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SMNTY Fiction: Terminus, Part 2 (Chapter 5) · Stuff Mom Never Told You

0:05
Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. I'm welcome to stuff
0:07
Speaker 1: I've ever told you a protection of iHeartRadio, and welcome
0:19
Speaker 1: to another edition of Sminty Fiction, which is a once
0:22
Speaker 1: a month thing that we do. It has slightly I
0:26
Speaker 1: always say slightly, it has more soundscaping. I would say
0:29
Speaker 1: it's like not over the top, but it is definitely
0:32
Speaker 1: more soundscaping than we normally have. It is an ongoing
0:36
Speaker 1: thing that we do. This is Terminus Part two, as
0:41
Speaker 1: the title was just, is part two of the Terminus trilogy,
0:45
Speaker 1: which is a thing that I wrote during National Novel
0:48
Speaker 1: Writing months starting in twenty ten.
0:50
Speaker 2: Did you know there's a whole controversy happening at no
0:53
Speaker 2: Pentley Nano Rimo actually hires people and they all got
0:56
Speaker 2: laid off or something like that. They're not doing well.
1:00
Speaker 3: Sorry, this was many years ago for me, but yeah,
1:11
Speaker 3: I guess.
1:11
Speaker 1: That's to say this is an episode of snacks. I
1:16
Speaker 1: must have been in this particular space, but I none
1:20
Speaker 1: of them are currently sponsors, but a lot of brands
1:24
Speaker 1: are mentioned, so there's that. The content warning just in general,
1:31
Speaker 1: there's disease, death, end of the world stuff, hunger for sure,
1:38
Speaker 1: Hence the importance of snacks. Yeah, so quick recap. So
1:48
Speaker 1: the world is ending because basically people can't have children
1:52
Speaker 1: anymore because of this disease. And our main character, Tilda,
1:58
Speaker 1: has escaped from the government entity and religious entity that
2:03
Speaker 1: rose in the collapse of civilization because she didn't want
2:09
Speaker 1: to lose him to this government entity. They are constantly
2:15
Speaker 1: on the run. They're constantly being hunted. She discovers that
2:19
Speaker 1: there is a vaccine, but these entities destroyed it. They
2:23
Speaker 1: saved one. Because Madison is the grandson of the leaders
2:30
Speaker 1: of this religious organization, she is able to broadcast about
2:35
Speaker 1: what they did, what happened. Madison gets the vaccine. They
2:38
Speaker 1: are on the run. There's a man on the horse.
2:40
Speaker 1: We still don't know what's going on with him. Still
2:43
Speaker 1: still don't I know. I really I was pulling this along.
2:49
Speaker 1: It's cold. They are running out of resources. They found
2:53
Speaker 1: a place to stay that had a dead body and
2:57
Speaker 1: the phone ring and terrified of phones, they did not
3:02
Speaker 1: answer it. They fled on a horse that they did steal.
3:06
Speaker 1: And then over the intercom that the government has installed
3:13
Speaker 1: to put out their messages, she gets a direct message
3:19
Speaker 1: from the leader of the resistance, who she in her
3:22
Speaker 1: view betrayed her, asking her to come back to Washington, DC.
3:27
Speaker 1: So that is where we are. What are they going
3:31
Speaker 1: to do? Well? Let us find out and get into
3:36
Speaker 1: the fiction. Tilda glanced around, uneasy, her skin crawled with indecision.
3:55
Speaker 1: What do we do, Madison whispered? Tilda shook her head days.
4:00
Speaker 1: This was the second time she'd gotten a direct message
4:03
Speaker 1: over the state broadcast system, demanding she'd go somewhere, that
4:07
Speaker 1: we could win this. She didn't trust Mark as simple
4:12
Speaker 1: as that. She hadn't trusted him before, and her instincts
4:15
Speaker 1: had turned out to be correct. Mark had been willing
4:19
Speaker 1: to use Madison as a bargaining chip to protect his
4:21
Speaker 1: men and secure a vaccine he hadn't even been sure
4:25
Speaker 1: had existed. He'd taken Tilda and her child to Chicago
4:29
Speaker 1: against their will. Despite this, she found herself unable to
4:34
Speaker 1: despise him for it. Everything he'd done, he'd done with
4:39
Speaker 1: his people and the greater good. As much as Tilda
4:42
Speaker 1: detested that phrase in mind, she didn't like it, but
4:45
Speaker 1: couldn't say she wouldn't do something similar to protect Madison.
4:50
Speaker 1: An image of the man she'd shot in the underground
4:52
Speaker 1: laboratory flashed in her mind. She tightened her grip on
4:56
Speaker 1: the reins and gave them a flick scout could apparently
5:00
Speaker 1: since their tenseness, and started down the road again without hesitation.
5:06
Speaker 1: Did the man with the horse work for the resistance?
5:08
Speaker 1: Were they out looking for them too? And as pressing
5:11
Speaker 1: as those questions were, they were distractions from the real
5:14
Speaker 1: one Tilda faced. Did she trust Mark? And even if
5:20
Speaker 1: she did, did helping secure the future for our children?
