Amanda began removing the pies, setting them on a long prep counter behind her.  Allistor grabbed boxes of meat and began refilling the shelves.  When it was full, he looked around again.  Behind him, Amanda was filling the hamper with desserts.  She grinned and said, “They’re still frozen enough to last until we get back.  Then we can put them in cold storage.  They’ll be good for a week or two.”

Allistor didn’t even want to argue.  Cheesecake was one of his favorite things.  Instead, he asked, “What about pots and pans and knives and stuff?”

She thought about it.  “We can grab a few, I guess. I think Meg has the pots and pans pretty well covered from the diner.  But let’s take as many of the knives as we can.”

They loaded those in with the desserts, and then Amanda said, “There’s a door back there that goes directly outside to a loading dock.  Instead of pushing all this stuff back through the building, why not just go get the truck.  We can load up some tables and chairs and stuff, too.”

Allistor agreed, hesitantly.  “I’ll run and get the truck.  Do me a favor?  If you hear anything that’s not me, get inside the walk-in and hold it closed?”

“Deal.  I’m gonna raid the spices, sugar, and flour and stuff while you’re doing that.  Grab lots of coffee and tea, too.”

He gave her a brief hug, not sure why, then dashed out of the room.  He got lost once on the way back to the truck but realized all he had to do was backtrack and follow the corridors with all the doors closed.   He was back in the ER a few minutes later and took time to push two of the heavy gurneys outside and set them on their sides on the trailer.  He pulled around the back of the building and found the sign that said “Food Service” with an arrow pointing to the loading dock.   He pulled the trailer right up to the edge, then got out and knocked three times on the door.

Amanda had heard him coming and opened it immediately.  They wheeled the three hampers up onto the trailer, then the refrigerator.  Right away, Allistor noticed an issue.

“Shit.  I forgot to bring rope.  Gotta figure out a way to keep this stuff secure as we move.”

Amanda grinned at him.  “The roof!  Plenty of rope on the roof.”

He looked at her with one eyebrow raised questioningly.

“There’s a rig up there that they use to wash the windows.  It’s basically a bench with ropes at either end hooked to an electric pulley system.  We could actually probably make use of that, too.”

He snorted.  “You just want to make me run up six floors of stairs and carry all that crap down.”