The October Light of August by Robert John Jenson Page B

out of the bathroom, the sound of clear voices startled me.
    “Here's his wallet,” Nick said, amusement in his voice. “Let's take his credit cards and head on down to the gun shop.” I heard no reply to that, and Nick must not have gotten the reaction he was hoping for. “Just kidding bro.”
    “Let's find the keys to the gun safe, huh? Then get the hell out of here?” The alpha dog.
    I realized they were in the bedroom across from the window, so I moved to the opening to listen. I could hear floor boards creaking, and drawers being slid open and dropped.
    “I still can't believe that stupid fuck did something right for a change,” Nick commented.
    “Yeah,” answered the alpha. “But there's no way he thought to do that. No fucking way. The dick just had it in reverse already.” There was a grunt of agreement.
    “Hey - lookee here!” Nick shouted abruptly. “En garde!” Both men laughed loudly.
    “Think that's Jackie's or Jesse's?” asked the alpha, and they both laughed even louder.
    “I wonder what the hell happened to him?” said Nick.
    “I have no idea. Can't imagine he'd just leave Jackie all alone - aw, shit look over there, dude.” The alpha chuckled.
    “No way,” Nick laughed. “Hiding in plain site!”
    I heard the sound of metal scraping on ceramic, and the jingle of keys.
    “Looks like we have...keys to his Dodge, and – yeah. Keys to her Mustang,” the alpha stated. “Some of these others might fit the safe. Let's go.”
    The sound of boots tromping across the room faded, and as I turned to leave a loud boom echoed from out front, and I turned back to see the dead girl dropped on the lawn.
    As I limped back into the living room, Jackie was sitting up, with a pistol across her lap, her dark eyes sharp and alert. She must have had the gun tucked into the back of her cut-offs. She raised her eyebrows at me.
    “Oh, someone shot a dead girl – zombie,” I said.
    She nodded, and sank back into the chair. After shaking out two aspirin, I placed the bottles of pain reliever on the end table by the chair.
    “I am starving,” I said. “I can offer you a variety of dried cereal and granola bars, stuff like that. Chips. Bread. We have canned goods to heat on the camp stove, but I don't think we should cook anything until...”
    She waved me to silence and said, “I had something before...before the shit hit the fan.” She gave a short laugh.
    “Alright,” I said, and went to the kitchen to swig the pills down and find a power bar to eat. I heard one of the pill bottles shake and the gurgle of her water bottle. She gave a little gasp of satisfaction. I wandered back into the living room, munching on the food bar and sat on the sofa. After I had finished eating, I leaned back and we listened to the silence for a bit.
    “They were ransacking your room next door,” I mumbled.
    “Oh?” she asked.
    “Yeah. I could hear them – looking for keys to your gun safe, apparently. Sounded like they found some keys – car keys, at least.”
    She shifted in the chair and raised her hips, slid fingers into the front pocket of her shorts. She withdrew two keys on a ring. She shook them, making them jingle.
    “Gun safe,” she stated, and then gripped the keys tightly in her fist. I smiled, and she leaned back into the chair and closed her eyes. “I would have thought the digital keypad would have stymied them. Either they found the key lock underneath, or Jesse bragged about his precious safe to Nick,” she added.
    “Sounds like they'll be taking your truck and car,” I offered, and then felt foolish for stating what she was sure to know already. She spread her arms out in a what-are-you-gonna-do? gesture.
    We sat there in silence, and I thought that she might be drifting off to sleep until she groaned.
    “I can't believe I lost the M1,” she hissed. “That would have come in very handy.”
    “I bet,” I offered lamely.
    “The damned thing flew out of my hands when that bastard hit the