5:24
Speaker 1: As Mark put it, warn't putting Madison at risk? Should
5:28
Speaker 1: they turn around and head back into the equation of
5:30
Speaker 1: unknown variables that were converging in the very place they'd
5:34
Speaker 1: nearly lost their lives fleeing DC? Tilda didn't know her
5:39
Speaker 1: instincts or could it be her fear? And fear alone
5:43
Speaker 1: told her to stay away, to press on and find
5:46
Speaker 1: what safety they could as far away from DC as possible.
5:51
Speaker 1: Where fear and instinct did the same thing. It boiled
5:55
Speaker 1: down to staying alive, didn't it? She didn't owe them
5:58
Speaker 1: a damn thing, That was one thing she knew with certainty.
6:04
Speaker 1: She pushed onward, aware that Madison was waiting for her answer.
6:09
Speaker 1: The question then became why did they need her and Madison?
6:13
Speaker 1: Mark had been sure to mention Madison back in DC.
6:17
Speaker 1: She assumed they could have little use for her. It
6:20
Speaker 1: was Madison they wanted, or more specifically, his newly minted
6:25
Speaker 1: immunized blood. Madison had expressed his desire to help people
6:30
Speaker 1: if he could, but Tilda wasn't sure what that would entail,
6:34
Speaker 1: yet another unknown that made her nervous. No, she decided,
6:40
Speaker 1: too many unknowns without knowing more. They'd just be venturing
6:43
Speaker 1: into enemy territory with no escape plan. And while Mark
6:48
Speaker 1: and his resistance might be at the consul now arm
6:52
Speaker 1: could take it back, the state could take it back,
6:56
Speaker 1: or a fringe group. It was a power vacuum of
7:00
Speaker 1: holatile situation for the power hungry to try and rest control.
7:05
Speaker 1: We can't go mouse, she whispered, as though someone might
7:09
Speaker 1: be eavesdropping. Not yet, we don't know enough. It's too
7:14
Speaker 1: dangerous right now. She could tell just by how Madison
7:18
Speaker 1: was sitting that he was struggling to accept that answer
7:21
Speaker 1: and the guilt that came along with it. Maybe when
7:25
Speaker 1: things settle down, she offered, hollowly, knowing in her heart
7:30
Speaker 1: that things would never be safe enough. The situation may
7:34
Speaker 1: become more stable, but it would never be truly safe,
7:37
Speaker 1: not in her lifetime, maybe not ever. What was the
7:41
Speaker 1: threshold of acceptable risk that she was willing to incur
7:46
Speaker 1: when it came to Madison. They'd been so constantly in
7:50
Speaker 1: a state of threat that choosing to do something that
7:52
Speaker 1: would jeopardize him even further without the promise of a
7:55
Speaker 1: vaccine or something equivalent did not appeal to her in slight.
8:00
Speaker 1: It went against every bone in her body, every emotion,
8:04
Speaker 1: every fiber of her being. In retrospect, she found it
8:10
Speaker 1: difficult to believe that she'd ventured into arms headquarters the
8:13
Speaker 1: heart of those who hunted her Madison, on the hope
8:16
Speaker 1: that they hadn't destroyed a vaccine she'd only heard tell existed.
8:21
Speaker 1: She'd been desperate, she'd wanted another future for Madison, and
8:28
Speaker 1: was she now copacetic with denying the possibility of that
8:31
Speaker 1: future to other children, other children like Madison, of giving
8:36
Speaker 1: parents like her hope for now? Yes, what good did
8:43
Speaker 1: all the risks she'd gone through that she'd put Madison
8:46
Speaker 1: through do if he was taken into custody by the
8:49
Speaker 1: Resistance or arm or whatever entities sought to control a
8:53
Speaker 1: world spiraling uncontrollably downward and made to live a life
8:58
Speaker 1: of confinement and object to be studied and used for
9:03
Speaker 1: the greater good or harmed in any way. No good
9:08
Speaker 1: at all, Tilda answered to herself, trying to ease the
9:11
Speaker 1: guilt bubbling in her stomach. They had another vaccine, she
9:15
Speaker 1: reminded herself, and more pettily, the resistance had already betrayed
9:20
Speaker 1: her once. They'd already displayed not only how little they
9:26
Speaker 1: cared for her wishes, but how simply it came to
9:28
Speaker 1: them to be Madison as a thing to be used.
9:33
Speaker 1: They'll confind us, Madison asserted, quietly, ominously, they'll be looking
9:38
Speaker 1: for us. Get in line, Tilda muttered. Madison half turned
9:45
Speaker 1: to look at her inquisitively, and Tilda relented. I know,
9:50
Speaker 1: but we can try Mouse. She'd been using his nickname
9:54
Speaker 1: a lot lately. It was softer on her tongue. We've
9:58
Speaker 1: been running from people for you. We've gotten pretty good
10:01
Speaker 1: at it. Madison chuckled, a little, probably more at her
10:05
Speaker 1: inclusion of him as a partner in crime than anything else,
10:08
Speaker 1: or maybe to make her feel better. She knew the
10:11
Speaker 1: guilt that was plaguing him, it plagued her too, But
10:15
Speaker 1: she had the luxury of pinning it on her responsibility
10:18
Speaker 1: to keep Madison safe. It was his blood and his
10:22
Speaker 1: well being. Madison had no such deflection. Traced back to him.
