Chapter 9

After we made it to Sharon's apartment, it only took about an hour and a half to load her things - mostly just clothes. She had some hiking boots already and she brought a couple of soft gun cases. She said one was her Remington Model 7400 Synthetic stock 30-06 and the other was her Model 1100 twelve gauge. I told her she was probably going to like some things about the new order.

"What could I possibly like?"

"Day before yesterday Nancy and I drove over to a small gun shop I knew, pried open the back door and removed all guns, knives, ammunition, and other assorted goodies. Then yesterday all of us made it to an indoor range to practice. As we were leaving we gathered up all the handguns they had in stock".

"God. What all did you get?"

"Everything from an M4 with a grenade launcher on down."

"Jesus, no wonder you didn't mind going after one asshole with a shotgun."

"Well I was carrying an M16 and a Glock but the dumbass wasn't paying attention. I walked up to within fifty feet and he never even looked around. I shot him in the right shoulder as he was getting ready to take another shot at you. I made him throw the shotgun away, but when he started trying to reach under himself for his handgun I got tired of messing with him and gave him a couple of head shots."

"Well fuck him; he deserved what he got," she said.

Probably I was feeling a little guilty again. The thought that I might be taking advantage of all these women came back to me. I tried to keep my mouth shut as I looked longingly at Sharon's impressive breasts, but I couldn't.

"Sharon I want you to know that I don't intend to make you trade sex for security. You're welcome to stay with us even if you never want me to touch you."

Sharon didn't say anything to me. She just looked at me a little funny.

"I really should be ashamed about the way I treated you this morning before breakfast."

"Jack - Nancy and Karen told me all about good morning Jack last night after everyone went to bed. I knew exactly what was going to happen."

"I figured they had when I saw what you were wearing. I just want you to know it isn't mandatory. You don't owe me anything."

"You left the safety of your home, in the middle of the night, and killed an armed man who surely intended to rape me and then probably kill or enslave me. You don't think I owe you anything. I owe you my life Jack," she said.

"Maybe, but that doesn't mean you have to repay me with sex."

"Nancy and Karen told me to expect this. Look at these Jack," she demanded, lifting and seemingly offering her breasts with her hands.

"I have nearly hated these big breasts since they started growing when I was just fourteen. I've never had a boyfriend because no boy could ever take ten minutes to talk to me on a date without trying to grab hold of my breasts.

"I don't hate or even dislike men. I've just never met one that tried to care about anything but my big titties. Last night you killed a man to save me and you didn't even know if I had any. Then you spent over two hours out in the dark trying to calm me down enough so you could take me home and take care of me, as if you didn't have enough on your plate as it was.

"When I finally came to my senses and came out into the light you didn't give my titties a second look. You just lead me down the street to your home and took me into your family. You made sure I was fed and you made sure I felt at home," she said.

"Well I felt sorry for you Sharon, for what you had just been through. I was sad that you'd had to stay alone while everyone was dying."

"When Nancy and Karen told me about the good morning Jack routine and dress code I liked it. When nothing happened right away after you came out to get coffee I was a little let down. Then I finally caught you ogling my titties while you were drinking your coffee. That was the first time I was ever happy about having these big hooters.

"It just sent a thrill down my spine. You not only saved my life Jack, you made me proud of my titties. After the others trailed in one by one for their good morning kisses. I started to get a little horny, and when you finally came over to me I was happy. Then when I mashed my titties to your chest and felt what it was like to press 'em into a real man's chest, a man that I thought might at least care for me a little, I was ecstatic. I was proud of my big titties then and I'm glad you like them. Very glad."

"I just want you to know I don't demand anything of you," I said.

"Demand? You don't demand anything. Jack after last night I would crawl naked through a mile of cactus just to get a chance to lick your ass. When my turn comes around, unless you just don't want me, you are going to pop probably the oldest cherry left on earth.

"That's right Jack. These titties have kept me from ever being with a boy or man. I still have my cherry. It may be thin and weak after all the aerobics and exercise but it's still there. I checked again last night. You can't imagine how hurt I'm going to be if you don't get rid of it for me as soon as my turn comes around."

