do?”
“You’d drive out of here. As fast as you felt safe doing.”
“I don’t know how to drive!” A red flush crept up her neck and along the side of her face.
“It’s easy.” I spent a few moments showing her the controls and the pedals. “I’m even going to leave the car running so that you don’t have to worry about starting it up.”
“I can’t even reach the pedals!” Ginny was definitely about to cry now, and that’s the last thing I wanted. And she was pretty short.
“Just sit on the edge of the seat and you’ll be able to reach them. Look, I’m going to pull the seat all the way up, just in case. I don’t think anything is going to happen. Really.” I gave her what I hoped was a confident smile as I heard more gunfire in the distance. Then I took a deep breath and got out of the car, motioning to Ginny to lock the door behind me.
Chapter Nine
Charlie
Mojo started relaxing again as soon as we got back on the highway. For me though, the highway was anything but relaxing as once again I was driving off the road half the time, trying to get around traffic jams and the wrecks causing them.
He also probably wouldn’t be too happy to know what my plans were. I wanted to stop by the huge sporting goods store on the way farther out of town. This place was one of those huge warehouse-style mega-stores … a sportsman’s paradise with all the hunting, fishing, and camping equipment you could possibly imagine. I could only hope that every able-bodied man in the city hadn’t gotten the same idea. I wanted to stock up on some things that could help Mojo and me in the long run: stuff like water purification, guns, things like that. Being self-sufficient was going to be important since stores would probably start getting looted and cleaned out soon. Or overrun with zombies. Besides, there was only so long that fresh foods would stay fresh.
Another thing I wanted to do was to get in touch with an old high school buddy of mine who was in the army. He was sharp as a tack but too lazy to ever really advance much in the ranks. Still, I was guessing that he could be a real font of information. Once I grabbed these supplies I wanted to find a place to stash them. Getting them out of the store wouldn’t be real easy as it was. I might have to make two or three trips on the motorcycle to dump things out and come back for more. But I didn’t want to give up the bike yet. It hardly used any gas and could zip around almost any obstacle in its way. And no zombie was going to catch Mojo and me on that thing. So the temporary plan was that I was going to get Mojo and me settled somewhere away from the city with camping supplies, and then I’d try to put a call out to my buddy and see if he could throw a little light on the situation.
This sporting goods store was called Outbound Outfitter. And it was something to see. It was a kind of mecca for outdoorsmen. The whole design of the place was to attract attention to itself. It had the world’s biggest fishing rod on one part of its roof, a fake boat on another part of its roof. It was on the top of a huge hill next to the interstate so that you couldn’t miss it driving by. I can bet that any husband on his way to a family wedding, reunion, or something else was probably begging his wife to take the exit just like a kid wanting to go to Disney World. But silly as it looked, it was chock-full of guns, ammunition, and camping equipment.
At least, it had been. Right now it looked as if a few guys had the same brainstorm I had. There were definitely cars and trucks there, and some of them looked like they were already loaded to the gills with merchandise from the store. The only thing I was unsure about now was if we were in looting mode or legitimate purchasing mode. Then I saw a guy rushing out with his arms full of ammunition. He was wearing a forest green Outbound Outfitter golf shirt. Yep. Looting mode. Especially if we’d gotten to the point where
“You’d drive out of here. As fast as you felt safe doing.”
“I don’t know how to drive!” A red flush crept up her neck and along the side of her face.
“It’s easy.” I spent a few moments showing her the controls and the pedals. “I’m even going to leave the car running so that you don’t have to worry about starting it up.”
“I can’t even reach the pedals!” Ginny was definitely about to cry now, and that’s the last thing I wanted. And she was pretty short.
“Just sit on the edge of the seat and you’ll be able to reach them. Look, I’m going to pull the seat all the way up, just in case. I don’t think anything is going to happen. Really.” I gave her what I hoped was a confident smile as I heard more gunfire in the distance. Then I took a deep breath and got out of the car, motioning to Ginny to lock the door behind me.
Chapter Nine
Charlie
Mojo started relaxing again as soon as we got back on the highway. For me though, the highway was anything but relaxing as once again I was driving off the road half the time, trying to get around traffic jams and the wrecks causing them.
He also probably wouldn’t be too happy to know what my plans were. I wanted to stop by the huge sporting goods store on the way farther out of town. This place was one of those huge warehouse-style mega-stores … a sportsman’s paradise with all the hunting, fishing, and camping equipment you could possibly imagine. I could only hope that every able-bodied man in the city hadn’t gotten the same idea. I wanted to stock up on some things that could help Mojo and me in the long run: stuff like water purification, guns, things like that. Being self-sufficient was going to be important since stores would probably start getting looted and cleaned out soon. Or overrun with zombies. Besides, there was only so long that fresh foods would stay fresh.
Another thing I wanted to do was to get in touch with an old high school buddy of mine who was in the army. He was sharp as a tack but too lazy to ever really advance much in the ranks. Still, I was guessing that he could be a real font of information. Once I grabbed these supplies I wanted to find a place to stash them. Getting them out of the store wouldn’t be real easy as it was. I might have to make two or three trips on the motorcycle to dump things out and come back for more. But I didn’t want to give up the bike yet. It hardly used any gas and could zip around almost any obstacle in its way. And no zombie was going to catch Mojo and me on that thing. So the temporary plan was that I was going to get Mojo and me settled somewhere away from the city with camping supplies, and then I’d try to put a call out to my buddy and see if he could throw a little light on the situation.
This sporting goods store was called Outbound Outfitter. And it was something to see. It was a kind of mecca for outdoorsmen. The whole design of the place was to attract attention to itself. It had the world’s biggest fishing rod on one part of its roof, a fake boat on another part of its roof. It was on the top of a huge hill next to the interstate so that you couldn’t miss it driving by. I can bet that any husband on his way to a family wedding, reunion, or something else was probably begging his wife to take the exit just like a kid wanting to go to Disney World. But silly as it looked, it was chock-full of guns, ammunition, and camping equipment.
At least, it had been. Right now it looked as if a few guys had the same brainstorm I had. There were definitely cars and trucks there, and some of them looked like they were already loaded to the gills with merchandise from the store. The only thing I was unsure about now was if we were in looting mode or legitimate purchasing mode. Then I saw a guy rushing out with his arms full of ammunition. He was wearing a forest green Outbound Outfitter golf shirt. Yep. Looting mode. Especially if we’d gotten to the point where
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