I nodded at an older woman who left the store wearing a shower cap and rubber gloves, a garbage bag covering the top half of her body.
One wide-eyed look in my direction, and she stumbled backward a few steps as if I might try to sneeze or cough all over her. Neither of us spoke, and she all but ran down the street to get away from me.
Sadie joined me on the footpath, standing shoulder to shoulder with me as the woman escaped. “That was weird.”
“Getting stranger by the day.” I adjusted my mask, untwisting one of the elastic bands around my ear. The woman peeked behind her as she power-walked away, so I cut her some slack and waited until she'd rounded the corner before I moved.
When she was gone, Sadie and I went inside the store and paused at the entrance to sanitise our hands. A guy with a black ponytail and a nametag that saidDrewchecked our temperatures, then confirmed the postcodes on our licenses.
“Five minutes max,” he said from behind a disposable mask and face shield.
“Got it. What did you come here for?” I asked Sadie. “I might already have what you need at home.”
“I’m not sure. I only came up with the idea an hour ago, but I’ll know it when I see it.” She sanitised two plastic carry baskets and handed one to me.
All I had left in my bank account were broken hopes and dreams, but I took it anyway.
We strode down the centre aisle together, our footsteps echoing on the concrete floor as she checked the overhead signs. “I’ll start at the back and work my way forward—keep going until our time runs out.”
No music drifted from the speakers, and half the lights were switched off to save money. I used to think they had too many staff members wandering around the place, but now there was no one. We were the only customers in here, too, and the deserted feeling intensified as we ventured deeper into the store.
Sadie turned down the second-last row on the right and stopped at the tools section, facing the hatchets, hammers, and axes. Restrictions meant no one was camping or travelling nowadays, and unlike the supermarket shelves, there were no issues with stock here.
We set our baskets on the floor and pulled down our masks.
Sadie rolled her lower lip between her teeth and stared at the options. “Maybe I should have grabbed a trolley instead of baskets.”
I frowned. “Why?”
She selected a hatchet with a fiberglass handle and tested its weight. “To buy up big while I still can. If I get enough, I won’t have to come back.”
I chose a prospecting hammer and pressed my thumb against the sharpened tip. “I meant, why do you want camping tools? Are you going somewhere?”
“No. At least, not yet. Some of them make effective weapons.”
I narrowed my eyes and stared at her. People always said it was the quiet ones you had to watch. “Who are we taking down? Please say it’s Kerger.”
With a hint of a smile, she took the hammer from me and laid it in the nearest basket with her hatchet. “Hopefully no one, but I’m guessing the premier’s going to announce even tighter restrictions, and if we lose our right to exercise—”
“You think it’s going to get ugly?”
“Don’t you? Cornered animals get defensive, and we’re about as trapped as it gets right now.” She reached for another tool, just like the first one, preferring the less weighty handles.
Based on everything I knew about her, I couldn’t picture her using it on anybody, but if it made her feel safer, who was I to burst her bubble?
“I think it’ll change things,” I said, “but how ugly is anyone’s guess.”
“Three minutes!” Drew barked.We were the only two people in the store, so he could have given us a fucking break.
“Wow, he was serious about the time limit.” Sadie nodded at the display. “Grab whatever you think might be useful. I’m paying.”
Useful for what? Cracking skulls? Kneecapping someone? Had I stumbled onto a real-life mafia princess like the women Mia read about in her books?
We both knew I couldn’t afford my rent, and she looked away as if I might be too proud to take her up on the offer. Rather than objecting and making the situation awkward, I went straight for a mini-maul, meant for splitting small logs and kindling—or heads, if you lived in Sadie’s world. “This looks good.”
Her features relaxed. “Okay. Grab a couple more. We need to hurry. I’ve got other aisles to visit before he kicks us out.”
“Didn’t you work at the art gallery?” I asked, adding a few extras to the basket. “Why aren’t you broke like the rest of us?”
