The smells, the sounds, and the sights of World of Trade are a lot to take in. I’m trying to focus on one thing at a time, but it’s sensory overload at times.
I see Jacob and his men walk towards an entrance of what used to be the International Mall.
Phil, Matt, and Shaun follow me as I walk towards the indoor entrance of the mall.
Jacob looks at me and shouts, “Level two access is hard to come by! We can’t always get inside, but sometimes we can!”
We make it to the mall entrance door.
The solid metal doors are heavily guarded by concrete barricades and armed guards at every door.
“No access to level two or three today guys!” shouts one of the armed guards.
Jacob walks over to the man that shouted at us.
The man points his gun at Jacob and shouts, “I said no access inside today!”
Jacob stops in his tracks. One of Jacob’s men grabs Jacob and pulls him away from the armed guard.
Jacob shouts, “I’ll remember this! You remember my face! I’ll be back!”
Phil looks at me and says, “Guess he isn’t mister bigshot after all.”
Jacob and his men walk back into the level one center merchant courtyard.
One of Jacob’s men gets a call on his radio.
It’s hard to hear what the call was about, but I heard someone on the radio say something like they found another one of those rich snobs again.
Jacob grabs the radio and replies to the radio call.
I try to listen to the conversation, but there is too much noise around me to make out what Jacob is saying.
Jacob finishes on the radio and looks at me.
“I’m sorry Ryan, but I need to call this visit short. Something has come up that takes precedence over our trip here. Come with me to my truck. I have something for you and your group,” says Jacob.
Jacob and his men start walking back to the parking lot.
I look at the guys with a we have no other choice look on my face, and then start walking back to the parking lot towards Jacob.
Jacob opens his truck driver side door and grabs something inside his truck.
I don’t know whether to stop Jacob or hide.
Jacob comes out of his truck and says, “Here. These cards are to get you in this East entrance without me. They sometimes work to get you into level two, but not always.”
Jacob hands me the cards.
He gives me six cards.
The cards say, “World of Trade Access. East Entrance. Preferred Member.”
I look at the cards and say, “Thank you, Jacob. We appreciate your help.”
Jacob gets this creepy smirk on his face and says, “Your welcome. Glad to help. What are friends for?”
I give the cards to Phil and then look at Jacob.
“When will we see you again?”
Jacob replies, “Hopefully, not for a while. I have a lot going on right now with another group. It’s best that you stay out of it. My men and I know our agreement. We will honor it. Will you?”
Before I can answer, Jacob gets into his truck along with his three men.
Jacob starts up his truck and drives out of the parking space, towards the East entrance gate.
“What’s with all these cards and badges? We back in school again, when we needed a hall pass or bathroom pass?” asks Shaun.
“I don’t know, but let’s hold onto these cards for now. They might come in handy down the road.”
Matt asks, “We going back into the marketplace? I saw a couple of things I wanted to trade for.”
Phil says, “Yeah. Me too. Let’s get the trade stuff out of the trunk. I saw something I wouldn’t mind trading for.”
Matt, Shaun, and Phil unload their belongings from the trunk. As they are getting their boxes from the trunk, I take in the view from the parking lot.
I can see the East entrance and the South entrance. The South entrance is very busy and heavily guarded. I’m thankful that we didn’t have to mess with that South entrance today.
The South entrance is very crowded. People are trying to drive in, but more people are trying to walk in through the entrance.
People are being searched, patted down, and pushed around.
The guards at World of Trade look to be military of some sort, either some branch of the U.S. Armed Services, or a private military group.
A fire is lit at the far West end of the marketplace.
I try to see what started the fire, but it’s hard to tell from where I’m standing in the East parking lot.
Phil hands me my box of trade goods and asks, “You ready to go?”
Phil closes the trunk of the SUV and I say, “Yeah. Let’s get going. I want to find a couple of things for myself and Lauren.”
