“Do you think they took it?” Truex asked.
“For what?” Bill responded. Bill was a thinly built young man, in his early thirties, with a skinny face and a little scruff. His eyes were a bright blue and his hair was beginning to grow out past the trucker hat that he wore. He was from the midwest, but found himself in Albany with family when everything went down. Had they not found Central Colonie a little less than a month ago, he wasn’t sure how they would’ve survived. Bill continued, “They have their trucks. I don’t see a point in taking our van.”
Truex thought for a moment, but the only solution that made sense was that Jackson’s people had taken it. That was, until they began to see the van pulling into the parking lot as they were beginning to head back inside. Bill, being one of the eight men to have a gun, put his hand on his pistol to prepare for an altercation, but Truex reached over and touched his arm to stop him.
The van came to a stop in front of them and, to both of their surprise, Tom exited the driver side. He looked emotionally and physically tired, but also determined all at the same time. His eyes especially showed a fire to get something done and, for Tom, that was rare. Tom was usually the man that was willing to get supplies and such, but he almost never wanted to get involved with altercations.
“They’re at Stump Pond,” Tom explained. Truex widened his eyes as he was shocked by what Tom was insinuating.
“You followed them?” Truex asked.
“We have to do something,” Tom argued, “This is the second time in the last week that Jackson has shown up to take another of our people.”
“We don’t really have a choice right now,” Truex argued.
“Truex,” Tom interrupted, “I understand what you’re feeling right now, okay? If you want to hold the world on your shoulders that’s fine, but a sixteen-year-old girl just tried to sacrifice herself so that somebody else could live.”
“Yeah and then he shot an innocent man because of it,” Truex replied in a frustrated tone. He didn’t like that his authority was being challenged, but it was also from a defensive standpoint that he found himself arguing at. The truth was that he was tired. Truex had no idea what to do when it came to Jackson and his gang. He had dealt with criminals before, but he always had the law to work within. Now there was no law to help them.
“That’s not fair,” Tom softly said as he continued the argument, “She showed more courage tonight than I have seen from you in the month that I’ve been here.”
“What would you have me do, Tom?” Truex fired back, “They have double the firepower that we do and, like Jackson said, he will kill us all if we don’t give him what he wants. I’m trying to keep everybody safe and if you think that it doesn’t keep me up at night that he has taken seven innocent women from our community, you’re wrong.”
Tom stayed silent. He slowly approached Truex and placed a hand on his shoulder. He was older than Truex and he knew that Truex was doing what he believed was right. However, Tom was tired of not fighting back. He softly said, “We’re all kept up at night in fear, Truex. That’s why it’s time to fight back.”
Truex looked at the van and took a deep breath. He had been coming up with a plan to fight back for a while, but he had no idea if it was even possible without some type of advantage. Finally, he came up with an idea. It just needed some finer details figured out. Truex softly patted Tom on the shoulder to recognize what he was saying and replied with, “Let me show you an idea that I’ve been coming up with. You’re right. It’s time to fight back.”
Kyra did her best to comfort the girl that she had been taken with as they rode in the back of the pickup truck. She slid over and held onto her as the dark surroundings flew by. Kyra wasn’t sure how long they were riding in the back of the truck, but the smile on the man’s face that sat directly across from them made the drive feel like a lifetime. He was there with his assault rifle to ensure that Kyra and the other girl didn’t jump from the truck and run away, but he looked as though he was looking forward to whatever was about to come next and that was the truly terrifying part.
In reality, the drive wasn’t longer than ten minutes before the group of trucks pulled into a dirt parking lot. The men from the trucks hollered and howled as if they were animals that had successfully hunted their next prey. The truck Kyra was in came to a stop and the man that stared at them from across the truck bed hopped up and grabbed Kyra and the other girl by their arms.
Kyra was passed down from the truck bed and escorted into an older looking building that was dark inside. It was amazing that Kyra’s escort could even see where he was going because all Kyra could see was darkness. There was a left turn here and a right turn there, but Kyra lost track by the time she was thrown to the grown. Seconds later, the other girl was also thrown to the ground next to Kyra and, immediately, Kyra reached over to help her up.
