We walked cautiously to the car. Jana drove and I operated the shotgun; a sawed-off double barreled little number we picked up from a guy on the corner. I broke the stock open and clicked two shells into the barrels and snapped it shut authoratatively. Jana gunned the engine and we peeled out of the parking structure and onto the surface streets of Waukesha in a shower of sparks.

The route we were taking was relatively safe but there were a few stretches of highway where we might need the assistance of Mr. Shotgun. There are parts of 894 where you always shoot first and don't ask questions.

The car was too loud for conversation so we just drove. The burned out shells of buildings looked striking against the black clouds of the approaching storm. I could see people scampering between the buildings looking for shelter. Poor bastards. I raised my shotgun and lined the sights up on one of them. I'd be doing him a favor, really, but I didn't have the ammo to spare and I'd probably miss at these speeds anyway.

We were probably going 90 miles per hour but the speedometer hasn't worked in years. Jana elbowed me and gestured toward the rear view mirror with her head. A car was approaching quickly from behind us. I ducked down a little in the seat and clicked the safty off the shotgun. Jana pressed the gas down further and we streaked between burned cars and huge chunks of concrete from destroyed overpasses. I heard the car behind us downshift and he closed the gap between our bumpers a little more.

He was about four car lengths back now. Rain started to fall and Jana had to slow down a little to stop from sliding into the debris on the road. The car didn't slow and now he was directly behind us. Their plan was to block us in; to force us to slam on the brakes so they could take our guns, money and anything else we had, maybe including our lives.

I whirled around quickly and pointed the shotgun directly at the driver and let him have it with both barrels. He saw what was happening and veered sharply to the left and gunned his engine. He pulled his front end next to our drivers side rear fender. I reached down and grabed two more shells from the ammo box and slammed the shotgun open. The car next to us swerved left and then back to the right. He was trying to smash in our rear fender and spin us around. Jana slammed on the brakes and the shells flew out of my hand. I yelled "FUCK!" and frantically searched around on the floor for them.

Finding nothing there to slam into, the other car spun around in a cloud of tire smoke and screeching. Jana quickly jammed the transmission into first and took off as fast as she could. I loaded the shotgun again and then quickly unloaded into the driver as we passed by.

The rest of the trip was uneventful. We arrived in Schaumberg and found a parking spot at the huge Ikea superstore. It was a massive diamond shaped building. Three floors of modern Swedish furniture and assorted housewares. I put on my brass knuckles and Jana wrapped a bicycle chair around her fist.

We got out and charged toward the door. The rain was falling and I could feel it burn as it slid down my scalp. I pushed my way through the crowd at the door. Someone tried to get a knife in me as I went by but Jana kicked the bitch in the back and she went down hard. She wouldn't be getting back up again; not in this fucking mob.

We got inside with no more unpleasantness and I stopped once again to marvel at the size of the place. We smiled at each other, grabbed a cart and started shopping. The people inside seemed more docile and cooperative, perhaps lulled by the shitty pop music and announcements about the Swedish meatballs that were avilable in the first floor eatery. We loaded up our cart with a bunch of crap. I had just gotten my damage deposit back from my previous apartment and we had some serious decorating to do. We got a really nice picture of some limes, a new rug for the kitchen, a table, something called "the chair of many tortures", and a net thing that goes over your bed like they always have in "high budget" porno movies that are supposed to appeal to men AND women.

It was a pretty good haul. I was really hoping to find a coffee table since we had to burn our last one for heat during the winter but there wasn't anything that really went with our decor.