Phil and Matt go look at several vendors at the North section of the marketplace. Shaun and I go to the vendors at the South and West sections of the marketplace.
Matt is walking towards a specific vendor and Phil says, “Slow down Matt. Where are we going in such a hurry?”
Matt slows down his walk and says, “I saw this vendor that I wanted to check out. It’s right over here.”
Phil and Matt walk over to a pretty empty booth. The booth is being run by an elderly woman and her daughter.
“May I help you gentlemen?” asks the young woman.
Matt replies, “Yeah. I’m interested in what you have here. I see you have a lot of baby and pregnancy items.”
Phil looks at Matt and asks, “Are you guys pregnant?”
Matt smiles and says, “I was going to wait to tell you and the guys, but yeah we are. Kylie found out a day or so ago. Please don’t say anything to anyone yet.”
Phil puts his box of goods on the table and hugs Matt.
“Congrats bro. That’s awesome. I’m happy for you guys. Does anyone else know?” asks Phil.
Matt says, “My mom and Nicole know, but no one else knows yet. I was waiting for the right time to tell everyone. I’m kind of nervous what everyone will say about it.”
Phil replies, “I won’t say anything to anyone. I can understand why you would be nervous, but we got your back man. Whatever you need. Ryan, Shaun, and myself will help you.”
Matt and Phil work out some trades with the baby shop, and a couple of other vendors.
Shaun and I make our way to a weapon and survival shop.
As Shaun is talking with the vendor, I see the huge fire that is burning at the far end of the West border of the fenced off complex.
The fire is massive.
People are burning everything they can in the fire. Trash, zombies, old food, and even people are tossed into the fire.
The smell is pretty bad when the wind pushes it our direction.
Several vendors are burning candles and spraying air fresheners to help mask the smell coming from the fire.
A man comes running by me and bumps into my left shoulder.
“Stop! Stop that man! Police! He stole from me!” shouts a vendor.
P-TAFF!
One of the armed guards kills the thief with a clean headshot from his silenced precision rifle.
The man falls to the ground and drops what he stole from the vendor.
“He died for a piece of fruit.”
Two other armed guards pick up the deceased man and throw him into the fire.
Merchants, vendors, and customers watch the dead man be thrown into the fire.
The people watch, and then continue with their conversations and transactions.
I’m shocked to see that people don’t care about this man being killed over a piece of fruit.
Shaun says, “Look what I got bro. Five awesome survival kits, lanterns, and rechargeable lighters. They can even modify my rifle and handgun. I’ll have to come back to these guys again.”
“Very cool bro. What else did that vendor have?”
Shaun says, “They had a broken baseball bat with barbed wire on it, a tore up leather jacket, two crossbows that we
re beaten up pretty bad, a broken katana, a six shooter 44 caliber pistol, and a machete with a faded handle and chipped blade.”
“Sounds like they had some apocalypse relics.”
Phil and Matt meet back up with Shaun and I, as I’m looking at several vehicles for sale.
I see several vehicles, but I am intrigued by an RV. The RV is parked next to a motorcycle.
I ask the owners of the vehicles, “How much for the RV and motorcycle?”
The owner sits up in his lawn chair, lifts up the brim of his bucket hat and says, “Too much for you pal. You look like you couldn’t afford to buy a scooter.”
I reply, “Probably not, but maybe one day.”
The old man slouches back down in his lawn chair in the shade next to the RV and says, “Maybe someday, but not today.”
Shaun and Phil show each other what they got, and they are excited at the new gear and tools.
Matt keeps looking at his box of goods and smiling.
I see Matt smiling and ask, “What did you get Matt?”
Matt covers up his goods and says, “Just some things for Kylie and Nicole. Nothing big. Actually, they are pretty small.”
Suddenly, I hear a woman shout at a vendor a couple of tents away from where I am standing.
I turn around, and I see a skinny brunette yelling at a male vendor.
“What do you mean 30? I was here four days ago, and it was 15! This is a rip-off!” shouts the woman.
