“You didn’t fail them. You hear me. That was something you could not control. Sometimes you must save yourself,” I tried to explain in comfort as my hand was on his shoulder. “There are many things in this world we can control but most we can’t.”
Amelia leaned in to kiss Mark on his cheek as she lifted his head.
“After all these days of walking we finally made it to Watch Tower, but we saw that it was destroyed. We feared you guys were dead, but we hoped you guys were here.” As Mark wiped the sweat from his forehead he asked, “What happened?”
“The same thing that happened to you guys happened to us. The guys with the crosses on their faces attacked us too,” I explained. “Here is why.”
I handed Mark the letter I found, and I heard the hatch door open. Mara ventured from the opening with a joyful look on her face as she saw Amelia standing with us.
“Amelia!”
“Mara!”
Mara jumped out of the hatch and ran to Amelia. The hug they shared with one another was about what I would expect from two people that have been separated for too long.
“Where did you find this,” Mark asked as he finished reading the letter.
“It was stuck in the palm of a severed arm back at Watch Tower,” I explained.
“Have we ever heard of this Warren Cross,” Mark asked.
“Not that I can recall. It is confusing. His intentions to kill us are beyond reason or truth,” I replied.
“He seems like a cult leader,” Mark said. “We have to find him.”
I turned to the rest of the group and saw the confusion on their faces.
“From the tone of the letter it seems as if we are severely outnumbered. I agree with Mark, we have to find him. Apparently, our death is a cause for people to live for,” I announced. “We are in danger if his people find us again.”
Chase and Piper stepped to me with an angry look on their face.
“Atlas, I don’t know why you think what you have done is okay because it’s not. You broke our code, and do you honestly still think you have control over what we all do,” Chase yelled.
“I know what I did was wrong, but that is not our focus right now,” I responded as Chase stood inches away from me.
“It’s because of what you had us do in Louisville is why they are coming after us. We could have just protected our own instead of going on a wild truth hunt. People have died because of you. Ophelia could have been killed because of what you automatically assume is the right thing to do. It’s always about what you need us to do,” Chase yelled.
Mark stepped in between Chase and me. “Listen here Chase. We follow Atlas because he is the one who has always kept us safe. We follow him because we are supposed to. You weren’t with us in the beginning. You have no idea what we have learned and how we decided to keep this organization going. Just because you had a close call doesn’t give you the right to say a damn thing or even think you have a say about Atlas’ leadership. Know your place.”
Piper wiped tears from her eyes and the anger exited her voice. “It’s your fault Zora’s dead. I loved her. Now because of you Atlas, she has been taken from me.”
I felt as low as I could ever feel at that moment. I was supposed to be protecting and guiding everyone to a better world, but instead as I heard their arguments, I learned I lead them to misery. My father and brothers stepped forward to defend me as Amelia and Mara did too, but I could tell this debate of whether I’m the best candidate to lead this team or not was going to end in a horrible outcome. Shaun and Brock pushed Chase away from me and began yelling at him as Piper screamed in Chase’s defense.
“SHUT UP,” yelled a voice from behind the group. “You guys are bitching about a fault that was no one’s choice. Chase, you need to rethink your objective considering if it weren’t for Atlas, you and Ophelia would probably be dead by now. Piper we understand you lost the girlfriend, but the thing is we all have lost someone, but were not blaming the one guy who has saved us repeatedly. There is a war coming for us and instead of preparing for it, all you guys are doing is placing your hatred on the wrong side!”
I don’t remember hearing that voice since we came here, and I don’t remember seeing this man’s face. He was a muscular man that seemed to be in his late thirties with a scraggly beard and long hair.
Chase turned to the man and demanded, “I don’t know who you are or why you’re even here, but how about you stay out of this.”
He quickly responded, “Listen, I know I haven’t been with you guys long, but I have been watching what you guys do. Up until today each of you have gave me hope for a better tomorrow. I be damned if I’m going to let faith fade away because of this stupid blame game.”
Piper stood in front of the man and asked, “Who the hell are you anyways?”
“I’m Damian.”
“Well pay attention Damian. No one cares what you think. This is a private meeting that you are not a part of. You might as well go back down in the hatch and shut the hell up,” Piper demanded.
That moment I knew Piper was becoming unstable.
“Hold up a second Piper. There is no point in acting like this. Don’t take all your frustration and anger out on him. You are still angry at me so here I am. Let me have it.”
“You are not a leader. You are not a friend. Friends don’t let their friends die. You allowed her to walk before you and get killed. The cowardice that you display when you have people to shield you from danger is disappointing. Zora trusted you to protect her. To get her back home. You let her die. You are the worst man I have ever met. I wish you would have died instead of Zora. I hope you rot in Hell for what you’ve done,” Piper said before she spit in my face.
