I see my ax, take one quick look back to make sure he’s not there, and then reach down and grab it. With my gun now in my left hand and the ax in my right, I still feel unsafe even though the ax allows me to get at least one good swing at him if he gets close.
Standing here in the open I know I need to act fast. I could make a run for the car or I could go back and get my CDs and phone charger.
This seems like a no-brainer – safety first right? I really want what I came here for though. The CDs would help my sanity and the phone charger would let me know if my cell service is working yet. If it is, I could call Abby and get out of all this mess.
Deciding I don’t want this little trip to be for nothing, I sidestep my way back to where I was before. If I were being filmed in a movie right now, I would look like the most uncool hero ever. This is about survival though, not fashion points.
I make it all the way back to where I thought Cujo would be lying dead and I see the CD’s and phone charger on the floor. I’m just going to make a run for it, grab everything I can, and run out the door. If Cujo attacks, I hope I’ll be able to fend him off with my ax enough to get to the car.
Thinking there’s no better time than the present, I run for it. With the gun and ax in my left hand, I start picking up the charger and CDs, stuffing some under my left arm and the rest into my right hand. Wasting no time, I run as fast as I can to the car. I see laptops and HD cameras tempting me to reach for them, but they aren’t worth risking my life.
I make it out the door and to the car where I drop everything and look to see if Cujo is coming after me. I don’t see him anywhere, but I know he has to be close. My gut tells me he’s somewhere in the store hiding behind one of the shelves.
I open the driver-side door and start throwing everything in. The last things I grab are my gun and ax before I get in the car and close the door.
I don’t know why but my first instinct is to look in the backseat to see if he somehow made it in here, but he didn’t. If he comes now, I’ll gladly run him over. I’d even provide the courtesy of turning around and driving him over a few more times just for good measure. In scary movies, I hate when the hero shoots the villain one time and expects them to be dead. That’s not going to happen in my story, I’ll put every last bullet I have in him.
I turn the car on, taking one last look for a sight of him, and drive away.
Chapter 12
“Well that was more adventurous than I was expecting,” I say to myself as I pull out of the parking lot.
I know I need to fill my tank up soon, but there’s no way I’m doing it until I get far away from where Cujo might be. I drive back to the main road keeping an eye out for anything else worth investigating.
I have food, booze, clothes, and now CD’s and a phone charger — what more do I need? I do some quick calculations in my head and realize I’m not going to be able to make it all the way to Mobile today. My weak drunken moment and my bout with Cujo #2 are to thank for that.
I stop the car in the middle of the road and pull out the map. I’ve highlighted the route I plan on taking, so I look for a good stopping point ahead. Since I’m not going to make it to Mobile, I might as well take my time and enjoy the ride.
It looks like Nashville is another couple hundred miles away, which means I can make it in about three hours of driving. That would make my ETA somewhere around eight o’clock. I don’t enjoy driving in the dark, and I imagine it will be even more difficult since none of the street lights will be working – unless those use solar power. I’d like to make it all the way to Nashville today but I can pull over at any time if I get tired. If I give myself some extra time I can even try to find a hotel and a room to break into.
Since I’m still in town, I start looking for any nearby gun stores. Besides protection from Cujo and Cujo #2, a real gun would be a lot of fun right now. My pellet gun isn’t doing it for me anymore. It’s like when you build a tolerance for a drug like caffeine. At first it only takes one cup to make your heart beat out of your chest, but after a week or two the same amount doesn’t satisfy you any more.
This is how I feel with my pellet gun. Sure, it can crack through some windows and scare off Cujo #2. But now I want to blast through windows — and Cujo’s head.
It also sounds fun to just go shoot stuff. I look around and see buildings, cars, and other great target practice items. I also would like to get ahold of some dynamite. Do they have that at gun stores? I’m not sure but I know it’s something you don’t pick up at Wal-Mart.
On second thought, I probably shouldn’t be messing with dynamite. If I’m careful with a gun, the worst that can happen is a shoulder injury or having debris come back and hit me. With dynamite, I could easily blow myself up, especially considering I have no clue what I’m doing. I don’t even know where to buy the stuff!
Again, I wish I had Internet access. All I would have to do is type “guns” into Google and it would automatically figure out my location and display any stores in the area.
My generation takes the Internet for granted. We’ve had it our entire lives, and I’m starting to get a taste of how much more difficult simple things like this are without it. How did people even find stores back then, look in the phone book? I honestly have no idea.
I reach for my new phone charger to see what happens when I plug in my phone. Who knows, I could get lucky and be able to make a Google search or call someone. I start to get excited about the possibility, but remind myself it isn’t very likely to come true. First, I have to figure out how to even open this stupid thing without cutting myself to death. Can we please learn to ship products in something other than impossible-to-open hard plastic?
After repeated attempts, I get out of the car and, gripping my ax, start beating down on the corner of the package like I’m chopping wood. After a few swings, I’ve cut off enough of it to get the charger out. I then plug my phone in and wait a few seconds to see what happens.
Nothing does, but then I realize I need to have the car on in order for it to work. When I do, my phone lights up and I say a silent prayer for it to start working. Life would be so much easier if it did. I wait and wait for it to find a signal and change the “No Signal” display to at least one bar.
After a few minutes go by, I know it’s not going to happen and I throw the phone down. I risked my life for the small chance of getting a signal, and now I realize that was all for nothing. The only thing I got out of it was a near heart attack and a few Beatles CDs. It makes me so angry and depressed I want to drive full speed into the nearest building.
Since I don’t have any Internet access and I’m in a big and unfamiliar city, my hopes of finding a gun store seem unlikely. As much as I would like a real gun, I don’t see any sense in getting lost and wasting gas while I look. If I’m going to make it to Nashville today, I need to leave now. I’m sure there will be plenty of gun stores when I get there.
After driving away from Cujo, I’ve gotten a little side-tracked from where the highway is. My map doesn’t have a close up of the city, but I know if I stay in one general direction I’ll hit the outer belt eventually. As luck would have it, I see a sign for I-65. I have to re-check the map because I thought I would have to get on another highway before merging onto I-65, but sure enough it runs straight down the middle of Louisville.
After following the signs, I make it onto the highway. I never plan on going to Louisville again. Now that I know where I’m going, it’s as good a time as any to pull out my new CD collection.
I have to start with the Beatles – the sticker price was $130, after all. I got it for an absolute steal.