by Mark Goodwin
Kate wrinkled her nose at the artificially-colored and artificially-flavored selection of sweets but said nothing to discourage her excited nephew. They had bigger problems than the likely carcinogenic effects of Red 40 and Yellow 6.
The next items on the shelves were vegan meat substitutes. “Here’s some tofu hot dogs.”
“No thanks.” Sam waved his hands.
Kate tossed several packages into the cart anyway. “These are less gross to me than real hot dogs.”
They navigated through the traffic jam of grocery carts to the next aisle.
“What about almond butter?” Sam held up a jar he found next to the empty shelf where the peanut butter had been.
“I’ve never tried it, but it sounds good. Load ‘em up.” Kate continued to the rice and beans aisle. It was empty as she suspected.
“Anything else?” Sam asked.
“Not that I can think of.” Kate was all but certain she’d regret not buying more products in a few short weeks, however, her mind was spent and she simply couldn’t think what else to get.
“Do we have laundry detergent?” Sam asked.
Kate stopped short. “No. At least not much. Soap, shampoo, deodorant, we’ll need all of that stuff.”
“Those shelves are nearly full.” Sam led the way down the aisle and began loading up the cart.
A robust bearded man with less-than-stellar hygiene and a greasy camouflaged ball cap approached Kate’s cart. “Bill, where are you?” The overweight man looked behind him, then focused on the contents of Kate’s haul. “I think I found where all the bakery treats went.”
He glared at Kate as if he were sizing her up for a confrontation. “If you eat all this junk food, you’re liable to get bigger than me.”
“That’s none of your business.” Sam quickly stepped up to Kate’s side.
“Oh, I guess you’re the one hoarding all the Twinkies. Someone ought to teach you some manners, share with others and that sort of thing. Since I’m here, I guess it’ll have to be me. I’m going to take half of your snacks. Next time, be polite and leave a few for the next guy.”
Sam shook his head. He attempted to reason with the oaf. “There’s hardly anything left in the store. It’s all we could find. I’m not trying to be a hog, but we have to have something to eat.”
“It’s okay, Sam. Let him take what he wants.” Kate tugged Sam’s arm.
The oily giant rummaged through the cart. “Best listen to your ma, or whoever she is.”
Sam fumed. “My ma is dead, because of a bunch of idiots who thought they could just take what they want. Idiots like you.” Sam knocked the cakes out of the ogre’s hand.
The man shoved Sam, knocking him to the floor. “How about I just take everything then? I was trying to play nice, but if you want to be a little punk . . .”
Still sitting on the floor, Sam lifted the back of his jacket and drew the pistol out of the holster in his waistband. “Walk away from our stuff or I’ll kill you.”
The man sniggered. “You ain’t gonna kill nobody, boy.”
“Let it go, Sam.” Kate helped him up from the floor and attempted to take the gun.
In a rage, Sam jerked his arm away from her. “I’ll blow your brains out.”
“Give me that gun, you little runt.” The dingy blob reached for Sam’s pistol.
POW!
The enormous man lost his humorous expression. Shock filled his eyes. He covered his massive belly with his hands and toppled to the floor.
“What did you do?” Another man, with a similar hat, and similar standards of cleanliness grabbed Sam from behind, restraining his arms.
“Pete! Are you alright?” The man called out to the melted glob on the floor who was leaking bright red fluid.
Pete was not alright. Kate gritted her teeth and drew her pistol. “Let go of him!”
“No doin’, lady. This boy’s done shot Pete. He’s fixin’ to go to jail. Put that gun down, boy!” The second man was smaller than Pete, but still much larger than Sam, picking him up from the floor and shaking him.
“Your friend instigated this. He brought it on himself. Put the boy down, or I’ll put you down!” Kate followed the man as he stepped from side to side twisting Sam in an effort to make him drop the pistol. Crowds of onlookers gathered at each end of the aisle.
