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“I will, Mum. You all take care of each other.”
I waved them off and jumped into the Jeep. It felt strange to be leaving them. Knowin’ my entire family would be together without me was a new and abnormal feeling.
But then I thought about Jeremiah and my need to be with him.
And that felt right.
Being with him was where I was supposed to be.
I drove past a servo, which didn’t have too much of a waiting line, so I filled the Jeep and the jerry can with fuel, just in case. I grabbed some last-minute snacks and some more price-gouged bottles of water and checked the time before I got back on the road.
It was eight minutes past three.
The sky was dark to the north—far too dark for the afternoon. A wall of cloud was on its way like an ominous blanket about to cover us all.
What kind of havoc it would bring, only time would tell.
The images of those islands stripped bare ran through my mind, and I drove a little faster to get to Jeremiah.
The gate was now chained open, so I drove straight in.
It was crazy how still everything felt. How quiet it all was.
I took the food and water inside. Jeremiah was on the phone, sounding all kinds of official, and he smiled when he saw me.
Knowin’ he was busy, I took the jerry can of fuel and filled the generator that was bolted to the back of the building. I was fixing the canopy of the Jeep when Jeremiah came out. “Hey,” he said warmly. He looked like he’d had a helluva day already.
I clipped the last side down and shut the door. “Hey, you.” I climbed the steps and ran my hand up his arm. “You okay?”
He nodded. “Better now you’re here. I was worried.”
“Worried that I’d done what you’ve been trying to get me to do and bail on you?”
He glowered. “No. Worried that you were... I don’t know. Just worried.”
I laughed and threw my arms around him, pushing him back inside. “Mum packed us food. I’m assuming you haven’t eaten, because I haven’t either. I’m starving. I was also robbed blind at the service station for snacks and water. The prices they charged were outrageous. When this is over, I’m gonna pay those jerks a little visit.”
He rolled his eyes. “It’s the day before a cyclone. What did you expect?”
Now the control panel was mostly flashing red and yellow lights.
Warning, warning, warning.
Jeez.
“I don’t expect to be extorted or racketeered,” I said, figurin’ the distraction would be good for him. I began taking out the food Mum had packed. “I mean, I can afford it. That’s not my issue. What about the people who can’t? What about those who can barely afford normal prices and then, in an emergency such as this, they can’t get essentials like water? We need to do better. As a society. I probably should have thought about runnin’ some kind of food drop to those who are gonna really struggle—”
Jeremiah was smiling at me.
“What?”
He shook his head. “You’re a good one.”
I sighed. “Well, I threatened physical violence on-camera, remember? So you might wanna hold off the sainthood.” I handed him one container with a fork.
“Your mum gave you all this?”
I nodded. “With strict instructions to keep you safe. And fed. But mostly safe.”
