Days of Want Series (Book 4): Uprising

by Payne, T. L.

  "It all sounds risky to me," said Larry's oldest son, Brad.

  "That's because it is," Ryan replied.

  Maddie smiled.

  "Speaking of that, we should get to delivering the evening meal, now that we have extra guards," Maddie said.

  "I'll man the tower," Ryan said, turning to head that way. "It will take me as long to climb those stairs as it will for you guys to load the trailer."

  Maddie watched Ryan limp away. She knew that he must be hurting. This was the most active he'd been since he'd been shot a little over two weeks prior. But she was pleased to see him making an effort. She'd been growing concerned with his self-medicating and lack of effort to get back on his feet. It had been so unlike the Ryan she knew.

  Maddie turned toward the volunteers’ building.

  "All right, let's get this over with."

  As usual, Maddie broke open the MREs and poured the contents into the cardboard boxes. But this time, she didn't fill the boxes very full. In addition to the contents of the MREs, Maddie placed the last of Ron's deer jerky, dried fruit, and two bags of butterscotch candy into the boxes. It wasn't near enough to feed the number of inmates inside those walls, but she hoped it would satisfy them until they could come up with more.

  Larry backed his truck up to the trailer, and he and his sons loaded the boxes. Maddie waited at the second gate as Larry unhooked the loaded trailer, pulled forward, hooked up the empty trailer and pulled it back to the parking lot beside the building. Maddie shut the second gate and then the third before Ryan gave the inmates the all-clear to retrieve their food.

  The men grumbled and complained as they rummaged through the boxes, but each man grabbed a box and disappeared inside without incident. No one challenged them or charged the gate.

  Maddie let out an audible sigh of relief as the last man turned to go. He looked back over his shoulder. Their eyes locked for a moment. Maddie saw nothing but pure, black hatred on the man's face. Surprisingly, she didn't really blame him. She would have felt the exact same way. The only difference being, she hadn't killed or raped anyone to get herself in the man's position.

  The man finally broke eye contact and strode off around the building.

  "That was intense," Brad said, walking up behind Maddie.

  Maddie jumped. She spun around on her left heel and pointed her rifle at the man before realizing he was a friendly.

  Maddie took a double take. He looked like a younger version of Larry.

  "Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."

  "Yeah, it's all really intense these days," Maddie said, walking past the man.

  Maddie looked up to Ryan in the guard tower and gave him a thumbs up. The sun was now low on the horizon, and it reflected off the window of the tower. She couldn't see if he gave a response.

  Maddie glanced back to Brad.

  "It's getting dark soon. You’d better have a good flashlight. It's even more intense out here in the dark."

  Brad fished around in his pack and retrieved a headlamp.

  "You're gonna want more light than that," Maddie said as she walked away.

  None of them had enough flashlights. She hated walking the perimeter at night. When they'd had more people, they'd done so in teams of three. Even three flashlight beams weren't enough to light the walkway between the fences sufficiently for Maddie. She, of course, felt much safer up in the guard towers, but tonight, she knew she needed to be one of the ones on the ground. The towers weren't that useful without the massive floodlights that lit up the prison yard.

  Maddie introduced Larry, his two sons, Brad and Elijah, along with his son-in-law, Chris, to the Soldiers, Jaxon and Dustin, before giving out the new night patrol assignments. She was under no illusion that twelve people would be sufficient to cover the area they were patrolling, but she did feel better about it with four extra guns—and flashlights—to aid in the job.

  All the gates were locked at night, and patrols were performed around the outer perimeter fence. Larry and his sons would patrol the outside north perimeter fence. Dustin, Harmony, and one of the teen boys patrolled the west side while Jaxon took the two other teens with him on the east perimeter. Maddie, Russ, and Chris took the south.

  As the last light faded, Maddie's stomach clenched. She panned the flashlight beam across the prison yard. In the distance it could penetrate into the darkness, she saw no inmates. The night was still. She had become accustomed to the lack of man-made noise, but this night, the quietness unnerved her.

