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The tall husky looked at everything she mentioned as she brought it out, nodding as he took mental stock of what they now had. He licked his lips. "You went hunting with your family, that's a good thing... I'll teach you about knives and hand-to-hand later on. And yeah, I think we should stuff some of those blankets and things into the duffel, we can spread out the food between both bags so that if we lose one of them we won't lose everything." He ran his tongue over his lips again. "Go ahead and clean up, I'll assume you would want me to stay here." He smiled.

Tisha nodded and grabbed one of the rolled up sets of blankets and stuffed it into the duffel bag, then went around to the other side of the kitchen counter to grab a hand towel, then started to turn towards the pool. The path to the back yard would take her through the living room. Looking over her shoulder before moving down the hall, she looked at him. "Go through the pantry and cupboards for anything you think we could use food wise. Dad should have an cooking set for open fire cooking, as well as a coffee pot for that. I'll be back in a minute."

He saw the way she was headed. "Tisha... you might not want to go through the living room... I would suggest going around the long way...ok?" He bit his lip and shook his head. "It's just best if you do that, I'll go through the pantry and anything else while you're gone." He headed for the living room himself, knowing he should shut the blinds if she would be outside.

Tisha hesitated, then nodded as she understood he was trying to save her some pain. Something had happened to her family, something bad, and he was trying to protect her from it. It was rather hard to protect someone from life itself, but when you've already had a day as bad as she had, anything to keep it from getting worse was welcome. "Okay, Marco. I'll go around." She turned around and headed out the front door, and around to the pool. Stripping her shorts off, she got the dish towel wet and wiped the blood off one inner thigh, then the other. After she was cleaned up, she pulled her shorts back up and headed back inside, noting that the curtains in the living room were closed. He wasn't taking any chances with her mental state, it seemed.

"Marco," she called as she entered the front door. "I'm done. You got the food?" She moved through the kitchen towards a single door and opened it, showing that it was the garage. She rummaged through some things out there, grabbing a few screwdrivers and hammers. Returning to the kitchen, she dumped them onto the counter, then headed back into the garage. It was out there... somewhere. Where the fuck was that damned... Ahhh!! Grinning like a fool, she pulled out a hurricane lamp and the kerosene oil stuff her mother used for it when they went camping and hunting.

She brought it back in and looked at him. "Want to bring this?" she asked, holding up the lamp. "My parents have a cabin up in the woods from when we went camping and hunting. We could use that as a safe place to live and bring folks who have been attacked to. The screwdrivers and hammers could be weapons for them to use to protect themselves. And we can get more oil for this at the store, as well as more lamps if we need them."

Marco was, indeed, trying to keep her mental state intact. He knew that seeing her parents dead would push her over, and he wouldn't take that risk. Once she got back, he nodded to her. "I packed some canned food and other supplies into both of the duffels," he said, watching her head for the garage door. He followed her to the doorway, and watched.

When she returned, he backed up into the kitchen again, smiling as well. "Alright, stuff the tools in the bag with the guns and ammo, as for the lantern, I think it's a great idea...without power we'll need something like that, so bring it along."

Tisha hooked the lamp to her backpack, then dug out another smaller pack that she could sling over her shoulder and across her torso. "Camping cookware, handheld can opener, open fire coffee pot," she said as she caught his gaze on the new bag. Rummaging through a garage pantry, she pulled out all the bags of trail mix they had and divided them up.

She paused for a moment and looked at Marco. "Do you know how to ride?" It sounded like an odd question, but it was something she wanted to know, since the cabin was only accessible by foot or horseback, and the family's horses would get them to it faster. "And if you need any clothes, my brothers' rooms are upstairs. Grab some of their stuff if you want to."

He nodded. "Sounds like a good mix of stuff. We'll need all that gear to survive without the power now. I really don't know how widespread this power loss is, but some of the people I've talked to while walking earlier seemed to think that it was a lot further than anyone thinks. Not to mention, it's not a normal power outage. No one can even drive the cars." He shook his head, pondering their predicament.

