EMP

by Jonathan Hollerman

  “Looks like it’s time for me to make a try for that insulin.”

  Gerald looked worried and said, “How do you plan on doing that?”

  “I’m pretty sure Albertsons has a drive thru pharmacy,” Sean smiled.

  “But what about all those people in the entryway?” Gerald asked concerned.

  “I’ll figure something out, buddy. Do you need me to pick up a prescription for you?” Sean chuckled. “No, seriously. Do you need anything?”

  “Not especially, but Anne has allergies so if you could grab a good supply of Benadryl for me, that would be great.”

  “Sure thing. That was already on my mental list.” They walked to the front door. “Wish me luck and lock the door behind me.”

  “Good luck!” they said in unison as Sean opened the door and stepped back out into the driving snow.

  “I hope he’s ok and doesn’t get into any trouble over there,” Betty said with concern.

  “I’m sure he’ll be fine. Sean is a very resourceful young man. Besides what are they going to do? Call the police? At this point there are no phones and there aren’t going to be police around for much longer. Besides, he’s a pretty big guy—I doubt anyone would challenge him.” Gerald smiled at Betty to reassure her, but inside he was worried for his friend.

  Chapter 5

  Sean walked around the back of McGinnis Sisters towards Albertsons. As he made his way across the Wendy’s parking lot that separated the two businesses, he started running different scenarios through his head. How would he convince the manager of the large store to let him in? Could he sneak past everyone? He figured his best bet would be to try and blend in as a customer waiting for a ride. Maybe just act like he was warming up. He would slowly make his way further to the rear of the group and try to sneak in when no one was looking. If he was spotted Sean figured he could just sprint into the darkness and hope no one was brave enough to chase him into a pitch black store. He could hide for a while and eventually make his way to the pharmacy. He didn’t really like his prospects.

  Sean climbed up the short landscaped hillside and worked his way along the side of the store. Just as he was about to round the corner towards the entrance he stopped. What if he didn’t have to see anyone at all? He turned and made his way back alongside the building towards the rear loading docks. There were two doors that he passed, but neither had exterior door knobs and they were only meant to be opened from the inside. He climbed up on the loading docks and said a silent prayer as he approached the last door which had a doorknob on it. “Lord, if this is where you want me to go then please provide an open door for me.” As he turned the knob, his heart sank, realizing it was locked. Sean stepped back and started wondering if he was doing the right thing after all. Was this the honorable thing to do? He reached out and placed his hand on the doorknob but instead of turning he just gave a light pull. With a “snick” the heavy door gave way and cracked open. Apparently someone had either forgotten to lock it or make sure it was pulled all the way closed. With the store going instantly dark, whoever was working back there hadn’t been concerned about checking the door. Sean quickly opened the door just enough to slide through then pulled it shut behind him, making sure it didn’t latch all the way.

  The utter darkness that greeted Sean was absolute. There was a faint glimmer of light coming from under the door, but for the most part it was pitch black. Sean felt along the wall to his left and sat down on the ground. He sat there patiently waiting for his night vision to adjust. He could hear a faint murmur from his left, and after a minute or so he could make out a very faint glow illuminating the doorway into the store. The murmur of voices came from pretty far away and he figured it must be the remaining customers from the front of the store.

  Sean waited about ten more minutes, sitting in silence until his night vision had adjusted. Even so, with no windows in the store, all he could make out was the towering shelves on both sides of him. Sean pulled the LED hat light from his pocket and wrapped his hand around it before turning it on. Adjusting his grip so only a tiny stream of light escaped between his fingers, he worked his way through the obstacle course of boxes and pallets to the open doorway. Once there he turned off the light for fear that someone might see the small light moving through the store.

  Sean removed his orange cap and stuck it in his cargo pocket then slowly started moving to his right, staying in the outside aisle. He had been in this Albertsons a time or two and remembered the pharmacy was along the far right wall, furthest from the entryway. The main part of the store was not as dark as the storage room as the entry way windows produced a faint glow throughout. Sean worked his way around the perimeter of the store, stopping at the end of each aisle and peering around each corner, looking for movement among the shadows. Upon reaching the far wall, Sean picked up his pace working his way down the last aisle. Out of nowhere a wire display case seemed to jump right in front of him. He barely caught it in a bear hug before it tumbled over. He cursed at himself for being in such a hurry. With a slower pace Sean reached the pharmacy window. The roll down metal security door that would normally be covering the window was still up, probably because it was powered by electricity. Unfortunately, the service counter was fairly high and cluttered with two cash registers and a couple displays, not leaving a lot of room to climb over. Sean tried the service door to his left but it was locked. Back at the service window, Sean slid the displays to the outside and jumped up grabbing the far side of the counter. He slowly pulled himself up and over the counter slowly sliding down the far side into the pharmacy.

  Sean took a minute to catch his breath and listened to the murmur from the front of the store. In the complete silence of the store, his sliding over the counter had seemed really loud. After a minute or so of not hearing any footsteps, Sean went to work. Not being able to read any of the labels, Sean pulled out his hat light and again wrapped his hand around it. With just a sliver of light Sean worked his way through the large bottles of prescription drugs. Grabbing a hand basket he started loading it with anything that he thought could prove useful in the years ahead: Amoxicillin, Penicillin, Vicodin, Hydrocodone, Morphine, Percocet, Peridium, Naproxen Sodium, Allegra, Avelox, and Novocain. Sean went through each large bottle and if he recognized the name, he put it in the basket.

