by Alex Gunwick
“Thank you. I’m glad I can count on you.”
She nodded briefly before leaving him alone with Turner. A second later, Melinda rushed back into the room. She carried a medicine bottle.
“I found—” She stopped when she spotted Rory on the table. “Did he…”
“Kat did everything she could. It was too late. Where did you get that?” he asked, nodding at the bottle.
“In the church, by the medical kit.”
“I’ll put it back.”
He held out his hand. When she didn’t immediately hand it over, he arched a brow.
“I saw Ivan take a wagon full of food into the kitchen. Where did it come from?” she asked.
“That’s none of your concern.”
“Did it come from Liz’s house?”
“Yes.”
“I’m guessing she didn’t give it to you.”
“She’s an instrument of the devil trying to break our group apart. We deserve the food more than her. We’re doing God’s work.”
“Are we?” she asked.
“Of course. Besides, where else do you expect us to find food? Do you want to starve?”
“Why don’t you go into town?”
“The stores have been looted. There’s nothing left.”
“How do you know that? You haven’t left this place since the bombs dropped.”
“My scouts have checked,” he lied. Sending his team out on a dangerous mission just to confirm what he already knew was pointless. “There’s nothing left.”
“What will we do when that food runs out? There wasn’t enough for more than a month or two. We’ve got over forty mouths to feed.”
“God always provides.”
“I think you stole it. That’s why Rory got killed. You were trespassing.”
“Maybe you’ll feel differently about this after you’ve felt the true pain of hunger. If I hear you spread rumors about what happened tonight, if you complain to anyone, you’ll miss tomorrow night’s food. Adam will too.”
“You can’t do that to my son.”
“The sins of the mother pass down to the son.”
“Since when?”
Blood rushed in to scald his cheeks. He clenched his fists by his sides.
“No food tomorrow.”
“But—”
“Keep talking, and you won’t eat for two days. I suggest you shut your mouth and leave. If you tell anyone about tonight, there will be consequences.”
She glared at him defiantly for a second before her shoulders dropped. As she left, she slammed the door behind her.
He smirked. She needed him far more than he needed her. Eventually he’d weed the weak sheep from his flock. For now, he needed numbers to maintain the family-like atmosphere. But with war coming, he needed to build an army. Turner would know where to find capable men. And he’d know where to hide a body.
11
Liz panted as she banged on the cabin door. She’d run back from the preacher’s place as quickly as possible. The scrape of the two by four moving out of place helped calm her. At least the kids were barricaded inside.
“Are they gone?” Kyle asked as he opened the door.
“Yes. Where’s Sierra?”
“Right here,” she called from the kitchen. “I wanted to go out and shoot them, but Kyle wouldn’t let me.”
“I told her it would be safer if we stayed quiet,” Kyle said.
“What did they take?” Sierra asked.
“The food,” Liz said.
“All of it?” Kyle asked.
“I don’t know. I came straight back to make sure you were safe.”
“Was it the preacher’s men?” Sierra asked.
“Yes.”
“Dammit.”
Liz didn’t bother correcting her language. She hoped the seriousness of the situation would finally sink in. Fortunately they hadn’t tried to defend the shed. She couldn’t imagine what could have happened.
“How much food do we have left?” Kyle asked.
“I don’t know. We need to inventory it. They had to be watching the cabin to know I wouldn’t be here,” Liz said. “Everyone in the group wants to be present for the nightly meeting, but it leaves us too vulnerable. I told them something like this would happen.”
“Should I go get Edwin?” Kyle asked.
“Not yet. I want to check on the food supply first. I need to know how much they got before I talk to the others. You two stay inside. Don’t come out, even if you hear gunshots.”
“Be careful,” Sierra said.
After peeking through the curtains to make sure it was clear, Liz gripped her rifle and opened the door. She stepped onto the porch and lifted the scope. As she scanned the perimeter around the house, her breath caught under her ribcage, as if a fully inflated balloon had been jammed up against it. She forced herself to take deeper breaths. Lack of oxygen wouldn’t do any good.
She stepped off the porch and slowly circled around toward the shed. The door hung open. Inside, a mess of tangled gardening equipment and broken jars of food littered the floor. She bent down to retrieve a can of peaches from under the workbench. A second can filled with green beans lay on its side, dented, but otherwise intact.
As she opened the storage area, her heart sank. Bare shelves. They’d taken everything, even the rice and beans.
Unable to accept the level of devastation, she continued to search through the shed, hoping against hope they’d moved the beans and rice. They couldn’t have taken everything in one trip. They had to have made multiple trips. Either way, they’d taken everything except for the two discarded cans.
She leaned against the wall. Tears brimmed in her eyes. The bags of rice and beans inside the house wouldn’t last longer than a few days. A week tops. She’d been prepared, but it hadn’t mattered. In less than an hour, she’d lost everything. How was she going to tell the kids?
As she wiped at the dampness on her cheeks, the weight of being in charge of her family crushed down like a thousand-pound boulder. She needed Luke. If he’d been home, none of this would have happened. She should have brought all of the food inside. She should have forced the group to keep guards on patrol at all times.
