“We don’t have much, but we’ll be glad to trade with you,” Ethan said.
“You sound like you’s from the north. Are you boy? You from the north?” Potbelly asked with a wide grin and a gold molar winked at him as it clamped down on the toothpick.
Ethan wanted to groan and his eyes slid to Reggie, who shrugged slightly.
“Chicago,” Ethan said.
“Well, Mr. Chicago, you can just trade them guns you holdin’. Even that sissified one you got. Then we’ll see what you got in that Jeep,” Potbelly said, nodding to the large window.
“I’m sorry, we need our weapons, but you can have the contents of the Jeep,” Ethan said.
“Woof,” Reggie said softly.
“Boy, did you just bark at me?” Potbelly asked, taking a step toward Reggie and raising his weapon.
“No sir. I sure didn’t. I said ‘wolf’,” Reggie said and grinned.
“Wolf? What in the hell is that suppose ta mean?” Potbelly asked, confusion written on his florid face. It couldn’t have been better rehearsed. Reggie dropped to the ground and Ethan exploded into the werewolf. His Walther PPQ fell beside Reggie, who reached over and picked it up. Ethan grew to his full seven-foot werewolf frame and snarled, saliva flying. Potbelly’s eyes grew wide and his eyes nearly popped out of his head as a shrilled scream of terror ripped from his jiggling throat.
He stumbled back and raised his .38 to Ethan’s head but Ethan jumped forward and his jaws clamped down on the man’s arm and ripped it off. The gun fired as the nerves in the fingers contracted. Potbelly’s scream reached a crescendo and he fell back onto the ground in a near faint. The man with the pink AR-15 turned, running blindly and ran through the large glass window, nearly severing the lower half of his leg. The AR-15 fell to the ground and Ethan turned to the man with the deer rifle, Danny, and walked over to him. Danny fell to his knees, urine spreading across his jeans, his arms up in defense.
Ethan stood over the man for a moment and let the saliva drip onto the man’s face and then he lunged and bit the man’s head off and slung it out the broken window and it bounced and rolled to the man outside. The moans from the man outside turned to screams and he tried to get up but he was crippled by the deep gash from the jagged glass. Ethan turned to Potbelly and the man’s face was ghastly as the blood was pumping out of the empty hole where his arm used to be. Then Ethan let his body begin to shrink and felt the bones and tendons pop, it was just as painful as when he turned. He seemed to go back to human more slowly than he could when he changed into the werewolf. He guessed that was just as well. When he needed to be the werewolf, it was better to turn as fast as he could. He was thankful that Wilder had taken the time to show him.
Potbelly’s face was a sick pasty white and sweat was now running down his face. He was panting heavily, his eyes glued to the now naked Ethan.
“Guess you won’t ever take advantage of a potential customer, now, will you?” Ethan asked. The man tried to speak but sputtered, his mouth opening and closing like a landed carp. Ethan turned when the man outside screamed even louder. Ethan watched as two zombies tore the man apart. Ethan turned and grinned down at the one-armed man.
“Tell me where the keys to that black F-150 is and I’ll kill you fast,” Ethan said. Potbelly’s eyes went to the now silent man outside, being ripped to pieces by the two zombies and then back at Ethan. He tried to speak but lifted his other arm and pointed into his office. Reggie came up behind him with a suit inside a dry-cleaning bag.
“Figured you’d not wanna go bare-butt in your new ride.”
“Thanks, yeah, don’t want to do that. He said the keys are in his office. Give me a minute,” Ethan said and took the clothes. He would have to start keeping an extra set of clothes on him. Maybe in the new truck. He snorted and put the shirt on but left the jacket. He found a cleaning shammy and figured he’d sit on that. The shirt was long enough it would keep him decent. They could swing by a store and he could pick something up before they headed back to the farm. He saw the board with numerous keys and tags and riffled through them until he thought he had the keys he wanted. He took a few extra, just in case he was wrong.
Walking back out he saw that his shoes were ruined and sighed. He’d have to be careful and not step in the glass. He nodded to Reggie and started for the doors. There was a squeal from behind and he turned to see Potbelly waving at him.
“You…you said,” Potbelly panted.
“Oh, I did, didn’t I,” Ethan said. He looked at Reggie and grinned.
“You shouldn’t trust him, he’s CIA,” Reggie said and walked to the shattered window and began jumping up and down, screaming. One of the zombies staggered toward him. Reggie backed up and the zombie came forward, ignoring the jagged glass shards. Potbelly began to scream when he realized Reggie was leading the zombie to him. The zombie lunged forward and Reggie jumped
