I walked outside and got back into my truck and drove away from the houses and onto the interstate heading south. About 200 miles south I entered a small farming town. My newest Truck was starting to show some serious wear and tear. A headlight was broken out, the passenger side fender was badly crumpled and the windshield had a crack that ran from driver's side to the passenger side. I guess it was time to watch for a Dealership and trade it in.
Then, I spotted a store I always keep a lookout for. The sign above the window read, "SPORTING GOODS". I tried to open the door, it was locked. Cool, maybe there is some stock left. All of the cities and towns I have visited had been overrun by Zombies. They appeared to have fallen within the first couple of days. The speed in which the cities fell, worked out in favor of the survivors. Because it happened so fast, not very much looting had occurred. Most survivors were intent on getting out of town or hiding, not going on shopping sprees.
I sheathed the machete, and then I pulled the 9mm from its holster and fired 3 or 4 rounds thru the glass door. I raised my foot and kicked the glass. It shattered and cascaded to the floor. I stepped through the doorway. I pulled my LED flashlight from my pocket and pointed it into the store. I grabbed a shopping cart and pushed it over to the counter.
Nice…, there are racks of rifles and shotguns. The glass counter was full of hand guns. The shelves were still loaded with ammunition. After breaking open the display case, I looked over the handguns. I pulled a .45 automatic, a 9mm, and a .44 magnum desert eagle from the case. I checked out the magazine stock for each and grabbed a hand full for each pistol. Moving to the ammunition shelves I grabbed several boxes of 9 mm ammunition, as well as a generous supply of 12 gauge shells.
I pulled out my bolt cutters and cut the security chain on the rifles and shotguns. I grabbed a short security style 12 gauge pump action shotgun from the rack and put it inside the cart with my other goodies. Next, I moved to the aisle containing the backpacking supplies. I grabbed as much of the freeze dried food as my cart would hold. I could easily see that I had struck a mother load of goodies here. It was better than a 'two for the price of one sale', too good of an opportunity to pass on. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I let a shopping spree like this slip through my fingers.
I would need some method of moving all the stuff I had gathered from this store. I decided I would need my truck in order to get everything I wanted. I looked around and located a sling that would work on a shotgun. I loaded ten or twelve 9mm clips. I stowed the clips in the fanny pack that I always wore hanging in front where I could reach it handily. I located a twin to the 9mm I had holstered on my leg. I loaded both pistols and holstered one and shoved the other in my waistband. I jacked a round into my new shotgun as I walked back to the front door. I slung the shotgun over my shoulder and pulled the waistband 9mm. I looked out he front door, there were maybe fifteen Zombies stumbling toward the door. I stepped out into the street. The Zombies continued to stumble toward me.
I fired the first 9mm till it was empty. And shoved it back into my waistband and drew the holstered 9mm. I started firing the second pistol. When I had emptied it, the Zombies were all on the ground. I reloaded both guns and started moving through the Zombie bodies making sure they are all dead for good. About 3 blocks down the street I spotted a road block. Walking down to it, I walked around and inspected the vehicles. I found two dead soldiers; they were wearing fatigues and flack jackets. I stripped both flack jackets off of them. I removed my jacket and tossed it aside. Bottom line, I would rather be safer from bites than warm. Besides, I could easily replace a coat. Flack jackets were harder to find, I put one of the Flack jackets on. The fit was perfect.
Behind the road block vehicles, I spotted just what I needed, a M1117 APC. This would be an excellent trade in for my truck .This would be a good time to trade up to a heavier duty vehicle. The APC would withstand the rigors of day to day service and provide a safer place to sleep at night.
I spotted a gas station several blocks down the street. I walked back to the sporting goods store. I picked up a couple large plastic buckets, and a portable generator. I put these items into a cart and pushed the load down to the APC. At the APC I unloaded these supplies and pushed the empty cart to the gas station. When I walked up to the gas station, I was thrilled to see they had carried diesel fuel. After a quick search of the garage area, I located a battery charger and a large screw driver. I loaded the charger and screw driver into the cart and pushed the cart back to the roadblock.
Reaching the roadblock, I stopped next at a jeep that was part of the blockade. I walked over to the APC and grabbed one of my new plastic buckets and returned to the jeep. I used the screwdriver to punch a hole in the gas tank of the jeep and then positioned an empty plastic bucket to catch the gas pouring from the punctured tank. When the bucket was full, I filled the gas tank of the generator. After about 8 or 9 pulls, the generator fired to life. I plugged the battery charger into the generator. I connected the charger to the battery bank of the APC. I scanned the street and area around me. Several more Zombies were shuffling down the street toward me. Making sure I was well away from the gasoline still leaking from the Jeeps gas tank, I dispatched the Zombies. Even with the charger set to high charge, it was about 30 minutes before I could get the APC to start. I loaded the battery charger into the APC and refilled the generator gas tank, then loaded it in the APC. I drove back to the Sporting goods store.
By now there were about half a dozen more Zombies stumbling toward me. I jumped out, wrapped the wench chain around the doors and using the vehicle I pulled the doors from their frames. I turned the APC around and backed up to the store door and jumped out of the APC. I pulled the spare 9mm from my waistband and shot the newest Zombie arrivals. I went back into the store and pushed another cart over to the gun counter. I gathered and loaded all of the weapons into a cart and rolled it to the door. I grabbed another cart and started pulling ammunition from the shelves into my cart. When it was full, I pushed it over to the door beside the first two carts. I quickly loaded the cart loads into the APC. I saw some shoulder holsters at the end of the gun department. I picked a few shoulder holsters and threw them in the cart as well. After about 45 minutes I had cleaned the store out of ammo and guns. I also made a major inventory reduction in the camping and backpacking departments as well. I grabbed some hunting clothes, a rain poncho and a heavy jacket.
The next stop for me was an auto supply store. Once there, I killed four more Zombies and picked up a new electric fluid pump and about fifty feet of 5/8 inch hose for it. Four, five gallon fuel cans, a new large pair of bolt cutters, a battery powered drill and a small assortment of nuts, bolts and screws. I returned to the gas station. I removed the cap from the diesel storage tank and filled three of the fuel cans. I then topped off the APC fuel tank. The fourth can I filled with gasoline for the generator. I smashed the glass on the attendant’s kiosk and grabbed an arm load of cartons of cigarettes, a display box of cigarette lighters and a liter of warm soda. I drove the APC back to my parked truck and transferred all of my possessions into the APC.