Chapter 255: She Was Taking the Good Stuff

DOVE’S POV

The worker at the relief table pointed toward the main road, then lowered his hand when Dove showed him the notice.

"You want the service road behind the stores," he said. "It’s slower, but you won’t pass their collection truck."

"Slower sounds lovely compared with kidnapped."

Edrik stood beside Dove while the worker drew the turn on their map. The route passed an old grocery, a camping store and a delivery yard before joining the road farther north. Nobody had reported people living in the stores, but the worker told them to check rather than treating an empty parking lot as permission to take everything.

Dove thanked him with an owned meal pack. The man tried to refuse it, then accepted when Dove told him she had already eaten.

"I wasn’t planning to faint attractively on your table. It looks uncomfortable."

The worker laughed. Edrik looked at Dove as if he might have enjoyed catching her anyway.

They reached the grocery before the worst heat. Its front windows were broken, and carts lay scattered across the parking spaces. Behind it, weeds had pushed through the delivery road. Dove could see the camping store’s back entrance beyond a low fence.

"We check, we take what makes sense, we keep moving," she said.

"And if somebody’s inside?" Edrik asked.

"We ask before I start claiming their toilet paper. I’m difficult, not feral."

His mouth curved. "I’ll keep that distinction in mind."

They called from the entrance and waited. No answer came. Edrik checked the nearest aisles while Dove stayed where she could see the door. They found old footprints, torn packaging and signs that other people had already searched. They did not find beds or anybody’s belongings laid out as a home.

The refrigerated cases smelled bad enough that she turned away immediately.

"Nobody gets to be brave about yogurt," she told him.

"I wasn’t going to."

"Good. I married you for your many excellent qualities, including not making me watch that."

At the dry-goods shelves she slowed down. The obvious food was gone, but behind a fallen cardboard display were sealed pouches of beans, rice and seasoned meat. She checked the packages for damage and read the dates instead of snatching them like the world had promised never to hurt her through lunch.

Sprout appeared when she crouched beside a sound case.

*Recover useful food, drinking supplies and shelter goods. Four hundred Normal Coins and twelve cases of sealed drinking water.*

Dove sat back on her heels.

*Twelve cases?*

*Six one-liter bottles per case.*

*You could lead with that more often.*

She made it repeat the conditions. Three useful kinds of supplies, actually recovered from accessible, unclaimed stock. The reward replaced the ordinary small road task; she would not collect both for doing the same work. She accepted before touching the first case.

For once, the prospect of what came next felt good.

They recovered food, coffee and sealed drink bottles from the grocery. Dove kept an aisle clear so she could sit safely when she needed to look into the warehouse. Edrik watched her body while she placed the cases where she could reach them again, leaving the walkway to the blue pool open.

She came back with her hand still resting on the bag beside her.

"All right?" he asked.

"Yes. I’m arranging my extremely glamorous empire of canned beans."

"Will there be room left for me?"

"Behave and I might find you a shelf."

She stood and kissed his cheek because she wanted to. Sprout could have its opinions about that later.

At the camping store they checked again for occupants, then searched the shelves nearest the rear door. Dove found insect repellent, waterproof sheets and a roll of ground covering that was still wrapped. She chose the sound sheet instead of the biggest torn one, touched it and stored it.

The reward arrived with a clear notice: four hundred Normal Coins, seventy-two liters of sealed drinking water, all owned.

Dove went quiet.

It was not enough to supply a town. It was enough that every delayed delivery did not have to become a fight about whether her family could drink tomorrow.

"That’s better," she said softly.

Edrik looked over. She told him what she had earned, and his expression changed before he took her hand.

"You did well."

She liked hearing it because she could point to the thing she had done. Nobody was calling her impressive because she had stood still and smelled nice.

"I’m keeping the coffee too," she said.

"I assumed."

The task was finished, but they continued through the safe shelves. Socks, a cooking pot, a sealed pack of washcloths and sturdy bags went into storage. Dove left broken things and anything that would take too long to reach. Having room for more did not mean they had time to dig beneath a collapsed ceiling.

Outside, the sun had climbed above the grocery roof. Edrik handed her a bottle from their new reserve, then opened his own when she gave him a pointed look.

"Drink," she said. "The giant bear sweating beside me is also part of the emergency plan."

"Bossy little thing."

"And yet you keep following me."

He caught her fingers and kissed them, watching her over her knuckles until she forgot the next sensible thing she meant to say.

Before they left, she opened one of the sturdy bags and made a smaller ready supply for the road: water, crackers, a clean shirt, and cloths she could reach without closing her eyes. The rest stayed stored. Edrik watched her zip it shut and handed her the strap without rearranging a thing. She liked that he trusted her to prepare something useful, even if he would insist on carrying it after the first mile.

They rounded the back fence and stopped at the delivery yard.

A white van stood beneath a metal awning. Its tires looked intact, and the driver’s window was open. An older man sat beside it with a toolbox and a radio balanced on his knee.

He looked at Dove, then at the folded notice beside the radio.

"You’re the fox they’re paying for," he said.