Outbreak The Beginning (The Outbreak Series Book 1)

by Kristal, Deausha

  “Well it would be nice if we didn’t have any more trouble. But that might be wishing for too much,” Hank says.

  Liam and the guys come out. “It’s clear get ready to back the trucks in,” Liam says.

  Mack is inside and the bay doors start to open. Liam jumps in one of the trucks and starts to back it in. Hank and Sal do the same.

  I slowly walk behind the trucks and get inside the bays as the doors start to close. Walking to the side of the trucks, I grab what I will be taking with me inside.

  Chapter 22

  “Ok guys everyone know where ya going and what you’re getting?” I ask.

  “Yes Liam and I will be at the camping and ammo section. Liam tells me it’s to the left as we go in,” Hank says.

  “Yes it is. It’s the closest to where we’re at now. Pete will be up front to the left of the front doors. Mack will be the furthest all the way on the other side. Sal and I will be towards the middle. Keep your walkies on. And keep in touch with each other,” I say. “Let’s get this done, it should only take a few hours.”

  “Oh and stay armed at all times. Anyone comes at you shoot! Don’t take any chances,” I tell them. “Be careful.”

  Everyone starts going to where they need to go. I watch Hank, Liam and Pete all head away from us.

  Looking at the guys I say, “Ok guys let’s get to this.”

  Sal is pushing four carts at once and I draw my gun. Walking with it in my hand makes me feel better. The guys talk amongst themselves, I just listen. It seems like they have known each other a long time. All of a sudden my walkie goes off, it’s Pete.

  “It looks all clear up this way for what I can see I’m hitting the pharmacy first. You guys may hear some banging they locked it up when they left,” Pete says.

  “OK Roger that,” I say.

  We get to the baby stuff and Sal gives me a cart. “You hit the small stuff Egypt, I’ll get the crib and bigger things,” he says.

  Nodding I take my cart and start grabbing all the clothes I can find -- blankets, clothes, little socks and shoes. I grab the clothes in different sizes too. I go up to about four years old. Looking at the cart it’s almost full. I head to the bottles and things and start putting them in the cart along with baby shampoos and stuff like that.

  Looking around I’ve never been in here when it’s so dark. There’s no lights on but I guess you really don’t need them the skylights do really well. It’s still kind of gloomy inside. I can hear Sal a few aisles from me and that’s comforting.

  Heading to the next aisle. Ah good here’s the diapers and wipes. I put a few boxes on the bottom and fill the cart with baby wipes until the stuff is almost falling out. Well time to get another cart. I push my way out of the aisle and park the cart by the one’s Sal got us and grab another one and head back to the diaper aisle. Grabbing them off the shelves I add them to my cart. I can only fit about 10 boxes. We are going to have to come back to this, that’s for sure. I grab some of the little stuff like nail clippers and baby medicine. Stopping I look at my cart. It’s full, I push it to the center aisle and leave it there and go find Sal.

  Walking a few aisles down I see him putting a crib in the cart. Looking up at me he smiles.

  “OK I think we need to go to the truck and load it up and then come back,” he says.

  Smiling back at him I say, “OK let’s hit it.”

  He pulls the cart to where we have the rest of them and starts pushing the other one and I do the same. It’s really harder than it looks. Not so much pulling but pushing with one hand. The cart wants to go everywhere. Mine runs into his. Damn this is really like how I drive!!

  Laughing I say, “Sorry about that Sal.”

  Chuckling, he just shakes his head.

  So many times I’ve walked through Walmart going the same way past the office supplies then the movies and TVs. We are coming up on home improvements. Walking into the Lube shop I stop my train of carts and go to the register.

  “What are you going to check out there Egypt?” Sal asks laughing.

  Looking at him and smiling I say, “NO you big goof!!” I grab some bags for the smaller stuff.

  We get to our truck and Sal puts the tailgate down and jumps up. “Hey start handing me stuff and I will load.”

