Sharecropping The Apocalypse: A Prepper is Cast Adrift (41 page)

Will had simply peed in the sink and thanked his male plumbing for the ability to do so until the pipes in the apartment began to backup. He used a garbage bag lining his toilet bowl for his other business but disposing of a sack of turds was problematic at best because it seems that everyone in the complex thought of using the dumpsters for the same purpose as he did and rotting garbage bags of filth appeared to be just casually tossed in the general direction of the receptacles without any regard for the consequences of the bag bursting open when hitting the pavement. Will said he couldn’t really blame folks for this much as he was guilty himself of getting in smelling and throwing distance from the dump sites and let fly of a garbage bag before quickly hurrying away gagging.

Will gathered up what few cans of food he had left, poured what little bit of water he had into empty soda bottles and precariously balanced an open boiler pot full of rain water on his cars floorboards and headed out one fine morning without a plan or much hopes for his future.

As he drove to Tuscaloosa he was amazed by the number of cars that were stuck on the sides of the road as well as the number of people trying to hitch a ride or walking along the highway aimlessly. Will wasn’t one to pick up hitch hikers but a couple and their 4 or 5 year old child pulled his heartstrings and he decided he had to stop and give them a ride.

Will was scared to death after picking them up though because the man kept referring to the gun he had in his pocket and how they would be ok if anyone messed with them while traveling on this road. Will had never been an advocate for guns and had never been around anyone that talked so much about shooting someone let alone allegedly having one in their pocket and he feared what at first appeared to be such a nice looking couple might turn out to be not so nice and rob him of his car or worse.

The couple had a plastic bag full of bottled water and a couple suitcases with them and upon seeing his pot full of water sort of obliged him to give them all a drink of the precious commodity. The couple explained they had left out from their home under similar circumstances such as his but were forced to leave what they had behind when their car ran out of gas miles down the road.

Talk turned to where everyone was going and why and apparently they didn’t have much of any real plan either and they were just seeking shelter and sustenance like Will was. The couple’s ultimate goal was to try to get to some relatives country property somewhere on the Georgia border but how they would eventually get there they had no idea about now that they didn’t have a car or any money.

Will took this news in with suspicion and apprehension but he tried to assure them and offer hope that the government was setting up camps to help folks like them and maybe they could get a ride of some sorts from FEMA or some other relief agency. The man was not so sure of the fact that the government could mount such a huge response but his wife was adamant that help must be locatable somewhere in the city ahead and they would be all right somehow soon.

Will mentally went over his route to his friend’s house and then eventually told them he would have to turn off before the city proper and that he was sorry he couldn’t carry them all the way into town but he didn’t have the gas or the time to do so. This bit of news didn’t go over well and the couple tried to cajole and beseech him to please not put them out and to take them on into the city proper but Will told them that the best he could do was slightly go out of his way and drop them off at the first highway exit they came upon before he had to turn around and go back towards his friend’s house in the suburbs.

Will got a niggling uneasy feeling as the man and woman riding with him became more silent and argumentative with each other and him. The child sensing his parents aggression soon began fussing and caterwauling  and Will suggested they pull off at the next exit and stretch their legs some and let the kid wander around a bit.

The couple agreed and in a mile or two he pulled into the rest area in front of the restroom. Will got the map out and showed the man where they were at and that his turn off was about 8 miles away but the city exit was another 20 or so.

Will asked them “What do you think about me maybe leaving you all right here? You can have the rest of the water in the pot to see you through until the next ride comes long and they could rest under a picnic shelter?”

The man didn’t like the idea much but Will was adamant that this was the best idea and they could stay here or get out where he had to turn off at the highway junction up the road and the man scowled at him and went to talk to his wife who was over in the shade of a tree at a picnic table next to the non- functioning bathroom facilities.

A lot of what seemed to be hushed talk and a thumb gesture towards the woman that indicated Will who was back at the car made his mind up and Will got out of the car and opened the rear passenger door to remove their luggage. The women pointed at him and yelled and the man turned and hollered at Will to wait but he just dropped the suitcases and jumped into the driver’s seat and started up the car with the backdoor still open and the man starting to run toward him and he sped off towards the ramp.

