Part 15: May 22 - Back to the Superstore

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The bus and trailer finally pulled up to the Shop Smart store. Carl stepped off and watched the children playing. The children were running around having fun. They had escaped a very harsh reality for a short while, and their only concern at this time was showing each other the things they had taken from the store. They were having fun just being kids for a while. Seeing the children so relaxed and scampering around in the store parking lot brought a sad smile to Carl’s lips. They had no idea of the fate they had escaped—the fate that the children in South Bend had barely escaped.

Nancy looked quizzically at Carl’s face and asked, “What happened? I thought you would be here sooner.”

Carl continued to watch the children, then replied, “I’ll tell you later. Let’s get the children on the bus and get moving.” He gave Nancy a lopsided, sad smile.

Nancy studied his grave face, then turned and hurried the children onto the bus without further questions.

Tim and Sam helped Don, Olivia, and the children load the supplies they had collected into the back of the bus. As soon as everyone and everything had been loaded, they all headed back to the campus. The children were excited about showing their friends the items they had collected and shared the things they got. Sam listened as the children talked about how cool it had been to take anything they wanted without having to pay for it.

“I was going to ask my dad for this for my birthday. It’s the latest version, a 12.6.” The boy showed his friend the electronic game console he had stuffed in his bag.

His friend looked at the device. “But what good is it? You have to have the WWN to download the games to it.”

“When the net comes back up, we can both use it.”

Sam heard a stubborn defiance in the boy’s voice—his need to cling to the belief that everything would return to normal.

“When the net comes back up you can come to my house and we’ll download that new game we wanted to play.”

Sam turned away from the conversation. Poor kid thinks this will all go away and we’ll go back to normal. She stared morosely out the window. How many of these kids held onto the delusion that this nightmare would go away?

The adults sat up front near Carl as he drove back to the campus. Sam and Tim related the day’s events to the other adults. They told the others about the teens and how Emily had collected the children and hid them from those teens. As Tim described what they had observed of the teens’ behavior, the adults’ light-hearted mood faded under the shadow of this dark news.

After a few silent moments, Nancy asked, “Where are the children from South Bend now?”

“The hospital staff set them up in one wing of the hospital. They’re checking the children over, trying to calm them down, and trying to make them feel safe,” Sam answered. “They’ve seen a great deal of violence in the last 36 hours. Some of those children may carry the emotional scars for the rest of their lives.”

“We need to come up with a security plan,” Don stated.

“No argument there. I want to check out the campus security station and inventory what’s on hand,” Carl stated. “I think I recognized the Elmwood sheriff at the hospital. I want to talk to him and find out what he plans to do.”

“Should we cancel taking the rest of the children to the store today?” Nancy asked.

Sam made eye contact with Carl in the overhead mirror, then shrugged. “I don’t think we’re in any danger from those teens at this time. They’d have to walk to get here, and until they run out of food in South Bend they won’t have any reason to leave.”

“What we will do is take measures to be extra careful,” Carl stated. “Myself, Sam, and Tim will keep guard with the rifles from now on. I’m also going to collect all the firearms and ammunition from that store and cache the equipment in strategic locations. In fact, I’m going to take some to the hospital so the staff there will have protection. Then we’ll all sit down and start to plan what to do next.”

Sam spent the rest of the trip back to the campus listening to the children chatter about the things they had collected. She could still picture the South Bend children huddled under counters and in corners in that shop, their eyes full of terror. She turned in her seat and watched the children as they continued to go through their bags.

As soon as they arrived at the campus and unloaded the horses, they dropped the first group of children off and quickly loaded the next group, then headed back to the store.