Ever Onward by Wayne Mee Page B

--- like ---” His gaze flicked back to the
body sprawled on the floor.
    Josh pulled his son to him, feeling
the young muscles quivering with strain. “I will, Jess!”, he
whispered fiercely. Still clasping Jessie to him, spoke to the
others.
    “I’m sorry. I was stupid.” Holding up
his bleeding hand, he continued. “Not just for this. But before.
Letting us all walk around like there was nothing to worry about!
That poor fool back there could have been waiting for us! Killed
one, two, maybe all of us before shooting himself!”
    Jessie looked up, tears in his eyes.
“It’s not your fault, Dad. You can’t blame yourself because the
whole world’s gone crazy!”
    “The boy’s right, Josh,” Eddy put in
quietly. “I’ve only known you a few days, but Doc, he told me you
might try and take too much on yourself. All of us have to learn to
be more careful, not just you, and from now on we will.”
    Bobby nodded. “Eddy’s taking straight,
Mr. Williams! All of us have to pull our own weight, not just
you!”
    Josh sighed, attempting a smile. “Okay
guys, but from now on we’ve all got to be a hell of a lot more
careful.”
    Eddy reached down and picked up a
first aid kit from the floor. “Let’s start with fixing that hand of
yours.”
    This time Josh’s smile was
heart-felt. He was beginning to take a great liking to Eddy
Hascomb.
    From then on they were serious ---
deadly serious. Finding the body had driven home the need for
caution in a way that little else could. Josh and Jessie selected
the camping gear and brought it to the door, while Bobby stowed it
away and Eddy stood guard outside. No-one wanted any more little
surprises. Even the weapons they chose in pairs, one group always
outside with the vans.
    Jessie stopped off at the archery
department while Josh went on into the gun section. Despite what
he’d said earlier, Josh couldn’t help but feel like he was acting
out some B rated ‘action’ movie. With the rifles and shotguns he
had little problem. Having hunted since early childhood, he knew
what to look for; a 12 gage Browning pump for himself and a 20 gage
of the same model for Jessie. Remembering the incident with Gloria
and the Dude, he picked a Remington bolt action with a telescopic
sight for long range shooting. Then, on an impulse, he grabbed a
30-30 Winchester with an enlarged circular lever action, just like
the kind John Wayne used in all his movies. (So much for
suppressing the ‘little boy in a candy store’ feeling!) He got
boxes of shells for each and placed them all in a large shopping
cart.
    The hand guns however, presented
several problems.
    Though most of the cases had been
smashed, there were still plenty to choose from. To him they all
looked like a bunch of dangerous toys, made for just one purpose:
killing other human beings. He wasn’t sure he wanted that for his
son, living out his whole life with one of those obscenities
strapped to his side. This Brave New World had a very dark
side.
    Another problem was he’d never
actually fired a handgun before. Oh, he’d seen hundreds used in
movies and on TV. and he’d seen all the Clint Eastwood spaghetti
westerns and Dirty Harry flicks. He even knew some of the names:
Colt 45, Baretta, .357 Magnum, Glock .9 mm, but the thought of
actually using one against another person made him
shudder.
    Then he caught sight of the body
laying on the far side of the store. In this world suddenly gone
mad, that could just as easily be one of them. Might yet be them.
Might be Jessie. A weapon, a handgun, could save him.
    Grabbing a box full of ski mitts, he
dumped them on the floor and began scooping the remaining handguns
into it. Tossing the box into the cart, he pushed his small arsenal
towards the door.
    “Let’s go, Jess!”
    Jessie heard the anger in his father’s
voice and hurried after him. It wasn’t until Josh was outside that
he realized he hadn’t brought any bullets for the handguns.
Swearing under his breath, he dug in