by Sweet, W. G.
Billy and Beth followed the others into the small shop. It took a few seconds for their eyes to adjust to the sparse light inside, but once they did they could see that the shop had been ransacked. Two large glass display cases that had probably held, who knew how many handguns, Billy thought, were empty. The glass fronts had been shattered into the cases. Racks that had once been likewise protected by lockable glass sliding doors had also been broken into, the thick glass that had once protected them lay inside, but the rifles they had protected were gone. Nothing had been left. The floors were strewn with empty boxes, wads of packing paper, and literature on several types of guns that had been discarded. The glass from the cases was everywhere, Billy saw.
“Looks as though they didn't leave anything at all,” Billy said.
“Told you,” John said, as he shook his head. “Somebody got here before us, and it looks as though they weren't about to leave anything behind,” he sighed.
“You have any ammo at all?” Beth asked.
“I do,” Peggy answered, “I've got seven rounds for this 30.06, that's why... well, that's why I hung back when we saw you, you know. I could see you through the window, and... If I had too, I was going to shoot,” she seemed embarrassed as she spoke.
“She's 'bout the best shot between the three of us,” Delbert said, “my eye's is going, and John just never learned to shoot.”
John turned red, but nodded his head before he spoke. “Just never saw a real big need to learn,” he said, “course now I wish I had.”
“Been anywhere else in town?” Billy asked, “Maybe there's another sporting goods store around.”
“Didn't have the time,” Delbert said, “we got here only ten minutes or so before you did.”
“Well,” Beth said, as she counted up what ammunition she had left for the machine pistol, “I've got one full clip of sixteen, and... Looks like two in this clip, and I'm done.”
Billy had checked over what he had while she was speaking, “Looks like this one is down to ten in the clip, but I've got better than a hundred rounds for the Remington in the truck, that should help a little. We need to find a place to get our hands on more, especially for that machine pistol,” he gestured at Beth's weapon, “and this one,” he said holding up the machine gun they had taken from the kid who had tried to shoot Beth, “this is a...” he held the machine gun up so he could read the writing on the side, “Hey, Beth, this say's it'll take nine millimeter slugs like yours, let me see one,” he waited until she handed him one that she took out of the full clip, and then compared them side by side. “Yeah, same thing,” he said, “this doesn't have a brand name on it though, just says what sort of bullet it takes, everything else has been ground off, see,” he held the side of the machine gun up so that Beth could see it.
“That's been converted,” she said, “and that's probably why they ground off the serial number, and most likely the model and make at the same time. That's been converted to full auto,” she finished.
“Gee, does that mean it's illegal to carry?” he asked, “you're not going to arrest me or something are you.”
“Ha-ha, mister funny man,” Beth said smiling. “It does explain something that has been bugging me though. When that guy popped up and let loose on me, I thought he was squeezing those rounds off pretty quick. You can buy that gun, or could, I should say, and you could even order the conversion kit, but if you got caught, big trouble. I've seen a few though...Just the same, and I'm glad that one fell into our hands, and not someone else's.”
Billy turned the gun over in his hands; his appreciation for it was much greater than it had been. “So what is it?” he asked.
“It's called a Sixteen Nine on the Street,” Beth said. “I don't know what it's really called,” Billy looked confused. “Sixteen for the clip,” she said, “and nine for the ammunition size. See?” she held up her own pistol, comparing the two side by side. “They're nearly identical, except for that long wire stock on yours. Makes it look more like a rifle. Mine's semi, that one's full.”
“And we can swap back and forth on ammunition?” Billy asked.
“Just on the ammunition,” Beth answered, “the clips won't fit.”
“Well, with just sixteen bullets wouldn't it run out pretty quick?”
“Not pretty quick, babe, damn quick, like immediately. I think the attraction was speed, sixteen bullets in less than half a second. You can get a larger clip that'll hold two hundred.”
Billy turned his head back to the other three who had been listening to Beth talk. They all seemed impressed. “I guess,” he said looking around the destroyed shop, “we better get going. Is that truck of yours in pretty good shape Delbert?”
“Junker,” Delbert said, “it was nice, when we left Dallas, but it's on its last leg for sure now. That's why I left it running; bitch-kitty won't start if you don't, and to be honest, I been too damn scared to stop and get another.”
“Well,” Billy said, “leave it. We got room in ours for all three of you.”
Beth was staring around at the wrecked interior of the shop, it wasn't the damage that bothered her though, it was all the missing rifles, and guns. “Yeah, let's get out of here,” she said, “this place gives me the creeps, and I for one don't want to be here in case whoever took all of this...” she gestured at the empty shop, “...returns.”
Everyone, Billy included, looked apprehensively around the empty shop.
“Yeah, let’s go,” Billy said hastily, as he turned and walked out the door.
They all scouted carefully around the parking lot, as they walked to the Suburban. Anyone could be hiding in this lot, Billy thought, as he looked around at the packed parking lot, anyone, anywhere. They reached the truck, Billy unlocked it, and they all climbed quickly inside. Several sighs of relief were released once Billy started the Suburban, and drove from the lot.