10:29
Speaker 1: He squirmed in the saddle. Thunder rumbled slowly in the distance.
10:35
Speaker 1: Don't I shouldn't I help them?
10:38
Speaker 3: Though?
10:39
Speaker 1: If I can? Isn't that the right thing? Tilda pondered
10:45
Speaker 1: that for a moment, maybe they need to help themselves
10:50
Speaker 1: for once. It was a passive, aggressive answer, and not
10:54
Speaker 1: one that would satisfy her or Madison in the long term.
10:58
Speaker 1: But it was honest. Was the truth? What was she becoming?
11:04
Speaker 1: What was she passing on to Madison? They were shaping
11:09
Speaker 1: the world. Her decisions were impacting the future in a
11:13
Speaker 1: much more significant way than she ever could have imagined.
11:17
Speaker 1: But she did what she always did. She played it off,
11:21
Speaker 1: She ignored it, and kept pressing forward, even though she
11:24
Speaker 1: didn't know where Ford led. Yes, I think so, Tilda said,
11:29
Speaker 1: wondering how Madison understood the events that played out that
11:32
Speaker 1: culminated with them going to Chicago with the Resistance. Did
11:36
Speaker 1: he realize they'd been betrayed, that the Resistance was content
11:39
Speaker 1: to use him as leverage? Do you think that was
11:43
Speaker 1: him on the phone too? A bizarre thought but most
11:47
Speaker 1: likely true, though how he'd known that's where they would
11:51
Speaker 1: be to call it. The fact he'd gotten it to
11:53
Speaker 1: work at all definitely made Til to question the likelihood
11:57
Speaker 1: they'd be able to evade him and his ilk for law.
12:00
Speaker 1: The fog dissipated, the road came into view. Tilda pushed
12:05
Speaker 1: Scout ahead, perhaps more quickly than she should given their
12:08
Speaker 1: water situation, but she couldn't shake the feeling of being chase.
12:12
Speaker 1: Pursued intently, of being observed. Tilda's mind wandered from blood
12:17
Speaker 1: and vaccines to food and water and shelter. How much
12:22
Speaker 1: of her time was spent dwelling on these things? Too much?
12:27
Speaker 1: For sure? What did people think about before this? Tilda
12:32
Speaker 1: felt an odd anxiety at the thought. They continued southward,
12:36
Speaker 1: a sea of unspoken questions between them. Tilda wished they
12:40
Speaker 1: hadn't heard the broadcast. Mountains rolled like blue waves to
12:45
Speaker 1: their left, forest to their right. The sky's hues shifted
12:49
Speaker 1: into a soft blue. Though Tilda was expecting it, they
12:53
Speaker 1: didn't pass another person on the road. It was strange,
12:57
Speaker 1: but somehow it made her feel even more threatened than
13:00
Speaker 1: it had when they were running into the herd. Of
13:02
Speaker 1: folks walking to the north. More and more, Tilda came
13:08
Speaker 1: to the conclusion that visiting her parents was out of
13:10
Speaker 1: the question, but she couldn't shake the idea of it
13:13
Speaker 1: from her mind. She wanted their advice now more than ever.
13:18
Speaker 1: She needed their advice, But all those who were chasing
13:23
Speaker 1: her in Madison would be expecting that. And who's to
13:27
Speaker 1: say her parents wanted anything to do with her anymore?
13:32
Speaker 1: What must they think of her? She couldn't dislodge the
13:38
Speaker 1: image either of her parents meeting Madison. She was proud
13:42
Speaker 1: of him, of his intelligence, his curiosity features. She loved him,
13:48
Speaker 1: and she wanted her parents to love him as she did.
13:53
Speaker 1: It was an image she'd just have to hold in
13:55
Speaker 1: her head, she told herself firmly. If the Resistance was
13:59
Speaker 1: looking for her, and they did their due diligence, they'd
14:02
Speaker 1: have to send people to search for her. At her
14:04
Speaker 1: old home in Atlanta, she wondered if her mother and
14:08
Speaker 1: father were all right after her arm had presumably coerced
14:11
Speaker 1: them into sending her that message of the broadcast system.
14:15
Speaker 1: They continued on their new bearing westward. As the sun
14:18
Speaker 1: moved higher in the sky above them, the temperature warmed,
14:21
Speaker 1: but the warmth seemed very superficial on their already bone
14:25
Speaker 1: deep cold bodies. Tilda wished now that she'd taken the
14:29
Speaker 1: time to search the desk drawers at the office they'd
14:31
Speaker 1: stayed in before they fled that morning. She might have
14:34
Speaker 1: found a map, which would come in handy right now.
14:37
Speaker 1: With their return to a paved road, Tilda had expected
14:41
Speaker 1: to see the migration of people that had led to
14:43
Speaker 1: her nearly fatal decision to cut through the state park,
14:46
Speaker 1: but they'd yet to see anyone. The roads were empty.
14:52
Speaker 1: They passed dilapidated gas station. Tilda guided Scout under the
14:56
Speaker 1: awning that had been mostly reduced to cross beams. She
15:00
Speaker 1: doubted they would find anything of use inside, but it
15:03
Speaker 1: would be irresponsible not to check. She fastened Scout to
15:06
Speaker 1: an exposed metal pipe right outside the glass door patting
15:09
Speaker 1: around the neck. The glass wasn't shattered, but cracked, a
15:13
Speaker 1: good sign that this place might not have necessarily been looted.
