Black Market Merchant

The sun seemed to have risen later that morning, but it was only because of the heavy clouds that had arrived overnight. When Lisa and Hanna stepped outside, they found that it had rained some last night as well. Rain was an exceedingly rare occasion for southern Utah. The roadside's drainage had long since been clogged up with sand and pebbles, causing large puddles to line the streets as they walked to the towns market area.

The market was not as far away as it had seemed when the two first met. Now that Lisa knew the way, they got there in half the time compared to before. When they arrived, the main street of the market was already packed with people. Over a hundred worn out looking shoppers were trying to buy the best produce or meats available before they ran out or risk going hungry.

In this kind of town life, food was a tricky thing to get. One either had to grow their own foods from gardening on their homes small properties or to do field work outside of town that was the owned by farmers. Neither option was easy thanks to the poor nutrient sandy rock ground.

Another even more difficult option was to go hunting. It was very time consuming, difficult and dangerous to travel out of town to the forest to hunt game and gather food. The hunters that did go out from town would be gone for weeks at a time to hunt deer, boar and other large game. They had to be quick to return to town with their kill as well, otherwise the meat would spoil and go to waste. This made the price of meat exceedingly high and only the most fortunate could buy meat.

However, Lisa was not interested in buying food for this trip. She was interested in other necessities that the market might provide. Such as water filters, gas mask parts, toilet paper, medicines, robotic parts, electronic devices, weapons and anything that might be useful to survive in the harsh post nuclear world she now lived in.

The duo wandered from stall to stall window shopping. The raggedy stalls lined the edges of the road in tightly packed groups. The roofs were made from faded colored wood, metal or fabric making the entire street spear like a patch work quilt. This gave some happy color to the dismal gray sky and buildings all around. Most of the items on main street stalls were typical items like soap, food, trinkets, drinks, clothing, furniture and so on. Nothing was of any real interest or value to Lisa.

"So, what are you looking for exactly?" Hanna asked quietly.

Lisa looked down at the little girl sticking close beside her. Her muddy red hair had been pulled back to one side by a hair piece exposing her forehead. Hanna looked back at her with sadness still lingering in her dull green eyes.

"Well I personally don't need to much. However, right now I'm just surveying the trade that's going on here in town." Lisa said plainly. "It has been said that two things determine the power of a city. One is the amount of trade it can provide. The second is how fast it can carry out the trade itself."

Hanna gave a confused look and her eyebrows furrowed deeply. It gave her an unbelievably cute appearance and Lisa smiled on the inside seeing this. It took her a while to understand this concept herself.

Lisa thought to herself, "I remember I gave the same look as her when my father was explaining this to me. I think he was playing some Civilization game at the time."

Then she spoke to Hanna, "Don't think too hard about it. I hadn't understood this too well until I had gone to college."

Hanna nodded, but Lisa could tell she was still trying to figure it out. They then turned down another market lined road and the shops here were larger, but they didn't look as nice. On one of the nearer stalls Lisa could see that there were weapons for sale here. Just by giving the items for sale a quick glance, Lisa knew that they weren't worth purchasing.

Axes, bats, machetes, pocket and kitchen knives, rebar that had been sharpened at one end were all outdated weapons for this future era. The gangsters around here, Lisa had also noticed, carried similar weapons and only a few actually had guns. In fact, only the AFR soldiers had any modern styled weaponry. This puzzled Lisa. She had been in other towns like this before and they even had better weapons than these.

Looking up at the shop keeper she decided to ask him. "Excuse me sir, but do you sell any bullets?"

The shop keeper looked surprised upon hearing this and his eyebrows raised up his tan bandanna on his forehead. "No, I don't. In fact, no one here has any bullets as far as I know."

"Hmm, is that so." Lisa said while thinking aloud. Then reaching towards her jacket pocket she unzipped it and pulled out a leather wallet. The shop keepers' interest was piqued when she pulled out actual paper money; it was a five-dollar bill. It was rare to have any this far away from a main city. Even Hanna eyes widened seeing the paper money.

"Maybe this will help." Lisa said slapping it down gently onto the stall table and slid it towards him.

"I seem to remember something." The shop keeper said quickly pocketing the money before someone could take notice. Then in a low voice he leaned closer to Lisa, "Go to a shop, an actual building, called Fogle's Corner Store and ask for a pound of sawdust."