His eyes glanced back up at her as she asked him if he could ride and he nodded again. "I've ridden before. I'm fair at it, but I'll make do. As for clothes, I've got all I'll need back at my apartment if you want to go back there with me. If not, I'll grab some of your brothers like you say and we'll get out of here before it gets too much later. Where do you stable the horses at?"

Tisha thought about it, but she knew they needed to make all the time they could now, before someone stole the horses. It might seem like a stretch, but without cars, feet and horses were the only methods of travel, and of the two, horses were much faster. "Well, the horses are stabled 15 minutes from here by car, so about an hour walking northwest. If your apartment is in the opposite direction, we'll have to backtrack and end up losing time we could use towards getting to the cabin."

Pausing for a moment, she thought about it, then continued, "It might be faster for us to grab clothes from their rooms then head towards the stables, since it takes over a day of riding to get to the cabin from the stables. I'll grab the oil and some candles that Mom has here, so we'll have light from either source when we get there. Mom keeps that stuff upstairs, and I'd been tempted to grab it earlier, but wanted to see how much room we would have in the bags first."

Marco nodded to her. "Alright, in that case it sounds best if we just start off from here." He left the bag on the kitchen table and headed for the stairs. "I'll see what I can wear from your brothers' rooms and you get those candles and the oil." He waited for her to follow and let her go up the stairs in front of him. Once they reached the top step, he waited. "Which ones are your brothers'?"

Tisha pointed to the two doors further down the hallway. "Both of those rooms belong to my brothers. My room is closer to the stairs, and it's the only upstairs room with a private bathroom. I'll be in the closet between my room and my brothers'." She headed towards the closet, nor really paying attention to the fact that the door to her room was wide open, and he could see the slight mess she'd made while getting into clean clothes and packing her own.

Opening the double doors to the closet, she started pulling out the candles and oil bottles, stuffing a bunch of them into the bag over her shoulder. Picking up the half of what she had pulled out, she carried them down to the kitchen, then returned upstairs to get the rest. Again, she headed downstairs to set them on the kitchen counters, then slide down the kitchen island until her ass was on the floor and her back pressed against the side of it. She was tempted to go looking through the living room and her parents' room, but something held her back from doing it. Finally, she got up to her feet and headed back up and went into her room.

Marco left the hall and walked into the first of her brothers' rooms. He glanced around at the decor, and he wondered where the two boys had gone. He hadn't found them in the house and that meant they had either run or been taken. His tongue passed over his lips a few times, and then he went to the dresser and opened the drawers. He went through them, and checked the sizes. These were too small, so he walked around the rest of the room and just checked out the closet and such. He found another crossbow and more bolts and hunting knives in the boy's closet. The whole family must have been hunters. He carried those out and headed down the hall into the other brother's room.

While he was rummaging around, he thought he heard her going down and back up the stairs. As long as she didn't go into those two rooms, she would be fine. The clothes in the second brother's bedroom looked to fit him perfectly and so he grabbed several t-shirts, two or three pairs of jeans and some underwear, then also a leather jacket that he found in the closet, and an extra pair of shoes. He also found a pair of leather gloves which he slipped on. He found a quiver of arrows but no bow in that closet.

As he came out he saw her disappear into her own room, and so he walked down the hall and rapped his knuckles on the doorway, "Tisha?"

Tisha looked up as she sat on her bed, holding a stuffed animal and a picture of her family. Her lower lip was trembling and the shine of tears filled her eyes. "Th...they're all dead, aren't they? That's why you didn't want me to go into the living room or see inside it, right?" She looked as lost as she had when he first saw her, huddled on the couch with her legs pulled up and only a hoodie left intact.

She looked like she was about to go into shock again from the massive changes that had happened in the world, and to her family. She was still in shock from the attack on her, and if she went too far into shock with the rest of this, she'd definitely be no help to getting them to the stables, let alone the cabin up in the woods.

