Chapter 136: She Wasn’t Leaving the Good Stuff

The driver checked the marked loading entrance over breakfast and said the convoy already stopped on that road to exchange cargo. Dove could look at the store while his crew worked, provided she returned before departure. She promised to watch the time, not to deliver pants she hadn’t found yet.

Day Sixty-Eight began with her usual pond water behind the annex screen, then eggs, sausage, toast, and enough coffee to make an early start forgivable. Thorne carried their bedding outside while Edrik collected the cart from its cage. Dove checked that the cot was still strapped flat underneath and that nobody had mistaken their rope for free supplies.

The named bag from the raiders stayed in the separate lost-goods hold. She kept its receipt, asked Ellis to add their transport number if the owner appeared, and let the yard take responsibility for finding him. She had her own bags to worry about.

They followed the freight truck in their red pickup, Edrik driving and Thorne behind Dove. Their handcart rode tied in the bed, with the emergency bag inside the cab. Dove liked being able to point at a shop without wondering who owned the seat beneath her.

Their allotted fuel covered the marked route. The lead driver kept to his trading stops, and Edrik agreed to stay in sight. Dove accepted this insult to her shopping ambitions after they confirmed time at the department store.

Sprout offered six family bags of trail mix as today’s stock, and Dove brought them out while they were parked. Five sales paid thirty-four normal coins; twelve fresh Favor would unlock a larger food box for purchase. Dove dismissed the box and kept a bag for four Favor. The men could eat that while she found something they couldn’t inhale before she sat down.

At the first cargo stop, she sold the other five to workers for canned tomatoes, soap, socks, flour, and batteries in unopened packs. She checked the battery sizes, then stored the trades by touch behind their truck. The three-item road goal cleared. Her shopping list remained much longer.

Across the road, an abandoned gas station stood above a parking lot cracked by frost. Its windows were broken, but the roof looked sound. The driver gave them forty minutes while his crew unloaded, and Edrik checked the inside before Dove crossed the threshold.

The shelves had been picked over, not erased. She found pretzels behind fallen cardboard, two sealed bottles of shampoo in a lower cupboard, and a case of canned peaches beneath the counter. Thorne took the heavy case while she stored smaller finds, stopping for water when her forehead started to ache.

"I could carry it," he said, looking at the shampoo.

"You’re already carrying a case of fruit. I’m keeping your other hand available for important wife business."

"Such as?"

She put her hand in his. He looked down at their joined fingers, and the expression on his face made Edrik snort from the next aisle. Thorne didn’t even pretend to care.

Dove squeezed his hand, then let go to check the shelf behind him. They recovered sealed crackers, two clean fleece throws, and a tool roll from a delivery van whose doors stood open. Edrik checked the van first and left its empty fuel tank alone. A vehicle existing did not mean it was waiting to drive her somewhere.

The overhead shelf held a battered zippered case. Dove nearly left it until the loose corner exposed a screen. She made a noise that brought both men to her side looking ready to kill something.

"Nobody died. Put the knife away. I think I found a DVD player."

Thorne lowered his hand from his belt. Edrik took the case down and opened it on the counter. The player had a scratched lid, a matching twelve-volt car adapter, and two discs in a sleeve. Dove wiped the screen with the edge of a clean cloth, trying not to hope so hard she looked pathetic.

"It might be broken," she warned herself aloud.

"Then we’ll find out," Edrik said. "Which plug does it need?"

He let her show him. No question about whether watching a movie mattered, no suggestion that batteries should only be spent on emergencies. Thorne packed the case above the peaches where it wouldn’t get crushed, and Dove kissed his cheek before they left.

Back at their pickup, Edrik let her test the player from the cab socket while the engine ran. Its menu appeared, cheerful and ordinary enough that she stared before pressing play. Thorne leaned over the seat to see what had made her go quiet.

A man’s voice complained loudly about a stolen car. Dove laughed, then laughed harder because Edrik was studying the little screen as though it might reveal somebody worth threatening. She explained that it was a comedy. He said he was waiting for the funny part, which made Thorne laugh too.

They watched only a minute before the convoy driver called that it was time to move. Dove shut it off herself, carefully winding the cord. It worked. Tonight might contain something other than drying clothes and asking whether the next road was flooded.

Sprout counted the men’s pleasure at her excitement among the day’s fresh reactions. She left the total until evening. The trail mix was paid for, the sales goal was finished, and she’d searched long enough to clear her active minutes. She put its screen away to enjoy the one that played movies, running a thumb over the scratched lid before Thorne tucked it safely between their bags.

Lunch was thick sandwiches made with their canned chicken, peaches, and extra rice for the men. They ate at the next loading point with their cart still secured in the pickup bed. Dove leaned against Edrik while Thorne brushed crumbs from her sleeve, and nobody asked her to justify stopping long enough to eat.

The department store appeared beyond the next junction, its familiar sign tilted over a muddy parking lot. Water covered the front doors halfway to their handles. Upstairs windows remained clear, and Dove could see stacked boxes behind one of them.

The lead driver parked on the higher side street, and Edrik left their pickup beside him, beyond a low loading office. They wheeled the handcart toward the department store. Dove spotted the metal service stairs, where a shifted landing blocked the way to all those untouched upstairs shelves.