(http://www.tribute.ca/tribute_objects/images/stars/cherry_jones.jpg)<br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">CLAIRE ANDERSON</span></span><br/><strong>Location:</strong>Police cruiser, at a CONOCO station on Cleveland Ave, Wellington<br/><strong>With:</strong>Charlie, Lily and Olivia<br/><br/>The cruiser rolled along Cleveland Avenue, from west to east, moving slowly around the obstructions in the road. As the car moved east the suburban houses gave way to town-centre shops and municipal buildings – the town hall, library, a police station. Then there came a row of eateries and bars and useless stores like hairdressing salons. All of them looked well-looted as the smashed windows and scattered goods on the sidewalks outside testified.<br/><br/><div class="floatleft">(http://www.petromarket.net/gas-stations-convenience-stores-on-sale/conoco-gas-station-convenience-store-and-car-wash-for-sale/conoco1.jpg)</div>Soon I brought the cruiser to the east end of the town and the base of the off-ramp from I-25. There was a CONOCO station here and even if there was no food it would surely have gas in its underground tanks.<br/><br/>Up some of the side turnings I had seen<em>them</em>, a few at any rate, staggering slowly about in the middle distance and groaning and making dog-like noises. Whenever we had a visual with them, people in the car called out ‘zombies, to the south, in the distance, calm…’ or a similar phrase. Charlie and I had agreed a verbal warning every time we saw them, so that we would all be on our alert. He and I had also agreed that if we needed to shoot, we would say so before pulling the trigger. ‘Firing, zombie, left!’ or something like that.<br/><br/><strong>“Let’s try the gas station,”</strong>I suggested to everyone in the car,<strong> “It looks quiet enough and there’s a small store as part of it.”</strong>Most gas stations sold basic groceries now and many had a donut shop or Starbucks or a Costa Coffee as part of the franchise.<br/><br/>I pulled the cruiser onto the forecourt to the nearest row of pumps to the store and let it creep past, so that we could all peer in to see if there was movement inside. There wasn’t, though the usual signs of people having been there before us were all around.<br/><br/>I circled the forecourt a second time and this time brought the car to a stop outside the door. I then reversed it back at an angle until its rear fender corner touched the concrete wall, making the car itself a partial barrier to anything that would come from the roadward side.<br/><br/><strong>“Everyone out my side,”</strong>I said,<strong>“And stay quiet – girls, you take the bags and fill them with any canned goods you can see, also dry goods like rice or pasta, and anything in jars! Things like Bolognese or curry sauces, that kind of thing. But avoid the chilled and frozen counters, unless it’s bottled or canned drink, everything else there will have gone off. Charlie you go in first and sweep the place, girls you follow on his signal. Work fast please! I’ll cover us from out here.”</strong><br/><br/>Using the hood of the cruiser as a barricade I leaned over it, my .38 at the ready. I looked at the nurse, Olivia.<br/><br/><strong>“Hey,”</strong>I said softly,<strong>“You okay? Don’t try to grab too much and keep near Lily. Get back here quick if there’s trouble. Off you go.”</strong>