The door slammed shut behind them as Kyra looked up to realize that they weren’t alone in the room. Standing and sitting along the opposite wall from the door were five other women. The expressions on their faces varied from fearful to vengeful, but Kyra quickly realized that Jackson wasn’t taking women from Central Colonie to kill.
Kyra opened her mouth to speak to the women, but as soon as she did so the door opened back up behind her. She turned to see Jackson entering the room and she could feel the fear enter just as ominously as he did. The darkness wasn’t a problem anymore, as Kyra’s eyes had adjust, she could see the grin on Jackson’s face as if he had never been so excited. It was sickening.
“Move out of the way,” Jackson said softly. He grabbed Kyra by the arm and pushed her to the side so that he could get ahold of the other girl. She began to sob as Jackson grabbed her shoulders and started horribly massaging them, “Don’t you cry now. Everything is going to be alright.”
“You’re sick,” Kyra said. Her voice was strong and determined. It cut through the silence in the room, but as soon as she said it the other women immediately hushed her. Jackson stopped massaging the girl’s shoulders and turned to gaze at Kyra. Perhaps it was the fact that Kyra had been protected her entire life or perhaps it was that she was ready to die, but Kyra did not fear Jackson. She found herself standing back up to stare at him with hateful eyes.
Jackson saw the defiance in her eyes and realized that he had to take care of it right there and then. He stood and pushed the young girl that was in his arms forward so that she would fall to the ground near the other women. Jackson then turned and approached Kyra. He was much taller than her and had to slightly bend over to look her in the eyes, but he did so confidently.
Kyra had to slightly turn her face to avoid his potent breath as he spoke, “Why are you so… rebellious?”
She remained silent. If it was fear that he was trying to instill into her, it wasn’t working. At least, not yet.
Jackson straightened his back so that he was towering over here as he continued, “You realize that you cost a man his life tonight, right? If you hadn’t tried to make a fool out of me, then that young father and husband would still be alive. How does it make you feel knowing that somebody’s death is on your hands?”
Now he was getting to her. Jackson’s words spoke to Kyra as she not only blamed herself for that innocent man’s death, but for so many others as well. Tears began to fill her eyes as she thought about her father and mother. An aching in her heart started as her mind recollected her experiences with Jason and his poor wife. And then there was Wesley. He had survived her fury, but with no help from Kyra. He, just as easily, could have been killed because of her. The last week of her life was nothing but bringing death upon people that she cared about; innocent people.
“It was supposed to be me,” Kyra softly argued as a tear began to fall.
Jackson grinned. The torment that he saw on Kyra’s face brought him pleasure as he began to play out a fantasy in his mind. He reached down and softly wiped the tear from her cheek. Every ounce of her body wanted to flinch from the touch of his hand, bu
t Kyra was too emotional. The fear was beginning to set in for her.
“You need someone to be there for you,” Jackson explained sadistically, “You need a strong man in your life, don’t you?”
Kyra’s fear turned to anger and rage as she realized that he was trying to break her down. She turned and, with all her might, spit in his face. Immediately, there was a gasp or two from the women watching from the wall. Kyra could only imagine what he had done to them while they were held captive in this room, but she was not going to allow Jackson to make her a weak slave.
Jackson furiously wiped the spit from his face as he cursed. He turned and used the backside of his hand to slap Kyra straight across her cheekbone. The impact of his hand to her face knocked her dizzy and made her fall to the ground.
“You need another lesson then?” Jackson shouted. He aggressively made his way to the women cowering on the wall and grabbed the young girl that he was planning on having his way with until Kyra stopped him. She yelped and sobbed as he grabbed her by the arm, but Jackson didn’t care. He forced her to a small table in the corner of the room and pushed her head down so that her face rested against the table as her legs still hung over the side. Jackson looked over at Kyra and began to speak in a strict and frustrated tone, “I tried to play nice with you, but this is how it’s going to be. Your actions, your defiance, and your rebellious spirit will not go by unpunished in this new world.
“The only voice that matters now is mine. The moment that you start to realize that is the moment that people around you will stop getting hurt,” Jackson turned his attention to the sobbing young girl that laid face down on the table. He reached down with both of his hands and aggressively ripped the back of her shirt in half to expose her bare back. She screamed in fear at the sound of her clothes ripping. Jackson grabbed the girl by the hair and turned her head to look at Kyra as he directed his voice to the young girl, “What I’m about to do to you is because of her. Remember her face.”
