| |
It was getting dark quickly by the time Sean, Danny and Maria pulled in the driveway on the bicycles. Sean had shown up at his parents’ house to find his dad’s brother Lawrence and Aunt Barb at the house. It didn’t take long to explain what had happened because Sean was close to Lawrence and had been forwarding him emails on EMP and other survivalist related articles that were sent between Sean and the other members of his group. They established that Barb would stay with Allison and his mother, his Uncle Lawrence would walk over to the farm while Sean and Maria swung by and grabbed Danny. Now that they were back at the farm, Sean’s blood was pumping in anticipation and anxiety over the coming expedition.
As they rode up the driveway, Sean noticed his uncle Nathan bent over the bumper of Bug’s Toyota Celica pulling the battery and horn. Nathan stood as they pulled up and Sean noticed his rifle casually leaned up against the bumper right next to him.
“Two minutes and I’ll have the horn pulled out of here. I already have the horn and battery pulled out of Susan’s car and set up in the back room of the farm house. This one will get wired up to the bus horn for now till we figure out the best spot for the L....O...P... the observation post.”
Sean hid his smile, not wanting to embarrass his uncle for not remembering the military acronym for LP/OP. “Perfect. I was actually thinking a little earlier that we need to find some extra Romex cable or pull some out of my parents’ house and wire up the horn far away from the LP/OP. If we ever needed to use it, it will definitely draw attention and I would like their attention drawn away from where our shooters are. But we can do that later, for now let’s get it up and running.”
“That’s a good idea,” Nathan agreed.
“Where’s my dad at?” asked Sean.
“He’s up at my place with everyone else except Bug who’s taking first watch at the bus.” Nathan breathed on his hands and rubbed them together to try and warm them up.
“Do you need any help?” Danny asked.
“No, I only have one more bolt to remove before pulling the horn and then it’s just a matter of a few minutes to wire it up in the bus. I already ran the wires there so it should only take a few minutes. Can you let everyone know at the house that I’ll be testing it shortly? I’ll let Susan know upstairs so she doesn’t panic.”
“Yeah, we’ll give everyone a heads up. I feel funny asking this but we kind of need Susan and Naomi to rotate watch tonight We’ll get them some extra blankets and they can take turns sleeping. We just don’t have anyone else to keep watch right now till some of the other family members start showing up tomorrow.”
Nathan grimaced at having to convince his wife that she was going to be sleeping in a cold house overnight.
“Yeah, I’ll talk to them. What about the cows?” Nathan asked.
“I’m going to talk to my dad about staying behind tonight. I think he is struggling inside with what we are doing. I know he is fully prepared to come, but we need someone to stay behind anyways, so I figured it might as well be him. It’s not like we can have Grandpa or Grandma out there in this cold all night. What do you think?”
Nathan nodded his head in agreement, “That’s probably for the best.”
“Did you figure something out for the hand pump?” Sean asked to change the subject.
“It’s all ready to go,” Nathan answered.
“Okay, then as soon as you’re done, come in and warm up for a few minutes. I’d like to head over to the wagon and go over some tactical maneuvers so everyone is on the same page tonight. Then we need to get a few hours of shut-eye for the long night ahead of us.”
“Alright. I’ll be in shortly,” Nathan said as he turned back to his work.
They rode up to the main house and Sean knocked on the door, curious to see how his family members responded.
“Who is it?” he heard his cousin yell through the door.
“It’s the Police!” Sean joked out loud. “Just kidding. It’s Sean, Maria, and Danny,” Sean yelled back.
Jackson opened the door and Sean could see the shotgun cradled in his arms. “You had me going for a second there,” he smiled.
They quickly shuffled inside, trying to prevent as much heat as possible from escaping. The smell of boiling meat made all three of their mouths water. The kitchen seemed overcrowded with people performing various tasks with Grandma directing it all from a dining room chair. Sean took his boots off and leaned his rifle in the corner and then removed his tactical vest and coat in the refreshing warmth of the house. Sean loved the smell of a wood burning furnace and the roaring fire in the living room fireplace.
Sean walked over to his Grandmother and gave her a hug. She hugged him back and said, “Thank you, dear.”
“Hey Grandma, I’m going to grab a pen and paper and I need to know every prescription drug that you and Grandpa are on, okay? When we go to Giant Eagle tonight, hopefully we can find some of the other medications you guys need in the pharmacy.”
“Ok, Dear. That would be really great.” Sean found a magnetic tablet and pen on the fridge and set about writing down the long list of medicines his Grandmother recited off to him.
