A Lucky Find

by Sage du Toit

  Sam and Tom looked at each other and Tom asked, “What are they sick with?”

  “Well, they all have bad diarrhea and vomiting and they can’t seem to keep anything down. Not even water. We have all been eating the same foods, so we don’t think it’s the food.” Thomas looked at Tom and Sam hoping they might have a clue.

  Tom asked, “What is your water source, have you been sterilizing the water?”

  Thomas’s eyes got big and he said, “Well no. We have been drinking the water from the faucets this whole time, we didn’t think there would be a problem with it.”

  Tom explained that over time it’s likely that the water from the faucets will become polluted and they may of course eventually stop working all together. They needed to either boil the water or run it through a high-quality filter.

  Tom then asked, “Have any of the adults been getting sick? Haven’t they also been drinking the water?”

  He looked at the other two, “Have either of you filled up your canteens with fresh water lately?”

  The women raised her hand and said she filled hers up that morning and she felt fine.

  Sam looked at her and said, “Sorry to tell you this, but by tonight, you won’t feel fine. I made the mistake of drinking unfiltered water and I can assure you, it’s no fun! If you just go back and boil or filter your water and give those kids some good water and something light to eat they will be fine! Also, boil some water and make sure everyone washes. Cleanliness is just as important to keep people healthy.” She realized she probably shouldn’t have said the last part, but looking at how dirty they were, she couldn’t help it.

  Thomas looked a little chagrined and asked them if they could come back with them and help. He said Tom and Sam seemed to have a real understanding of how to survive in this new world and he admitted they were a bit lost.

  Sam and Tom exchanged a few discreet signs and decided they would come help them, but they didn’t want to stay. Sam explained this to Thomas and told him that they were on bikes with a small trailer, so they could either follow them or load them up in the back of his truck. Thomas said there was plenty of room in the truck.

  Before loading up in the truck they helped them get all the winter sleeping bags and helped them find several water filters. Tom also picked out water filters for Sam and himself. They then loaded the bike trailer and the two bikes in the back of the truck and found places for Martha and Hollis to sit in the back. Thomas insisted that Sam and Tom ride upfront with him.

  Chapter 2

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  After leaving Academy Sports Store they crossed over the Freeway and turned west on the same road that Sam and Tom had taken to get to Academy. They passed by the tool shop, then the coffee shop that they were planning on stopping at on the way back. Sam and Tom looked at each other with eyebrows raised when Thomas pulled into the parking lot of the small Country store they had also passed on the way out and then around to the back.

  Thomas pulled up parallel to the back door and the two people in the back jumped out and started unloading. Sam and Tom took their bikes and bike trailer and parked them out of the way on the back side of the building. They quickly discussed how surprised they both were to pull up to this store…the same one they planned on checking out on their way home. Plus, they were so close to home and had no idea there were other people nearby!

  Martha and Hollis were already done unloading the truck, there were just a few sleeping bags. They followed them inside of the store and Thomas shut the door as soon as they were through. They all removed their gas masks, Sam and Tom stowed theirs in their bags and the others haphazardly threw theirs on a shelf by the back door. Tom looked at Sam and rolled his eyes up toward the ceiling. She knew from his look that he would be giving them a lecture on how to property store and care for gas masks.

  The back door entered a small storage room. There was a door open on the left that lead into a small bathroom with a single toilet and a small sink. There were several cases of toilet paper stacked outside of the door. There were also boxes filling almost every space, leaving just enough room to walk through and she could see the boxes had been labeled by hand, the few she was able to read showed there was food in them.

  They worked their way through a maze of boxes and came out into a small kitchen that had a three-burner stove, a single counter space and a utility sink. The utility sink was full of unwashed pots and pans and a big 55-gallon garbage can sitting next to it was overflowing with disposable plates, bowls and empty food cans and boxes. Sam also noted that the stove and counter were long past due for cleaning.

  If it wouldn’t have been considered rude, Sam would have liked to of put her gas mask back on. The place stank. It smelled of sweat, rotten food, vomit and just general uncleanliness. No wonder those kids were sick… it wasn’t just the water! The hygiene in this building and with these people was atrocious! And they still didn’t know how many survivors were in this building.

  They walked out to the front of the store and Sam was surprised to see the cash register counter was also set up as an Old-Fashioned Soda Fountain. There were five red stools in front of the bar and along the wall were cases of glasses used for ice cream, sundaes, sodas and floats. This area of the store looked fairly ordinary, but the rest of the store was not. There were stacks of boxes and food all along the walls. In the coolers that used to hold sodas and ice cream were stacks of canned food and stacks of candy and chips. Sam also noticed in one corner were stacks of coffee cans of all sizes and types.

  It looked like these were the people that had looted all the area houses and businesses. They had enough food here to feed a lot of people for a long time. Sam looked at the people staring at them, there were four kids and three teens, plus Thomas, Martha and Hollis. All this food to feed ten people. The food all appeared to be well organized but they didn’t have beds for anyone. There were just random blankets and a few throw pillows on the floor with air mattresses. She wondered why they didn’t leave and then she remembered their three gas masks. She didn’t see any others on the shelf where they had tossed them.