“Put him down, please,” Kate begged.
“Lady, I’ll whoop your tail if you still have that thing pointed at me when I’m finished with the boy, here.”
“I will kill you. Put him down. This is your last chance.” Tears streamed from her eyes, making her look weak.
“You’ll do no such thing. Now put that gun away before you hurt yourself.”
Kate sobbed with remorse over what she had to do. But if she didn’t, Sam didn’t stand a chance.
Bang! The man’s face exploded in a fantastic eruption of crimson. He fell to the floor, taking Sam with him.
“Come on, we have to go.” Kate clutched Sam’s wrist and pulled him up.
Sam gripped his pistol tightly with his right hand. With his left, he grabbed one of the bouquets of flowers before he sprinted out of the grocery store behind Kate.
Kate’s feet pumped across the pavement and to her car in the far field. Once Sam was inside the vehicle, Kate stomped the accelerator and gunned the car out of the store’s parking lot.
“I’m sorry, Aunt Kate. But I couldn’t just let them bully us.”
“It was just cupcakes, Sam.”
“No, it wasn’t just cupcakes. That’s what they tell kids in school. But believe me, I’ve watched kids who just roll over. The torment doesn’t end for them. Once they give in to one bully, they’re marked. Every animal in the school will prey on them.”
“This isn’t high school, Sam.” Kate blew through a yellow light, watching the rearview for signs that they were being chased by police.
“You’re right. In high school, allowing bullies to win usually only costs you your self-respect and maybe your lunch money. Now we’re in the real-life apocalypse. Here, the bullies kill you.” He paused for a moment and looked at the bouquet of flowers. “Or worse, they kill your mom.”
Kate felt terrible for the boy. He had a point, but she couldn’t condone killing people in a supermarket over cupcakes. With her hands shaking against the steering wheel, Kate kept her eyes on the road.
CHAPTER 19
Without counsel, plans go awry, but in the multitude of counselors they are established.
Proverbs 15:22 NKJV
Every bone in Kate’s body told her to go straight home. She’d promised Terry that she’d bring Sam back if there was the least sign of trouble, and they’d had trouble in spades. But she wasn’t ready to explain to her brother what had happened. She wasn’t really sure how to put it into words.
“Why are we turning here? Isn’t the cabin the other way?”
“Yes, but I want to get off the road. We’ll go sit by the lake for a little while and let things cool off.”
Sam didn’t argue. Kate parked in a wooded area by the lake. “Come on, we’ll walk around for a few minutes. If we see trouble with the car, we can hike home on foot.”
“Do we bring the guns?”
“From here on out, we always bring the guns.” Kate closed her door softly so not to make too much noise.
They walked silently for a while. “Do you want to sit on a bench or keep walking?” she asked.
“I prefer to walk. I’ve got too much nervous energy to sit right now. I think my head would explode.”
“That’s about how I feel.”
Roughly an hour later, Kate had heard no sirens or seen any indication that anyone was looking for them. “I guess we could head back.”
“Okay.” Sam followed her to the car.
Kate’s situational awareness was maxed out. She looked carefully down every road for signs of police. Holding her breath, she turned back onto the main road and headed toward the cabin.
“Aunt Kate
?”
“Yes?”
“I don’t want to make you more nervous than you already are, but a police car just pulled in behind us.”
The blood drained from her face. Her hands went cold and she had the sensation that she’d just walked off a cliff. She tried to swallow, but her throat and mouth were as dry as salted sand. She felt dizzy and had to remember to breathe. Kate forced herself to look into the rearview. The police car was feet away from her bumper. If they were looking for her car, she was minutes from being apprehended. If they weren’t, she was perhaps seconds away from making a fatal mistake out of sheer fright.
Instinctively she turned off the main road. The patrol car followed her causing her heart to race even faster. She saw the red awning of Carolina Readiness ahead and hit her blinker indicating her turn. She had no chance of outrunning the police car nor his radio. If this was the end, she figured it was best to get it over with. She pulled into the only free parking space at the preparedness store.