“Which of these is the most important, Grandma? I mean... which ones do you guys really need... to be ok, if you know what I mean.” She thought about it for a while and then smiled at him.
“I think we need them all.”
“Wow,” Sean thought to himself after putting the list in his pocket. He wondered what might happen if he couldn’t find them all. He walked over to the kitchen’s island where his dad and Uncle Lawrence were cutting up some deer back straps into small cubes to be canned.
“How’d everything go son? I see you found my brother.”
“Yeah, he wasn’t hard to find hiding at your house. Dad, can I talk to you for a minute?” He nodded his head and looked up briefly but continued cutting the deer meat. “I need you to stay behind tonight to watch over the cattle.”
His dad’s knife came to a stop as he looked up at his son. Even though he was indeed struggling with what they were planning to do that night, he knew that it needed done. “Son, I don’t want to stay behind. I need to be where my family is and helping in the best way I can.”
“Well Dad, the way you can help everyone tonight is by staying here and watching over the cattle and the farm for us. It needs to be done and you’re the only one I can trust to stay awake all night long.” They both smiled at that, his dad catching the inside joke. The first time Sean had been hunting with his father was when he was twelve years old. He kept falling asleep all day and snoring, which forced his dad to keep poking him in the ribs to wake him up. When a group of doe came through late in the afternoon, Sean had been asleep and needed to be awakened. But when his dad poked him, Sean startled awake and the deer took off. His father had never let him live it down and would bring it up jokingly on occasion—usually on their hunting trips.
“I said I would follow your lead son, and if you think that is the best decision, then so be it.” Sean saw his Uncle Lawrence glance over at his dad and nod in some unspoken brotherly understanding. Lawrence nodded in what seemed like agreement and turned his gaze back to Sean. Sean was a little confused by what just transpired between them but continued.
“I think that is the best decision, dad, for all of us.” Sean smiled at his dad in reassurance. His father understood what his son was doing and felt pride in his son’s keen sense of awareness and understanding.
“Okay then,” he agreed.
“Okay then,” Sean repeated. “However, I would like you to come outside in a little bit with the rest of us. I’m going to be running through some tactical maneuvers from the hay wagon and with you making some of the runs tomorrow to the different homesteads, we need to make sure everyone is on the same page.”
“Sounds like fun; count me in,” his dad said.
It was quickly growing dark inside the house now as Sean turned and walked over to take a seat at the table next to Maria where she had begun helping the others cut deer meat into cubes. “So is there any extra meat over there for some hungry mouths?”
At the sound of his Swiss Army alarm, Sean sat upright and had to once again figure out where he was as he turned it off. It was still dark in Nathan’s living room. He looked over at Maria, who stirred next to him. What he wouldn’t give to be able to hit a snooze button just once. It seemed as though every muscle in his body ached and deeply protested his waking. He turned over and gave Maria a light shake. “It’s time to go, baby.”
“Okay, I’m up,” she responded groggily as she sat up.
“How’s my son doing in there? I’m really worried about you overdoing yourself, babe. What would you say about staying here and getting some rest, then giving Naomi and Susan a break on watch a little later?”
“I’d say you’re nuts,” she responded with a smile that Sean could barely make out in the dim light.
“You know at some point we are going to have to do our own jobs and when you’re eight months pregnant, you won’t be able to tag along every time I go someplace.”
“Well, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there, but tonight I’m coming with you, discussion closed,” Maria said firmly.
“You got it, boss. Let’s get a move on then.” Sean could hear some rustling from downstairs in the quiet house and knew that the others were also getting up and around. Once dressed and ready, the small group made their way out to the hay wagon. Nobody said anything as everyone knew their place and responsibility for the night ahead. Everyone also knew the potential danger that they faced. There were seven of them that would be making the trip: Uncle Nathan, Uncle Lawrence, Danny, Bug, Jackson, Maria and himself.
As they reached the old Massey, Sean’s father wandered out of the darkness from his watch position at the bus. “Before you go, I would like to say a short prayer.” Everyone agreed and Sean remembered back to his childhood and his father’s nightly prayers by his bedside. He prayed for their safety and that God would lend his wisdom to the group to make wise decisions. When he was finished, he hugged Sean and Maria and said, “I’ll see you both soon.” With a quick smile he was gone, headed back towards the lonely bus and the cold night ahead on watch.
