The Struggle Of Our Lives

Chapter 10, continued.

"It's about time I go out for groceries." I said.

The twins looked at me, confused for a bit. "But we have so much food!" Teddy said. "We have enough berries and canned food to last us a while." I started, "But we do need actual food, and silverware."

"What's that mean again?" Char asked. "Silverware is like spoons and forks." I replied. She thanked me and asked me a second question.

"When will you be back?"

I thought to myself for a bit, and thought over what I needed.

"I'll be back before tomorrow morning."

The two agreed and I showed them how to make ramen on their own. They still seemed full on berries, which we had plenty of, but I wanted them to get a warm meal too.

I rummaged through the pockets of the jeans I'd been wearing for about a week and found a $20 bill. I continued to look through my suitcase and found about $50 more. I stood up and kissed the two goodbye.

"Time to get to walking." I said to myself, as I climbed up the hill and walked back to the road. Once there, I again followed my footsteps back to the city.

During my walk, my mind was racing as I remembered the scorching heat of the summer sun and it's wrath.

What if she finds me?

What if something happens to the kids?

What if all of this is my fault?

What do I do?

I'd run out of ideas of things to keep us going, to keep me going. But I had to, for Teddy. For Charlotte.

For John.

I have to get stronger for them. I have to do this for them. If I give up now, we'll all die. I can't do that to the twins. To myself.

I need to keep going..

..

Eventually, I made it back into the city, and found a dollar store. I walked in and noticed how much better the store smelled in comparison to me.

I picked up a green basket and walked through the entryway to the back of the store near the fridges. I started on the left side and worked my way to the right end of the store, looking for food.

I picked up about 10 large cans of chicken and looked for spices. I picked up some chicken and beef bullion for soup so we didn't have to rely on the sodium-heavy packets that came in ramen.

On my way to the kitchen section, I grabbed four plastic plates we could re-use. Then, I grabbed three spoons, 4 forks, and a soup ladle.

Towards Tupperware, I tossed 2 small containers and a giant glass bottle with a cork for our Elderberry juice. I continued to walk around some more and found myself in the liquor isle.

I subtly looked around me for cameras, and slipped a glass bottle of beer into the waistband of my pants. Thankfully, it stayed put.

I continued on to look into the refrigerators, and selected some low-grade uncooked chicken. I looked around some more and grabbed a box full of chicken Cordon Bleu.

I know, I know, a lot of chicken here, but it was the only meat me and the kids liked eating at the time.

I went into the outdoor section and grabbed a metal rod that could be used for shish-kebabs. I counted all the things in my basket and estimated I needed to spend about $26 at this point.

I continued looking and found a display with water purifying straws in it, and so I grabbed three. That reminded me to grab some cups, and I grabbed three small plastic cups for each of us, one green, one blue, and one red.

$32. Ok..

'I think that's about it.'

I walked up to the register and laid out my items. The man refused to make eye contact with me, and as did I. I set my $20 bill on the table, then searched my pockets for a $10 and two $1 bills.

I placed the remaining change on the table and he counted through, and took my money.

"Have a nice day." he said quietly.

I returned the gesture and bagged my things into the thick green bags. I returned the bucket to it's stack, and went to look for one more store.

A mile or so later, I found a Best Buy. I walked in with my bags around my left wrist and walked through the automatic doors.

"Welcome to Best Buy!" A woman called to me.

I turned to see the greeter and thanked her. "Need anything in particular today, sweet pea?" she asked.

"Yeah, uh." I thought for a second.

"I don't know if this exists, but do you have a battery block that doesn't need to be charged?"

"Sure do, Isle 15!"
..

I paid for my charger and walked back home. The store closed a few minutes after I left, and it was now dark outside.

As I walked on, my surroundings got darker and darker until the only thing that lit my path was the full moon.

I stayed alongside the road for miles once again, getting back to my house the moment the moon was at it's highest.

I was absolutely exhausted, but knew I had things to do before bed. First things first, I shoved the "door" open as quietly as I could and grabbed my phone on top of my suitcase. I plugged it into my new SOS charger, which got battery power from cranking a knob attached to it. At the moment though, it had full battery, and I now had empty pockets.

As I waited for my phone to be charged, I opened up Teddy's shirt and dumped the berries into the glass bottle I'd bought.

I threw the shirt outside the house, and decided it'd be a laundry pile. I corked the bottle for now, and set it aside next to the bucket of berries.

I kept the "silverware" in the green bag, and kept all the frozen foods in it for now. Although it'd get hotter tomorrow, for now, everything was perfect. Just cold enough where the chickens wouldn't go bad, and just hot enough so we wouldn't bake.

Amongst other things, I bought aloe vera and sunscreen for the hot days.

Time for bed.