“Yeah well it shows,” Matt said shortly, looking around the shelter with its piles of food near the back. He liked Lewis and respected the guy’s careful nature and willingness to learn and understand things, but on the flip side sometimes it felt like his friend wasn’t afraid to throw in an explanation even when it wasn’t asked for, in a tone that bordered on smug superiority.
Or maybe that was Matt smarting at being caught completely unprepared by all this while Lewis and Trev were better off than anyone in town. Either way it annoyed him. He stood up. “Well it was good to touch base. Feel free to come around any time, and be sure to let Trev know about the potluck.”
“Sure, and I hope you’ll visit more often.” Lewis got up and led him to the door and outside, squinting around at the bright day. As Matt started to walk past him towards the dirt road leading back into town he added. “By the way, good thinking with that bear spray. I’ve got a couple small cans of pepper spray on keychain rings for personal defense while jogging or whatever but that’s it. If you want to do some trading bring as many as you like by.”
“Okay,” Matt said, thinking of the buckets and boxes of food in the shelter. That could really help his family, and also might provide him with something he could give the Tillmans in payment for the stuff he’d purchased earlier. “Take care out here, okay?” Lewis nodded, and feeling a bit better about the visit Matt made his way back to town.
The parking lot outside Tillman’s was crowded when Trev arrived for the potluck. It looked like most of the town was there.
He meandered through the crowd, greeting people he knew and stopping to chat if they wanted something. He was tired after his patrol shift that had ended a few hours ago, especially since his body was still recovering from the hike down, but compared to lugging around his heavy pack for a week walking the patrol route with just his daypack, weapons, radio, and other necessities for the shift had almost been a vacation.
Well okay, it was still eight hours of steady walking with frequent breaks to inspect the area with his binoculars, but it wasn’t brutal. He hoped his cousin would quit worrying about his condition now that he’d proved he was up to the task.
From what he was getting from his chats, as well as overheard snatches of conversation, the inspiration for this potluck was to use up the food going bad in people’s unpowered fridges and freezers. That didn’t affect him or Lewis since his cousin had long since finished the few groceries in his small fridge and had moved on to eating from their food stockpile.
From the sounds of it the town had set up freezers from the grocery store in the storehouse for whatever food people brought in, trading it for storehouse vouchers, but from what Trev saw of the food being prepared near the store on large grills or along long tables, most of what people brought was going to be eaten tonight.
That felt like a waste, but at the same time they were racing against spoilage anyway so better to eat it than watch it rot. And Trev supposed it was good for the town to have events like this to remind everyone that they were part of a community and would be better off surviving together.
Still, he wondered if Lewis would approve. His cousin might’ve suggested they find ways to preserve the food instead and stretch it out as long as possible. And maybe he’d have a point saying that, since a party like this hinted that people still didn’t get how serious things were. Or maybe they did and were trying to pretend otherwise for a few hours.
Either way he planned to eat his fill.
He found the Larsons up near the front helping out with preparing and serving the food, although Matt took a break from moving platters to the serving tables to greet him. His friend also introduced him to Sam, the girl who’d driven down with him. Trev didn’t know her, but he had to admit she was cute and seemed nice. From the fond way the people working around her talked as she excused herself for a moment to greet Trev he also had the feeling she’d earned a lot of goodwill by pitching in to help.
After the introductions she returned to her work, and Trev grinned at his friend. “You could do a lot worse for a traveling buddy.”
Matt gave him an embarrassed look. “We’re just helping her out,” he insisted. Then he paused. “Although you’re definitely right.”
Trev chuckled and clapped his friend on the shoulder, then made his way over to the line of people waiting for food. He wanted to talk to Anderson and Turner about the patrol he and Lewis had worked out, as well as ask them how they were coming finding more people to work the shifts. But the smell of grilling meat and other cooking food was too tempting to pass up, especially since he and Lewis had decided to strictly limit their meals to the daily calorie consumption for an active adult male to stretch their stores out as long as possible.
His cousin also wanted to use up the wheat, rice, and beans in the buckets at the same rate as the more convenient canned food, which meant there’d be a lot of cooking to do. Luckily Lewis had thought ahead and had huge bags of spices of every variety, especially salt, as well as canned jalapenos and tomato sauce.
Still, cheating a bit this afternoon would be nice. He just felt bad that Lewis couldn’t be here to enjoy it too, although he’d try to finagle his cousin a plate since he had a good excuse for his absence, being out on patrol defending the town.
Once he’d worked his way through the line Trev filled up his plate and went over to where the Larsons were sitting with a few other families. They seemed interested in his trip down, so he talked a bit about it and what he’d learned. Although he didn’t mention the cache or bring attention to needing to leave anything behind when he abandoned his car.
After an hour or so Matt and Sam joined them, and it was Matt’s turn to talk about his week up in Orem and watching the situation at the college deteriorate, then the riot and his near mugging. By the end of the story Trev almost didn’t mind the time he’d spent walking considering what he’d managed to avoid by leaving early, even though he’d ultimately arrived on the same day as his friend.
After the story Scott Tillman pulled Matt to the side, and Trev overheard them talking about the remaining gas in Matt’s car and something about a debt. Matt didn’t look happy about giving up the gas, and he haggled fiercely over it before the two men finally shook hands.
By then it was nearly time to go, so when Matt returned to the table Trev suggested they head out. To his surprise Sam offered to join his friend on the shift, even though it meant a chilly, sleepless night hiking in the dark. Matt firmly refused, insisting she’d worked hard that day and besides she was already committed to helping clear up after the dinner. She looked disappointed, and for that matter Matt didn’t look much happier about leaving her as they left the parking lot and headed up Main. His friend already had a daypack and warm coat with him, ready for the shift.
“She sure wants to stick around you,” Trev ribbed his friend as they walked. “I like you, buddy, but I wouldn’t want to spend a miserable night walking with you back and forth for twenty or so miles just for the company.”
Matt looked embarrassed. “She just wants to help.”
“So I’ve seen. Still, do yourself a favor and assume maybe she might be interested in more than just being helpful. It sure looks as if she likes you.”
“Come on, man, we’ve only known each other for a day!” his friend protested. “Don’t start ringing the wedding bells just yet.” Trev laughed, earning an irritated look. “Besides, we need to be worrying more about the situation the town’s in right now. You’re the one who’s always obsessing about survival.”
Trev held up his hands. “Fine, fine. Let’s talk about the patrol route, then. I can’t tell you what it’ll be like at night, but I can tell you how my shift went for me and some spots I noticed where you’re more likely to see people traveling.”