15:17
Speaker 1: The newspaper plastered outside the windows made it impossible to
15:20
Speaker 1: tell from the outside. When Tilda pulled out the handle,
15:23
Speaker 1: it didn't budge, it had brusted shut. She sighed in disappointment,
15:28
Speaker 1: jangling the handle fruitlessly. Do we have to break in?
15:34
Speaker 1: Madison rubbed his gloved hands together for warmth, reminiscent of
15:37
Speaker 1: someone's scheming hatching plots. Let's look around, Maybe there's another
15:42
Speaker 1: way in, or a metal bar to use to pry
15:46
Speaker 1: the door open. They circled around the back, where there
15:50
Speaker 1: was indeed another door. It was locked as well, but
15:54
Speaker 1: the entire knob fell off and Tilda twisted it. Tilda
15:57
Speaker 1: reached inside the hole left by the knob, gripped her
16:00
Speaker 1: fingers around the metal rod that had connected the two
16:02
Speaker 1: knobs together, and twisted, pulling it toward her body. At
16:05
Speaker 1: the same time, the white door, stained with rust and mold, gave,
16:11
Speaker 1: practically falling off the hinges. As Tilda swung an outward,
16:14
Speaker 1: nearly losing her footing, an old, rotten wood smell wafted
16:19
Speaker 1: over them, and in unison, they reached up to cover
16:21
Speaker 1: their noses, coughing into their elbows. After regaining her bearings,
16:26
Speaker 1: Tilda edged inside the door, tile painted a sickly green
16:29
Speaker 1: that reflected onto peeling walls, painting the room in an
16:32
Speaker 1: eerie greenish glow. The smell became less pungent, and Tilda
16:37
Speaker 1: tentatively lowered her arm, taking in her surroundings. In the
16:41
Speaker 1: corner was a rusted toilet, the ceramic cracked. Next to
16:45
Speaker 1: it was a sink leaning forward as it pulled free
16:48
Speaker 1: from the wall. Above it was a black paper towel
16:51
Speaker 1: dispenser that looked out of place, far too modern compared
16:54
Speaker 1: to the rest of the room. In the far corner
16:57
Speaker 1: was a dingy mop in a periwinkled blue pail. The
17:00
Speaker 1: opposite wall was blank save for the map of mold
17:03
Speaker 1: and bubbles of air pockets under the paint. There was
17:06
Speaker 1: another door straight across the one they'd entered, that was
17:09
Speaker 1: now hanging by only one hinge. This one looked sturdier.
17:14
Speaker 1: Tilda strode over to it, testing the knob.
17:18
Speaker 2: Locked.
17:20
Speaker 1: This one would not be falling off like the other. Sheepishly,
17:23
Speaker 1: she half turned to Madison, muttering for him to back up.
17:27
Speaker 1: She steadied herself on the balls of her feet, taking
17:29
Speaker 1: a deep breath, and then rammed her shoulder into the door.
17:33
Speaker 1: The impact dazed her. She saw stars, giving her head
17:39
Speaker 1: a heavy shake. She braced herself and tried again. This time,
17:43
Speaker 1: she felt the wood give a little under her weight.
17:46
Speaker 1: Here we go, She hyped herself up third times. The
17:49
Speaker 1: charm ram then immediate bounce back. Nope. She rubbed her arm,
17:56
Speaker 1: the skin tingling, rolled her shoulders glared at the offending wood.
18:01
Speaker 1: This time the door splintered under her weight. Ouch, Tilda
18:06
Speaker 1: exclaimed softly, her hand coming up to creedle her arm.
18:09
Speaker 1: A crack ran down the middle of the pane of wood,
18:12
Speaker 1: splitting it nearly in two. Tilda kicked at the shards
18:15
Speaker 1: of wood, and they clattered to the floor. Gingerly, she
18:18
Speaker 1: reached her hand through the crack, careful not to impale
18:21
Speaker 1: herself on the gigantic wooden tooth left by her mal treatment,
18:25
Speaker 1: her fingers crawling up the wood on the opposite side
18:27
Speaker 1: like a giant spider until they closed around the lock,
18:31
Speaker 1: turning it the other way. The door jerked open with
18:34
Speaker 1: a puff of stale air. Madison coughed behind her. She
18:39
Speaker 1: shouldered open the door, thinking of the ones who had
18:41
Speaker 1: owned this store, who had cared for it, had newspapered
18:45
Speaker 1: it to discourage looting, who had locked it up carefully
18:48
Speaker 1: when the world was ending, when this station could offer
18:51
Speaker 1: them nothing more. The inside was quite bland, a rectangular
18:56
Speaker 1: room with rows and rows of cheap metal shelving. Most
19:00
Speaker 1: of them held nothing but dust, years of it. As
19:03
Speaker 1: a matter of fact. Tilda stalked down the first aisle,
19:08
Speaker 1: cataloging what little remained on the shelves, extension cords, a
19:13
Speaker 1: couple of tubes of pills, chapstick. At the end of
19:17
Speaker 1: the metal shelving was the checkout desk, Lottery tickets and
19:21
Speaker 1: cigarette packages displayed prominently overhead. Outside, Scout whinnied, scuffing her hoofs.
