Conflict of Interest

• Alice looked up the hill. It was about a half-hour walk but if she remembered correctly there was a small rock shelter, almost a cave at the top of the hill that would be the perfect place to sleep for the night. The snow was beginning to fall faster so she walked as fast as she could without running and risking breaking an ankle. That would be as good as death out here. She finally made it to the top and she could barely see the trees in front of her now, but there was a small shelf of rock that would make a perfect shelter. Thankfully it had withstood the quake. She had never seen a November in Kentucky with this much snow. It was just her luck. She would have loved to play in this snow as a child, but now she only saw it as a deadly pest. She sat her backpack down and took her glove off with her teeth and reached her bare hand and felt inside her coat. She placed her hand on Carrot her beloved little dog. Carrot was fast asleep breathing peacefully and warmly pressed up against Alice's chest. Carrot might be the last pug left on this side of the United States she thought to herself. Alice gathered some tree branches that has blown into the cavern and broke them up for a fire. Once she has gathered enough sticks she pulled a lighter from her backpack and let twigs start to burn. She had to flirt for a moment with the sparks by gently blowing a stream of air under the twigs, but soon enough she had a small fire. She gently pulled Carrot out of her coat and sat her next to the fire. The little dog stretched and yawned like it was a typical day. She shook her little twirly tail like she was excited. Alice pulled a can of dog food and a can of corn from her backpack. She put them in a small pot and stirred them together with her wooden spoon and put it on top of the flame. She looked at the back of the can of dog food just to see if it had a carbohydrate count. She was guessing for the whole pot of food would be around 50 carbs, but she wasn’t completely sure. The dog food would be mostly protein, but the corn was the part that worried her. Carrot chases a leaf that blew in the wind and Alice smiled. Alice ate mostly the dog food and gave her dog a small bit of dog food, but mostly corn. She felt bad giving her such a bad diet, but she wasn’t exactly eating like a Queen herself. She took a syringe from her pocket and grabbed a bottle of insulin from her backpack and examined the bottle for ice crystals. It looked clear, so she drew out 5 units carefully measured not to waste a single drop of the life-saving medicine. She grabbed the fat on her stomach and shoved the needle in. She knew that would probably be the last time she used this particular syringe. It hurt as it penetrated her skin. It was growing dull with so many uses. She didn’t want it to snap and end up inside her somehow. She very carefully pulled out her medical supplies and counted how many she had left. 5 bags. That would still be enough to get to Lexington. She would still keep the old one just in case, but she had enough to spare to start using a new one tomorrow. She still had 10 insulin bottles. She was thankful she was able to stockpile some before the earthquake hit. That combination would last her a few more weeks before she had to have supplies. Being Diabetic during an apocalypse wasn’t an ideal situation, but she was making the best of it. Alice looked down at the small remainder of nail polish that was left on her fingers. It seemed like a lifetime since she had the time to paint her nails. She heard a snap in the trees. Then Carrot let out a small growl. She quickly drew her gun in the direction of the sound without a moment of hesitation. She thought about last summer when her best friend told her she should carry loaded a gun with one in the chamber. She had laughed and said things weren’t that bad yet. If only he could see her now. A man appeared about her age (Mid 20s) with a beard and glasses. They looked as if they had been broken and he had taped them together in the middle.

He looked down at Carrot like he was confused and he had never seen a dog before. “Is that a Pug?” He finally asked. She could tell that it was the first time he had spoken in weeks.

“Yes, and if you take one more step towards us I’ll shoot you and feed you to it. My dog needs protein.” She said firmly.

The man put his hands up in defense. “I promise I mean you no harm. I just saw your fire and was hoping that a person was up here”

“Well here I am,” She said still holding the gun firmly.

It was funny she thought. A year ago she could have been on a tinder date with this man. He had gentle eyes and a beard. He looked like he could have been a teacher in another life. Now she was contemplating feeding him to her dog.

“Can I please sit by your fire? I am freezing” he begged.

“Fine, but you can sit on the other side and I’m still going to hold this gun at you” She stated

“That's fine... I understand. It’s a terrible world right now.” He said and took his backpack off and laid it next to him. He took his bare hands from his pockets and extended them to the flames.

“You’re really good at making fire. I can’t get a fire to last more than a few minutes before it blows out.” He said

Alice nodded. “Well, I had a lot of practice before... You know all this happened”

The man looked up at her. “I’m Lucas by the way”

“I’m Alice,” She said

“Can I give you something Alice? Something for her?” as he pointed at Carrot.

“I guess,” She said

He reached his arm into his backpack and pulled out a blue stuffed dog toy. “This belonged to my dog, but” Then his voice trailed off

Alice felt her heart ache for a moment, but she didn’t want to appear weak. This could be some kind of trap.

“Don’t you want to keep it?” She asked

“Nah, it’s kinda making me sad every time I look at it.” He extended the small blue toy to Carrot. She carefully sniffed it and then took it in her mouth and it let out a small squeak. She wiggled her curly tail in excitement.

Alice couldn’t help but smile at the site. “Thank you, Lucas, I didn’t have time to grab any of her toys. She really likes it. She has been having to chase leaves and sticks for a month.”

Lucas smiled but didn’t seem to be listening. He just kept watching Carrot squeak the toy in excitement. “I’m glad I could bring someone some joy” He finally said

It was then he pulled out a syringe and insulin bottle from his pocket.

Alice’s eyes grew big as saucers. “Are you diabetic?” she asked.

“Yes, I don’t think I have much longer to be completely frank with you. I’m down to my last bottle and syringe. Did you know anyone that is diabetic?” He asked

“Yeah, my best friend was diabetic”. She was frightened. If he found out she had 9 bottles and 5 bags of syringes in her backpack it would be a fight for sure. She could kill him now, but she felt like that would be wrong. He seemed like a nice person she felt like that act would be killing in cold blood. She didn’t want that on her hands. So she just sat and acted like a fool about the whole situation.

Can I sleep on this side of the fire? He asked

“That’s fine” Alice smiled. Her heart ached for him, but she also wanted to take care of herself and she had exactly enough insulin to make it to Lexington if she continued to ration it like she was.

That night she slept with one eye open and her gun in hand while Carrot snoozed at her feet gripping her new toy.