Chapter 16
It was still quite early when we left camp and we really did not have all that far to go. I had Jan driving so I could ride in the back and be free to shoot in any direction. Jan had her rifle up front with her but I told her to concentrate on driving. If shooting started it was her job to get us out of there while I tried to keep them busy ducking instead of shooting. I had her roll down all the windows so if there was shooting there was less chance of her getting cut with flying glass.
It was cool this early in the morning riding in back but I had expected that and wore a jacket. Only once on the way into town was there a half hearted attempt to stop us and just a few shots from me brought that attempt to a halt.
Jan pulled in to the first gas station but it was obviously not open for business with all the doors and windows smashed. Closer toward the center of town there was a much better looking station and we pulled up to the pumps. A man came out of the building and spoke to us.
“The power will not be on for about a half hour or so. You can’t get any gas until then.”
“Are you using a generator or something?”
“No but we now have rolling blackouts on the power supply here in town. Six hours on and then six hours off then on again. If it is on schedule then it should be on in just over a half hour.”
“How much is gas?”
“Seventeen dollars per gallon with a five gallon limit. Cash only, no barter.”
“Is there a grocery store where we can buy some food near here?”
“Yes it’s only a couple blocks (he pointed). They of course will only be open when the power comes on also, just like me.”
“Are we safe here in town? I heard the military was watching over things but we have not seen any so far.”
“You’ll see them at the grocery store. Things are fairly calm here. Disputes are settled very quickly, if you get my drift.”
“I do. Thank you for all the information and we will stop back here for gas before we leave town again.”
“I’ll be here.”
Jan drove the little ways to the big grocery store. We parked in the mostly empty lot. There were people here waiting for the store to open but apparently most just walked to the store. There was quite an assortment of carts and wagons that people had brought to transport their groceries. We locked the truck with our rifles out of sight behind the seat and walked over to get in line. We did both have our pistols and several of those in line I noticed also were visibly armed, with both pistols and long guns. Some folks had only a pistol, rifle, or shotgun while others carried both a short and long gun. Many had visible knives and I would guess that many also had concealed weapons of one kind or another.
There were also several military vehicles and armed troopers stationed around the store.
No really appeared hostile. More like just careful. I asked the next person ahead of us a couple questions.
“We have not bought food for a long time has it went up much in price?”
“I would say you are in for shock when you see the prices here then.”
“What do people do who do not have any money?”
“There is a government run soup kitchen over a block. They are open every day and anyone can get a free meal there. One meal a day per person. They are usually open from around ten in the morning to about four in the afternoon.”
“So people live on just one meal a day?”
“Many do because that is all that is available. None of them are fat I can tell you but they stay alive.”
“So they have to walk to the ‘soup kitchen’ once a day to get fed?”
“Yep. At first the military would hand out a box of food to everyone but that did not last long.”
“They ran out of food?”
“No I think they had the food available but everyone was getting their food stolen as they walked home. Often they would be hurt or even killed so handing out food boxes was seen as counter productive. So they started the soup kitchens. No one could steal what was in your belly. Not as handy but it does save lives. You really haven’t been in town for a long time.”
“No when things got bad we bought a bunch of food and have camping in the hills.”
“Smart if you can handle the outdoor life. Might want to have another plan for the winter though.”
“Yes we have been talking about going farther south for winter.”
“You could stay here in town. There are a lot of empty houses for the taking.”
“People just take over empty houses?”
“Many have died in every town and city. So there are many empty houses and apartments. A lot of people from the surrounding area have moved into town so they can get the free soup kitchen food.”
“There are a lot of deer and elk in the area. Why don’t people just hunt for food?”
“Many do I’m sure but you need more than just meat to survive. And most people no longer have any transportation to get out to the hills to hunt and then back here to town.”
“I see. And the highways are dangerous.”
“I guess you found that out on your own. You are planning to get a free meal as long as you are in town aren’t you?”
“We can buy our own food. We can leave that for the people who can not pay.”
“Suit yourself but most everyone gets that free meal everyday. Even if they have food at home. You might change your mind when you see how much everything costs now.”
“Anything is possible. Thanks for the info. I see we can go in now.”
The line was moving and then it stopped. I guess they limited how many people could be in the store at one time. Much easier to maintain control that way I’m sure.
When our turn came we went in and started shopping. The store had way more than just groceries but not a lot of any one thing. I suppose with the extra space because of limited food available they had space for other items now that they did not before.
The food prices were very high. Similar to the rise in the gas price. Between us we still had a fair amount of money and bought a pretty fair amount of the food. Jan also picked up a scissors and told me I would receive a hair cut when we got back to camp. She urged me to buy some razors too. I guess maybe I did now look like a wild man and it would not hurt to get cleaned up some. We also bought more soap and several other mundane items besides the food.
We did not know when we would be able to come back to town if we got a big snow so we did try to buy plenty of whatever we needed. We each had a heavily loaded shopping cart and it made a considerable dent in our finances to pay for it all. The men at that road block that I had killed had quite an amount of money on them that I had taken before I dragged them into the woods. That money would likely come in handy with the prices we now had to pay for everything.
After we checked out and paid I asked if there was someplace nearby where we could fill some containers with drinking water. The lady at the check out said there were spigots on each side of this building and no one cared if we got water there. They had put the handles back on the spigots for just that reason. She did ask us to please bring the carts back into the store again.
We loaded all our purchases into the truck (we had brought several empty totes with us for that purpose) and I returned the carts to the store. Jan then drove to the side of the building and parked next to a water spigot. It took us quite awhile to fill all our empty water containers.
That done we went back to the gas station and filled the truck with fuel. It did not take even five gallons to fill it but I wanted it full just in case. Everything done we drove back out of town and headed for our campsite. We had no trouble at all on the return trip.