Most highways appeared to still be intact. From the air they looked better than on the ground. The six-lane road South College Avenue served as a landing strip for the Omni. For the most part it was smooth. The few cracks that spouted growing weeds were barely felt under the massive weight of the vessel.
Finch pulled the Omni into a strip mall parking lot. The few cars that remained were out of the way. It was open, with very few trees and plenty of ultraviolet light.
There were no signs of people, nor did it look like anyone had been there for a long time.
Tucker immediately did what he had done when the Lola landed. He checked out the sun, estimated the time and set his watch.
It wasn’t early, in fact, by his estimate it was mid-afternoon. It didn’t leave much time for any charging the ship could do.
While Sam and Finch prepared the buggy, and Nate transferred his map images to a tablet, Rey and Tucker walked the strip mall and looked in the stores.
The entire place was weather worn. The bricks were cracked and chipped, the paint on the edges of windows and doors, peeling. Some of the signs had fallen and most of the windows were shattered, more than likely from age and the elements.
A red four-door sedan was parked just outside of the first shop, a pizza joint.
The car was parked across two spots and the hood was open. Inside the engine block a garden had started to grow. The doors were open; nothing or no one was inside.
“Wonder if they broke down,” Tucker said, peeking inside. “Hope they got a ride.”
“I don’t understand. What happened in this town?” said Rey. “I mean, it doesn’t look like earthquake damage.”
“No, it doesn’t. Or a tornado or freak flood.” Tucker pulled out his small, rectangular light and walked to the wide-open pizza shop window. He shone the light in, moving it left to right before stepping over the window edge and going inside.
He held out his hand to Rey. “Watch your step.”
She took his hand as a guide, until she stepped into the restaurant.
It was a typical strip mall outlet. The restaurant was long and narrow. Ten feet into the place on the left was a counter that ran most of the length of the restaurant. A cash register sat at the beginning of it, plexiglass shields hanging down to the counter. Behind it were pizza ovens.
The décor, from what Tucker could tell in the dim light, was dated. Black-and-white tiles covered the floor. The bottom half of the walls were some sort of wood and above the chair railings were mirrors, probably there to give the illusion that the place was bigger than it was.
Weeds grew from the linoleum floor and crept up the counter by the register. A result of seed and pollen blowing in through the open windows. Only a few sections of the mirrors were broken.
“No one left in a hurry,” said Tucker.
“Why do you say that?”
“Well, everything is clean. No plates, food left out. I mean that area with the sneeze guard looks like where they put the pizza out for people to pick a slice. Nothing is there. This place was closed.”
“In the back, look at the chairs.”
Tucker moved the light and noticed two tables were disturbed. One had been turned over on its side with the flat side of the table facing out, and the chairs were toppled. “What the heck?” He stepped toward the table.
“What is it?” Rey asked.
Tucker ran his fingers over the table. “Bullet holes.”
“Someone hid behind the table?” Rey asked.
“Looks that way.” Tucker walked behind it. “No blood on the wall.”
“How about bodies.”
“If there were bodies, there wouldn’t be anything left. I mean those windows busted out from time. Over time the seal breaks, that takes a few decades.”
“What about clothing?” Rey questioned.
“Maybe.”
“Well, check.”
“Check for bodies?” Tucker asked.
“Yes.”
“Fine.” He walked around the table. “This is odd. No bodies but…”
“What is it?” Rey asked, joining him. “What do you got?”
Tucker lifted a bracelet of sorts. A black plastic band. He bent down and grabbed another. “Don’t these look like those exercise bracelets?”
“Yeah, they do.” Rey took one.
“Who the heck gets shot at and leaves their exercise bracelets behind?”
Rey examined it, running her fingers along the side. After doing that, three small green lights lit up on the edge. “Heck of a battery.”
“That is really strange.” Tucker took it, looked at it again, and placed both in the small bag he carried over his shoulder. “Bullet holes, exercise bracelets…”
“And a bunny.”
“What?”
Rey bent down and lifted a rag doll style toy bunny from the floor. It was nearly buried beneath dirt and dust. She cleaned it off by hitting it a few times on the table’s edge. “This belonged to a child. God, I hope they weren’t shot.”
“Why would there be a shoot-out here?” Tucker questioned, more so thinking out loud. “This doesn’t make sense.”
“A robbery or someone looting, perhaps?”
“I don’t think so. What would someone loot?”
“Food. Money,” Rey suggested.
“Exactly.” Tucker pointed the light at the front. “Register is fine. Soda case still has soda, chips are still there. If they’re looting for food, why not take those?” Tucker, with the light in hand, stepped back, shining it around. He paused when he heard a faint mechanical whirling. It was short and soft. “Rey, did you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
“I guess not.” He moved slowly counterclockwise, shining the light, and just as he faced the rear corner, he saw it. There was a door there, right in the back of the restaurant. It probably led to a back room. It was a swinging door, no knob, with a small square window near the top.
It was there in that window it appeared.
A red dot of light. Small and round. The sight of it was so startling to Tucker, he not only jumped, he let out a small shriek.
“What?” Rey
