Chapter 9

Carl started the Humvee and began to slowly head west; all the while keeping his eyes out for gas stations that had diesel pumps and sporting goods stores. All of the sporting goods stores that he had come across had been looted of all guns and ammunition but the mobs were leaving the heavy clothing, tents and sleeping bags. With typical mob intelligence they were only thinking of today; not thinking that this warm summer weather would soon give way to the chill of autumn. He hoped to have his camp secure before winter set in. The winters could get brutal in West Virginia.

He pointed to the weapons in front of her seat, "The safety is off on those and there's a bullet in the chamber. Be careful that you don't shoot yourself."

"My name is Bennie," she said, "It's really Bernadette but I used to call myself Bennie when I was little and I guess it just stuck."

Carl looked out of the windshield at the outlet mall ahead of them. He stopped and took out his spotting scope and checked to see if he could see anyone lurking around the mall. He had stopped the truck about a half a mile from the mall behind some trees.

When he had focused the scope he saw three dirty men sitting on the curb outside the mall talking. Each of the men had a full beard and each man carried a rifle. Their clothes were filthy and ragged. Carl scanned the mall to see if the three were alone. He didn't see anyone and he turned his attention back to the three men. He watched them for several minutes and all they did was talk. Suddenly the three men looked back toward the mall as a fourth man came into view pushing a teenager and a man in front of him. The man kept pushing the man in front of him with the rifle and Carl could see the bearded man's mouth moving as if he was yelling at the man and the teenager.

Carl knew what was about to happen and he reached behind him and got out the Windrunner sniper rifle that he had picked up at the Armory. He got out of the truck, lay on the ground and sighted the gun on the man that had the most to say. Carl was hoping that he was picking out the leader as the man's life and the teenager's life depended on it. As he was sighting the rifle in on the leader of the group he saw the man that had led the pair out of the mall, shoot the man in the back of the head. The others began to laugh and the teenager dropped next to the man and started to scream.

Carl swung the sight around to the man that had pulled the trigger and when he was sure that the bullet would run straight and true, he pulled the trigger. The other men were more interested in the teenager and they were surrounding her and never saw their cohort fall. Carl was too far away for them to hear the retort of the Windrunner. Carl sighted on another of the group and pulled the trigger. As he had expected the remaining two looked at the man that had just been shot in awe. He sighted on one of the remaining two men and pulled the trigger. The last man started to run before the Carl's target hit the ground. Carl shot the last man in the back.

The teenager stared at the dead men in shock. She made no attempt to get up and run. When she saw that each of the men were dead, her attention turned back to the man that had been shot by the man. Carl jumped back in the truck and headed toward the mall.

"Who the hell are you?" Bennie asked, "You didn't even think twice about killing those men; you just did it."

"There's a L. L. Bean store and a Dick's Sporting Goods in this mall. We need some sleeping bags and heavy clothing for winter. I hope that the store hasn't been picked clean," he replied.

Bennie didn't ask any more questions and they continued cautiously to the mall. Carl parked a short distance from the teenager and walked into the mall. He kept his weapon ready to fire, but he didn't meet anyone else in the mall. Every store had been ransacked. When he walked into the Dick's Sporting Goods he saw that the store had already been visited by people trying to survive. He found that the sleeping bags hadn't been taken yet. He knew that after the first cool day there would be no sleeping bags or heavy clothing left.