Gruff & Bones: The Quest For The Last N-Word Pass

Chapter 2

I stood up and walked over to my bag and pulled out my map, I lied it down on a table covered in dry blood stains. 

"West Grove… there's bound to be more survivors in a big city like West Grove." I said.

"How far away is it?" Bones inquired tiredly.

"23 miles…" I moaned.

Bones' expression turned sour, as he slumped back down against the wall.

"You literally woke up like an hour ago." I said sarcastically.

Bones looked up at me, then back down to the ground. 

"Ok how about I go out alone and find a car for us to take… would that make you feel better?" I asked, annoyed.

"It might…" Bones said, eyes still on the ground. 

"Fine…. I'll be back before night." 

I walked to my bag and began to dig through it, I retrieved two pagers and threw one to Bones which landed on the floor next to him. 

"Don't wait up." I said sarcastically as I slammed the door behind me. 

I knew he wasn't cut out for war, but this was just ridiculous. Who knows what would happen to him if he got attacked. Hell, I had to wake him up during gunfire because he managed to sleep through it. I just hope I can find a vehicle, anything… I'd even settle for a Nissan Cube or some shit. Just anything.

4 hours later --

I've been out for 30 minutes? 6 hours? I couldn't tell anymore. It was so hot and I left my flask at the house in case Bones got thirsty. But just when I thought I would never find anything, I found what I was looking for… kinda. 

I saw a golf cart next to an abandoned bar. I knew that we would look stupid driving around this wasteland of broken dreams in a golf cart, but it was better than nothing I guess. I got inside of it and to my extreme luck, the keys were in it! It was almost too good to be true. I noticed there was a neon blue eye spray painted on the hood of the cart. I suspected petty vandalism. I turned the key and the golf cart actually turned on! The engine started with no problem, but it was pretty loud. 

It was in that moment that I heard a shuffle inside the bar, and then a glass break. I turned the golf cart off as fast as I could and ran to the side of the building to hide. A man, possibly in his 70s, with a long beard and neon blue bandana, stepped out of the bar with a shotgun. I crouched behind some trash cans as the man investigated the cart and began looking around. 

I made sure to remain as quiet as possible, but silence broke when I heard.

*beep beep* 

I looked down and Bones was paging me. The pager emitted a loud beep with every message it received. I tried to put my hand over to speaker but the sound seeped through. The man turned and looked in my direction. He couldn't see me, but he could certainly hear something. 

I looked towards the pager once more to see what Bones was saying.

[069] [069] [069] 

Three messages, all saying the same thing, "069". I figured Bones was just fucking with me. I wanted to reply, but there's not really a code for "I'm about to die if you keep fucking with me". The man with the blue bandana started towards me with his gun drawn. I had to think fast. I left my gun and everything at the house, why the fuck did I do that?

I picked up a rock that was laying next to me and rolled out from my hiding place, I threw it as hard as I could at the man. 

"DOH". He muttered as he fell to the ground. 

I approached him with caution. I looked at his eyes and felt his pulse. He was dead. He must have been drunk because his shirt was covered in beer and he reeked of whiskey. I stepped over him and got in the cart without a second thought. The sun was beginning to set, and I promised bones I'd be back before nightfall. So I turned on the engine and sped away from the bar. Bones was still paging me, I decided to give him a lesson that a pager is only for emergencies when I got home.