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"Now I am"

I paid little attention to the blue stain that was left behind on the fra piece It had rubbed off of the picture that was now in my pocket It briefly reminded me how my dad liked to put details on the back of every photo he developed, so we’d reet

We wheeled our bikes out the door, avoiding looking at the severed head as best we could We climbed onto our bikes once ere on the sidewalk and took off, pedaling as fast as we could, heading out of the neighborhood to parts yet unknown I couldn’t help but look at the cop’s house as we rode by The brohich I no to be the canner’s invitation to a bar-b-cue, was still on the door, looking so innocent and yet so sinister at the sae of thatI’d never see hiain

CHAPTER FOUR

I COULD HEAR PETER PANTING behind ain, I’ to speed up and leave you behind"

Buster reached up to lick ain - for the hundredth ti My chin was totally sticky with dog drool I tried not to getme a favor

"Can we just stop for a minute?" he pleaded

"No We’re almost there"

"Where’s there?"

"The ar we can use"

"Ha!" yelled Peter "As if we could carryelse, Peter needed replace They were the kind of sneakers cheerleaders wore, not the kind you could use for walking and hiking any distance

We rolled into the parking lot a few minutes later The store was actually just a small warehouse, back in the middle of a bunch of them in a commercial section of town I could see already that solass of the front as broken and things were strewn out on the ground in front

I got off my bike anddown on the ground and he ran out of it, dancing around a few seconds before going to lift his leg on a nearby plant

"I’ll go check it out You stay out here Give that fuzzy pink thing soht red face and heaving chest "Get your breath back while you wait too, would ya?"

He lifted his hand weakly in agree

I was pretty sure he wasn’t even capable at this point I needed to find some food for him in here if at all possible The kid had almost zero stamina and definitely no body fat to fuel his exercise

I pickeds out on his own I ignored hiht need

I found some foil packed, dried ed uess none of the raiders had bothered to look back there, which is why there were still around … lucky for us I also found rabbed those There were three poles, four spools of line and a box of hooks But I really hit the jackpot when I got to the back part of the store This place apparently also did so supplies

Busterback tothe thing I’d found to the front of the store

I got to the glass door and said, "Get off your butt and help me"

Peter ju?"

"It’s a mini trailer You attach it to the back of a bike and put your crap in it"

"Oh , "it’s like on the lottery or soay if he’d tried

I smiled at his happiness "Seriously, I think we did hit the lottery Now put your da in here Make a spot for Buster Brown too"

"He’s not Buster Brown He’s Buster Pink"

I rolled rabbed the few other things that had caught et it all I took a pair of military-style boots for Peter in his size, four pairs of work pants - two for hie t-shirts, the last six pairs of work gloves they had, the fishing stuff, the dale-burner ca pan and a pair of tongs With the things my dad had already oing to tow the trailer?" Peter asked

"Me for now When you get more fluffed out, maybe we can trade off"

"Hoe hook it to the bike?"

"I’m not sure But there are some tools behind the counter and the instructions are here, so we can figure it out Hurry up, go get theer than we have to"

An hour later we finally had the thing hooked up Peter and I ood team He read the directions and handed me tools while I did the work I’d never really consideredthis made me feel confident Not only can I escape the clutches of cannibals bent on my destruction, I can also doa house in the swa the tools into the set up in the trailer"

He just looked at me

"Get in the trailer, Buster"

"You have to use hand ested Peter

I pointed to the spot in the trailer that had been left e!"

He jued his tail atat , worried for hted-sounding Peter

"Stupid dog"