Different Setting

St. John's Dairy

"So, this dairy...you guys really have food?" Mark questioned as he, Ben, Carley, Lee, and Carlos walked along a dirt path with the two strangers. Carlos was still feeling quite skeptical, but as long as they had food for Sarah, he didn't mind going to the farm.

"Sure do," the taller man with the gas can, Andy, said. "We lost most of the cattle, but we're stocked up on milk, butter, and cheese," he answered.

The shorter man, Danny, chimed in, "And with the vegetables we grow, we got plenty of food."

They continued to walk on while Lee and Carley spoke of Lee's past. Carlos was silent the majority of the time, just wanting to hurry and get to the dairy, and then back to his daughter as soon as possible. She was already probably worried sick about him; he hoped at least Lilly was being nice to her.

"Y'all seemed pretty settled in at the motor inn over there..." Andy said, breaking up the silence. "Who's running things over there?" he asked.

"We work as a group," Lee answered. "All of us looking out for each other."

"I hear that," Andy replied. "There are so many dumbasses out there, fightin' each other these days. It's just stupid," he finished.

"How many people you got over there anyway?" Danny questioned.

"Enough to defend ourselves," Lee answered.

"Well that's good!" Andy said. "It's getting dangerous out there."

"Well, we'd love to get you all out to the dairy," Danny, added. "Like I said, we've got plenty of food, and quite frankly, we could use an extra helping hand."

"In the summers, I used to help out on a goat farm," Ben announced.

"Well, that's great. Everything helps!"

"Mama's been runnin' the dairy for as long as I can remember," Andy spoke up. "I think we-"

"You think you're gonna cut me out of this?!" a new voice yelled out. Carlos frowned, this voice sounded oddly familiar.

"Shit, get down!" Andrew ordered.

Everyone crouched down and stayed out of sight. Two men wearing masks were arguing about something or other, and that was when Carlos realized why the voice sounded so familiar: These were the people who had raided their camp just a couple of hours earlier.

"Fuckin' bandits," Danny muttered.

"Carlos, those look like the people who raided our camp," Ben glanced at the Hispanic man behind him.

"Who are they?" Lee whispered.

"Shh!" Andy shushed him. "Fucking assholes is who they are."

"There's only two of them," Carley pointed out.

"Yeah, and you know what? We ate it all!" one bandit shouted. "What are you gonna fucking do about it?"

"Don't worry, Danny and I got you covered if something happens, but let's just wait this out and hopefully they'll move on."

"FUCK YOU!" the first bandit shouted. Much to the shock of everyone, he promptly kicked the other guy down and immediately shot him in cold blood. Ben let out an audible gasp. The bandit began to repeatedly shoot the second, although he was already dead. "FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU!"

"Jesus!" Carley uttered.

"Asshole," the bandit finally commented as he walked away.

Carlos grumbled to himself and squeezed his eyes shut. He was very thankful that Sarah wasn't here to see what had just occurred.