Free SHTF (NOLA Zombie Book 0) by Gillian Zane

law. It was time to get moving.

Thirteen

Clean up on Aisle Ten
    I T took us twenty minutes , not ten, to get out of the door. I was gritting my teeth and counting back from one hundred by the time the last bag was packed into the SUV. My palms were sweating and I wiped them on my cargo pants absently as I placed the last bag into the back. I hated to be off schedule and I was pissed that it looked like we were moving out, not just evacuating.
    "C'mon, we have to get moving," I said rushing them into the SUV. Hank handed me the keys because he knew I wouldn't have it any other way. I needed to be in control and he drove like a grandpa.
    "I want to stop and get supplies. I'm not living off of MREs all weekend," Barbara said with confidence, even when I turned around and glared at her.
    "That was not in the plan. I don’t think at this point it’s smart to stop for food," I said, trying not to yell. Zach had said I could pick up provisions, but the clock was ticking. The more we delayed, the more dangerous things could get.
    "We can hit Walmart on the way out, I'll be in and out," Barbara said.
    "Walmart is not on the way out, it's ten minutes out of the way. I'm not going uptown, the only one that is on the route out of here is Costco and no one is ever in and out at Costco." I gripped the steering wheel tightly, knowing it made sense to stock up on provisions, but not wanting to delay any further.
    "We can all hit certain sections, we'll be in and out," Hank took up for his wife.
    "If we go in, we have to get a lot of provisions and make this bullshit stop worth it," I swore.
    "Language!" Barbara fired back.
    "We'll make it quick. I know where everything is, each one of us can take a section. You know it's smart." Hank gave me the look that said he knew this could mess up our plans and that his wife was probably wrong to suggest it, but for me to please go along with her so she wouldn't take his balls off later. I gave in and headed to Costco.
    "Get the staples, things that won't go bad quickly. Sugars and grains, that sort of thing. I'm going to grab some fresh meat, dairy and cheeses, but only for this weekend. We can't fit that much in the SUV, so make good decisions," I said as we pulled in the parking lot. Costco was always busy...but today it was a zoo.
    A fucking zoo.
    The streets near my brother's house were dead because everyone was at Costco. People were actually sprinting inside with their baskets. Everyone looked panicked and out of control.
    I thought things went nuts before a hurricane with shoppers grabbing water by the gallon and running through the aisles with the last flashlight...but this made hurricane shopping look like child's play.
    "In and out," I muttered and parked as far away from the store as was possible while still remaining close enough for a quick exit. I didn't want to get trapped in the lot. Barbara got out and grabbed a basket that was parked in the middle of the aisle. I grabbed Alicia and handed her another basket when we got closer to the store.
    The doors were propped open, not automatically closing like they usually did. There wasn't even an attendant checking for membership cards at the door.
    When I saw the chaos of the store I second guessed splitting up, but we had to make this fast.
    "Hank and Barbara stick together, I'll take Alicia. We'll meet at the front of the store. Use the MJ Security account to pay.” I pressed a piece of paper with the account number into Hank's hand.
    Hank and Barbara headed to the dry goods area and I went to the back with Alicia to grab fresh foods.
    I barely looked as I put things in the basket. Peppers and cucumbers, various fruit and a ton of meat went in. If this blew over, we would have one hell of a barbecue on Sunday.
    When the entire basket was filled I headed to the front of the store to check out, avoiding panicked shoppers left and right. Just like hurricane season there was a ridiculous focus on water. Shoppers went so far as to take