Fortunes & Failures - 03 Read Free Page A

are so empty.”
    “So when do we do this?”
    “Normally I’d suggest close to sunset,” Kevin polished off his second bottle and suppressed a belch, “but I think we need to go now. Who knows what might happen, and I don’t want to risk those things coming back.”
    Not that there was much, but they grabbed what meager belongings they still had and climbed down. Kevin had Heather sit on his shoulders and put their knotted line back up and close the hatch. Never knew if it might become necessary to return, and there was no sense risking somebody else finding their little hideout.
    They made their way down the stairs and through the bank to the street. Kevin was halfway through the window frame when he realized that Heather wasn’t right behind him. He glanced back to find her standing over a cluster of dead zombies and what was left of one of Shaw’s men.
    “C’mon,” Kevin hissed.
    “Thery ripped him in half,” Heahther whispered. “And on his face…the look…you can see it was so painful.”
    Great grasp of the obvious, his mind automatically retorted. “We have to get moving,” he said, shoving that abrasive and sarcastic voice that he was so accustomed to using back into the recesses of his mind. This was a chance to change. She didn’t see him as dorky or socially awkward. This girl didn’t know about the time he wet his pants in gym class during third grade. She had no idea that his entire four years of high school was a nightmare, or that the varsity quarterback, Mike Meyers, chose him as his favorite target for bullying and public ridicule.
    Heather joined him on the sidewalk and followed silently to the restaurant. He led her through the dining area and back to the kitchen. She paused when she spotted the creeper, but didn’t say a word. When they reached the open storerooms, she gasped. “There’s so much!” Her hands ran over the shelves like she needed the tactile sensation to confirm what her eyes beheld.
    “Lets’s start with the cases of bottled water,” Kevin said. “Then we can just start grabbing what we find most appealing. Every couple of trips we should check the street.”
    With that, they went to work. Twice they had to stop when a lone shambler and a small pack passed by. Neither time did they so much as slow or change direction. Eventually, there was a decent stack of supplies on the curb.
    “Now for the hard part,” Kevin announced after he had finished off a can of stewed tomatoes, a jar of marinated mushrooms, and several bottles of water. “Only switch to your shotgun if it gets hairy. Otherwise, stick to the handhelds.”
    Heather nodded and followed him out onto the street. The sun was directly overhead and, as he’d expected, it was sweltering and muggy. The air above the street rippled as the heat reflected off of the asphalt.
    Kevin kept his newly acquired and sturdy blade in his hand while Heather still carried the iron-tipped poker that Mike had fashioned. Reaching the corner, they peeked around the building.
    “Holy crap,” Heather breathed as she stepped around Kevin for a better look.
    The truck Kevin had remembered seeing was now parked in the middle of the street. He remembered distinctly that it had been up on the curb before.
    The bed was piled high with boxes. From this distance, it was impossible to tell what the boxes contained. All of that was certainly enough to elicit Heather’s response. However, it was the three people standing in front of the truck, all with variations of the deer-in-the-headlights expression on their faces.
    Two of the figures shook off the shock after a few seconds and began to run towards them. The third figure seemed stunned and at a complete loss as to what she should do.
    “Kevin!” one of them squealed as she closed the distance considerable faster than the other visibly pregnant one.
    “Shari.” Kevin slid his weapon into its sturdy leather sheath in time to be able to catch the girl as she leaped into his