Determined not to fall into a pit of despair, she pushed off the wall. Eventually they would have run out of food anyway and they would have needed to come up with a solution. This has simply moved up the timeline. Instead of waiting months to figure out how to get more food, the group would have to figure it out now.
She locked the shed and headed back into the cabin. Once inside, she went into the kitchen and set the cans of peaches and green beans on the counter. The kids watched in silence as she pulled a can of ravioli out of the cupboard.
“How bad is it?” Sierra asked softly.
“We’re having ravioli for dinner.”
“You didn’t answer the question.”
Liz sighed as she dumped the gelatinous goo into a pot. She carried it out onto the back porch and fired up the barbeque. The kids joined her.
“We’re low on food,” Liz said. “I’m going to talk to the others and see what we can do about it. I know there’s more food in the community.”
“Do you think they’ll give it to us?” Kyle asked.
“Yes,” she said with more conviction than she felt.
After the squabble they’d had about sharing food earlier that night, she wasn’t convinced anyone would be willing to give up their stash. She’d have to find a way to convince them that it would somehow benefit the whole community.
She finished heating the ravioli and dished it into three bowls. Normally she fed them twice as much food, but until she could rebuild their supply, she’d have to ration what they had.
As she handed Sierra a bowl, her daughter eyed it and cast a questioning look at Liz as if to say, where’s the rest of it?
Kyle mumbled a “Thank you” before heading inside with his bowl. They ate at the dining table in somber silence. Although she hadn’t spel
led out the dire nature of the situation, they had to know. They were smart enough to see how much food they had in the cabinets.
Instead of shoveling food into her mouth, Liz savored each bite of ravioli. The tinny, processed quality of the food didn’t bother her the way it normally would have. For now, she was grateful to have anything to eat.
Before the bombs dropped, she hadn’t given her ability to get food at will a second thought. The grocery store by her house never closed. If she wanted pizza and beer at two a.m., she could have it. Craving a bag of tortilla chips? Done. Jonesing for a full-sugar Coke? Why not?
Now none of that was possible. And even worse, it could be years before grocery stores were fully operational again. Years.
Was anything left out there, or had it all been ransacked already? Should she have gone into town sooner to try to get whatever she could for her family? If she went to the store now, what would she find?
“I’m going to Edwin’s,” she said. “I need to talk to him about our next move.”
“Are you going to take everything back from the preacher?” Sierra asked.
“They have too many men and too many guns,” Liz said. “We don’t have enough people to run a raid.”
“How are you going to find more food?” Kyle asked.
“The others might have some at their houses. Or, we might have to take a trip into town.”
“Is that safe?” Sierra asked.
“I don’t know. If we did go into town, I’d bring other men from the group. We’d be able to carry more out if we did it together.”
“Do you think they’ll agree?” Kyle asked.
“I hope so.”
Although she wanted to assure them everything would be okay, it might not be. If she didn’t find a way to get more food, they’d be forced to return to their home in the city. After leaving that war zone, she wasn’t ready to return. But it might end up being her only option. She wouldn’t know anything until she talked to Edwin and Harvey.
Liz held up a hand to stop multiple heated conversations. As she paced around the fire pit, she launched back into her idea.
“Look, I know you’re not happy about heading into town to get more supplies, but what choice do we have at this point?”
“We have a choice,” Irene said. “Harvey and I spent years getting our supplies together. Why should we risk our lives to help you?”
“Because it’s the right thing to do, dear,” Harvey said with a sigh. “It could have happened to any of us. We need to start thinking as a community. Continuing to live as individual families will only get us so far. Sure, we didn’t get hit by the preacher, but it could have been us. It could have been any of us.”
“If you’re so willing to go, then go.”
As Irene stomped off, Liz shook her head. She hadn’t done a damn thing to get on that woman’s bad side, and yet Irene still had it out for her. She couldn’t worry about why right now; figuring out the food situation took precedence over everything else.
“Harvey’s with me,” she said. “Anyone else? We’re going to split whatever we find.”
“I’ll go too,” Franklin said. “I don’t like the way the sky’s been looking. If we try to rely on a garden to replenish our food, we could be in serious trouble. It’s been getting darker every day. If this keeps up, we might not be able to grow anything. I think we should go see what we can find.”
“So Harvey, Franklin… anyone else?” she asked.
“I’d love to come with you,” Edwin said, “but I twisted my ankle earlier. I’d slow you down.”
“Did you wrap it?”
“Yeah. Give me a couple of days and I’ll be ready to roll.”
“Okay, so Harvey and Franklin.” She glanced at the remaining members of the group who’d stayed silent during the earlier debate.
“I’ll go,” Burt said.
He’d been the quietest of all the neighbors. He seemed to be taking everything in before finally making a decision. She wasn’t sure what was going on in his mind, but it didn’t matter. The more manpower she could take with her, the better.
“So the men will go with me while the women keep guard?”
“Sounds fair,” Burt’s wife Tawney said. “Are you going on foot, or do you want to try to take the truck?”
“You have a running truck?” Liz’s eyebrows shot up.
