Free The Borrowed World: A Novel of Post-Apocalyptic Collapse by Franklin Horton Page B

two hundred pounds and I can’t carry her two miles.  Can you?”
    Alice didn’t answer.  In her job, she often had to handle complex situations and I knew it was eating at her.  Here was a problem and she wanted to solve it.  Needed to solve it.  Even though she got on my nerves sometimes, she was an excellent problem solver, however, problems had just gotten a lot harder to solve.
    “Maybe we can come back for them later or bring them something?” she suggested.
    “Maybe we can,” I replied.  “I’d be willing to do that if we are able to stay at the next exit for the night.”
    I was not sure that either of those things would happen but I didn’t know what else to say.  When we prepared to leave, I shook the man’s hand and told him what Alice and I talked about.
    “I keep thinking that someone will stop,” he said.  “I’ve tried to flag down several police cars but no one will stop.”
    It was clear that this was a man who could just not comprehend the current circumstances. He didn’t have a frame of reference for a world in which the police would not stop and help a lady in need.
    I patted him on the shoulder, gathered my gear, and joined my crew at the front of the car.  We walked off in silence, not happy about leaving those poor elderly folks but unable to do anything for them.
    This would not be the last time we would have to leave people to their fate.
     
     

Chapter 7
     
    The kids had not been excited about being recalled into duty.  The day had gone downhill for them since the start, being dragged out of bed on a summer morning, having to go to the grocery store and then carry in those same groceries, and now there were even more tasks.  Ariel and Pete both entered the living room dragging their feet, stumbling loose-limbed with pleading looks in their eyes.
    Ellen took one look at them and burst out laughing.  They were always both comical and predictable. 
    “After what I heard from your father and on the news,” she said, “there’s the possibility that the power will not be back on soon.”
    Both children rolled their eyes and moaned a near-death rattle.
    “There’s work that will have to be done unless you want to be caught unprepared in the dark.  Dad left me a list of what needed done and I’ll need your help to do it.”
    Despite their lack of interest, both children were good helpers and snapped to attention now that they were needed.
    “Get your shoes on then come back here and I’ll tell you what I need you to do.”
    When the kids returned, Ellen had a ring of keys and an LED flashlight.
    “The first thing Dad said we need to deal with is the freezer.  We’re going to duct tape the lid down and we’re going to stay out of it.  If we run the generator a couple of hours a day it will keep things frozen.  We’ll eat the food from the refrigerator first, then if the power isn’t back on we’ll start eating items from the freezer.”
    Before the kids would go in the basement, they each went to their rooms to retrieve their headlamps.  Jim insisted they always have a working headlamp in their room so that they were never at the mercy of darkness.  You never knew when the power would go out or when you would have to get up in the middle of the night for some reason.  Once the kids were glowing with their headlamps, they went down into the basement. 
    They both had always thought the basement was a little creepy.   Ellen didn’t have any particular reservations about it.  After all, the basement held the woodstove that kept their house nice and toasty for free.  The basement was Jim’s domain, though, and it was odd to be down here without him.  Looking around, she saw his stuff everywhere –except for the pile of dirty laundry by the washer.  She supposed that the generator would run the washer, but she wasn’t sure what would happen when the fuel was gone.  Except for an antique washboard in one of the storage buildings, they had no good