At the next main intersection, Lucky ran forward and began to bark at an abandoned car. The dog circled wide around the car and began to bark at the back of the vehicle. Cautiously, Robert and Ben guided their horses to the other side of the car and saw a decomposing body. Bullet holes riddled that side of the car, which explained the man’s death. The dog started to approach the corpse.
“Get back, girl!” commanded Ben to the dog. He dismounted and walked toward Lucky, ushering her away from the dead body. His fear was that she might try to eat the corpse’s decomposing flesh. Pulling his horse behind him, he went to the dog and used his foot to turn her and get her to move away. Robert stayed mounted on his horse and Ben stood by the dog.
“I can see the strip mall and the shop we need to get to.” Ben pointed in the store’s direction. “Right there on the corner.”
“What are we waiting for?”
Ben lifted the flap on his saddlebag, revealing several sticks of dynamite. He explained to Robert that he wanted to try to blow his way into a bank vault and pointed to the bank at the next intersection.
Robert shook his head. “I don’t want any part of it.”
“You don’t have to.” Ben removed the dynamite and detonation equipment from his horse. “Just take my horse and dog with you. I know where you’ll be. I’ll meet you there.”
Robert leaned forward and grabbed the reins of Ben’s horse.
“This will take me about as long as it will take you to get into the store and look around. Tie the horses tight to something, and get my dog inside. You’ll hear the blast.” Ben laughed.
Robert grumbled his disapproval again and led Ben’s horse away. The dog reluctantly followed Robert to the strip mall. As he made his way toward the pet store, he passed by several abandoned cars in the parking lot. All of them had broken windows. At the end of the strip mall was the large pet store. All the windows were broken; it had obviously been pillaged and looted. In front of the store was a bicycle rack where he could tie the horses. After dismounting and tying the horses, Robert nervously looked back toward the bank at the far end of the parking lot. It was not a big bank and Robert could not understand the appeal of what Ben planned to do. What could he get? Money? Money had no value. Jewelry in a safety deposit box? Maybe jewelry would have some type of intrinsic value, but you cannot eat it. Jewelry would be worthless to a starving person.
After double-checking the knots that held the horses to the bicycle rack, Robert called Lucky into the store. Although the windows were shattered, allowing a breeze through the store, there was still a terrible stench of death that remained. The small rodents and fish were dead and rotten. The dog and cat food sections were scavenged clean. Robert wondered if the looters had taken the food for their pets, or if they had become desperate enough to eat it themselves. Since most of the other cat and dog merchandise was gone, he surmised that they were still keeping their pets alive.
The store was divided into departments. The dog section was the farthest from the front, then the cat section, pet toys, and near the front of the store was a large picture of a fish. That would be the section he wanted. Unfortunately, large metal shelves separated these sections, and the shelves had been toppled over and collapsed like dominoes in the direction of the store’s front, covering the fish section. Robert would have to lift these shelves back to an upright position, starting in the back, to get to what was buried at the front of the store. The empty shelving was not very heavy, but it was awkward to move.
Lucky left Robert by himself as she patrolled the store. She methodically sniffed at almost everything, as Robert worked his way toward the store’s front, lifting each of the metal shelves. As he lifted the last shelves, he glanced behind himself and noticed that Lucky had found a rope toy. She leaned forward with the toy and moved her head from side to side as a signal to play.
Suddenly an explosion rocked the store, and reflexively, Robert dove to the floor. Ben must have set off the dynamite. The explosion was loud, much louder than he would have expected at this distance. Lucky dropped the toy and whimpered in the explosion’s aftermath. Robert quickly looked back to see that the shelving was still standing. He grabbed the rope toy and tossed it for the dog, then went to the broken store windows to get a view of the bank. From that distance, he could see that all the glass from its windows were gone, and smoke billowed out of the openings. Emerging from the bank was a man holding a hat with one hand and the side of his head with the other. It was Ben, stumbling as he made his way toward Robert and the pet store.
Robert stood by the two horses and stroked their faces. The explosion had startled the horses, and he tried to calm the animals as he watched Ben approach.
Ben made it to the storefront and, holding his hat in his right hand, bent at the waist and put his hands on his knees to lean forward. He was shaking his head back and forth.
“It didn’t work. I got nothing, not a damn thing,” said Ben, in an unusually loud tone.
“What did you expect to get?”
Ben was looking at the ground in front of him. He did not see Robert ask the question and could not hear him due to the ringing in his ears.
“Hey!” exclaimed Robert. “Can you hear me?”
Ben looked up with a contorted face. “Sorry, my ears are ringing, I was too close. I can’t hear anything.” Ben cupped his ears with his hands and shook his head.
Robert did not speak, but motioned for Ben to get inside the store. With Ben inside, Robert stayed out front momentarily to observe his surroundings. Ben had made a lot of noise. That might bring unwanted attention in their direction.
Inside, Robert found Ben sitting on the floor with his dog next to him. Lucky had brought him the rope toy and they were playing tug of war. Robert pointed to the fish supply area. The toppled shelving had covered it so most of the area had been protected from the looters.
“What are we looking for?” asked Robert, as he pointed to the first aisle.
Ben nodded and held up one finger. He did not want to speak yet. He walked to the fish section and began to sift through the bottles strewn on the floor. He grabbed each bottle and peered at the label intently. Ben kept frowning and tossing bottles in the corner. Then his mood changed, and he began to smile as he held up a bottle.
“This is it. Get them all.”
Robert started doing the same. He looked at each bottle and tossed all those that he did not want into a corner. Methodically, they sifted through the debris and found at least twelve bottles of the medication they were looking for. During this process, Robert noticed that Lucky had vanished. He looked around the store, but did not see her. He called her and she did not respond, so he headed toward the back of the store. Ben did not notice, and probably could not hear Robert as he called unsuccessfully for the dog.
Robert was halfway to the rear of the store when he heard a low growl. It was Lucky. He saw her staring at the backroom door. Her lips were curled back, exposing her sharp teeth as she snarled. Robert shouldered his rifle and back stepped toward Ben. He tapped Ben on the shoulder. Ben saw Robert’s rifle and quickly grabbed his pistol. Robert pointed toward the backroom.
“Your dog is growling at the something in the back.”
Ben squinted toward the back of the store and the backroom door. It was closed. He turned to the front of the store and scanned the parking lot with cautious eyes.
“Look around, we could have company.”
Both men carefully studied the parking lot. They stared at the silhouette of each vehicle. Finally, near the edge of the parking lot, Robert noticed someone sticking his head up from behind the hood of a car.