Prepper's Sacrifice Read Online Free PDF Page B

who were on the plane, and their families.’
    Filled with panic himself, Stewart wasn’t sure how to comfort her. ‘They’re gonna find them—’
    ‘Find them? Sure, they’ll find them alright, but what about all the people they came in contact with? It’s been over three days now since that plane landed here. Who knows how many of them started to show symptoms and shrugged it off as the common cold, only to pass it on to more people than they can count on their fingers and toes?’
    ‘The average is eight days, Anne. So in all likelihood, even if a few of them are infected, they won’t be passing it on to anyone.’
    ‘Screw averages. I can’t… I just can’t… This is too much.’
    She broke down in her husband’s arms and Stewart held onto her for dear life. The day really hadn’t gone in his wife’s favor and this news just added fuel to the fire. While holding her, all Stewart could think about was how bad things could get and how there was nothing he could do about it. Sure, he had a stockpile. Sure, he didn’t mind staying home. But Anne, she was outgoing. She loved work. She wouldn’t like being locked away twenty-four hours a day with him and his stockpile.

 
    Chapter 5
     
    Over the next few weeks, the virus wreaked havoc on Fort Lauderdale. One case here, another there and of course, more false alarms than one should have to deal with; it seemed as if no one was safe. With Fort Lauderdale International hospital being the main treatment center for Florida Ebola victims, Stewart and his wife felt as though staying home was the only option they had. In fact, their last trip out of their home was focused on getting all the things they believed they still needed. The grocery store and the hardware store were the only two stops they had made. Stewart had joked about wearing the hazmat suits he had bought online. On this final trip out of the confines of their home, it seemed as though everyone had heard that the grocery store cut their prices in half. Of course, this was not the case. Quite the contrary and Stewart spotted a few items with prices he was sure went up by a minimum of fifty percent. The shelves were empty, the register lines were long, parking spaces were a dime a dozen and the panic was evident. Every cough and sneeze led to scorned looks and whispers.
    Anne had cashed in all her vacation days, something that her boss wasn’t necessarily happy about, considering the most of his employees were fighting for excuses to stay home. However, since Anne had never—in the five years she had been working for the company—taken a vacation, there was no saying ‘no.' At home, she occupied herself by dedicating her time to nurturing her vegetable garden.
     
    ***
     
    ‘I’m gonna head inside and get a drink. Want something?’
    Stewart stuck the shovel into the ground and caught his breath. ‘Absolutely,’ he said, nodding profusely.
    He retrieved the small towel he had so neatly tucked into his back pocket and swept it across his face. ‘Damn it,’ he sighed to himself, ‘how on earth do people enjoy going to the gym?’
    He had been outside for a mere hour, shoveling away at the ground with the intention of digging holes deep enough to hold the trash they’d surely accumulate over the coming weeks. Though his wife had voiced her opinion on how ridiculous she found the idea, Stewart knew it was a necessity. Things were nowhere as bad as they could be. But with delays in trash pickup due to strikes and possible illnesses—though no one would confirm this detail—Stewart and Anne had seen a significant increase in the amount of trash their home housed on a biweekly basis.
    ‘Here you go, honey.’ Anne handed her husband a tall glass of lemonade with about a half a tray of ice cubes.
    ‘You’re the best,’ he replied, carefully retrieving the glass from her hand. Without pausing to firmly grasp the glass, he tilted it up and took a swig before losing his grip and spilling the