“What wave?” Olivia asked.
“The first wave of people to kick the bucket. Anyone on drugs, whether they have a doctor script or not, is going to be hurting.” He looked over his shoulder at Edith working in the kitchen and lowered his voice. “Elderly people and drug addicts both are going to die. When my heart and blood pressure pills are gone, I won’t last long myself. But I’ll go quick. People like your friend though, they’re going to suffer mighty badly. And there ain’t no clinics open to help them. They’ll be wishing for death within a week. Like I said, I watched it with my son. Me and Edith suffered along with him. And you’ll be suffering too, if she goes home with you.”
Elmer swiped at an eye and cleared his throat. “I wouldn’t wish that kind of suffering on anyone.” He turned suddenly and stepped into the house, leaving Gabby, Olivia and Emma alone.
Gabby and Emma both squeezed Olivia’s hands. She stood stone-still with watery eyes.
“I agree, Olivia. We should have seen the signs. They’re all there now that he mentioned it,” said Gabby. She looked to Emma for support.
“Me, too. I knew there was something wrong with that girl,” Emma said, nodding.
Olivia shook her head. “I’m not leaving her.”
Gabby knew there was no use trying to talk Olivia into it. Once she had broken free from her first husband who’d physically abused her, she’d dedicated her life to helping other woman in bad situations. Man problems, drug problems, job problems. Didn’t matter. Olivia wouldn’t turn one away. It was admirable, but sometimes Olivia needed to put herself and her family first. This was one of those times.
Gabby shrugged. “I know you want to help her, but I won’t let her put any of us in jeopardy. I think she’s trouble, and if she gives us a hassle, she’s gone. I’ve got one goal, and that’s to get us home safe and sound with no more drama on the way.”
Mei stood shaking beside the open bedroom window, with her back against the wall. She waited until the girls had stepped into the kitchen before quietly pulling the window down.
She’d known all along they were talking about her behind her back. Now, she’d caught them. She had barely slept a wink last night, and no one really cared, other than the one ditzy sister. She’d listened to their steady breathing all night, envying their peaceful slumber. Envying their lives. They had each other. And they had husbands.
Elmer and Edith had each other, too.
She had nobody.
And no one cared.
But by the time she was through, they’d all care. And in the end, maybe she’d finally get a good night’s sleep, too.
She awkwardly dug through Gabby’s bag. Frustrated, she cussed to herself. She couldn’t find what she was looking for. But that was okay. She’d find a way to make them pay…
26
BRIGHT LIGHT POURED through the window, waking Jake.
One eye squinted open.
He was home. Alone. Gabby still not here.
After his run-in with the thugs at the shop, Jake had changed his mind about coming home. He just wanted to get somewhere safe. Home was closer than Grayson’s so he’d made a bee-line back to the neighborhood, and shut off the 4-wheeler at the entrance, quietly pushing it down the street and into his garage.
He hadn’t wanted to deal with the neighbors again. He’d had enough stress.
Slowly, he pulled himself out of bed, his head and body aching. Time to get on the road before someone discovered he was home. Especially Tucker. He might want his four-wheeler back after all.
And for all Jake knew, his wife might be sitting at Grayson’s right now wondering where the heck he was. He’d actually hoped she was there. He’d gladly take a chewing-out from Gabby, if only he could see her today.
He opened the refrigerator and then quickly slammed it shut, cursing his laziness. Something stunk. Gabby would probably kill him over not throwing away all the food or cooking what could be saved. He hadn’t done a thing since the power went out. It wasn’t like him.
He cursed the demon on his back, grabbed a Gatorade and ate a bowl of dry cereal, and then he hit the road. Grayson would have plenty of food later.
Loose rocks spun through the air as Jake slid the four-wheeler to a sudden stop on the dirt road. He’d heard a woman scream. He looked over his shoulder at the woman standing in the middle of the road waving at him; she must’ve stepped out of the woods as he passed by. He backed the ATV up and turned it around, and sped back to her.
“Hi,” the woman said in a friendly voice. “I saw your hat. It matches mine.” She pointed to her head. “See.”
The woman wore an exact replica of Gabby’s favorite hat, with the TSS Logo; she also wore a pistol in clear view, holstered to her side. He watched her carefully but her hand didn’t hover anywhere near it.
“You’re with The Shooting Sisterhood?” he asked, in confusion.
“Yeah, like what are the chances of that, huh?” she answered and laughed. “My friend and I were here for a shooting competition. Power went out. No gas to get home. We’re sort of stuck.”
The shooting range was on the way here, although he hadn’t passed it himself. He’d taken a short cut to get this far.
Jake took his hat off and looked at it to be sure. Perfect match. “This is actually my wife’s hat. Her name is Gabby.”
“Gabby is your wife? I know her! Well, from our group on Facebook. We chat sometimes. We were hoping to meet her in person while we were here but we didn’t see her at the shoot. My name’s Tina.”
“We?
“Yeah, I have another friend with me. She’s in there.” The woman pointed her thumb toward the trees.
“What are y’all doing out here?”
She shrugged. “Camping out. What else? The only motel we could find in this area was a hole in the wall. Toilets were overflowing. People were getting upset. We don’t know another soul there, so we headed out of town limits to be safer—get away from the crazies. Been camping here for a few days now.”
Jake thought about it. The odds of running into two of Gabby’s friends, on the way to Grayson’s house, during an apocalyptic event such as this were probably a million to one. But he did know the motel she was speaking of, it was the only hotel near them in York County without walking a very long way, and she was right. It was a rat hole even before the power went out.
But the paranoid side of Jake wondered if Gabby had mentioned the homestead as a bug-out location to her. Women who liked to shoot were more times than not also preppers, and it could’ve come up in a private conversation. Maybe they’d set up camp here on purpose, hoping to run into Gabby.
“What’s your plan?” he asked suspiciously.
Tina threw her hands up in the air. “To get home. But we have to wait for the power to come back on or find some gas. What else? Don’t have much choice,” she said and laughed.
Jake raised an eyebrow. For a woman, she didn’t seem all that panicked about being stuck away from home, squatting in the woods. This wasn’t passing his smell test. Grayson had always warned about The Golden Horde; people who hadn’t prepared that would eventually come creeping out of the chaos of town into the country; people who’d do anything to get to your food and supplies if the shit ever hit the fan.