Outbreak

Seeing that Kelly with a few deep breaths of fresh air was getting herself under control Kevin knew that he still had a job to do, that hopefully he could finish what he had started that morning without anymore interruptions.

Retrieving the pistol from where Kelly had dropped it by the door he made sure that its safety was engaged then handed it back to her. "Better keep this with you, just in case," he told her.

He did toss the newly acquired rifle and shotgun in the trucks cab and grabbed a canteen of water out and took a much needed drink of the tepidly warm but delicious water. He handed it to Kelly who also took a long pull off it and when she was done he put the cap back on and tossed it in the cab as well and with a sigh started back toward the door leading into the store.

"Where are you going?" Kelly asked not understanding what he was doing.

"I still need to finish what I came here to do." Seeing she didn't understand he elaborated. "I came here this morning to get as much of the food that was left as I could haul away since it's just going to go bad as soon as the generators that are supplying power to the big refrigerators run out of gas or someone else gets to it first and I'm going to need it to survive."

It was plainly clear that Kelly really didn't want to go back into the darkened store they had just managed to get out of but she didn't want to stay out here by herself either seeing she was having a serious case of indecision Kevin decided to give her some alternatives.

"You can stay out here and keep an eye on things if you want, or those guy's truck is still out front I suppose and since it looks like they don't need it you can take it and head where ever you want but I need to get back to work," he told her.

After thinking it over Kelly really didn't want to go back into that foul smelling store again but that option held just slightly more appeal than any of the others that appeared in front of her at the moment so taking one last breath of clean air she followed Kevin back inside.

With something like leisure time on their hands now that no one was trying to kill them, the two near strangers who had become more like reluctant partners now following their brief life and death encounter traded their stories to help pass the time.

Kevin told her about his survivalist friend John and his plan to survive that he had now inherited, as well as his unremarkable life before all this while she filled him in on her work as a nurse in Lincoln and why she was risking travelling alone.

With the two of them working together the job went quicker than Kevin would have thought, since once she could see what he was doing, Kelly actually proved a big help.

All the while keeping her pistol near by she would get the empty coolers while he filled them up and hauled them out and the two of them loaded them into the truck. Making several more trips they had gotten all the fresh meat that was left, at least all that look safe to eat since some of it smelled to Kevin like it was already going bad. There wasn't much left for canned goods but Kevin was determined to grab as much as he thought would fit in the truck but after what happened this morning he had changed his mind about one thing and he made a side trip over to sporting goods and found there were still some different kinds of ammo on the shelves. Taking all that he could haul Kevin thought about looking around in the warehouse since there had to be more back there somewhere but decided against it for the moment though he thought he might regret that decision later.

The physical drain of the gun battle was taking its grim toll on him now that the pressure was off and he found a certain fatigue setting in and just wanted to go home and rest even though he knew he still had a lot of work to do today.

With the truck loaded to over flowing both inside and out Kevin finally decided that it was enough for one day as they got the last of the coolers and bags of meat, canned goods of all kinds and ammo in the truck and strapped down Kevin told her that it was time to go.

Suddenly faced once again with a decision about her immediate future that neither of them had really thought about, neither of them knew what to do.

Kelly had come back to town to find her mom, but beyond that she really didn't have much of a plan. Kevin hadn't considered finding anyone here when he started out this morning and even though he knew he should have her come with him since it would certainly be safer for both of them if they stuck together. Not to mention her medical training could really come in useful in the future. But even after considering all that he honestly didn't know if she would even want to go with him. After what she'd been through at the hands of near strangers today he really couldn't blame her. But Kevin decided on the spur of the moment that he should at least make the offer.

"You can come with me if you want?" he finally offered watching her face to see how offer would be received.

"You want me to come with you?" Kelly replied not sure she understood what he was asking.

"Unless you have a better idea. In case you missed it the world's not exactly safe for people alone anymore, it would be better if we stuck together." he said giving voice to his earlier thoughts.

"And then?" she asked.

With a shrug he replied, "We survive one day to the next. Try to rebuild a life in this brave new world, I suppose." He didn't want to make it sound to her that he had it all planned out and everything would be fine. The odds against them or anyone surviving these days were long indeed, but what other choice did they have?

"I came back from Lincoln this morning looking for my mom, she reminded him she's all I have left but I haven't heard from her for a couple of weeks. I need to know what happened to her," she told him this but seemed to also be asking for his help.

Kevin took a long look at her and decided she needed to be reminded of the hard truth, "You know she's dead don't you, I mean you really do know that right?"

Shrugging Kelly replied, "I know it's possible, maybe even likely but I have to know for sure. I don't think I can just go on and leave her always wondering if she is still alive out there somewhere."

"What if she's not at home? What if she had made it to the hospital before they were overwhelmed and died there?"

Kelly acknowledged that her mom might not be at home anymore. Even if she was alive, the local hospital had already been shut down before the last time she'd talk to her so there wouldn't have been any reason for her to do there. But on the other hand she could have wound up in one of the emergency clinics that had sprung up. Kelly didn't know, all she could do was try.

Having already given up on hearing from any of his family again even if they were still alive, Kevin wanted to point out the hopeless cause the young woman seemed intent on embarking on, either way it was going to end badly.

Kelly would either find her mother's dead decomposing body at home along with billions of others all over the world or she'd find an empty house and never know where she could have gone or why.

But finding himself too tired to argue anymore he just gave a deep sigh and gave in, "Fine we'll go and see if we can find her and then you can decide what you want to do."

Even though they were both sweaty, dirty and more than a little smelly, standing in the early summer heat at the back of a Wal-Mart the future not only for them but for what was left of the human race was far from certain.

Kelly for one was resigned to what might be coming even though it would be a hard and unforgiving future it still held a lot of possibilities.

After getting into the truck Kelly asked the question that was on her mind, she knew what she thought of the future but was curious about what her new friend thought. "What do you think our chances are, of making it I mean?"

Caught off guard by the question Kevin took a moment to think about it. Over the confident rumble of the trucks idling engine he turned his blue eyes to her and fixed her brown ones with them before putting on his sunglasses. "I don't know," he told her honestly, "someone once said that the future will come the day after tomorrow; I guess all I can say is welcome to tomorrow."