Tipping Point (Book 2): Ground Zero

by Rain Stickland

  “We should grab some circuit boards and electronic components, too,” Neil said.

  “Yeah, it would be good to have extras to repair things. I’m no great shakes at electronics, but I’m sure someone else will find the time to mess around with stuff like that. I’ve got some books already for anyone who wants to learn, too.”

  “Those kids’ starter kits would be a good thing. We don’t have much stuff for Chuck and Kayla’s kids with regard to education. They’ve gone the last few months without any sort of classroom learning.”

  “You’re right. Now I feel like a hypocrite. I’ve always gone on about how important it is to keep learning throughout life, and now there are kids I’m responsible for who aren’t getting an education,” Mac said, disgusted with herself.

  “Jesus, honey. It wasn’t a judgment against you in any way. You’re trying to help a bunch of people survive that you weren’t counting on. It’s not your responsibility to make sure anyone gets an education, or even that they have food to eat. It’s up to Chuck and Kayla to deal with their kids. I just thought they’d like to have the stuff, that’s all.”

  “Alright, alright. Now that you mention it, though, it’s one more reason to make sure we go to the library. Those kids need books to read. I don’t have anything appropriate for Katherine even, much less Chris or Amelia. Now I’m wishing I had a lot more boxes … and a lot more room in the truck and trailer.”

  “Well, we’ve still got the back seat and the cargo bed to fill, and there’s space for a row of boxes on top of the mattresses in the trailer, so I think we’re covered. And we’ll take extra boxes from the mall here. We don’t want to be at this for the rest of the night anyway. So, let’s get it done, and get what we can.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Time to shut up and get to work, I know.” Mackenzie snagged a box and headed back out to the display part of the store. She took a minute to listen again for human presence, but there was nothing.

  As she stacked cameras, small boxes of diodes and triodes, and various computer components, she couldn’t help feeling like she was stealing. It didn’t matter that the company no longer existed, or that most likely no one associated with the company was still alive. It just felt weird. It had been the same at the house where they had scavenged the photovoltaic panels.

  “Why does this feel like theft to me?”

  “I know,” Neil said in agreement. “We both know it’s stupid, but it’s so ingrained in us to think of stealing as wrong. Yet, when I think about corporate greed, and the theft from their own employees and all that, I don’t feel quite so bad about it. In fact, I kind of feel like taking every damn thing in here, except that there might be someone else who needs it.”

  “You’re right,” Mac said with a laugh. “Now I feel a whole lot better.”

  Fifteen minutes later they were taking a pair of large boxes out to the truck, walking cautiously through the main aisle of the mall. They paused at the broken entry doors, but found nothing to alarm them, so they put their boxes in the back seat and went back for the other two from the electronics store. They didn’t bother with boxes for the clothing they looted from Winners. They just took stuff from the children’s section right off the racks, ensuring a good sizing selection. If stuff didn’t fit now, it might later, or if someone added children to the mix.

  An hour later Mac called a halt.

  “That’s enough for the time being. We’ve only got three kids on the farm. We already grabbed stuff for them to do from the electronics store, including some toys and instruments, so I think they’re set. And I’m exhausted.”

  “Okay, let’s head to the docks for batteries, and then hit the library, so we can get our asses back to the farm to play mother and father bountiful. You’re not the only one who’s tired.”

  “Are you okay?” Mac’s tone was worried. She knew it, but couldn’t help it. Neil getting shot had been a terrifying ordeal, and she was concerned that his one lung might have been permanently affected.

  “I’m fine,” Neil said, his exasperation obvious from his curt tone. “We’ve had at least three hours’ aerobic exercise thus far, and that would tire anyone out. You have to stop worrying about me.”

  “Maybe,” she said, as she climbed into the driver’s seat. She waited for him to buckle up in the passenger seat before continuing.

  “It’s just that there have been other signs to indicate that you might not be quite up to par just yet,” she said cautiously, waiting with bated breath for his response.

  “And those signs would be?” He gave her a direct look, with one brow raised, as though daring her to say it. She started the truck and started pulling out of the mall parking lot to give herself a moment to figure out how to phrase it. Then she decided blunt honesty was her best bet, even if it wasn’t as diplomatic or tactful as she might have liked.

  “Sex. We’re not having sex anywhere near as often as before. Of course, I didn’t expect us to continue banging each other six times a day or anything. I figured that was because we were just starting out together. And then we couldn’t while you were recovering. But now, if you’re recovered, why are we only having sex once a week? I’m gonna run out of batteries,” she joked.

  “Well, you probably should have picked up more at the electronics store anyway, but aside from that there’s a very good reason we haven’t been making love. You keep running away from me.”

  “What? What the fuck are you talking about? The last thing I’d do is run away from you if you were wanting to have a bit of fun.”

  “It might be the last thing you want to do, but that’s exactly what you’re doing. You’ve been pulling away from me, and I’m pretty sure it’s subconscious. I know it’s not a chemistry thing, because I can see you react to me every time I touch you. I think it’s more that you’re worried and don’t want to risk it. Every time we have managed to have sex, you’ve pretty much taken over the whole business so I’m not doing any of the work. I think part of you is terrified that it’ll be too much for me.”

