It was difficult to believe I was walking the affluent streets of a major American city. I could have been an unwitting actor in the most realistic post-apocalyptic film ever made, and in a leading role, no less. Except this movie was real life and the director was the Almighty Himself.
When I finally made it back, Jimmy opened the door with a drink in hand and smiled ferociously.
“Dude!” he said. “I have good news!”
Beyond Jimmy, candlelight flickered in the living room, and from that direction I could make out a number of enthusiastic voices. I stepped inside and locked the door behind me.
“So what’s the news?”
In the living room I counted three new faces, all male. One of them, a slick cat in a vintage Star Wars tee, was holding court with Keri. In the moment before she saw me, I could tell she was riding an opiate wave and basking in the fresh attention of this new slick fellow. She was admiring him the way she had admired me during our first night together, drunk on vodka and high on X, and I decided Keri wasn’t attracted to a person so much as an experience. Even when she finally looked up and saw me, when she smiled an oversized smile, the light in her eyes dimmed a little. Probably because she was eager to move on to the next experience.
Then she was in my arms, hugging me, kissing my neck.
“Aiden! You were gone so long! I’m so happy you’re home.”
I didn’t know how to take this public demonstration, especially since everyone knew Keri and I had only just met. I also wondered if I looked different to her, to any of them, now that I was a killer.
“Thanks for missing me.”
“I totally missed you!” she squealed.
“So what’s the news?” I said again to Jimmy.
“We have a truck. A ’76 Ford pickup.”
“A working vehicle? Are you serious?”
“She needs a new fuel filter,” said another of the new faces. This guy was older and very thin, except for a tight and hard-looking beer gut. I later learned his name was Nick. “So she runs a little rough.”
“But that bad girl runs!” exclaimed Jimmy. “We can find a fuel filter soon enough, but the point is we have bona fide transportation!” “Where’s the truck now?” I asked.
“We left it at Ed’s place,” said Jimmy. “Didn’t want to put it at risk until we’re ready to go. So tomorrow morning we’ll head out on foot, grab the pickup, and find the rest of the cavalry. And then food warehouse here we come!”
The three new guys were Aaron, Ed (Keri’s friend), and Nick. Ed was an acquaintance of Aaron’s, and hadn’t been named on the original list, but he did happen to own the pickup and was invited to come along. It made sense that Keri had gravitated in his direction, since among the new recruits Ed’s ownership of the pickup elevated him to savior status. Nick was a weapons enthusiast whose buddy owned a gun store. The buddy, Nick claimed, could outfit us with military-grade gear, which everyone believed was necessary to take the warehouse.
“You could see what it was like out there,” Jimmy said. “We’re thinking we should make our move tomorrow.”
“I heard gunfire,” I said. “A lot of it.”
“We heard that, too,” said Bart. “Might be Army troops. I’m wondering if buildings like this grocery warehouse will be guarded.”
“No way to know,” I said. “All we can hope is, if there are military or police somewhere, they’re too busy with looters to mess with us.”
“I’m more concerned about the guys who work there,” said Ed. His T-shirt clung to his muscular, wiry frame like cellophane, bending Vader’s red light saber across chiseled pectorals. “Big dudes who pick and load merchandise and know where every entrance is, every window. You think they didn’t get the idea, after the power went out, to grab their families and hole up in that building until help came? Or didn’t come? They see that food every day. They know what it means.”
Jimmy looked at Chelsea, who was drinking what appeared to be a margarita.
“You’ve driven past this place before, I take it?”
“Sure,” she said. “All the time.”
“How many people work in a place like that?”
“Fuck if I know. Hundreds, maybe? The building is huge. And lots of trucks.”
Looking back, it’s funny to remember how naïve we were, a group of poorly informed idiots with no military training planning an assault on a building we’d never seen before, not knowing what weapons we’d be carrying or how many men would be in our group.
Eventually I wandered into the kitchen, where a citronella candle was burning. Someone had made a new batch of mashed potatoes and a pot of black-eyed peas. Scattered on the island were packages of chips and crackers and cookies that had been severely picked over. I made myself a bowl of potatoes and peas and grabbed a bottle of water. There were only three of these left.
While I spooned carbs into my mouth, I opened the pantry and discovered it was nearly barren. All I found were spices, more lemonade mix, and bottles of vinegar and olive oil. Also, on a lower, darker shelf, I discovered a wet mess of what looked like Mitch’s brains. I would have inspected more closely if Keri hadn’t walked up right then, looking at me with wild eyes. I shut the pantry door and stood in front of it.
“There you are!” she squealed. “I leave for a minute to use the bathroom and you just disappear!”
“Where’s all the food?”
“We’ve been eating it,” she said and leaned into me, like we’d known each other for years. “Isn’t that what it’s for?”
“Has anyone here thought about what we’re going to eat tomorrow, though?”
“Aren’t we going to the Walmart place tomorrow?”
“That’s the hope,” I said. “But what if something goes wrong? What if we have to wait another day?”
She pushed away from me, her face wounded, as if I were scolding her personally.
“Jimmy told us to eat,” she said. “And you wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for me.”
“I know that. I’m just saying we’ll run out of food soon and everyone will be hungry.”
“And I’m telling you Jimmy said eat.”
“All right. Sorry I said anything.”
“No worries. So how do you like those black-eyed peas? I made them!”
Everyone else was still in the living room and eventually we rejoined them. Amy and Chelsea were sequestered at one end of the sectional sofa, while Bart and Aaron were deep in conversation at the other. Jimmy, Ed, and Nick stood at the fireplace, drinks in hand.
“Yo, Aiden,” said Jimmy amiably. “You should hear about the weapons Nick’s friend has.”
“A bunch of old school automatic rifles,” said Nick. “And maybe an RPG.”
At that point, Bart and Aaron joined us. Bart was still haggard, his cheeks bloated and heavy-looking, as if he were on a bender.
“So Mitch wasn’t home?” he said. “That’s weird because he hardly ever goes anywhere.”
“Maybe he got hungry and went looking for food.”
“He probably wouldn’t go anywhere without Tanner. That’s his, um, boyfriend. Lives next door.”
I didn’t like the way Bart was looking at me.
“Mitch is a smart guy,” said Bart. “He went to like engineer school or something. We should swing by tomorrow and see if he’s back. We could use a guy like that.”
“That means bringing his boyfriend,” I said. “You really want to add two more?”
“We agreed on ten,” Bart said. “You got something against Mitch?”
There was no way any of them could have known what happened to Mitch. But I got the feeling Bart wanted to turn the group against me.