Dale escorted Linda and Bobby into the Sam’s Club. Thankfully, there were sky lights throughout the store so you could easily see where you were going.

You could also see the blood.

And the corpses.

Dale counted them as he walked past. Two orcs and three gremlins lay among the deceased people. Regretfully, he refused to loot the bodies while they were in a lit area with easy sight lines.

“Grrraaahhh!” Came a mangled battle cry from an orc.

Dale set his back foot before thrusting and slamming the spear point into the creature’s solar plexus area. It had a weirdly distended potbelly, but the blow must have hit something vital because it froze and stared down at the spear.

Dale yanked the spear out and shoved it into the orc’s neck this time, spurting a couple streams of blood. The orc collapsed, revealing two more.

Linda dropped the flare and her and Bobby handled one of the orcs while Dale took down the other. They were no doubt strong, but reach, plus deadly weapon, plus willingness to harm; all totaled to equal death for the orcs that stood in their way.

Linda was careful to reach down and congratulate her son on helping her defeat the monster. Bobby was smiling with pride and had a spring in his step as they moved forward.

They reached the other side of the store without incident. There the shelves were packed with the two things Dale was most interested in. Meal replacement bars and vitamins. Toward the end of the row were more first aid kits. The multivitamins and meal replacement bars were the only thing he grabbed from the aisle. Linda kept her eyes roving and her spear ready while he stuffed the bags and when full placed them into the cart.

The first aid kits and a handful of minor supplies besides easily fit into the cart. Dale was breathing hard by the time they finished on the aisle. He grabbed the carts and started dragging them out of the Sam’s club.

“Wait, that’s it? Vitamins and meal bars?” Linda asked him. “Shouldn’t you be packing away beans or rice or something?”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Dale shook his head. “Too heavy and too obvious. Think about it like this. How many people do you know that actively take vitamins?”

Linda shrugged. “My mom, but she’s getting old.”

“Sure. But did you know that everything you eat is usually fortified? The breads, the pastas, any meals you get through fast food… There is a little-known war going on between fast food chains. It’s all about nutrient density in their foods so they can still sell it without the more educated parents actively rebelling against them.” Dale explained. “Since the majority of Americans eat fast food, where do you think a lot of these nutrients are going to come from? You see very many vegetable and fruit farms around here? We live next to a city with a population of over two and a half million people. Rock Hill has sixty thousand.”

Dale left it there as Linda started doing the math before she slowed down and stopped before they left the Sam’s Club.

“Wait, are you saying we’re about to be fighting the whole damn city of Charlotte for food?” Linda asked him.

Dale chuckled. “Give it a couple days and grocery stores are gonna be war zones.”

“Wait, this is just you thinking you’re written into some book, right? That’s why you believe all this madness about the world as we know it ending. Teaching my son to kill things with a damn spear…” Linda was growing more worried as she spoke and was now staring at him wide-eyed.

“Okay, I bet I can at least have you realizing I’m not out to lunch.” Dale informed her.

“Yeah, I think you better prove this.” Linda shot back; her tone had an edge to it now.

“Say the words, Character Sheet.” Dale directed her.

“Character sheet.” Linda stated, then her eyes nearly popped out of her skull. “Oh my god! What in Jesus name is all this?”

“Ah, deeply Christian?” Dale asked her.

Linda shot him a look. “Yes. That a problem for you?”

Dale shrugged. “Whatever floats your boat. I’m Wiccan myself. Well, a bastardized version of it anyway. I worship nature, do its bidding, that kinda thing.”

“Ooooh, you’re a witch!” Linda smiled. “Yeah, I have a cousin who’s all into that. Anyway, why do I have all zeros next to these abbreviations?”

Dale sighed. “I’ve been wondering the same thing. I wanted to wait a bit to do all the sorting, but I figure now is as good a time as any. I think we killed the last three monsters in this building standing. Character Sheet.”

The sheet came up, showing him a decent sized list of skills but his attributes were still at zero. There were now zeros next to all the skills as well.

“Help menu?” Dale said, hopeful.

Oh sure, let me get right on that. See, how this all works is…

middle finger [https://i.imgur.com/GmMR2HC.png]

Sincerely,

Shitalazy

“That’s just petty.” Dale snarled.

“What? Oh man, this help menu is great!” Linda remarked.

Dale just rolled his eyes heavenward.