“The guys in charge kept telling us there were more supplies on the way. We were on pretty strict rations. They took whatever you brought and put it into the community pool. People brought a lot of stuff so there was weapons and food and medicine and all of that. I didn’t see this next part but a couple guys in the group here talked to some guys who did see it. I guess a truck pulled up and they started loading up all the supplies that were left. Some of the guys here saw what was going on and got into a pissing match with the soldiers. Push came to shove, and the soldiers wasted them.”
“So, how’d the fire get started?” Bart asked. The man he’d been talking to just shrugged and shook his head. Another man spoke up.
“The soldiers did it. They must’ve been trying to cover up what they did. Poured gas all over everything and lit it up before they took off.”
“We’re seriously not here to steal your stuff. Just hitting the empty houses. We’ll let you guys get back to it.” The original man who’d rang the doorbell said backing up with his hands held nonthreateningly in the air. The whole group had already started walking towards the next house. Bart watched them walk to the next house where they repeated the doorbell trick. They left that house alone as well when the neighbors answered the door. Bart knew it was only a matter of time before they’d stop caring if people still lived in the homes or not. Especially when he saw the group of about thirty women and children who were trailing along behind the men.
“We could spare some food for them.” Nancy was already in his ear. Bart shook his head firmly before walking over to the living room to have a seat on the couch. Nancy stood by the hole in the wood covering the window watching the dirt covered children trudging miserably by. A couple of them were eating random things they’d found in the abandoned homes they’d looted so far.
Bart turned on the TV. It took him a second to press the right buttons since his hands were shaking pretty hard from the adrenaline of the recent confrontation. He’d been in tougher situations over the years but never with his wife and kids lives riding on his actions. The scrolling text on the bottom of the screen indicated the President was making another address at noon. The President had started out strong but then disappeared for the last week. The nonstop news was constantly spewing the government propaganda anyway, so they probably didn’t see a need for the President to make any addresses. Bart was curious how the President was planning to spin the ‘abandoning everyone’ approach.
“You really think the soldiers were stealing the supplies from the shelter?” Drew asked.
“Wouldn’t surprise me one bit. Everyone needs supplies and in this kind of environment the guys with the guns end up with the goods. Those soldiers have wives and children to take care of to. Plus, they were probably ordered to do it.” Bart answered.
“Your boat idea is starting to sound a lot better.” LeBron joked. Drew flipped him off from behind their dad so he wouldn’t get yelled at.
“I saw that. There’s no excuse for making that ugly gesture at your brother. All we have now is each other.” Nancy said walking into the room. A red-faced Drew hurriedly dropped his hand to his side.
They did what was starting to become the normal routine for them. They sat in the living room waiting for the next newscast while mindlessly watching the same drivel they’d seen a thousand times before. The anchors and reporters were dissecting the same old information in slightly different ways. Footage of bombers dropping huge payloads onto the desert to stop the incoming infected. The talking heads no longer bothering to point out that the whole massive bombing run thing had been tried in multiple places in Europe as well and failed.
There was very little footage or news from any of the other countries. At one point it’d been mentioned that Australia was completely clear of any infected. The country had shut down its borders and sent out warnings that any ship or plane crossing those borders would be immediately fired upon with no warning given. It sounded like a pretty solid plan to LeBron.
The noon hour finally arrived. Nancy and Yue had cooked up a batch of basmati rice to eat for lunch. They’d scored several huge bags of the stuff before the store they’d been buying them from had gone into rationing mode. Curious what kind of fantasy the President was going to try to weave into this address they sat around eating their plates of rice waiting for him to get around to addressing the nation. Finally, the screen cleared to show the President sitting in the Oval Office once again.
“They must have a fake Oval Office built out in the bottom of the secret mountain base the government’s hiding out in.” LeBron observed before being shushed by everyone.
“My fellow Americans. I come to you tonight with a message of hope. It’s too early to say for certain but the evidence suggests we’re beating back the tide of the infected that’s been rising against us. While this news should bring everyone a great deal of relief, we’re not out of the woods yet. We need your cooperation to get through this.” The President did one of his meaningful pause things. He looked much better rested this time around. It must be a lot less stressful when you were living in a giant mountain base protected by a battalion of marines with a few thousand tons of supplies stocked away.
“We need every American to
