No question those two men are dead. Nothing more then a red smear under my tires.

I was hoping the car would go further though. Enough to hit Pharaoh. But no luck.

He stands a few feet away from the hood of the car applauding. Disoriented and shaking I get out of the car, as he begins to speak.

"Damn boy, you made it back. I thought you might you know. Had that stupid enough to try something look about you."

"I don't care how many men you have, I will take them all down and save Courtney."

"Well look at you hero boy. Talking big while you can barely stand up. You're a tough one, I'll admit, I'm impressed you survived from being left in the middle of nowhere like you were. But damn you're a gullible one. I heard that about your people before you know. I don't have a whole army. I made it up. Just had my three men. Course your girl there took one down when we captured her. And looks like those two are down for the count.'

He laughed for a moment before continuing.

"I bet you believed we organized and took all the gas too. I was looking for an untapped station. Everyone and their zombie granny was looking for gas since day one. Now admit it. You even believed I actually changed my name to Pharaoh. Didn't cha?"

"Enough. Tell me where Courtney is."

"Tough break kid, You're a bit late for that one. She's dead. Not like the zombies dead either, real dead. Like dead dead. A real shame that was too. Barely got to have any fun with her. While she was alive that is."

A stomach churning laugh erupt from him as he point to her body. Propped up naked in the corner.

"You wanna take a turn?"

He starts laughing even harder.

"What did you do to her?"

"Boy, what do you take me for? I didn't do a damn thing. First night she was here, she said she like to have fun. Kept demanding beer, more beer, more beer. And taking all these pills. Every damned colour you could imagine she had a pill to match. Now we all told her, take it easy, ya know. Anyways next morning, she just didn't wake up. So it seems you made a big mistake. Coming here trying to save a dead girl. And boy is it gonna cost you. See, Like I told you before, I'm not a bad man. Remember me telling you that? I must've told ya half a dozen times. So like I was saying, I'm not a bad man. But you gone and killed my friends. No, not my friends, my family. That's right, they were my family now. And you had to go and be the bad man and kill them. Well I just can't stand for that. See I always believed in justice. Crime and punishment."

He pulls a gun off of his belt.

"I got one bullet in here. I could plant it square between your eyes. Right now. Bang, That's it. You're little tale of heroism is over. I'm a pretty good shot you know. But what's the fun in that. No, I'm gonna make it last. I want to see the regret on your face. While you wish you never came back."

He aims at my right foot.

"I'll just use this to slow down any escape plans you might be hatching."

He squeezes the trigger and the bang is deafening. Spark Plug slowly raises his head with a twisted smile.

It quickly fades when he sees I have the same smile on my face.

"What the fuck boy! You don't feel pain of something?"

I step forward and swing wide. Punching him right across the jaw. He takes it well and gets me in the gut. I return with another to his nose. Blood gushing out, I can tell its affecting his vision as his attempt at my nose misses.

We exchange blows for a while. He gets in a few good shots, but I get more. He's a big guy, and he might be tough by this worlds standards. But he's lived a life of leisure and luxury. Any Amish could take on a guy like this any day of the week. No question.

One more good hit on the jaw and he's down but not out.

"Alright Sparky. My turn to talk."

I kick him in the ribs before continuing.

"Now, I'm not a bad guy. I told you that right? Anyways, Where was I? Right, I've got a whole store full of potential weapons here, and I'm letting you choose your fate. How do you want to die?"

Spitting at me was his only reply.

"All The same to me."

I say as I give him one more good kick. Knocking him out cold.

I grab rope from one of the shelves and tie him standing upright against another shelf. Then I go searching for a hacksaw, and a few other items.

When I come back I take the saw and get started on one of his legs.

He wakes up screaming.

Prepared for this I stuff a rag in his mouth, then cover it with duct tape.

"I was just joking earlier. I'm not really going to kill you. I'm just not the killing type. Well, save for your friends there sure. But that was different. I didn't have a choice there. See If I had played that any other way, I'd be the dead one. But now? No threats, just you and me. So here we can take some time. Do it right. See, this is about justice. Crime and punishment. The punishment, that's the pain you'll be going through. But I'm more interested in prevention. I figure you won't be causing any more trouble if I take this."

I shake the leg that's now half off.

"Don't worry, I've got a blow torch here. I'll cauterize it shut after. You won't be bleeding out. I'll do it for your other leg too. But I'm sure you'll be passed out by then. And you know what? Because I'm a nice guy I'll even untie you after. I found a nice garbage can with some wheels here you can roll around in. I'll even go find you something to paddle with. After that, well I suppose the rest of your life is up to you. You'll probably get eaten by a zombie. or starve, or freeze to death. But there won't be any blood on my hands."