“You know what that man did next?” Will told the assembled crowd of Clem, Bertha and others listening to him intently.

“The son of a bitch pulled his gun out and started shooting at me! Blam! ..Blam! Blam! Well at that point I just floored it and got the hell out of dodge. Can you imagine? I was helping them folks; I wasn’t taking their stuff that was obvious to see. I can’t believe he decided to fire at me not once but three damn times, I tell you what, I sincerely believe that man was going to try and take my car and maybe my life if I had not of got that weird feeling about them and left them there. I swear people are just not right and I vowed then not to trust another soul but that’s not the worst of it or the only person that threatened me with a gun before I got here.” Will said still visibly shaken from his encounters.

“He had this here knife on him.” Rossy Ross said producing a smallish kitchen butcher knife from her kit bag slung over her shoulder. Then she stared at the man like it was the only righteous thing to do in her opinion to a chicken thief armed with a knife was to keep threatening him to  outright shoot him he moved in her direction.

“A man needs some protection and that was all I had. I didn’t try to pull it on you or nothing I just had it stuck in my belt.” Will complained.

“Yea this dumbass had it shoved into a piece of cardboard I guess thinking it was safer to carry that away.” Rossy said tilting the barrel of her rifle in his direction.

“Nothing wrong with someone trying to protect themselves Rossi, knife is just a tool unless it’s used otherwise.” David admonished before telling Will to carry on with his story.

“Well that asshole actually hit my car’s trunk with one of those wild shots he sprayed in my direction and as my sorry luck would have it, it hit right where I had my water bottles stored so he really screwed me up beyond giving me the first biggest scare of my life.” Will said somewhat visibly relaxing as everyone commiserated with him by saying how wrong it was for the couple to attack him for no reason or for that matter even if he wanted to leave them and they couldn’t understand it wasn’t his fault they had a predicament.

“Wait folks this story gets better!” Will exclaimed and proceeded to tell them that when he finally got to his friend’s house all he had was six cans of sweet peas, a can of chili and a box of minute rice that was wet along with his clothes from the hole getting punched in his trunk and the guy he had come to see wasn’t at home. Will said he waited around in the driveway for about 4 hours and decided that maybe he should go on into town and see if any aid was about because he was already spooked about being shot at once today and a neighbor had come by asking what he was doing in Mr. Neil’s driveway and was sporting a revolver on his hip.

The man was nice enough but somewhat threatening to him none the less and inquired of Will’s further plans. Will told him about the only thing he could think of was to keep hanging out and hoping Neil would come home eventually to which the man raised his eyebrow and asked Will what he had planned if he didn’t. Will tried to explain to him about his horrendous journey to get here and the horrible scare he had earlier today but the man just said “Not my business and said that he thought it would be best that if Neil didn’t show up this evening it might be best for everyone if Will kept moving on in the morning. Will explained to him he was light on gas and had little to no water so the man said he could remedy that situation with a gallon of gas and 2 liters of water for 20 bucks.

Will explained that he only thought about the outrageous prices for a second before readily agreeing he would clear out tomorrow and sleep in his car tonight if that would be ok. Will said he had a fitful sleep for a few hours going to bed about ten for lack of anything better to do and cranked up his car about 4 am the next day and was surprised to see the same neighbor out on his front lawn now carrying a shotgun and waving goodbye to him with a smile before he went back in his house.

Will drove into town the next morning distraught and currently not having a friend in the world. He had no idea where his next drink of water or food was coming from or even where he was going to lay his head down tonight. He had about a 1/8
th
of a tank of gas left and no options. What to do? What to do? This question had been rolling over and over in his mind as he headed towards the towns center knowing no other options other than to seek someone, anyone to give him a clue about how to get out of this predicament. Smoke hung on the horizon like a curtain on the stage for the big last show on earth. A black man running from his attackers scared the hell out of him as he outran his pursuers at a stop light intersection Will had luckily observed. All the traffic signals were out, wrecks littered the intersections as the unwary or impatient made up their own set of driving rules. Will was a stranger in a strange apocalyptic world. Where were all the people at he wondered as he proceeded carefully through a city of locked doors and shade drawn windows? What the hell was that? A body? A mannequin from Halloween Will thought looking at a bloody carcass lying on the side of the road. No that was real, Will thought with a shudder and decided he should try to stop at the first police station he could find in order to get some help and report the body. Weren’t cops the people who you needed to be talking to in such a situation he advised himself? But he had no idea where a police station was at and since you never knew what kind of militarized yahoo officer these days you might meet who just wanted to arrest someone, anyone for that matter regardless of the situation, he decided to think better on the notion but didn’t see too many other choices.

