Part 2 : Heavengate

A tired and dishevelled looking middle aged woman was walking towards her, burdened with a couple of bagfulls of groceries, she assumed. Their eyes met and Sheila was about to look away out of politeness, when the woman’s gaze locked onto her own. “Are you going to the Heavengate shopping centre?” asked the woman.

“Yes,” replied Sheila, wondering how she knew. Of course everyone was going there, looking for food, like herself. It was not difficult to guess.

“I wouldn’t bother if I were you,” said the woman, lowering her bags, thankful for a reason to place them on the ground for a moment or more.

     “Why not?”

     “There’s no food left there now.”

     “Really? That can’t be.”

     “All the food was sold up this morning. They’ve been selling it to traders who’ve been offering a good price to the supermarkets. Someone bought up the last of the tinned meats. The refrigerators stopped working when the power cut began. They rigged up the generators but there’s not much fuel for them to use, so they haven’t been able to keep the frozen food frozen the last couple of days.”

    “Hell!” Sheila swore. “I need some food.” It was unlike her. She was normally a polite woman, but the severity of the situation was beginning to sink in. Thankfully she still had some food at home but not enough to last for very long. All her frozen food was going off and there was no gas either now. She couldn’t cook anyway.

     “You’ve got some food, I see,” said Sheila. “Where did you get yours from?”

     “I bought some groceries from some of the traders who’ve set up in the car parks. They’re selling rice from the back of cars, and other stocks of food. They’re charging high prices for everything, and getting higher by the hour. It won’t be long before these traders will be out of stock.”

     “But what’s the point buying rice if we can’t cook it?” asked Sheila.