They loaded up into the wagon and each one took up their position. “Ok guys, chamber a round and place your weapons on safety,” Sean said as he racked the bolt on his Kel-Tec SU-16, sliding a steel tip penetrating 5.56 round into the chamber. “Stay frosty and scan your sectors. Let’s go, Nathan!” he said to his uncle. Nathan turned and fired up the old tractor. There was a puff of exhaust out of the stack and it rumbled to life with a distinct putter, putter, putter. The sound took Sean back to his younger years and tossing square bales of hay and stacking them in the wagon with his brother. “It wasn’t this cold though,” Sean thought as he rubbed his hands together for warmth. He looked up at the sporadic cloud cover and a half moon that was giving off a decent amount of light, now that his eyes were adjusting to the night.
With a jolt, the tractor was moving down the driveway. Sean glanced back at Maria who was posted behind him facing the other direction. “Lord, please keep both my babies safe tonight,” he said silently to himself. His eyes wandered over the tools in the middle of the wagon. They had brought a full toolbox, lock cutters, a wrecking bar, digging bar, and a few other miscellaneous items that may be needed. The tractor turned onto the road and started up the first hill. Each farm and house they passed was completely dark. A couple of them had smoke coming out of their chimneys which was the only sign of life. It ended up being a short and uneventful ride to the local Sheetz gas station. Luckily, there were no houses immediately nearby, only a couple other businesses that were dark.
Nathan pulled the tractor to a stop, cutting its engine while his three cousins jumped off. They started roaming the parking lot until they found the covers to the underground storage tanks. Sean had climbed up the wagon racks so he could getter a better view of any movement up or down the road. Jackson walked back to the side of the tractor and informed Nathan, “We found a cover marked ‘diesel’ and it looks like a single three-quarter inch bolt holding the cover down.”
“Well, grab the tool box out of the back while I bring the sprayer over.” Jackson hustled around the backside of the wagon and jumped aboard, grabbed the large heavy tool box and slid it over to the edge.
“Hey, Nathan. What do you say we position the sprayer in between them and the road to provide cover and allow them to duck down if someone should come wandering up the road?” Sean suggested.
“It won’t provide much cover, but I suppose it’s better than nothing,” Nathan replied. “Hold on up there or jump down—we’re moving.” Sean climbed down and held on as his uncle fired up the tractor and put it in gear. Bug held his flashlight on the appropriate cover so Nathan could position the sprayer to his liking. Then Nathan hopped down and grabbed the two short four-by-fours Lawrence handed him to chock the wheels. Jackson had found what he was looking for in the tool box and carried a large ratchet and a handful of sockets over to Danny, who quickly went to work removing the cover while Nathan set about unhitching the sprayer.
“Maria, Uncle Lawrence, keep your eyes peeled. Bug, come with me. We’ll be back in a minute, guys.” Maria looked at him crossly as he hopped down from the wagon, but Sean ignored it. They crossed the short distance to the Sheetz store front which had its front doors shattered. “You have your shotgun chambered?” Sean asked as he glanced over his shoulder at his cousin.
“Is the Pope Catholic?” he responded sarcastically.
“Alright. Safety off... let’s see what’s left inside. I want to clear the place first, so follow my lead, stay on my left shoulder and you take anything from the left and behind.”
“I got cha back, cuz,” Bug said, reassuring him.
They both shouldered their weapons and slowly made their way around the store, checking each aisle and then the back storage room and bathrooms. The place was a disaster and looked as if a tornado had come through. Most of the missing items were food related, though. Once Sean was sure there would be no threat from inside the building, they made their way back outside.
Danny was pumping away, and when they got close enough Sean could hear the diesel splattering inside the tank. “Looks like it works,” Sean said out loud to no one in particular.
“Of course it works!” Nathan said, pretending to be offended, but he couldn’t hide his smile.
“I never doubted you,” Sean replied with a grin. “Alright, let’s hit the road. Again, as we discussed, Danny and Uncle Lawrence are going to stay behind and take turns pumping. Bug and I cleared the store so you shouldn’t have any issues there. My recommendation is whoever is not pumping will take cover behind that car over there in case somebody sneaks up or wanders in unnoticed. That will give you the element of surprise if things turn nasty with whoever is pumping at the time. The watchman should have a handful of small stones in case they spot someone approaching. You can throw a stone at the guy pumping to get his attention instead of hollering at him and giving up your position. Again, don’t get into conversations with anyone or let your guard down for one second. And if you get a bad feeling about a situation, don’t hesitate because the other guy probably won’t. We may be gone awhile, so stay alert. And if you finish pumping before we get back, take turns rummaging through the stuff inside for anything we could use.”