Lisa didn't question what the shop keeper said. It was clearly a code. Apparently, there was some reason for the secrecy going on concerning why there was a lack of live fire weapons.

"Where is it?" Lisa replied quietly in return.

The shop keeper pointed with his thumb down the road and said, "Two rights and a left. It's got a big sign; you can miss it."

"Thank you." Lisa said giving a satisfied grin and the two headed off.

Hanna was still confused, again, and she asked Lisa, "Why are we going to get sawdust? I thought you asked for bullets."

"I did, but getting bullets here is dangerous, so he had to talk in code." Lisa explained as they took their first right at the next intersection. The road here had a huge puddle, and they were forced to stay on the curb side to stay dry. Lisa took the lead walking atop of the curb edge and Hanna followed.

"Why did he have to?" Hanna asked her carefully balancing on the curb with her arms spread wide.

"I'm not too sure." Lisa replied finally skirting the puddle, then turning to watch Hanna's crossing she continued. "My guess is the gangsters are trying to hoard the weapons and ammo."

Hearing Lisa mention the gangsters Hanna's face darkened. "We can't let them have those." She said sounding angry.

Lisa nodded understanding the young girl’s tone but didn't say anything further. She didn't want to make Hanna have to remember what they did to her parents, though it was inevitable. They took the next right in silence. The road no longer had any market stalls and only several closely packed abandoned store fronts lined the road now. There were also far fewer people here. Then they took the next left and there at the corner of the intersection was their destination, Fogle's Corner Store.

The shops name was written on a large metal sign above the door. The signs white paint was chipping all over it and getting very faded. The shops windows were all boarded up, giving it an abandoned look. However, if it weren't for the big 'Open' sign on the front door, the shop would look like any other abandoned building.

Lisa opened the door and a little bell dinged announcing their arrival. Lisa had to duck low to get her coffin to fit inside the doorway. Inside the air felt still and warm, like some old antique store. The shelves and tables scattered spaciously from each other, were covered with odds and ends, kitchenware, toys for children of all ages, furniture and outdoor tools. They glanced around for a few moments until the owner came out of a door at the back of the store and stood behind the counter.

"Welcome to my store, ladies. Please take your time and let me know if you need help finding something." The store's owner said in a chipper voice. He was an older man with grayish hair and his plump chin wobbled slightly when he talked. A pair of glasses rested at the end of his nose precariously.

Lisa walked slowly down the main aisle looking at everything as she spoke to him. "Nice store you have here. I was wondering if you sold sawdust by the pound here?"

The owner raised his eyebrows suspiciously but didn't show any signs of worry. Then speaking normally to Lisa, he said, "I might have some sawdust in stock, but what kind of wood are you interested in?" He had been resting his hands on the counter, but now he had slowly lowered them underneath. Lisa took note of this action. Clearly, he was a cautious person and was likely reaching for a hidden weapon.

Lisa smiled to him calmly, "No need to worry Sir. I came here to by .50 caliber wood from you, if it is still in stock."

"I might." The owner said while still keeping one hand ready below the counter. "It's not often I get new customers. Who are you affiliated with?"

"No one, just me." Lisa took a glance at Hanna who had just picked up a shiny lamp. "Hanna, put that back. If you break it, I have to buy it." Hanna nodded and set the lamp back down carefully.

Seeing this interaction, the owner calmed slightly. Not many assailants would have small children around them normally.

"I see. Please wait one moment while I check the back." He then quickly turned to the counter door and disappeared for several minutes.

Lisa used this time to search for anything of interest. She came over to a table labeled 'Electronic Devices'. Digging through several baskets, she discovered three MP music playing devices that were in good condition and figured they might have some good songs.

"I wonder what kinds of music's are now popular in the future?" Lisa thought curiously. But that wasn't the reason she was here. She then grudgingly placed them back into the basket.

By then the owner was now returning. He was carrying a large green ammo box. He put it on the counter with a thud and opened the lid. Lisa came over and saw it indeed was .50 caliber bullets.

"Normally no one new knows any codes, but I'll make an exception." The owner said patting the green box.

"How much?" Lisa asked and she slipped off her coffin placing it gently on the floor.

"Depending on what you got to trade, of course." The owner said seeing her do this.

Lisa started to open up the coffin and Hanna, who had just come over, started to get excited. She was finally going to see what was inside this suspicious coffin!