The Beauty and the Redneck

Stuck

"Stupid! Mother! Fucking! Zipper!" I cussed at the inanimate object. No matter how hard I pulled, it was not budging an inch.

"Found something interesting?" A sweaty T-Dog carrying a gas canister and some fishing rods asked while approaching one of the nearby cars. Looking at him with a frown I answered.

"I don't know yet but whatever someone would store in such a nice leather bag must be quite important. I'm struggling to get the zipper free though. I think this stupid metal piece got rusted over. How about you?"

"Well, I found some fishing rods and some fishing supplies Dale would surely find useful. Maybe on our way to Fort Benning we will find a lake or river. We could fish and have a good meal." Just the thought of food made my mouth water. Neither of us ate a lot since the CDC went down and my mind was already going crazy imagining all types of fish dishes. "I also think I have something that could help with your zipper."

T-Dog handed me a bottle containing car oil before proceeding taking gasoline out of a nearby abandoned car. I looked the bottle for a while then decided it was in fact not a bad idea.

"I think it's worth trying." After spilling some of the oil on the rusty zipper I slowly tugged at it. At first nothing happened but as I tugged a little harder the zipper started undoing "Wow, it actually work. Now let's see what's worth clutching onto like that as you're trampled to death... Are you fucking kidding me? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic books? That's what this guy died protecting?" T-Dog laughed slightly still concentrating on his task.

"Now that's a true king of geeks! Can't blame him though. I would have died for my baseball card collection too."

"This is shit! All they're good for is staring a fire."

I took a few comics from bag and looked at them. They were all first editions and were not even taken out of their package. Most of them looked pretty old too. They must have cost quite some money and I probably would have been impressed by them was the world not coming to an end. Still I could not understand how someone would think of grabbing their comic book collection first thing before running for their life.

Even though the comic books were of little use, the bag was pretty nice and sturdy despite the problematic zipper, which of course could be fixed, so I thought about keeping it. As I was emptying the bag I noticed a thin, large object wrapped in cloth lying at the bottom of it. I took the object out of the bag and carefully unwrapped it.

"No freaking way!" I breathed out in awe as I took the object into my hand and held it against the sunlight to take a better look at it. I swiftly unsheathed it and watched it reflect the light nicely.

"Good lord, is that a katana?"

"Of course it's not a katana! Katanas are longer. This is a wakizashi." Smiling from ear to ear I started swinging the wakizashi around.

"A what?" T-Dog looked at me crooking an eyebrow. He seemed quite confused about why I was this excited to have found some random Asian sword.

"A wakizashi! It's a Japanese short sword, the only type of sword samurai's were allowed to carry with them at all times no matter where they were. They even slept with it underneath their pillow! Although it's not as popular in the western culture as the katana, it's equally important for a samurai." Taking a closer look at the magnificent object in front of me, I noticed a few interesting details. "It appears to be in quite a good shape too. Oh my God! It's definitely the real deal! Judging by the shape of the blade and the decorations on the handle, I'd say it was forged somewhere at the start of the Edo period. My goodness! This guy must have been hella rich to own something as beautiful and expensive as this. This literally costs a fortune."