The dark skinned male vendor with a New York Italian accent says, “That was days ago. The price goes up when we are low on items. It’s 30 today sweetheart.”
I see the woman getting madder and madder. I don’t want another person to get shot over something happening here, so I walk closer to the woman.
The woman has on a tank top. I see that she has a tattoo of a cross with a dove on her left scapula. The woman has some weapons on her also. She has a mini crossbow, a Berretta 9 mm in her hip holster without a magazine of bullets, and a bo staff.
The woman says, “I only have 20 on me, but I have more back at my camp. I really need those items you have though.”
I see that the woman is trying to trade several other weapons and goods, for a variety of household items. I see what she wants from the vendor and know that we have an abundance of the items that she wants at the Big Club.
The man shouts, “If you don’t have enough for the trade, then get the fuck out of here!”
As I’m standing at the vendor next to where the woman is standing, I see that the woman is angry at the vendor. She lifts the bottom of her shirt near her jeans and goes to reach for a knife.
I see that she is about to grab the knife and attack the vendor, so I intervene.
I grab the woman’s left forearm and say, “Hey, long time no see. How ya been?”
Phil, Matt, and Shaun watch as I steer the woman away from the vendor.
The woman releases her knife from her grip and looks at me with a surprised expression on her face.
I walk with the woman to the next vendor tent and whisper to her, “I saw what you were planning to do. It’s not worth it. I can help you get what you were trading for. Get your weapons and meet me away from this vendor.”
I release the woman’s forearm and walk over to a vendor that is a couple tents away from the woman.
Shaun, Matt, and Phil walk towards me and hand me my trade box.
“What was that about Ry?” asks Phil.
“I’ll tell you in a second, I have to trade for a couple of items here.”
The woman that I intervened with grabs her weapons and goods and makes her way over to me.
I see the woman walk over to me.
Phil, Matt, and Shaun check the woman out as well.
I finish trading with the vendor, and I walk towards the woman.
“What’s your name?” I ask the woman.
“Kat,” says the woman.
“Nice to meet you Kat. I’m Ryan. That’s Shaun, Matt, and Phil.”
“Nice to meet you guys, but I’m not here for the conversation. What deal can you give me?” asks Kat.
“We have a store, a big store. We have everything that you were asking from that vendor. I won’t ask for 20 or 30 of whatever you were going to give.”
“What do you want then?” asks Kat.
I look at Kat’s silver cross pendant on her silver necklace and say, “I just want to help you. We can work on the trade later. I feel like what you were going to do to that vendor wasn’t worth it. Your life is more important than a couple bottles of shampoo.”
Kat says, “I agree. I can be a hothead at times, but overall, I’m a nice person. Just don’t piss me off. My nursing staff would tell you that.”
I don’t know if it was divine intervention or what, but the fact that Kat is a nurse and we met her makes me feel that the universe brought us together for a reason.
“I’m an orthopedic doctor Kat. A person with your nursing skills and clearly your weapon knowledge is worth a lot more than what you were offering that vendor.”
I see Kat put her guard down and realize that I’m trying to help her.
Kat and I work out a date and time to meet up at the Big Club. We talk about what she is looking for, and how she can get to our store from where she lives.
“Thank you, Ryan. It was nice meeting you. I’m looking forward to seeing your store and your group again. Stay safe and I’ll see you soon,” says Kat.
“I will see you in a couple of days at the Big Club. We will work out a trade agreement then.”
The guys and I say goodbye to Kat.
I complete a couple more transactions, and I am satisfied what I got for myself, Lauren, and Bobby G.
The guys and I walk back to our vehicles with the goods we got from World of Trade.
“That place was alright. I felt like someone was watching us though,” says Phil as he puts his box of goods into his SUV trunk.
As we get into our vehicles, a group of hooded figures appear and watch us from the shadows.
The guys and I don’t see the hooded figures as they are carefully concealed away from our line of sight.
