The End Has Come and Gone

“Ron, I don’t know how it will happen, but it will. I will find her and I will kill her.” I was much more confident about the finding part than I was the killing, but this I would keep to myself.

“Alright little brother, you guys have a good night and stay safe. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. And one more thing.” “Yeah…?” I said hesitatingly.

“You mess my truck up any more and you’re going to need Eliza to protect your ass from me .” I wanted to tell him just to get another one, what was the big deal. I decided that discretion was the better part of valor and instead said, “Hey bro, don’t want to waste any more battery, over and out.” “Wait you litt....” I took this opportune time to shut the transceiver down.

Gary was about ten feet away, his face split with a shit eating grin.

“Not cool man,” I said, pointing my finger at him. I might have done something more than threaten him but just then the sound of metal scraping on metal caught all of our attention. The sounds of multiple firearms being readied dominated the landscape for the next four seconds. Travis was coming up behind me, shotgun at the ready. I put my hand on his shoulder as he drew up alongside. I pointed to my eyes and then motioned for him to watch our backs. The building, which I felt had been an ideal resting spot just moments earlier, now seemed more like a trap. We were in the dining area in the middle where long gone customers used to sit and try to digest all the processed food they bought at the gas station store on our left or at the pizza counter in front of us. The Dunkin’ Donuts had never opened the fateful day the zombies came, either that or the last employee to ever work there had had the foresight to close shop and run. That heavy gauge metal screen had been pulled down in front of the counter. You know the kind, you can fit your fingers through and almost reach the plastic mugs. What the hell you’re going to do with it once you get it in your grasp is beyond me, they won’t fit through the gaps, not that I had tried… lately.

No other sound emanated from the gas station store, but I still brought my gun up out of an abundance of caution. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Tracy tense up. Gary for all his comedic endeavors was now all business. He came up beside me as we advanced on the store. Justin went up to the front doors and peered out. I stole a glance towards him. His thumbs up assured me that our one avenue for escape was still clear.

“One chance,” Gary said loudly, startling the hell out of me.

I hated giving potential enemies any sort of heads up. Maybe that was how they had done it when Gary was in the Air Force. Marines? What can I say, we don’t fight fair, we fight to win.

“Did you hear me?” Gary asked again. “I said one chance .” “Dude,” I said impatiently. “You already gave them their one shot, enough already.”

“We’re coming in!” he added just for good measure.

I stopped and let my gun slack down. “Really? Are you kidding me? Should I get some flyers printed up, with our arrival date and time?” “Well I don’t think that’s necessary,” Gary answered.

“Don’t shoot!” came from the far corner and of course the dimmest lit section of the store.

We both swung our guns and trained them on that spot, advancing even slower.

“Don’t move,” came from our immediate right.

“Text book,” I said quietly.

“What?” Gary asked.

“We just walked into a trap.”

Why Gary looked down at his feet I don’t know, maybe he was looking for a tripwire.

“Not that kind,” I told him.

“Put your guns down,” came the voice from the corner.

Like gasoline to a fire Travis came running up to the store entrance. “Drop that fucking gun!” he yelled.

“No swearing!” Tracy said reflexively from the food court.

I could hear the metallic sound of the action being moved on the pistol that was aimed at my right side. I started going through the laundry list of vital organs exposed to that potential shot, any of them being damaged was not something I wanted to deal with today.

“Hold up!” I yelled. “I’m putting my gun down. Travis, do not do anything.”

“Dad, it’s just a girl,” Travis said. I don’t know if he meant he could take her down quickly or ‘it’s just a girl and what the hell do I do?’

“How big is the gun?” I asked evenly as I bent over very slowly to place my rifle on the floor.

“Fucken huge,” he said with some awe.

“No swearing!” Tracy said again.

“Angel, you alright?” the voice from the corner asked.

I couldn’t believe it. The girl apparently holding a rhino killing pistol started to giggle. “I’m alright Eyean. But he looks scared.” And then she started to giggle again.

I had placed my rifle on the floor and stolen a glance at my captor as I stood back up. She stuck her tongue out at me when she realized I was looking at her. A six year old girl holding a .44 magnum had gotten the drop on me. “Wonderful,” I said in self-disgust.

She put on her meanest face, probably the one reserved for when she found out that the Hannah Montana episode on that night was a repeat. However, it was no joke when she motioned with the gun for me to put my hands over my head. Gary had already put his gun down and was lying prostrate on the floor.

“Dad?” Travis asked.

“Put the gun down. I’d rather get shot than ever shoot a little girl.” Visions of a Wal-Mart loading bay blazed across my memories. “Again,” I added.

“Eyean, all their guns are down,” Angel said, putting her hand over her mouth to stifle another giggle.

“Eyean, why would you send this girl out here to do this?” I was enraged.

“It’s Ryan, she’s never been good with the ‘R’,” a skinny kid maybe 15 or 16 years old said as he came out from behind a NASCAR display. “She was in the bathroom when we heard you come in. I told her to stay there.” “Any chance we could convince her to put that gun down before anyone gets hurt? And considering I’m the only one under aim at the moment, it would most likely be me.” “Mister, I’m sorry,” Ryan said. “But we don’t know you at all.”

“Stranger danger!” Angel said excitedly.

“Wonderful, so now what?” I asked.

Ryan didn’t seem so prepared to answer that question.

Tracy came up cautiously to the front of the store. “Why she’s just a little girl Talbot, what’s the matter, did she trap the big brave men?” she asked condescendingly, laced with a bit of humor. I don’t know how she pulled it off. It was magnificent and it also had the added bonus of diffusing a potentially bad situation.

“Hi pretty lady,” Angel said, waving the hand that was not holding the magnum. How the hell such a little girl was keeping that cannon trained directly on me I don’t friggen know.

“Hi, Angel is it?” Tracy said, getting a little lower to be on eye level with the Bonnie (of Bonnie and Clyde fame) wannabe. That might seem harsh to you but I was the one being held at gunpoint. Give it a whirl sometime and let me know what you think of it.

“Yes,” the girl answered coquettishly, lightly kicking her left foot forward.

“You’re very pretty Angel,” Tracy said softly.

“Thank you pretty lady,” Angel answered. This would have been an awesome Disney flick if that cold steel huge caliber weapon wasn’t pointed at me.

“It’s Tracy,” Tracy answered.

“My mom’s name was Alicia,” Angel answered back.

We all noted the key word ‘was.’

“Oh honey,” Tracy said, standing back up. As she walked forward she opened her arms wide.

Angel didn’t give a crap about me as her gun clattered to the floor and she ran into Tracy ’s outstretched arms. I was thankful it didn’t go off, especially considering the first action of the dual action revolver had already been engaged. When I walked over to retrieve the weapon I increased my embarrassment level exponentially. I opened the revolver only to realize that she had no bullets.

“What now mister?” Ryan asked, cautiously watching his sister as she sobbed heavily into Tracy ’s chest.

“Nothing, come on out.” I looked down. Gary hadn’t moved. “Umm, you can get up now brother.” “All clear?” he asked.