Read Online The Borrowed World: A Novel of Post-Apocalyptic Collapse by Franklin Horton - Free Book Online Page B

one.”
    “I don’t either,” I said.
    “Why?” Randi asked.
    “Boy scout,” Gary said simply.  “I like to be prepared.”
    “I’m just paranoid,” I said.
    “I can appreciate that,” Randi said.  “Remember, it’s not paranoia if people really are out to get you.”
    Gary retrieved his backpack and suitcase and set about doing the same thing I was.
    I loosened the expansion straps on my backpack to let it accept more cargo.  From my suitcase, I took my toiletries kit but left my shampoo and shaving items in there.  I’d never cared much for shaving and it wasn’t a priority now.  I took all the spare socks and underwear I had, a spare pair of pants, t-shirt, and the rain shell that I carried in there in case the weather turned nasty during a trip.  After sealing up my pack, I closed the suitcase and returned it to the trunk.
    “Did you guys thin down your load?” I asked the women.
    All I saw was shaking heads.  I raised an eyebrow.
    “Our suitcases have wheels,” Rebecca said.  “Randi and I are just going to pull ours for now.  If they get too heavy, we can always throw stuff out later.”
    “Is there anything from the car we might need?” Gary asked, preparing to lock up.
    “The policy requires that all the vehicles carry emergency kits in the trunk,” Alice said. 
    “Policy, again,” I muttered, rolling my eyes.
    “Sometimes policy can be a good thing,” Alice replied.
    I looked in the trunk and found a first-aid kit still sealed in shrink wrap and stuffed it inside my pack.  There was also a plastic box about the size of a tool kit.  Inside was a flashlight.  I tried it and got a weak yellow glow from the bulb.  Although I had a better flashlight and a headlamp in my pack, I stuck this flashlight in there, too.  I also got a pair of cyalume light sticks, two highway flares, and a thin plastic poncho from the box.  All of it went into the pack.
    “Why are you carrying all that crap with you?” Rebecca asked.   “We’re heading to a hotel.”
    She was clearly unaware of how potentially serious things were becoming, and I was becoming more and more aggravated with people not getting the big picture.
    “Didn’t seeing Lois get shot make it clear to you that things are not the same anymore?” I asked.  “You may think that was an exception, but I would bet you anything that chaos and violence will become the rule.  This is not the same world you woke up to yesterday.  You might as well accept it now, otherwise the next few weeks are going to be really hard for you.”
    Rebecca stared back at me coldly, tears welling in her eyes.
    “You don’t need to talk to her like that, Jim,” Alice said, her voice a little too much like a schoolteacher for my taste.  “None of us are children here.”
    “Then quit thinking like children,” I said.  “I’m a little concerned that you all aren’t grasping the seriousness of the situation.”
    “Just because we don’t choose to respond in the same way you do does not mean that we are not aware of how serious this is,” Alice said.  “People have to deal with things in their own way.”
    “As long as they deal with them,” I said.  “Ignoring the circumstance is not dealing with things.”
    “You are so argumentative,” Alice said.  “Why do you have to be this way?  You’re this way all the time.  Do you just hate people?  Remember there’s no ‘I’ in team.”
    “Yeah,” I said, “but there is an ‘I’ in bitch and that’s what she’s acting like.”
    I gave up there.  There was no use continuing.  They would either wake up or not.  I couldn’t make them.  I didn’t really give a shit whether they got it or not, my only concern was getting home to my family.  And maybe I did hate people, after all.
    I slung my pack over my shoulder and headed off down the road.  It felt good to be using my muscles and burning off some of the stress of the day.  I was an avid hiker and backpacker and