Zia Desert

They were a couple miles out from the city when Penny tugged on his shirt. He knew what that meant, so he pulled into the first building he found, a squat one-story with a ranch house behind it. The front door was open, so he figured it was abandoned. He killed the Wanderer's engine and stepped off, his daughter coming out next to him. They approached the building, weapons at the ready. AJ went in first, taking in the room. It had been a gunshop, from the look of the racks and smashed glass cases, all stripped completely bare. From the amount of sand in the place it had been abandoned for some time.

There were two doors behind the counter, one closed and the other partially open. He tried the closed door and found it locked, but the cracked door opened with a gentle push of the Winchester's muzzle, a bathroom inside. He checked the room to make sure it was clear and then came back out. "It's clear."

"Yeah, but is it clean," Penny said. She walked past him and went over to one of the stalls, wrinkling her nose. "Oh geez, it's definitely not." She backed off from the stalls, looked at the urinals, and shrugged. She went over to one and started undoing her pants and AJ looked away, both out of respect for her and to watch the front door.

While she was in the bathroom AJ decided to check the locked door again. It was locked from the inside, so he figured it was just a backdoor that led outside. He checked the cash register and, of course, it was empty. There was a safe under the counter, too small to have anything beside papers or pistols inside. Maybe the key was in there, but he didn't have the key for the safe. The bathroom had no windows, so he figured Penny was safe. He let her know where he was going and then walked back outside, heading around the building to the back.

To his surprise there was a part of the building out there, no doors or windows on it. Which meant the only way in was through the locked door, which meant there was likely something good in there. AJ cast a glance at the ranch house and decided to go back and check on Penny before investigating further.

As he was approaching the bathroom door he asked "all done in there?" Penny looked up, still squatting over the urinal. "Need a rag?"

"Do you have any clean ones? I don't want to rub gun oil on my privates," she said, and AJ laughed.

"No, no clean ones. Don't ask for one of my socks, either. They're not clean, either. Just shake it off."

Penny rolled her eyes, stood, and pulled her pants back up. "What'd you go outside for, anyway?" she asked as she came out of the bathroom. He gestured at the locked door.

"There's a room in there. No doors or windows outside. It's been locked since the War, so there might be something good in there. I was gonna go check out the ranch house, just didn't want to leave you alone in here," AJ said.

"There's no one else around for miles and I was just peeing. It's not like something was gonna crawl out of the drain and bite my butt," she said.

"Hey, don't joke about that," AJ said mock-seriously. "I've seen that before." Penny rolled her eyes and he continued. "No, I'm being serious. I went to go drop a deuce once, there wasn't even a toilet either it was just a hole in the ground, and this guy's face appeared in the hole and started screeching. His eyes bugged out and he went 'reeeeee.'"

Penny doubled over and laughed, bringing a hand up to cover her mouth. "Oh shut up, that didn't happen," she said. She followed him outside and around the building, the two of them approaching the ranch house. The front door to it was also open, hanging half off its hinges. AJ stepped up to the door and took a look inside; judging from the dust it too was deserted.

The room beyond the front door was a parlor or sitting room, from the look of it. Sand swirled around their shoes as they walked through the room, eyes and ears open. There was a soft scraping or shuffling noise coming from the second floor, which made AJ wary. If it was a person they would've already confronted them, so he figured it was a wild animal of some kind. Or a mutant.

They moved out into the hall, wide enough for two people to walk side-by-side through. To the left as they came out was a staircase, which they took up, being mindful to take it slow. At the top of the stairs were three doors; two on the right and one on the left. AJ approached the first door and cracked it open. "Check the other one," he whispered to Penny. He moved into the room, stepping to the side as he did. It was a bedroom, the sole window looking out over the gun shop and the desert beyond. A quick check of the room's nightstands and dressers produced no keys.

He was already halfway back to the door when Penny fired her carbine and screamed, a high wail that told him she was in trouble. He scrambled out into the hall and into the room next door, finding his daughter flailing to keep her balance, a Mole Rat latched onto her shoe. She was trying to kick it off her and it refused to let go, reaching up with its claws to pull her leg down. AJ pulled out the 9mm and shot the varmint twice through the body and it dropped to the floor, bleeding. Penny put her foot down and backed off from the creature, aiming her carbine at it. It tried to get back onto its feet, blood coming out of its mouth. It collapsed back to the floor and went still, the blood coming slower and slower.

