Free All That I See - 02 by Shane Gregory Page B

watching this place for a while,” Ben said. “We knew someo ne was living here, but we didn’t know who or how many. Then we noticed it had been abandoned about a week ago. Was it you here before ?”
    “Yeah,” Sara said. “We came back a couple of days ago.”
    “We were just on our way back from a food run, ” he continued, “ and I notice d the ne w vehicles, so I had Ron pull in . If I had known it was you, Sara, I would have stopped by sooner, but…well, it’ s not always the safest thing to do.”
    “How many of you?” I asked.
    “ Five ,” Ron said. “Molly Anderson and her little boy, Adam, are in the other truck . Mr. McAllister is back at the house; he ’s an old dude and doesn’t get around too good . There were seven of us originally, but…” his voice trailed off, and he looked away.
    “ I’m sorry,” Sara said.
    There was an uncomfortable s ilence the n Sara spoke up again. “I would invite you in for something to eat, but we just finished off the last of our food. We’re going to make a food run ourselves in the morning.”
    “ Oh,” Ben said, looking to Ron as if to consult him . “I think we could leave you a little something. We had some good luck today. We were able to fill both trucks from one house.”
    “Yeah,” Ron chuckled. “They must have been one of those couponers or something.” He looked at Ben and shrugged. “Sure, we can let you have some food to get you by for a day or two.”
    “I couldn’t--“ I started, but Ben stopped me.
    “Judging by that bandage on your head, you need to take it easy anyway.”
    I figured that was his roundabout way of asking what happened to me. I reached up and touched the bandage.
    “We had some trouble with looters,” I said. “They were from out-of-town.”
    Ben looked concerned then glanced over at Sara.
    Sara gave them a short version of the story.
    “Are they still around?” Ron asked .
    “Dunno,” Sara shrugged .
    Ben looked back at the other SUV then to the sky.
    “The sun is going down,” he said. “We should go before Mr. McAllister gets worried about us . Ron , let’s get them some groceries before it gets dark.”
    We followed them out to the rear of their truck and Ben opened the back hatch. It was stacked to the ceiling with food and toilet paper.
    “I don’t know how you feel about it, but you’re welcome to come in with us,” he said. “We’ve got a fairl y safe place a few miles from here . We haven’t se en one of those things out that way since Thursday. We’d be glad to have you. ”
    He handed Sara out a case of chicken flavored ramen soup.
    “We need to stay here,” Sara said. “Some friends were supposed to return yesterday, and they haven’t yet.”
    “ Oh, s o it’s not just the two of you?” Ben asked, sounding kind of relieved. He gave m e a box of Corn Chex, a large can of mixed vegetables , and some packets of powdered milk .
    “It’s a long story,” I said.
    Ben lo oked at me, but I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
    “We ll,” he said, closing the hatch, “I look forward to hearing it. We’ll probably be by to check on you in a couple of days if that’s okay. ”
    “ That would be great,” Sara said then she looked around at us and blushed. “Um, Mr. Parks, this is kind of embarrassing, but you wouldn’t happen to have any pads or tampons in your truck, would you? Those men stole all of our supplies. ”
    Ben looked out at the other SUV, “Yeah, I think I s aw Molly put some in. I suppose I should giv e you some toilet paper, too. ”
    “Did you…start?” I asked Sara , hesitantly . Ben shot me a look, but didn’t say anything.
    “Not yet,” she said. “But I’d like to be prepared.”
    “ Did you notice an increase in zombie activity when Molly was on her period?” I asked. I felt awkward saying it, but I thought it needed to be asked.
    Ron made a f ace then looked out at the other truck . “We don’t ask her about stuff like that.”
    “Oh,”