American Apocalypse IV - Chapter 16e - by Nova

Checking for keys also meant looking for money.  Not a lot of money on these assholes. The bartender was the richest man in the place.  No surprise there.  The guy talking to the woman was the second wealthiest. Another unsurprise. Love is never cheap -- even in Indiana it seems. 

Zane came back and told me "I did it Gardener. What else you want me to do?"

I considered it, he was basically worthless for I needed him to do. He couldn't drive and he couldn't carry a lot of weight but I knew I needed to keep him busy.  I wanted to get the hell out of here. My mental alarm was going off and I decided just to haul ass. Looking for loot thing was when I had people I could trust watching my back. I didn't have that now.

"C'mon. Lets go see what we are driving."

We went outside and lit up the vehicles. I wanted another truck but I ended up with a Ford Focus.  It was the only one with more than a half a tank and if I didn't bust an axle we could make some miles on that much gas. 

I dumped the box of food and guns in the back and laughed when I saw the size of the back seat. Woof wasn't going to have enough room to scratch let alone move around.  I was still pissed at him for kicking me to the curb so easily. I thought our relationship was better than that.

"Zane. You ever set anything on fire?"

"No...not really."

"Your dad loves setting stuff on fire."

"Really! What are we going to burn? 

"The building in front of us." 

I liked watching his eyes get all big.

"Okay! Wait. My Mom said I shouldn't play with matches."

"I bet she told you that awhile ago."

"Yes...before everything..." He didn't finish it. He didn't need to.

"Okay. I don't think she would mind. Plus you have adult supervision."

That convinced him not that he really needed any.  I told him  "Follow me."

We went back inside,  Zane had done a good job, the air stunk of high test alcohol.  I looked behind the bar and found a sawed off shotgun.  I grabbed it, did a quick search for money but didn't find any. I fished a box of matches out, backed up us a bit, and showed him how to strike one.  He broke the first one. The second one lit and he tossed it in a puddle of homemade booze which lit up with a nice blue flame. We stared at it longer than we probably should of but it burned with such a beautiful blue color. Woof barking at us got us moving. We hustled out, got in our new car, and slowly drove away watching the bar burn. Fire is beautiful.