  “Ok!!” I walk over and start to pick up the crib. It’s heavy that’s for sure. Looking at Sal I see he’s grinning again. I get the crib to the lip of the tailgate and push with everything that I have. He takes it from there and puts it towards the front of the truck. I snatch the other things he’s grabbed. Two play pens, a bouncer, swing and highchair. He’s really thought of it all. Pete comes around the corner with two carts, bringing them like we did.

  “Hey Pete, how’s it going?” I ask.

  “The pharmacy hasn’t been touched. I got all of what we needed and then some. I just came to load this up and then going back for first aid. Uh can you come over when you’re done with your list and get girly things? I have no clue what you guys want.”

  “Oh now that’s funny Pete you’re blushing all kinds of shades of red. Really??? Not too hard to figure it out.” Laughing so hard I can hardly talk. “OK, OK.” I take a deep breath. “I’ll be over to do that for you.” Still laughing I start filling the bags with the stuff that we got. I tie them so the stuff doesn’t fall out and throw them to Sal. Finishing both my carts and his we have the truck a third filled up.

  Looking over at Sal I ask, “Hey you want a drink?” Walking to the truck door I open it and grab two drinks. I hand him one and hop up to sit next to him. I look around swinging my feet back and forth. From the corner of my eye I can see him looking at me.

  “Like what you see?” I ask.

  Grinning, he chuckles. “Yeah I do! Just thinking about that kiss later, I think you owe me two.”

  “How so?” I ask.

  “Well one for the tea and the other for the ice. You see the ice was an added bonus,” he says.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me? That’s so not right,” I say chuckling.

  “Well it’s fair! Are you not going to pay up there, Egypt?”

  “No, no I pay all my debts. This is no different.” Looking at him I know that he’s serious. “I’ll pay up and can’t say that I won’t enjoy it.” Shit I can’t believe that I just said that. Looking over at Sal I think he just choked on his pop. Laughing I take another drink of mine.

  “Ok, let’s get a move on!” he says.

  Walking over to the carts I ram them together and turn them to leave the work bay. He does the same. Walking back into Walmart I see Hank and Liam heading to the trucks to load up. Waving I keep on going. They look like their finding what they need. Man it’s hot in here, I take my hair and put it up in a messy bun. That will work, at least it’s off my neck.

  As we’re walking back to the baby aisle we see Mack coming down the main aisle. Slowing down I stop and wait for him.

  “Hey how’s it going on your side?” I ask.

  “It’s like no one’s been in here. Like it was forgotten,” he says.

  “I wonder how long that will last. Maybe with it being boarded up people are just hitting the ones that are easier to get into.”

  “Maybe or there’s just not that many people left,” he says.

  He gives me a long look like he wants to say something but he starts walking away so I jog to catch up with Sal.

  We hit the baby section again, this time he’s getting all the diapers he can and I’m going to the other side for the formula. Case after case I put it in the cart. After ten of them I move to the baby food and start bagging it in the bags. After about twelve bags I push the cart to the main aisle and grab the other one and back to the same aisle I go. I strip the formula off the shelves. Again doing the same thing I grab the baby food. Well both carts are filled to the brim so I push it to the main aisle and go look for Sal. He’s full too.

  “Hey, on the way back I want to stop by the dog food. We can put them on the bottom at least eight b
ags I say and about a dozen cases of wet food.”

  We start back and leave the carts in the main aisle and grab eight bags of kibbles n bits. That took us four trips. On the 5th one we start to get the cans, at least they are in boxes of twelve. Loaded up we head back to load the truck, this time it took a lot longer. My carts are heavy to push. We finally get back to the truck and I have to sit down.

  Wiping the back of my hand across my forehead I have worked up a sweat. Go figure and we’re in the air conditioning. Sal keeps moving though. He starts packing the truck starting with the dog food. Shit I’m going to have to start helping, not fair him doing it alone. Standing up I walk over to the cart with the formula and start stacking it on the tailgate after about thirty of them God awful things I start on the next cart, three down one more to go. This has all the bagged stuff.

  Getting it all up on the truck I grab my drink and sit down. I’m just not as young as I used to be. I can feel my muscles starting to get sore and stiff. Moving my shoulder around. Man!! Now that’s really stiff! It’s going to be hurting tonight. Sal jumps down and sits by me.

