Clara felt so inadequate. She felt so useless. Now that the threat of death wasn’t hanging over them, for the moment, she was angry. At herself, at those women. All she could do was stand there and let them do as they wanted. She didn’t have a choice, any more than Cooper or Dante had, but she hated herself for just freezing and not even thinking of something to do.
What was all that talk, about her protecting her family? Providing for them? All she did was cause more problems, it seemed to be all that she could do ever since the crash. Tessa actually thought Clara had anything going for her, the current situation just proved she didn’t. Why would her sister have ever been jealous of her, when Tessa was the one always doing what was best for them, while Clara just thought she was doing what was best.
They could not just stay there like sitting ducks, waiting for those women to come for the rest of their food. Clara refused to starve, she refused to let her family starve. Whatever Viola had intended with her garden, those women had trampled all over it, so they would have to start from square one even there. Her fists clenched at her side and she shook with her fury, and it only made her angrier when she realized there was nothing she could do with all that energy.
"We need to prepare for their return. I don’t know how we're going to do it, but we have to do something. We can't just sit and wait for them to come back."
She could hope that they would stay with what they had and eat it all before they came back. If they were careful with the food, they had taken enough that they could live on it for a month, if they really tried. They would have that long to do something before they were subjected with that again, but Clara was sure it was more along the line of a few days, not weeks. They would expect them to take some action, so they might come even earlier.
They could do something in that time. Whatever it was, Clara didn’t care in that moment, she just wanted to keep what belonged to them and have those women hurt, be in the same situation they were putting other people in.
Even with the time, though, she didn’t have a plan.
Clara didn’t feel like running away from home, though it was the first thing that came to mind, and the most logical thing to do. It might only make things worse for her family if they attempted to move, though, and where would they all go?
If she's still had the firearm, what would have one gun done against so many of them?
"They have the advantage, Clara," Cooper pointed out unnecessarily. "They have weapons, more people, and transport."
Clara growled. She knew all that. She had seen it for herself. There was no way to move all the food without others getting suspicious, even if they could move it to someplace else. There was still Cooper's place, but it was far, and it wouldn’t be any less dangerous there, so close to the greater population. Of course, she had assumed her quiet little neighborhood was also safe, and this happened.
They couldn’t just give up the food now. It had been weeks. If she went to the police, they would ask why she hadn't done it right away. She was already in trouble with them, they might just throw her in a cell and let her rot there, and she would drag everyone else in with her.
"We can't just allow people to invade our home!" she said stubbornly.
Maybe she was acting naïve again, but Clara felt ready to kill. If she still had the gun, she knew she would have shot those women, killed them without a second thought.
How dare they!
Even knowing what she could do wouldn’t be enough, that all she had done was cower and let them do whatever they wanted—hurt Cooper, threaten her family, take their food—she was as much mad at herself as she was with them.
"If you come up with an idea of how to stop them, you can tell me," Cooper said, sounding tired. "But until then, we should sit tight and stay out of their way."
He left her standing there, and she could feel him drop to the floor, where he had probably been sleeping. She felt jealous that he even could. After what just happened, Clara didn’t think she would be getting any more sleep for the night.
She hadn't even looked to see if Dante had come back in the house, but he probably had. Tessa and Viola must have gone back up the stairs because she heard Viola start to cry as soon as the women were out of the house and she couldn’t hear it anymore. Hopefully, Tessa was taking care of their grandmother, because Clara couldn’t do that right then.
Clara looked out of the window angrily, unable to move, unable to look away. She eyed every single one of them. They were far enough away that Clara could only see their dark outlines as they moved around. She could do nothing but stare at them and will them to drop dead, and it annoyed her.
But she vowed to herself that things wouldn’t stay as they were. She would die first before she let those women do what they wanted a second time. If the police were out of the question, she would just think of a way to get her family out of the problem they found themselves in. Even if it meant talking to and agreeing with Tessa.
She decided she would not allow anyone to destroy her life, not anymore. After everything she had survived through, this wouldn’t be what took her down. And, somehow, she would be prepared for the next day. She decided she was going to fix everything—Tessa's mania, their food shortage, and Michelle's anger at her.
She turned away from the window, preparing herself mentally for the fight ahead.
About Max Lockwood
Max Lockwood writes suspenseful, post-apocalyptic thriller and dystopian fiction while living in New York.
Growing up with parents who were peppers and always planning for the worst, but hoping for the best, got him interested in writing in the first place. “What would happen if the world were to change?” is something he asked himself his whole life. Until one day he decided to put it down on paper.
His stories will have you reading on the edge of your seats…you have been warned!
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Also by Max Lockwood
Zero Power Series
It Began (Book 1)
Trying To Survive (Book 2)
They Invaded (Book 3)—Coming Soon!
Zero Power (Book 2): Trying To Survive Page 21
