Must Eat

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School has been unusually quiet the last couple of  weeks since everything has happened. No one talks in the halls above thin whispers. There are no boisterous hoots from sports players about upcoming games and flirting in the halls with the cheerleaders, there is nothing.

There's nothing but tense quiet.

As Hanna wonders through the halls, she wonders how many people would actually come to school if they weren't offering free meals. A lot of people had left on Friday and hadn't come back on Monday, some leaving with their families to check on other family members, others wanting to move further away from the recently bombed New York.

Agatha, her one and only friend, was one of those people. She was missing her horribly.

"Attention Students," The Principle's voice came through the intercome, "we will be having an assembly in the gym in fifteen minutes, please, instead of reporting to first class, please go there."

Hanna came to a stop in the middle of the hall right in front of her first class. She clutches her bag against her body and frowned.

"I heard something happened with the food deliver," Hanna flinches turning her head, gaze meeting Jennifer Ruffers's. The blond offers her a small smile. "They will be closing down the school."

Hanna's stomach churns because of Jennifer's presence, not the thought of school closing. Jennifer was oblivious as usual to her current boy friend's ex best friend's reaction. Jennifer didn't even notice that her boyfriend and Hanna weren't actually close friends anymore. "What about lunch?" They both begin walking again towards the meeting. Being a rude teenager was her sister's specialty, not hers, so she allowed it, Jennifer's company.

Her fellow senior shrugs. "I dunno... Dad's really worried... and I don't think it's about the food situation."

Hanna glances at her sideways. "What more could it be?" The girl laughs nervously, forcefully. It's a horrible noise. "You're thinking too much into it. Your dad's a cop... it's his job... worrying and all that."

"He's going to teach me how to shoot." The blond whispers, staring at her. "As in a gun..."

Hanna frowns. "Have you heard from Austin?" she asks to stop herself from thinking about what it could actually mean. Though she cringes inwardly at her idea of conversation topic change. Hanna hadn't actually spoken to Austin since there break-up a few months ago. Actually, all Austin drama had quickly ceased from her mind once everything happened, people had even stopped speaking about Austin's dad revealing the location of another body, now fully focused on handling the looting and figuring out what in the hell was going on. People had bigger worries then a teenager's romantic woes and his serial killer father eighth victim.

"No," Jennifer answers quickly, which was odd.

Hanna's happy they've come to the gym, and files into line to get inside, their conversation ceasing. Their guidance counselor is standing beside yellow iron doors handing out gray pieces of paper. Hanna takes one, quickly scanning over it, her insides churning.

They were closing Green North High, Middle, as well as elementary until further notice. They wanted all students to take home the flyers to their parents. Students around her began to mumble and grumble about the news, no one is happy about the closing of their high school. Not when it meant a free lunch.

Hanna swallows dryly. What was she going to do now? How was she going to get Isa food? As she takes her seat on the bleachers, she begins making plans of heading to the grocery store.

Mr. Hu gets onto stage and Mr. Yancy, a history teacher, shushes everyone. Hanna folds the flyer with clumsy fingers.

Mr. Hu is obviously nervous, sweat actually taints the front of his white button up. He lightly dabs at his face with a napkin and looks around as he fumbles with a microphone he is handed. Students still file inside.

When everyone is seated and is quiet the man begins to speak.

"A lot has... happened in our great Nation this week," Mr. Hu's voice is uneven and he avoids looking at any of the teenagers around him, "and we are warned about it being only the beginning. We... we had planned on being open as long as we could, offering a safe location and food for our students, but yesterday our food reserves were cut in half and we are forced into shutting down temporarily. There is no set time for reopening, but letters will be mailed when." The man paused, seeming to search for words. "Classes are canceled as of now, and... and... please all of you be careful. It was a pleasure being your principle." With that the man turned and darted off stage. The man didn't even offer a look back.

After he left it was quiet, all was quiet. The teachers standing against the walls looked at one another, also seeming unsure.

"I'm getting the hell out of here." A boy behind Hanna said loudly getting up and making his way down the bleachers. His movements seeming to wake everyone else up, as the volume once again increased and others began to move out. Hanna stayed seated at first, her legs numb, and her mind searching for an answer. What was she going to do?

After nearly a minute the girl got onto her feet, coming to the conclusion that if the high school was letting out then so would her sister's school. She would have to pick her up. After picking up her sister she would see about finding a grocery store.

She catches sight of Jennifer briefly walking with her friend Nico, the boy looked more nervous than usual, she contemplates heading over but finally decides against it. Instead, she moves quickly from the auditorium and out of Green North high all together. She wonders would it be her last time being inside the walls as she hops into her vehicle.

Green North middle is only a few blocks away, next to Green North Baptist and a line of cars stretch from it to the high school. Hanna groans as she exits Green North high and has to drive to the back of the line. As she waits she flips through the channels halfheartedly.

"Today, our president addressed our nation officially calling a state of emergency for all fifty states. The National Guard has been called in twenty-six states reporting unexplainable violence and death tolls increase nearl – " Hanna shuts her radio off, her insides churning.

