Hood River was only a small town of a few thousand people. Perhaps because of last night's storm, only one medium-sized supermarket in the downtown area was still open-the same one where Nick had bought two large cases of canned food when they first arrived.
The Hummer, almost entirely coated in mud after encountering a mudslide along the way, drew a few curious looks as it pulled into the supermarket parking lot, but that was all.
Compared with their previous visit, however, the supermarket seemed rather busy today. People kept leaving the parking lot with shopping carts piled high.
"Looks like the power's out here." None of them hurried out of the vehicle. Instead, they studied their surroundings through the windows. The supermarket was dark inside, with no lights on, but they could see crowds moving around in there. It was still doing business.
"Communications are down too." Martin saw people getting out of their cars and holding up their phones as they searched for a signal, while someone else stood cursing in front of a pay phone.
The Willys Jeep that had overtaken them earlier was also parked in the supermarket lot. A Black military policeman wearing a white helmet marked with the letters "MP" got out and strode into the supermarket, head high and chest out.
"Looks like the nearby military base only just received mobilization orders. It should be safe here for now." Kurt seemed delighted.
Watching the Black MP exchange a few hushed words with three noncommissioned officers in army uniforms who were clearly out on leave, whereupon the latter looked thoroughly disgruntled, Jules asked in confusion, "But wasn't that giant already killed?"
Kurt dug a baseball cap out of the glove compartment and handed it to his girlfriend, pointing at her bare scalp, which looked