The police car drove on by. Kate watched in terror, not daring to take a breath.
Sam turned around to monitor the patrol car’s trajectory. “What is he doing?”
“I don’t know.”
“What are we going to do?”
“Go inside in case he comes back by.”
Sam’s face was pale with trepidation. “Okay.”
Kate uneasily opened the door and stepped out of the vehicle.
Sam followed her in the store.
“That’s gotta be the luckiest girl in the whole world.” Bill stood near the counter with his hands on his hips.
How could he possibly know? Had he been one of the people in the crowd? Did Bill watch me and Sam gun those men down? What is he thinking? Is he going to turn me in? Her thoughts raced. Kate considered running for the door. She’d take her chances with the officer in the patrol car seeing her.
Sam, with his eyes as wide as bucket lids, seemed to be wondering the same thing. But unlike Kate, he did not wonder in silence. “What—what do you mean?”
Bill laughed. He walked up to Kate and put his hand on her shoulder. “This girl waltzed into my store and wanted to know what kind of things she ought to buy to survive a catastrophic collapse of the banking system.” Bill winked at Sam. “And would you believe not forty-eight hours later some fellow came on the television talking about Cyber Armageddon or some crazy thing. Well, lo and behold, I’d say that about sums up our present situation. That’s on par with hitting five power balls in five different states all in the same week. Where I come from, we call that lucky.”
Kate quickly realized Bill was not referring to the shooting and she began to breathe a little easier.
“You look a little tense. Relax. Remember, you’re the luckiest girl in the world.” Bill smiled. “Anything I can help you with?”
Kate looked around the store. Slowly, her heart rate began to stabilize. “Um, maybe. Do you have any more of that food like I bought?”
“No, ma’am. We sold out of that Monday morning after the 60 Minutes interview. As you can see, we’ve been busy. I was planning to close up shop at around 2:00 PM today. Not much left to sell. I doubt we’ll open back up unless things normalize. But according to what the guy said, that’s not likely to happen. Would you happen to know that fellow?”
Kate looked away and didn’t answer. “What kinds of things do you still have in stock?”
Bill didn’t push her for an answer about knowing Albert. “If this turns out to be a prolonged event, no amount of food storage will get you through. You’ll need to start producing your own food at some point. Do you have seeds?”
“No. But that makes sense.”
“Let’s get you set up with a good variety.” Bill began plucking several packets of each kind of seed from his display. “In any given season, you’ll have a bumper crop of something, some plants that do okay, and a few utter failures. Every year will be different. Make sure you sock away lots of seeds every year and always keep enough seed to have two more bad years. Do you know anything about gardening?”
“Not really.”
“You probably need some books. Here’s one on gardening, and another on general homesteading topics. You might want this one, too. It covers wild edibles in our area. How well are you stocked on medical supplies?”
“I . . . I don’t know. I guess I didn’t think of a lot of things. I figured if I had some food we’d be okay.”
“Food is important. But there’s more to it than just that.” Bill led the way to the next row of shelves. “Let me know if I start worrying you about the budget.”
“No. We have cash. I appreciate your recommendations.” Kate signaled for Sam to get a cart. The items were piling up.
“I do have whole wheat berries. People don’t buy them like they do the other heat-and-eat foods.”
“Wheat berries?”
“Yes, they’re the kernel, the whole grain. They’ll keep forever as long as they stay in their natural state.”
“How do you prepare them?”
“You can mill them into flour. Or you can boil them and eat them like oatmeal or put them in a salad.”
Kate looked at the large buckets which had been overlooked by the masses, much like the tofu hotdogs. “How do you mill them?”
“We sell grain mills. You can use the mill for dried corn also, to make cornmeal.”
“Cornmeal for cornbread?” Sam asked.
“Sure,” Bill answered.
