Dead Hunger II: The Gem Cardoza Chronicle by Eric A. Shelman Page A

vehicles and loaded it into the kitchenette.  We knew that our next visit had to be to a furniture store or a Wal-Mart to get beds and bedding.  We needed to have some kind of comfort if we were to live here for the long haul.
    Flex finished pushing his broom to the wall, scooped up the sweeping compound with a wide shovel and dumped it into a 55 gallon drum.   I walked up behind him and dumped my dustpan in as well and he dropped the lid back on.
    “We need a furniture run,” I said.  “Mama needs a bed.”
    “Oh, mama does, does she?”
    “When mama’s happy . . .”
    “I know, I know.  Should we get a Select Comfort?”
    I punched him.  “Fuck that.  Whatever firmness I like, you’ll have to live with.”
    “Okay,” he said, looking around as he threw his arm over my shoulder.  “Let’s see if the GPS can tell us where we can find what we need.”
    Hemp walked up with Charlie and Max.  Cynthia sat  at a picnic table set up on the other side of the office exterior playing checkers with the girls, who were ganging up on her, and cheating, as far as I could tell.  She didn’t seem to mind.
    The GPS was charged, so Flex took it out of the Suburban and stood directly beneath one of the large skylights.  He fired it up and it located the satellites in less than a minute.
    “Navigate to shopping.  See if you find furniture stores,” I said.
    Flex punched some buttons, got to the right menu and hit the furniture stores category.
    He raised his eyebrows.  “Bang, baby!  I got it.  Here. Alabama Beds & Furniture.  In Center Point.”
    “How far?” I asked.
    “4.6 miles.  A hop, skip and a jump.”
    I actually got goosebumps.  “Flexy, we’re going to sleep in a new bed tonight,” I sang.
    “Yeah, with an audience,” he said, smiling.
    “Next on the list is building sleeping quarters.  Steel, insulation and drywall.”  I smiled up at him and he kissed me.  I kissed him back.  “Heavy insulation and thick soundproofing.”
    “The apocalypse hasn’t really affected your sex drive, has it?” he chided.
    “Not so much,” I said.  “How many of us should go, you think?”
    “We’re moving furniture, so how about you, me and the guys.”
    “I don’t move furniture.  Friends don’t ask friends to help them move furniture.”
    “You’re coming strictly for firepower.”
    “Now you’re talking.  Let’s assemble the troops.  I’m thinking an ammo stop along the way.  If we pass a gun shop we’re in.”
    Flex took my arm.  “Gem,” he said.  “There’s not very many of us, are there?”
    “I don’t think so, baby.”
    “Are we just biding our time?”
    “Don’t talk like that, Flex.”
    “I mean, really.  Unless this shit just peters out and these things fall over and don’t get back up, we’re doing all this for nothing.  With this ratio, I don’t see how we’ll ever kill them all.”
    I heard him, I understood him.  I could not go there.
    “Listen to me,” I said, taking both of his huge hands in mine.  “Every minute I have with you is a minute of pleasure on this earth, and the forces I have to face to get that minute are worth facing if I get even one more.”
    I pulled his face down to mine and I kissed him again.  “So please, give me no defeatist crap, Flex Sheridan.  I’d face Martians, vampires, werewolves, and yes, even zombies to spend that next minute with you.  And you’d better feel the same about me.  We didn’t deal the hand but we have to play the cards we have.  Now shut up and let’s go get me a bed.”
    He laughed out loud and did what I said.
     
    *****
     
    Before hitting the road we loaded up more full m agazines for the K7s mounted on the Suburban.  We hadn’t fixed the no-kill zone directly in front of the hood yet, but we figured we’d be able to handle anything we might run into with the four of us.
    It was pretty clear that Charlie didn’t like being left behind, but we needed someone with weapons ability