Free Trying to Survive (Part 3) by C.J. Crowley Page B

do and say. If she was here, Lee would still be alive and Clara wouldn’t be acting like a fucking zombie… What do I say?
       Walt disrupted the awkward silence. “Clara... Sometimes it helps to tell people who care about you how you’re feeling.”
       She was quick to harshly respond “We barely know each other.”
       Walt shook it off and said “That may be true, but we’re stuck with each other. We have to look out for each other, share our pain and work to make sure we all get by... So really, we’re more like a family now.”
       “You’re not my family. My family is dead.”
       Walt walked over and squatted down directly in front of her. “Well, I’ll treat you like family anyway.”
       When Clara stood up, for a moment I suspected that Walt’s words had an effect on her. To my dismay, she said “Excuse me, I have to go to the bathroom” and slowly walked toward the back of the store.
       I glanced over at Walt and whispered “Follow her.”
       Jenny got my attention. “Okay, let’s gather up everything we need.” She looked over at Allen and nodded so he stood up and joined us.
       “James told us what happened, so I understand why it has to be like this. Do what you have to do and we’ll comply.”
       “Thank you… So, she’s your sister?”
       “Yeah.”
       “James, did you explain what’s going on?”
       Allen turned to me, questioning. “Oh… Maybe you should do it. You said you wanted to talk to him anyway right? I’ll start gathering stuff up. It’s not like we’re in a rush or anything.”
       She nodded. “I planned on staying here awhile. You and Walt should go for a little drive later and see what else is around. There might be another store just like this one a few miles away… Maybe even a better place to stay, with some couches and beds to sleep on.”
       “Sounds like a plan.” I said as I headed over to the automotive section.
       There was no question that we’d be taking every single piece of food we can find that’s still safe to eat, so I decided to start collecting anything else we might need.
       While the outside of the store made me feel like I’d stepped through a portal into the 1950’s, the inside had obviously been remodeled. The floors looked to have been recently replaced, the paint was fresh and the line of refrigerators up against the back wall were all brand new.
       The little store really did have just about everything a person would need. I guess it was necessary due to the fact that it was over thirty minutes to the nearest “real” stores in Hinesville or Savannah. The owners had the whole area on lockdown, and they took full advantage of it. All of the price tags I could see were a little higher than they should be… Dickheads…
       As I looked around, I saw something that we all desperately needed and broke away from my search. There was a small section near the front counter that had several racks of t-shirts. I figured it would be nice if we didn’t see old blood stains every time we looked at one another, and Brian was especially in need of a new shirt, so I walked over and began sifting through the racks, looking for the right sizes.
       I skipped over any white shirts for obvious reasons and kept going until I came upon a navy-blue Lynyrd Skynyrd shirt with “Free Bird” scrolled across the front of it in 70’s style text … Mine… It wasn’t long before I found a dark-gray shirt with small lettering that said “Diesel Denim” so I confirmed it was a large and took it over to Brian.
       “Here you go, man.”
       Jenny looked surprised. “This store has just about everything. We should all get new shirts and take the rest with us.” I said as I changed into my Free Bird shirt.
       Jenny arched her left brow and smirked. “Free Bird?”
       “I’m not a huge Skynyrd fan… but that song does have one of the best damn solos of all time, or whatever you wanna call