My goodness! These pandemic stories from y'all hit home! I know this is sort of stressful, and warnings about being triggered into unhappy memories shopping in early days of the pandemic in this chapter.

Next week, things will shift, I'll be able to focus in on the characters more. I promise!

As always, thank you to my beta, Fran S. Flower, and my pre-readers, Jgaff & DaniDarlingxx.

Day 1: March 13, 2020

Emmett

14:58 PDT

Los Angeles, California

I'm about to beat this little old lady to the ground. Every time I turn around, she's there trying to steal things out of my damn cart. I've caught her at least three times, but I know she's still there, trying to snatch shit because it keeps disappearing.

I swear when I realize the last packet of beans I just grabbed is now gone. "Goddammit!" I yell, scaring a woman down the aisle from me. I throw her an apologetic glance as I glare around for the little old thief. I see her down at the end of the aisle, running away from me.

"Emmett, calm down," Rose says, coming up behind me. She drops two more bags of beans in the cart, rolling her eyes at me. "I saw her take them and went and picked up a few more. I had to nearly arm wrestle a guy, but I got them." Her smile is smug, and I shake my head, letting out a long breath.

"I'm so fucking done," I pout. The store is bedlam. It's anarchy at its finest. Nearly everything has been ripped off the shelves, and right now, only the strongest will survive. Rose has set me on cart watch, but even that is proving to be a near impossible task.

Alice had us divide and conquer. She and Jasper battling in the frozen foods aisle, Rose and I are on canned and dry goods, and poor Bella has been sent to fight for any toilet paper and disinfectant she can manage. From the chaos around me, it sounds like Bella's got quite the task ahead of her.

Rose rubs a hand over my back, and I glance at her. She's not overly affectionate in public, and it soothes a lot of my irritation to feel her reach out to me. "We're almost done," she promises. "We just need a few more things, and then we can get the hell out of dodge."

I nod and follow her down the aisle. "How long do you think all this will last," I ask her. Rose glances back at me.

"I don't know," she says, letting out a long breath and tossing her hair over her shoulder. "But however long it is, I'm not leaving LA. My parents can rot upstate all they want."

I shoot her a look of sympathy, but she ignores me. "Have you talked to them?"

She nods, grabbing cans of shit and throwing them in the basket. They are the last cans on the shelves, and I'm not even sure what they are, but it doesn't matter. Any food we can grab at this point is good. I spy the little sneak thief down at the end of the aisle, and I glare at her.

"We texted earlier. I told them I'm staying here." She glances at me. "What about you?"

I reach out to her. "I'm not going anywhere." We've only been dating a few months, but I already know I love this crazy, beautiful woman. She's fierce and loyal and so hardcore, and I know she's the only one for me, even if I know it's way too early to tell her.

She softens a little and shoots me a small smile before turning to hiss at the little old lady who is trying to grab shit out of our cart again.

Even in Scotland, shopping was a nightmare. I remember having to travel to five different stores across town to find any food. Thankfully, I'd just stocked up on toilet paper a few days before the shit hit the fan so I really didn't have to fight that battle.

What was the hardest thing for you to find in the grocery stores?