“Like when a hurricane’s coming.” Drew said.
“Except hurricanes are just going to impact the coast of Florida or wherever. This is going to impact everywhere. They won’t have more supplies to send us because the whole country’s going to need them.” LeBron added. Bart listened to his boys and nodded. They were getting it, but he didn’t think anyone besides him realized yet how bad this could really get.
“This isn’t just a hurricane coming. This is a nightmare everyone’s been watching on TV. This is biblical. This is end of times kind of stuff. I’d say let’s make a run for it, but I don’t know that anywhere is going to be any safer than right here. At least for the time being. A week ago, this was a blip and now half the world’s gone dark and the other half isn’t going to make it much longer. Once this hits us, I don’t see it ending any differently here than it is in Europe.”
They were each assigned different missions. The seriousness of the situation setting in for Drew when their dad had each of them hide a pistol in their cars before letting them leave. He told them he didn’t think it’d come to that yet but better safe than sorry. Yue and LeBron headed for the Publix by the house. Their job was to buy as much food as they could get in their cart. Drew and Nancy had been sent to hit up Loews and Home Depot. They were in charge of buying enough wood to barricade all the windows. Bart had headed for the gun store to stock up on everything he could get his hands on there. Everyone was handed a credit card and told to max them out.
Yue had a compact car. It was pretty tiny, but they should be able to shove a bunch of groceries in it by completely sacrificing their comfort. Considering how close they lived to the store they may be able to just fill up some carts and walk home. He could always return them later. A perk of being a trusted employee. The drive should have only taken a couple of minutes. They turned out of their neighborhood and got stuck in traffic. Everyone was waiting to turn into the parking lot of the plaza the grocery store was in. Yue noticed some people letting their passengers out to head towards the store ahead of them.
“I could run ahead and start shopping while you wait to park.” LeBron said hesitantly. He could feel Yue’s eyes on him. It’d be in direct defiance of being told by their dad less than ten minutes prior to make sure they didn’t split up for any reason whatsoever.
“Ok cool. Just keep your phone on so I can call you. I might just text you. Not like I’m going to be driving very fast.” Yue answered him. She’d decided to disregard the warning from their dad as well. No way people around here were going to go that crazy that fast. She was super nervous about the pistol under her seat and really just wanted to get this over with. She was well aware the concealed pistol was a one-way ticket to jail if a cop caught her with it. She was trained on the weapon. All three of them could shoot. Their dad had made sure of it. If she were old enough, he’d have already made her get a concealed carry permit. She was still three years away from that though.
LeBron got out of the car and walked up the sidewalk to the turn into the plaza. Looking around the corner he reconsidered this shopping excursion. There was a large crowd in front of the doors to the store. The employees were trying to get people to enter in an orderly fashion and stick to the quantities of items they were allowed to buy. LeBron strode right up to the crowd and started working his way into where he thought the line was.
“How long do we have to wait out here?” A man asked the manager standing at the door. She was a petite woman who looked overwhelmed at being responsible for telling people when they could go in.
“Not much longer. We’re just trying to keep everyone safe.” The manager said politely. LeBron felt sorry for her. What a thankless job. An older woman walked out of the store through the exit doors cussing and yelling loudly that the store was pretty much out of everything.
The manager opened the door to let the next few people into the store. Instead of a few people politely sliding past her so she could shut the door again a steady stampede rolled in. Everyone ignored her asking them to stop. She was unceremoniously pushed to the side by the flood of people desperate to get supplies before they ran out. She pulled herself together and tried again to stop the flood of people. A man shoved her backwards hard enough to knock her over. When she looked up LeBron was standing over her protectively with his hand held out to help her up. She took his hand and let him pull her to her feet.
“Thanks. It’s good to see you here. These people are all going nuts. Are you working today or just picking up supplies?” She asked him.
“Stocking up. My dad’s worried this may get bad.” LeBron said. He was staring at the naked shelves. People were basically just raking everything left into shopping carts then getting in the enormous lines at the checkout lanes.
“Your dad’s a smart man. Take a cart to the back. Don’t let any of these crazy people
