Page 140 of Into the Mist

“And after that we can read aloud to each other. I’m an excellent reader-alouder! I can do all the voices.” Mercury piled more books into a basket. “Yes! I just found books on the local area—the Painted Hills and the John Day Fossil Beds. There are actually some paper maps over here too.”

“Grab them!”

After she’d raided the bookshelves, Mercury made her way to the rear of the store, where she discovered a glass cabinet that held a dozen hunting rifles; drawers under them were filled with ammunition.

“I hope we never need to use these,” said Mercury as she stacked the ammo in a cardboard box that said “Pringles Original” on the side of it.

“I hope we don’t either, but be sure you take every weapon you can find to the truck, as well as all the ammo. The last thing we need is to leave stuff here assholes like Rutland or Eva Cruz could get their hands on—and then come after us, or anyone else,” Stella said as she quickly made decisions about what food staples and cookware they should take with them.

“I’m taking a bunch of these fishing poles and equipment,” said Mercury. “But I’ll also leave a few in case someone comes through here and needs them.” She kept loading shopping baskets. “Hey, there are a bunch of waterproof coats and boots and other hunting clothes back here. I’ll take enough for us, but I’m going to leave some of them too.”

“Agreed. It’s good karma,” said Stella.

“I could see a family of survivors finding this little town and wanting to settle here,” said Mercury as she continued to load baskets. “Maybe there are some homes nearby that aren’t stuck down in this valley. They wouldn’t have to build shelters, and I’ll bet there’re generators here and at least some propane tanks—which reminds me. We need to grab lighters and matches and charcoal. Oh, and I saw a couple boxes back there by the waders that said ‘Webber’ on them.”

“Grills would be amazing,” said Stella. “But no one should settle here. At least not as long as there’s green fog. This place is ringed by hills. It’s not safe. At all.”

A tremor of fear fingered its way down Mercury’s spine. “Hey, I just got a ‘someone-walked-over-my-grave’ feeling. Are we almost done here?”

“Yeah. You haul this stuff out to the truck. And when you see Ford, would you ask him to come in here and help me carry those barrels of rice and flour and such?”

“Girlfriend, please. I can carry one under each of my arms. Are you forgetting about my super strength?”

Stella peered around an aisle at Mercury. “Actually, I did. Grab those barrels, woman, and let’s get outta here ASAP.”

Mercury focused her vision on a narrow path to and from the truck to the store. When she looked around at all, it was only to check for flashes of green—not to glance at the birds that had returned to their feast, or the rotting skin sacks that used to be townspeople.

As she hefted the barrels of dry goods into the bed of the truck, Ford came out of the feed store, grinning like a boy who’d snuck cookies from a jar without getting caught. He was carrying a wire crate that contained—

“Chickies!” The word exploded from Mercury’s mouth before she could stop herself. “Shit!” she whispered. “That was too loud. But oh my Goddess, they’re alive!”

“They are. Well, these are. Don’t go in there. You won’t like the—”

Her upraised hand stopped him. “Only tell me about alive things.”

“Well then, I can tell you that there are a dozen chicks alive in this cage, and inside the store there are also about half a dozen ducklings and four really cute rabbits.”

“Oh, Ford! That’s fantastic! The kids will be so excited.”

“I’ll be excited too, when they start laying eggs. I can make a mean frittata.” Ford carefully put the cage in the bed. “Now all we need are some goats and horses.”

“Goats are easy. They eat anything. But horses? They take grass and hay and tending to live,” said Mercury as she reached her finger between the wires of the cage and stroked the yellow down of the nearest chick, who chirped at her.

“Well, good thing there’s lots of seed inside that feed store, including hay and grass, and I happen to know several ladies who have a way with growing things. Can you ride?” Ford asked her.

“I’m from Oklahoma. I think it’s a requirement. Yes, I can ride. I was raised with horses. That’s why I know they need to graze and have hay and grain to supplement that grazing.”

“But if they have those things they’re self-sustaining—unlike that truck. We’ll eventually run out of gas to syphon, and before that it may just stop working,” Ford said.

Mercury’s brow raised. “Huh. I honestly hadn’t even thought about that. I guess I’m too used to going to a gas station to fill up and buying a new car when my old one gives out. But you’re right. We need to see the big picture.”

“How about as soon as things get settled in the hills, you and I make some day runs to find livestock?”

“I’d like that,” Mercury smiled up at him.

“Me too, Bellota. Very much.” He returned her smile as he pointed to a corner of the bed of the truck. “Check out what I found.”

Mercury gasped. “Ford! That’s a boom box!”