The hooded figures were watching us as we explored the World of Trade.
There are several hooded figures hiding behind vehicles in the parking lot.
I start up my SUV and exit the parking lot.
Our first trip to World of Trade was a success.
CHAPTER 17
HELICOPTER RIDE
KNOCK! KNOCK!
Bo knocks on TJ’s front door.
Janet answers the door and welcomes Bo inside their house.
“You all set for the trip Janet?” asks Bo.
“Yeah. We are pretty much set here. TJ just wants to take Odin down to Ryan’s neighborhood to have Phil or Shaun watch Odin while we are gone,” says Janet.
TJ walks out of the back bedroom and is carrying two bags.
“Hey Bo. You ready for today?” asks TJ.
Bo replies, “Yes sir. I’m ready to find my brother, and my girlfriend. I really hope they are at the zoo. I don’t know where else they could be. I mean, I checked everywhere they might possibly be.”
Janet says, “I think it makes sense that they are at the zoo. You saw your brother’s truck, and Nicky works at the zoo. I’m sure we will find them at the zoo.”
Bo, Janet, and TJ load up TJ’s jeep.
TJ checks his house for anything that he might have forgot to bring, and to get Odin from inside the house.
Odin and TJ exit TJ’s house.
TJ locks the front door, as Odin jumps in the backseat of the jeep with Bo.
Janet gets into the passenger seat of TJ’s jeep, and TJ gets in the driver seat.
“We got everything?” asks TJ.
Bo replies, “I got my bag and weapons in the trunk next to your bags.”
Janet says, “We are good to go. Let’s get up in the air on this helicopter ride.”
TJ starts up his jeep and drives t
o Citrus Oaks.
Bobby G and Lauren see TJ enter through the South entrance.
TJ drives into Bobby G’s driveway.
Bobby G and Lauren meet up with TJ, Janet, Odin, and Bo.
“What’s going on TJ?” asks Bobby G.
Lauren walks over to Odin and pets him on the head.
“Can one of you watch Odin, while we are away on the zoo trip?” asks TJ.
Bobby G says, “I can do it. I had a dog growing up. Do you have any special food for him or anything?”
Janet goes to TJ’s trunk and gets out a small bag of dog food.
TJ says, “We have a small bag of food for him. Don’t over feed him though. I need him lean and mean.”
Janet hands Lauren the small bag of food.
“No problem. I’ll make sure he has plenty of water, and not too much food,” says Bobby G.
TJ asks, “The guys aren’t back yet? I was hoping to see them before we left today.”
Lauren replies, “No, they should be back sometime today though. I know they were meeting with Jacob at World of Trade.”
“That’s right. I hope it went well. Something about Jacob rubs me the wrong way,” says Janet.
Lauren says, “Me too. I’m not sure what it is, but I just don’t trust that guy and those Conquerors.”
TJ says goodbye to Odin.
“Now O. I gotta leave ya, but I’ll be back. Don’t you worry. You take good care of Lauren and Bobby G. I’ll be back as soon as I can,” says TJ to Odin as he holds the sides of Odin’s head with both hands.
Odin looks up at TJ and gives him a sad whimper.
“Daddy will be back. Don’t worry O,” says Janet.
TJ and Janet pet Odin on the head and get back into TJ’s jeep.
Bo says goodbye to Lauren and Bobby G before getting into TJ’s jeep.
TJ reverses out of Bobby G’s driveway and honks goodbye.
Odin barks to say goodbye to TJ and Janet.
Lauren, Bobby G, and Odin watch TJ’s jeep drive out of Citrus Oaks through the South entrance.
“I’m gonna miss my boy O. He has been with me so long. I feel like he’s my child,” says TJ to Janet as he drives down the street.
TJ pulls up to the front entrance of MacDill and is met by the same guard that he has met the past two times.
The guard sees TJ, walks over to the jeep driver side window and says, “Identification please.”
Fight 4 Us (Book 5): Agreement Page 17