19:29
Speaker 1: Tilda crouched underneath the open counter that typically could be
19:32
Speaker 1: lifted and passed through, but now wooden budge. She re
19:36
Speaker 1: emerged behind the checkout counter. Apart from a thick layer
19:40
Speaker 1: of dust that muffled her footsteps, the tile was free
19:42
Speaker 1: of the debris she'd grown accustomed to seeing in these places.
19:46
Speaker 1: The cigar wrappers and empty pill canisters weren't there. The
19:51
Speaker 1: cash registered drawers were open and empty. Not that money
19:55
Speaker 1: would do her any good these days. Clippings of newspapers
19:58
Speaker 1: detailing the spread of HSV five headlines gradually increasing with panic,
20:02
Speaker 1: were laid out on the counter a morbid timeline. The
20:06
Speaker 1: last one was dated years before Tilda was born. It
20:10
Speaker 1: showed a picture of a harried looking man, hands raised
20:13
Speaker 1: against the flashing of cameras and a sign of defeat.
20:16
Speaker 1: The caption informed her he had been the last president
20:19
Speaker 1: of the United States before it dissolved, back when there
20:23
Speaker 1: was still the manpower to sustain that level of organization
20:26
Speaker 1: and bureaucracy. On a whim, she gathered the clippings in
20:30
Speaker 1: her hand. They were incredibly thin, like they could dissolve
20:34
Speaker 1: into dust at any minute, folded them up and slipped
20:37
Speaker 1: them into her backpack side pocket. She'd read them later.
20:41
Speaker 1: She rifled through the drawers, coming up with nothing. She
20:45
Speaker 1: bent down and pulled open the cabinets, but they were
20:47
Speaker 1: also empty, saved for some cleaning supplies. Pivoting on our heels,
20:51
Speaker 1: she opened the last set of cabinet doors, discovering a safe.
20:58
Speaker 1: Thinking it would bother her to never know what was
21:00
Speaker 1: in there, she reached out to test the handle she
21:02
Speaker 1: was certain would be locked, only to rock back on
21:05
Speaker 1: her heels when the handle gave as though she'd torn
21:08
Speaker 1: it free from the rust that had held it in place.
21:11
Speaker 1: Tilda wasn't sure if it had been unlocked, or if
21:13
Speaker 1: after years and years of dust, rust and genilla roding
21:17
Speaker 1: that comes with aging, she had broken the lock. Inside
21:22
Speaker 1: the safe was a stack of money, a thin chain
21:24
Speaker 1: necklace with a golden cross dangling at the end, and
21:27
Speaker 1: a gun with a box of bullets. Tilda took out
21:30
Speaker 1: the pile of money, knowing it was of no use
21:32
Speaker 1: to her now, but wanting to appreciate the novelty of it.
21:35
Speaker 1: She removed a bill it was at twenty and traced
21:39
Speaker 1: it with her fingers. Parts of the odd green paper raised.
21:43
Speaker 1: It depicted the Capitol building on one side, with bushes
21:46
Speaker 1: and trees out front, and on the other a man
21:49
Speaker 1: she didn't recognize. There was a phrase in Latin, she
21:53
Speaker 1: didn't understand it in another phrase, and god we trust
21:56
Speaker 1: that she didn't really understand either. This used to be
22:00
Speaker 1: worth something. People would buy things with. This would work
22:04
Speaker 1: jobs they hated for, this would kill for this. It
22:07
Speaker 1: was bizarre to her. In her hands, it felt like
22:11
Speaker 1: a useless piece of paper. What is that? Madison piped
22:16
Speaker 1: up behind her, badly, startling her so that she had
22:18
Speaker 1: to grab onto the cabinet door to keep her balance.
22:23
Speaker 1: It's money, what they used to use to buy things.
22:27
Speaker 1: She passed the bill to him, and he studied it deeply,
22:30
Speaker 1: trying to divine the meaning. Tilda flipped through the rest
22:33
Speaker 1: of the bills, almost wanting to pocket them, just knowing
22:36
Speaker 1: that at one time that stack of paper would have
22:39
Speaker 1: saved them. It would have gotten them food and water
22:41
Speaker 1: and shelter, But now it was just extra useless weight
22:47
Speaker 1: in her bag. Madison flipped over the bill, examining it
22:51
Speaker 1: critically this way and that, holding it up to the light,
22:53
Speaker 1: and asking Tilda about the phrases, about the pyramid with
22:56
Speaker 1: the eye at the top, about the man on the back.
23:00
Speaker 1: Til didn't know the answer to any of his questions.
23:04
Speaker 1: As she took out the gun, making sure the safety
23:06
Speaker 1: was on and the bullets. He asked, so, why was
23:11
Speaker 1: it worth twenty Tilda thought for a moment, the box
23:15
Speaker 1: of bullets in her hands, because people believed it did
23:21
Speaker 1: Mouce believed it and agreed on it. But it's not
23:26
Speaker 1: actually worth anything if you don't believe it. Now, I
23:33
Speaker 1: guess not, She grinned, slipping the gun in the waistband
23:36
Speaker 1: of her jeans, her skin recoiling at the cold metal,
23:39
Speaker 1: and the box of bullets in the side pocket. Maybe
23:43
Speaker 1: in a museum someday, if there ever were museums in
23:47
Speaker 1: the traditional sense. Again, now the entire world felt like
23:50
Speaker 1: an abandoned museum with no one to care for it.