She lets her window down a little all of a sudden feeling hot. Hanna's mind automatically goes to her parents, a mom whose last message had been a gurgled mess and a dad who lives in a recently bombed New York, who had yet to call them at all.

Tears rumble inside her, but the girl forces them away. She cannot breakdown, not when she has to be tough for her sister. It takes nearly an hour and fifteen minutes but finally Hanna makes it to the front of the line.

Catching sight of her sister standing unusually alone, clutching her backpack, Hanna offers her a smile. The younger Gonzales doesn't even attempt to return it as she moves towards the car and gets inside.

Isa says nothing.

"We'll check a few grocery stores and... stuff." She follows the car ahead of her out. "We'll find something."

Her sister shifted in her seat, fishing out her phone. "I – dad's not answering at all."

Hanna bites her lip. "Dad's always had bad reception..."

"New York was bombed," she bluntly said. "I'm not a child. You can't lie to me about crap anymore. If he's not answering that means something happened."

"You're assuming things," Hanna threw her sister a look. "Why are you so ready for something to be wrong, be a little optimistic!"

"I'm being realistic!" The younger sister shot back. "A lot of bad stuff is going on, Hanna, and we'll never survive any of it alone."

The older sister shakes her head unhappily, gaze forward. "I'm done talking with you about this." Both fall silent.

Ten minutes later she finally pulls into the empty parking lot of Wiggly Mart. They don't get out, only drive by it. There was no reason to get out and look with the window all busted out and both can see into the messy store.

"We will try Brick Mart."

As they drive to Brick Mart Isa insists they stop by the whole foods store.

"The whole foods store, Isa? Remember news about tainted fruit and vegetables...?"

Her sister rolls her brown eyes. "Duh... I mean, no one is going to go there for anything and sometimes they have those energy bars and stuff..."

Her sister had a point. "Yeah let's do that."

###

No one is there but a little old man loading crates of oranges into a truck. He glances at them as they move inside but offers no other words. They each grab a shopping basket and heads towards the aisle of fiber bars and natural nuts. They both begin dropping the items into their baskets.

Hanna remembers water will be a big need and heads over, grabbing the last few packs left. Hanna has to grab another basket to get the last few bars left. They both move to the empty counter looking around for who to pay.

The old man from outside comes in heads to the cash register. He looks at their haul blankly. He looks up.

"How are you paying?" He asks looking at Hanna, he gently scratches at his balding head.

Hanna pulls out her an emergency credit card her mother had given her. "On this."

The man shakes his head. "I'm afraid I can't accept that. You see, I'm very certain that after all this, I won't be able to collect with that. All the banks have already shut 'temporarily' down."

Hanna glances at her sister with a frown, putting the card away and digging into her pocket. "All I have is fifty bucks."

He whistles. "Well that's surely not enough." Hanna bites her lip. "Look here," he takes the fifty from her, "you leave me a few pack of bottled water and I'll let you have it all for fifty. I'm closing this place anyway... I'll let you have a dozen of my pear preservatives too."

Hanna blinks. "That's really nice of you..."

He waves his hand. "I'm old and I don't have anyone to look out after like you," he nods towards Isa. "The youth has the best chance to survive what's going on in the world." He winks at her. "I don't wanna regret it now," He moves around and heads towards the back, "so don't let what the world is becoming break you. I saw stuff like that all the time when I was in the war. Good people becoming bad just because of all the awful stuff they saw. I always thought, you don't have to be bad because you live in a bad world." Hanna follows him, glancing back at Isa who shrugs. "Only tough."

He opens a door with a key from around his neck and walks inside, flicking on a light.

"You don't honestly think it'll get that bad do you?" She asks as she follows him quickly down a narrow hall, briefly wondering if following a random man down a narrow hall was a good idea.

Eventually he comes to a stop and opens a door and flicks on another light. The entire box room was filled with shelves with jars on them. He grabs a potato sack and begins loading it up.

She watches awkwardly, wrapping her arms around herself.

"I guess this was a good idea." Isa whispers lightly shoving into her.

When he's done he carries it back out and adds it with the other stuff.

"Yes. To answer your question little lady, yes I think it'll get that bad." She frowns glancing at Isa. The man laughs. "I'm not one to sugar sprinkle anything."

As they load up her small car she feels better, less stressed about food and water. She and her sister bid old man goodbye and it's not until she's close to home that the girl remembers she hadn't even asked him his name.

"He was nice," Isa randomly comments. She had been humming a song softly to herself most of their ride, obviously also relieved by their find. She begins to nod in agreement but her sister interrupts her, "look."

She was pointing at Mr. Ban their neighbor who was standing in his yard watering his flowers. They were bright and lushes despite the news saying every plant left on earth was toxic. It looked healthy.

She gets out and waves at the man and her sister gets out as well. "Hello Mr. Ban, how are you?"

"I'm doing well. You two are out of school awfully early." He tells them after looking at his watch.

"They're closed down..." Isa comments unhappily, "'until further notice' "The child rudely mocks. Hanna sighs.

Mr. Ban seems unfazed by the news. "Back in my day a child would have been ecstatic about that."

