Outbreak

The one thing they didn't have was women, which became a more urgent issue after Ted had pointed out to Earl that it would be kind of hard to build a new society without any women around to produce the next generation.

Earl hadn't thought of it quite that way before but he quickly realized that Ted was right. Up to now he'd been mostly worried about what was going to happen in the next five minutes or even the next five days, but with Ted's comment it had become very clear that he would have to start planning for the future and soon.

Other than simple survival the first major problem with Earl's new take on the world was that he hadn't seen many women since the worst of the plague had passed over them.

Since there were obviously men left, Earl knew logically that there had to be women out there somewhere, but where were they? How could they find them? Another question was would they be willing to help produce the next generation of Christian soldiers to continue God's work?

Earl really didn't want to force them but if they were reluctant to do their duty he supposed he'd just have to remind them of their responsibilities in the new world order.

Another of Ted's ideas had been to check out the Wal-Mart since Earl like the rest of the town knew that it had been used to distribute relief supplies to the locals, Ted figured that there might still be some stuff there they could use.

However after pulling into the parking lot that morning Earl could already see movement in front of the store. At first he was worried that someone had beat them to it and they would have to bring down the lord's justice if whoever they were didn't want to join them. But getting closer it was clear that it was just a women standing there nervously watching them approach.

Looking her over as they pulled up Earl could see she was young, which was good. She was also wearing the kind of clothes he saw on TV doctors; Earl did wonder for a moment if maybe she was a doctor?

If she was, the lord had truly been generous, but even if she wasn't that was ok too; having a young women in the group would go a long way toward of keeping not only himself but the other men happy and that was good enough for now. Besides maybe she might know where some other women were hiding. Didn't women always travel in groups anyway?

Kelly knew she was in real trouble as soon as the truck pulled into the parking lot; she couldn't believe she had been so careless as to be caught out in the open. Knowing she didn't have time right now for second guessing her past decisions Kelly quickly went over her short list of options; she already knew they had seen her, so hiding was out; there were three of them so she didn't want to run and have them shoot her down or worse. So she simply decided to wait and hope they might not be as bad as they looked.

After seeing the driver get out of the truck though Kelly quickly started to have second thoughts about that plan, since for one thing she could already smell him as he walked up to her, in his dirty bib overalls. Getting closer Kelly's opinion of what she was looking at just kept going down, not only was he smelly but the thinning hair on his head seemed to be migrating down to his ears and nose, since both of those other organs had an abundance of hair sprouting out of them.

Personally she found the sight and smell of this guy revolting; however she didn't think pointing out her observations about his personal grooming habits was the thing to do right now.

After he got out of the truck Earl made one more observation about the newest member of their group. At first he thought that she just had a really dark tan, but it soon was clear she had at least a little black in her. Now it really didn't bother Earl if she was part smoke or not, she could still serve in God's army just like anyone else. Of course it never occurred to him that maybe she didn't want to join up with them that maybe she had her own plans for the rest of her life.

Earl of course wouldn't have been worried about any of that even if he had thought of it. One way or another she was coming with them, the good lord had seen fit to deliver her to them and Earl was going to keep her.

"Morning," Earl called out to the attractive young women they had unexpectantly found.

"Hello," Kelly replied wanting to at least appear friendly. At that moment she once again found herself really regretting not taking Captain Nichols up on his offer of a gun of some sort of her own before she left the hospital, even if she really didn't know how to use one. But now seeing the three dirty men standing in front of her Kelly wondered if she could have just faked it.

"What are you doing out here by yourself?" the apparently leader of the trio asked her.

Rather than try to lie Kelly decided to be honest with them. "My car ran out of gas and I was hoping I could get some here, but I'm going to need something to carry it in so I'm seeing if I can get into the store."

"Hmm, well my friends and I are looking to do a little shopping of our own, if you want we can help you out," he fat one in the dirty overalls said to her in what was suppose she thought an understanding way; however the way all three of them were openly appraising her, made her feel a bit like a roast on display in front of a pack of hungry dogs and Kelly knew she really should be somewhere else right now.

"You from around here?" Mike asked her. He'd had been wondering that since he had seen her. Even though she was at least partly black he couldn't remember seeing her before and this town wasn't that big. As good looking as she was he knew that if he'd seen her before he'd have remembered her.

"Use to be, but I've been working in Lincoln since I got out of school."

"What did you do?" Earl asked, with the doctor clothes she had on he wondered again if she was one.

"I'm a nurse," she answered the question, and then wondered if she should have tried to lie since with training in medicine she might start to look even better to the men in front of her.

"Nurse eh?" Earl replied rubbing the stubble on his chin, well he figured that was close enough to a doctor to suit them. Stepping forward Earl tried to give the young women his most trustworthy smile. "Maybe you should come along with us, after all it's not safe out here alone anymore."

The look Earl was giving Kelly made her skin crawl, and she was more certain than ever that these guys had more than a few plans for her. Backing away as the three of them moved closer. "Thanks but I think I should just be going."

