EMP Catastrophe | Book 1 | Erupting Trouble Hamilton, Grace (read book .txt) 📖

store was empty. Moving on to the next larger convenience store, he found it to be in a similar state. Dark and empty. Looking around, he felt his hope crumble within him. All of the gas stations seemed abandoned and closed up. Nothing was open. No people walked around the parking lots, either. No frustrated drivers stood over the hoods of their cars. Matthew was alone.

It made sense. Matthew didn’t know why he’d gotten his hopes up. It had been a miracle the other gas stations they’d visited had been open in the first place. It made sense that many owners had called it quits, locked up their businesses, and most likely gone to wait out the power outage at home. He put his hands on his hips, breathing heavily from his power-walk, and peered at the large Walmart sign rising in the distance.

He couldn’t see the Walmart building from this point at the bottom of the exit, but he assumed the sign was, most likely, close to the store. He could start walking there, but how much time would it take? He’d already been away from David for at least an hour, and taking a detour to the Walmart would take way more time than he’d like. Plus, what if he showed up and found the store ransacked by others, like the clinic had been? Most people would go there first if they needed something. If he went there, he might be putting himself in danger. He might run into another Jade or Cheese, the kinds of selfish people who wanted to take from him instead of help him. There was no way he could take that chance and lose all his supplies as well as spend more time away from his father.

The store was most likely closed, too. He’d be facing the same dark interiors, the same locked doors. It seemed like a waste of valuable time to walk all the way there, especially when David remained vulnerable and alone on the side of the road. The longer he was away from his father, the worse David might get.

“What should I do?” Matthew asked out loud to the empty parking lot. He thought of his wife and imagined speaking with her. Practical, his wife. Always knew what to do. Always knew how to guide him in the right direction.

Lots of big rocks around here, she whispered in his mind.

Matthew drew in a deep breath and looked down. Boulders ranging from the size of his fist to the size of his head surrounded the aspen trees growing in a strip of grass next to the gas station. It was probably an attempt to combat the acres of concrete and provide a place for people to walk their dogs or take a breather from their cars and trucks. A tiny piece of nature in the swaths of gasoline pumps. He walked over to the grass and picked one of the smaller rocks up. Weighing it in his hands, he thought of the smashed windows of the clinic. Before, he’d thought looters had broken into the pharmacy to steal everything for their own benefit, but maybe the reason the windows had been smashed in was because of desperate people like him, doing whatever it took to get what they needed for their loved ones.

Are you really going to do this? Kathleen asked him.

“Yes,” Matthew said out loud and walked over to the gas station. He double-checked to see if anyone was watching him, but he was still alone. For a moment, shame filled him. Breaking into the gas station would be a crime, but he couldn’t simply let his father suffer and die on the highway. He had to do something.

He cocked his arm back, and threw the rock into the window like lobbing a fastball. The rock hit the glass hard, but the glass wobbled at the impact and didn’t break. The rock hit the concrete.

“You’re kidding me,” Matthew breathed out and he suddenly felt like an idiot. Of course, the glass would be stronger than the average pane. Gas stations were used to break-ins and vandalism. Of course they’d use something that wouldn’t just shatter under pressure.

Don’t be like Dev, Matthew thought. It’s not like it is in the movies. He fetched the rock and hefted it again in his hands, wondering if he should try a second time. Maybe he should get a bigger rock and swing it into the window like he would throw a bowling ball. He didn’t think the result would be any different. He wracked his brain trying to think of what he should do.

Didn’t you bring something along in your bag? Kathleen asked in that snarky tone that told him she knew he’d forgotten something, like that time when he complained that he couldn’t find his wallet and she pointed out that it was sitting on the kitchen table, and hadn’t he actually looked before asking her? Use your eyes, Matt.

The gun. He bit his lip and pulled his backpack off, opening it up and pulling out Jade’s .45. The pistol felt unnatural in his hands. He had little to no experience with guns, really he’d only had the quick lessons David had walked him through once upon a time. Kathleen had mentioned she’d gotten shooting lessons from her father, but Matthew never felt the inclination to learn how to use a weapon like this. He never thought he’d need to. He didn’t particularly find joy in hunting, and his father enjoyed fishing more than heading out into the forest to look for elk. He’d never found excitement in pulling a trigger or shooting targets for fun.

Now, he surveyed the gas station door, wondering if the glass was bullet-proof. If it was, he’d have to travel to the Walmart. No way was he going to waste bullets trying to shoot through every window of every gas station. But he had to try at least once. The owners probably had insurance, and if he