Free The Birth Of Decay by John E Kelley Jr Page B

off his hat and threw his hat up in the air.  “Woo hoo, we have enough weapons for an army!”  He cheered.  I patted him on the back.  “We sure do!”  I said excitedly.
    After we organized everything and put the food on a shelf, we took out the propane stove and cooked some Spanish rice and macaroni & cheese.  We all sat on the floor in the shop and ate our first good meal in weeks.  It felt good to have all of these new supplies and in a way, I felt rich.  The girls seemed happy and even in this new world; they were laughing.
                  I kissed Claire and walked outside with Ricky.  We both lit a cigarette and stood there in silence.  We were both replaying the day’s events in our head and watching it like a movie.  We gathered some loose wood from around the building and tossed them in the barrel.  After we got the fire going nice and hot, we sat down and relaxed.  We smoked a few cigarettes and Claire came outside too join us.  I found a chair and set it next to mine.
                  “Why do you thank this all happened?”  She asked breaking the silence.  I thought about the question for a moment.  “I really think it’s a test from a higher power.”  I said.  Ricky nodded his head and took another drag from his cigarette.  Claire stared at the fire and thought about my answer for a moment.  “You may be right; I think mankind was doomed from the beginning. Years of technology and living as easy as we could and now the technology killed off almost all of mankind.”  She said.  Her words haunted me but they were true.  As each day passed, we were forced into using our hands and minds, not programs and machines.
                  I noticed headlights coming down the dirt road.  I pulled my handgun out and aimed at the approaching vehicle.  “Get inside Claire.”  I said.  She ran in the building and Ricky stood beside me with his shotgun pointed firmly at the car as it stopped at our gate.  “Do you guy’s have any food?”  A man asked.  I kept my gun pointed.  “Turn off your headlights!”  I demanded.  The lights turned off and my eyes slowly readjusted to the dark.
                  Ricky and I walked up to the gate.  “We don’t have a lot to offer.”  I said.  The man got out of his car and held his hands above his head.  He turned in a circle and stopped.  “I am not armed.”  He said.  We lowered our guns and I looked at Ricky.  “Grab him a few things for the road.”  He nodded and took of to grab the items.  The man lowered his arms, walked closer to the gate, and smiled.  “Bless you.”  He said tearfully.
                  Ricky ran out with a grocery bag and slid it through the gate; the man took it and ran back to his car.  “Bless you guys.”  He called out from his window.  He turned around on the road and drove off.
     

Chapter Eleven
     
                  A couple of weeks had past and we had settled in nicely.  The coming winter had started to show signs that it was ready to move fall out of the way and have its turn.  We were beginning to run low on food and we were planning our next run into town.  This time we decided to grab soil and as many seeds as we could carry; we wanted to gave an in door garden.  I figured a few grow lights and that should do the trick.
                  I was outside in front of the building gathering piles of dead leaves and dumping them on the side of the building.  I leaned the rake up against the wall and lit a cigarette.  I looked up, noticed a few large crows land on the edge of the roof, and peer down at me.  I heard something rumbling in the distance and I turned around and listened closely.  I held my breath and realized the sounds were getting closer to me.  I ran around the front and looked at the road; a large semi-truck came into view and was heading for the gate.  I ran into the building and