  Thomas was introducing them to everyone and telling them how they had run into them at Academy. Tom was checking one of the children that looked very lethargic and was laid out haphazardly on a floor mat. Sam went to check one of the other children. The children looked to be about the same age, around 9 or ten. There were three girls and one boy. The teens were all girls and one of them ran and hugged Martha as soon as they came in.

  The child Sam was checking over was severely dehydrated. She moved over to the next child and found the same thing. She looked at Tom greatly concerned for the children. As they went to talk to Thomas two of the teens picked up buckets and started vomiting. Sam glanced at Martha and saw she was suddenly holding her stomach and she looked at Sam with a pained look on her face and grimaced with a look that said, “You were right.” Tom was telling Thomas they needed to open one of the cases of water that was stacked up against the wall and start having everyone drink that. He asked them why they weren’t using it in the first place.

  Thomas explained that they had been saving the bottled water in case the water went off. Hollis and Thomas started passing the bottled water out and Martha was dumping all the various cups and pitchers of water they had set out that the kids and teens had been drinking. Tom asked if they had any medical supplies like IV’s and Thomas said no, they had only looted food and basic medical supplies like bandages and pain killers.

  Tom explained that they needed to go to the closes hospital or clinic and get IV’s for the kids. They were too dehydrated and just giving them fresh water wasn’t going to be enough. Thomas said there was a clinic not far from Academy Sports and said he would take Tom there in the truck. Sam decided to stay and help get the children stable until he could get back with the IVs.

  After Tom left Sam asked Hollis to find the biggest pots they had and clean them and put them on the stove
full of water. He asked her what she wanted to make, he said they had lots of foods that didn’t need boiled water. At first, she thought he was joking, then she realized he was that dense. She very carefully explained to him that the water was going to be used for cleaning. She then decided she didn’t trust him to use clean pots and thought it might be better to supervise him.

  She sent him to go find three big pots and told him she would be right back to help him. She introduced herself to the teens again and asked each of their names and ages and how they ended up here; Hannah 16 years old, Kaitlyn 16 years old and Abigail 17 years old. Hannah said that Martha was her aunt and that her and Hollis, who was her aunt’s boyfriend, had brought them all here for her birthday. Hannah then introduced the four younger children, Mia and Olivia were her twin younger sisters and Ella was their best friend, they were all 10 years old. She said the boy was her little brother, Noah, and he was only 8 years old.

  Sam told them to only drink the bottled water or filtered water from now on and explained to them how the other water was making them sick. She asked them if there were any clean blankets and they pointed to a stack of blankets next to some boxes. She told them to collect the blankets they had been using and pile them off to the side and to each get a sleeping bag and new blanket. She told Martha to do the same for her, Hollis and Thomas.

  She then went back to the small kitchen area to see if Hollis had found any pots. He had a 2-quart pot already sitting on the stove with water and she could see that it had a ring around the inside from where it was used to cook something. She asked him if there was any dish soap. He pulled a bottle out from under the sink and she squirted some in the pot on the stove and dribbled it all over the dishes in the sink. She explained to him that he needed to use the soap with hot water to wash the dishes or else they would just spread the contaminates. Sam couldn’t believe she was having to explain something that seemed like common sense to her.

  She asked if there were any sponges or wash cloths and he reached down into the sink and pulled out an old ragged sponge. She almost gagged at the rancid smell of the sponge and told him to throw it away and asked if there were any new ones. She then helped him to wash and rinse all the dishes in the sink and they put three clean pots of water on to boil.

  Looking around the room she spied a pile of towels and washcloths that looked new and unused. She asked if there was any body washing soap and shampoo. Hollis took down a box from a stack and she took out a bottle of 2 in 1 shampoo and a bar of soap. She then asked him for two clean buckets and he pointed to a stack of 5-gallon buckets that were in the corner.

  The buckets looked brand new so she took two and just rinsed them out a little. The water on the stove was boiling now so she turned it off and dumped one pan in a bucket and added enough cool water to make it tolerable to put her hand in. She also took one of the big bowls they had just watched and had Hollis help her carry it all to the front room.

  She took the items to the little boy who was the most lethargic. She quickly stripped and cleaned his whole body and washed his hair using the bowl. She asked Hollis to get her clean clothes for the little boy and he said they didn’t have any. So, she sent him to get two of the clean blankets and a sleeping bag. She picked up the weak child and wrapped him in a clean blanket and put him in the winter sleeping bag. It was a child size sleeping bag and she was surprised Hollis thought of that. She dribbled a little of the bottled water in Noah’s mouth and then moved on to the next child.

  Once she had all four of the small children clean and in new bedding she had Martha and Hollis take another bucket of warm water to the back and help each other clean their bodies and wash their hair. She then got a third bucket and put the last of the hot water in it and took it to the teens and showed them the same thing.