  After making his way through the bottles, he opened the fridge and found twenty-two small insulin bottles and gently placed them in a separate basket. Just as he was getting up, he turned and looked back. He was prolonging the life of Betty’s husband and his own grandfather, but signing a death warrant for the next person to come along. Without wanting to over think it, Sean placed two of the bottles back in the fridge and closed the door. On his way out of the pharmacy, Sean grabbed another basket and all the boxes of both the generic and name brand Sudafed off the shelf. He looked at the two cash registers for a moment but turned aside and made his way out the pharmacy door. He wasn’t a thief. Looking down at the baskets in his hand, he struggled. Or was he? Deep down inside, he knew that he would use these medicines for good. Without a doubt, they would soon be looted and probably by people with less noble intentions just looking to satisfy their addiction.

  Sean slowly closed the pharmacy door behind him and started going through the over-the-counter section. He took all the Benadryl and other allergy medications as well as numerous bottles of Aspirin, Tylenol, laxative, Tums and various cold and flu drugs. Last, he topped off the baskets with multivitamins and Vitamin C. His two baskets were on the verge of overflowing as he quietly retraced his steps to the storage room. Once outside, Sean replaced his orange fleece cap and made his way back to his friend. As he approached the front door of McGinnis Sisters, he didn’t even need to knock as the door swung open to let him in.

  “We were starting to get worried about you,” Betty said, obviously concerned. He gave her a warm smile as he set the baskets down on the nearest checkout counter.

  “Here, Gerald. Hold the light for me.” Gerald steppe
d up and Sean handed him his Surefire flashlight. Slowly unpacking the baskets, Sean reached the bottom of the basket containing the twenty insulin bottles. He grabbed four small brown paper bags and placed five bottles in each which he individually wrapped in plastic bags to prevent them from breaking. He handed two of the bags to Betty and smiled. “I am taking the other half with me to my grandfather who is diabetic as well. I hope this buys you some time with your husband. Enjoy every minute and know that you will be in my thoughts and prayers.”

  Betty broke down crying. She couldn’t believe the generosity of the young man standing before her. If these two men hadn’t picked her store, she would have probably walked home none the wiser. Her husband’s dwindling prescription would have run out in a week or two and she would be all alone. Now her husband and she would have time to make the trip to her brother’s farm in rural Washington County. She hugged both Sean and Gerald and whispered “thank you” in each of their ears. Sean was briefly choked up, thinking about his grandmother who had passed away the previous year and how much this frail old lady reminded him of her.

  “Do you have some place to go Betty? It’s going to get really bad in Pittsburgh within a couple days.”

  “Yes, my brother has a small farm about an hour’s drive south of town. I reckon we’ll head there.”

  “Betty, if you take nothing else from what I’ve said, please gather your supplies tonight and make sure you leave at first light. I suspect the looting will start within three days as people start panicking. Within a week or so there will be full-scale riots. You don’t want to be anywhere near Pittsburgh when it starts. An older couple like yourselves pushing carts full of food will look like an easy target to someone without decency.”

  “Don’t worry about that. My husband has a couple bird guns and a .357 revolver. They won’t find us very easy pickin’s.”

  “Very well,” Sean said with a smile. “Make sure he carries it slung over his shoulder so people know to stay away and don’t think you’re unarmed.”

  “I’ll let him know,” she said.

  After being quiet most of the day, Gerald surprised Sean when he spoke up. “Betty, my wife and I were going to set off tomorrow to try and find a farm to offer our services to, whether it be planting, harvesting, or helping keep watch. Do you think this brother of yours would welcome some extra farmhands?”

  Betty smiled and said, “I’m sure he would. He is only a few years my junior and I’m thinking he would welcome the help.”

  “What do you say if I escort you home and leave my cart at your place? I have to walk north to Sewickley to get my wife and it would be easier not to have to push these supplies both ways. I could meet you back at your place around noon tomorrow?” Gerald asked questioningly.

  “OK, I think that would be best. I can’t wait to introduce you to my husband and tell him what you’ve done for us.”

  Gerald shrugged off the praise and turned to his friend as he said, “It’s all due to Sean here. I would be in the same predicament as you would have been, if not for him. In fact our whole office would have probably been lost.” Sean lowered his head in humility. “I don’t know what I am going to do without him.”

  Sean raised his head to look his friend in the eye. “No, Gerald. It’s you who have saved Maria’s and my life. The job you provided last year has allowed me to slowly purchase the survival supplies I will need for the years to come. Due to your generosity, I am pretty confident in our chances at this point.”

  “It was a pleasure knowing you,” Gerald replied. Sean stuck out his hand but Gerald brushed it aside and wrapped him in a bear hug, clapping him on the back.