Burt flashed a frustrated look at his wife before responding. “We’ve got an old Chevy in the garage. We tried starting it up the other day and it worked.”
“Why didn’t we hear it?” Harvey asked.
“The garage is soundproof. The wife didn’t want to hear me banging around in there, so I soundproofed it two years ago,” Burt said.
“How much gas do you have?” Liz asked. “I’d hate to get to town then not have enough to get back.”
“I’ve got a full tank and a five-gallon container’s worth.”
“That should be plenty.”
“Should we leave now?” Harvey asked.
“I think it might be safer than trying to go during the day,” she said. “We’ll drive with the lights out as much as possible. If we cut through Portola Hills, we can check Foothill Ranch first.”
“Walmart. Target. Ralphs. Lots of options,” Harvey said. “I like it.”
“We can be there and back in a couple of hours, depending on what we find,” she said.
“Provided we don’t run into any trouble,” Franklin said.
“Right.” She ignored the flutter of nerves in her belly. “We should bring guns. At least two each. Extra ammo too. Just in case.”
The three men nodded.
“We’ll meet at Burt’s place in, let’s say, an hour?”
“Sounds good,” Harvey said.
An hour later, they piled into the truck. Liz rode shotgun, literally, while Harvey and Franklin sat in the truck bed. Burt drove. They kept the lights off and drove slowly. After turning onto Santiago Canyon Road, they headed for Portola Hills. The occasional pop of a gun splintered the night. When they reached the community’s clubhouse area, the hair on the back of her neck stood on end.
A bonfire blazed in the clubhouse parking lot. Flickering light illuminated groups of men who sat around the fire. Several held beer bottles. Others sat with shotguns resting on their thighs. Not good.
“Speed up,” Liz whispered.
They couldn’t go around the clubhouse without having to backtrack for several miles. They couldn’t afford to waste any gas, so they had to keep going.
“No matter what happens, don’t stop,” she said.
“Got it.”
Burt accelerated toward the parking lot. They were only a hundred yards away when several men set their beers down. At fifty yards, men hoisted their shotguns and headed toward the road.
“Punch it,” Liz said.
The truck lurched forward. She grabbed the bar over the window with one hand to steady herself.
As they raced past the bonfire, several men called out, yelling at them to stop. When they opened fire, Harvey and Franklin shot back. Men ran every which way, slamming into each other before recovering and aiming for the truck.
Several men ran after them. Burt whipped the truck around a bend in the road, fishtailing before regaining control. The steep, downhill grade helped their momentum. Shots pinged off the roof of the cab.
The truck flew down the hill. Burt slammed on the brakes, trying to get control as they weaved around a pile of smoldering debris. As they approached the end of the road, Liz grabbed the door handle. She prayed he could slow the truck enough to keep it from flipping.
Screeching tires and groaning metal accompanied their partially airborne flight around the intersection. When all four wheels made contact, air blasted from her lungs. She sucked in a breath as the truck skidded to a stop on an empty road.
“Jesus that was close.” He lifted his shaky hands off the wheel and scrubbed his face. “You guys okay back there?”
“Fine.”
“You’re not hit?” Liz asked.
“No. Damn near close,” Harvey said. “But we’re good to keep going. I don’t think we should sit here too long. We’re only a mile or so away. They could try to follow us.”
“Do you think it’s safe enough to go to the shopping center?” Burt asked.
“I don’t know,” Liz said. “But we have to check it out.”
“Okay. But if it looks like trouble, we’re leaving.”
“Okay.” She didn’t like it, but she couldn’t force the others to risk their lives for her. “Let’s start at Walmart.”
Burt nodded and put the truck back into gear. An empty road took them through a small industrial area. They passed one section of the shopping center. Other than a few abandoned cars in the parking lot, they didn’t see any indication of people in the area.
“Target seems like a good bet,” Burt said.
“Should we go there first?”
“It looks quiet.”
“Lead the way.”
Burt parked the truck next to a row of bushes. It wouldn’t provide much cover, but it was better than nothing. It was a good choice. Parking in front was asking for trouble. They could go in through the shipping area. If anyone was inside, they might have the advantage.
Liz waited until everyone had a gun in hand.
“Check the food section first. This one has a grocery store in it. After that, check camping and the baby aisle.”
“Why the baby aisle?” Burt asked.
“Formula. Medical supplies. It’s over by the baby clothes. People might not have thought about it,” she said. “Same with camping. Lots of freeze-dried stuff over there.”
“Should we split up?” Franklin asked.
“Let’s go in teams of two. In and out. I want to be gone in ten minutes. Unless we find a huge haul. Turn your walkie-talkies on. Only use them if absolutely necessary. Harvey, you’re with me. Burt and Franklin, try sporting goods. We’ll try the grocery section. Let’s meet up at the baby aisle.”
“Got it,” Franklin said. Burt nodded.
As she reached for the back door, her heart pounded. The store could be filled with people protecting their food supply. It could be totally empty too. Other than a glimpse of broken glass doors at the front of the store, she had no idea what they were walking into. Hopefully she wasn’t leading them to their deaths.