  “Fuck.” Mackenzie thought about it as she pulled across the town bridge, parking on Main Street.

  “It needs to change, Mac. You have to stop looking at me like I’m the infirm, because I gotta say, when it comes to you I’m about as firm as it gets.”

  “Very punny. Jerk.”

  “Come on, honey. There are a few boats down there, so let’s do what we came to do. We can take care of that other business later.” Mackenzie’s breath left her in a rush at his words. Nope, there was definitely no problem with the chemistry between them. Just the thought of him taking care of business, as he put it, was enough to get her all riled up. She shook her head to clear it, making him laugh knowingly.

  “Yeah, yeah. Yuk it up. Now stop distracting me. We can’t afford that right now,” she chastised. He sobered instantly.

  “You’re right. Sorry. Let’s go.”

  The batteries only took a few minutes, and then they were heading over to Minerva for the books. She parked facing the wrong way, with the truck parallel to the wheelchair ramp. The library was locked up tight, so Mac used her knife’s glass-break point to punch out a small portion of the thick safety glass in one of the doors to reach in for the lock. She had taped over the section so it would make as little noise as possible, but they still waited for a few minutes to be sure no one came running. It didn’t take long to discover that the library was empty. They hadn’t really expected anyone to be in it anyway. It wasn’t as though there was a shortage of available shelter, and the doors had still been secure.

  Mac went back to the truck with Neil to grab a couple of the boxes they’d snagged from the mall, and headed back into the library to fill them. She found plenty of books on boats and sailing, in addition to books on diesel mechanics, and was carting out a filled box within minutes.

  “No sign of anyone yet?”

  “Nope. I sure hope those assholes who wanted to eat us aren’t the only people still alive in this town, though. That woul
d really suck,” he said. Mackenzie was in wholehearted agreement.

  “Well, there’s always the likelihood they’ll end up eating each other, which will solve that particular problem. There will only be one left at the end, and eventually that one will die of starvation after a while.”

  “There can be only one,” he quipped in a Scottish burr.

  “This isn’t The Highlander. Though I guess it amounts to the same thing since it involves killing off other people. Alright. I’ve got the other box packed, so I’d better go get it. Then I need to go into the children’s section and pack up at least one more box there. The trick will be finding something that doesn’t glorify mental illness and unhealthy relationships, that will still be interesting reading for a teenager.”

  “So Twilight is out then, I guess?” His question made her laugh.

  “It’s so nice to be married to an intelligent man.”

  “Remember that the next time you’re losing an argument with me.”

  With a smile she went back into the library to get the rest of the books. As she was carting out the last box, however, she stopped smiling. She was hearing an unfamiliar voice through the partially-broken door glass.

  4 ~ MISERY AND COMPANY

  Mac waited by the door, attempting to listen to what was being said. From what she could make out, the person speaking was a woman, though her voice was rough and hard to make out. It sounded as though she was begging for food. Mac put down the box, freeing up her hands just in case, and headed cautiously through the door.

  Neil didn’t acknowledge her as she came up behind the woman, who was facing away from Mackenzie. She was leaning to the side, holding a child against her hip who couldn’t have been more than a year old.

  “It’s alright. We’ve got some food we can give you. We brought some with us in case we ran into anyone who needed some right away. We’ll have to dig it out first, so why don’t you talk to my wife while I get it?” He nodded toward Mac when he made the suggestion.

  The woman gasped and turned around, fear turning her body rigid. The baby in her arms didn’t cry, even though he looked scared and upset. Mac frowned, unintentionally frightening the woman even more.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” she said softly. “My face tends to do its own thing. It’s even worse when I’m not thinking about anything. I think they call it resting bitch face.” She tried out a smile to put the young woman at ease, but it didn’t seem to work.

  “I didn’t hear you come up behind me. Normally I hear everything!” Mac was starting to get the picture.

  “I take it you have reason to be paranoid, then. I wondered when your baby didn’t cry. It’s okay. We’re not part of the roving band of cannibals, if that’s what’s worrying you. We don’t want anything from you. We’ve got plenty of our own, non-human-flesh food. How have you been surviving on your own here in town, if you don’t mind me asking?”

  “I moved back here to live with my mom when Jake was born. She had a vegetable garden, and did a lot of canning. I don’t know the first thing about gardening. Or canning for that matter. We haven’t been eating people, though, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

  “I wouldn’t necessarily blame you if you’d had to resort to that. It’s just that we ran into a group that seemed to prefer human flesh to other sources of food, so I had to ask. What happened to your mom?”

  “She died within a week of the power failing. She was on dialysis,” the young woman said, her expression bleak. Mackenzie’s heart dropped like a stone inside her chest. If they’d known, they could have saved her mother’s life by providing power for a dialysis machine.

  “I’m really sorry. I would imagine anyone who had kidney problems fared about the same as your mother. Most diabetics, too. My name’s Mackenzie Thane, by the way, and my husband there is Neil McKinnon, if he hasn’t already introduced himself.” She held out her hand to the woman, who probably wasn’t any more than twenty years old.