Will saw a couple squad cars parked in front of a Piggly Wiggly supermarket off to his left and pulled in apprehensively. They must be guarding against looters he reassured himself and drove slowly straight toward the cruisers.

“Halt! Move no further!” A young cop brandishing a shotgun called to him as he approached while his partner took a pistol stance behind the passenger car door and a AR 15 wielding smartass balding Sergeant exited the obviously crowbar pried doors  of the establishment leveling his weapon art him and bellowing several orders all at once.

Will said he had his hands up in the air quicker than his foot fully applied the brake which caused his slowly moving vehicle to swerve and he almost damn near hit an overturned grocery cart.

“What do you want?” a scowling sergeant called with weapon leveled at his windshield.

“I managed to stammer out nothing and that I just needed some information with my hands raised and sticking out my open window before that asshole of a sergeant told me to just keep it moving, that I was in some kind of a police powers zone before I guess a lieutenant or a captain or something exited the same store with a full grocery cart and told the guy “At ease” and walked over to me. He said that all grocery stores and warehouses were under the emergency command powers act and that any foodstuffs they contained were under the auspices of provisions for first responders like police, fire departments and medical first and that Homeland Security would advise how excess was to be distributed to the civilians.

“Let me tell you now folks he no sooner got that out of his mouth than the fourth of July started or World War 3 or something as a bunch of camouflage wearing men started shooting at them from the edge of the parking lot and I burned rubber the hell out of there without a backward glance and kept heading down the road until my gas run out not far from here. I tell you I shook and shaked for about 15 minutes wondering just what the hell had just happened to me and then started crying like only a man that has lost it all can before finally stopping sniveling and began studying my surroundings.” Will said looking at his audience to see if they were sympathetic with him or not before carrying on with his story further.

“There was this place, an old beat up trailer just setup and stuck out on the side of the road in the middle of no where I guess you would call it and I walked towards it thinking I am soon gonna die but surely somebody would still have some compassion or mercy on me because I didn’t know what else to do. Now I didn’t throw caution to the wind and go beating on the door, no I sat there for a while peeking out through the woods at it then eventually found myself sitting my sorry ass down in the middle of the driveway leading up to it for some time just waiting. I eventually found my courage to approach it directly and hollered out my intentions but there didn’t appear to be nobody to home. I hung around the outside of that place for hours waiting on its residents to get home before eventually I got balls enough to just break into the dang place and that was where my thievery and callousness got born. I had to look around the property to find me an odd bit of metal that I used to pry the door open and I came upon an awful sight upon entry. An old women and I swear she was blue as a Smurf sat in a chair deader than hell and looked like she might have been possibly chewed upon by the cats that hightailed it out of the house once I began looking around. I don’t know what the old lady died from, couldn’t of been more than a few days I am guessing but I still get the creeps imagining her bluer than that weird old folks southern hairdo she was wearing. Lacking any supplies or any other options I stayed. I ain`t proud to say it but I grabbed the quilt off her bed and drug her out and left her about 50 yards from the place at the edge of the woods. At this point I neither had the energy or inclination to find a spade to bury her with so instead I then went through her kitchen trying to find myself a meal. There was lots of flour and baking supplies but little else and I just sort of camped out there for a few days in her place hoping that no relatives of hers would come by to check on her. I was out of gas, out of luck and had no other options than to eat what was there and move on. I ain`t no country boy, wouldn’t know a edible weed from poison ivy and when I got done with what she in her cupboards then I sometimes became a thief in the night to survive.