  “Well, we best be off if we’re all gonna make it home by nightfall,” Sean broke the awkward silence. “Betty, would you mind writing down your brother’s address for me? Maybe in the years to come when things die down I’ll drop in to check up on you all.”

  She had to dig around in the drawer for a minute, but found a pen and scrap paper. Sean placed the address in his wallet and brown bagged the supplies from the pharmacy. He placed half the Benadryl and Allegra in another bag and handed it to Gerald.

  Sean extended his hand again. “I’ll see you in a couple years, Buddy.”

  Gerald took his hand. “In this life or the next.”

  Without hesitation Sean responded, “In this life Gerald...in this life.” He turned to Betty. “Take good care of my friend here and his wife.”

  “We will,” Betty promised.

  Without another word Sean turned and grabbed an extra grocery cart for Maria and with Gerald’s help partially slid it onto the front of his loaded cart. He pushed them out the door, nodding to his friend one last time. The rest of his trip home was a blur. The snow had stopped at some point, but Sean didn’t notice. The shopping carts were a heavy burden to push through the four inches of snow. He had unzipped his jacket and placed the fleece cap in his pocket shortly after leaving Gerald and Betty. By the time he turned down his street, his legs and arms were jelly. Pushing the cart onto the side patio, Sean noticed the sun slowly setting over the treetops behind his house. It was one of the most beautiful sunsets he’d ever seen, with the sky red and purple and every shade in between. He stared at it for a few moments then turned and placed his key in the lock. He didn’t even make it fully in the door before Maria leaped into his arms.

  “I was so worried about you. I was so scared.” Between sobs she asked, “It’s happened hasn’t it? It’s really happened... just like you said it would!”

  With his arms wrapped tight around his wife, Sean answered his wife’s question with a somber voice. “Yes it has, Babe. It sure has.”

  Chapter 6

  Sean sat at the living room coffee table going over his list of supplies by candlelight. He’d been home for four hours and their small living room was piled waist high in gear and supplies. He had started by packing all their essential gear into their large and medium frame Alice packs. He was now struggling with what to take and what to leave behind. There was no way they could feasibly take everything they needed in only two grocery carts. His head was beginning to hurt, so Sean stood up and stretched his tired and sore legs. Quietly walking to the doorway of their bedroom, Sean held up the candle and peeked in on Maria asleep under a pile of blankets. She had been a trooper and handled the bad news well. With no complaining, she had helped gather all their supplies and categorized them around the living room. With Maria being three months pregnant, Sean was concerned about her overexerting herself on the upcoming journey.

  Sean settled back on their leather couch which felt like sitting on ice. It probably wasn’t much warmer inside the house than it was outside. He had spent the last couple hours rigging up a way to pull the grocery carts with their mountain bikes. After a few failed attempts, Sean had used an eight foot length of copper bent in half. He placed the bend around the seat pole and wired it securely but allowed it room to freely spin. Next, he had taken both ends of the copper pipe and bent them around the front corners of the grocery cart and wired them in place.

  Sean threw both Alice packs in and took a short ride around the block. The hardest part was starting out, but after getting some momentum built up he was satisfied that it would still be a lot easier than pushing the carts by hand. Upon parking the bike on the front porch and carrying their packs back inside, Sean made one final adjustment to the front wheels of the cart. They had rattled back and forth at higher speeds, so he wired a small block of wood along each side of the front wheels hoping that would keep them pointed straight and solve the problem. Earlier, Maria had been impressed with her husband’s ingenuity but couldn’t help making a joke when he came up with the idea, that they’d look like hobos peddling down the street. They got a good chuckle out of that. After another short test ride it seemed to work reasonably well, so he made up the same system for Maria’s bike. Both bikes now sat outside, waiting to be loaded at first light.

  Sean’s biggest dilemma was the very large suppl
y of canned goods. This would add the most weight to their carts. But what could he sacrifice: the large supply of salt? sugar? batteries? medicine? All these things would be essential to his family in the years to come. But at the same time, Sean was sure that within a month’s time he would be wishing that he had brought more canned goods with them. In the end, the leftover canned goods were put in boxes labeled books and stereo equipment and placed in the basement with numerous other boxes stacked on top. He thought about leaving them in the pantry for his neighbors to find but figured it was best to have a contingency plan. If he or his family was ever on the verge of starvation they could always take the risk to try and come back for them.

  Sean looked at his watch and discovered it was after ten o’clock. His body was worn out but he couldn’t shut off his brain. Every time he tried to go in and lay down beside his wife, something else would pop into his brain: some vital piece of equipment he had forgotten to pack. He would pull himself from under the blankets and re-light the candle and accomplish the task that was needed. This process repeated itself three or four times before his body finally gave in and forced his brain to turn off. He was sound asleep in seconds.

  THE SOUND OF SEAN’S Swiss Army wind-up alarm clock jolted him awake. He had only used it a few times on camping trips and the unusual mechanical ringing sound it produced brought him back to reality. He fumbled with it, his big fingers finding it hard to move the small on/off switch. He turned to see his wife sitting up in bed beside him. Apparently the foreign sounding alarm clock had brought her back to the reality of their situation as well. Trying to produce the most sincere and reassuring smile he could, Sean greeted her, “Good morning, princess.”