That seemed sensible, but after what Matt had just been through he had his doubts. “How are you set for water? Trev warned me that if the power goes out, which it almost definitely will, the water will stop flowing too. You should get as much as possible stored away while you still can, even if you have to fill your sinks and bathtubs. And try to get firewood too.”
“I know,” his big sister replied somewhat impatiently. “We’ve given a lot of thought to preparing for difficult times in the last year and I think we’ve got our heads on straight. To be honest I’m more worried at the thought of you stranded alone down in Orem, especially if you just escaped a r—”
“Sis?” Matt cut in quietly. “I’m going to need to call you back.”
Coming down the sidewalk towards him was a fairly large man in baggy jeans and a short sleeve black shirt with some metal band on the front worn over a long sleeve white one. But what immediately caught his attention was that the man had an aluminum baseball bat propped on one shoulder. That and he was staring straight at Matt with the sort of look that made Matt’s instincts scream for him to run.
Matt slowly pocketed his phone, then stepped closer to his cart to provide more room on the sidewalk for the guy to pass. Seriously, was there a single reason he could think of why he hadn’t brought the Glock? He had to be the biggest idiot on earth. “Hey, how’s it going?” he asked, doing his best to sound calm.
The baseball enthusiast gave him a predatory smile and spun the bat in one hand as if limbering up. “It’ll be great when you gimme that cart.” He sped up, closing the twenty or so remaining feet between them at a fast walk.
Matt stared at the guy, then at his baseball bat, and felt his temper snap. Was this a joke? He’d never been attacked or robbed in his life, and now he’d just escaped a riot in a burning store and this goon wanted to steal his stuff in broad daylight on the side of a major street?
Before the mugger reached him Matt leaned over and scrabbled around in the bottom of his cart until his fingers closed around a can of bear spray. The guy slowed, eyes widening, as Matt yanked off the seal over the trigger and pointed the nozzle at him. “You ever been hit with this stuff?” he asked. “It’s for bears. Just imagine what it’ll do to you.”
The mugger eyed the spray warily and started to back away, raising his hands in surrender. “Easy, man. I’m just going to wa—”
Mid-word the big guy changed direction and charged forward, the bat held over his head suddenly less about surrender and more about being raised to smash down on Matt’s head. Matt was so surprised by the sudden attack that the mugger had nearly reached him before he pulled the trigger. The stream of bear spray hit the guy right in the center of his chest, and as the baseball bat started to descend Matt dove aside while at the same time guiding the line of concentrated pepper up into his attacker’s face.
The mugger screamed and his bat nearly clipped Matt’s shoulder as it went flying away. But the criminal had forgotten about Matt, his bat, and everything else in the world aside from searing pain as he lifted his hands to his face and crumpled to the ground, swearing profusely.
Even though he’d been the one shooting it, Matt had been close enough to the spray when it landed that some misted back at him, making him cough as he staggered away chasing after the bat. Just a whiff of the stuff was enough to make his eyes water and his nose start to run, and he didn’t envy the mugger his experience. The guy’s cursing had been replaced by phlegmy, wracking coughs that sounded almost like he was puking up his guts, and the few breaths he managed to take were forced and raspy.
Matt picked up the bat and tossed it into his cart along with the bear spray, then grabbed the cart’s pushbar and yanked it back onto the sidewalk, running it past the downed mugger while giving him as much space on the sidewalk as he could. Once he was past he still stared over his shoulder every second or so for the next few hundred feet to make sure he wasn’t being followed.
That last thing he saw before he reached the top of the hill and its curve blocked his view of the attacker below showed the big man still writhing in pain, the noise of his wracking coughs reaching Matt’s ears for a ways afterwards.
He glanced down at the bear spray sitting on top of the pile of grocery bags, feeling equal parts relieved and sickened by the narrow escape from a dangerous situation. Those rioters back in the store had been complaining about all the guns being gone, but not ten feet from the empty racks had been a less lethal weapon that could still do the job. He was glad he’d grabbed the powerful pepper spray and even more glad it had been handy when he needed to defend himself.
He was still so high on adrenaline that he actually jumped when his phone rang, although of course he should’ve expected it after hanging up on his sister. But it wasn’t her name on the call it was his mom’s: April must’ve called her.
“Matt!” she said, sounding frantic. “I finally managed to reach you! Your phone was ringing earlier but it suddenly went to voicemail, and then April said she talked to you but you suddenly hung up. Are you okay? Why are you at a store with rioters instead of on your way home like you said?”
“I’m fine, Mom,” he said quickly, deciding not to tell her about the mugger. She’d only worry. “Sorry about the phone. The riot was just starting and I turned it off so I wouldn’t draw attention. But I’m fine, really, and I’ll be on my way home soon. I just got delayed by things more than I expected.”
“You should’ve left already,” she insisted. “I thought you were leaving hours ago!” Matt started to answer but she kept going, almost frantically. “Have you seen the news? Riots just broke out in Salt Lake City, and now you’re getting caught in them too. You’ve got to get out of there!”
“I will,” he said. “I promise, Mom, I’ll be there in a couple of hours at most.”
She started to reply, but mid-word his phone beeped and fell silent. Puzzled, he looked down to see that the signal had been lost.
What? The signal strength here was as strong as anywhere else in the valley, and he’d never had a dropped call. Had the cell phone company run out of power and cut off service? Or had the riots spread to some saboteur knocking out the cell tower up on the mountainside?
He waited a few minutes but the signal never returned. Great, his mom had already been freaking out and now this. He’d be seeing her soon enough to ease her worries, he hoped, but before he left he’d check to see if any of his roommates had a working phone, or maybe if the dorm’s landline was still up.
Decided, he slipped his useless phone back into his pocket and wasted no more time getting back to his dorm. He even trotted on the level and downhill stretches, and in spite of the bat and bear spray in his cart and the fact that nobody was seemed to be coming his way or paying him any special attention he didn’t relax until he was back on campus.
If the grounds had been deserted this morning now they were almost eerily empty. Matt felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand straight out as he pushed his cart towards the dorms. It was only mid afternoon but the place felt like it would in the middle of the night, and walking across it he had the irrational sense that he was doing something wrong even though he’d taken this route at this time of day hundreds or even thousands of times.
It was almost a relief when a security guard appeared around a corner up ahead, although the relief faded pretty quick when the man scowled and made a beeline for him, raising his voice to a shout. “What are you doing?” He pointed at the cart. “What is that?”