water; the thieves had taken that, and that had to be the next thing on the list. So far they had actually made it pretty good with the situation like it was, and he hoped their luck would keep holding.
He drove back into town, and stopped at a grocery store. The store was locked, but he could see stuff inside on the shelves. He walked back to the van, and got in, “The place is locked up, but I’m not leaving without some of the stuff in there. We’ll drive to the edge of town, and wait for dark.”
“You’re going to break in?”
“I don’t see as we have much choice.”
“Yeah, well you’re not going to do it by yourself Cody, if we can get in, I can keep watch.”
“What, no chivalry for me?”
“No more chivalry Cody, you stink at it anyhow.”
When they got to the edge of town they pulled in behind an abandoned building, and he cut the engine, “You get in the back, and I’m going to sit here, and try to get some sleep.”
“Gladly, I’m beat; wake me if you need me.”
He leaned back in the seat, and soon he was asleep. He awoke with a start, and the night was dark, “Ok, its time.”
“I need to pee.”
“Ok, lets both go, but just squat by the van.”
After they were done doing their business he cranked the van, and turned it back toward town. He checked his watch, and it was quarter to ten. He pulled the van in back of the store, and listened for a full five minutes. Hearing no one he eased the door open, and she crawled out behind him, “Don’t close the door.” He whispered to her.
When they got to the steel door, he handed her the small pen light to hold on the lock. It was an easy lock, and he pushed the door open. The door squeaked on its hinges a bit, so he stopped and listened. Hearing nothing he motioned for Denise to stay.
He found a shopping cart, and began filling it with food, and water.
He pushed the loaded cart to the door, and then began to carry the stuff to the van, “Keep a watch, and if you see anything, dive in the van.” He whispered.
He had just gotten the last load when a shot rang out, shattering the silence. The bullet took out the rear view mirror, and he shoved the stuff across the seat into the floor and then dived into the seat. He hit the switch, and threw the van in drive, spinning the tires. He looked franticly back into the van, and saw Denise holding on to a can of peaches.
He rounded the building, and spun off into the street heading east with the accelerator on the floor.
He looked into the driver side rearview, but saw no headlights. The van was a fairly new model van, and it cornered well.
“Wonder why they didn’t have someone on guard at the store?” Denise said, as she climbed into the front seat.
“I think they did, he was asleep, and when he woke up, we were robbing the place.”
“You mean joint… robbing the joint. We’ll make a gangster out of you yet.”
“Just nothing bothers you does it?”
“I try not to think too much about it. What good is crying about it?”
“Nothing, I guess.
They drove another hour and a half until he spotted the concrete plant. He turned off into the large yard, and parked beside the fence, “We need rest, but it’s too risky to try the building. Somebody may be in there that is not friendly. We’ll rest here.”
“Help me with the light so I can see the seat releases, and we’ll toss the seats out the door.” She said.
He held the light while she found the first release. She reached over and opened the side door, and shoved the seat out the door. Soon they had all the seats out, and then they cleared the floor of clutter, stacking the food, and water against the front seats.
“There are blankets under the front seats.” Denise said.
He reached under the seats, and pulled out blankets still in its package, “Why were these there?”
“My husband thinks of everything, like if it snows in California. The carpet on the floor and the blankets will keep us warm enough, don’t you think?”
They lay down, and spread the blankets over them, “Am I going to get raped?” She asked.
“Not tonight at least, now shut up, and go to sleep, or I may smother you.”
They awoke to another cloud covered sky, and Cody pulled the van back onto the highway, heading north toward Bakersfield, “Stop the car!” Denise exclaimed.
Cody brought the van to a screeching halt, looking wildly around, “What is it?”
“There’s a dog back there.” She opened her door, and got out of the van. He watched through the rear view that wasn’t broken as she walked up to a large dog.
“That might not be safe!” He called back. About that time the dog jumped up, put his paws on her, and began licking her face. She brought the dog to the side door of the van, opened it, and he jumped into the van.
“My god Denise, that thing is as big as a horse!”
“Poor thing, someone abandoned him out here.” The dog, quivering with excitement jumped up on his seat, and began licking his neck, “Aw, that thing slobbers!”
“He likes you.”
“He likes anybody who will give him a ride Denise, what are we going to do with a dog? Besides, you never had one at home. Why now?”
The dog began to settle down, and he drove on, “I wanted one, but Dale wouldn’t have it, he said they are too much trouble.”
“Well, they are a lot of trouble.”
“What? To feed them, and let them out to piss? Don’t you like my dog Cody?”
“Now he’s your dog already?”
“Yeah! I found him, and he’s mine!”
“Yeah, I like him…I just don’t want to get attached to one is all. I got attached to one in Kosovo, and he ended up getting shot.”
“This isn’t Kosovo.” She said gently.
“It could very well be like that Denise. We don’t know what’s been happening.”
“Yeah, lets turn on the radio.” She reached over, and pushed the on button on the radio, then pushed the seek button. The radio stopped on a station that was playing country music. The song that was playing was ‘Long Time Gone’.
“What the hell? Try to get a news station Denise!”
She pushed the scan button again, and the announcer was saying something about relief efforts for the Los Angeles area. Cody pulled the van over to the side of the road. The announcer was saying that they were trying to hold those accountable for the false rumors about the other cities being hit and bringing to justice the terrorists that were responsible for Los Angeles.
“It sounds like there were no more bombs! We’ve got to talk to somebody that knows something…maybe up here in Mojave.” Cody looked at her.
“How far is Mojave?”
“About fifteen miles. We’ll be there in a few minutes; let’s not take anything for granted just yet. We have to be careful.”
They came to the town of Mojave, and pulled into a station which was a minute mart, the town looked as if it was doing business as normal, but there was an attendant at the gas pumps, and a sign that read 20.00 Limit on gas.
He pulled up to one of the pumps, and the attendant walked up to the window, “Fill it up.” Cody said.
“It’s a twenty dollar limit buddy. Cash or credit card?”
“Ok, twenty then.” He handed the attendant his credit card, and was amazed as the card went through. He got out of the van, and walked around to the attendant.
“Say could you tell me what’s been happening? Last time we heard several cities had been hit.”
“It was wild rumors, only L.A. got blown to smithereens.”
“Who did it?”
“I don’t know pal, and neither does anybody else. They think maybe the terrorist blew themselves up along with L.A. It was probably a Russian nuke that was smuggled in, but they ain’t for sure. Hell, it could have been one of ours!”
“How are things in the San Joaquin valley?”
“Well, the mountains
shielded it from the blast, and the blast caused desert winds to blow toward southern California, and carried most of the radiation out to sea. Lucky for us, the weather guys say it set off a hell of a storm on the desert. I gotta go tend to the next car buddy.”
“Thanks.” Cody saw that Denise had her window down, and had been listening, he walked back around the van, and climbed into the driver seat.
“You heard all that?”
“Yeah, you want to head for Bakersfield? We have a little cabin at Springville.”
He started the van, and pulled out onto the highway, “Where is Springville?”
“Just out of Portersville a way, We can live there. I own it free, and clear.”
“Dale never mentioned it to me.”
“Yeah, I bought it on my own a few years back, but I’ve only been to it once. I hired one of the neighbors to keep it up.”
“You are a surprising woman Denise.”
That evening they pulled into the yard of a neatly kept cabin in the foot hills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Cody looked around as Denise found the key under a rock by the door. The place smelled musty inside, but it was clean. Cody lay down on the couch and sighed. Denise went poking around the rooms, and then returned to the living room, “There’s a generator out back, but the lights