Kyra looked the girl in the eyes. She could see the fear and the resentment as they both knew what was about to happen. She couldn’t do anything about it either. Jackson had made it clear that the more she resisted, the more he was going to punish others around her. He truly knew how to manipulate the situation so that he was always in control. Kyra’s face showed regret and sorrow but it was too late.
Kyra attempted to close her eyes for what was about to happen next, but before she could the entire room began to shake aggressively. Jackson lost his balance and the young girl fell to the floor as he attempted to catch himself. She immediately curled into a ball as she desperately tried to cover herself from exposure. Jackson cursed under his breath before looking around as if to find what caused the incident.
Jackson reached down and grabbed the young girl, forced her up and pinned her back down to the table. She yelped and cried with every jolt from his strong body as it controlled her movements. Jackson glared at Kyra as if to say exactly what he had said before, but this time just with his eyes. He was not to be interrupted again… or so he thought.
Suddenly, the door swung open and one of Jackson’s men rushed in. Jackson, however, didn’t flinch and instead seemed angered at his man’s lack of respect. He was just about to open his mouth to ridicule his own man, but the man beat him to it.
“There’s been an explosion,” the man said firmly. He was out of breath from running down the halls to get Jackson’s attention and now he had it. Jackson stood up straight and tossed the young girl towards the other women who stood fearfully against the back wall. She let out a cry as she hit the floor at the women’s feet.
Jackson turned to look at Kyra and said, “You’re not off the hook yet,” and then he took off, closing the door behind him. The moment that the door shut, Kyra hopped to her feet and rushed to the young girl that Jackson had attacked.
Kyra reached down, just as the other women did, and attempted to help the girl up as Kyra asked her, “Are you alright?”
One of the women pushed Kyra back, quite aggressively, and responded with, “She would’ve been fine if you just shut your mouth.”
Kyra was caught off guard and fell to the floor from the shove by the woman. She looked around at the other women as they successfully helped the young girl to her feet. Each of them seemed to give Kyra a distasteful look and that was when Kyra realized the trouble that she had caused.
“I didn’t know that he would do that,” Kyra argued, “I’m so sorry.”
The young girl sobbed in the arms of the women, but she pushed them off and approached Kyra. In an aggressive motion, the young girl slapped Kyra across the face and planned on adding more slaps in as well, but the other women grabbed her before she could. Kyra felt her face throbbing as she held her cheek with one of her hands.
“I was just trying to help,” Kyra began to explain, but the women shushed her before she could really start.
“All you did was anger him,” one of the women snapped at Kyra, “Don’t you think that if it was possible for us to have fought back, we would have by now?”
Kyra hadn’t thought about it. Once again, she had given up on herself and her life, but she hadn’t thought about how that may effect the people around her. Kyra sat there and touched her cheek once more as she began to fall down the mental cliff of her failures. This time, though, it was truly overwhelming.
On the verge of crying, Kyra stood and began to walk towards the opposite corner of the room. She felt the tears coming. She felt the frustration building as she continuously let those around her down. Kyra had promised to be strong, but she had failed at every instance because of her lack of understanding of what being strong meant.
As Kyra moved towards the corner, she began to hear sounds coming from the other side of the door. At first, she thought it was Jackson giving orders to his men and that he was on his way back to the room to finish what he started. Kyra froze where she stood as the fear of him came crawling back up her spine. This time, she wouldn’t fight back. This time, she was going to let him make an example of her and nobody else had to suffer.
The door opened.
There was a light shining through that blinded Kyra to the point where she had to shield her eyes. The light turned off, though, and when Kyra lowered her hand she saw something that she would have never expected.
“Come on,” Wesley said. He was carrying a large tactical flashlight in one hand and had the assault rifle hanging in the other. Behind him, there were two men shot dead on the ground at the base of the door. Wesley looked Kyra in the eyes and said, “Let’s get you all out of here.”
Written By Broderick Johnson
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'World of Dead' is a short-story series with new issue's being released on the first day of every month. For updates on where to find more 'World of Dead,' visit @BroderickWrites on Instagram or www.facebook.com/broderickwrites.
World of Dead | Vol. 1 | Issue 7 Page 2
