“Stop what you’re doin!” A voice cried out with a twang to it.

Dale heard a shotgun slide rock back and forth. His instincts had him freezing, then he shook his head. No one would have guns right now. He turned around to see an older, white-haired guy holding a shotgun pointed straight at him. Dale also saw there wasn’t a shotgun shell on the ground.

“Really?” Dale asked him. “Have you tried to shoot that thing?” The twitch of the man’s eyes gave him all the answer he needed.

Dale reached down to loot the corpse.

“Damnit, I said stop!” The man bellowed, while moving closer. Dale froze briefly before looting. “You fucking looters comin roun here, takin shit what don’t belong to you! What are you, black lives matter?”

Dale felt a twinge of rage kindle in his heart. While he was white, the woman and her son he’d saved were black. His own kids were half.

Dale shot a look up to the ceiling. “Tempting me to kill someone? Dirty pool, Shitalazy. You put me in front of someone I just might remove.” He sighed and stared at the older man who was very obviously terrified.

“What do you think that is?” Dale pointed down at the still there body of the orc.

“Damn pig alien! Fuckin illegals.” The man snarled.

Dale couldn’t help but laugh. “You-,” he laughed again, “You really think this is an alien? A naked pig man from outer space and you compare it to illegal immigrants? Did he come to steal your job? You worried that after he murdered a few people he was planning on mowing the fucking lawn?”

Linda snorted out a laugh, but kept her body between her son and the man with the shotgun. That sobered Dale up.

“You’re scaring the woman and her child. Put the fucking gun down. Now.” Dale stated, holding the spear straight up to his side. The butt of it was rapidly being covered in orc blood. At least it was red.

The man rocked the slide back and forth again. “I’ll shoot!”

Dale snorted. “A shell didn’t even come out after you pumped it the first time. What makes you think I’m going to believe that thing is even loaded?”

Linda’s shoulders relaxed a little.

“Joke’s over, Darth Cheetoh disciple. “Put the gun down or I’ll stab your sorry ass. I spent six years of my life putting foot to ass for my country, to humbly quote Sam Jackson, yours is starting to look awfully tempting shit-for-brains.”

The man turned and ran.

Linda breathed out a long sigh.

“Momma, what’s wrong?” Bobby asked.

Dale snorted to himself. “Some people just can’t see past their own hate. They’re miserable, bitter, and refuse to hold themselves accountable for their lives. That leads them to blaming everyone else for their problems. That dog turd that just ran off has so much nastiness inside him, it clogs up his eyes and ears. He’s gone for now.”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Bobby just nodded along with what he was saying. Linda looked a little surprised.

“How’d you know he’d understand you?” She asked Dale.

He shrugged. “He doesn’t understand every word, but understands the meaning behind the words. Alright, time to shop!”

The orc yielded ten coppers. Looks like they weren’t considered that much more dangerous than the gremlins. The rest of the orc parts he quietly dumped into a bag that he left in the aisle.

Dale had Linda carry the rest of the survival spears, there were four total, and he grabbed all the throwing knives. Next, he grabbed a couple crossbows and a couple compound bows. Those he put in a large weapon carry bag. In another bag, he dumped all the arrows and bolts they had.

Then he headed down a few rows to the large back packs and stuffed a bunch of them into one bag.

Linda stared at him; her curiosity piqued.

Dale grinned. “That’s for Sam’s club.”

She offered a tentative smile of understanding.

After that, they headed to the front of the store. Dale handed Bobby a bag of Funyuns. “You like funyuns?”

Bobby handed the bag back, a nasty look on his face.

Dale rolled his eyes heavenward. “Everyone’s a critic!” He shoved the funyuns into a bag he was carrying on his shoulder.

They left Academy. It took them a few minutes to walk over to the Tractor Supply store. Dale grabbed two metal carts with good wheels. Bobby got to ride in the one his mother was pulling so was happy with the situation.

Linda asked him questions as they walked from Tractor Supply to Sam’s Club. “How did you know guns won’t work? And why do flares work, but not cars?”

“It’s about what the use of the item is. Most people will just keep guns for target practice. But I think this is about all of humanity. There are way too many people in this world that have to deal with gun violence every day for guns to mean anything else other than death.” Dale explained. “I’m assuming that until we make new stuff somehow or find a way to fix all the neutralized weapons and fuel, we’re reset back to iron age. Batteries were dead, as you saw.”

Linda nodded.

“Well, that tells me that not only is electronics dead, but most electrical systems are taken down. You want to cripple our society and send us back to the stone age, best way is to take out guns and electricity.” Dale explained. “Whoever is writing this probably has some other shit he screwed up, just to be a dick.”

Logic Skill Unlocked.

“Minimize.” Dale growled.

“Um, are you crazy?” Bobby asked.

Dale shrugged. “Why do you ask?”

“Because you keep talking about books like this is one.” Bobby remarked.

Dale nodded. “Yeah, I’m probably a few bricks short of a wall. But I’m the fun kinda crazy.” He smiled at Bobby who smiled back. Linda didn’t look all that comfortable, but she did look happy to see her son smiling.

Dale saw a gremlin running towards them. “Hey, you wanna help me with this gremlin?”

“What’s a gremlin?” Bobby asked.

Dale stared at the boy in shock, then turned his eyes on the boy’s mother. “How dare you not properly educate him!”

Linda chuckled. “Gremlins is a little too mature for a five-year-old, Dale.”

“Yeah, true.” Dale sighed. “Alright, here is the spear.” He handed Bobby the spear and took a second to show him how to properly hold it.

“Are you sure about this?” Linda asked.

Dale nodded. “This is the new normal, trust me. The sooner he learns to protect himself, the better. Alright, Bobby, now see how the gremlin is running straight towards us?”

Bobby nodded, his grip tightening on the spear.

“Relax your hands a little.” Dale instructed. The lightness around the knuckles darkened. “Good. Now these things are rather dumb. They don’t know what weapons are yet. So just let it run right up and stab itself. I’ll help you, in case it tries to go around.”

Dale glanced over at Bobby who was now staring hard at the gremlin and the tip of the spear was moving a little back and forth as he continued to adjust. The gremlin just kept running straight towards them.

“Steady.” Dale murmured.

Bobby held the tip in place more firmly.

The gremlin leapt!

Dale easily pushed the spear upward by lifting Bobby’s right hand. The gremlin slid onto the blade and after a few thrashes, stilled.

“Well done, Bobby. You’ll make a damn fine fighter.” Dale patted the boy on the back. Bobby smiled up at his mom proudly. She forced a smile and nod back. Dale could tell she wasn’t happy about her son killing a monster but she wouldn’t take his pride in himself away.