"I guess I'll just declare myself the winner and shut up then."

"Unless Nancy and Karen are big time liars Jack, I feel like I'm going to be the winner. You've made a hell of an impression on those two and I'm just dying to get back and talk to Diane now."

Just then we passed a big truck parked on the shoulder. It was pulling a refrigerated trailer. I stopped and turned around to go back. Sharon asked what I was doing and I told her. When we got to it I pulled to a stop by the cab.

I got out and went to the unit's controls. It was switched off. That either meant the truck was empty or that the load didn't require a specific temperature. I walked to the back and the doors had no lock or seal. It was probably empty. I opened a door and could see it was.

"Why did you want to look at that truck?" Sharon asked, when I got back in the dually.

"Ninety nine percent of everything that is for sale rides in a big truck like that at one time or another. All food, clothing, hardware - everything gets taken somewhere by truck."

"Oh, I never thought of that."

"Can you drive the pickup?"

"Sure, I've driven pickups before and this one is even an automatic. No problem. Why?"

"Because we're going to a truck stop."

"Why?"

"Because we need food and we can probably find it by the truckload at a truck stop," I said.

There were two big truck stops near Austin. The biggest was the closest and I headed for it. I knew about everything getting a truck ride because I'd worked once at a grocery warehouse on my way through college. It wasn't a big secret or anything. Most people would figure it out without much trouble if they thought about it. I didn't have to figure anything though since I'd spent months unloading the bastards. Believe me, everything comes in a truck.

I even knew how to drive them a little. I'd done trailer-shuffling duty at the warehouse for a while. I could back and park the long trailers better than I could drive them down the road though. I'd never even got going fast enough forward to get them out of low range. It didn't matter. If I could find a truckload of food I would drive it home if I had to go all the way in low gear.

We got to the truck stop and I was surprised that the parking lot was full to overflowing with big rigs. I guess a lot of trucks had either gotten stuck here by running into closed warehouses they couldn't deliver to; or by getting empty and not finding another load to leave with. I just drove around in the parking lot for a few minutes looking at trucks trying to decide where to start. I knew you couldn't tell anything about what was in them from the outside. I was just trying to remember what I knew about them.

I stopped by one with a refrigeration unit. I looked at the unit and it wasn't on. I walked back and opened a door, which had a seal I had to break. It was full of paper goods. Looked like mostly paper towels from the back. I walked back to the dually and asked Sharon to trail me with it. I walked toward the back of the trailers again, intending to walk along the backs of them opening the doors and checking for something we could use.

I'd made it about halfway when I heard a refer unit kick on. The refrigerated ones had thermostats on the cooling units similar to a home air-conditioning unit. They could be set to turn themselves on and off to keep a certain temperature. I headed for the sound.

When I found the truck I wised up and tried the drivers door. It was open so I climbed in. I opened the curtain and looked in the sleeper. It was empty and that was good. I didn't want to find a driver decaying. I looked in the driver's door's map pocket and found a clipboard with the bill of lading attached. It was a load of pork products headed for the same warehouse I'd once worked in.

The load was mostly bacon, sausage, and ham with a few hundred boxes of spare ribs. What a fucking deal. Why go to the grocery store when you can bring home forty thousand pounds at a time. It even had its own refrigerator that would keep going when the power went off.

I looked for the starter and the damn keys were even in it. I hit the key and it started right up. The fuel gauge was near the full mark but I wondered about the reefer's fuel tank. They used a different tank because their fuel didn't have to pay highway use tax. I got out to look at that tank and it was one of the largest ones I'd seen. It didn't have a gauge and there was no way to know how much diesel it still had. I needed to fill it up just in case.

It would take about five minutes for the air tanks to build pressure. Most people don't know it but if a big truck loses air pressure there are very large springs made into the brake cylinders that apply them automatically. These springs also serve as the parking brake since the driver just pulls a button that bleeds the air out of the brake lines.

While the pressure was building I got out and told Sharon I was going to pull into the fueling lane and try to fill the thing up. She asked me what was in it and I told her forty three thousand pounds of bacon, sausage, ham, and such. She showed me a wide smile.