A half mile down the road, Delbert spotted another store and Billy cautiously pulled into the lot to have a look. He was able to drive up close to the shop, without getting out of the truck. The glass store front, including the doors, were barred by a segmented aluminum pull down door, and the store looked as though no one had as of yet been in it.
“What do you think?” Billy asked of no one in particular.
“Don't look as though it's been broke into yet,” John replied, “gonna have to leave the truck to be sure,” he finished with an apprehensive shrug of his shoulders.
Beth pulled the nearly spent clip from the machine pistol, and clicked home the full one. “Stay here, I'll go see,” she said, and she was out the passenger door before Billy could protest.
Billy shut off the truck, and got out. No way, he thought as he jumped from the truck, no frigging way.
Delbert looked from John to Peggy. “I don't know about you, but they got the guns, and I ain't keen on staying in here without one,” he said, as he opened one of the rear doors, and stepped out. He carried the empty shot gun with him as he went, and Peggy and John brought their guns out of the truck with them as well.
Billy was staring through the segmented burglar door into the interior of the small shop, as Delbert walked up. “What's it looking like, Billy?” he asked.
Beth was back on the sidewalk, the machine pistol in her hands, sweeping the parking lot with her eyes, Peggy and John beside her.
“Looks like nobody got to it,” Billy said, “what do you think, Dell?”
Delbert squinted into the shop. “Hard to tell, but I think you're right, Billy, it looks good to me. But this door is gonna keep us out, just like it's kept out ever one before us.”
“Uh-uh,” Billy said, “not me it isn't.” He turned face and walked back to the Suburban.
“Look out, Dell,” he said, as he started the truck, and cramped the wheel around to bring it up on the sidewalk. “Saw this on a cop show once, here goes...”
Billy lined the truck up even with the front doors in back of the aluminum burglar door, backed up, and punched the gas pedal. The
rear tires screeched briefly as the truck bumped up over the curb and hit the door. The truck passed through the aluminum door as if it were made of paper and barely tapped the inside glass doors before Billy locked up the brakes. The light tap on the doors was all it took to shatter the safety glass. Billy reversed the truck, and backed down off the sidewalk. He cramped the wheel once more, and shut off the truck, leaving it almost where it had been in the first place. He got out and looked over the front of the truck; there was not even a single scratch to show where the massive bumper had connected with the aluminum door and then the glass. He stood up from his examination of the bumper, and was surprised to see everyone staring at him.
“What?” he said. “I told you I saw it on a cop show once. Of course I didn't know it would work so well,” he finished grinning.
“You're an animal,” Beth said, grinning back.
“Well folks,” Billy said as waved his arm at the store, “looks like the store's open after all.”
Delbert, John, and Peggy, were all grinning too, and Delbert said, “If I ever lock myself out of my house, I guess I won't be asking you for help, Billy,” he broke into a hearty laugh when he finished speaking, and within seconds they all found themselves laughing along.
“Well, let’s go get that ammo,” Beth said laughing, and they all walked into the shop.
They spent no more than an hour in the shop, before they had completely re-outfitted themselves. They were able to obtain new camping gear, ammunition, and three more of the nine mm machine pistols. They all reasoned they were much more effective than the old single-shot rifles, and shotguns that Delbert's group had been carrying, and the fact that they would all now be able to use the same caliber ammunition was appealing.
Billy picked up a canvas strap for the machine gun, that allowed him to keep it suspended from one shoulder, yet easily accessible to him if he needed it. The machine pistols fit easily into leather shoulder holsters, and there were more than enough in the shop for everyone. Billy debated briefly, and then took one more of the machine pistols, along with one of the leather holsters as well. He had a vague, uneasy feeling about the weapons. He felt as if he had joined some weird sort of commando outfit, instead of belonging to a group who had been nothing more than average citizens just a few short weeks before. He pushed the thought away, and after adjusting the leather shoulder holster, slid the fully loaded machine pistol into it, and fastened the small chrome push-catch across the blued steel grip of the weapon.
They loaded all the gear into the back of the Suburban, including every round of nine mm ammunition the store had in stock, which, Billy thought, amounted to enough to wage a small war with. After consulting the map, they set out once more.
The shop had contained a great deal of pre-packaged freeze dried foods, and that had also found its way into the rear of the Suburban.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Billy and Beth
April 22nd
Noon found them just outside of Owensboro, Kentucky. Route 60. Billy hoped Route 60 would by-pass most of the moderately sized city. Beth had studied the map, but couldn't tell for sure whether it would. One thing's for sure, Billy thought, it's certainly less traveled.
They had all noticed, and remarked on the fact that there had been no appreciable stalled traffic at all, and that had seemed good at first, until they had all begun to notice that someone had been at work either towing the cars off the roadway, or pushing them into the ditches along the side, where they still sat.
“It don't necessarily have to be bad,” Delbert said from the back seat, “could be some good folks.”
“Yeah,” Beth agreed from the front seat, “could be. But also might not be.”
They were less than a mile from the city limits when they saw the road block.
