299 Days: The Community

Chapter 82 Drug Store and Gas (May 8)

There was more traffic on the road to Frederickson than there had been on the previous day; quite a bit more traffic coming from Frederickson toward the other little communities on the water, like Pierce Point. There were at least a dozen of these communities, all with varying mixtures of full timers and cabin people. It seemed that quite a few cabin people had the same idea as the Matsons, and they were bringing out their friends and relatives.

As they went toward the outskirts of Frederickson, Mark motioned for Scotty to give him the CB. He said into the CB, “Pow, you’re the only truck who doesn’t have a local riding who can tell the driver where the store is. Follow me and I’ll get you to the drug store.”

“Roger that,” Pow replied. That was a little “military” for Mark’s taste, but he was sure glad those boys were along for the ride. This ride into town was the most danger Mark had been in since the Marine Corps. He was glad to have well-armed back up.

They were going by a gas station at the time, so Mark said, “Meet back at this gas station at noon.” That gave them two hours to get their stuff. Scotty motioned to have the CB.

“Bring your handheld CB with you,” Scotty said. They were small enough to fit in a big pocket.

Pow got on the CB and said, “Don’t hold them in your hands when you’re walking around. People will want to steal them and you can’t draw with your hands full.” That alarmed Lisa, but she was getting used to these kinds of conversations.

Wes, John, and Drew were the first to peel off. They headed toward the big grocery store in town. Next, Bobby and Mary Anne went to the farm supply store. Pow followed Mark to the drug store. The CBs were quiet.

Mark got Pow to the drug store and said on the CB, “There it is.”

“Thanks,” Pow said. “We got it from here.”

Mark and Scotty headed out to the big store with sporting goods and hardware. It was like a mini Wal-Mart, but locally owned.

Pow got out of the Hummer, looked around, and then opened Lisa’s door. He looked like a Secret Service agent, except he didn’t have a suit and earpiece.

The place looked OK. They went in. At the entrance was a rent-a-cop with a gun on his belt. Pow had never seen one with a gun; most rent-a-cops just had radios. There was a sign by the rent-a-cop that said, “No Prescriptions.” Pow greeted the rent-a-cop and kept walking.

The drug store was crowded. People were acting semi-normally, filling up their carts. Some seemed a little tense, but it was a lot more normal in there than Pow expected. It seemed about right to Lisa, who hadn’t had had the same experience Pow had in the drug store with Mrs. Nguyen.

Lisa went to the first aid aisles. The store still had most things. The junk food and sexual products aisles were pretty bare, but they still had first aid supplies. The grasshoppers had priorities.

Lisa started putting bandages, gauze, rubbing alcohol, burn cream, and similar items in her cart. She was just grabbing all they had. She had no idea what it would cost, but she had $500 and was going to use it. Maybe for the last time.

She went to the over-the-counter medicine aisle and got all the anti-diarrheals and electrolytes she could. Lisa remembered a doctor friend of hers who went to help after the Haitian earthquake. Her friend told her that when essential services are gone, most of the deaths are from the diarrhea that comes from water-borne illnesses. Of course, this could be completely preventable with a few cents worth of anti-diarrheals and electrolytes.

Lisa got all the pain relievers she could. Pow kept an eye on her and the other people in the aisle. He would periodically check around corners to make sure no one was lurking. It was probably overkill, but he didn’t want to come back to Grant and explain why his wife had been killed. Besides, Pow was really good at all this tactical stuff, and he wanted to use his skills.

When Lisa had a full cart, Pow got out the list the guys had made. He got shaving supplies, deodorant, shampoo, toothbrushes, and toothpaste.

While he was doing that, Lisa went over to the feminine aisle. She saw Pow and asked, “could you get another cart?” He brought one to her and she filled the second cart with feminine products. She couldn’t imagine being without those, and they might not be able to go to the store for a while.

Lisa and Pow checked and rechecked their lists. For the first time, they looked at the prices. They hadn’t seemed to have gone up yet. The store’s pricing computers were probably hard to change for thousands of products, so the prices remained the same.

