Hoarding Resources In Apocalypse

Chapter 5

Sarah showed up at Ciro's apartment at 2:00 PM wearing tight jeans and a low-cut sweater and her most supportive girlfriend smile. "Ready to go shopping baby? I cleared my whole afternoon to help you with your project."

 Ciro grabbed his keys. "Actually I need camping gear. A lot of it."

Sarah's smile flickered for half a second.

 "Camping gear? I thought you were building some kind of business inventory."

 "It's all part of the same project," Ciro said and walked toward the door. "You coming?"

Sarah recovered fast and looped her arm through his. "Of course. I love camping. I know all the best brands and I can definitely help you with sorting."

Ciro smirked, almost with a glint of mockery and irritation in his eyes but Sarah was too blinded to see any of it.

They drove to Mountain Peak Outfitters, a massive sporting goods warehouse on the edge of town, and the moment they walked through the automatic doors Sarah started steering him toward the casual hiking section with the colorful daypacks and fashionable fleece jackets. 

Ciro walked straight past her toward the back of the store where the serious expedition equipment lived in utilitarian gray and black packaging with technical specs printed in small font.

If he wanted to survive the extreme cold, he did just need warmth, he also needed equipments to be able to dig through snow. Equipments that people would fight for like their lives depended on it.

"Babe," Sarah called after him. "The nice stuff is over here."

Ciro started loading a cart with industrial-grade sleeping bags rated for negative forty degrees.

 Then expedition tents designed for arctic conditions. Then portable stoves and fuel canisters and water filtration systems and climbing rope and ice axes and emergency blankets that came in bulk packs of fifty.

Sarah caught up to him and stared at the cart. "This is really heavy-duty gear. Are you planning some kind of mountain expedition?"

"Something like that." He didn't explain further. There was no need to, especially for a snake.

"How many people are going?"

Ciro grabbed another cart and started filling it with thermal base layers and insulated boots and tactical flashlights. "Just me."

Sarah's forehead creased but she kept smiling. "That's a lot of supplies for one person."

"I like to be prepared." Ten minutes later Natalia appeared at the end of the aisle wearing yoga pants and holding a water bottle like she'd just finished a workout. "Oh my god Ciro? Sarah?

 What a crazy coincidence! I was just shopping for new running shoes.

Sarah's face lit up. "Natalia! Perfect timing. We're helping Ciro with his project. Come help us carry stuff."

 Natalia's eyes swept over the two overflowing carts and her smile turned sharp and calculating. "Of course. What are friends for?"

For the next hour Sarah and Natalia pushed carts through the store while Ciro loaded them with fifteen thousand dollars worth of apocalypse survival gear. 

They giggled and whispered to each other and acted like supportive helpful girlfriends securing their position in his life while he watched them work.

 "Babe this is seriously a LOT of camping equipment," Sarah said as Ciro added a third tent to the pile. "Are you outfitting like an entire expedition team?"

"If you feel they are too heavy, you can drop them!' He almost sneered and she bolted frantically. 

"Oh no, definitely not! It's so light weight that I feel you should add more!" There was irritation and disdain in her voice and Ciro caught in and ignored it.

In his past life, he would have mistaken the soft tone for love. But it was only a vines trying to manipulate him, one that he wasn't going to fall for in this life.

Natalia leaned close to Sarah and whispered loud enough for Ciro to hear. "He's definitely loaded. This is thousands of dollars of gear. Play it smart."

Sarah nodded and turned back to Ciro with adoring eyes. "Whatever you need baby I'm here to support you one hundred percent."

They rolled three fully loaded carts to the checkout counter and the cashier's eyes went wide. "Big trip planned?"

"You could say that," Ciro said and pulled out a stack of hundred-dollar bills.

The total came to fourteen thousand eight hundred and forty-seven dollars.

Ciro counted out the cash without hesitation and Sarah and Natalia exchanged excited glances behind his back like they'd just confirmed he was sitting on a fortune.

They loaded everything into Ciro's truck, boxes and bags piled so high they had to tie down the tailgate, and drove back to his apartment building. Ciro parked in the loading zone and turned to the two women. "Can you help me carry this down to the basement? I rented a storage unit for all my project supplies."

Sarah and Natalia looked at each other and some silent communication passed between them. Then Sarah smiled brightly. "Of course we'll help. That's what partners do."

 They spent the next hour hauling heavy boxes down three flights of concrete stairs to the basement storage area.

 The building was old and the stairs were narrow and Sarah kept complaining about breaking a nail while Natalia made jokes about getting her workout for the week.

 But they kept smiling and acting supportive because they thought they were investing in their future access to Ciro's wealth.

Between trips Natalia whispered to Sarah in the stairwell. "If we play this right we could all get rich."

Sarah whispered back while adjusting a box of sleeping bags. "I'm working on it. He's starting to trust me. I'll find out exactly how much money he has and where it came from.

Ciro heard every word from one flight down because they weren't even trying to be quiet.

He smiled and kept walking.

After the last box was loaded into the storage unit Sarah collapsed dramatically on Ciro's couch upstairs. Her hair was messy and her makeup was smudged and she was breathing hard. "I am completely exhausted but I'm so glad I could help with your project baby." She looked up at him with wide earnest eyes. "What exactly are you building down there? It looks like you're preparing for the apocalypse or something."

Ciro handed her a glass of water. "Just preparing for the future."

Natalia stretched her arms over her head and her voice came out casual but calculated. "Well whatever it is you're obviously doing really well for yourself. Marco and I were actually talking last night and he has some incredible investment opportunities coming up. Real estate deals, crypto mining operations, stuff that could multiply your money really fast if you get in early." She smiled. "We'd love to bring you in as a partner. You know, help you grow your wealth."

Ciro nodded slowly. "I'll think about it."

"You should definitely meet Marco this weekend," Sarah added quickly. "He's really smart with money. He could help you manage everything properly."

"Maybe."

After they left Ciro waited ten minutes then went back down to the basement. The storage unit was packed floor to ceiling with boxes and equipment. He opened the VOID STORAGE interface and pointed at the pile.

STORE ALL?

Yes.

Everything dissolved into particles of light in thirty seconds. The unit sat completely empty like nothing had ever been there.

Ciro locked the door and went back upstairs.

His phone buzzed. The spyware app showed a new message there.

Countdown: 27 DAYS, 6 HOURS, 33 MINUTES

 They were literally helping him stockpile survival gear while planning to rob him blind. Pathetic