Emma trudged past Oakville Furniture and Bath-Kitsch-N-Mor, smaller businesses like Lock-It Locksmith and TropiTan, and all the mattress and furniture warehouses. They went on for miles.
Mom called it strip-mall-hell. It had been fields and pastures. Now it was warehouses and parking lots that could hide people desperate for food and water.
She could use a pasture right now, grass with nowhere for looters to hide. Pallets and Styrofoam littered the streets, and large pieces of plastic hung from buildings like ghosts.
Emma plodded past a strip mall with a teriyaki place, and a nail salon.
“Follow the yellow brick road, or painted line, in this case. Will we meet the Scarecrow next?” Emma kicked a Styrofoam brick.
“The Wizard of Oz, right? I guess this is kind of like Oz, isn’t it?” Lilli chewed on her stick as she plodded.
Jade hunched over and curled her fingers. “What a world, what a world,” she cackled. “Wasn’t it a hurricane that started all Dorothy’s problems, my pretties?”
“I don’t like where you’re going with that,” Emma said. “But as long as we can get home by the end, I’ll be fine.”
“First time I’ve ever walked down the middle of a road in Vandby. Guess people can’t drive with all the roads blocked.” Lilli glanced over her shoulder. “Although, if someone did drive by, I might just chase them down and beg for a ride.”
“At least we haven’t seen any dogs.” Jade said. She grabbed Lilli’s hand.
“Yeah. Plus, we have sandwiches and water. Think positive, people.” Lilli stopped in the middle of the road.
“Grab-n-Go?” She stared at the mini mart.
“Wait. I know that look. You think you’re gonna find cigarettes in there?” The wrinkles on Jade’s forehead deepened as Lilli jerked her hand from Jade’s and moved like a sleepwalker toward the store.
“I’d settle for a pack of gum. I’m getting splinters in my teeth from these sticks.”
“My mom never stopped at Grab-n-Go. She said Go-Go Juice was someone’s science experiment and she wouldn’t let us be guinea pigs.” A shiver ran through her. Where was Mom now? All Emma wanted was to get home, like Dorothy. But where was home now? Anywhere Mom, of course.
“Keep your eyes peeled for cheese,” Jade called, as Lilli disappeared into the store. “I got a craving.”
“Cheese?” Emma rubbed the knot on her forehead. Where would she be without Lilli and Jade and their odd humor? They’d hit Highway 96 soon and then the junction to 3 where they’d go their separate ways.
She trailed Jade into the store. Empty candy bar wrappers and broken bags of rice, bits of hot dog buns and napkins lay strewn across the floor. The shelves were bare except for a package of lima beans and a couple jars of pimentos, no toilet paper, no hand sanitizer, no chocolate. Emma noticed a Starry Cluster wrapper. Sarah’s favorite. Another a twinge of guilt hit her chest. Was Sarah safe? She had to be.
She shadowed Jade the length of an aisle, the crunch of glass under Jade’s shoes like fingernails on a chalkboard. She regretted every decision she’d made since leaving home, starting with the march. Because of her, Mom was downtown, and Sarah was on her way to Gran’s house, alone.
She wiped her eyes on her sleeve. She squinted as she scanned the aisles. The floor crunched with potato chips. What a waste. The refrigerator doors hung open, and the furry-tongued smell of sour milk hung in the air. Emma walked to the pop aisle—stripped bare.
“No cheese, no cigarettes, no gum, only frickin’ lima beans.” Lilli held up a plastic bag. “I’m out of here.”
Emma took an apple out of her bag and took a bite, the juice running over her lips. She sucked it in.
“You’re making that apple look like a gourmet dessert.” Jade nudged Lilli, and Lilli handed her an apple from her bag.
“Yum. Health food.” Lilli rolled her eyes and took a bite. “Hmm. Not bad.” She strolled out of the store into the sunshine, Jade limping after.
Emma stopped at the end of an aisle full of cleaning products. She had to find at least one piece of chocolate, right? Would she ever taste chocolate again? She got on her hands and knees to look under a rack. Am I this desperate, really?
“I thought I heard voices,”
Emma jerked to her feet.
A man in torn pants, bloodstained and dirty, limped around shelves at the back of the store, something following him.
A dog.
With rigid movements, Emma slipped the apple in her pocket and clutched her water bottle behind her back. She crunched over the broken glass and potato chips, moving toward the front door.
“Give me your water.” He reached out a hand. The dog growled.
Why was his dog growling at her? Emma didn’t stop. She clenched her fingers around the bottle and backed to the door. The dog growled again, and she clenched her jaw. She searched the shelves for a can of something to throw. Why didn’t he control his dog? He wasn’t getting her water.
She spotted an exit sign at the end of the aisle, a closer door. She sprang for it, pulling down empty display shelves as she ran, her pulse pounding in her ears. She shot out the door and dragged a dumpster in front of it. Then raced to Lilli and Jade. Jade turned and smiled, but her face fell.
“Run,” Emma gasped.
“What?” Lilli frowned at the store.
“A man with a dog.” Emma pressed both hands to her chest.
“Dog?” Lilli grabbed Jade’s arm and draped it over her shoulder. “Quick. Around that building.”
Emma glanced back. The man was pushing against the door, but the dog had squeezed outside. It stood watching his master. “Get ’em.” His voice echoed down the street, but the dog didn’t move.
“Thank all the goddesses, this one’s not feral, yet.” Jade did an awkward hop-run.
“Get back here.” The man hobbled after them, but the dog stayed by his side.
Emma grabbed Jade’s other arm. The dog’s barks followed them. They rounded the building and rushed onto Perimeter Road as the dog’s barks grew distant.
Jade shot a wide-eyed glance over her shoulder. “He’s not coming?”
