What could it hurt to ask her? The worst she could do is tell him it was none of his damned business, right?
Henry backed to the doors again and Wally jumped from the cab. He pulled the loading ramp down and stared at the glass doors. When Henry came up alongside him, he nodded toward the glass and aluminum store front. “Should we clear it again?”
Henry nodded. “At least a cursory inspection.”
Both men pulled their weapons and walked toward the doors. Wally pulled the doors open and Henry stepped into the gloom with his torch in one hand, pistol in the other.
They went down the ends of the aisles and ensured that nothing was lurking in the shadows to attack them. Once they were relatively satisfied they were alone, each man grabbed a remaining buggy and began filling it with whatever they could find.
Wally couldn’t help but feel they were wasting their time, but he knew his friend was right. The more they left, the more others could use. Others who might not have humanity’s best intentions in mind.
He wheeled the cart to the front of the store and pulled another buggy from the remaining carts. He went back to the canned meat aisle and was surprised at how much potential protein the others had left. He scooped armloads off the shelf and into the shopping cart.
“You can skip the Spam, if you don’t mind.” Henry shot him a goofy smile. “If I never eat that crap again, it will be too soon.”
Wally reached into the cart and lifted one of the tins. “But this one is BBQ flavored.” He smiled back. “Beggars can’t be choosy.” He dropped the tin back into the cart and continued down the aisle. He shuddered at the idea of some of the products he scraped into the cart. Whole canned chicken? That can’t be good for you.
He lifted the can and was surprised by the weight. “Must have been one big bird.”
“That crap is good for dog food and chicken and dumplings. That’s it. Nothing else.” Henry informed him. “My wife, god bless her soul, brought one of those home once and the smell almost ran us both out of the kitchen.” He chuckled as he scraped goods from the other side of the aisle into another cart.
“Good to know.” Wally dropped it into the cart. “I hate chicken and dumplings.” He pushed the cart farther down the aisle and paused. “I wish I had my dog, though.”
“You and me both.” Henry stopped and gave him a sad look. “I had a mutt named Freeway, cuz that’s where we found him. Just a pup when we first got him.” He made a tsk sound and shook his head. “Best dog I ever owned.”
Wally nodded. “We had a Dachshund. Meanest little bastard you’d ever meet, but he loved us.” He shot Henry a smile. “Probably because we fed his fat little ass.”
Henry returned the smile and continued shopping. “I miss ice cream. The real stuff, bud, not this soft serve crap.”
“Real steak.” Wally moaned. With a baked potato and sour cream.”
“Ooh, momma’s fried chicken. With mashed taters and gravy.”
Wally laughed. “The best fried chicken I had was from KFC.” He turned and gave his friend a cockeyed smile. “My wife burned the shit out of anything she tried to fry.” He shook his head. “Sad, really.”
Henry paused at the end of the aisle and leaned on the cart. “I used to dream of running into a farm in the middle of nowhere. No Zulus, no other people, but lots of critters. You know, chickens and hogs and cows and…,” he sighed. “Chickens would lay fresh eggs. The cows would give us fresh milk and cream.”
“Let me guess, the hogs would lay fresh bacon for you every morning?” He gave his buddy a shitty grin.
“Sure. Why not?” Henry chuckled as he pushed the cart to the front. “Maybe one day, man.”
Wally fell into step behind him. “I wouldn’t get my hopes up. If the Zulus haven’t sniffed out every farm critter in the world and made a snack of them, they would probably have starved to death before you could find them.”
“You’re such an optimist.” Henry pushed the cart toward the door and reached for another. Something outside the front door caught his attention and he reached for Wally. “We got company!”
He pushed through the doorway and pulled his pistol. He crept along the back of the truck and ducked low at the rear bumper as a car came careening around a corner and jumped the curb to the parking lot of the grocery store.
“They know we’re here.” Even though the operator of the vehicle couldn’t possibly hear them, he found himself whispering. “Cover that side.”
Wally duck walked to the other corner of the truck and stole a peek around the corner. He groaned as he came to his feet and lowered his weapon. “We’re screwed.”
Henry bristled. “How many?”
Wally dropped his head and shook it. “Just two.” He holstered his weapon and turned to his friend. “But one of them is Candy.”
Henry groaned as his feet went out from under him and he fell hard onto his butt. “Dammit.”
Chapter 13
Hatcher checked the tank on the four-wheeled ATV, then pulled the dipstick. Satisfied that it was safe to try to start the machine, he turned the key and hit the START button. The engine revved and he goosed the thumb throttle. Once the engine caught and fired, he kicked it into gear and pulled it out of the maintenance building and around to the front of the Visitor’s Center.
He stepped off, letting the engine idle and grabbed a few items from the ransacked office. A length of rope, flashlight, extra batteries, and two bottles of water. Hollis caught him as he was heading out the door. “You really think you’re going to need that stuff? Aren’t you just checking the trails to make sure they’re passable?”
“That’s the