23:55
Speaker 1: She closed the safe and odd sensation of sadness for
23:58
Speaker 1: the person who'd spent so much much of their life
24:00
Speaker 1: to save this money, who put it in a safe
24:03
Speaker 1: and guarded it with a gun, only to then leave
24:06
Speaker 1: it behind. Does all of the meaning it held fell away? Weird?
24:12
Speaker 1: Madison breathed, holding the bill out in front of him
24:15
Speaker 1: like some delicate antique. Tilda heaved herself up and padded
24:19
Speaker 1: Madison's head. I know, let's keep searching, okay. She swung
24:24
Speaker 1: herself under the countertop and continued her survey of the
24:27
Speaker 1: store of all its odd trinkets and knickknacks that Tilda
24:30
Speaker 1: both thought were incredibly cute relics and frustratingly useless. She
24:35
Speaker 1: half cursed past generations for taking up valuable shell space
24:38
Speaker 1: that could have been for canned and other non perishable
24:41
Speaker 1: food items and used it instead for snow globes with
24:44
Speaker 1: women in bikinis and who the skirts in them? Pieces
24:48
Speaker 1: of wood with trite phrases like I'd rather be at
24:50
Speaker 1: the beach. She passed in a collectic collection of keychains, headphones, earplugs,
24:56
Speaker 1: face mask, a collapsed shelf that had odd looking pillows.
25:00
Speaker 1: At the end of the row, opposite the checkout counter
25:03
Speaker 1: was the wall of refrigerated glass cases. Tilda swallowed dryly.
25:07
Speaker 1: The water, of course, was gone, as was much of
25:10
Speaker 1: everything else. There were a couple of Coca colas and
25:14
Speaker 1: some energy drinks, both of which were good for an
25:17
Speaker 1: energy boost and not much else. Nevertheless, Tilda pocketed two
25:22
Speaker 1: of each, hitching her backpack further up on her shoulders.
25:26
Speaker 1: The other aisles mostly had rotten cardboard boxes, empty of
25:30
Speaker 1: the candy bars and snacks he had once held. Look,
25:35
Speaker 1: Madison exclaimed, bouncing into a review with a handful of
25:37
Speaker 1: bags of chips clutched in each fist. Free does and
25:41
Speaker 1: barbecue lays. Good high mouse, she told him, singing her
25:45
Speaker 1: backpack over one shoulder and putting the bounty in the
25:48
Speaker 1: front pocket. He beamed at the praise. Where'd you find
25:52
Speaker 1: these in the back of the shelf, he pointed, very back.
25:57
Speaker 1: Tilda nodded, bending down to inspect the bottom shelf. She
26:00
Speaker 1: found a couple of bags of M and M's peanut
26:03
Speaker 1: and pretzel, a bag of cheese sets, some sunflower seeds
26:06
Speaker 1: and beef turkey, and a tiny jar of peanut butter.
26:10
Speaker 1: She checked the expiration date way past. But hey, pickers
26:15
Speaker 1: can't be choosers, she told herself, putting it in the
26:17
Speaker 1: bag that was getting steadily heavier. There were also bags
26:21
Speaker 1: of popcorn that they'd be unable to pop, a cup
26:24
Speaker 1: of noodles they'd be unable to heat up, and some
26:26
Speaker 1: cans of soup and raveolli, which if they got desperate
26:29
Speaker 1: they could eat cold. They also scavenged a couple of
26:32
Speaker 1: boxes of band aids and insets, some packets of trail mix.
26:36
Speaker 1: She would add them to her bag. And then her
26:40
Speaker 1: eyes landed on an enormous chug of water the kind
26:44
Speaker 1: used her water coolers till the guest that since it
26:47
Speaker 1: was too heavy to carry, had been left reluctantly. She
26:50
Speaker 1: stared at it like it was a religious icon. She
26:54
Speaker 1: could have fallen to her knees and prayed. Some she'd
26:57
Speaker 1: portion for Scout, or as much as she could drink.
26:59
Speaker 1: The rest she'd rebottle for them. Hey, Madison, go look
27:04
Speaker 1: around the store for empty bottles or bottles. We could
27:06
Speaker 1: pour out whatever's in there and put water in. He stood, transfixed,
27:11
Speaker 1: like catching the jug, causing the water's reflection to dance
27:13
Speaker 1: across his face. Tilda called his name again, and he
27:16
Speaker 1: snapped out of it, sprinting to the back of the store.
27:19
Speaker 1: She could hear him scuffling around the store, bottles clattering
27:22
Speaker 1: to the floor as she unlocked the front door and
27:26
Speaker 1: started shoving against it, bits of red rest dislodging and
27:29
Speaker 1: floating in the air. The metal squealed at an ear
27:32
Speaker 1: cringing pitch. Painfully slow. She eleven opened the door. Scout
27:38
Speaker 1: watched Tilda huffing and working away board. She wedged it
27:43
Speaker 1: open enough to wriggle out, awkwardly stepping the jug in
27:46
Speaker 1: front of her. Madison returned with a small collection of
27:50
Speaker 1: plastic bottles sliding easily between the gap. Okay, Tilda gasp
27:55
Speaker 1: grabbing a gray bucket from next to the empty shell
27:57
Speaker 1: of the ice machine and plunking it in front of her. Scout.