Billy bought the truck to a screeching halt, more than a half mile away at the crest of a slight rise, nearly as soon as it had come into sight. They could see better than a half dozen heavily armed men standing along the sides of two Kentucky State Police cruisers, pulled crosswise nose to nose blocking the road. The men had immediately snapped to attention when they spotted the truck, and were now staring in their direction. One of the men had quickly jumped into one of the patrol cars, and Billy assumed, after seeing him speaking into a hand held microphone, had probably radioed someone about them. Not good at all, he thought.
“Them's the same bastards we saw the other day,” Delbert said, “see that red pickup off the shoulder?”
Billy nodded his head.
“They was driving that truck, I recognize it, Billy. Was only two of 'em then, so I expect they didn't want to mess with us. Looks like they found some like-minded company though and that ain't good at all.”
Billy forced his heartbeat to slow down so he could think clearly. At first he had been positive that the men would get in the cars and come screaming down the road after them. They hadn't, and in fact seemed to be just watching the Suburban to see what they were going to do. “I'm open to suggestions,” Billy said.
“First thing,” Beth replied, “is to get the hell off the road, if they did radio someone they're probably on the way. I saw a dirt road that cuts off to the right about a half mile back, might be smart for us to get down it so we can think this thing out, before we're forced to fight it out right here.”
“That group could kill,” Delbert said, “I saw the way they were looking at us, and especially Peggy, we don't need to let them get the upper hand, and right now we're on their terms. I expect they would just as soon kill us... well most of us, and I hate to think what they'd do to the girls.”
“This is one girl they don't want to screw with,” Beth said angrily.
“How far?” Billy said as he punched the gas and squeezed the wheel of the Suburban. He bounced the truck down off the road, and the rear tires threw up rooster tails of dirt and grass, as the truck slewed around, and came back up onto the road. The tires spun momentarily dislodging the grass and mud, then found their purchase and propelled them back down the road, away from the road block. Behind them they could hear the low pop of rifle fire from the direction of the road block.
“Half mile, no more,” Beth said.
They were no more than a hundred feet down the road, when a blue Bronco appeared ahead of them moving toward them. A blonde haired man leaned out the driver’s side window holding what looked to be a sawed off shotgun.
“Shit,” Billy muttered, “Dell?”
“Got it,” he heard from the back seat. He heard the wind suddenly rushing into the truck's interior and realized that Delbert had opened the window, just before he heard the loud chattering of one of the machine pistols.
The blonde haired man fired the shotgun at the same time Delbert began to fire from the back seat. Billy saw the flash from the gun, and heard a rattle from the front of the Suburban that sounded like hundreds of stones hitting the front bumper.
The machine pistol continued to chatter from the back seat, and Billy watched as dozens of holes appeared in the body of the blue Bronco, almost in a straight line along the driver’s side. The front driver side tire blew out, and the truck veered sharply toward their lane.
“Hold on!” Billy yelled, as he spun the wheel and they left the road. The truck bounced when it left the road and entered the ditch, but Billy kept the truck under control, and without letting up on the gas angled it back toward the highway just as the Bronco began to flip into the ditch. A line of trees flew by on the passenger side of the Suburban, scant inches from the glass, and then the truck lurched once more, left the ditch and rocketed back up onto the highway. The two trucks missed by only inches, and Billy had found himself looking into the lifeless eyes of the blonde haired man, hanging loosely out of the window, for just an instant, before the truck was by him and rolling into the ditch.
Billy brought the Suburban back up onto the road, and floored it. When he came to the dirt road he almost blew right by it, but managed to slow enough to slide into the entrance
somewhat under control. He barreled through the first curve at better than fifty miles an hour. Once he was around it, and hidden from the road, he slowed down. He rounded two more curves before he stopped the truck, and turned around facing back toward the main road. Thick choking dust from the dirt road rafted up into the air. No way are they going to sneak up on me, he thought, as he watched the road and strained his ears to listen. A few seconds later he heard the high whine of a vehicle on the highway, but it didn't slow down, and the high pitched whine of the motor dwindled away to silence in a few seconds as it continued onward, apparently, Billy thought, looking for them.
“Must not have seen the dust we kicked up,” John said.
“Or pretended not to see it,” Beth said, as she spoke they heard a muffled explosion in the distance.
“Think that was that Bronco?” Peggy asked.
“Could've been, probably was in fact,” Delbert said, “hope so anyhow.”
Beth was studying the map once more. “It's a good thing we didn't break off to the left,” she said.
“Why?” Billy asked.
“River,” she stated calmly, “about a mile or so in the opposite direction, we would have been trapped if we'd gone that way. It looks like we got open land ahead here. At least it looks that way, it's hard to tell.”
Billy looked back along the dirt road. Thick dust still hung above it. “There's no way they missed us,” he said, “unless they're blind. They had to see that dust hanging in the air, and if we keep going we're going to kick up even more, and they'll be able to follow it right to us.”
“I think you're right, but what the hell else can we do?” Delbert asked.
“Turn around and go back,” Billy said. He held up his hand to silence the outburst that erupted at the suggestion. “Listen; if we sit here they're going to come back, probably with more men. If we head back to the road block now we have the advantage. I would bet the sound we heard of a passing car was one of the police cruisers. If so that leaves only one, and fewer men to contend with back there, if we wait the odds will only get worse. See?”
