“Whoever was here got every single one of these guns too hot to the point of failure almost. This rifle seems to be okay, but I don’t see a mag anywhere that isn't busted.” Roosevelt said, kicking spent brass and chunks of plastic from the mags out of his way.
“This pistol mag is screwed too.” Johnny replied.
“What about that shottys behind you? It looks alright?” Roosevelt asked, pointing at it. Johnny turned around and grabbed it. He looked it over and then handed it to Roosevelt. The big man checked it out and nodded.
“Looks ok. This will be a massive upgrade from that double barrel.” He said as he started shoving shells into the tube. He racked a round into the chamber and then stuck one more inside the tube before looking up with a smile.
“Here ya’ go.” He said, handing Johnny the double barrel. Johnny took the gun, none too happy that the other rifles were not usable.
“I don’t see any blood on the ground anywhere. Do you?” Roosevelt asked. Johnny scanned the black surface and then shook his head.
“Nope. They must have taken out a ton of zeds and then hauled off the corpses.” Johnny replied.
“Then where the hell are the townspeople?” Roosevelt asked, his tone confused and on edge.
“How the hell should I know?” Johnny asked.
“Let’s get out of here. I have a bad feeling about this place now.” Roosevelt said, holding his right hand on his stomach as he scanned the street and then the windows of each house. Johnny jerked the bent mag out of the Beretta and tossed it to the ground before stuffing the pistol in the waistband of his pants.
“Might find a decent mag for this down the road. Let’s go.” He said as he headed back toward the UTV.
“Wait a minute did you see that?” Roosevelt said over his shoulder. Johnny turned back to his friend.
“See what?” He said moving back to stand next to Roosevelt.
The blinds in that window just moved right when I looked up at it.” Roosevelt said.
“You done lost your damn mind. Those damn blinds did not move. You crazy as hell.” Johnny said with a chuckle.
“I’m dead serious John.” Roosevelt replied.
“It was probably just the wind.” Johnny said, pointing at the swaying tree tops.
“Johnny look at that damn window. Does it look opened to you?”
“No but that doesn’t mean a window on the back side of the house isn’t open. This isn’t a damn ghost town big guy.”
“We need to go check it out.” Roosevelt said.
“Man, don’t you know that's exactly how all the black guys die in the movies?” Johnny chuckled again.
“Look even if it did move it could be a number of different things. Hell, it’s probably a damn zed in there moving around.” Johnny added. Roosevelt seemed to consider this.
“Yeah you’re right. I didn’t even think about that. It’s just strange that there aren’t any bodies laying out here with all this brass and there’s no sign of blood anywhere on the ground.” Roosevelt said, pointing around to the ground.
“Man, it could have rained and washed all the blood away by now. This scene doesn’t exactly look like it just happened. Now come man. Stop freaking out and let’s get out of here before a bunch of zeds do show up.” Johnny replied. Roosevelt nodded and turned to follow Johnny as he stared down at the ground, the brass gleaming in the sunlight. When he glanced up, he spotted Johnny staring at a man with a white cowboy hat and aviator sunglasses sitting in the passenger’s seat of the UTV.
“Can I help you boys?”
Chapter Fourteen
5:07 p.m. January 3, 2049
Sweetwater, Tennessee
Johnny’s hand shot down to the revolver in his waistband, but the cowboy was fast. The man had drawn his own revolver and fired two shots into the pavement directly at Johnny’s feet before Johnny’s hand ever got close to his own gun.
“You boys just lay them guns down nice and slow like. Nod once if you understand.” The cowboy said, still aiming his revolver at Johnny's gut. They both gave a single nod and slowly set their weapons down in front of them.
“Now get those hands up and take five steps back.” The cowboy added. Johnny and Roosevelt did as they were told, stopping exactly five steps back. When they stopped the cowboy let out an ear-piercing whistle and then smiled at them. Seconds later a group of men came out of nowhere and twisted their arms behind their backs. Cuffs were snapped on and pockets were checked before the cowboy stepped forward and started talking again.
"Where you fellas headin’?" He asked.
"We're just passing through. We don't want no problems." Roosevelt replied.
The man looked both men up and down, sizing them up. After a moment he looked up to meet Roosevelt’s gaze and grinned.
"Good, you won't find any here," he said.
"Well great, uncuff us and we'll be on our way." Johnny requested.
"Not just yet I promise you no harm'll come to ya’, but we gotta’ make sure you don't mean us no harm either."
"What the heck is going on here?" Roosevelt spat, growing impatient at the cuffs cutting into his wrists.
"Here in Sweetwater you won't find trouble, coz ain't none here.
