulling anything that catches my interest off shelves and hangers. My favorite part of this store is the toy section. All kinds of games, stuffed animals, and plastic vehicles go into my bags for the boys. I’m so happy to be able to find these silly things for Ben and Matty to play with. I’m even happier when I find the racks of paperbacks. It’s been so long since I’ve had a paper book that I could read that I don’t even bother checking the titles, I just scoop one of each into my bags until the weight of everything that I’ve grabbed is too much for me.
I look down at the bags surrounding my feet and realize that I’ve gone a little bit overboard. This is just the first store I plan on hitting but I don’t care. Today there is no such thing as overboard. Today is all about unnecessary fun. I drag my bags over to the door where Joslin is waiting and laugh when I see that she’s only packed four bags full of stuff. Just before I reach the door I notice a display of posters off to the right and head that way. There’s a cardboard container filled with rolled up tubes of posters with a display above it of smaller versions of what’s inside. When I see all the different images I start pulling tubes out. Posters of superheroes and huge transforming robots go into my pile as well as a few colorful landscapes that remind me of my mother’s paintings. I call it good and drag everything out the door into the main hallway of the wing and leave them in a pile in the center of it.
Joslin adds her four bags to the pile and looks at everything that I have brought out with huge eyes.
“Uh, Skylar? Are you sure you got everything because I think there’s a few more things left in that store.”
Her expression and tone are so bland that I’m ready to blast her for ruining my fun when I meet her eyes and see that they are dancing with amusement. Hmm, the girl has made a joke. There might be hope for her yet.
I let a grin spread across my face and tilt my head in the direction of the store across the hall.
“Next?”
She sweeps her arm toward it with a nod and says, “Lead the way!”
When we reach the doors to the next shop we both stop and stare. Even dusty, the colors scream out to us after living for so long in a gray world. When we step into the store we’re both quiet as we reach out to touch the beautiful fabrics of the high-end clothing this boutique sold. At first we don’t even grab any clothing off the racks. We just wind our way through them, reaching out and touching and stroking the fabrics until we get to the back of the store where the wall is lined with shoes, purses, and hats. When we meet back there, we turn and look at each other with something close to reverence before we have that perfect moment of girl glee. The squeal I had imagined finally erupts from Joslin and I find myself bouncing up and down in excitement like the teenage girl I’ve never been allowed to be. We speed back toward the front of the store and race to the counter to grab slickly laminated thick paper gift bags to fill.
If I had ever had any teenage fantasy shopping spree dreams they would have been fulfilled in that store as I tried on every outfit they had. At one point I looked over and see Joslin wearing a massive brimmed sun hat with a huge bow on the side of it. The giggles that erupt out of me are not a sound that I have made since I was a little girl. So I turn and race to find my own outrageous hat. After I’ve satisfied my clothing lust I move over to the small men’s section and start filling bags with beautiful cable knit sweaters in vibrant greens and blues for the guys. Once I’m done in the men’s section I decide that Belle and Sasha deserve some clothing love as well and take the time to stuff multiple bags with things I think they would like.
By the time Joslin and I have stripped a good portion of the inventory of the store, our pile of bags in the hallway has grown out of control. I look down the hallway at more of the shops waiting for us and then back to the mound of bags we’ve accumulated. Joslin comes up beside me and sighs out happily. She looks down at the bags in the hallway and makes a face.
“Huh, that’s a lot of bags. How are we going to move all of that back to the truck?”
I shake my head with a laugh. “I have no idea but I do know that I’m taking every single one of them with us! I guess we should keep an eye out for some kind of service cart or something that we can use to move all of it. This is a hotel so there’s bound to be laundry carts around.” I shake my head again. “I don’t know. We’ll figure it out. There’s at least one more store in here that I want to go to so let’s keep moving.”
Joslin’s laughter is all I need to start feeling a bond with her so I link my arms through hers as we head to the next door.
Chapter Five … Joslin
With our shopping mania mostly satisfied, we move at a slower pace. The next door that Skylar pulls me through leads to a combination art gallery and home décor boutique. As I wander through the dusty display tables of crystal figurines and embroidered pillows I feel a glow in my chest that I don’t ever remember feeling before. It takes me a few minutes to realize it is contentment. I feel happy. There are no lists for me to look at, no video feeds to monitor or plans to keep track of. For the first time in my life, I’m just a girl shopping with a friend with nothing to worry about. Jackson and his misery hover at the back of my mind but I keep it firmly pushed back there and enjoy every second of this experience.
I hadn’t really thought about what my life would be like after I got the justice I wanted against the General. I just thought I’d be somewhere else with other people trying to rebuild some kind of life. I never really thought about having friends, or fun, for that matter. I’ve watched and admired Skylar for so long on a screen and imagined what it might be like to be friends with her in real life. This little shopping excursion had never crossed my mind but it’s the perfect experience to start building a friendship with her. I think after this, I should have a conversation with her about what happened to AIRIA. I’m worried our fledgling friendship is too fragile. I don’t want to lose what’s happening with her by going into the details of how I made AIRIA self-destruct.
When she calls me over to where she is standing at a shelf that was once full of scented candles I push those thoughts to the side. I just want a few more minutes of enjoyment with her.
She holds out a fat pillar candle to me and says, “You have to smell this. It smells like an apple pie!”
I take the candle from her hand and rub off some of the dust before sniffing it. I’m sure before the bombs dropped the candle had a stronger smell but it’s faded over the years. I can still smell the scent it’s been infused with faintly and I bet once it’s lit the smell will be richer. I hand it back to her with a smile.
“That one definitely makes the list. What other scents are there?”
“Well, this section has definitely been looted but there’s still plenty left for us to choose from. Let’s load up some bags and then move on. I don’t know how long it’s been but I’m sure the guys are wondering where we are.”
I happily go get the bags from behind the counter where a long-dead cash register rests. I
t’s kind of nice to know that there are people out there thinking of me and wondering where I am. Since we arrived at the camp I’ve been taking it hour by hour and trying not to think about my future there but I’m starting to realize that I could have a real life with these people. So far everyone has been kind to me even though I’m a total stranger to them. I had watched a few of them on the video feeds as Skylar interacted with them and they all seemed like good people. I’m not quite sure about Sasha but so far even she seems to be nice. I’m just grateful that they seem to accept me and include me in their plans for a new community.
Once we filled way too many bags we leave the boutique and add them to the huge mound in the hallway. The last store we go into at the end of the hall is a combination café and convenience store. All the food products are gone but there’s still plenty of other items to choose from. Skylar heads over to the convenience area where guests could get drugstore products while I browse through the shelves of the café. I find plenty of travel mugs and vacuum sealed bags of whole coffee beans as well as a variety of fancy flavored teas that I fill the logoed bags with. The next display has expensive coffee presses and hand grinders that I scoop up. I’ve never been a coffee drinker but I’m sure some of the others would appreciate these finds. I leave my bags at the door and wander over to Skylar to see what she’s grabbing. I’m somewhat surprised to see her loading packages of different types of makeup into a bag. She sees my look and shrugs her shoulders.
“Yeah - not really my thing, but Belle and Sasha might want them. Honestly, I don’t even know how to use this stuff! Who knows, maybe one day I’ll get them to show me how to put this goop onto my face for some reason.”
Endless Winter Box Set: Books 1 - 4 Page 55