The rest of the drive went by smoothly. Sage slept for a great portion of it. When she woke, Relle and Madd were deep into some card game.
"I won!" Exclaimed Relle laying her cards on the table.
Madd leaned over and looked them over. "No, you didn't, that's worth ten," he laid his own hand down. "I won." He gave a small arrogant smile before grabbing the pile of quarters that sat on the table.
"No fair," Relle said looking at both of their hands. "You said that jokers are-"
"I've never played with jokers, you forgot to take them out of the deck before you shuffled," he said.
"Fine, then let's replay. I'll take them out this time," Relle said.
They had now been on the road for a few hours and Madd was growing increasingly more annoying with every poorly explained game that they played. Relle was about to make him re-explain the rules to the game when she noticed buildings out her window.
The sprawl of suburban homes and shopping centers covered the once-desolate land. Relle watched as they passed a car dealership as well as a strip mall. Not a single light was on.
It was only mid-day but even the lights inside the buildings were off. Fear gripped her chest. What if Madd was right and people were fighting each other for supplies.
Arlo pulled the RV into the parking lot of a Walmart. The engine turned off and Cedar walked into the back.
"Did you have fun up there?" Relle asked her little brother.
"Yeah, I navigated us here," he said rather proudly. "Do you know where mom and dad would be? Arlo wanted to stop here but he said that he could drop us off anywhere in town."
"Right," Relle said. She hadn't quite thought about where in Billings they would go, only that they would go to the city. "You stay with Sage in here while I go in with Arlo. I'll talk to him about where he should drop us off, alright?"
"I wanna go in there too," Cedar said.
"No, you don't," Madd said suddenly as he got up. Cedar looks startled by him, as if he hadn't noticed the man sitting across from his sister.
"You're the sleeping man," Cedar said.
Madd smirked, "very perceptive, I'm Madd."
"I'm Cedar," Cedar replied. "And I do want to go with you guys into the store. What if I see something I need?"
"Please just wait here, Cedar," Relle said. "Sage needs someone here with her."
"Not to mention, Arlo and I need someone to watch over the RV for us." Madd added. "You seem like just the man for the job. What'cha think?"
Cedar thought about it for a moment, "alright." Relle was impressed by how easily he agreed to Madd's offer.
Relle and Madd met Arlo outside in the parking lot. Several other cars sat scattered around. Most of them looked as though they had been abandoned.
From what Relle could see there was no one around but the people she had come with. The strange silence made her feel uncomfortable as they walked towards the building.
"Where is everyone?" Relle asked as they walked into the building.
"From what I've seen, the cities that were not destroyed with bombs were destroyed from within. Without power, fights for food and water happened." Arlo said matter-of-factly.
Madd gave a small nod to Relle as if to say, 'I told you so'.
"Right," Relle said gazing around the Walmart they just stepped into.
The front doors had been broken in through. Even from just the entrance, Relle could see that most of the store had been wiped out. The food isles were empty, clothing and toiletries littered the floor.
Relle couldn't imagine what had happened here. She felt a shiver run down her spine as she gazed around at the destroyed store.
"If all the food's been taken, what are we here for?" Relle asked.
Arlo walked confidently across the store, through the dark isles of a once-clean store.
"Most people clear out the food, water, guns, and medicine," Madd explained for Arlo. "But we're not interested in that stuff. Whenever we resupply, we look for things that we might be able to trade."
"What do you mean?"
"The few people we have encountered haven't been too friendly. It's easier to deal with hostile people if you have something they want. We might find a bunch of sunscreens here, while in Nebraska maybe sunscreen is hard to find." Madd explained casually. "Having items to trade is really how we've made it this far."
Arlo walked straight to the men's clothing section and grabbed all the packs of socks that were left on the shelf. Along with the socks he grabbed underwear and whatever sweatshirts were left.
"I'm surprised there were any of those at all," Relle said as Arlo piled the last few sweatshirts into his bag.
"People are usually more focused on food and whatnot. Surprisingly, not everyone thinks about fresh underwear," Madd noted.
"Many people thought the power outages wouldn't last," Arlo added. "Often people didn't plan to be living without electricity and water."