Marco put the items down on the floor at the door and walked into her room. It was amazing, one moment she was up and telling him all the stuff they had, the next... like this. She was fragile. Perhaps he had been lulled into thinking she was more alright than she really was. He sighed and moved to sit next to her again on the bed. He put an arm around her shoulder and reached out to gently take the picture from her hands, "No...they're not all dead..." he said softly, at least he didn't think they were. He licked his lips, looking at the photograph. How could the world be this cruel to a young girl like her?

He pulled her against his side and laid his head on top of hers, "We have to keep moving, Tish..." He said softly, abbreviating her name, "We can talk later, after we're at the cabin. I don't know how to get there, or even how to get to the horses you have... I can't do this without you." He hoped that maybe, if he gave her a reason to keep going, gave her someone that needed her, like himself, maybe, just maybe, she would be able to snap out of it long enough to get them to the mountains.

Tisha heard his words, but it wasn't until his second sentence, she murmured, "My father used to call me Tish. My brothers liked to tease me and called me Tush." She gave a low giggle at that, then seemed to pull her strength back in, and looked up at him. Her eyes showed the determination for them to get to the cabin. She nodded, still cuddling close to him, not quite ready to get up, but knowing they needed to. "I'm bringing both of these. And after we get up there, if there's anything you want to get from your apartment, we'll come back for it. Oh, might want to get my brother's bags. We can make pit stops to load up on more canned food. We'll need everything we can get."

He chuckled with her at her comment on her brothers' nickname for her, "Well I won't call you Tush if you don't want, but I like Tish, if you don't mind." He winked at her and smiled, glad that, for the time being, he had been able to drag her back from the brink and keep her set on their ultimate objective. He licked his lips, "I was going to suggest the same thing, that you bring both of those." he smiled and rubbed her shoulder with his paw, then stood slowly, "I'll get your brother's bags and be right back, I found one of their crossbows and some more ammo, and we'll need to be able to carry all of it."

"Once we get to the stables, the horses can do most of the carrying of supplies," she said and nodded. "I'll carry some of the stuff downstairs while you get the bags, Marco." With something to do, other than sit in her room and get maudlin over the loss of at least part of her family, if not all, she rose to her feet again, and went to the door, her hand in his paw. "Thank you, Marco. For everything."

Bending over as he left to return to her brothers' rooms, she grabbed the crossbow and arrows and sheathed knives up and carried them down with the picture and her stuffed animal. She knew that she couldn't carry the picture and animal in her hands as they walked down the streets, and really, she needed to be careful about how much she packed in the bags she would carry.

She unpacked her backpack putting things on the counter before putting the picture on the bottom, followed by her stuffed animal. Her fingers stroked over the soft faux fur, the pink unicorn having always been her favorite, since her older brother had gotten it for her when she was younger. It was the first stuffed animal won for her at a fair, and the first one her brother had won.

Shaking her head, she put her clothes into the bag, then packed the knives, the food, the candles, and a couple bottles of oil, before packing the most of the arrows into the duffel bag, but leaving out the crossbow and bolts, along with her own, so they'd have protection on their journey. Plus, it helped for her to have hers out, since she could hunt on the trip, if needed.

After getting the bags all packed up with the oil bottles and candles and weapons and food they had gathered, she leaned against the kitchen island and waited for Marco to return.

Marco had given her a fond smile before going to get the bags from her brother's room. He remembered seeing them in their closets, and so he got one, then the other. They were both camping sized packs, each with what felt like their own gear in them, including water bottles and camp sets for eating. He found a tent kit too and brought that along.

As he was walking down the hall he was struck by both the enormity and the strangeness of their situation...and yet he had a distinct feeling that this was...well...right. He hadn't ever met Tisha before today, and if he hadn't been there to rescue her from those rapists he would never have met her...for that matter, if the power hadn't gone out, she wouldn't have been walking down the street, and he wouldn't have been anywhere near that part of town. Strange indeed are the workings of fate. He thought as he came to the head of the stairs. But really, he had nothing better to be doing, she needed help, and he already felt attached to her.

