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the Shamrock Mall ahead. Looking down from the overpass he estimated that more than half the mall had been consumed by fire that was now out. The portion that remained looked okay and luck was with him the Radio Shack was in that part of the mall.
    He drove onto the sidewalk and parked as close to the entrance as possible. Turning off the engine he rested for a while before picking up the gun and flipping off the safety; he would not have time to look for it if he ran into trouble. He put the window down and listened, watching to see if his arrival had attracted any attention. There was nothing moving, at least not that he could see; the whole city, just like Eloy, seemed to be dead. He put the window up and opened the door and stepping out locked the car with the remote. His back ached from tension and his eyes stung from driving through the smoke.
    “ To boldly go where no man has gone before”, he mumbled and, with the gun leading the way, he walked a few paces into the building. He stopped and waited while his eyes adjusted to the dim interior. What he could see of the mall looked normal, he had expected signs of looting and damage but the stores looked like they usually did, except with no people. Walking in the direction of Radio Shack he grew tense worried about the deepening gloom.
    He had watched too many horror movies and his mind was not his friend. His thoughts naturally turned to those scenes where the zombie lurches from a dark corner and bites some poor slob on the neck. As he walked deeper into the gloom he made a promise to himself, if he survived this, he would never watch another. The Radio Shack was in perfect condition, the doors were wide open, there was no sign of damage, and they had a clearance sale on. He began by looking for a flashlight. He found one and tore off the packaging and loaded it with batteries.
    When he turned it on the light helped to dissipate the hordes of zombies lurking in the shadows of his imagination. He roamed deeper into the store and found the section with radio equipment and discovered that the letters C and B in the astronaut’s message stood for Citizens Band. He picked out two CB radios opting for the higher priced ones reasoning that they would be higher quality. He found a cart in the back and loaded parts onto it. He took lots of batteries of all types, a high end GPS, and all the other components he would need including two extra-long whip antennae.
    He wheeled everything out to the car. One item he could not get at Radio Shack was a gas powered generator. It had not been on his shopping list but he was tired of pedaling that damn exercise bike to recharge the battery and he would need reliable battery power for the radio. He drove around looking for a building supply store or equipment rental company; figuring they would probably have what he was looking for. He found a Builder Barn and went in through the open roll-up door driving up and down the aisles pushing stuff out of the way until he came to the tool department.
    It was fun driving inside a store and there was no point in lugging the generator any further than he had to. He found a Honda gas powered generator in aisle seven. It had wheels and he rolled it to the back of the car then found two wide planks in the lumber section to roll it up and into the hatchback. He was hungry by the time he finished but it was getting late and the sun would be going down soon. With darkness coming and with all the smoke in the air he did not bother to look for food, not that he would be able to eat with that smell in the air.
    As he was climbing into the car he heard something. He was not certain what he was hearing but it sounded like a human voice. He backed the car out of the Builder Barn and turned off the engine to listen. He heard it again and drove in the direction the sound was coming from. He turned the corner by Wal-Mart and saw a someone standing on the roof of a brown delivery van in the middle of the empty