28:01
Speaker 1: She rested her hands on her knees for a second.
28:03
Speaker 1: Winded from her battle at the door, she struggled for
28:06
Speaker 1: a moment to twist the top off, until the plastic
28:08
Speaker 1: teeth finally gave and she spun the cap off. She
28:12
Speaker 1: studied the jug for a moment, knowing she'd be unable
28:14
Speaker 1: to lift it she'd have to tip it, but even
28:17
Speaker 1: then she'd have to be careful not to tip it
28:20
Speaker 1: and spill that most precious liquid all over the concrete. Mouse.
28:25
Speaker 1: We're going to tip some water into this bucket for Scout. Okay,
28:29
Speaker 1: can you tip the bucket toward me? Madison readily obeyed.
28:34
Speaker 1: Untilda knelt, shedding herself off her backpack and removing her
28:37
Speaker 1: gloves to get a better grip. She tested its weight
28:40
Speaker 1: at various points she could try and get a more
28:42
Speaker 1: secure handle on the jug. She braced herself, taking a
28:46
Speaker 1: position a little behind the jug, and asked ready. Madison nodded,
28:51
Speaker 1: and she tipped the jug carefully, using her knees to
28:54
Speaker 1: help prop it up. The water trickled at first, then
28:58
Speaker 1: poured into the bucket, Tilda's arm shaking a bit with
29:01
Speaker 1: the effort. Scout's ears perked with interest, and she bent
29:05
Speaker 1: her nose down closer to the bucket. When it was
29:08
Speaker 1: almost halfway full, Tilda pulled the jug back, liquid slashing
29:12
Speaker 1: around the plastic. Tilda collapse into a resting position on
29:16
Speaker 1: her hands, catching her breath. The second she'd stopped pouring,
29:20
Speaker 1: Scout had closed what little distance remained and started slurping
29:23
Speaker 1: up water. Madison looked on with jealousy. Warily, Tilda pushed
29:29
Speaker 1: herself to her knees and zipping her backpack and rummaging
29:31
Speaker 1: around for the empty water bottles. She lined them up
29:35
Speaker 1: along with the ones Madison found. This was going to
29:38
Speaker 1: be tricky, all right, she sighed heavily. Let's start with
29:43
Speaker 1: the bigger bottles you found. Almost before she'd finished speaking,
29:47
Speaker 1: Madison held out an empty Coca Cola bottle. Tilda, smile, Riley,
29:52
Speaker 1: I'm going to go slow, okay, I don't want to
29:54
Speaker 1: lose any more water than we have to. She tipped
29:58
Speaker 1: the lip of the jug, the amount of water, making
30:01
Speaker 1: it even more awkward to pour. Even though it was lighter,
30:04
Speaker 1: it was still too heavy to lift. But now the
30:06
Speaker 1: water level was lower, she had to get a higher
30:09
Speaker 1: angle to pour it out. She stood, anchoring her feet
30:12
Speaker 1: far apart, cheeks puffing with exertion as she lifted the
30:15
Speaker 1: jug just barely off the ground, her arms trembling with
30:18
Speaker 1: the effort it took control it. Water dribbled out into
30:22
Speaker 1: the bottle, clinking against the side agonizingly slow. As the
30:28
Speaker 1: jug gradually lightened, she was able to tip it more easily,
30:31
Speaker 1: water pouring into the bottle at a much steadier clip.
30:35
Speaker 1: The jug clunked back upright, Tilda allowing her arms to
30:38
Speaker 1: hang like overcooked noodles. She popped her neck, staring at
30:42
Speaker 1: the jug like it was her arched nemesis. Madison looked
30:46
Speaker 1: at her hopefully, waiting for her permission to take a sip.
30:49
Speaker 1: Wait till we're dunmouse, then you can have some. Once
30:53
Speaker 1: she'd regained some of her strength in her arms, they
30:55
Speaker 1: began again a meager assembly line of water bottles, getting filled.
30:59
Speaker 1: As the jug got lighter, the pouring got easier, which
31:02
Speaker 1: was good. Tilda doubted she had the strength to fill
31:05
Speaker 1: too many more water bottles. Scout had slowed, lapping water
31:09
Speaker 1: at a much more leisurely pace. After they filled the
31:13
Speaker 1: water bottles, there was still a bottom ring of water remaining.
31:17
Speaker 1: Tilda replaced all of the bottles, but the big one
31:20
Speaker 1: to be split between her and Madison. She retrieved a
31:23
Speaker 1: bag of sunflower seeds and m and ms to share
31:25
Speaker 1: as well. Wondering when they could find something for Scout
31:28
Speaker 1: to eat, she let Madison have the first crack at
31:32
Speaker 1: the water. He gulped it in the most controlled way.
31:35
Speaker 1: He could muster, Tildo imagined. She opened the bag of
31:38
Speaker 1: sunflower seeds, cupping a small handful and eating them one
31:41
Speaker 1: by one so she'd feel like she was eating more.