  “I’m Lisa Johnstone, and like I said, this is Jake. His last name is Johnstone, too. His father never bothered to claim him, so I never bothered to give him his last name.”

  “I wouldn’t have either. In fact, I didn’t. My daughter has my last name. Depending on what we decide here, you might be meeting her. I take it you’re not set up very well for survival at this point, if you’re looking for food.”

  “Not at all. I’m still breastfeeding Jake, so he’s okay so long as I get enough food to produce milk, but I haven’t got any left. I’ve been going through houses, trying to find something, but they all ran out of food and starved long ago. It’s been something of a horror-show for me, because damn near all the houses have bodies in them. I’m just glad Jake is too young to understand what they are, because I couldn’t leave him on his own.”

  “He’s awfully quiet for a baby,” Mackenzie noted.

  “He never really cried a lot, but after this happened I had to use a technique from a romance novel I read one time. Every time he cried I’d blow into his face to stop him. It was a book set in the 1800s, with Native Americans and all that, and they trained their babies not to cry so their enemies couldn’t find them. I figured I’d better give it a try and see if it worked. Thankfully it did, but I have to watch to make sure he eats when he needs to, and that I change him regularly enough.”

  “Huh. Wish I’d known about that when my daughter was a baby. But then, she was colicky, so it might not have worked as well.”

  “Here’s a granola bar, Lisa,” Neil said, as he handed her the bar. Lisa looked at it like it was manna from heaven.

  “Oh thank you!”

  “We’ve got more food with us in the truck. You just need to take it a bit slow if you haven’t eaten in a little while,” he cautioned her. She tore open the foiled-paper wrapping with her teeth, and when she bit into the bar she moaned. Mac had to laugh.

  “We’ve got a pretty good set-up where we are, if you’re looking for a better situation,” Mac offered. Tears filled Lisa’s eyes.

  “You’re kidding me!” Her mouth was still somewhat full, so it came out muffled, but Mac got the gist of what she was saying.

  “Your mother didn’t happen to be Michelle Johnstone, did she?” Mackenzie wasn’t looking forward to the answer, but she had to know.

  “Yeah, she was,” Lisa said, when she’d finally swallowed the last of the granola bar. “Did you know her?”

  “I went to school with her. Man, I’m really sorry. She was a very decent person. I don’t think I saw her after high school, but we were sort of friends during our public school years. I veered off with a rougher crowd, so we parted ways, but it wasn’t because I didn’t like her.” Mac was depressed. Neil came up and put his arm around her shoulders. She could tell that he wanted to do the same for Lisa, but since he didn’t know her he wasn’t comfortable offering her the gesture.

  “I guess I’d better grab that last box of books. Neil, we should empty out part of that back seat so there’s room for a car seat at least. Lisa can sit on the bench with us. I’m assuming you live nearby, Lisa. Centre Street?”

  “Just past the dental clinic, yeah.”

  “Okay, if you want to come back to the farm with us, take Jake back to your place to pack up a few things. We’ll finish up here, and then pull the truck over. Make sure you grab anything vital, because it’s going to be a long time before we come back here. I sure hope you’re using washable diapers, because we don’t have any disposables at the farm. The youngest kid there right now is seven years old.”

  “You’ve got kids there, too?” Lisa’s eyes were alight with curiosity.

  “Just three that could be classified as children. The oldest is fourteen, and all three are the kids of an old friend of mine. Chuck Forrest used to be a cop here in Huntsville, actually. You might recognize him when you see him. He’s kind of hard to miss, since he’s really tall. Anyway, let’s get going. We’ve been away a lot longer than we planned, so my daughter and Neil’s son migh
t start getting worried soon. This is the first time any of us have really left the farm since shortly after the power went down.”

  “How far is it?”

  “We’re near Rosseau, but out in the boonies,” Mackenzie said. Lisa tilted her head to the side, apparently considering her situation.

  “It’s not like I’ve got any better options right now, though I don’t like leaving my mother’s house empty like that.”

  “When you do come back to it, I’m sure everything will be exactly as you left it. The only people we’ve seen in town were the ones in that small group, and they’re only interested in one thing. By the time you get back, hopefully they’ll all be dead and gone.” Mac turned back to grab the box from the library’s entrance. She heard Lisa turn away with her son to head back up Minerva toward Centre Street. By the time she brought the last box to the back of the trailer, Neil had already cleared a section of the back seat. Everything had been stuffed on top of the mattresses in the trailer.

  “I wonder if she’s got a crib mattress and stuff,” Mac said, when she looked inside the trailer to see that there was still a bit of space on top.

  “If she’s got her own mattress, we can probably fit that, too. We can grab that for her while she watches Jake. She doesn’t know us,” Neil continued. “She’s not going to want to leave him with either of us just yet.”

  “Yeah, but let’s not leave the keys in the ignition, just in case.”

  “You’re such a trusting soul, honey.”

  “I was a complete fool with you, wasn’t I? Cameron should have smacked me silly for that, though it looks like everything worked out okay there,” she said with a smile.

  “You’re human, and I have powers beyond the ken of mortal man. Or woman.” Neil grinned at her as he spoke.