He dug in again and pulled out a plastic identification card and held it up by two fingers.
Edith glanced at the card—not seeing the name or picture as it was turned around backward to her—and then plucked another Kleenex out of the box, dabbing the sweat on her forehead delicately and looking down again at the floor.
Trunk smirked. “Whoa. A real pressure cooker going on here. What do you think, Edith? Whose name is going to be on this card?”
Edith sank her crooked back into the old plaid couch as she cowered. She seemed to visibly shrink. “Olivia’s,” she said quietly, still holding onto her story.
Trunk put two fingers on the end of his nose, and then pulled them straight out into the air, making the universal sign for Pinocchio. “Liar, liar, pants on fire,” he quietly sang under his breath.
A tear rolled down Edith’s cheek, so great was her fear.
He stepped over to the couch, and stood over the old woman trembling under his scowl. “I’m not a liar, Edith. I say what I do and I do what I say.” He paused a long moment.
“Get out the branding iron, Backfire.”
28
After the hair-raising ride into town, and the fatal ending of their last encounter, Jake unenthusiastically rolled Ruby into the parking lot of the grocery store with a heavy heart that was still pounding.
He couldn’t wrap his mind around it.
They’d killed that young man and woman.
Just kids, really.
His head was pounding too, and he couldn’t stop sweating. He felt like he needed to puke—but all that was from more than just aiding and abetting a double murder. It’d been happening for almost a week now.
He wished he could take it back. He wished they’d never have left the farm this morning.
They died for nothing. All they wanted was help.
It was a mistake to leave Tullymore. Heck, it was a mistake to leave Grayson’s farm. There was a big fire somewhere. They’d yet to pass any large fires, but a heavy cloud of smoke hung everywhere, the acrid smell burning their noses.
They’d passed more abandoned cars after leaving the mangled mess of the motorcycle accident behind them. Some of the cars had people living out of them. Some were burned, yet some looked shiny and brand new as though just driven off the local dealership lot.
All the people they’d passed looked hungry, tired and desperate. They didn’t see a dingle police car, ambulance, or fire truck. Where were the emergency services? Surely, they had gas. Jake had the note from the dead motorcycle riders in his pocket. He was hoping he could still send help to whomever needed it at the address that was on the paper.
Not a single gas station was open for business. Each one had looked as though World War III had occurred at their pumps. Even the supply-tank hatches were open, their lids thrown far and wide. Probably from people somehow siphoning right from the underground tanks.
Jake felt some relief in that at least they’d missed all the riots and looting that had surely happened.
He drove slowly through the parking lot. The grocery store was deserted. Like a chicken in a ditch, Jake’s head swiveled on his neck, looking for trouble. He was getting spooked now, expecting danger around every corner. He edged around the outside of the lot until they could get a better look at the building.
It was gutted.
Grayson whistled and repeated Jake’s thought from earlier. “Looks like a natural disaster happened here.”
Metal shopping carts were strewn everywhere. All of the front glass was shattered. Empty plastic grocery bags blew across the parking lot like tumbleweeds. Ripped and torn food packages peppered the yellow lines painted on the pavement. Several cars were abandoned, some having been burnt down to nothing more than four steel wheels on the ground.
Jake pulled up to the storefront and slowed to a stop to get a closer look. The outside walls were painted with graffiti and the inside was eerily dim and quiet. It was too dark to see beyond the first twenty feet. All he could make out were the outlines of empty cash register lanes. He shook his head in wonder. “What the heck happened here?”
“Mass hysteria. Let’s roll on, Jake. There’s nothing to be found in there. If there was, there’d still be people here,” Grayson said.
Tucker slapped the top of the cab and leaned over to talk to Jake through his open window. “How far can we go looking? We still good on gas?”
“Not far, brutha. What do you want to do?” Jake answered robotically. He really just wanted to give up and go home to Gabby. That was after they made one more important stop that he dreaded more than anything.
Tucker pointed up the road. “If you go this way and head down highway 901, we’ll run into the government buildings. I bet we can find some milk at those offices. Isn’t there still some kind of WIC program for the needy there that gives baby stuff to new moms?”
Tarra spoke up. “As far as I’m aware, the WIC program is cereal, whole milk and cheese. But, they just issue a coupon to be used at stores. They don’t keep the stuff at the offices.”
Tina stepped up between them so her voice could be heard in the truck, too. “When my friend had a baby last year, her pediatrician sent her home with several samples of formula. Where’s the nearest doctor’s offices?”
Tucker nodded, glad to see Tina talking again. She hadn’t said a word to anyone since the motorcycle incident, but had ridden with her face pointed away from everyone. He ignored the trail of dried tears on her cheeks. “That’s a great idea, Tina.” He leaned up to Jake’s window. “Take India Hook a few miles up to Herlong. There’s a set of offices across the way there. I know The Sunshine Practice is there. Let’s check it out.”
Mickey mumbled something, looking as though he disagreed with the plan.
“Speak up, Mickey. You got a better idea?” Tucker asked, in a friendly tone.
Mickey readjusted his seat on his half of the bale of hay that he shared with Frank, clearly uncomfortable. “No. I think that’s probably the best idea for the baby formula, but we’re already here. Why not go in and take a look. There might be something else left in there. There’s hundreds more things we need.”
Tucker nodded in agreement. Although right now the formula was his main objective because of the tiny life depending on it, he knew he couldn’t waste an opportunity to add to their food and supplies either. That would be a bad decision. They needed to at least check out what remained of the grocery store.
He leaned over the side of the truck again to talk to Jake. “You hear that, Jake? Mickey thinks we ought to go in and look around. He’s right. There could be something useful left behind. Maybe they didn’t take everything—we could look in the stockroom, under the shelves, in the employee break room. Better to leave with something than nothing, right?”
Grayson and Jake spoke in whispers up front, not sharing their thoughts with anyone, but a few moments later, Jake reluctantly pulled up just past the broken window, parallel parking Ruby in front of the store. He turned the engine off and he and Grayson stepped out.
Jake spoke to the group, “Okay, we do it this way. I’m staying with Ruby. Tina, Tarra and Grayson stay with me and we’ll watch for anyone coming. Tucker, you take Mickey and Frank in with you and look around. But other than the baby formula, we even-split anything you bring out. Deal?”
Tucker looking down at Jake from the bed of the truck with narrowed eyes. “No deal, dude. If me and my guys are risking our necks to go in there to find stuff, why would we share it with your group? No offense, but that hardly seems fair.”