  Maddie, Russ, and Chris walked three abreast along the outer fence, panning their lights into the perimeter and scanning the yard beyond the fence. Nothing moved. They walked on to the southwest corner, turned and marched back, repeatedly scanning for signs of trouble and listening intensely for the rattling of chain-link and razor wire.

  They stopped at the outer gate. Maddie reached out and tugged on it. It rattled but did not pop open. All was secure. She placed the flashlight between her knees and pulled a bottle of water from her pack, unscrewed the lid and downed about half of it. As her head tilted back, she saw a glint of light. She turned her head to her right. A single beam of light bounced back and forth.

  Maddie thought for a moment, trying to recall who had the east perimeter, Jaxon or Dustin. She brought her left hand up, trying to stifle a yawn. She was operating on such little sleep that she couldn't remember.

  She heard Russ yawn behind her, followed by Chris. Maddie chuckled. She'd never understood why yawns were contagious.

  "I so miss caffeine," Maddie said, placing the water bottle back in her pack.

  Something tugged at the back of her mind.

  She turned her whole body to the left and stared off in the direction she'd seen the beam of light.

  "Follow…"

  Gunfire interrupted her sentence. Maddie dropped to the ground, pulling her rifle up with one hand and shining the light with the other.

  "Which direction," Maddie yelled.

  "There," Russ yelled, pointing to the east.

  "Shit," Maddie yelled.

  More gunfire. Short bursts.

  The SAW?

  "Let's go," Maddie yelled, as she ran toward the sound of the commotion.

  She cursed the dark as she ran. Her headlamp barely illuminated far enough ahead to keep her on the path. Over the footfalls of her fellow guards, she heard more gunfire. Two short bursts followed by two more.

  Then came the unmistakable report of the .50 cal.

  Maddie prayed the men had just gotten jumpy and fired at their own shadow or a raccoon—anything but what she feared most. Unfortunately, the sound of the .50 spoke of much more trouble.

  At the southeast corner, she saw her first glimpse of hell. Men streamed from the open gate two hundred yards away. Maddie couldn’t see where the friendlies were. She was afraid to start firing for fear of hitting one of them, but the prisoners were flooding out. She had to stop them.

  "Let's go," Maddie yelled as she ran toward the herd of inmates.

  Chris ran ahead of her firing wildly. Maddie caught up to him and yelled, "Wait until we are closer. Conserve your ammo."

  She looked over her shoulder. She couldn't see Russ, but she didn't have time to stop and look for him. She had to push forward.

  Gunfire erupted to their right. The Soldier and his team were firing from the field to her right. She couldn't get closer without fear of catching a stray round.

  She held out an arm.

  "Stop."

  Chris took two steps forward and a round caught him in the chest knocking him backward. He yelped. Maddie wanted to stop and help him, but she needed to prevent the prisoners from getting away. She turned her back on Chris and began firing at the open gate. Men dropped and others stepped over them and continued to stream out of the gate. Maddie heard gunfire behind her, but she didn't turn to see who it was or what they were firing at.

  With her first magazine empty, she dropped the empty mag, reloaded a fresh one, hit the bolt release to chamber
the first round, and continued firing at the steady stream of men.

  Why did they keep coming? She couldn't understand why they would risk a bullet to get out.

  Gunfire to her left startled her. It was coming from inside the fence. Someone with a weapon was inside the fence? Was it Larry's team, come to help—or Jaxon's? Were the inmates fleeing gunfire within the prison yard? She couldn't see. Again, she cursed the darkness.

  The flow of men rushing out of the gate trickled to a stop, and Maddie took the opportunity to check on Larry’s son-in-law.

  "Where are you hit?" Maddie asked as she bent down.

  She never took her eyes off the gate, so she hadn't seen him remove his plate carrier.

  "Thank God for armor," Chris said, getting to his feet. "I think I may have busted some ribs. It's hard to breathe."

  "Well, you might want to put that back on," Maddie said as the .50 cal hammered to their north.

  "Fuck," Chris said as he pulled the plate carrier back over his head.