"I thought that you needed to get a gas can?" the biggest of the three asked her. "I've changed my mind; I think that I'll just walk the rest of the way home." "That's ok we'll help you out Earl said, won't we boys?"

"Oh yea I'm sure we can help each other a lot," Ted replied with a nasty little grin.

Still backing up Kelly definitely didn't like the direction this conversation was going and belatedly decided it was time to run. She turned and managed to take a few steps before she was grabbed by the biggest of the three who seemed to effortlessly lift her small frame off the ground.

Walking up to Ted as he held the struggling women Earl pulled a set of handcuffs he'd come across out of his pocket. "Sorry it has to be this way little lady." he said in a matter of fact tone, "but you see you're exactly what my friends and I need, not only do you know more about medicine than we do but you're a woman too. Sort of a bonus for us I guess," he said with a laugh.

Setting her down, Ted turned her around and put her back to Earl so he could get the cuffs on her. "I was really hoping this wouldn't be necessary but I can see you're going to be difficult," he said with a shrug. "That's ok though after a while you'll come around after you learn your role in the new order. After all the good book says that women are suppose to be the servants of men."

Kelly really didn't like the sound of all that, and she didn't recall where the bible said anything like that either. But now finding her hands firmly locked behind her, and the big gorilla that had grabbed her keeping hold of her, she didn't really have anywhere to go.

"Now," Earl said to the enlarged group, "let's see about getting inside and see what we can find."

Chapter 5

Having not heard anything from the drama that was happening out front, Kevin had gone back and got more empty coolers to repeat the circuit over again. After making a few round trips he'd continued to relax and started to think that he just might get away with this after all. That is 'til he heard the sound of breaking glass from the front of the store and then voices of someone coming in. Kevin had just started filling up another load of coolers when this happened and found himself near the source of the racket at the front of the store.

With all the sudden noise Kevin knew that his run of good luck this morning was definitely over. Peeking out through the double swinging metal doors that separated the storage area of the store from the part customers get to see, Kevin got a look at just how much trouble he was in. He could see four of them, three men all of whom were armed and one hand cuffed women in what looked like hospital scrubs that wasn't. He wondered what her story was for a second since it looked clear that she wasn't a willing member of the little group.

Unfortunately Kevin could also clearly see that he wasn't getting out of the spot he was in without being seen and since there were four of them, he thought that staying put seemed the best option for avoiding a fight which was the one thing he didn't want.

Earl had told Mike to hang onto the girl as the group had looked over the doors leading into the grocery side of Wal-Mart. Finding them securely locked Earl was actually encouraged since that meant they might be the first ones to stake their claim to all the goodies left inside.

But how to get in? That was the question. Earl had to admit that with the doors locked up like this the building looked awfully imposing, but he quickly found the answer to that problem in his usual straight forward manner. Though the glass the doors were made out of was tough it couldn't stand up to the force of the pickup truck running into it at speed. Under that sort of brute force assault, the doors naturally gave way to the sound of breaking glass and screeching metal. Backing out of the hole he had made Earl took a moment to admire his handy work.

He had always liked taking the direct approach to the problems he encountered. The idea of going around the back of the store to see if any of those doors might me open had naturally just never occurred to him.

Retrieving his AK-47 from the truck he led the four of them inside. The four of them moved into the darkened store and stopped for a moment to look around. From what he could see of it the grocery side of the store was pretty picked over, which made sense; he supposed but since even if it was a little dark in here the smell of rotten food was something you couldn't miss. That meant of course there could be something left so Earl figured that he and the guys wouldn't be going hungry tonight, and the girl wouldn't be either as long as she played along and didn't give him to much trouble but first things first, they had another stop to make.

So after he sized up the situation Earl led the four of them away from the grocery department and toward the sporting goods section. Earl wanted to see if any guns or ammo were left on the selves. Because like his version of the good book says, give a man a fish he could eat for a day, have enough guns you can take someone else's fish and then you can eat for a lifetime.

"What about the food?" Mike though wanted to know. He'd been listening to his stomach grumble a lot lately and the idea of being able to eat his fill was very appealing. "Don't worry about it; there will be time enough for all that later." Earl told him in a tone of voice that made it clear that he wasn't interested in discussing it anymore since after all he was hungry too.

Kelly being pulled along with her hands locked behind her back wasn't sure just how this day could get any worse. But as the group moved deeper into the store, she started to think of ways to get away since while she wasn't completely sure what these idiots had in mind for her she definitely wanted no part of it.

The younger one the others had called Mike still had a hold of her, but at least it wasn't the bigger guy, Ted was his name she thought. With her hands behind her back her options for escaping were limited to say the least, not to mention there were three of them and only one of her. But that part of the equation changed when Earl who had been walking through the store like he was just out browsing, stopped suddenly and told Ted to go and get them a cart.

"Why should I?" Ted asked

"Because genius whatever we find that we want to take with us, we are going to have to haul out to the truck, unless you want to make a dozen trips with your hands that is." Earl replied, more than a little annoyed.

