Revolution (Collide, #4)(32)

She ran to the wall opposite us. I looked down at Sherry. She winked through her pout. It took all of my strength not to laugh or smile. The woman brought us a basket and whispered, "You're not supposed to receive any food without a basket." She took a marker out of her pocket and marked "Wanda" on the side. "There. You tell them Wanda said it was all right this once."

"Thank you so much." Sherry sniffed again. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't you worry about it." She smiled at us as we began to walk away. And then, "Oh, miss?" We froze and turned. "Since you're pregnant, you get an extra ration. Remember to tell the attendants that you're pregnant."

We nodded and waited in line.

"An extra ration," Sherry mumbled. "Great. All of our problems are solved!"

"Hey, now, ho hum. We'll take what we can get. Especially considering that you're freaking awesome!" I spoke in her ear from behind. "You played her like a fiddle."

"I panicked," she said like an apology.

"You panicked good."

She smiled and then it was our turn. "I'm…I'm pregnant," she blurted out again. The lady rolled her eyes and smacked her gum as she shoved three cans of tuna into our box. I felt a little of my smile melt away. Crap, Sherry was right. It was something, but three cans of tuna would feed three people. And we had over twenty at the bunker waiting for us to put something other than rice and beans in their bellies. We needed to do something, anything.

I followed Sherry closely in line, listening to her say over and over again that she was pregnant, though I knew that would never be. I tried to think of a plan. She shopped and I plotted.

It was eerie and started the thinking process for sure. The fluorescent lights were so dark, they were almost blue in tint. The radio above was playing some crackly version of Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire and the windows above were so coated in algae and condensation that it was impossible to see or let light in. It was like they were purposely trying to set some depressing mood on everyone.

We went to our next attendant. Her apron was dirty and her nametag said Buffy. She caught me staring at her nametag and must've thought my gaze was directed elsewhere…in that general vicinity. She grinned, showing a golden side tooth and a Come Hither sway to her neck began as she nodded toward a door to the side. I imagined it was a closet.

I gasped loudly and put my arms around Sherry. "And in front of my wife!" I scoffed and pushed Sherry along the line. "I'm a happily married man!" I yelled over my shoulder and then tried to hold in my laughter. She flustered and covered her mouth, looking around to see if anyone else had seen. No one was paying attention to us which made it even funnier to me. I pressed my mouth into Sherry's shoulder from behind and smothered my chuckle.

She chuckled, too, and shook her head at me. "Poor girl never stood a chance."

"What do you mean?" I said, still laughing.

"You have this…" she thought and moved her hand in the air, "thing about you, Cain. You're catnip."

I choked on the air I was laughing with. "Catnip?"

"Yeah. Catnip." She grinned at my grin. "Smirking catnip."

I laughed out loud at that. "Oh, boy. Let's get out of here before you get us into trouble."

"Well, my middle name is trouble," she mumbled sarcastically.

"Actually, you're middle name is sarcasm."

"Ha. Ha. Ha. I forgot. Trouble is my first name."

I smiled at her. She was in a better mood at least.

I hoisted our box at the end, and honestly, I wasn't impressed with the weight of it. Also we took the smaller box of 'necessities' they gave us. It contained toilet paper, toothpaste, shampoo and soaps of all variety for the household. They literally gave you what you needed to survive the week and nothing else.

The thought just rammed into my brain out of nowhere.

I was certain the Lighters and their dead prince had stashed a nice amount of food for him. I was sure of it. And now he was dead. I wondered if the Mayor's mansion had been abandoned. I remembered Josh talking about the pantry when he was doing his search for Lily and Calvin that time. It was huge and full of food. Now it could be completely bare, but I was willing to risk it to take a peek and hope for the jackpot.

I slipped my arm around Sherry's shoulder while one-arming the box against my hip and tried to think of a way to keep her from freaking or whatever. I didn't want her to get hurt, but we had to do something.

I took her to the Jeep and put the box in the back. Ugh, we didn't even have a whole lot of room for much. A few boxes more and we'd be all full up. I beat my fist on the back door and groaned at the sting. It all just seemed so hopeless. We were just biding time until there was no more time to steal. We could only go one so long until the food ran out.

I was scrubbing my head with my hands and biting my lip ring when a conversion van screeched into the parking lot. It swung around and fishtailed until the back door was pointed toward the warehouse entrance.

I could only stare at first as three men piled out of the back, their faces covered with bandanas…and they opened fire on anyone who was between them and the food inside.

Taste Buds



Chapter 14


Ryan



The room was too hot. I rubbed my eyes and rolled over…only to find that I wasn't alone in my 'tent'. I didn't need to squint in the dark to see it was Ellie. I sighed.