HOPE

Part Two

I did not know if the place I had run away from had decided to write me off as a loss or if they were still looking for me, but better to be safe than sorry. I crossed the last parking lot at a full speed run and anyone looking my way would have not seen much as I can run at up to 30 miles per hour for short distances if I have to or feel the need to do so.

I stopped on the other side of the street from the parking lot and crouched in the dark shadows behind a dumpster to catch my breath for a moment before continuing on with my trek back to the shop and my current hiding place until the winter weather let up. I planned on leaving this town when the weather was warmer and finding another place to hide.

I looked around from the shadows before running up a power pole and then jumping onto the roof of the shop. I opened the skylight and then slipped in and latched it behind me so no one else could come in after me through that route. I had enough water to last for two days but would need to start looking for more food and begin stockpiling it like I did last winter. The stockpile of food and water and wood to burn would see me through the winter.

I ate a few more slices of pizza then closed the box lid, moved my padding around to my liking, then laid down and went to sleep under a couple of old blankets. Over the course of the next few weeks I saw the same lady working hard on repairing the plumbing and wiring in the old building. I stayed hidden and watched her each time she came in to work on the old building. At one point she got mad at a stubborn sink in the main shop and ripped it out of the wall and threw it across the shop where it hit the far wall and shattered. It took her almost three weeks to get the plumbing and wiring done while I watched from the comfort of my hiding place.

I went out each night and found that it was getting more and more difficult to find food with winter fast approaching. I had started stockpiling canned goods that I had managed to find but it was not enough. I was going to have to do something soon or I would not make it through the winter. I started looking at various places where deliveries of food were taken to for distribution and ruled out most of them due to having alarms in them I could not bypass.

I crossed to the far side of town and checked out an old grocery store that was going out of business. They had no alarm and their window had a sign that declared that they had closed for good and thanked their customers for their long years of loyalty. It had been run by an oriental couple and they were getting old now so they decided to close their store and move somewhere warmer for their final years.

Bypassing the old lock was easy for me as was seeing in the dark without a light being turned on. I was mildly surprised to find a number of boxes filled with food and ready for transport. Something about the setup bothered me so I avoided touching anything and let my nose and ears tell me if anyone was in the store or if perhaps something had been used to mark the food boxes.

Not finding any of the boxes marked or contaminated I decided to take shameless advantage of the opportunity. I grabbed two boxes and ran out of the store and hid them half a block away in a field that had a huge drainage ditch in it. I set the boxes down a ways in the high grass where they would not be seen by anyone passing by. I did not question my luck and returned to that store 6 more times for more food.