“Got everything?” Lisa asked Pow.

“Yep. You?” he asked.

“Yep,” she said.

They headed to the checkout. There was a line, but not an abnormally long one. Pow couldn’t look at the tampons in the cart. He swore that if anyone gave him shit about it, he’d shoot them. He just might. He laughed at himself for being so stupid.

The bill came to $217.

“Plus the 50% surcharge” the checker said.

“The what?” Lisa asked.

“The surcharge,” the checker said. She’d been explaining this all morning and some of the people were getting angry. The rent-a-cop perked up.

“We can’t change all the prices in the computer fast enough,” the checker said, “so we have a surcharge at final check out.”

Even with a 50% surcharge, this was still a bargain. Lisa motioned for Pow to shield her from view, which got the rent-a-cop, fearing she was pulling a gun, to stand up out of his foldable chair. Pow motioned to him that things were cool and said, “She’s just counting the money.”

Lisa, using Pow as a shield, hid the bills she was counting out; there was no need for someone to see the wad of cash and try to rob her. She rolled up the four $100 bills in her hand and handed them to the clerk, whose eyes got big. She’d been seeing lots of cash this morning, but four $100 bills was still a lot of money.

Without thinking, the clerk said out loud, for everyone to hear, “Out of $400.” Lisa and Pow cringed. “Shut up!” they wanted to say to her. They got their change.

Pow was in full ready mode. People knew they had some money and they had two carts to wheel out to the car. This was the prime time to be attacked. They wheeled the carts slowly to the Hummer. Pow walked around the car once to make sure no one was lurking. Again, overkill. But this was not the time to be worried about whether people think you’re overdoing it. This was the time to come back home alive and with your stuff.

They loaded the items into the Hummer and Lisa looked at her list. “How about some gas?” she asked. Pow looked at his gas gauge. He was at a half tank. He had a big tank, but his Hummer wasn’t exactly fuel efficient.

“Sure,” he said. Filling up would probably eat up the rest of the money. They found a gas station nearby. It had a line about eight cars long. People seemed more calm than they were in Olympia when Pow and Lisa left there yesterday. Still, Pow had his concealed Glock and an AR in the Hummer.

While they were waiting, Pow got out of the Hummer so he could see all angles better. He was scanning everyone, looking for sketchy people and any trouble. He felt like it would be more polite to stay in the Hummer and make small talk with Lisa, but he had a job to do. They’d have days or weeks or whatever to talk back at the cabin. Lisa was quiet, sitting in the passenger side trying not to make eye contact with people.

It was finally their turn at the pump. The handwritten sign said, “Pre Pay Inside. Cash.” This created a dilemma. Would Pow go in and leave Lisa and the stuff, including the AR, there? Or would Lisa have to go in with the cash? Pow decided that they would both go in. He motioned for her to follow him. He made sure the Hummer was locked.

They went into the store where an Arabic man said, “Cash. $15 a gallon. What pump number?” Lisa got out the almost $200 she had and said, “Fill up on pump…”

Pow finished the sentence, “Three.” Lisa put all that money on the counter. It looked weird paying that much for a half tank of gas.

They left quickly, because Pow wanted to be back with his AR. He thought about how gas was $10 a gallon yesterday and $15 today. This wasn’t good. The gas station owner thought he was a brilliant businessman for selling gas at $15 a gallon.

Pow and Lisa filled up as quickly as they could. Their money got them about twelve gallons; enough to get Pow to almost full. They zoomed out of there. Pow felt so much better with that gas gauge needle near “F.” He navigated his way back to the rendezvous gas station. It was 11:10 a.m. They had a while to wait. He got on the CB and told the others where he was and that he could help them, if necessary. Except that he didn’t know how to get where they were. He made a mental note that if they went into town again, or anywhere else, they would need to have someone in each vehicle who knew their way around. There was no doubt that getting lost could get someone killed.