Chapter 1

A Period of Adjustment

Penny's presence in the apartment was a salve to his soul. He and the other scientists at CalTech had been reassigned to help the virologists in any capacity and Sheldon missed his Physics but did the best he could with a bad situation.

Penny spent the day scavenging. Some might call it looting but Penny never entered an occupied dwelling or store. She only scavenged those homes and apartments with the DX painted in red on the door or windows. 'X' represented the number of dead souls in the building or house.

She always wore Sheldon's 'improved' breathing mask and rubber gloves. Always. Penny felt comfortable dressed as she was. She trusted Sheldon's 'science' to keep them both healthy.

Penny parked her car in the lot of the Cheesecake Factory and used her employee key to get into the back of the restaurant. She had a list of things to search for. Some items were for Sheldon and others were for her but most were for common use.

She carried Leonard's large backpack and some pillowcases to carry whatever she found. The pillowcases had been her idea and Sheldon had smiled approvingly. He was sweet and gentle whenever she had one of her crying jags and never made fun of her or belittled her, just held her while she cried and then washed her face and put her to bed. She didn't know what she'd do if she were alone in this.

'Hmm, the freezer units still locked. I wonder if anything in there is any good?' She opened the heavy door but then slammed it shut again. The power had been off and the stuff in the freezer had spoiled and the smell made her gag.

'I guess if it's in cans it's ours then.' Penny opened up the walk in storeroom but someone had already been 'shopping' and most of the 'good stuff' was gone. She grabbed the last 50-pound bag of rice and carried it out into the large kitchen and then two large cans of peaches and added them to the stack.

'Screw this! I'll take it all. If Sheldon's right, we'll be at a barter level soon enough and we can always trade for stuff we need.'

Penny checked her list and scratched off only one or two items but headed out into the restaurant area and started throwing silverware, condiment containers and anything else that hadn't been picked over into one of her pillowcases. She walked behind the bar and took as much liquor as she could carry and then put all the stuff in her car and drove back to the apartment. Barter goods. Yeah. Booze would be worth a lot in a barter economy.

'Strange. I haven't seen anyone on the street or any other cars. We need to listen to the Emergency Broadcast System reports on Sheldon's hand-crank radio.'

Penny used to park on the street but Sheldon had insisted that she park in the underground lot where Leonard had paid for a spot for his car. She got a perverse thrill out of parking in the handicapped spot next to Leonard's car.

'Leonard's car is newer, gets better mileage and doesn't rattle Sheldon with a blinking check engine light. We should use it. It's not like he's going to need – "

Another crying jag hit her and she sat with her forehead on the steering wheel of her old Jetta sobbing for all that was lost. She finally cried herself out and fell asleep.

Sheldon was in a near panic. The University had closed down. Only a handful of researchers had shown up and they weren't the team leaders so they all talked over things and decided that there was no point in continuing. They all went home.

Howard drove him back to his apartment and then told him that 'Bernadette and I are heading for her folks' place in the Wisconsin Dells. You need to think about getting out, Sheldon. Maybe go home to Texas or Penny's place in Nebraska before it's too late.' He drove away, running red lights and dodging abandoned vehicles and pushing the old crate for all it was worth.

It was growing dark and Penny was still not back. He paced around his apartment and then finally went to his beloved white board and started making a preparatory plan for their departure. It wouldn't be long before order totally broke down and he needed to ensure that Penny was kept safe. They would discuss 'where' they were going after Penny returned.

He started his plan with one word: Survival.

Sheldon had read extensively about urban survival in the event of a social collapse due to war or epidemic. He'd prepared backpacks containing 5-days of survival rations and assorted sundries but no weapons. He was a scientist not a hoodlum and he hadn't considered the need to protect their group. He never figured it would really happen but enjoyed the 'what if' preparations.

'Group. There are just two of us left. Leonard is dead. Raj is in India. Howard and Bernadette are fleeing to Wisconsin. Who is left? Who can I recruit from the University to augment our group and enhance her survival?'

He'd been lost in his own mind and plans and finally noticed that it was totally dark and that Penny still hadn't returned. The panic that he'd held at bay by immersing himself in plans for survival roared back. He paced frantically around the apartment. His imagination created one horrible scenario after another and in each, Penny died.

Sheldon grabbed the softball bat and locked the apartment door behind him. He reaffixed the Biohazard placard hoping that any looters would be scared off by the thought of what might be waiting for them inside.

He stopped and carefully checked out each apartment to ensure that the doors were still intact and that the piece of blonde hair Penny had left draped over each doorknob was still there. She told him that no one would notice the hair and if they did, wouldn't think twice about what it meant.

Sheldon verified that the basement fire door had not been breached and then walked to the other end and into the underground parking garage.

There was Penny's red Jetta but it looked empty. Horrible images of her dead body flowed through his mind and he began to hyperventilate. He gripped the softball bat and approached her car, terrified that she was dead, another victim of the Choker.

She was lying facedown across her front seat and his heart stopped and he sank to his knees and wrapped his arms around himself and rocked back and forth, crying for his dear friend and the woman he finally admitted to himself that he loved as a man does a woman, not just as a friend.

The aluminum softball bat clattered to the concrete garage floor and it was what woke Penny. She stayed quiet and motionless while she took in her situation and remembered the events of the day.

'Someone's out there. I heard something metallic hit the concrete. Someone is definitely out there. I can hear a keening moan and it's creepy as hell. Are the doors locked? Can they see the stuff in the back of the hatchback?'

She sees her purse on the passenger side floor and snakes a hand into it searching for – ah – she found it.

The hairbrush has a long tapering plastic handle that ends in a sharp point. Penny uses it to tease her hair into something 'sexy' if she sees a big tipper at one of her tables. She grabs the brush and holds it by the bristly end, ignoring how the bristles hurt the palm of her hand. She wields it like a dagger and if there is anyone out there, she'll go for the eyes like they taught her in the YWCA class on self defense.

Penny coiled up on the seat and prepared to shove the door open and then spring out and attack her would-be assailant. Strike first and strike hard was what the lady cop instructing the class had drilled into them. And then run like hell! She had no intention of running and leaving her stuff behind. She was tired of being afraid.

She reached up and unlocked the door and grabbed the handle already visualizing how she would stab her stalker in the eye.

'One.'

'Two.'

'Three!'

Leslie Winkle is also a planner and she realized early-on that a woman traveling alone was just asking for trouble in the upheaval that was sure to follow the breakdown of order. She took out her PDA and began scrolling through her contacts and used her landline to make calls. She had her cell phone on the charger in case the electricity went out or she had to move in a hurry. Save for a candle on a saucer, all lights were out.

No answer at any of her 'friends' numbers, just a couple of answering machines and she left no message. She scrolled further down and dialed Leonard Hofstadter, almost wishing he wouldn't answer.

'He'll never leave his crazy roommate to fend for himself. Well, if social order breaks down then there's no one to stop me from killing Cooper if he gets too annoying.' She was kidding but still, it was a possibility that she had to consider.

She left a voicemail for Leonard and then continued down her list without getting a single 'hello' out of all her calls. She called the main switchboard at the University but it just rang on and on…

She called her parents' landline and then their cell phones but got nothing, not even voicemail or a recording from their service carrier.

Leslie heard faint screams from out in the complex parking lot and she blew out the candle that she'd lit. She hadn't turned on the lights. No sense making the world aware of someone in her apartment. She moved the curtains just a bit apart and saw several people involved in a mêlée of sorts in the parking lot of her building complex.