"Isa's obviously a new age child," Hanna says. "She loves school."

Mr. Ban laughs good-naturally. Hanna smirks at her glaring sister, starting to say more when movement caught her attention. She turns just as the man grabs her sister a blade to the young girl's flesh.

Hanna froze. Isa cried out.

"Don't you move if you move I'll stab her in the neck." He tightened his hold around her sister, his gaze moving to Hanna's car.

"Let her go," Hanna commands her voice weak.

"I want all your stuff, now, quickly."

"You can take all of it." Hanna quickly says, "let her go though. You can have it all but let her go."

This man has shifty eyes and his arm shakes, the blade lightly scrapping across her sister's flesh. The young girl is still in his hold like a statue, not even breathing. Her gaze is locked on her sister, pleading for her help.

Hanna feels helpless. Her gaze moves left, Mr. Ban is gone, hopefully to call the cops.

"Shits finally going down," the man breathes, making no sense at all to Hanna. "The world's finally gettin' its punishment. That means you, me, and her," his hold once again tightens around her sister.

"She's only a little girl." Hanna swallows dryly. "Let her go... you can have everything, but it's all we have."

The man glances around. "If I cut her pretty little neck it'll be a favor. What the world's turning into is no place for a little girl." His words scare Hanna.

"Let her go, please..."

The man finally locks eyes with Hanna. "Why should I do that?"

"Because you have a gun pointed at your head, Braxton." Hanna's eyes quickly dart to her left. A wave of relief hits her upon finding Mr. Ruffers, Jennifer's father, there. "I'm sure you don't want to me to pull the trigger. How about you let the girl go?"

Braxton turns his head, gaze locking on Kyle. "I have the leverage here. I have the girl!"

"You would, if you didn't have two guns pointed at your head."

"Hey how are you doing, Braxton?" Another officer speaks up.

Braxton curses and backs away from his hostage, letting her go, he finally drops the blade. Isa runs to Hanna and both of them hug as Braxton is arrested.

"Are you alright?" Hanna asks her sister as she looks the girl over. A thin trail of blood flows down her neck, it's not at all deep. Mr. Ruffers moves to them.

"This is my fault, girls. I ordered his release because of all the looters we captured last week." He awkwardly rubs the back of his neck. "I should probably tell Rosa what happened."

"She's not here!" Isa blurts which seems to set her off as she loudly sobs, pressing her face into Hanna.

Hanna mentally winces.

"What exactly do you mean not here?" He asks slowly. He frowns. "Are you girls here alone?"

Hanna bites her lip and nods. "She went to Virginia before everything happened and... well, flights were canceled and she hasn't... made it back yet."

His face is unreadable as he listens to her. "I can't let you stay here alone." He finally says sighing. "Not with how things are now. Is there anyone else you could live with?"

Hanna shakes her head. No one was going to offer a home to them when food was so scarce. "We'll be find here by ourselves."

He once again sighs. "I would offer you a place at my home but... we're being put on a food income by the county and we can't add anymore to our household."

She frowns at the words 'food income' but forces a smile. "I told you we'll be fine, Mr. Ruffers."

The man shakes his head. "I'll think of something..." He turns to look at Mr. Bans who was out on his lawn again. "They're lucky you called Brinan. Could you look out, make certain nothing happens to them while I figure out a place to place them?"

"Of course," Mr. Bans calls over.

"I don't feel comfortable with them here alone! I'll be back with a solution." The man says turning to the young Frank sisters. "Lock up and don't answer your door for anyone unless it's one of my officers, alright?"

"We understand, Mr. Ruffers."

The man leaves after a few more instructions and Hanna and her sister, with the help of Mr. Ban begins moving all the things they've bought into the house. Hanna offers him a pack of water for his help and it takes a lot of begging to get him to take it.

Both girls go their separate ways once everything is separated away. With the few hours of sunlight left, Isa disappears into her room and does whatever while Hanna focuses on planning. She counts their food supply, 150 energy bars, 202 fiber bars, 200 bottles of water, and 15 jars of preserved peaches. They couldn't even think of surviving off of that, and like that Hanna's mood soiled. She could only hope that things got better soon.

Gently shaking her head, Hanna moves to the hall bathroom and gathers all the medication from that bathroom, as well as the bathroom upstairs. That includes, Tylenol, Advil, and some type of pain medication from when her mom broke her pinky finger last fall. Hanna puts all of the medication into a black messenger bag along with rubbing alcohol and bandages.

By the time the girl is finished its dark outside and she finds herself in her bedroom, their phone in her hands as she tries her mom's number again and again. No answer. Her sister wonders in an hour later, a flashlight in hand guiding her way. Without a word her sister gets into bed with her, and using the flashlight begins to write in a spiral notebook.

"What are you writing?" Hanna asks, tired of the awkward silence.

"It's private."

Hanna bites her lips. "Are you really alright..."

"I'm fine!" The younger girl snaps.

Hanna shakes her head. Fine, if her sister didn't want to talk, she wouldn't make her. She gently shifts around until she under her blanket turning away from her sister.

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