The End Of Life

After taking the keys off what looked like the security room, Kevin got to work. Going towards the nearest truck, he got into the driver's seat and tried to start the engine. But it was no use. The engine did not start no matter how many times he tried. Kevin exhaled seeing this and got down. 

He turned towards his confused friends and said, "I'll take a look as to what is the problem. Give me a minute." Mark gave a nod, and he took out a few of the materials he brought from the shop and slid right under the bus. After checking everything below, he opened up the hood for the engine. 

Tinkering with the engine and other parts a bit, he exhaled and turned towards them. He shook his head and said, "This one is no use. I am no expert, but there seems to be some problem with the engine of this truck." showing his hands as he resigned. 

Mark sighed hearing him and said, "Well, we can't do anything if it's above your level of expertise. Try checking the other one, and let's hope it works." giving him a slight nod. Kevin replied the same and went over to check the second truck. 

Like the last time, Kevin got in the truck and tried to start the engine. This time the engine responded, but not completely. It failed to go forward. Kevin nodded to himself, getting a vague idea about its condition. He got out of the truck and took his tools once again and got under the bus. 

The three on the outside could hear noise from below, unlike before, and it looked like he was fixing it. Mark had a small smile on his face. Kevin got out, and this time opened up the hood and checked the engine. After seeing everything was alright, he closed it and turned towards them with a smile. 

Showing them a thumbs up, he said, "It should work now." Mark gave a nod and Kevin got in the vehicle once again. He turned the engine on, but after it roared a bit, it quieted down again. It was the same result even after Kevin tried a couple of times. 

He looked out of the window and said, "Well, come and give the truck a little push. It should work after we do that." pointing towards the back. 

Mark nodded and turned towards Suzie and said, "Well, let's go and give it a push, Suzie. You are the strongest out of all of us." as he saw a cheeky smile formed on her face and she said with her chin up high, "Well, looks like I can't help it. I will give you guys a hand." 

Mark seeing the cheeky side of her, which she showed when she was praised by them. Suzie made her way to the back-side of the truck and got a good grip before giving it a push. The truck slowly moved a bit before she got tired. 

"It is very heavy." taking in deep breaths, she complained. 

Mark turned towards David and said, "Let's go and help her." David nodded, and they left the carts to the side and went next to her. Mark showed her a cheeky smile before putting his hands on the truck. 

Suzie noticed Mark's smile and could only pout. All three of them kept their hands and as Mark gave the signal, all three of them gave the truck a hard push. Mark grit his teeth and pushed harder as the truck slowly moved ahead. 

"Guys try harder. Come on," shouted Kevin from the driver's seat as he continued to start the engine. 

Mark's eyes twitched when he heard him complain and scolded Kevin inside himself, 'Bastard, we are already trying our best here.' before he tried to push harder. 

All three of them gave their hardest and the truck slowly picked up speed and after a couple more tries the engine finally responded properly and turned on. Huge smoke came from the exhaustion pipe in the back as it hit Suzie right in the face. 

Suzie left the truck as she coughed from the sudden black smoke. Kevin noticed this as he drove the truck further from the mirror and said, "Oh, I forgot to warn you, Suzie. My bad." waving his hands. 

Suzie could only shout, "Bastard." and continue coughing. Mark had a smile on his face when he saw her cough. David exhaled in relief as he saw the truck finally move. 

He turned towards Mark and said, "Should we move now with the truck and search for the military base for the rest of the day?" 

Hearing him, Mark went into silence as he kept his hands on his hip and thought about the next course of action. He nodded and said, "Yes, we should start searching for the bas- Wait a minute." as he thought of something. 

David did not disturb him as Kevin came back, and Suzie looked at him. 

"We should probably keep the truck here itself with the food supplies we collected. We should park it outside under the sun." 

"What, Why?" as Kevin was the first to respond out of the three. He was the one who was looking forward to eating the food and especially the meat the most out of all four of them. 

"We are going to a military base after this. Think about what their response would be when we take almost a truck full of food supplies. Do you think that is something the military would agree to?" he glanced at him as he explained. 

"Ah, yes. Now that I think about it. Mark is right. We should park it somewhere safe around here. We can turn the freezer on and keep it under the sun for the power." said David as he caught up to what Mark was onto. 

But Kevin and Suzie still did not understand their thoughts as Suzie asked, "David, why?" 

"Think about it as Mark just said. The camp probably has a lot of members and with the current situation the world is in, they probably lack things. Especially food items. So when a group of four normal people just come into their base with a truck full of food, do you think they would leave it untouched?" explained David. Mark was nodding as he did. 

"And honestly, it is a surprise that the military did not check this supermarket yet. Looks like we are lucky to find it and get the goods before they did," said Mark. 

As they heard David's explanation, they finally caught up to them and were slightly embarrassed. Kevin coughed and said, "Well, looks like you guys are right. Let's find a place to park the truck. We should probably also fill the tank with fuel, it's already very low." trying to change the topic. 

Mark nodded and said, "Let's first collect the fuel in the rest of the trucks and the vehicles here. There should be at least enough fuel in them so that the truck would last until we reach a nearby fuel station." 

David nodded before he took out an empty plastic bottle from the cart and made his way towards the other trucks. Suzie followed him as both of them started collecting the fuel. 

Mark turned towards David and said, "Let's arrange the items inside. I suppose we can also keep some of our ammo in the truck. We can't take out ammo with us there." David also nodded, and they made their way towards their jeep. 

They opened up the trunk and took out the box of ammo they received from the military. Mark looked at it and noticed their 9mm ammo was already halfway through. He made a note of the situation and decided that he should find a solution to this. 

They took out a few magazines of both 7.65mm and 9mm for themselves, before closing the box and carrying it towards the truck. They noticed Suzie and Kevin already filled 2 bottles each of fuel from the surrounding vehicles. They filled the tank with the 4 bottles of fuel and started arranging all the food in the carts. They also neatly arranged the clothes and other stuff to a corner as they only left a few essentials with themselves. 

After they neatly arranged the stuff, Mark turned towards Kevin and Suzie and said, "Kevin, drive the truck and follow the jeep. Suzie you go with him. I and David will be in front of you guys and search for a place, so we can park this bad boy." patting the truck. 

Kevin and Suzie nodded as they got in the truck. David sat behind the wheel of the jeep and Mark looked back and gave a nod to Kevin. Kevin replied with a nod too, and David started the jeep. They slowly rolled out of the underground parking lot. 

Mark got down and opened up both the gates and they successfully exited the supermarket with their goal achieved.