Shelter in Place by Harley Tate

Author:Harley Tate [Tate, Harley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harley Tate
Published: 2019-11-20T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

LAINEY

The Home Depot

Los Angeles, CA

Wednesday, 12:00 p.m. PST

Lainey held Bear’s leash while Jerry and Keith struggled to break into The Home Depot loading bay. Owen stood beside her, shifting his weight back and forth as he fiddled with his messenger bag.

“Do you think one of us should stand watch outside?” He motioned with a jerk of his head toward a gaggle of tents lining the wall separating the warehouse’s loading zone from the turn-around behind the building.

“We don’t even know if they’re occupied.” From what she could see, it didn’t appear that the residents of the makeshift camp were active members of the neighborhood. “If they’re in there, chances are they’re asleep.”

“What if they wake up?”

“I guess we deal with it then.” Lainey patted the dog’s side. “Bear will let us know.”

“I know it’s none of my business…” Owen paused and pushed his glasses up his nose. “But why did you and Keith break up?”

The question caught Lainey off-guard and she stammered. “Uh, um, I… Well…”

He waved her off. “It’s okay. I shouldn’t have asked.”

Lainey couldn’t let it go. She knew exactly why they had broken up and it was all her fault. She’d just never had to tell anyone about it before now. She exhaled. “It was me. I wanted to focus on my career. Keith wanted to settle down.”

It seemed so silly now. Worrying about the next promotion and the number of minutes on air, pushing marriage and kids down the road.

“Maybe that wasn’t a bad thing.”

Lainey lifted an eyebrow and Owen held up his hands.

“Not because you two aren’t perfect for each other or anything. But the whole kids thing. Be pretty hard to escape the apocalypse with a toddler running around.”

Lainey glossed over Owen’s proclamation about her and Keith and focused on what he said about kids. He was right. Trying to survive a nuclear attack with children to look after would be a million times harder.

“We’re in!” Jerry called out from the loading dock and Lainey and Owen tabled their conversation to join Jerry and Keith at the rear of the store. They split into two groups: Owen, Keith, and Bear set off to find paint while Lainey and Jerry headed in the other direction.

Lainey held her phone for a light. “What are we looking for?”

Jerry pointed down the length of the store. “A tube for siphoning gas to start with. We’ve passed so many cars, we could have filled up the van’s tank ten times by now.”

“Don’t gas tanks all have flaps inside that prevent a tube from reaching the gas?”

“Older cars won’t and thanks to the lack of snow, there’s a ton of older vehicles on the road down here.”

They stopped in front of coiled racks of tubing and Jerry picked a clear plastic hose about half an inch in diameter. He uncoiled a ten-foot section and used the tool attached to the bay to cut it off. “Now we need a pipe or two.”

Lainey cocked her head. “What on earth for?”

Jerry picked up a solid metal plumbing pipe about two feet long and swung it like it was a baseball bat.

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