We decided to head to town. We were headed to the comic book shop. They had tons of replica swords, along with other medieval style weapons. We knew the stuff in the store were technically for display purposes only. So it wouldn’t stand up to a true fight. At the very least it would help Keith get an idea, what a real sword looked like. So when he went the blacksmith route. He had a reference he could hold, rather than a picture. I didn’t expect to find anything I could use there. Priests were not typically proficient in bladed combat. Besides my role was to keep out of the fight, while keeping my friends alive. Running in to bash in some heads, may sound more heroic. But at the end of the day. Keeping my group, my family alive. That was top priority.

So the better geared up each one was. The better chance they could survive long enough for me to get a heal, on them. I tried to convince everyone to walk into town. But that was immediately yelled down. We all hopped…err climbed into Keith’s truck. As we drove through town, I kept scanning the woods around us. I kept expecting hordes of monsters to pour out. About fifteen minutes later we arrived safe, and sound. We jumped down, noone broke a bone. I made a beeline for the door, as I entered I noticed how empty the place was. Granted most comic book stores nowadays. Are hanging by a fingernail, away from closing their doors. But Jack’s was a local hangout for kids to play D&D.

I looked around for any signs of life. Other than the fact there was noone inside. The place looked the same. Racks of comics lined the shelves. The walls were fully stocked with great boardgames. This was my usual haunt, I loved the creative genius behind some of these board games. Above them attached to the walls. Were all the replic weapons, helmets, even wands. Fantasy stuff from movies we all had seen. We walked around looking for anything that might serve our needs. I didn’t think a wand from a movie would do anything, but it didn’t hurt to try. Most of the wands looked like random gnarled branches. Just like ones I could find in the back yard. I found one that didn’t look like simple shaved wood. It had a snake head. I got very excited at first. Then i realized the head of the snake was the handle. That was lame. I kept having unreasonable images in my head, of it coming to life in my hand. “Ah ha, I shall smite you, ‘snict’ Oh No my wand has bitten me.” Ya hard pass.

Then i saw it, it was simple, yet awesome. It was all black wood, with an almost dagger type handle. All the other ones were knobby pieces of wood, or much to uncomfortable to hold. I picked it up, it was actually very light about 1 pound. I was not sure if it was considered an evil wand in the canon of the wizard series. I shrugged, it was cool looking that’s good enough for me.

About that time I heard a very distinctive ‘chick chick’ sound, of a shotgun chambering a round. I slowly turned towards the sound. I saw Jack himself the owner of the store. He was staring wild eyed around the room, waving his gun around. His shrill voice was a few octaves too high for comfort. “I don’t want any trouble, yall just get out. I don’t allow stealing here.” I calmly stated. “Jack its me Oby, we are not here to steal. We are here to buy. This is the only place in town with the gear we need.” Jack turned my way, i’m not sure if it was an accident or not. But I heard the explosion of his gun. Without thinking my bubble popped into being. I felt a very large concussion, than everything went black.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I woke back up on the ground, my back against the wall. I looked down in horror expecting to see my chest gone. Nothing, not even a singe mark. That’s when I heard indistinct yelling sounds. As my head started to clear, I recognized the sound of three people screaming at each other. The loudest ofcourse was Keith. “No! He killed my brother, he dies.” A female voice replied “We can’t kill him, it was an accident. We would become murderers.” I slowly stood up looking around. I saw Keith standing over Jack, with Katie trying to hold him back. Erica was glaring at Katie. I said. “I’m not dead, just dizzy. I got my bubble up in time.” Everyone froze, than three heads slowly turned in my direction. Keith got a big smile on his face, but Erica was still giving side eye glare towards Katie. I walked over to get a closer look at Jack.

He was unarmed, with his hands were in front of himself trying to ward off Keith. His eyes though were locked onto me. He stuttered “Bbb bbuu…tt u u u u were dead…” I got closer to Jack saying. “I almost was, you tried to kill me. I don’t know if it was intentional or not. It doesn't matter anymore. All that matters now, is we are going to really steal from you now. I had intended to buy these things. But you almost killing me, makes your life forfeit. I give you back your life for the cost of the items we take. If you want to argue, or complain. Talk to Keith, he will be happy to explain the cost of attempted murder.” Keith stared down at Jack with a deadmans stare. The kind of blankness you get after you have been in combat too long. Jack just whimpered saying “Ok j j j j just dont let him hurt me.”

I motioned to Erica telling her to gather up some daggers she liked. I then turned to Katie saying. “Noone died, noone still needs to die. If you have a problem with me still being alive. Then say so, if not then gather up anything you think you will need. Then let's go.” Nothing in the store was usable for me, I didn’t even think the wand I still held, would be anything more than a paperweight. But Keith grabbed a wicked looking knife, almost a machete. It had a lopsided top. I bet it would be great for chopping, but not so much stabbing. I also had him grab a hammer, just in case we faced skeletons. He grimaced, but hooked the loop of the hammer to his belt.

We exited the store. Noone really talked until we were back in Keith’s truck, driving back towards my place. Finally as the tension grew to unbearable. I said. “I didn’t want to rob him, we went in with good intentions. If he had not tried shooting me, we could have talked it out. Once he chose violence, that was it. He gave up the right to be peaceful. The lives we lived before now, will influence our future. But the old world will be gone soon. We have to look to the future. We have to look out for each other. I’ll do my best to keep you all alive. I ask the same of you.” Everyone nodded, Keith ofcourse yelled out. “Anyone trys hurting my family they are done. No remorse, no regret.”

He turned to Katie. “You still think like a civilian, you need to change that. Next time you try stopping me, i’ll go through you.” I waved my hands in the air saying. “Woah, no need to throw threats around. We all went through something out of the social norm there. It will take time for everyone to adapt to the new way of doing things. Heck we don’t even know totally, what the new normal is yet. Let’s just find some low level monsters, so we can take our frustrations out on them.