31:45
Speaker 1: The sky darkened as they ate and drank, Tilda considering
31:48
Speaker 1: their bounty. The jug of water almost seemed too good
31:51
Speaker 1: to be true, and a couple of snacks to boot,
31:54
Speaker 1: and the gun cold metal against her lower back. It
31:58
Speaker 1: had slipped lower down her waistband with all of her
32:00
Speaker 1: rustling with the water jug. Do you think the man's
32:03
Speaker 1: okay that we took a scout from, Madison asked, popping
32:07
Speaker 1: an orange eminem in his mouth. I think so. He
32:10
Speaker 1: looks like he could take care of himself, and the
32:13
Speaker 1: weather has gotten a lot better. Madison nodded, reluctantly, watching
32:17
Speaker 1: the horse. She'd finished with her bucket of water and
32:20
Speaker 1: was watching them with what Tilda anthropomorphized as contentment. Tilda
32:25
Speaker 1: leaned back on her hands with a swig of water,
32:28
Speaker 1: her lower back ached with carrying the pack and keeping
32:31
Speaker 1: the water jug steady. She glanced around the sky grumbled.
32:37
Speaker 1: Tilda didn't see any signs to indicate what row they
32:40
Speaker 1: were on. She stood and stretched her back, her shoulders,
32:44
Speaker 1: her legs, Madison munching on the remainder of the sunflower seeds.
32:48
Speaker 1: When he was finished, she gestured for him to hold
32:50
Speaker 1: out the water bottle they'd just emptied and filled it
32:52
Speaker 1: with what was left in the water jug, replacing the
32:55
Speaker 1: cap and putting it in her pack. She rolled the
32:58
Speaker 1: discarded jug into the gas station to hide somewhat any
33:01
Speaker 1: obvious signs that they'd come through here. Madison stood, dusting
33:06
Speaker 1: off his jeans, and they both looked down the road,
33:09
Speaker 1: expecting to find an answer or a clue as to
33:12
Speaker 1: what the future held for them. And that brings us
33:34
Speaker 1: to the end of this chapter. This was such a
33:38
Speaker 1: video game chapter, like when I was looking back over
33:41
Speaker 1: and I was like, you can tell I play video games,
33:44
Speaker 1: because it's very much like she opened to the store
33:47
Speaker 1: and found this item inside. Does mean yes, would you
33:57
Speaker 1: like to search the shells for snacks?
34:02
Speaker 2: Some way to do that interactively? Because I think that'd
34:04
Speaker 2: be funny. I mean, honestly, someone should get on it.
34:07
Speaker 2: I bet there is. It is interesting to see my past.
34:15
Speaker 2: I trying to work through the good for the mini conversation,
34:20
Speaker 2: because if you've heard my thoughts about the Last of
34:23
Speaker 2: Us and about Star Wars, even I've got some complicated
34:27
Speaker 2: relationships with that, But it's it's fascinating to me that
34:32
Speaker 2: in this chapter you're hearing Tilda try to parse out
34:39
Speaker 2: what is the best thing she can do, Like is
34:42
Speaker 2: it going back to this place that she doesn't trust
34:47
Speaker 2: with this person she doesn't trust, but maybe it will
34:51
Speaker 2: help with a new vaccine, or is it just protecting
34:56
Speaker 2: her kid and pretending she now heard it. So it's
35:01
Speaker 2: fascinating to me where I am now versus when I
35:04
Speaker 2: was writing this. But also some things are to come. Listeners,
35:09
Speaker 2: that is for sure.
35:12
Speaker 1: I do think it's fair to say I can't go
35:15
Speaker 1: into this whole argument I had with myself after I
35:17
Speaker 1: read this chapter again that there is a difference between
35:21
Speaker 1: a lot of the things I have a problem with
35:23
Speaker 1: and what happened here, which was sort of outright betrayal
35:26
Speaker 1: before before the call to come back came. But more
35:33
Speaker 1: to come and more to say, I shall believe it
35:37
Speaker 1: there I was always Listeners. I hope that you're enjoying
35:42
Speaker 1: this shout out all the shout outs to Christina who
35:46
Speaker 1: makes them happen. It's fun, it's fun for us, so
35:49
Speaker 1: hopefully you're enjoying it. If you have any theories or
35:51
Speaker 1: thoughts or suggestions for other things we could do like this,
35:55
Speaker 1: it has to be in the public domain, but if
35:58
Speaker 1: you have a suggestion let us know. You can email
36:02
Speaker 1: us Stepania mom Stuff at iHeartMedia dot com. You can
36:05
Speaker 1: find us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast, or on
36:07
Speaker 1: Instagram and TikTok at stuff I've Never told you. We
36:10
Speaker 1: have a YouTube page and a tea public store and
36:14
Speaker 1: a book you can get wherever you get your books.
36:16
Speaker 1: Thanks Zowis too, our super produced Christine, our executive producer,
36:19
Speaker 1: My and your concurctor Joey. Thank you. Thanks to you
36:21
Speaker 1: for listening. Steffan never told you us direction of iHeart Radio.
36:24
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my heart Radio, you can check
36:26
Speaker 1: out the heart Radio app Apple podcast, where you listen
36:28
Speaker 1: to your favorite shows,