  “Egypt, how’s the shoulder doing?” he gently touches my shoulder. The look on his face is priceless.

  “Well it’s not perfect. It hurts a bit but I have been using it a lot. Ya know?”

  “Well it doesn’t look too bad. Later I will clean it up and change the bandages,” he says.

  “Well ok so glad you’re not going to put the old ones back on,” I say grinning.

  “Tsk, Tsk, Egypt mouthy little thing aren’t ya.”

  “Nope just calling it as I see it.” Smiling I get up and stretch. “Well we better get moving … more stores to hit today ya know?”

  “Yeah, let’s hit the dog food aisle one more time and then head up for the girly things,” he says.

  “Wow you guys are grown men and can’t call the stuff by their names.” Laughing I grab my carts and head back into Walmart. I’m really going to miss this place. Because others will start coming here and looting just like we are. At some point there won’t be anything left or anything worth looting. As we get to the dog food aisle I pull the carts apart and start putting the can food in. Filling up the first cart I push that to the main aisle. Looking around I see Mack coming down the aisle with his carts full of drinks. You name it, it’s in it. Waving I head back to what I was doing. After I fill up all my carts I head back to the trucks, Sal is still back there filling his. Getting to the truck I throw on the first bag of food.

  “How’s it going with your list, Egypt?” Mack says.

  “Well it’s a lot harder than I thought, no real way to make it go faster,” I say.

  “Yeah all the stuff over there is still there. We may have to hit this again just for the food stuff. A lot of it won’t go bad, for a while,” he says.

  “Dunno what we need to do really. When everyone gets back here, we should all talk about it. And see what everyone decides,” I say.

  He walks over and picks the bags up two at a time so I start bagging the cans and tossing them up there. I’m glad for the help, those bags are getting heavy.

  “Thanks for helping, Mack. I know you have a lot to do yourself.”

  “No problem Egypt.” Grinning, he comes over to me and flicks my hair that has fallen out of the holder.

  Smiling up at him I see something in his eyes for a second and then it is gone.

  “Hey Mack what’s up?” Sal says walking to the trucks.

  “Oh you know just helping your partner because you’re a slow ass,” Mack says.

  Chapter 23

  Shaking my head, I help Sal with his carts. That’s the only way we’re going to get out of here. Finishing up with his we all grab our carts and start back for another round. This time we’re heading to the front of Walmart. We pass the candles. Out of habit I stop and look at them. Picking up my favorite one, I put it in the cart.

  Hearing chuckling behind me I smile. “Well these can come in handy!” So I grab as many that will fit in the cart and leave it there to grab on the way back. “It’s not like I’m choosing books.”

  Making my way to the hygiene products I start to load up on the essentials -- toothpaste, tooth brushes and mouthwash. Sal is doing the same right behind me. I’m at the girly products and Sal goes right on past. Looking at him I see that his face is all red. Laughing I start throwing the things into the cart. Filling up yet another one I grab my last cart and go down the soaps aisle. Filling that cart up I start back to the truck with Sal in tow. This will be our last load here for the day.

  After loading up the truck and watching Sal help Mack do the same we all tie down our loads with netting and straps. Sitting down Mack brings over drinks and subs. Opening up my sub I find that I’m really hungry. Before I know I’m half way through it. Setting it down, I take a drink.

  “Hey Hank, how’d it go with you guys?” Looking at them both, they really look tired.

  “We’re done. You guys got any more of that food?” he asks.

  Sal passes out the subs to Liam and Hank along with the drinks. They sit down with us and start to eat. Liam looks really tired. “So how you doing Liam?”

  “Hey I’m good Mom. Did you get all you needed?” he asks.

  “Yep we sure did. We were thinking that maybe we should hit this place again. What do you think?”

  “Well I think we need to go unload all this. Liam and I with someone else from home could come back here. And you guys head into Boardman,” Hank says.

  “Why don’t I go with you guys and then we can meet up in Boardman later today?” Mack says.

