Revolution (21 page)

             
"Me, too. 'Cause we're here."
             

             
She sobered and blew a long breath. I parked in the middle and flicked it into park. We sat for
a second to gather ourselves.
I looked around and saw all the people heading inside or coming back with their baskets full. Everybody seemed so normal. So peaceful. If only it were true and not a horrible façade.

             
"Ready?" she asked, her voice surprisingly steady.

             
"Yep." I jumped out and ran to get her door. She was already half out, so I shut it for her. She straightened her shirt and stroked a curl
nervously
. I took her
cold
hand
in mine as we came around the back of the truck. "In and out, easy peasy, got it?"

             
"Mmhmm
," she answered and people watched as I had done.

             
I pulled her face to look at me with a hand on her cheek. She looked up at me, her big brown eyes so trusting and waiting and honest. It took me back to another time and I grimaced a little. She frowned.

             
"Am I doing something wrong?"

             
"No. I was just…thinking." I cleared my throat. "Listen. Don't worry about all of these people, ok?" I glanced around to make my point. "We're here to save our family. These people can't be saved, ok?"

             
She nodded. "I already got the
Don’t be the hero
talk from Merrick." She smiled a little. "Am I that glaringly transparent?"

             
"Absolutely." I grinned, too.

             
"Look at them," she said sadly and watched a man and his wife enter the doors. They look
ed
like neatly dressed zombies. "Can you imagine living like
that? Just a sheep, a follower
of something you didn't even understand or know about?"

             
"Or being aware of everything and having to witness it all and not be able to do a daggum thing about it," I countered.

             
"I don't know which one's worse."

             
"I do," I said. She looked a little quivery lipped so I kissed her forehead and wrapped her up in my arms. "In this case, ignorance is not bliss. They're miserable, they just don't know it."

             
"
Yeah," she replied softly against my chest and sighed. "But they aren't hungry."

             
"True, sweetheart. True." I leaned back. "You ready to rectify that?"

             
She nodded and let me take her hand again. We reached the Enforcer guarding the entrance and I knew it had begun. No turning back.

             
We had arrived at the Lion's den.

             
"Ears!" she yelled loudly, and for a second, I had no idea what she was talking about. Until Sherry pulled her hair back to show that she wasn't a Keeper. Oh, yeah. That's right. I did the same and she waved us on with the disdain of any customer service employee.

             
The next one jerked Sherry's arm and said, "Smile for the camera."

             
She jerked her head to the monitor and told us to flash our IDs at it. We did and she pushed us right along.

             
It was exactly like it sounded. It was a big warehouse and
they
carried out
baskets or buckets - most people had rectangle laundry baskets - and proceeded down the line. The attendant put one of her items in your basket for how many people you had, except for one thing. We didn't have a basket. We should
've
know
n
to bring a basket if we
were
coming to the Need
W
arehouse. Crap.

             
One of the attendants saw us looking lost. She charged us with a frown that reached her black rooted temple. "Where's you basket
?
"

             
Sherry burst
right
into
loud, girly
tears. I gawked at her, but when I turned to see the attendant, she had soften
ed
like melted butter. "Oh, honey. Now what is it?"

             
"I'm pregnant!" Sherry blurted and hugged me around my waist. "It was my fault. I forgot the basket! I forget everything now. I'm so…" sniff, "forgetful."

             
"Oh, honey," the lady repeated. "You wait right there."

             
She ran to the wall opposite us. I looked down at Sherry. She winked through her pout. It took all
of
my strength not to laugh or smile. The woman brought us a basket and whispered, "You're not supposed to receive any food without a basket." She took a marker out of her pocket and marked "Wanda" on the side. "There. You tell them Wanda said it was all right this once."

             
"Thank you so much." Sherry sniffed again. "I'm so sorry."

             
"
Don't you worry about it." She smiled at us as we began to walk away. And then, "Oh, miss?" We froze and turned. "Since you're pregnant, you get an extra ration. Remember to tell the attendants that you're pregnant."

