I rush out to the car and carry Cherie inside of the house. I lock the door behind me as I carry her up the old stairs.
“Did we make it?” She mutters.
“You’ll be safe here,” as I sit her in a chair and attend to the bed. I pull the sheets and give them a shake. A flume of dust fills the air. I do not know if I’ve really made things any better or worse as she begins to cough.
“Be… safe… here.” Cherie says as she slumps over in the chair. “Nap…”
I carry her into the bed and take out two more pills from the Ibuprofen bottle. I hand them to her as she pushes me away. “Take these and I promise you can sleep.”
She places the pills in her mouth and swallows them before I can get her any water. I shake my head as I place my gun atop the dresser beside the bed. I need to get into town—to get a few things. I figure it would be best if I didn’t go in armed… although I’m not sure if that is the right decision or not. This type of situation has never exactly been in my daily routine.
“I’ll be right back,” I whisper to Cherie, but she is fast asleep.
I take the car and drive into Lawson. It looks mostly like a ghost town. I see a few houses with their lights on. I see a child playing in the yard with a flashlight. Something I haven’t seen in quite a while. As I enter the center of the small town, I find a grocery store. I get into the glove box and pull out some of the paper and coin currency.
I carefully enter the building, noting a little metal sign that says ‘no Unstables.’ I would expect no less.
“Good evening,” I say as I pass an older man with a long beard. He is wearing flannel shirt and has a rifle strapped to his back.
“Evening…” He says as he eyes me.
“You take paper and coin currency?” I ask as I grab a shopping cart.
“That’s about all I take, other than barter—you don’t look familiar. What business you got in Lawson?”
“I had family that used to live in the area… my grandfather. I said as I stop what I am doing and engage in conversation—I have a feeling that there will be trouble otherwise. “I’m originally from St. Louis, but with things getting so bad out there I thought I’d bring my girlfriend and move into my grandfather’s old house. You get much trouble from your Unstables out here?”
“We handle it if we do, we don’t need no Hunters,” the man says as he nods. “We’re pretty remote here so you should be safe. You have any interest in joining the militia? We could use more young blood.”
“Yeah, I could do that,” I say, obviously I have no intention—but sometimes it is best to just go along with it. “I don’t have a weapon though… You get many Aggros?”
“Rifles are in the back,” the man says as he points the far wall. “We get about one every two or three months or so… only about six hundred of us left in the area.”
“I’ll take that over the shit that has been going on in St. Louis any day.”
“I don’t blame ya,” the man says as he nods. He then reaches his hand out. “Elliot James, folks around here call me Eli though.”
“Good to meet you,” I say as I shake the man’s wrinkled, tough hand. “Benjamin McCormack.”
“I’ll let you get to your shopping Benjamin—was planning on closing down within the next hour.”
“Thank you, sir,” I say as I nod. “I’ll be quick.”
I make my way through the medicine aisle and pick up more Ibuprofen and different things I might need such as bandages, and any other type of meds they currently have available. I find a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, and slip it into the cart with a bottle of shampoo. I find some black hair dye and a pair of sunglasses. I pick up some a few pairs of jeans and some plain colored shirts that I believe are in Cherie’s size. I grab A few flannel shirts and some jeans and overalls for myself. I figure if we’re going to fit in, we should at least dress the part. I pick up a camouflaged jacket and a rifle with a few boxes of ammunition.
I grab some milk, fresh eggs, and a bag of potato chips. I figure from what I saw in the basement we should be able to survive for months—but these are things I know that Cherie likes.
As the man checks me out he stops as he comes to the rifle. “This is a good one… my cousin Jack—he took down 3 Aggros with this rifle. He died a few months back… a drunk driving accident of all things. Even with all this shit going on in the country, we’re still managing to kill ourselves doing dumb shit.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I say as I nod. “I’ll make sure it gets some good use.”
“It’ll serve you well—just don’t do anything dumb,” the man says as he releases the gun and hands it to me. I place it over my shoulder. He finishes checking me out and I hand him a large sum of paper currency.
“We meet at the town hall in two days, it’s about two blocks down—can’t miss it. There’s a sign. There’s only about fifty of us, but we can handle things.”
“Got it,” I said as I begin to pick up the paper bags. “I’ll be there.”
“We appreciate it,” Eli says as I head out the door. I shove the items into the trunk and head back to the farmhouse. All the while I have the GPS make sure that I am not being followed—‘she’ informs me that there are no cars active anywhere in the vicinity.
I place the eggs and milk into the fridge and rush up to the bedroom. Cherie is asleep, although she is still shaking. A small pool of vomit is on the floor next to the bed. I go to the bathroom and grab a towel and clean up the mess. I hope that nothing is seriously wrong with her.
I place an arm on her shoulder and she shudders. “Cherie…”
“I couldn’t keep the sea inside…”
“You should eat something,” I say as I rub my hand up and down her shoulder. She feels cold.
“Just water please…”
I take one of the gallon jugs and begin to pour her a cup; she instead—takes the entire gallon and starts to drink from it. She almost manages to finish the whole thing off before she hands it back to me.
“What can I do?” I ask, frustrated. I need her to be better.
“What can I do,” she whispers.
“Just get better…”
She does not answer. She has fallen asleep again.
I go into the bathroom and open up the bottle of black hair dye. I follow the instructions, but to my dismay, when I get out the shower I do not look much different than my picture from the warning broadcast. The old man did not seem to recognize me, so maybe they aren’t broadcasting the info this far out. Maybe, for some reason, they want people to believe that I’m still loose in Chicago with a nearly Aggro Unstable. I remember—fear is a great way to control people. Still, I can’t afford to take chances. I notice that I have a small bit of stubble growing. Perhaps, I should just let it grow.
I pull the car around to the back. Leaving it out front and exposed seems way too risky. I grab a few items from the car, the flashlight, the metal case, the few boxes of the handgun ammo and Cherie’s suitcase. I cover the car up with tarp that I find in the basement. I place heavy bricks around it. I press the alarm button on the key ring. I figure keeping it safe will be my best bet if we ever need to get the fuck out. I then remember to solar panels and cut two strips down with a knife from the kitchen. I am glad I remembered—it would be shame to try and escape in a car that would not run.
As nighttime comes, fireflies emerge from along the high grass… thousands of them. I wish that Cherie were able to see them—maybe tomorrow. If all goes well, hopefully we should be able to stay here for a while. It isn’t so bad here. The stars are bright and beautiful. The house is in better shape than I could have asked for. We have provisions. I just need her to get better—and I think after that, everything will be right on track. At least for our purposes… Noah’s situation will have to wait, unfortunately—especially if he is right.