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surprise spilling pop on his shirt.
    It looked for a moment like there was someone curled up on the bed but it was the way the blankets were heaped. He came in and sat on the end of the bed his heart pounding hard in his chest the room swirling. His head cleared and he got up and started searching again. He found a drawer full of shirts with one cool one that had a Phoenix Police Department shoulder crests. He stripped off his wet tee shirt and put it on and checked himself out in the mirror, it was too big for him but he liked the way he looked wearing it. Inside their walk-in closet he found a small metal safe with a combination lock. He would not have known what was inside except for the helpful picture of a handgun engraved on the exterior. He laughed when he saw it. Its purpose was to keep the gun away from crazies but the picture kinda gave away the contents. There’s no way I’m going to get this thing open, he though but when he grabbed it by the handle to drag it from the closet for a closer look the lid popped open. Great security, it wasn’t even locked. He looked inside and saw a serious looking black handgun tucked into a bed of grey foam with yellow boxes of ammunition tucked around it. He picked it up, he’d never held a real gun before, it felt good, heavy but not too heavy. He examined it and discovered out how to release the magazine and discovered the gun was loaded and ready to use. He replaced it and pulled the slide back loading a round into the firing chamber.
    Slapping a serious “don’t mess with me” look on his face he swung the gun around in a wide arc squint sighting on the Chinese lamp sitting on a bedside table. The grin disappeared when the gun unexpectedly jerked in his hand and the lamp exploded in a cloud of glass shards. Holy shit I didn’t even touch the trigger, he thought. He realized, as the ringing in his ears subsided, he was going to have to be careful with it or he could shoot himself. ‘Geez talk about a hair trigger,’ he mumbled.
    He figured out where the safety was and clicked it on and then tested it by trying to shoot the mattress. The gun did not fire. Satisfied it was safe he tucked the weapon into the waistband of his jeans. He used a pillow case for the boxes of ammo and loaded it all into the car. He thought that it might take all day to find a gun. There was no reason not to leave for Phoenix right away. He felt the weapon pressing against his belly but even with this newly acquired firepower he was not looking forward to the trip.

Chapter Three
    The Outback station wagon was perfect for the trip he only wished he had more practice driving with a stick shift. He bumped along slowly, grinding gears, entering the ramp for the freeway heading north to Phoenix. He did not have to worry about finding gas his mom was always a freak about keeping the tank full. He could easily make it to the city and back on what was in the tank.
    Though he had been alone for more than a month it was still weird seeing the freeway with no traffic. He drove carefully avoiding derelict vehicles and various bits of debris including the bodies of people. After two hours of slow cautious driving he came to the outskirts of the city and what he saw did not boost his confidence. A towering column of black smoke rose above the city high into the dead calm desert sky. As he got closer he could see whole sections of the city had been destroyed by fire. He put up the windows; the smell of the burning city was unbelievable, like burning hair and dog shit mixed with vinegar. It was like nothing he’d smelled before, worse than the rotting corpses back in Eloy. It made his skin itch when he imagined what it was that was burning and making that smell.
    He kept driving, slowing to a crawl when the smoke thickened making it difficult to see. He tried turning on the windshield wipers but it did not help. After ten minutes of slow choking progress a breeze shifted the smoke away and he saw an exit for