  I’m not saying a word, I take a bite of my sub and just listen. “I don’t like splitting up like this but we will hit more places doing just that.” They talk for a while longer and decide that Sal and I will head to Boardman after they transfer the stuff out of our truck into the truck that’s parked in the bay.

  “It’s a safe truck. They fixed everything on it and I’ll drive it back. Pete can drive the other one,” Mack says.

  Looking around it really is the smartest thing to do. I know that Liam will be safe with them. Looking at Mack, I can see that he knows what I’m thinking. He nods at me and I smile.

  “Ok sounds like a plan, Sal and I will find us a place to stay while we’re out that way for the night,” I say.

  Sal, Mack and Pete go and start packing the new truck with our stuff. Looking over at Hank he’s done eating and is just stretching out.

  “What’s up Hank? Looks like you have something to say?”

  “Egypt, I think I should stay at the house when we go back. The rest of the family will be there and that’s a lot for Nate to handle. You know how some of the family can be. I really think it would be beneficial.”

  “I agree Hank. The other guys can meet us out there. Three of them coming back here is enough.”

  Sal and the guys come back over to us. “We’re all set,” Mack says.

  Standing up I walk over to Liam. He’s really grown up these past few days. I’m so proud of him. But it doesn’t make it any easier to let him go.

  “Mom I will be fine. You raised me right. I know how to use this gun. And I’m not afraid to, if it means my life or theirs or that of my family. I know what to do and I will do it,” he says.

  “I know you will. I’m so proud of you. But you have to understand this is still hard on me. Be careful out there and stay safe. I’ll see you tonight. You listen to Mack and Uncle Pete.”

  “I will Mom and be careful I love you,” he says.

  Hugging him tight to me I feel my eyes starting to tear up. I can’t cry not in front of him. It’s not that we hide our feelings from each other but I don’t want to make him feel bad. I have to show that I trust him. “I love you too babe,” I say.

  Walking away I grab my bag. It’s the food that we got from here and put it in the truck. Walking over I give everyone a hug. Walking up to Mack I wrap my arms around him and he does the same. For such a huge man he can be
surprisingly gentle. He bends down and whispers in my ear.

  “I will keep him safe Egypt and I’ll have him call you. I promise,” he says.

  Nodding I break away first and walk over to Sal. Standing next to him he puts his hand in mine, lacing his fingers through. We watch as they load up in the trucks. Waving they pull out and head over to the gas station. Good idea. While it’s still working we need to get it while we can

  “Well, you ready to go Egypt? We should get gas as well and fill the extra cans we got from here,” Sal says.

  “Yep let’s go.” Taking a look around me I think Walmart will never be the same again to me. I’m sure we will be back or at least hit other ones. Hopping up in the truck I shut the door. Sal jumps in and starts it up. Pulling out of the garage bay he pulls up so that he can shut the doors.

  We pull up at the gas station as the others are leaving. Sal gets out and turns the pumps on. While he fills the tanks and containers I get out and walk over to the store part and grab some jerky, chips and candy. Candy is my big downfall. My favorite is Pix Stix, love them. I grab all that is there and take a few bottles of water. Going inside where the clerk would be I grab another bag and all the cartons of cigarettes I can, my brand and other’s too, I have 20 cartons!! That will last a while, I don’t smoke a lot. And I know others at the house smoke as well and I don’t think they smoked between their house and mine.

  Walking back to the truck, Sal is just finishing up fueling. Closing everything up, he hops back into the truck.

  “What did ya get us?” he asks.

  “Oh you know junk food and smokes.” Laughing I light one up. “It’s been to long time since I’ve had one.”

  “Give me one. I didn’t know you smoked?” he says.

  “Not all the time and not in front of Hank and my mom I don’t and never in the house.”

  Laughing, he says, “Ok, I can handle that.”

  We pull out of the gas station and I tell him to go right. It might not be so bad this way. It’s just farms out this way, not too many houses. Looking out the windows I see some houses boarded up. On others the doors are open windows are broken out. And in the distance I can see smoke. I wonder what’s burning. Looking to see where we are.