“I’ll go ahead and take over for a few Danny. You take first watch,” Uncle Lawrence said, stepping up to the hand pump.
“Alright,” Danny shrugged and grabbed his rifle and walked away.
Once everyone was situated in the hay wagon, Nathan fired up the tractor once more and they were quickly headed down the two-lane road in the direction of town. After seeing the condition of the gas station, Sean was really concerned about finding the grocery store looted. Giant Eagle was the first business as they entered town, but there were a lot of houses nearby, which made Sean nervous. As planned, Nathan pulled in the parking lot and drove past the front entrance. They sighed in relief to find the glass doors intact. Nathan kept the tractor moving and they were soon backed up to the loading dock behind the store. With a plan already in place, Nathan and Bug stayed with the wagon as Sean, Maria, and Jackson made their way to the drive-thru pharmacy window. When they got there, they found the window had already been busted out and some cardboard had been laid across the broken glass. Sean stood by the open window for a few moments listening for any movement inside.
“Ok, here we go,” Sean whispered. He handed his rifle to Maria and drew his Glock 19. Jackson took a knee under the window and Sean used his other knee to step up and crawl through the window. The pharmacy had been ransacked but the security gate was still down on the grocery walk-up window and the door was still dead bolted from the inside. “Freakin’ tweakers,” he thought to himself. After a couple more moments of listening for movement, Sean made his way back to the drive-up window. “Alright, babe. Make sure the safeties are on and hand me the rifles,” he whispered. Jackson helped Maria up through the window and Sean returned the favor by pulling his cousin through. “Safeties off, Jackson. You are tight on my left shoulder and cover 9 o’clock to noon. I’ll take noon to 3 o’clock and Maria you watch our rear. Let’s keep it tight.” With flashlights in hand and weapons at their shoulders, they made their way out of the pharmacy and skirted the outside aisle of the store to the backroom. It took a minute to orient themselves in the pitch black of the store room but eventually found the loading dock door. Sean lay prone with his SU-16 as his cousin pulled the chain, opening the large overhead doors. If Nathan and Bug had been jumped, he wanted to be ready. As the door opened, Sean immediately saw Bug with his back to the door and Nathan was nowhere to be seen. As planned he must have taken cover somewhere else as over watch. “Where’s Nathan?” Sean asked Bug.
“He’s over there behind the dumpster.” Sean made the motion for “rally up” with his hand and Nathan was quickly hurrying across the open ground. Once they were all together, Sean laid out the game plan. “Ok, we made enough noise driving in here that I wouldn’t be surprised to see some people show up. So, Maria, you are to take the over watch location behind the dumpster. Use the same method as I mentioned earlier and throw stones at the wagon if someone is approaching, but stay out of site. Bug you are going to start out as load man. If you get tired, swap out with Jackson who will start out as cart runner. I plan to go through the store room first. Let’s stack boxes four feet high around the perimeter of the wagon so we can stack the loose items from the store inside to keep them from rolling off the sides. Nathan and I will load up the carts. Before we start, we need to clear the store, just to be safe. Maria, take position. Bug, you guard the back door here and the three of us will clear the store and grab the carts.”
Sean hugged his wife and kissed her on the lips as she turned and headed for the dumpsters. “Ok Jackson, same as before, you take nine o’clock to noon, I’ll take noon to three o’clock and Nathan you watch behind us. Let’s roll.” It didn’t take long to clear the store and they were quickly digging through boxes in the store room looking for canned goods and other items they would need. The system worked well, and after about an hour they had the store room picked clean and the hay wagon half loaded. They started going aisle by aisle in the store with Jackson barely able to keep up with the speed Nathan and Sean were loading the grocery carts. They came across some signs of looting, but nowhere near what Sean had expected.
After only the second aisle, Jackson came around the corner without a cart waving frantically. Sean and Nathan set off at a near run while trying to be quiet at the same time. When they reached the end of the aisle where Jackson was waiting, he whispered, “Bug said Maria just threw some stones at the wagon!”
Sean nodded and said, “Jackson, head out through the pharmacy window and try and circle around the back staying in cover, don’t let them see you. Hurry, but keep your eyes open! If I wave my hat, show yourself to them briefly and then take cover again.” Jackson took off at a run as Sean and Nathan made their way through the store room as quickly and quietly as they could without their flashlights. Bug was just inside the door with his shotgun at the ready.
“What’s up?” Sean asked in a whisper.
“We’ve got three people walking this way. They are probably almost here by now.”