Kate looked at the seeds in her cart. She saw two different varieties of corn. She’d neglected to think about the long-term process of survival. “I’ll take a mill and some wheat. How much do you have?”
“I have a pallet of wheat. How much can you carry?”
“Maybe ten buckets. And I’ll take one of those hand-held Ham radios you told me about.”
“Okay, let’s get you settled up.” Bill made his way to the register. “If I were you, I’d hit the local big box home improvement store before they close down for good. I’d pick up several bags of salt, like they use for water softener systems. I’d also get some chicken wire. You’ll probably want to get chickens and rabbits at some point. Meat is going to be hard to come by.”
Kate counted out her money.
Bill helped them load up the car.
“Where is Jan?” Kate asked.
“She’s minding the fort. Folks know we’re pretty well set for a situation like this. If they thought no one was at the house, some who failed to take the advice we’ve so generously dispensed over the years might decide to help themselves to our supplies. She’s there to keep honest folks honest.”
“Please tell her I said hi.”
“I’ll do that.” Bill pulled out a business card and jotted down a set of numbers on the back. “Tune into this frequency every afternoon at 3:00. It’s a communications network of people like us. You’ll be able to stay abreast of what’s happening around town. You’ll be able to connect with us if you decide that’s something you’d like to do later on.”
Kate looked at the card. “Thank you.”
“Now remember, that’s our little secret.”
“Absolutely. Thanks again for everything.” Kate got in the car.
Sam did likewise. “Are we going to the home improvement store now?”
“No. We don’t even have room for anything now. We at least have to go home and unload. I’d rather take Tina’s car if we decide to go back out.” Kate remembered the cruel job awaiting their return. “Maybe we’ll do that tomorrow. We can focus on saying goodbye to your mom for the rest of the day.”
Sam’s voice was solemn. “I’d rather honor her memory by making sure we have the things we need to take care of Dad and Vicky. That’s what would be important to her.”
“Okay, we’ll see when we get home.” Kate was impressed by her nephew’s strength. But she hoped he wasn’t cheating himself out of his necessary time to grieve.
CHAPTER 20
Rejoice with them
that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.
Romans 12:15
The family stood around the grave site. Kate scowled at Boyd. She could smell the vodka on his breath. Penny’s body had been wrapped tightly in crisp, clean, white sheets. Terry and Sam held opposite ends of the same rope which supported Penny’s upper torso, while Kate and Boyd held the rope holding the lower portion. The two teams slowly lowered Penny into her final resting place.
Tina tried to hold Vicky’s hand, but the young girl refused to let the stranger comfort her. Once the corpse reached the bottom of the grave, Kate pulled the rope out from beneath and coiled it up. She placed it on the ground and went to her niece’s side.
Boyd looked at the pile of dirt he’d excavated. “Terry, do you want to say a few words before we…?”
Terry stared blankly into the open pit in the ground. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Dad’s Bible is in the cabin. Should I get it?” Kate asked.
Terry shook his head. “I wouldn’t even know what to read.”
“Someone is coming.” Tina signaled with her eyes toward the house on the next lot.
All the homes in Apple Blossom Acres were on 2-to-6 acre lots. Kate could see the person coming toward them was an older man but could not make out his face.
“It’s Harold Pritchard. He and Dad got to be friends over the years.” Terry’s face was listless.
“I don’t think I ever met him.” Kate watched the man approaching.
“He keeps to himself. Kind of a curmudgeon.” Terry replied.
As the man came near, Kate could see he was toting a Bible. His hair and beard were white and his pants and jacket were black. She could not tell if his face was in a frown, or it was simply the lines of age about his eyes and forehead which gave him the appearance of one less than pleased with the general state of affairs.
“You the McCarthy boy ain’t ya?”
“Yes, sir,” Terry answered. “Mr. Pritchard, is that correct?”
The old man looked over the crowd before nodding at Kate. “And you’re the girl.”