Conflict of interest pt. 3

Alice looked at the road and the cracks that covered the asphalt. She wondered if weeds would be growing through the cracks this spring or if the road would be fixed before then.

“How long do you think till things will be normal again?” Asked Lucas

Alice sighed. “I have no idea. I’m guessing it will be worse before it gets better. My brother is in the national guard and he told me places to go if it even got like this. Kinda funny now, I thought him joining the Kentucky national guard instead of Big Army would keep him safe. He would probably be safer on the other side of the world right now. If we get to Lexington and the National Guard stations have been set up we could have hope that life will be normal at some point.”

Lucas nodded in agreement. “I hope so”.

They both looked up and to their surprise, a donkey was standing in the middle of the road like he was lost. He wore a bridle.

“Aww poor guy probably doesn’t know what’s going on,” Lucas said as he walked towards it and reached out to pet its nose.

The donkey seemed to be excited to see people. As it walked towards Lucas it was painfully obvious how tame it was..

“This was definitely someone’s pet,” Alice said as she stroked its head.

Carrot let out a little growl from inside Alice’s coat as if she could possibly scare away this 1000-pound animal.

They continued walking past the donkey and it followed. Slowly lumbering behind them occasionally stopping and eating grass that was poking through the snow.

Lucas started walking backward while talking. “I think we have a follower”

Alive stopped and looked at the donkey. “How far do you think we have walked with him?

“A mile maybe,” Lucas shrugged

Alive just shook her head and started walking.

“I got an idea” Lucas exclaimed and took off his backpack

Alice stopped again and watched as Lucas pulled a mexican blanket from his backpack and carefully placed it over the donkey. The donkey didn’t seem bothered. Lucas then pulled a rope from his backpack and carefully placed his backpack on the donkey. He took the straps from the backpack and made a make-shift saddle back for the donkey and then stood back. The donkey shook a bit like he was settling into a new outfit and then kept walking.

“I don't think I've ever been this excited to see an Ass" she giggled at her childish joke

“I know right” he smiled

Alice took her backpack off and gave it to Lucas. “Do you think he can carry this too?”

“I used to ride a donkey when I was a kid, So I think they can carry about 120 pounds.”

“Well how much does your backpack weigh you think,” Alice asked

“25 pounds maybe?”

“That’s about what mine is. 50 pounds shouldn’t be terrible should it?” She asked

“Let’s see” He strapped his backpack on 1 side and Alice’s on the other. The donkey just stood and waited calmly.

“He seems fine,” Lucas said as he stepped back. “We might have to walk a little slower, but it will probably even out because we won’t have to carry things on our backs.”

It was then that Alice realized this guy wanted to follow her all the way to Lexington.

He seemed to know a lot about the donkey. It would only be fair if they separated that he take it. Honestly, it would be really nice to not have to walk all the way to Lexington with that much weight and caring Carrot. Maybe having him along wouldn’t be a terrible idea. If he was planning on killing her and taking her gear he probably would have attempted it already. It would be 2-3 weeks tops.

“This is like Minecraft!” He said excitedly. “I’m gonna name it Steve. That’s your starter character on Minecraft”

“Harmless,” Alice thought to herself.

“I love it Steve the donkey,” She said

They walked slowly through the small Kentucky town. Everything seemed to be abandoned but Alice didn't let her guard down.

"Look I think that's a little pharmacy" Lucas pointed

Lucas ran ahead of Alice. She should honestly let him run in there and see if he gets shot, but something deep inside her ached. "Lucas!" She shouted don't run in there. You don't know who is in there.

Lucas stopped 'thank you. I'm just really hoping there is in insulin is in there. I have to have it."

"Well bullets will kill ya a lot faster than ketoacidosis" she chuckled and pulled her gun from it's holster.

“You know a lot about it! It’s really nice to be with someone that knows so much about diabetes out here! but..Trust me, if you were diabetic your ass would be running in there too" Lucas said as he watched

Alice got out an "uh huh" muttered before she kicked open the small door.

The Broken class flew through the small pharmacy, but the glass had been scattered before they had got there. The refrigerator had been open and things had been thrown onto the floor from the shelves but besides that, it looked as if most of the merchandise was still there. She did a quick sweep and she appeared to be alone. She placed her gun back in her side. She quickly went to the back and peered inside the fridge. She rummaged for a moment and there it was 2 bottles of insulin. She placed one in her pocket and then yelled out to Lucas. "hey I think there's some insulin in here". His boots crunched the broken glass beneath him as he walked.

"Hell yeah!" He exclaimed. Can you look around and see if there are any glucose meters? I am almost out of strips.

Alice in the excitement had almost forgot to check the pharmacy for meters. Maybe this guy was coming in handy. She looked around the pharmacy 2 meters. She couldn’t casually slip the boxes in the coat. They were big and bulky. So she did the only thing she could. “Hey are these what you're looking for? As she holds them up.

“Yeah, thanks! Can you put them on Steve? He says stuffing his pockets with random things in the pharmacy.

Alice stepped over the glass and carefully put the meters in his backpack. She herself was running low on blood sugar strips for her meter. She had about 7 left. This wasn’t enough. If she used the strips from the pharmacy she would be fine, but this would bring a whole new challenge she wasn’t ready for. Alice wanted to tell him. She could see the joy in his eyes and she wanted to bask in the moment with him, but she didn't trust him. She had determined he wasn't an enemy, but he hadn't proven to be a friend yet either.