And so it begins
A genuine smile lit up his face. "Man, I'm so happy to see you!", he exclaimed, hugging him strongly, while still holding the axe- making sure not to stab him with the backspike accidentally. "Everything's gone to shit. I saw people eating other people, man, like crazy cannibals. Something's wrong. I grabbed this, but we need to get our stuff from the car. You have yours there, right? That's a bunch of swords we can use, if we also get some tools to sharpen'em. That's my plan."
"That and find a safe spot to ride it out. But man... we need the swords."
Considering that a gun would probably be a better idea, it would seem that having a sword was literally the equivalent of a security blanket for Ody.