James felt like a right idiot. A little bit of luck, two fucking cans of food was all it took to put him in a good mood. It made him feel lucky. Like things were going well, and would continue to look up. He had been just a tiny bit careless, he had fucked up. He had left the store thoughtlessly, not even bothering to glance out through the peep hole he had made or wait at the door and listen for a little while. He had chosen to simply leave, as if things were as safe as they used to be. His stupidity had earned him the full force of a baseball bat to the gut. He just knew he would be pissing blood later, if these robbers left him alive that is. 

He had been lucky that they hadn't just blown his brains out, he imagined that meant one of two things. Either these people hadn't developed into completely cold blooded killers yet, or they didn't have any ammo. That didn't mean they couldn't use the baseball bat to bash his brains in though. When he finally managed to roll onto his side he caught a look at his attackers. One was an elder man, probably somewhere in his fifties. He looked dirty, even by apocalyptic standards. The other was young woman, probably around his own age but it was hard to tell.

“Don't even fucking think about going for that rifle son. I guarantee I could bring this bat down on your head before you even get a chance to aim and fire that thing.”

James believed the man, with the position the weapon was in there was no way he could get it into a safe position to fire. Instead he chose to simply grip his stomach in pain and try to get over the worst winding of his life as the woman apparently around his age dug into his duffel bag and began pulling stuff out.

“Fucking bandits.” He coughed, spluttering.

“We're not bandits. We are survivors!” The man yelled, apparently angry at the accusation.

“You're robbing me. You've injured me. Without provocation. You're a fucking bandit.” James spat angrily.

“Bandits kill those they rob. You want us to be bandits? Keep talking.” The man spoke, silencing James. He wasn't about to die. No, but these people would. He would find them. He would kill them. After a minute the woman seemed to be done looting his bag, getting up and backing off behind the man. 

“Now, I'm going to need you to slowly eject that rifles magazine. Can't have you shooting us in the back now can we.”

James didn't see any point in arguing. It would likely just end with his head being bashed in. He complied and slowly went through the motions of ejecting the magazine, letting it fall to the floor afterwards. 

“Okay, now slide it toward me.”

He complied, sliding the magazine over.

“Now, I'm not a savage, so I'm gonna let you keep your knife and what's left of that rifle. Not that it'll be much good without any bullets. I'm fairly certain your not hiding a handgun, girl here made sure of that. Now, you have yourself a fine day friend, and don't even try to follow us. Wouldn't want to kill you using your own bullets.” The man chuckled, tapping the AK-47 he slid from behind his back. “Good type of gun, eh?” He chuckled again, slowly backing away before eventually turning his back and rounding a corner.

As soon as they turned the corner James gathered his strength and dragged himself to his feet. The dumb bastard had forgotten to check the rifles chamber, a stupid mistake that was going to cost him his life.