"Are you OK?!" AJ asked, looking his daughter over. She didn't seem to be harmed, but it was hard to tell. She nodded and brushed her hair back, still looking at the Mole Rat.

"I'm OK, I'm OK," she said. "It tried to bite my leg and when I kicked it in the mouth it latched onto my shoe!" AJ crouched down and looked at her shoe, which was a little torn up. There was no blood coming through the tears, though, which was a good sign.

"OK," AJ said, and stood. "You should be OK, then."

"Thanks, daddy," she said. The room she'd ended up checking was another bedroom, dominated by a large bed in the corner nearest to the door. There was a nightstand beside the bed, and a desk underneath the window. AJ approached the desk and pulled open its drawers, looking through the contents. Pencils, pens, a deck of playing cards, a few condoms even (which he grabbed), a pack of Grey Tortoise cigarettes, the usual junk that accumulated in desk drawers.

"No key here," he said, and was about to stand when Penny put a hand on his shoulder.

"Did you check under the desktop?"

He gave her a look and then put his hand under the desk, feeling along the surface until his hand brushed against something. Something that crinkled. He grabbed the edge and pulled, a piece of tape bearing a key coming away. He pulled the key off and grinned at Penny, who smiled back. "Smart girl," he said.

"I saw it in a Silver Shroud comic!"

AJ stood and they were about to head back downstairs when he heard a couple of engines revving outside. He crouched by the window and motioned for Penny to do the same, peering over the edge of the window sill. Pulling up to a stop outside the gun shop were two vehicles, a motorcycle and an electric Corvega. The occupants disembarked, guns in hand, and AJ frowned.

Highwaymen he thought. Guns and engines, and the 'fashion' to match. Improvised tire armor, improvised road sign armor, and anything they could get their hands on that would go bang without blowing up in their faces. Crude, disorganized, but dangerous. Especially with Penny around.

"Stay here and watch them," AJ said. "I'm gonna go to the other room and do the same." She nodded at him and he quickly moved to the other bedroom, posting up by the windows and watching the Highwaymen. There were only three, armed with hunting rifles. They had the advantage with range, but they didn't know he and Penny were there.

"You sure it's new?" one of the Highwaymen asked as they approached the gun shop. "I don't like being this close to Acolyte territory."

"That bike wasn't out there last time we came through, and quit your worrying. We're far enough from their gates that they won't bother us," another replied.

"Sure about that? They knocked off a few of the other bands in the area, a lot farther from us too. Only reason they ain't found us yet is because we're holed up in a freakin' cave."

The highwaymen finished their check of the gun shop and approached the house, walking casually. Two of them stopped by the stairs to the front porch while one entered. AJ could hear him walking around in the parlor downstairs, checking the rooms. He licked his lips and tightened his hold on the shotgun, slowly backing off from the window.

Sure enough the highwayman started coming up the stairs, moving slowly. AJ crept into the room's closet, to the right of the door, and watched, waiting for the man to appear. He walked up to the door, quickly poked his head in, and kept moving down the hall.

AJ's heart sped up as he silently moved behind the highwayman. He couldn't let him reach Penny. The motorized raider approached the closed door, the one AJ hadn't checked yet, and tried the handle. It was locked. He swore quietly to himself and approached the door to the other room and that's when AJ made his move. He sprung up behind the man, hooked his shotgun under his chin, and pulled. The man dropped his rifle and grabbed at the shotgun as AJ used it to choke him out, holding onto him tightly as he struggled. Penny came out, gun in hand, and gasped when she saw what AJ was doing.

To AJ's relief his daughter went back into the room and the man groaned, anger giving way to fear. His struggles began to weaken, his hands dropped, and he went slack. AJ kept the gun in place until he was sure the man was either out or dead, then dropped him to the floor.

