Chapter 8

We took the freezers to the Stover house and hooked them up in their old living room. We then went home. I said, "We just met the kind of people we don't want but we don't want to hurt them either. We will have to watch better in the future as more survivors will be on the roads. Some will be ax murderers."

We decided to take it easy for the rest of the day and use the time to put together a new set of priorities.

After a bit of discussion, gunnery practice wound up as the first thing. After seeing Arnie and Scott seemingly pop up, Melody and Angela wanted to know how to shoot and shoot fairly well. We went out back and found a safe place to practice. Melody, having been around guns most of her life, was quick to learn it. Angela was worried and concentrated hard on learning. Both were apt pupils and, after a couple of hours, understood what they were doing and could get close to the bull's eye on every shot. During this time, we had a discussion of gun safety between shooting. Angela asked about pistols and I told her to stick with a smaller rifle because it was more accurate. It took a lot of practice to hit anything with a pistol consistently.

That evening after supper, we turned on the TV with the satellite and went through all the channels we could find. Some were out and none had a live person. We talked about that issue for a while feeling like it verified what I had feared about people surviving the sickness. We decided that, tomorrow, we would raid the grocery stores for any vegetables and pastries that we could freeze and save. I wanted to look for some meat to bring and freeze, also. Generators were on my list along with a gasoline source.

The next morning, I woke up to a hard rain. I missed the weather reports. The automated ones were not right for some reason. We stayed inside and worked over our lists for the day. When it did clear, we all went for target practice, came home, had supper and went to bed.

It was still a little cloudy the next morning, but looked like it would clear. We headed into town after breakfast using all three vehicles. We pulled in at the grocery having seen nothing changed from our last visit. Charlie and the girls would take turns as sentry looking out the window but back away from it so they would not be seen.

We loaded a few carts with bread and other pastries, meats, and some vegetables that could be frozen. I told Doris that we would take the carts with us by just loading them in a truck and traveling slowly. That's what we did. We went straight to the Stovers and started unloading. When finished, we took a couple of loaves of bread and some of the vegetables to the house for supper. We left the carts at the Stovers. There were plenty more still at the grocery store. We had another nice supper of fruits and vegetables with pastries for desert.

In the long run, we were going to have to figure out how to cook from scratch and grow our own fresh vegetables and fruits. It would help if we could join up with a farming family. I also noticed that Charlie and Angela were beginning to look amorously at each other. If you are all that's there, you become more desirable I guess.

Talking to Doris in bed that night, I said, "I'm going to teach Charlie to drive on the highways. I don't think we need to wait. Tomorrow, I think he and I will go to town and look for generators in the big truck. That will let you stay and look at the food situation. I would suggest that you go to the different houses and try to determine what crops were going to be planted. We need to plant crops or, at least, a big garden."

"Yes, Dear, we will also check on the animals and see if they need anything, too."

"Um, good idea. I hadn't thought about that."

We got up in the morning and had breakfast. Doris announced to the girls that they would be checking out the other houses and why. I told Charlie that we would go into town to look for generators. We all split up to get our guns and load up. When Charlie and I got out to the big truck, I tossed him the keys and said, "You drive. I don't think the cops are out."

Charlie's eyes got wide and his grin was wider. He got in the driver's seat and adjusted it to fit him. He cranked the engine and pulled out to the drive and headed toward our local road. "Sit back and relax a little. Hold the steering wheel firmly but overly tightly." I said. He sat back a little and eased the strangle hold of his hands on the wheel. He was going a little slower than I usually did, but that was okay with me. We got to the end of the drive and he turned onto our road. We got to the highway into town and I waved for him to continue. If possible, his grin became wider. When we got into town, I told him where I wanted to go and let him handle it. He did quite well. We pulled into the parking lot and his eyes widened. I bet mine did, too. There were two trucks there that hadn't been there before. We had company!

I told Charlie to stop well away from the entrance and the other trucks. "Give the horn a cheerful honk. I'm going to get out and you cover me."

"Dad, be careful." He warned.

He honked the horn with a little rhythm and I slowly opened the door. A female head looked out. Then two younger persons, one male and one female, came out the door. They looked over at me. I had my hands extended to the side showing that I was not armed. The young man handed his rifle to the female and extended his hands walking toward me. We met about halfway from the truck to the door.

"Hi," I said, "I didn't know anyone was around here."

He was late teenaged and the girl with him looked to be a younger sister. "We lived over toward Memphis west of here. We need some supplies so came here. I didn't know anyone else was around here either."

I held out my hand and said, "My name's Bob, Bob Robbins. My son, Charlie, is in the truck."

He shook hands with me and then added his other hand saying, "My name's Jack Arnold. My sister is Alice and my mom's inside."

"I'm pleased to meet you. Do you mind if Charlie and I go inside. We're looking for generators and wiring."

"No, come on in."

I waved to Charlie with the okay sign and he came forward carrying his rifle in an at rest position. Jack's sister came forward and the four of us met and were introduced. Charlie liked the looks of Alice who looked to be his age and quite pleasant looking. Jack was a couple of years older and was a nice looking young man. We all went inside. There, I was introduced to Jack's mother, a woman about my age. Elaine was a bit shorter than her children but their looks seemed to have come from her.

The teenagers went off a bit to get acquainted and carry the Arnold's finds to their trucks. Elaine and I talked.

"I didn't know anyone else in the area made it. We haven't seen or heard from anyone in a while. When my company closed because everyone was sick, we stayed home with enough groceries for a couple of weeks. We are now trying to find what we need to farm. Mostly, we were looking for seed. None of our neighbors survived and we plan to use their fields. Before my divorce, my husband and I had a small farm so I know what to do. It's just tough with just the three of us. What about you?"