Black Sun by Clifford Beck - HTML preview
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Chapter 44
Abby seemed to recover quickly, but Ryan thought it would be best to remain in the mall for another day. The next night, they would move on without the risk of exposing their presence. In the meantime, they spent the day searching the mall for anything that could be used for their survival. However, Ryan found it necessary to remember that they should only take what they could carry and with their backpacks full, they discovered many things that they did not have room for. They would have to wait until their backpacks were depleted, and hopefully they would be near someplace where they could find what they needed.
Food was fairly abundant and while most of it had frozen solid, other items were more than enough. Taking advantage, Ryan and Abby filled their stomachs with what they could find. Normally, Abby would be dieting in order to maintain the curves of her figure, but under the circumstances, she made an exception and ate whatever she thought was palatable. Ryan, on the other hand, chose to search for anything nutritious and soon discovered that the mall's food court had little to offer in the way of 'real' food. He would have to make do with whatever he could find. Unfortunately, time stood against them and since the power went out some food items had gone bad and to a hungry stomach, spoiled food could be the beginnings of starvation. Hopefully, once they left the mall they might encounter a grocery store or, perhaps, a convenience store – anyplace where unspoiled food could be found.
With their stomachs full, Ryan and Abby walked back to the camping store. Ryan pointed out that if they were to travel at night, they should develop the habit of sleeping during the day. The only problem would be finding someplace warm so as not to, once again, be forced to deal with November's frigid air. One close call was enough and after a brief conversation of their circumstances, they laid down in the back of the camping store and were soon asleep. Exhaustion had delivered its knockout punch.