He rushed back to the bedroom and saw that the other two highwaymen were still standing by the steps to the porch, talking. They were in broad view, hardly fifteen feet away. AJ put the riot gun on the window sill and shot the one on the right, the buckshot punching straight through the 'yield' sign he had strapped to his chest. His friend swore and was about to either run or fire back when Penny shot him, putting two rounds through his torso. He screamed and fell to the ground, trying to crawl underneath the porch. AJ adjusted his aim and fired again, putting the man down. He watched them for a few moments longer, watching the blood begin to seep out into the sand. Satisfied that they wouldn't be getting back up he backed off from the window and joined his daughter in the other room.

She was still by the window sill, reloading her M1 Carbine with an angry look on her face. "I hate shooting people!" she said, and approached the unconscious man. She kicked him in the ribs and he hardly stirred. "Why can't people just leave us alone!" she shouted, and AJ nodded knowingly. She was a bright and curious girl, but with her life the way it was she was prone to bouts of anger, and AJ understood. He was the same way, once. He crouched down next to her and put a hand on her shoulder, which she seemed to appreciate.

"It's OK, princess. Let's go check that other room and get out of here, OK?" he asked, and she nodded. The two of them went back out into the hall and AJ tried the key he'd found on the locked door, releasing the deadbolt and permitting them entry. He pushed the door open and stepped into the room beyond. It was an office of some kind, a desk to the left flanked by two filing cabinets. Opposite the desk was a table with a printing machine and some files and folders on it. He approached the desk and sat down, checking the drawers. Inside the top-left drawer was a 'Guns and Bullets' magazine, which he took, and inside the middle-right drawer was a key marked 'bench room.' He pocketed the key and stood.

"Jackpot."

AJ and Penny went back out into the hall and he stopped by the highwayman he'd choked out. The man was still breathing, though it'd be a while until he woke up. There wasn't a whole lot of cargo space on the Wanderer, just a few saddlebags plus the well in the sidecar. AJ crouched down and relieved the man of his ammo, meds, and food, and removed the bolt from his rifle. He handed the box of Fancy Lads Snack Cakes the man had been carrying to Penny, who put it in her bag.

Outside, AJ looted the two dead men of their valuables and walked back to the gun shop, letting Penny put the stuff they'd taken into the motorcycle's saddlebags while he went into the shop to open up the bench room. Sure enough there were benches inside. A work bench, a reloading bench, and even a small table with some hobby shop tools bolted to it. A drill press, a miniature lathe, et cetera. No guns, though, to his disappointment.

He heard footsteps in the shop and turned around to see Penny approaching, coming around the corner of the counter to join him in the bench room. She took in the room, looking at the tools and presses. "What's all this?" she asked.

"Gunsmithing stuff," he said. He gestured at the reloading bench. "This one's for handloading your own ammo, for example." She turned around and looked at him.

"Can you show me?"

"I would if I knew how," he said. "I knew a guy who had one, and I saw him use it a few times, but I never really caught on to the whole idea myself. I know it involves putting gunpowder back into an empty shell casing and then replacing the bullet, but he told me it's important to measure your powder levels exactly. Too much powder and it'd blow up in your hands."

Penny grimaced and looked at the reloading bench. "I think it'd be better than finding your own bullets," she said. "One day there won't be any more bullets to find. Imagine someone searching a gun shop or army base two hundred years from now. There won't be anything left to take!"

"Heh, you'd be surprised how long some things can remain hidden away," AJ said. He checked the room for any sign of the safe's combination and came up empty-handed. Penny followed him back out into the shop and there they stood, staring at the safe underneath the counter. "Like this safe, for example."

"Whaddya think is in there?" she asked, and AJ shook his head.

"Dunno. It's too small to have guns in it, except maybe a pistol. My guess is that it's just money or papers. Boring stuff no one has any use for anymore," he said. "That's the thing about life; sometimes you think you've found something good, only to come away disappointed. More often, though, you never find the reward at the end. It remains a mystery, to be solved another day by someone else."

"Hmm," was all Penny had to say, looking at the safe. After a moment she looked away and began walking back to the motorcycle, and AJ followed her out. He searched the raiders' bike and car and produced only a few boxes of .308 ammo and some bottles of water, which he put into his pack. He rejoined Penny by the Wanderer and the two of them soon set out again, heading south to the City of the Sun.