Rise of the Prepper: A Story of the Coming Collapse (5 page)

              Seth was back on the road. He had a fresh supply of fuel plus he’d found some useful stuff from the abandoned cars at the highway and he didn’t have to stay too long there.

              The sun shone brightly in the sky. It was probably mid-morning already. It almost seemed like the universe was playing a bad joke. It was such a beautiful day and yet he just fought two guys who were trying to steal his truck, burned a pickup full of decaying bodies and scavenged for supplies from abandoned cars.
That just goes to show how the world doesn’t stop spinning just because everything has changed
.

              With that thought on his mind, Seth continued his journey. In times of turmoil, only the strong shall survive.

Chapter Eight: The Two Convicts

              Seth resumed his journey into town. As he drove down highway 325, he made a mental list of the supplies he needed for his excursion.

              He had a lot of dehydrated and freeze-dried foods back at the cabin. He brought some with him in his backpack. He had a lot of food but he’d need to find some more. He had fresh water back at the cabin too. There was a small stream near his cabin that was clean. He could use it for drinking. So, water’s fine. The next thing he needed was fuel. Lots of it. He wasn’t able to get much from the truck stealers’ motorcycles. It could be argued that there were a lot of gas just lying around in abandoned gas stations and vehicles but the problem was that gas was only usable for a year or two at most and then they’d be useless. He’d need to do a pretreatment for the fuel he finds. Fuel stabilizers were probably the most important on his list.

              Seth continued listing down the things he needed in his mind, mentally ticking things off one by one as he worked through them—first aid kits and medicines, batteries for his radios, a couple of spare tires, tools for the truck, and toiletries among other things.

              After driving for two miles, Seth spotted a service station. There was a small convenience store beside it and a car repair shop on the other side. Seth grinned at his luck. All the things he needed in one spot.

              Seth parked his truck in front of the service station. The place looked fine—nobody had been through there and looted the place yet as far as he could tell.

              He approached a gas pump and checked if it still had fuel. It did.
Perfect
, Seth thought.

              Seth carried over five big containers from the storage room and filled them up. He then brought them one by one over to his truck and stored them in the back. Satisfied, Seth proceeded to the auto repair shop. He found several bottles of fuel stabilizers which he brought over once again to his truck together with the other things he needed for his truck.

              Since he still had other supplies he needed to get, it was time to check out the convenience store. The bells attached on top of the door to the store tinkled as he opened it. The sound would have normally been soft enough during business hours that shoppers wouldn’t have been able to notice it. The store was empty save for his lonesome presence and the sound of the bell carried over in the wide quiet space.

              For the most part, the store’s goods seemed to be in good shape even though the freezers were no longer working. The electricity must have stopped just recently though because as far as Seth could tell the deli were still good to eat. He put some in a cooler he found in one of the aisles. He also found some energy drinks, mineral water, and canned coffee. He went through the food section, putting stuff in his cooler as he went along. When he was done, he scoured through the aisles for some medicine or first aid kits and batteries. He found the first aid kits but only found three packs of batteries on the shelves. He needed more batteries however so Seth thought that the store might have more in the stockroom.

              Setting down his haul on the floor, Seth took out his flashlight. It was still light out but the back part of the store didn’t have any windows and it was dark inside. He trod on carefully through the hallway, keeping a firm grip on his gun. He was ready in case there were some settlers there who might find his presence a nuisance.

              He proceeded down the hallway and as he approached a door, he heard an indiscernible sound from inside.
Someone’s here.
Seth lowered his hand holding the gun down and carefully pushed the door open with the other.

The sound came again and it became clearer although weak. Seth opened the door fully and a horrible rotting smell assaulted his nostrils. He covered his nose with his forearm. The room seemed to have been someone’s bedroom before. Probably the owner’s—who was probably also dead if the lifeless body of the old woman on the bed was anything to go by. She must have owned the store and lived there too.

Seth heard that sound again. He looked down and there on the floor huddled pitifully next to the bed was possibly the largest dog he had ever seen. The dog was huge but he could almost see the ridges of its spine under its dark mangy fur. It looked like it hadn’t eaten or left the room in quite some time. It glared and bared its teeth at Seth in warning.