“He was hurt, but he saw my water.” Emma adjusted Jade’s arm over her shoulder.
“We found water. So can he.” Lilli helped Jade along until they hit a tangle of trees blocking the road.
****
Emma waited on the other side of the pile, hiding in the branches of a maple tree. Lilli swatted Jade in the face with a branch, and she grunted. Jade plopped onto the trunk of a tree, holding her face, a welt forming. She didn’t yell or say anything, just slumped her shoulders and held her face.
Emma grasped her water bottle. Clean water meant life, and it had become more precious than gold. She handed her bottle to Jade who gazed at the setting sun, a frown wrinkling her brow.
“We need to find shelter, ladies, and we’ll need more water by tomorrow.” Lilli held up her bottle, shaking it for emphasis. “We should hit a stream before we reach the junction, or is it after the junction?” Lilli adjusted Jade’s arm over her shoulder, but Jade kept her eyes on the sky. Emma followed Jade’s gaze to the dark clouds boiling in the distance. The wind kicked up dust and debris.
“Not again,” Lilli said, her voice low. “I thought we’d get to the junction tonight.”
“I won’t make it that far. We need to look for shelter.” Jade sagged against Lilli, and both stumbled.
Jade ran her hand through her hair. “Katrina was over in a matter of hours. It was the aftermath of water that lingered, but this storm…” Jade shook her head. “This isn’t normal.”
Emma gripped her tummy as it tied in a knot. Taking her phone from her pocket, she stared at the dead screen. “Useless piece of crap.” She slipped it back in her pocket, unable to chuck it in the bushes. She led Lilli and Jade around an appliance warehouse. They clung to the side of the building for cover. Something brushed her calf, and she jumped and glanced down.
“A water spigot.” She tried it, and water gushed out.
“Thank all the goddesses,” Lilli cried. She laughed as the water splashed onto the asphalt.
Emma drank until she’d emptied her bottle then topped it off again.
Lilli handed Emma bottles, and Emma filled them. It took way more water to trek across town than she imagined. How much more would it take to hike to Cedarville?
“The goddesses are on our side after all.” Jade’s eyes brimmed with tears, and Emma’s throat closed.
“I would have walked right past that spigot.” Lilli tipped her bottle to Emma and drank then refilled it.
“Me too, if I hadn’t run into it.” She rubbed her leg. “That’ll leave a bruise.”
Lilli chuckled. “A well-earned bruise.”
“The water problem is solved. Now we need shelter. Keep your eyes peeled, cuz we’re losing daylight.” Jade wrapped her arm around Lilli’s shoulder.
They stepped around the corner of the warehouse, and a stiff wind hit Emma in the face. A field spread before her.
“We must be out of the city limits.” Lilli turned to Emma, her face a blank. She dropped her gaze.
“What?” Emma couldn’t take one more surprise.
“We’re closer to the junction than I thought.”
Bile rose in Emma’s throat like a tide she couldn’t push back. A storm was coming, and she’d be on her own soon?
“We won’t get to the junction today. The sun’s going down, and we need to find someplace before these winds get any worse.” Jade ran her hand up and down her wounded leg, and Lilli grabbed her hand.
Emma pointed across the pasture. “Over there. A cement building.”
Lilli nodded and tightened her grip on Jade’s arm.
The wind flattened the grass as Emma trudged into it. Dark clouds raced across the sky, and the temperature dropped as the winds pressed against her. Jade was right, the sun was setting, and hiking in the dark was not an option, not in another storm. She pushed against the wind, willing her legs to go faster.
“Hurry,” she called over her shoulder, but the wind carried her voice away.
She pushed her feet forward, one after the other. It was like treading through waist deep water. She could make out the cement walls. The building looked solid. TPC, TelePortal Communications was stenciled on one wall.
Emma put her head down and marched on. A flash of lightning lit the sky, and thunder boomed overhead. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end. She pushed through the roaring wind and collapsed against the building, protected from the gusts. Her thighs burned, sweat ran between her shoulder blades. Where were Lilli and Jade?
She peered across the field. Jade stumbled as Lilli dragged her along, but they still had the length of a football field to cross. Emma bit her lip as Jade stumbled again.
This wasn’t helping. She grabbed the doorknob and pushed, but it didn’t budge. She tugged, and it popped opened an inch. Kicking debris out of the way with her toe, she opened it enough to squeeze inside. The roof had collapsed, and part of it leaned against an inside wall. It would provide some shelter.
She poked her head out the door. Lilli waved. Emma grabbed the section of roof and shook. It was wedged in tight. She reached in and grabbed a stack of wet papers and threw them out the door. The ones on the bottom were dry. She spread them out to cover the space and was finishing as Lilli and Jade pushed through the door.
They scrambled under the roof, and rain began to fall in cold wet splats.
“Thank all the goddesses.” Jade crawled in next to the wall and sneezed.
“It’s not the cellar, but we’ll be mostly dry and warm if we huddle together.” Lilli spooned Jade.
Why did she have to mention the shop? Emma crawled under the shelter curled into a ball where the roof met the floor, a tight squeeze, but at least they all fit, and Lilli radiated warmth.
She zipped her jacket up to her chin and pulled on her hoodie. Lilli snorted, and Jade’s breath was regular and deep. Asleep already? Would sleep come for her? She adjusted her backpack under her head, her muscles cramping and twitching.
The rain pounded on the roof, and the wind blew over and around their shelter. Tears rolled down her face, and she held a hand over her mouth. She’d earned a good cry, right?
She wiped her eyes and took a sip from her water bottle. We’ll be fine, right? We have to be.
The sharp snap of branches popped like firecrackers each time one broke off, and each thump that shook the ground meant another tree had fallen. How could Lilli and Jade sleep through this? Emma shivered and closed her eyes.