It suddenly felt to Arno as if he just had a huge bullseye spray painted on his back, there is a thing about being a poor man, your chances of getting robbed are less than those when you have a lot of money, sure he only had three hundred thousand rand, and it wasn't a million, it still felt to him he became a bigger target than he was before.
"Hop in" Blake said coming in next to a Vito bus and unlocking it "First things first, we need to go get your weapons, then your choice of gear, we can't take too long because I already have another person waiting for me in a hotel, she also needs to come with us to the island"
"Is she one of the four?" Arno asked as they set off.
"Yes she is"
They drove for about twenty minutes when Blake stopped in front of a weapons store, they climbed put and entered, the man behind the counter recognized Blake and wove his had to follow. In the back room he turned to them.
"Blake, so good to see you again"
"Likewise Fred"
"Another candidate?"
"Yes"
The man in his sixties looked at Arno "So boet, pick your three"
Arno looked around at all the weapons the man had on the walls, he paused for a second on the AK-47 then shrilled.
"You like the AK?" Fred asked reaching for the rifle but Arno held his hand up.
"No, I nearly died by that thing yesterday"
Fred nodded stepping back.
Arno saw a strange looking rifle, he took it off to inspect it "What's this?"
"That's a military issue Vector CR-21, a weapon that never really had a market in the new world"
"Were is it from?"
"South Africa of course, it's initials means 'Combat rifle 21st century' it's built to compete with the current Rifle-4 or R4 the military uses, my customers don't really trust it because it has a bullpup design, so it's not really selling that well"
Arno placed it on the table "I'll take this one"
Fred nodded and left as Arno kept looking, there he found an exceptionally long barreled shotgun and took it off.
Fred returned with a box full of ammunition and saw him holding the next weapon "That's a tactical twelve gauge pump action"
"I'll take this aswell"
Blake frowned "Uh, remember you need to take one long gun for hunting purpouses"
"Yes, this barrel is long enough to be used as a hunting shotgun"
Blake smiled "Ok then, it makes sense"
Fred grunted and left again.
"Now I saw what I was looking for... Ah!" He took a revolver from the wall, but it had a very long barrel, and it was large enough to make even Blake question it.
"It's, rather big"
"It's a Magnum five hundred, the most powerful handgun in the world, but... It's a bit bigger than I emagined, especially with this eight inch barrel"
Fred came back and groaned heaving box with shotgun ammunition onto the table.
"Boy? You look to young to be holding a handgun that big! And besides, it's a revolver, there are loads of pistols here, pistols are more effective than revolvers"
"I'll take this sir, I'm not planning on going into gunfights during a search and rescue... Right Blake?"
She smiled "You have a valid point"
"Although, you don't have one with a shorter barrel maybe?" Arno asked.
Fred nodded and mumbling he left to another room, then he came back holding the revolver "Here, the shortest barrel I have, four inches"
"That's perfect"
"And as requested by miss Rebecca, two hundred rounds per weapon..." Fred turned his beady eyes on Arno "Although I never really gave away shotguns, I made an exception this time and gave you some options"
"There are slugs right?" Arno asked looking at the two boxes.
"Yes, but I gave you twenty dragons breath, and twenty HE rounds as optional extras"
"Geez old man, you had those!?"
"I'm a black market gunsmith boet, I have hand grenades here aswell if you want?"
"No, no, that's fine"
"Good..." Fred walked around and gathered a few things then threw a vest onto the table "This vest has pouches for the magazines of the Vector, then I'll give you two webbing belts for the pump action, one you can wear around your waist, one around your chest. Your pump action also has a sling with room to hold another twenty shells"
Fred lifted the pump action "On the butt you have five slots for shells, and on the action chamber you have another five, this shotgun also comes out with a tactical LED torch already equipped in front of the magazine tube, turn the head to switch it on"
Arno stood amazed to see this old man speak like a professional, he pointed out everything needed on the weapons, even showed him how the webbing and vest worked. After Fred gave him a holster for the revolver he also gave him an opposite holster like belt that carries extra revolver rounds.
"Now the Vector is gas operated with a rotating bolt, giving it a 700 round per minute fire rate on full auto, it's 5.56mm NATO rounds travel at 980 meters per second, and it houses a 20 or 35 round magazine, it also has a fiber optic illuminated reflex sight, and even has a grenade launcher attachment"
"Maybe, I'll take it without the grenade launcher" Arno sweated.
"Very well then..." Fred threw the slide back once aiming, then placed the rifle down.
"Fred? Are you some sort of ex-military guy? You have everything here to prepare for some sort of zombie apocalypse"
Fred chuckled "My little secret, will that be all?"
Blake looked at Arno first, he nodded.
"That will be all, thank you Fred"
Back in the van Blake had her foot rather planted and Arno realised "Sorry if I took longer?"
"It's ok, I didn't watch the time that's all" She said and took her phone out.
"Yes, I'm going to stop there in a minute, come down so long" She placed the phone down.
Arno felt like he was in a blockbuster, as Blake stopped the sliding door of the van flew open, the two long dufflebags came in first, then another normal one, after the short woman climbed in and slammed the door shut, Blake planted the gas again.
"Arno, this is Genevieve, Genevieve, Arno"
The woman with weaved pony tail black hair and dark brown eyes gave him a glance "Hi"
"Hi there" He said but Genevieve's body language showed him she's not up for a conversation, she drew her cap over her eyes and tugged the seat into a laid down position.
"Don't mind her, she's bit of a red neck" Blake said
"Fuuck youu Blake!" Genevieve said making Arno laugh, he heard that very destinct accent.
"Holy shit! Are you a hillbilly girl!?"
"And fuck you too!" She hissed from under her cap, those brown eyes giving him a glare then she closed them again.
Blake giggled "She's a rough nut, that's for sure, but don't worry, when she drinks she gets a lot friendlier"
"Stop talking to the man like I'm not here Blake!"
"Then join the conversion you unsocial sally!"
"I'm not in the mood"
Blake shrugged "Don't sleep yet, were fifteen minutes away from the airport"
"No, half an hour, you're going to make it fifteen if you keep speeding like this!" Arno said flipping his seatbelt on.
"Oh!" Blake gasped and let off the gas "I can't believe I just nailed two hundred there!"