Page 68 of Waves of Fury

“I’d love to talk to a cop right about now,” Tyler mutters. “It’s just a warning to scare people off. Five bucks says this place doesn’t have electricity.”

I can think of other more important things I’d like to wager on besides our useless cash but bite my tongue. Tyler is already contemplating how to break into the dinky little restaurant.

The door to the restaurant is made of wood and a fragile-looking knob. All it takes is a hard, well-placed stomp of Tyler’s boot toward the bottom of the door to have it crashing open.

“Subtle,” I say with a chuckle, mimicking his words from the time I broke into the last place.

He grins at me before stepping into the inky darkness of the restaurant. I creep after him, scanning the area with my flashlight. His light joins, illuminating the area a little more. The restaurant is clean and doesn’t appear to have been ransacked by travelers.

Unlike the general store we plowed through recently.

Elise had moral objections about taking from someone else, but at this point, I think we’re all growing immune to those feelings. We need this stuff to survive and no one’s offering to help us. Elise is gone, so no one voiced a differing opinion.

Tyler walks into the kitchen while I rummage around behind the bar. I find a box of saltine crackers and greedily tear one open. I’m chomping on the dry crackers when I hear Tyler hollering.

Tossing the crackers, I rush into the kitchen to see what the fuss is about. He’s standing in front of a small freezer.

“I don’t think it’s been opened since they lost power,” Tyler exclaims, voice filled with glee. “Look, there’s a whole box of frozen hamburger patties.”

Stalking over to him, I peer into the freezer and witness it for myself. “Holy shit. We’re eating good tonight.”

The kitchen isn’t stocked with a lot, but there’s a whole shelf of hamburger buns. They’re not the freshly made kind either. These are regular store-bought kinds that are packed with preservatives, which means they won’t be stale or moldy.

The refrigerator reeks of spoiled food and we quickly close that, considering anything in there a total loss. But we manage to procure hamburger patties, chicken patties, buns, giant cans of green beans, and several bags of chips. It’s a feast.

“The rooms are cleared,” Aaron calls out. “Anything in here?”

“We have food, man,” Tyler calls out. “We just have to figure out how to get the grill started.”

“Hell yeah!” Aaron hollers. “I’ll get Wayne. If anyone can get that shit figured out, it’s him.”

Thirty minutes later, we’re all hovering in the kitchen, watching Wayne cook on the flat grill he managed to get lit. The savory scents of cooking meat have every single one of us practically salivating like starved wolves. Wayne scoops up the first burger and sets it on a bun.

“This is for my sweet little songbird, Judy.”

Judy, who’s sitting in a chair nearby, sings a made-up song about how much she loves Wayne and she’s leaving Dan for him. We all chuckle, desperately needing a little fun in our exhausting day.

Once everyone has their plates piled high, we all migrate into the dining room, splitting up amongst the tables. Tyler smirks at his little brother, who casually has his arm over the back side of the booth, Hailey sitting close. Dan and Judy seem oblivious.

I choose the table where Hope and Aaron are already seated, plopping down next to Hope. They’ve lit one of the battery-powered lamps and have it sitting on the middle of the table. Tyler sits beside Aaron, directly across from me. His foot rests against mine and neither of us moves them.

“This is the best burger I’ve ever eaten in my life,” Hope mumbles through a mouthful of food.

The next few minutes are quiet as everyone digs in. As Hope proclaimed, it’s indeed the best damn burger ever. Nothing like the apocalypse to make you appreciate the little things. Days ago, I was miffed about eating a cold sandwich. Now I’m practically orgasming over a generic frozen burger.

I don’t make it very far through my meal before I’m hurting. Having not eaten much in several days, my stomach’s not enjoying this new diet. Judging from the pained expressions around me, I’d say they all feel the same. I have a sudden panicked thought that maybe the meat wasn’t good, but Tyler winks at me, silently assuring my worries away.

“Eat what you can and we’ll have the rest tomorrow,” Wayne announces as he ambles over to the bar from the kitchen. “I cooked everything and put it back in the freezer. It’ll be easy to reheat in the morning and should be fine despite us having opened up the freezer and let the cold air out.”

We all agree it’s time to hit the hay. Once we’ve gathered our gear, we follow Dan and Aaron outside. They describe the cabins they found. Just like last night, we split up the same way, except this time, we get the cabin with a king-sized bed.

Tyler eagerly heads for the shower but then grunts in frustration several minutes later. “Water’s been shut off.”

“We’ll grab a shower at Stovepipe Wells,” I assure him. “We need rest anyway.”

I barely manage to yank my boots and jacket off before crawling into bed. It’s cold like last night, but soon, with Tyler wrapped in my arms beneath the blanket, we warm up. Unlike last night, we’re not handsy. I think we’re both too exhausted. Luckily, just holding him is nearly as satisfying.

“We’re almost there,” Tyler says sleepily. “I can’t wait.”

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