             
We nodded and waited in line.

             
"An extra ration,"
S
he
rry
mumbled. "Great
.
All of our problems are solved!"

             
"Hey, now, ho hum. We'll take what we can get. Especially considering that you're freaking awesome!" I spoke in her ear from behind. "You played her like a fiddle."

             
"I panicked," she said like an apology.

             
"You panicked good."

             
She smiled and then it was ou
r
turn. "I'm…I'm
pregnant," she blurted out agai
n. T
he lady rolled
her eyes and smacked her gum as
she shoved t
hree cans of tuna into our box.
I felt a little of my smile melt away. Crap, Sherry wa
s right. It was something, but three
cans of tuna would feed three people. And we had over twenty at the bunker waiting for us to put something other than rice and beans in their bellies. We needed to do something, anything.

             
I followed Sherry
closely in line, listening to her say over and
over again that she was pregnant, though I knew that would never be. I
tried to think of a plan.
She shopped and I plotted.

             
It was eerie and star
ted the thinking process for sure. The fluorescent lights were so dark, they were almost blue in tint. The radio above was playing some crackly version of Johnny Cash's
Ring of Fire
and the windows above were so coated in algae and
condensation that it was impossible to see or let light in. It was like they were purposely trying to set some depressing mood on everyone.

             
We went to our next attendant
.
Her apron was dirty and her nametag said Buffy. She caught me staring at her nametag and must've thought my gaze was directed elsewhere…in that general vicinity. She grinned, showing a gold
en
side tooth
and a
Come Hither
sway to her neck began as she nodded toward a door to the side. I imagined it was a closet.

             
I gasped loudly and put my arms around Sherry. "And in front of my wife!" I scoffed and pushed Sherry along the line. "I'm a happily married man!" I yelled over my shoulder and then tried to hold in my laughter. She flustered and covered her mouth, looking around to see if anyone else had seen. No one was paying attentio
n to us which made it even funnier
to me. I pressed my mouth into Sherry's shoulder
from behind
and smothered my chuckle.

             
She
chuckled, too, and shook her head at me. "Poor girl never stood a chance."

             
"What do you mean?" I said, still laughing.

             
"You have this…" she thought and moved her hand in the air, "thing about you, Cain. You're catnip."

             
I choked on the air I was laughing with. "Catnip?"
             
"Yeah. Catnip." She grinned at my grin. "Smirking catnip."

             
I laughed out loud at that. "Oh, boy. Let's get out of here before you get us into trouble."

             
"Well, my middle name is trouble," she mumbled sarcastically.

             
"Actually, you're middle name is sarcasm."

             
"Ha. Ha
. H
a. I forgot. Trouble is my first name."

             
I smiled at her. She was in a better mood at least.

             
I hoisted our box at the end
, and honestly, I wasn't impressed with the weight of it. Also we took the smaller box of 'necessities' they gave us. It contained
toilet paper, toothpaste, shampoo and soaps of all variety for the household.
They literally gave you what you needed to survive the week and nothing else.

             
The thought just rammed into my brain out of nowhere.

             
I was certain the Lighters and their dead prince had stashed a nice amount of food for him. I was sure of it. And now he was dead. I wondered if the
Mayor's
mansion had been abandoned.
I remembered Josh talking about the pantry when he was doing his search
for Lily and Calvin that time
. It was huge and full of food. Now it could be completely bare, but I was willing to risk it to take a peek and hope for the jackpot.

             
I slipped my arm aro
und Sherry's shoulder while one-
arming the box against my hip and tried to think of a way to keep her from freaking or whatever. I didn't want her to get hurt, but we had to do something.

             
I took her to the J
eep and put the box in the back. Ugh, we didn't even have a whole lot of room for much. A few boxes more and we'd be all full up. I beat my fist on the back door and groaned at the sting. It all just seemed so hopeless. We were just biding time until there was no more time to steal. We could only go one so long until the food ran out.