  While they were all cleaning themselves she rotated giving each of the littles kids water and cleaning up around the shop. Martha and Hollis came out and she tried to discreetly ask them why everything was so filthy. Martha at least had the decency to look embarrassed. She said that after being stuck in here so long they just kind of gave up. Especially after the kids started getting sick.

  Sam looked around the room at all of the loot and said, “Well it doesn’t look like you were stuck in here too much, this is a lot of loot! It had to take a lot of trips out to get all of this!”

  Martha explained that originally, they only had one gas mask and just Hollis was going out and brining stuff back. But then just a week ago he found two old gas masks in a garage and brought them back. Martha said that today was the first time they used them. Sam told them that was a good thing, because she wasn’t sure the gas masks would even protect them. She said she would ask Tom to check them over, but they looked dry rotted and old.

  Just then Tom came in carrying a big bag full of saline bags and IV lines. He looked around and told her it smelled better and looked cleaner and asked if it was her doing and she nodded in acknowledgement. He showed her the kits he had found and he told her they found a pediatric clinic, which was very lucky because they had the smaller gauge needles for the kids. They went right to work on Noah. Sam left the needle jabbing to Tom, as a Green Beret he was well trained in First Aid and with the child’s small veins she wasn’t sure she could get a line in. It didn’t take Tom long and he had all 4 kids hooked up to IV’s. He put the IV in their forearms and taped them up securely and even had stretchy tape that had cartoon characters on it.

  They hung the IV’s from the backs of chairs since they didn’t have IV stands and made sure each of the kids were comfortable. Sam checked her watch and saw it was 16:00 and she realized she was hungry. They didn’t eat lunch and it was getting close to their normal dinner time. She looked around at all the food and didn’t think it would hurt to eat here. They obviously had plenty of food. Sam checked on Martha and the teens and they were all still sick from the contaminated water. But they were sipping the clean water so she told them it should be cleared up by tomorrow.

  Thomas was just walking out of the back room and Sam could tell that he had washed up. He must have taken the hint when he came back and found everyone else was washed and the place was cleaned up. Sam asked him about making food for everyone and suggested rice with some canned chicken. He showed her where the rice and canned chicken was and she as shocked with how much there was. She took a box of instant rice and two large cans of chicken.

  When they walked into the kitchen she saw that Hollis, Martha and Tom were looking over the gas masks that were thrown on the shelf and she told Thomas he should go join them, she would handle the cooking. As she cooked the rice and chicken she listened to Tom tell them that the two older masks were cracked and dry rotted and the seals on the masks were completely gone. The filter canisters were also dried out and could even been dangerous to use. He told them that they probably just needed to be thrown away. Sam could see the pained look on their faces. They were all tired of being locked in this building.

  Sam asked from across the room, “Tom, couldn’t we help them improvise some other protection so they can go outside…. isn’t the chance of encountering the Nerve gas less now?”

  “Sam is right, we can find some respirators, maybe even back at that clinic and they would be better protection than these masks. We can find some that fit all the kids too. Then we can get all of you moved to a better place…or help you find transportation if you want to go to Fort Jackson…I’m sure your brother would be happy to take you in Thomas.”, Tom replied encouragingly.

  Thomas looked remorseful, “Finding a new place sounds good, but not sure about Fort Jackson, my brother and I had a falling out many years ago over a common interest in a woman. She ended up choosing him and I haven’t talked to either of them since… not sure he would be willing to talk to me now.” Tom and Sam looked at each other and she wondered if June, Joe’s wife, was the woman he was referring too and quietly decided now was not the time to ask.

  The food was ready so Sam dished out bowls for eve
ryone. They had whole cases of Styrofoam bowls, plates and cups which contributed to a lot of their trash. Hollis had shown her the trash chute that went outside to the large garbage container. He told her the container was over half full and he wasn’t sure what they would do with their garbage once it was full. Sam thought about the girl’s bedroom they were using for garbage at home and couldn’t understand why they let the garbage pile up so high inside when they had such a convenient place to put it outside, without even going outside.

  The kids on IV’s were all sitting up now and had been introduced to Tom and Sam. Tom had gently explained to them about the IV in their arms and how important it was for them to not pull on the tubing. He told them that if they needed to get up and go to the bathroom all they had to do was ask and someone would help them get up and carry the bag to the bathroom. There was a coat hook in the bathroom where the bag could be placed. He also explained how important it was for them to wash their hands and not drink any of the water from the sink. He started going into detail about why the sink water was making them sick and Ella, the 10-year-old friend of the twins raised her hand. Tom smiled at her and asked what her question was.

  “If the water is making us sick, won’t washing our hands in it make us sick too?” Ella asked.

  He told her that she was right, sometimes even washing your hands in bad water could make you sick but explained they had tested the water here and that as long as they didn’t drink the water, it would be ok. He also promised to show her how they tested the water and told them all that he would teach them how to do it themselves so they would know in the future. Sam thought that was a great idea. The younger they were taught the better!