  Maddie and Russ ran toward the dead and wounded prisoners at the gate. Some still moaned, crushed under the weight of their fellow inmates. Maddie and Russ shot each prisoner who moved or made a sound until the moaning and movement all stopped. Maddie climbed over the bodies and pulled the interior gate closed, listening for the clang of the locking mechanism. Her stomach wanted to roll over and heave as she climbed back down the heap of dead flesh blocking the outer gate

  "Where is the patrol for that gate?" Chris asked.

  "I think they took chase after the ones who got away."

  "Shouldn't we go help round them up?"

  "No. We can't see shit out here. All we'd do is get ourselves killed. We have to get to the other gate," Maddie said as she sprinted off toward the northeast corner of the fence.

  Maddie heard something slamming into the chain-link fence. She turned her light in the direction of the noise as she continued to run. An inmate was trying to scale the fence. Two bursts of gunfire came from her left and the inmate dangled from the razor wire by his shirt. Maddie was just about to turn and continue on when she heard what sounded like gunfire inside the building. More gunfire and screaming men confirmed her suspicion. Someone was inside.

  As she lifted her right foot to continue running, an intense flash of light erupted from a door in the back of one of the units. Flames shot high into the sky.

  "What the hell!" Maddie yelled as more inmates flung themselves at the fence.

  Chris didn't hesitate. He had taken up a good prone firing position and was putting rounds in every man on the fence. But more and more just kept coming. There were just too many of them. Maddie began firing as Chris and Russ reloaded. She quickly emptied her magazine and had to stop to reload. The inmates just kept coming. A round ricocheted off the concrete walk ten feet to Maddie's right. Some damn idiot was on the inside, firing in their direction.

  "Get down," Maddie yelled a second too late.

  A round struck Chris in the neck. Maddie watched him grab his throat with both his hands. It all seemed to happen in slow motion. All sound faded away. There was so much blood oozing between his fingers. He wore a look of utter shock on his face. Another round slammed into him, and Maddie hit the ground, crawling quickly along the path toward the west, trying to distance herself from the shooting.

  "Damn you. What the hell are you thinking?" Maddie yelled.

  Maddie caught a glimpse of a dark figure running toward her. She jumped to her feet, rifle at the ready. Just before pulling the trigger, Larry appeared in her flashlight beam.

  "Damn it, Larry. What the hell is happening?" Maddie yelled at the man.

  "Someone is on the inside. They started shooting and prisoners started storming the gates."

  "How the hell did they get a fucking gun?"

  "I don't know. Let's go," Larry said, turning and firing at the men scaling the fence fifty feet away.

  “Chris is hit. Neck wound," Maddie said as she caught up with Larry.

  Larry slowed but didn't stop.

  At the volunteer building, Larry jumped in his truck, backed it out of its parking space, and turned on the headlights. The sight lit by the headlight beams sickened Maddie to the point she thought she'd throw up. Men hung from razor wire all along the fence. Others were clawing and trying their best to climb over them. Ryan, Harmony, and Larry's two sons were shooting into the yard. Maddie wanted to cover her ears and look away.

  "Get in," Larry yelled, as he flung the passenger door open for her.

  Maddie jumped in. Larry took off before she'd even shut the door. He made a left out of the parking lot, sped along the fence, and passed his son-in-law's lifeless body. Making a sharp turn at the northeast corner, he floored the accelerator and aimed for the field between the prison and the adjacent lumber mill.

  As they got closer, two figures with rifles appeared in the truck’s high beams. Jaxon stood in the middle of the field mowing down running escapees. Maddie's stomach lurched. It seemed so wrong. It all seemed so wrong. But she knew it was their duty to make sure that not even one of these dangerous men got away.

  Larry veered to his left and barreled for the fence that divided the prison property line and the lumber mill. Sliding to a halt in the loose dirt, Larry slammed the vehicle into park and jumped out. Maddie never knew the old guy could move so fast. She was out and joined him in a flash. She didn't bother taking aim. She just shot in the direction of the men climbing the short fence. It didn't take long before they were all down.