Relle followed Madd and Arlo around the store. In addition to the clothing, Arlo grabbed rope, matches, an assortment of candles and soap. Relle walked behind them as they walked through the dark store.
She didn't like the feeling of being in the deserted space. Not a single light was on. The small skylights provided the only light that came into the building.
"I was wondering," Relle said, walking quicker to catch up with them. "Where did you plan on dropping me off...I mean I don't know Billings well and I'm not sure where would be safest for my siblings and I to go."
Arlo looked back towards Relle. "I thought you said your parents are here."
"Well, they are, or they were...I'm not sure. If they are here, I'm not sure where they are," Relle said. She hadn't noticed but her hand slipped into her pocket to touch the folded letter that sat within it.
"We'll drive through town and find a good place for you to go. There are still good people in the world," Arlo said as he continued walking.
Madd gave a small, irritated groan at his father's comment about 'good people'.
Just as Relle took a step forward, she felt a cold hand grasp her shoulder. She spun around to face a man with bloodshot eyes and a terrible complexion. The stranger grabbed both her shoulders.
Without thinking she punched him in the nose and wriggled out of his grasp. The man gasped but recovered quickly and grabbed ahold of Relle's arms tightly.
"I'm not gonna hurt you," he murmured. His breath smelt rancid.
She tried to get out of his grasp again, but this time he held her harder. Before she could think of anything to do, Arlo pulled her away from the stranger and pointed his gun at his face.
"How many of you are in here?" Arlo asked.
"Just me...just me..."
"That's a lie, how many?" Arlo kept the gun pointed at the man's head.
"Four...four of us..."
"We're on our way out, but if you bother my friend again, I won't give you a second chance," Arlo placed the handgun back into his belt. The stranger slinked away into the darkness.
"Th-thank you," Relle said, staring in the direction the strange man had gone. She felt herself tremble.
"Are you alright?" Arlo asked.
"I'm...fine," she said, struggling for words. She hadn't even heard the stranger creep up behind her. She shivered to think that there were three more men like him in the store. "What is he doing in here?"
Arlo shrugged.
"The world ended," Madd looked at Relle. "Not everyone handled it all too well. They are most likely here looking for food, booze, anything, and they saw you."
"He looked so..." she trailed off because she couldn't think of any words to describe him. "...desperate."
"Everyone is desperate," Madd said rather solemnly as they made their way out of the building.
Arlo had a new supply of trading goods and Relle had a new fear. Perhaps she stood a chance protecting herself, but with Cedar and Sage, there was no way she could keep them both safe.
As they walked back to the RV, Relle glanced up at Arlo. "Is...what we saw in there, is that how everywhere is?" She was suddenly worried that coming down to Billings wasn't such a good idea. If strange men like that were commonplace here, then she liked her odds on the farm a lot better.
"Bad people are everywhere," Arlo said. "But so are good people."
"But is Billings safe for Cedar and Sage?" She stopped walking towards the RV.
For the first time since she met him Arlo looked unsure. Madd shot a glance at his father and then back toward Relle.
"Well, what was your plan when you came down here?" Madd asked.
"I, well...I didn't have a plan," she said honestly. "I just needed to leave the farmhouse...we never would have lasted the winter...but this, here...maybe my chances there were better."
She wanted to cry. She wanted to break down and let someone else figure out what she should do. Relle wanted anything but to make another hard decision.
Madd looked at her without sympathy, he looked merely bored by her distress. Arlo, on the other hand, looked a bit more sympathetic.
"Why don't you just come with us," Arlo said gently. "We're headed to a community in Arizona. I'm sure they would welcome more hands."
Madd glanced over to his father with an expression that Relle couldn't read.
"I...I don't know...I mean," she thought about it for a moment. "I suppose this is my best option."
She didn't like the idea of wandering the streets looking for her parents who were most likely not even there. It would be best to get Cedar and Sage someplace safe.
Arlo nodded. "You worked on a farm, are you a skilled farmhand?"
"Y-yes," Relle said slowly.
"Can you cultivate land?"
"Yes."
"Can you shoot a gun?"
"Yes," Relle said. Hunting was an important part of growing up with her family.
Arlo gave a swift nod.