The dog tried to growl another warning at Seth as he took a step closer towards the bed but the sound came out as a wheeze. The dying dog was still trying to protect its dead mistress.

“Hey, buddy.” Seth said as he crouched down before it. He was careful in keeping his distance from the agitated dog. The dog may be in bad shape but if provoked, it could still tear out Seth’s neck. “You’re a good boy, aren’t you, buddy?”

Seth slowly laid down his gun on the ground next to him.  He relaxed his muscles and smiled at the dog, projecting a friendly vibe. Now that Seth could get a closer look at it, he saw that the dog’s eyes were bloodshot and cloudy indicating that it was sick. Drool hung from the sides of its mouth and its breath smelled putrid. The poor creature was in such bad shape that Seth couldn’t help but feel sorry for it.

“It’s been hard for you, huh?” Seth continued to say. “It’s all right now. Your master’s in a better place. Your job is done.”

Seth picked up his discarded gun off the floor and cocked it. He trained it on the dog’s forehead. “Sleep tight, buddy.” He said softly. “You deserve it.” The dog looked at Seth and closed its eyes. It extended its head towards the gun and rubbed its head against it.

The sight tugged at Seth’s heart. He lowered the gun and reached a hand out to pet the dog’s head. It leaned into his hand and let out a sigh. “You don’t want to sleep, yet?” He asked. The dog whimpered in response. Seth chuckled. “You might still have some fight left in you.”

“C’mon, buddy, get up.” Seth coaxed. The dog started to stand but found it difficult to balance itself. “C’mon, you can do it.” The dog walked over to Seth though its steps were slow and small. Seth praised the dog for its effort. “Let’s get out of here.” He said and guided the dog out of the store.

Seth sat in front of the convenience store together with the dog. The dog sniffed the air and raised it face to the sun. “Feels good to be outside, huh?” Seth said. He opened a bag of dog food he found inside the store and poured some into a bowl. “You’ve got to eat some food and regain your strength.”

The dog sniffed at the bowl and started eating ravenously. The dog kept its face buried in the bowl, munching on its food nonstop, not even bothering to pause for some air.  Seth chuckled as he poured water into another bowl and laid it next to the food bowl. He watched the sickly, furry thing eat with gusto for a few relaxed moments.

“We’ve got to give you a name.” Seth said. He observed the dog’s physic. It was huge. If it stood upright, it might be as tall as Seth. It had black fur with mahogany markings on its chest, legs, over its eyes and on both sides of its snout. It was weak right now but he could tell that with some care, it would be a powerful and intelligent canine. All in all, even in bad shape, the dog was an excellent Rottweiler.

“I’ve got it.” The dog’s strength and fortitude reminded Seth of one of the heroes of Alamo, Bowie. Fashioning a name after the hero’s name, Seth decided on a name for his new companion. “I’m going to name you Brodie.” Brodie looked up and let out an enthusiastic if weak bark of approval. “You like that?” Seth laughed, scratching the dog’s head.

The peace was broken when two vehicles made their stop in front of the convenience store, an RV and a camper. The vehicles were covered in dust and grime. The camper’s door opened and out came a man slightly older than Seth. He had short sandy blonde hair and sporting a stocky build. Two people stepped out from the RV after him, a man and a woman. The man looked like a younger version of the other guy. He had the same sandy blonde hair but the younger man had a slim build and he wore a pair of round glasses. Seth concluded that they must be related to each other. The woman, on the other hand, seemed to be of Hispanic descent. She had olive skin and her long curly hair was black like Seth's. Her body was slim and lithe but the way she held herself made it clear that she was not someone to be trifled with. All three of them were carrying weapons.

Seth stood up and regarded the unexpected guests with watchful eyes. They seemed to be worn out from their travel but they didn’t feel particularly hostile. They were on guard however and were checking him out too, to see if he presented any threat. Seth judged that it was best to approach them in a friendly manner.

“Hey, you guys look like you could use some refreshments. Don’t mean to be rude but I don’t have anything to offer. You could look in the store for something to eat and drink though. Food’s still okay, I checked.” Seth smiled at them.

