Man Eaters by Linda Kay Silva Read Free Book Online

doing the best we can.”
    “Well, it’s quiet out there, for the most part.”
    Dallas was suddenly awake. “The most part?”
    Roper rose and looked out the window. “Some of my neighbors have left under the cover of darkness. Others were starting generators, preparing, I suppose, for the worst. But no man eaters.”
    “Not yet.” Dallas swung her legs around.
    “No. Not yet.”
    Dallas thought she heard something in Roper’s voice. “What is it?”
    Kneeling in front of Dallas, Roper sighed heavily. “We’re putting a lot of faith in the active imagination of a teenage gamer.”
    Dallas pulled on her steel-toed boots that looked ridiculous with her sweats. “Maybe, but he hasn’t been wrong yet.”
    “No, he hasn’t, but that doesn’t mean he’ll always be right.”
    “Duly noted.”
    “Your clothes are in the dryer.”
    Dallas smiled. It had been a long time since a woman had done her laundry. Lisa had always preferred they each did their own. “Thank you.” As she started for the door, she slowly turned. “We’re going to get out of this alive, Roper.”
    Roper smiled softly. “I sure as hell hope so. I have plans for my life and they don’t include being anyone’s lunch.”         
    After changing back into her leather biker gear, Dallas tried her phone again. The towers had to be unmanned at this point, just as the newsrooms had been evacuated. That meant the towns had probably been plundered a la New Orleans during Katrina. They would need to frequent towns for supplies along the way for rations like bottled water and food, but they would do so only with care and trepidation.
    Food.
    Dallas started making a list of smart food choices. Foods high in vitamins and nutrients, but easy to carry and eat on the run. Trail mix, she thought. Nuts. Energy bars. Foods that needed no refrigeration. It was only a matter of time before the infrastructure collapsed in California. With no one at the wheel, the energy grid would fail. They would need to grab canned foods with a long shelf life, like Spam and sardines, and vitamins. A good multivitamin would at least keep them healthy while eating substandard foods. Beef jerky. That was a must. Lightweight, no storage issues. It would replace the meat that would go south when the electricity went down. How about—She stopped writing when she heard it. Something was near the front door. Grabbing the automatic, she checked the safety and racked one back like Roper had showed her.
    Pressing her back against the wall, she considered going upstairs and barricading them all in, but then she remembered Einstein’s admonition about going up. Up was a death sentence. No, she would have to handle this on her own. Crouching on her knees on the other side of the door, Dallas decided lighting up the trespasser would be the best thing to do. With the Glock in her left hand, she turned the porch light on and flung the door open with her right before bringing it to the grip.
    “Oh shit, whoa! Don’t shoot. I’m human!” A young man of twenty something stumbled back off the porch, hands in the air.
    Dallas stepped out to the porch, gun aimed at him. Before she could say anything, Roper was by her side, the .357 out and pointed at his crotch.
    “Jesus, Walter, what in the hell are you doing?”
    As Walter rose, he brushed himself off. “I was leaving you a note letting you know where we’re going in case you wanted to join us later. I had no idea you were home.”
    Roper reached down for the note poking out from an antique milk urn holding an asparagus fern. “Mexico?”
    He nodded. “Country’s in a shit load of trouble, Roper. We’re heading south.”
    “Past Los Angeles? Those things are there, too.”
    He looked at the red camper idling just down the road a bit. “Etta’s folks are in Bakersfield. We’ve got to get them outta there. You can come with us, Roper.”
    Roper shook her head. “Thank you, Walt, but we’ve got a plan as well and it