After chewing on her poor bottom lip for several moments, Rebecca shrugged and asked, “Why can’t we do both? Some of this food has to be more perishable than other stuff, right?” Frowning, Rebecca glanced over to stare at Matthew and watch his reaction – or watch the same lack of reaction in his case!

“I guess,” Matthew responded, still wearing the same smug smirk that he’d had for a while.

‘Bastard! Acting like he knows some sort of secret answer to what we should do, and not saying a thing!’ Thinking a few rather nasty thoughts to herself, Rebecca knitted her eyebrows in frustration and continued on. “Look,” she tried again, swallowing down the irritation which she knew must be starting to seep into her voice, “some things just don’t keep as long as others. If there’s eggs in here, or bananas, or something similar, they’ll probably spoil in just a few days…”

“If they haven’t already in the heat, humidity, and swamp environment,” Matthew finished for her; a twinkle glittering in the corner of his eye.

‘That bastard really is enjoying making fun of me,’ Rebecca thought! Snorting audibly, Rebecca crossed her arms firmly over her breasts and locked them tight together. ‘No boobs for you, asshole!’ Glaring hard, Rebecca stuck her tongue out and turned her back towards Matthew.

“Yeeeessssss,” Rebecca emphasized, strolling further away from Matthew and deeper amongst the rows of shelves, “things might have already gone bad in here. I’ll admit that,” she offered, reluctantly. “But, if it’s already spoilt, then we don’t have to worry about it at all, now do we Mister Smartass?” Unwrapping her arms now that she was far enough away that Matthew couldn’t see or touch her chest, Rebecca leaned forward and started prying open cardboard boxes to see what was inside.

“That’s tru…” Matthew started to agree with her, but Rebecca quickly interrupted him. “Like this,” Rebecca half crowed triumphantly, as she held up a plastic bag full of flour tortillas. Turning, she stuck her tongue out at him and half laughed. “Sealed inside the box, inside their plastic wrap, these things haven’t went bad yet,” Rebecca smirked, “but they probably won’t keep for an extended period of time either, without molding or going bad.”

“We can give stuff like this to the people down inside the cavern,” Rebecca asserted, “and we can keep the rest of the stuff for ourselves, if we store it in your hole and then take it down to your home sometime later!”

Shaking his head from side to side, Matthew offered a single word opinion. “Nope.”

“Nope?” Blinking a few times, the smile slowly faded from Rebecca’s face as a frown of confusion replaced it. “Why the hell not,” she asked, crossing her arms back in front of her chest again.

“If you take something like that down to the people in the cavern,” Matthew explained coolly, “then they’re going to know that there was stuff up here that survived. When we only give them a small amount, and only give them things which might expire soon, they’re going to know you’re keeping stuff from them. Now, I’m no expert on human psychology,” Matthew admitted, “but I just don’t think something like that is going to go over too well with them.”

“If you want to give food to the people with the core, you’re going to have to give them a wide assortment of goods, and a lot of it,” Matthew insisted. “You might be able to scam a few boxes of stuff here and there off the top and keep it for yourself, but you’re not going to be able to get away with keeping the majority. If you want to keep most of this stuff for ourselves, it’d probably be best if we simply kept it all for ourselves. Let them think the gibberlings eat it, or destroyed it. Let them think whatever they want about what happened to it,” Matthew offered, “as long as you don’t let them think we’re the ones who took it and are keeping it away from them.”

“Dammit!” Slinging the bag of tortillas down on the ground, Rebecca kicked them down the row of shelves, where they smashed flat against the wall at the end of the storeroom. “I want my cake and I want to eat it too,” Rebecca pouted. Hanging her head in half frustration, half depression, she sat down in the floor and slowly pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. “Why the hell does everything have to be so damn complicated now,” she moaned lightly to herself.

“I want to help the people down in the caverns,” Rebecca admitted, half tearfully, “but I also think you’re right – we’re going to need some things to barter with, with other people. There hasn’t been any sign of police, firefighters, concerned parents, or anybody else come to this school, since the gods started playing their damn game! I really don’t think credit cards, checks, cash, or old coins are going to be all that useful any more. I mean,” Rebecca pouted, “what use is a credit card, when there’s no internet, telephone, or power to read the damn things with?!”

“We need stuff we can barter with,” Rebecca emphasized. “Even if I want to help the people down in the cavern, we’ve got to take care of ourselves first. Who knows what we’ll run across in the future,” Rebecca mused to herself. “We might end up finding someone who makes magic potions of healing, or magic swords or armor, which could be what we need to continue surviving in the place this world has now become. Without something to trade with them, we may end up shit out of luck and end up dead.”

“Take it all,” Rebecca demanded, slowly standing back up and wiping the tears from her eyes. “We’re not responsible for taking care of all those people in that cavern,” she asserted, a little more firmly than before. “If they were concerned about the school’s food supplies, they could’ve sent someone up here to check on them their selves! It’s not our fault they didn’t!” Sounding almost as if she believed it herself, Rebecca leaned forward and tugged the box holding the bags of tortillas into her arm.

“Open that damn hole of yours,” Rebecca demanded, turning to stare hard over at Matthew. “Let’s get this stuff packed up and stored away before they do work up their courage and send someone out here to come check on us!”

“Your wish is my command, Madam.” Giving a deep curtsey, Matthew half chuckled under his breath as the smirk covering his face slowly crept larger and his eyes twinkled brighter. ‘She’s learning well,’ Matthew thought to himself. ‘This one isn’t hard to manipulate and train at all. Fate chose me a good companion, I think. With a little time, some patience, and a steady influence, I can shape her to become whatever I want her to be.’

By the time he’d looked back up from the curtsey, the cold, cool visage of indifference had washed over Matthew’s face, hiding his innermost thoughts from the world. Taking off his ring and rubbing it, the swirling dark hole appeared and hovered above it as he slowly sat the ring down on one of the vine covered kitchen tables.

“Start passing me boxes and I’ll toss them in here and store them until we can unload them elsewhere later and sort through them,” Matthew offered, while a warm smile turned the corner of his lips up agreeingly. “No need to waste time opening them and going through them here,” Matthew said reasonably. “For now, let’s just pack it all up and get out of here, before someone else comes along, like you suggested.”

“Fine,” Rebecca snorted, half tossing the box she was holding at him. “Let’s get this done and over with already.” Turning her back to him, she stomped over and began to grab another box in her arms.

Chuckling quietly to himself, Matthew couldn’t help but smirk again, thinking about how well everything was going his way. The old world hadn’t been so kind to him, but things were looking better and better all the time in this new one. Before, everyone always looked down on him and mocked him. Now, they listened to him and he could shape them to become whatever he wanted.

Rebecca was already starting to cut her connections to other people; telling herself that it was “necessary” for her survival. All he had to do was make certain she learned to listen a little more to him – convince her that he was necessary for her survival – and then she’d never leave him. Never betray him. Once she had broken ties with all the other people, and came to rely on him alone…

Unable to hold the smile back any longer, Matthew started to whistle lightly to himself as Rebecca passed him box after box. Once that happened, Rebecca would truly be his! His and his alone! And he was going to be careful to make certain to shape her so she became exactly the type of woman his heart desired.