Free Prepper's Sacrifice by John Lundin Page A

plastic storage box and taking out two Snicker bars. He then turned to the shelf where he got the items he had planned on giving to Tim.  Moments later, Anne returned with a bag in her hand. She tossed the box of tampons in before handing the bag to Stewart to pack the rest of the items. Once he was done, he joined Anne, who was now in the living room, lounged out on the sofa.
    ‘How long will he be?’ Anne asked.
    ‘Probably another fifteen minutes or so. I’ve got to remove the ply from the door though so he can get in.’
    ‘Why don’t you just have him climb in through the quarantine room?’ Anne asked.
    ‘That’s not a bad idea at all,’ Stewart replied.
    Having solved how Tim would enter the room, Stewart took the time to sneak a few minutes of cuddling in with his wife. He could see that the entire time Anne sat there, she had thoughts running through her head.
    ‘What it is?’ he asked.
    ‘I was just wondering if we shouldn’t have prepared something for him to eat. I mean, if they’re running low on food, the least we could do is offer them a warm meal while they were here.’
    ‘He doesn’t want to stay too long though.’ Stewart responded. ‘Says he wants to get back home before it starts to get dark.’
    ‘Yeah, that makes sense.’
    Just as Stewart relaxed, the doorbell rang. ‘That must be him.’ Stewart jumped from the couch.
    ‘Would assume so,’ Anne replied.
    To the front door Stewart went, informing Tim that he’d have to walk to the side of the house in order to get in. It didn’t seem as though Tim could understand what he was saying and thus, Stewart decided to head upstairs rather than to continue yelling through a ply fitted door.
    ‘Up here, Tim,’ he yelled from the window.
    ‘Are you serious?’ Tim replied. ‘You must think I’m Spiderman or something. How do expect me to climb up the wall?’
    ‘I’m gonna put a ladder. Hold up a minute.’
    Stewart retrieved the ladder from the side of the room, in the position he placed it when he had set up the quarantine room. Struggling a bit, he managed to get the ladder out the window and open it up long enough for Tim to climb up with ease.
    ‘Gosh. That’s like a workout,’ Tim said, carefully pulling himself through the window.
     
    ‘I dunno.’ Stewart laughed. ‘I haven’t had to use it and hope I’ll never have to. Okay, so, clean your hands up with this, real fast,’ he said, pumping hand sanitizer into Tim’s hand.
    ‘Man, you really went all out, didn’t you?’
    ‘You could say so,’ Stewart agreed.
    Tim washed his hands with the hand sanitizer before leaning forward and allowing Stewart to take his temperature. Everything checked out and Stewart felt a sense of relief fall over him. They both headed down the stairs where they were greeted by Anne who had the plastic bag in her hand.
    ‘Oh shoot. We probably, should have taken the ladder in, don’t you think?’  Stewart panicked.
    ‘I didn’t see anyone outside in the neighborhood,’ Tim said. ‘Plus, I ought to head back right away.’
    ‘Here you go, Tim,’ Anne tried to hand him the plastic bag.
    Instead of taking it in the first instance, Tim wrapped his arms around her and squeezed tightly. ‘It’s so good to see you Anne. You look well.’
    Stewart was puzzled as to why Tim was so happy to see his wife and the redness that flashed across his face made this evident.
    ‘Oh buddy, I’m happy to see you too.’ Tim turned to Stewart. 'It’s just that I’ve never pegged you as the hugging kind. But if you’re jealous, I’d be happy to…’
    Stewart reached forward and patted Tim on the back. ‘Maybe another day,’ he said.
    ‘But Stewy, I’ve got to say, I really can’t thank you enough.’
    Stewart and Anne both watched as Tim reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of cash.
    ‘Tim!’ Anne exclaimed as he tried to hand the cash to Stewart.
    Stewart froze. ‘What am I supposed to do, take how much I think I