His pursuers followed hard on his hills, still whooping and screaming in a way that made every hair on Trev’s body stand on edge. They almost didn’t sound human. The figure stumbled and in desperation threw his loot away, hoping they’d leave him alone, but only one of his pursuers stopped to grab the bag while the others sprinted after him.
For about half a block Trev thought the guy was going to escape, but then he glanced back to see how close his pursuers were and a flashlight beam caught him right in the eyes. The scavenger flinched away, blinded but still running at a full sprint, and stumbled over a curb with a cry of pain. He went down hard clutching at his ankle, and in moments his pursuers closed the remaining distance, kicking him and beating him with bats, golf clubs, and gardening tools.
The sheer brutality of the scene sickened Trev, and it went on way longer than it should have. He shut his eyes but the sounds were nearly as horrible, and he didn’t dare move in the irrational fear that in spite of the fading light, the distance, and the noise the thugs were making one of them would see or hear him.
Finally he heard a shout louder than the others and opened his eyes to see that the thug who’d picked up the looter’s bag was crouched over it rummaging inside with one hand and shining his flashlight in to see with the other. “It’s all junk!” he shouted. “The moron didn’t find anything better than we did. He must’ve been hungry enough to eat charcoal.”
The mob around the downed looter broke up in disappointment, hurling obscenities as they made their way back to the school. Their victim remained unmoving on the sidewalk, and Trev was glad it was too dark to see any details.
He jumped when Matt rested a hand on his shoulder. “Come on,” his friend whispered. “Let’s get out of here.”
Nodding, he followed as his friend moved slowly and quietly back the way they’d come, heading down to the last intersection they’d crossed so they could loop wide around the school and its vicious denizens. Once they were a few blocks away his friend sagged back against the house they’d taken cover behind and leaned his head against the wall.
“I can’t believe they beat that guy to death right in front of us,” he whispered. “Did that seriously just happen?” Trev made no response, too shaken to say anything, and his friend continued. “Even if they’re desperate and hungry how do people get like that? It’s only been about two weeks since the attack. Before that they were probably all decent, law abiding citizens.”
Trev shook his head grimly. “I don’t know about decent. Some people are just waiting for society to break down so they’ll have the chance to try the things they’ve always wanted to do but didn’t for fear of the consequences. Others are just going along with the crowd, since something about chaotic situations makes people more willing to do things they wouldn’t normally dream of doing. Either way there’s been plenty of other disasters where the rioting and looting started in days, so it’s not like it’s surprising to see it two weeks into the slow collapse of our country.”
Matt sucked in a final breath. “This isn’t the end of the US just yet. I have to believe things will get back to normal. The government’s still going on the new refineries, right?”
“Maybe. But think of what we just saw, think of Utah Valley mostly gone up in flames. How long do you think it’ll take for things to get back to normal from that?”
“Let’s get to April’s house,” his friend said in answer, pushing away from the wall. “It’s almost dark.”
They continued on, hurrying in spite of their hunger and exhaustion. The only thing that slowed them down was caution as they constantly looked around for signs of danger, one hand on their flashlight and the other on their pepper spray. The closest they came to running into other people was when they saw moving lights in one of the FETF evacuated houses and heard the sound of things breaking and people shouting. They went out of their way to go around the disturbance and hurried on.
Finally, just as Trev’s adrenaline was starting to give out and he’d begun shaking slightly from tension and exhaustion Matt led the way to one house along the middle of the block. Its windows were dark and there were FETF notices on the door, just like all the others.
“I think that confirms where April’s family is,” Trev whispered as he followed his friend onto the porch and pulled down one of the papers. It was too dark to read but he could just barely make out the familiar large, blocky letters.
“Yeah, I think so,” Matt answered grimly, trying the door. It was locked, but before Trev could suggest breaking the window pane above the doorknob his friend crouched down and pulled a false rock from among the others strewn beneath a carefully manicured rosebush. It felt like it took forever for him to fumble out the key and unlock the door in the dark, and then they slipped inside, ears straining for signs of movement inside the house.
“April?” Matt called, just loudly enough to be heard through most of the house. “Terry?”
After ten seconds or so of near absolute silence aside from their own strained breathing Trev rested a hand on his friend’s arm. “They’re not here,” he said quietly.
Matt nodded. “Let’s keep our lights off.” He was probably thinking of the looters’ lights they’d seen in the other house and how clearly obvious they were. “Come on, this place has a basement.”
His friend started to move, and Trev could barely make out his silhouette vanishing along the entryway, leading him down the hall before turning hard right at a door and pulling it open. Trev edged cautiously through the doorway so he wouldn’t end up falling down the stairs, making sure the door was shut behind him, and together they made their way down. “Any windows down here?”
In answer Matt flicked on his flashlight, revealing a small children’s playroom with a door to one side leading into an office.
They quickly searched the basement, partly shielding the flashlights while going into each new room just in case there was a window Matt had forgotten about, but they didn’t see any. Beyond the office was a closet the family had been using for food storage, completely bare and with even the carpet ripped up. The small bathroom next to it had a bathtub half-filled with water.
April had taken Matt’s advice about stocking up on water, which was good because Trev had been worried about how they were going to refill their water bottles. Especially heading up to Antelope Island since around the Great Salt Lake fresh water might be hard to come by. But because the water had been sitting for who knew how long Trev insisted on filtering it just to be safe.
After that they agreed it was too risky to search the rest of the house, and besides that they were both too exhausted and shaken by what they’d seen in the last hour. Since they knew the family wasn’t there anyway they decided to save further exploration for morning and go to sleep.
That was easier said than done, as Trev curled up on a futon in the office while Matt took the couch in the playroom. Now that they’d stopped walking hunger pangs were hitting him hard, reminding him that it had been over 24 hours since he’d eaten and he’d spent a large portion of that time walking.
He also found himself listening intently for any sound other than his own breathing and the slight noises his friend made in the other room. Luckily he didn’t hear anything at all from outside since that would’ve definitely kept him awake, but between hunger and hyper-alertness it took him almost an hour to fall asleep, especially after about a half hour when he drifted off only to half dream he saw someone coming down the stairs in the blackness and he started awake in a panic.