Chapter 5

They happened to pass a newspaper and magazine kiosk that was closed, but not very well sealed. Otto was strong enough to break loose the door lock, and they picked up some newspapers and news magazines before they continued their journey. They had a couple of close scrapes, but they were able to find a suitable empty building before daylight. It had multiple floors and was completely empty from top to bottom.

The top floor had been used for offices and the lights were still connected. They found an interior room without outside exposure, except through a roof vent. This room had working lights and was immediately declared to be the kitchen and meeting room. Each man found another room to use as a bedroom, and they were adequately housed. All they needed was a stove. They planned to remedy that the next night.

Before they went to bed, Joseph looked at the newspapers to see if there was anything said about them. The earlier of the two papers had a note reporting four suspicious fires on the west side of town, but nothing more than that. However, the current newspaper had an extensive article starting on the front page and spreading over several inside pages. Some very gruesome pictures of badly burned bodies were printed and there was a long quote from the chief of police, Sue Ann Johnson.

"There appears to have been a rash of murders on Sunday night in the Forebush neighborhood. Four houses were burned in what is believed to have been arson. Two women appeared to have been murdered before the fires were set, but two others died as a result of the fires. One of the victims lived long enough, though she was horribly burned, to tell us that she had been tortured by her pet and left to die in the fire that was set by another slave.

"This victim said that there were three escaping slaves, and their intention was to head for Mexico. Of course, we are going to go after them, but they will probably die in the desert before that. Even if they elude us, they are sure to be killed by the mine field and electric fences protecting the main fence.

"The general public does not need to worry. We will catch and eliminate these three horrid slaves before they can have time to harm anyone else. Pursuit will start tomorrow morning.

"The four houses involved were a total loss, but there is nothing that we can do about that." Being a good politician, she had a lot more to say, but that was all of it that the three men were really interested in.

Otto said, "Great, George, it looks like the cops bought your story of us heading to Mexico. That could give us a week or two to get organized."

Joseph said, "That part is good, but we are going to have to work out what we're going to do with our freedom from domination. Any ideas, George?"

"Yeah, I have some ideas, but the first thing I want us to do is to get ourselves setup with the things we need for here. Things like a stove and a table with chairs. We also need beds, and we need to see if the bathroom is in working order. I will need to shit by tomorrow, and I am sure that you guys are in the same boat. There has to be a bathroom on this floor with all of these offices, and you know how women need a bathroom. I could stand to piss right now, so let's see if we can find the toilet before it gets dangerous for us to move around."

They split up and went looking for a toilet. George found a communal toilet room with six stalls and six wash basins. That would take care of everybody's needs for today. Everybody pissed and washed his face before going to his room to sleep. It was still daylight when they assembled in the "kitchen" for breakfast. They ate a light meal of crackers and cheese before fanning out again to see what there was to be found on their floor of the building.

Joseph wandered into a room much larger than the others that was located on the corner of the building with windows on the two outside walls. He immediately recognized that he had found a manager's office and started opening the other doors. Bingo! Here was a private bathroom with all of the facilities. There was a shower, a toilet, a bidet, and a vanity with an extra large wash basin. This was the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. All three men were beginning to smell from the lack of a shower, so this was an especially good find. Now, all they needed were things like toilet-paper and soap. That was a relatively easy problem to solve.

All three men used the toilet to shit, and they used the newspapers for toilet-paper. They were ready to go out as soon as it got dark enough. Their first target was a grocery store. Fortunately, their new home had a functioning elevator, so they had an easy ride with the wagon to the ground floor. Each man had a weapon: George took the machete, Joseph took a butcher knife that he had removed from Francine's house, and Otto took George's hatchet.

They traveled through alleys as they looked for a grocery store. They had to leave their manufacturing area to find a suitable store, but they finally did after nearly two hours of searching. Otto smashed the lock on the loading dock door with the hatchet and they went inside. Luckily for them, the store had emergency lights turned on, and they could see as well as they needed to.

George, having been elected the cook, took charge of gathering the food they needed while Otto went after toilet-paper and soap. Joseph looked for something that they could use for towels. He got lucky and found a display of towels, wash cloths, and hand towels. The men were all careful to take only what they needed to last them a week. Hopefully, that way, nobody would notice the missing items for several days.

They headed back home and unloaded their loot. Joseph pointed out that they now could make themselves loin cloths. That would make wandering around a lot more comfortable, especially if they had to run. Joseph had picked up some scissors from the notions rack, so they were able to tailor three hand towels into something reasonably comfortable to wear.

They still had a few hours until daylight, so they went looking for something to use for a stove. They broke into a home products store and found a propane-fired grill that George pronounced entirely adequate for his needs. The grill even had an attached oven. Their only problem was in getting the heavy thing loaded and stabilized on their wagon. This store had propane bottles stored in a separate shed behind the main store, so they took two of them. They also picked up cooking utensils and disposable plates, a box of plastic forks and spoons, and four steak knives in a burst of optimism. They also needed a refrigerator, but their wagon didn't have room for that, too, so that item was postponed until tomorrow night.

Flushed with success, they headed home and unpacked their booty. Otto and Joseph set up the grill while George set to preparing an omelet for their celebration of success. They had picked up an electric coffee maker, so they had coffee to go with their meal. Everybody pitched in to clean up and they soon went to bed.

George fixed the breakfast and they planned their next foray. George insisted on getting a refrigerator, so that was the next item on their list. They went to an appliance store this time. They looked up and down the aisles for the largest refrigerator that they could carry on their wagon. They were going to have to take a floor demonstrator, since they had no way to get one from the warehouse. None of the men could drive, much less operate a forklift, so they were stuck with what they could find.

As luck would have it, they found a combination refrigerator and freezer that they could barely wrestle onto the wagon. They moved the other demonstrators around to cover the open space they had created when they stole the unit they had; hopefully, that would disguise their theft for a while.

Otto pulled the wagon while George pushed and Joseph steadied the refrigerator on the wagon. It was a nerve wracking trip back to their building, and they were delighted when they finally got there. The refrigerator and freezer both began to run as soon as it was plugged in, so they were home free with that one. George loaded the refrigerator with the perishables and vowed to get some stuff for the freezer on their next trip.