Shortage (Best Laid Plans Book 2) by Nathan Jones

Author:Nathan Jones [Jones, Nathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Published: 2015-11-08T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Thanksgiving

When Catherine described the wagon as “loaded” it was a bit of an understatement. The narrow bed was stacked high enough to be top-heavy and altogether had to weigh a couple hundred pounds. His dad had covered it all in a tarp and tied it down, both to keep everything inside from spilling out and to at least partially hide the contents from unfriendly eyes.

Matt and the entire rest of the family met his dad at the edge of town, amid much hugging and celebration. His dad looked exhausted and even thinner than he had before he left, but other than that he was fine.

On the way back he briefly detailed his trip, although there wasn't much to say. He saw a few people on the way up and even briefly stopped to chat with someone who had a cabin along the road he was walking along. The visit was friendly enough, if wary, although from then on he tried harder to avoid notice in case someone was curious about him dragging an empty wagon behind him and decided to follow.

Those fears were never realized, and he met no one at the cache or on the way down, which luckily he was able to find without too much trouble thanks to Trev's ruined car, which had been gutted by fire since Matt and Trev had passed it with April and her family. He did have to be a bit careful while digging up the food since refugees continued to walk along Highway 6, in smaller numbers but far more ragged and desperate, and he did most of that at night in the dark.

In truth his greatest enemy on the trip was his own body. On the way there he was beset by weakness and found almost no food to sustain him, and little enough water. Once he arrived he had to rest for a day to recover his strength, and was somewhat ashamed that he had to eat more in order to have the energy to tow the loaded wagon back down.

That took by far the longest out of anything, twice as long as the trip up, and would've been impossible if he wasn't transporting food and water. He tried to limit what he ate, thinking of the family going hungry back at home, but he found that if he skimped he quickly exhausted himself and barely made any progress, and finally decided it was more important to get the food there fast than to save a bit extra. There was always more at the cache.

His dad was shocked to learn everything that had happened in town while he was gone, and while he was delighted that Ferris had left and Razor was gone he still grieved that he hadn't been there to protect his family and town during the attack. He was very proud to learn of everything his son had done, although Matt tried to keep the story accurate as the rest of the family exaggerated his heroics.

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