The man who stood in front of the others looked at Seth intently and then down at Brodie who had stopped eating and was observing the new people. The man dragged his gaze back onto Seth’s smiling face and told the others that everything was fine.

“All’s good. This guy seems okay.” The older man said. “How you doin’, man? Name’s Dominick Costner. This is my brother Evan.” He said referring to the bespectacled younger man at his side.

“Hey.” Evan nodded at Seth.

“And this is Jules—Seth’s wife and my sister-in-law.” Dominick continued, referring this time to the woman standing next to Evan.

“Hi. How are you doing?” Jules said.

The door of the RV where Evan and Jules came out of opened again. A little girl, about seven years old, came running out. She had black hair and white skin. She ran towards them and hid behind Jules’ skirt.

“Honey, what are you doing here? I told you to stay in the trailer.” Jules said, hugging the child to her.

“This little bundle of joy is Casey. Evan’s and Jules’ daughter.” Dominick said. “Say hi to Seth, Cas.”

The little girl smiled shyly at Seth. “Hi, Seth.” She said in a small voice.

Seth grinned at her. “Hello, Casey. Are you hungry? There’s lots of food inside.”

“Can I have some chocolates?” Casey asked, stepping out from behind her mother, biting her index finger.

“Of course, you can.” Seth said. Casey smiled joyfully up at her parents and went bounding inside the store. The adults chuckled as they watched Casey go through the aisles excitedly.

“Thanks. Chocolates are Casey’s absolute favorite food. She had been asking us if she could eat some for a while but we couldn’t give her any since food had been scarce.” Evan said.

“That’s actually why we stopped by here. We were looking to fill up on some fuel and supplies.” Dominick said. “This yours?” He waved at the store.

It took a second for Seth to get what the older man meant. “Oh.” Seth said. “This isn’t my store. I haven’t taken it over either if that’s what you meant. I just saw this service station on my way and thought I should gather up some supplies too.”

“Oh, okay. We’ll help ourselves to some deli then.” Dominick said and relaxed. He tapped Seth on the shoulder as he moved to enter the store. “You said the food’s still okay?”

*****

The Costners set up a small barbecue by the RV. They put up a small table and folding chairs around it. Evan cooked hotdogs and sausages while Jules prepared the bread and laid out the plates and utensils. Casey was busy poking at things with the wooden stick she found. Seth offered to help but they waved him away saying that he was a guest and that he should just sit down and relax. Seth reluctantly went over to the table and joined Dominick who was currently drinking beer.

“Thanks for inviting me to lunch.” Seth said as he sat down.

“Eh, don’t worry about it. You look like a good guy so it’s fine.” Dominick said. “Want some beer?”

“Sure, thanks.” Seth said. Dominick took out another bottle of beer from a cooler, opened it, and handed it to Seth. Seth took a swig of the beer. “Ahh. That hits the spot.”

“Right? Nothing like a good bottle of beer after miles of travelin’. That dog yours?” Dominick said.

Seth glanced at Brodie who was sleeping by his feet next to his chair. “Yeah, just met him today actually.”

“Yeah? He looks to be in awful shape. Where’d you find him?”

“I found him in the store. He was in one of the rooms in the back together with his dead master. Figured I should take him in.”

Dominick clucked his tongue. “Must’ve been terrible for him. But at least now he’s got you. Nowadays, just to be with something or someone alive is more than what one can hope for.” He said and took a sip his beer. Dominick had a faraway look on his face.

"Yeah." Seth said and scratched Brodie's head.

They both fell quiet. Suddenly, Dominick spoke. "So, what brought you round these parts?"

"I was actually planning on going to the Federal Training Center in Atlanta where I work as an instructor."

"Oh, really? You in law enforcement?"

"Yup, U.S. Marshal."

"That's awesome. Bet you're quite the shooter, huh?"

"Well, I'm not too bad." Seth grinned. Dominick laughed. "Before heading out on such a long journey, I decided to stop by here first to get some supplies and also to hopefully find more information about what's going on."