“Ok, Bug, come with me. Nathan, post up here and unless you see a threat that we don’t see, wait for me to shoot first.”
Sean quietly hopped down from the loading dock and quickly peeked around the corner and pulled back. Sure enough there were two men and a woman almost there. He turned to Bug and whispered, “Twenty feet and closing. One guy has a rifle. If things go down, I’ll take him first, you take the other guy or girl if they pull a weapon.” Bug nodded in response.
Sean ensured his safety was off then leaned out with his weapon at ready and yelled, “Freeze! Don’t panic and don’t shoot!” They all froze in place and the man with the rifle had it on his shoulder half raised and Sean could see the wheels turning in his head. The other guy had his hand in his waistband and Sean could see the glimmer of steel in the moonlight. “Buddy, you raise that rifle one more inch and I’m going to blow your head off,” Sean said in his most forceful voice. Sean sensed Bug step out beside him with the shotgun leveled at the couple.
“Mister, we don’t want any trouble,” the man with the rifle said with a quavering voice.
“Well, you’re not going to have any if you lower that weapon and tell your friend to take his hand off that revolver!” The man hesitated for a moment then lowered the rifle and nodded at his friend who removed his hand from his waistband.
“We live across the street and heard you drive in. We had been thinking about coming over here for food all day and figured we’d better get over here now before everything is gone.”
“Alright, we are all in the same boat. We are just trying to get food for our own family as well. So I will make a deal with you. If you help us finish loading this wagon here, you can take whatever you want. But I can’t let you depart until we leave. I can’t have you pushing a grocery cart with food down the street while we are still here. We’ll end up with a bunch more of your neighbors rushing over here. Does that offer work for you?”
“That will be fine with us,” the man replied.
“Don’t answer too quickly, because part two of this deal is that you surrender your weapons to us till we leave, at which time we will return them to you. You have my word on that. I don’t know the first thing about you and while you seem decent enough, I can’t take the risk that you guys decide to shoot us in the back and take our tractor and supplies.”
“We would never...,” the man stammered.
“I’m sure you wouldn’t,” Sean cut the man with the rifle off. “But it still doesn’t change the fact that I’m not comfortable letting you keep your weapons till we leave.”
The other man spoke up then. “Well, I’m not comfortable handing over my gun to you either. You seem decent enough, but I don’t really trust you either. What happens if we don’t agree to give up our guns?”
Sean gave the man his most icy stare. “Then things are going to get a lot more complicated than they are now. I can’t just let you walk away with that rifle of yours and start taking pot shots at us from a distance. And I don’t have the man power to have someone watch you because we are on a time schedule.” Sean had no intention of hurting them, but figured it wouldn’t hurt if their imaginations ran a little wild. “Besides, you don’t have anything we want.”
The woman beside him tugged on his coat sleeve and whispered something in his ear. There was a long awkward pause, and then he said, “Ok, we’ll agree to that.” He slowly pulled out a long stainless revolver and placed it on the ground as his friend set his rifle gently on the ground next to it. Sean raised his hand over his head and gave the ‘rally up’ signal again. Jackson came around the corner of the building about fifty yards away and started jogging in their direction while Maria walked out from behind the dumpster.
“Nathan,” Sean called and Nathan appeared around the corner. “Please search Mr. Rifle there thoroughly and make sure he doesn’t have any more weapons on him. Bug, search the other guy and Maria, please search the young lady here. Let’s make sure these are some thorough TSA pat downs, guys.” The guy with the revolver didn’t seem too happy about being searched but he acquiesced anyway. After the search of the three individuals turned up no other weapons, Sean had Bug take the rifle and the revolver and place them in the front of the wagon where he was stacking boxes.
Sean stuck his hand out to the man with the revolver, “My name is Sean.”
The man took his firm handshake and responded, “Bob, and this is Ray and Wendy.”
“Hello Ray, Wendy. Here’s what we’re going to do: Maria, take your place back behind the dumpsters. Ray and Bob are going to run grocery carts while Nathan, Jackson, and I load them and Bug and Wendy unload. Ok?”
Everyone nodded and after a few minutes they were operating like a well-oiled machine. It took another two full hours before they had the hay wagon loaded about five feet high with every supply imaginable. They had also loaded three grocery carts overflowing with supplies for Wendy, Ray and Bob. When the cart was nearly loaded, Sean pulled Jackson and Bug aside. “Hey guys, we’re going to be cutting out here soon. I would like you two posted at the rear of the wagon with me as we head out. After I return their weapons, I want you to keep a steady eye on Bob and I’ll watch Ray. Don’t point your weapons at them, just have the safeties off and be ready.... just in case. Okay?”