  Maddie and Larry climbed back in the truck and drove up and down the property line looking for escapees. When they were satisfied that they'd stopped them all, Larry turned the truck to the south, and they joined Jaxon and his two teammates in the middle of the field.

  "I think we got all of them," the tall, skinny kid said, a huge smile covering his face.

  "We need to check the south gate," Larry said. "Jump in."

  Jaxon and the boys jumped in the bed of the pickup. Larry weaved in and out of bodies before reaching the southeast corner. More bodies hung from the razor wire on both the interior and exterior fences. Heaps of bodies were lying on the ground. Fire danced in Maddie's peripheral vision. Heavy smoke choked the air now, making it difficult to breathe. At least two of the units that Maddie could see were ablaze.

  A strange sense of relief washed over her. Could it all be over now? Could they be free of the danger from the prison? She couldn't imagine it. It had been her constant worry since they arrived at the cabin. The thought of all those inmates escaping had kept her wrapped up in fear all this time.

  More gunfire erupted in front of them—loud, thunderous, and continual bursts of gunfire from a SAW.

  Maddie turned in the seat to check on their passengers. In the darkness, she could not tell if there was even anyone still in the bed of the truck. Two of the teen boys and Dustin appeared in the headlights. The two boys were standing near the south gate with their rifles pointed at a heap of former inmates on the ground between the fences. The interior gate was missing. Dustin turned and pointed his SAW at the truck.

  Larry slammed on the breaks and Maddie flew forward—her outstretched hand the only thing stopping her from crashing into the dash. Maddie tensed, sure that she was about to die. Jaxon yelled from the bed of the truck and Dustin lowered his weapon. A second wave of relief, even greater than the first rushed through Maddie's body.

  "We need to light this place up. We have to round up any who made it out alive," Jaxon yelled.

  "No one made it out of this gate alive. I can guarantee that," Dustin said.

  Maddie turned to Larry.

  "We can't go stumbling around in the dark looking for them. That is just too dangerous. We have to wait for Lugnut and Rank. They can track them."

  "I agree. We need to stay here and make sure no more get out," Larry said.

  Jaxon and his two teammates hopped out of the truck.

  "I'm going back to patrol the perimeter from here back to the eas
t. You two stay here and guard this gate," Jaxon said, pointing to the two teens with him. "Dustin, you and your team take from here to the northwest corner," Jaxon barked.

  "We'll drive the other way around to the north and meet up with Ryan and my boys," Larry said, putting the pickup into gear.

  "I'll meet you at the northeast corner," Jaxon said, heading east along the southern perimeter fence, panning the light from his rifle side-to-side.

  Larry turned the corner, and Maddie could see headlights at the northwest corner. As they got closer, she could make out a figure in the turret of the Humvee. Ryan was manning the .50 cal. Larry's two sons stood facing the prison, rifles at the ready. Larry pulled the truck up beside them.

  "You good here?" Larry yelled over the noise of the truck's engine.

  Ryan waved, and Larry proceeded forward to the northeast corner. He backed the truck up and shined the headlights on the back of the closest housing unit. Maddie turned her head and looked away, the nightmarish scene causing a new wave of nausea.

  "I think we're good now. I don't see anyone approaching the fence," Larry said.

  The smoke was thick on this side of the prison. All of the housing units were on fire. The air was filled with the putrid smell of burned plastic and whatever else was in the buildings. She gripped her rifle in her right hand and covered her mouth and nose with her left.

  "Do you think there is anyone still alive inside there?" Maddie asked.

  "I don't think so. That smoke is pretty thick."

  "I don't see anyone outside. No one living, that is," Maddie said. Her voice cracked.

  The scene reminded her of the civil war movies her history teacher had made them watch in eighth grade.

  A glint of light shined in her left peripheral vision. Two beams of light bobbed up and down as they approached Maddie's position. Larry opened the door to the pickup and stepped out. Maddie opened the passenger door and placed the barrel of her rifle on the hood of the truck.