EMP Catastrophe , Hamilton, Grace [crime books to read txt] 📗

one hand propped on his hip while the other clenched at his heart. “Just stopped not too long ago.”

Matthew gave her a look that said See what I’m working with here? Jade’s smile widened in understanding. “We need to get you something to stop your pain, or we’ll be taking a permanent stop. I remember your doctor saying you could take a low dosage of aspirin. You remember that, too, right?” Matthew asked.

David went quiet, straightening up as much as he could. Matthew hoped his father would admit to his limitations, acknowledge his pain, like he had back at Wilson’s Antiques. When he’d owned up to the fact he’d left his life-saving medicine at home.

Moments passed. David’s fist over his heart relaxed minimally. Matthew scanned the road ahead of them, grateful that the next exit wasn’t too far up the road, and made a game plan. No matter what David said, Matthew would find aspirin—would force it down his dad’s throat if it came to it.

“Fine,” David growled. “Yes. Low-dose was the aspirin they recommended, but that stuff is just for prevention. At this point, it would be better if I had regular aspirin to help with the pain. But you’re not leaving me or Jade here while you gallantly ride off to the next store. We’re coming with you.”

Relief rushed through Matthew. “Sounds good to me. Fingers crossed someplace nearby is open.” Jade wrapped her arm around David and together, arm-in-arm, they strode toward the exit. Passing a blue sign that had the symbol for fuel, Matthew wondered if they looked like a Wizard of Oz crew and hoped he wasn’t the strawman with no brain. As they walked, David’s pain seemed to ease and by the time they strolled down the exit, he seemed perfectly normal. Matthew wasn’t surprised, but knew another episode lay just around the corner.

Matthew’s own heart soared, though, when he saw the OPEN sign hanging in the door of the gas station at the bottom of the exit. Once, the dirty white siding paired with the red sign that had seen better days might have given him pause, but at this point, he was happy for any place to be accepting customers. Two gas pumps stood in the lot, and as they walked by them, Matthew noted the older style, lacking screens and instead having a counter that ticked upward as the gas dispensed. A small smile crossed his face. Who knew he’d be nostalgic for gas stations, and he found himself happy to see the kind of technology that was being phased out when he was young.

The door didn’t ding when Matthew pushed through, but the place was small enough that a bell seemed unnecessary. Matthew nodded a hello at the clerk sitting on a stool at a counter. A magazine was spread out before him, and the ponytailed man barely acknowledged them as they walked inside. Matthew beelined for a small shelf sporting tiny sizes of Tylenol, antihistamines, sunscreen, mosquito spray, and the treasure of his day: aspirin. He picked up the small bottle, and looked down to catch the price. Thirty dollars? Was that real?

Shaking his head and cradling the bottle like it was gold, he began to look at the other items in the store. Price signs had been written over and then re-written over in marker. Before, at the other gas station, the prices had been ridiculous, but now things were priced to the extreme. Forty dollars for a bag of jerky? Fifteen dollars for a bottle of water? What a racket. What selfishness to take advantage of people in this way. Sometimes he couldn’t stomach the audacity of people.

Jade rounded the aisle, her hands stuck in her jean pockets. “Crazy, isn’t it?” she asked and tilted her chin at the row of chips priced upwards of fifty dollars.

“I think we’d be out two hundred bucks if we had the munchies,” Matthew joked. “Jerky, chips, and drinks would eat up all our funds.”

“No kidding. Ridiculous.” Jade threw a venomous look over her shoulder at the cashier. “Scum of the earth, that’s what people like these are like. Think they can take advantage of everyone. You found aspirin?”

Matthew waved the bottle at her. “Thirty dollars right here.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Jade’s mouth dropped open. “Two days ago, that would’ve been seven dollars at most. Vultures. They’re all vultures.”

Matthew shrugged. “We have power bars that will last, if we’re careful. Even though eating the same thing fills me with dread, I can’t morally support this thirty-dollar markup. But we need it.”

“We need it,” Jade repeated and followed Matthew as he headed for the front counter. The clerk turned a page of his magazine and raised an eyebrow as Matthew slid the aspirin bottle to him.

“Cash only,” the clerk said.

“Not sure how anyone could have enough cash to afford things in this store,” Matthew said, and carefully counted out the bills, wondering if the clerk would give them a discount, indicate they could take the medicine for twenty dollars, at least.

“Supply and demand, sir.” The clerk smirked at him. “If you want something, you should be prepared to pay the price for it. The things in my store might have been worth pennies a couple of days ago, but now I know their worth.”

“Listen, we’re just trying to make our way home,” Jade butted in, sliding an elbow onto the counter. “Can’t you give us a discount? If we paid ten bucks for a bag of chips, you’re still making a crazy profit. I could give you fifteen bucks for this aspirin bottle and you’d still be a rich man.”

“Hey lady, I’ve got mouths to feed, too. Can’t let anyone go hungry, especially in this new economy, and if you’re not willing to pay, someone else will.” He closed his magazine and leaned over the counter. Wisps escaped the long dark ponytail tied at the base of his skull.

“It’s extortion,” Jade said, her eyes narrowing.

“I’m a negotiating man. I’m not