He came down the stairs and around the corner into the kitchen. The way she was leaning gave him a perfect view of her body and the way her ass pushed out made him pause for just a moment, and then kick himself. He shouldn't have been thinking like that. He hung his head and cleared his throat, coming in to say, "I found their camping packs... I hope you guys had enough horses to carry all this..."

Tisha straightened up, turning to watch Marco coming into the kitchen. "We all had a horse to ride, and none of us carried more than one pack, so our horses were able to carry us and our pack. So we'll have five horses to go up to the cabin with. And we can get the oats for the horses at the stables. Of course, the oats will only last so long before we either have to come back for more, or just let them graze naturally."

The countertop behind her was clean, other than the two crossbows and the bolts for them, everything else packed away in the bags they already had. "We can keep those bags relatively empty until we get to the stables and get the horses. We'll load up on the oats, and then as we need to, we can come raid the stores here for food. And seeds. We can grow our own food up there as well, but we need seeds."

Marco knew she had a good head on her shoulders, the way she talked showed him that. He also knew that she was innocent, or had been before that day. There was still some of that innocence, it came out every time she began to break down. He had to keep her together until they reached the cabin, then...then he could let her cry...then he could hold her and let her sob her heart out if she wanted. But not before.

He nodded, "Alright, well, in that case let's be going. We'll each carry a crossbow and bolts, and we have the guns if needed, I think that's everything for now. We will have to come down and raid the stores, until we can grow enough food up there to support the two of us."

Tisha nodded and picked up her backpack, slinging it over her left shoulder, then her crossbow on her right, the quiver of bolts for it clipping to a belt loop in her shorts. When she really had to use her crossbow, it would be easy enough to attach it to her forearm, and draw back with the other hand to put the bolt in place.

She already had the main set of cookware slung across her torso, and she reached for her youngest brother's bag. "You get the duffel bag and my oldest brother's bag." Now that they had the plan, and an idea of where to go, she was antsy, shifting from foot to foot as she waited for him to get his bags settled.

He took up the duffel and slung it over his muscular shoulder, hefting it easily despite the load. Next he lifted the bag that she said belonged to her older brother. He slung that over his other shoulder. The crossbow he slipped over his neck and arm, the quiver was in easy reach, like hers, on the belt loop of his jeans. Once he was settled and felt ready to go, he nodded, "Alright, let's get out of Here." He motioned to the door and headed that way.

When they got there he pulled it open and let her descend first, then followed her out to the sidewalk in front of the house. It was amazing how quiet everything had become. Nothing moved on the entire street. He sucked in a deep breath, "Which way?"

Tisha closed her eyes for a moment as they got outside, then pointed the way her parents had normally gone to head to the stables. It was in the opposite direction of the way they had come to get to her family home. She knew they had a ways to go, so while she wanted to race to the stables, so they could get on their way to the cabin, she paced herself. She walked next to Marco, not wanting to take a chance of getting attacked by another gang if she got too far ahead of him.

Marco walked along at a steady pace, not running and tiring himself with the load they carried, but moving swiftly nonetheless. They walked along mostly in silence, though occasionally one would make a comment about the stillness, or about some sound that they heard far off in the distance. It was the better part of an hour before they began to reach the outer edges of the city, "We must be getting close now, right?"

Tisha nodded, looking around, then pointed to a ten foot tall sunflower, which had always been her focal point on the location of the stables. "It's down the road just past that sunflower. We're maybe fifteen minutes by foot from the stables." Her pace picked up a little, trying to cut down that walking time. Today was the most she had walked in one day, and it felt like she'd only started her journey.

Really, they had only begun, they still had to take the horses up to the cabin. Marco was a bit tired, but not really...he was physically fit overall. He nodded, "Right, let's go." He started walking faster, to keep up with her, and within a few minutes they sighted the stables where the horses would be kept. They walked up and pushed open the gate to the pen, then walked across it toward the stables, "Just in case, let's be ready...you never know... Someone might have decided they wanted the horses themselves..."