"Fine," Ted grumbled and turned and walked off quickly disappearing into the gloom. Since other than a few emergency lights that were still on the only illumination for the interior of the store was coming from the skylights, which only just managed to cast the interior of the store in a murky glow.

Seeing that the odds had changed in her favor with only two of them guarding her now, Kelly started looking a lot harder for her chance to escape before the other one got back. That chance came unexpectedly when Mike who still had a hold of her arm stumbled over something sticking out from one of the darkened isles. Seizing the opportunity Kelly used all the strength in her small frame and shoved the bigger man in the back knocking him off balance and he started to fall, so he naturally released her arm he had a hold of to break his fall since he had a shotgun in his other hand.

Not wasting an instant of the chance she'd been given, Kelly took off, having decided she could very well be running for her life now. The whole event just took a second, Earl had turned at the sound of Mike stumbling just in time to catch a glimpse of there new female recruit disappearing into the men's clothing department where due to her height she was immediately lost from view.

He shouted after her of course but it was already too late. Yanking Mike back to his feet with more than a little annoyance, Earl told him to get after her and shoved him in the general direction she had fled in. "Ted!" he shouted, "get over here,"

"What happened," a voice called back,

"The girl got loose. She's in the clothes department get after her."

Ted, in the process of getting a shopping cart, thought it over for a second and in a moment of insight figured that the little honey might try to slip out the doors they had just opened and decided to head that way. If they could keep her trapped inside the store there were only so many places she could hide.

Mike his face red with embarrassment at letting the girl get the drop on him had run into the men's clothing department. It quickly became clear that it was to dark with too many shadows in here to see very far so he paused to listen instead, over the sound of his own breathing he heard her in the distance and moved in the direction of the sound.

Kelly really hadn't given much thought to what she was going to do after she got away so she just ran and hoped like hell something came to her. That is 'til she tripped over something and fell hard on the tile covered concrete floor, with out her hands to catch her. She knew the fall was going to leave some bruises tomorrow, that is if she managed to get to tomorrow; if these guys caught her now she didn't know what they would do to her but she really didn't want to find out.

Getting awkwardly back to her feet she paused trying to get a hold of herself not to mention catch her breath, she had to think for a second. Kelly knew she had to get out of the store to really get away so she naturally headed for the door she knew was open. She had by this time moved to the far edge of the misses department near the front of the store where she paused for a second to take a look, the delay saved her since from where she was hiding she could see Ted moving down the row of cash registers with his pistol in his hand. Instinctively ducking back further into the shadows Kelly knew she'd never get out that way now. With her only clear exit blocked she needed some time to consider her options, unfortunately she could hear the other two calling to each other and could tell that they were getting closer. Running out of time she had to take action.

So moving back into the clothes racks she headed deeper into the store to find a place where she could get a crossed one of the main aisles without being seen. Stopping beside a rack of jeans, with some tacky rhinestones in the pockets, she took a deep breath to steel herself and darted across the seemingly infinite open space to the pet food aisle. Not hearing anything out of the ordinary Kelly figured she'd made it but also knew she had to keep moving since being in the open now she'd be easy to spot if her pursuers got too close.

After hearing that Ted had moved to the front of the store to cover the open front door, Earl liking that idea promptly told him to stay there and keep an eye out,while he and Mike flushed her out.

Still embarrassed at his mistake Mike wanted to get her himself and started moving quickly now to get out in front of Earl. After walking out of the clothing department Mike found himself on a wide main aisle that divided the clothing department from the grocery side of the store.

Getting this far and still not catching sight of her Mike was starting to get increasingly worried that maybe he'd missed her already but knew he really had no choice but to keep moving forward if he was going to get to her before Earl did.

Kelly though was starting to think that leaving all the clutter of the clothing department may have been a mistake, since while in amongst the various clothing racks and displays she had been all but invisible but now her pursuers could spot her a lot more easily and if they did she really didn't have anywhere to hide.

Trying to stifle the growing sense of panic at her potential misstep Kelly kept moving heading now to the far side of the grocery department.

At first she wasn't really sure what it was she was looking for, especially when she came to the end of the aisle and found herself looking at nothing but empty meat display cases, but off to her left found potential salvation in the form of a partially open door to her that had to lead somewhere.

Knowing she could neither stay where she was or go back the way she came and clearly running out of room in front of her, Kelly did the only thing she could think of and headed for the open door. She didn't know where it led but wherever it did go had to be better than where she was right now.

Kevin had moved back to the open door to peek out after the group of arrivals had seemed to move off to the other side of the store which was just fine with him. Hopefully with a little luck he could just stay right here and wait for them to leave. Unfortunately his luck as usual didn't hold since it wasn't long 'til he heard shouting and the three guys started calling out to each other, ease dropping on their conversation it seemed that the girl had broken loose and was on the run. Well good for her, he thought with a shrug, just as long as she didn't come this way. After all he had enough problems to deal with right now.

Kevin decided to stay near the door in an attempt to see and hear whatever he could until he saw movement off to his left.