Sometimes We Ran (Book 1) by Stephen Drivick Page B

something out. I found some pancake mix and added a little water, and then cooked them on the camp stove. Cool, huh.?”
    Cool, indeed. Claire was turning out to be a great asset to our team. “Sorry there’s no syrup. I couldn’t find any that wasn’t spoiled. All the syrup smelled pretty bad,” she said, as she dug into her own stack.
    “They’re great. A little raw, but not bad,” I answered, shoving silver-dollar-sized pancakes into my mouth.
    “Glad you like them. I thought we needed a good breakfast. My next batch will have chocolate chips.”
    I watched as Claire started to prepare the new batch of pancakes. She carefully mixed the chocolate chips, the pancake mix, and water into a discarded plastic container. Then she poured the soupy mixture on her improvised grill. As they solidified, Claire used a spatula to flip them, blowing wisps of hair out of her face at the same time. It was downright adorable. When the world was normal, she must have been a real heart breaker at her college. We had only been together for a couple of days, but I was beginning to really like having her around. Besides, an apocalypse is much more fun when you have a friend.
    Claire and I sat in a busted-up store at the end of the world and ate chocolate chip pancakes. Even though the rest of the world was gone, we felt like the luckiest people in the world.
    After our bellies were full, Claire asked her usual question. “What’s the plan, Tiger?”
    I had just about given up on her calling me “Tiger.” The nickname had stuck. “Well, first we’ll get a few supplies together and fill our backpacks just in case we have to bug out. Then, we can check out the rest of the mall. I saw an exercise place a few doors down. They may have showers where we can take a bath.”
    “Sounds good,” Claire said, her eyes sparkling. She really was a morning person.
    We gathered food and bottled water and filled up our backpacks. We chose things that would keep, like canned food and other dry packed foods. We made sure we found some oatmeal cream pies as well. Claire threw in some cans of her citrus soda and some pancake mix. I was tempted to bring a beer or two, but I decided that it wasn’t essential to survival. Between our two backpacks, and with some careful rationing, we had about two to three weeks of food and water.
    Next, we moved to pharmaceuticals and other assorted toiletries. I refilled my first-aid kit with aspirin and other pain-killers from the box I filled the day before. I also added a tube of antibiotic ointment, some assorted bandages, and other medicines that might help us on the road. I also added a small scissor and tweezers set to my kit as well. I assembled a first-aid kit for Claire. It was good to have redundant supplies in case we got separated. I also grabbed a little bottle of bleach for water purification.
    I refilled my toiletries bag with travel-sized toothpaste, shampoo, soap, and some other assorted odds and ends. Claire filled up her own bag as well. I knew there were some other personal things she probably needed to pack.
    “Uh, Claire, you may want to pack some ‘lady things’ to take along. I mean, I don’t know what your cycle is, or anything …” I stammered like an awkward sixteen-year-old.
    She found it very amusing. “Already taken care of John.”
    Claire then asked about toilet paper. “Only one roll? Is that going to be enough?” Strangely, finding toilet paper during a zombie apocalypse was not a problem. It seemed the U.S.A had an enormous supply of the stuff. Honestly, in the first few weeks of the outbreak, me and my fellow survivors were always finding tons of toilet paper. I swear, for every three trucks we raided, one was usually filled to the brim with every brand imaginable.
    “Nah, we’ll be fine. Toilet paper is one thing in good supply.” She tossed the extra rolls she had packed back into the aisles of the store.
    We then went shopping in the sporting goods section. Of all