“Do you really think they’re that stupid to try something?” Bug asked, surprised.
“No, I really don’t. But you always need to plan for the unexpected from here on out. In normal times they are just Ray, Bob and Wendy. In desperate times, they are a potential threat. Everyone is a possible enemy from here on. I don’t care if they are elderly, teenagers or wearing a monk’s robe. Everyone is a potential threat, okay?” They both nodded and went back to finalizing their preparations to leave.
Before they left, Sean went back into the pharmacy with Nathan and Jackson. Items were strewn all over the floor in the addict’s rush to find narcotics. It took them a full twenty minutes to dig through the medications. Eventually they had found each item on the list that was needed. Unfortunately, the door to the fridge had been left open and there were only a handful of insulin bottles left. Sean hoped it wasn’t too cold out and that the bottles were ok. At least they didn’t appear frozen.
The three of them made their way back to the loading dock where everyone was waiting for them. Jackson gently loaded the boxes of medicines near the center of the wagon to protect them. Sean nodded to Bug who handed the three helpers their weapons back. Sean stuck out his hand from his seated position on the hay wagon and shook Bob’s hand. “Good luck guys and God bless. Again, I would recommend you leave town as soon as possible and head to your uncle’s farm like we discussed earlier.”
Bob nodded and said, “Good luck to you and your family, as well.”
Sean hollered to Nathan, “Let’s roll, Nathan!” The tractor roared to life and they were quickly moving away from the loading docks. Sean, Bug, and Jackson watched the three closely but they made no threatening movements, just waved. They waved back and were quickly around the side of the building.
“Threat left!” Sean heard Nathan holler out as they came around the corner. Sean scrambled over their supplies to take his normal position up front in the wagon. He noticed another group of two adults and what looked like two teenagers walking towards them about fifty yards away. Sean didn’t notice any weapons, but wasn’t taking any chances.
“Nathan, keep moving!” he hollered. Sean shouldered his weapon just shy of pointing it at the four of them and hollered out. “We don’t want any trouble! Keep your hands where we can see them as we pass and don’t make any quick or threatening movements or we WILL shoot you!” Sean wasn’t sure if they would be able to hear him over the noise of the tractor but they quickly raised their hands to the sky and watched as the tractor rolled past them. As they passed out of his sector into Jackson’s, Sean hollered out, “Jackson, they’re yours!” Sean went back to scanning his sector, confident that Jackson had them covered. After another hundred yards, the potential threat was behind them and Nathan had the old Massey pegged as they travelled past the last houses on the edge of town.
The icy wind on his face and his quickly numbing fingers reminded him of how cold it was outside. He had stayed pretty warm loading carts in the store but he was worried about Maria. Being of Hispanic decent, she had never handled the cold very well. He glanced over at her as she was scanning her sector on the other side of the wagon. Even though it was dark, he was pretty sure he could make out her body shivering and felt really bad that he hadn’t swapped her out for Jackson or Bug as a cart runner for a while when they were at the store. He was so concerned about her over-exerting herself that he never thought about her getting cold while on watch. “I’m such an ass,” he thought to himself. At the same time he was absolutely impressed that she never brought it up once or complained about being cold.
It was a short trip back to the gas station and Nathan pulled up to find the sprayer full and no sign of Uncle Lawrence and Danny. When Nathan cut the engine, Sean watched as they immerged from the gas station and strolled across the lot.
“We were starting to get worried about you guys,” Danny said.
“It took longer than our plan of action, but it was well worth it,” Nathan replied, nodding at the full wagon of goods. “What do you think Sean? Do we have time to go to Duke’s?”
Sean looked down at his watch and it was just after three-thirty a.m. Sean remembered from the previous morning that it was just after seven a.m. when the sun came up. That meant it would start getting light out around six thirty. He was absolutely certain that he didn’t want to be hauling all this crap back after the sun was up. It only took one set of eyes to get rumors going around the neighbors. Then they would definitely be in trouble once food got scarce. Sean was weighing the odds in his head, but to him it was a no brainer. “We really need to hurry and be back before sun up, but I believe that we have to make the time. I think weapons and ammo are just as important as this food here. Let’s put it up for vote. Does anyone have anything to add before we vote?” Everyone looked around at each other but no one spoke up, so Sean continued. “Ok then, all those in favor of going to Duke’s, vote by putting a hand in the air.” Every person to the last raised their hand.