Aurora stepped in between me and Piper. Before I could stop Aurora, Piper fell to the floor after a thunderous jab connected to her nose. “You listen to me Piper and you listen well. Atlas has done nothing but feed you, put a roof over your head and kept you safe. You think you can just stand there and unleash whatever problems you have on him because you can’t grieve properly. You were once a decent person Piper. I know it hurt when Zora died; we all felt that loss, you more than anyone here. You have to understand she chose to go and died for us. She died for you.”
Piper stood and wiped the blood from her nose. Behind her heavy breathing Piper demanded, “I don’t want to hear you, or Atlas say Zora’s name. You are not allowed to ever mention her name again!”
More of the survivors ventured towards the meeting as they heard the fight above them. Chase addressed them with such dictatorship it caused the hair on my arm to stiffen. “You see the grief and loss Atlas has caused us. He is not our protector and he sure isn’t our leader. We need a new ruler of this organization and we need it now before anyone else dies.”
The captains along with Aurora, Amelia, Mara, my dad, and my brothers all stood behind me. As I looked around, I noticed there were more survivors than there were Z.E.D.S.
Chase stood amongst the group and demanded a takeover. “Well Atlas, from the looks of it the people have spoken. They need a leader who abides by what they stand for. They don’t need you. Since we are the Z.E.D.S. then you can remain a captain, but not the leader. You will abide by every rule that has been set and every new rule I establish. Do you understand?”
My family behind me began to speak up and rage civil war amongst us, but I knew it would be a genocide of the Z.E.D.S. The more we fight with each other, the less we will be strong together. As proud as I was to have such support behind me, I knew what was better for them at the moment.
“Enough! Okay Chase. You win. You are now the leader of the Z.E.D.S. and I forfeit my title to you. Do whatever you can to protect them and make the right choices for the entire group unlike the choices I have made. You will be a great leader, and I will be proud to follow you,” I said as I reached my hand towards his.
It made me sick to my stomach to renounce my title. I honestly don’t know why or how this had happened, but I know
that soon they will call on me again.
I walked towards the door and Aurora stopped me before I pulled the handle. “Atlas, what are you doing? You know this is wrong and we have more than enough support to fix this. If any of the others down below knew what just happened there would be chaos right now.”
“That is exactly why I agreed to it. We don’t need to fight each other, we need to be fighting Warren Cross and his followers, but for some reason they are all so focused on demoting me I might as well roll with it until it blows over,” I explained. “Don’t worry Aurora; everything will come back as it’s supposed to. The last thing we need is a chaotic revolt because of something strange going on with our team. Just tell everyone that doesn’t agree to lay low for a while and don’t stir up trouble. I will fix this when the time is right.”
Aurora wrapped her arms around me, and her lips pressed against mine. Somehow in the midst of all that is happening she still places a sugary sweet lip gloss on her lips before she kisses me. My guess was she was planning on kissing me to begin with before this happened. I placed my hand on the handle and walked out of the barn. I needed moments to myself to clear my head and allow the anger to settle before I done something completely regrettable that caused everyone to lose what we have been working for. The Z.E.D.S. name of leadership may have been stolen but it was never mine to begin with. It is our families.
Chapter 4
The sun didn’t seem to shine so bright anymore. It was almost as if it was fading away. I couldn’t figure out if it were my own vision playing tricks on me or if the light was truly disappearing. Mark and Amelia had arrived back home safe just hours before and as joyful as it was to see they had survived the attack on the hospital, all I could focus on was the damn sun. It used to shine so bright that you couldn’t look directly at it, but now it is high noon and it seems dim.
I rested in the field connected to the acres attached to the bunker’s perimeter on a warm split tree stump that was highly uncomfortable. Pieces of the bark were poking through my jeans, but luckily it wasn’t infested with insects that could crawl all over my skin and bite me. The tall grass swayed in the warm breeze as I continued to stare at the sky and readjusting myself every two minutes to find a more comfortable position. I wanted to be alone and escape to a world where none of this existed.
The stars gave light to a cold Autumn’s night. The fire kept the warmth around us as we sat in a circle. Brian kept the bag of Great Value marsh mellows close by for that was his weakness. Logan, Brock, Shaun, and I loaded the sticks with hot dogs and placed them over the open flame.
“Did I ever tell you boys about how I lost my two fingers,” Brian asked before placing a marsh mellow into his mouth.
“I have been waiting all summer to hear this story,” I replied.
“My dog bit them off when I tried to feed him a chicken bone,” Brian said during the marsh mellow engulf. We all looked at each other in confusion. “No, I’m joking. Actually, it happened while I was in Vietnam. Charlie had actually just dropped us in the midst of a poppy field. Land mines were buried all around the hills. My boots planted into the muddy pits, and gun fire rained upon me. We did not have one second to search the perimeter. It was drop, duck, and run. As the enemies ran from behind the forest many of my men disappeared into the muddy water.”
I looked towards Shaun and he sat leaned closer to Brian.
“Like I said, bullets were flying all around me. My good friend Gordon stayed by my side firing into the forest. Blood began cascading the muddy water changing its color. As Gordon yelled for us to run to the huts at the far end of the field, he was hit in the shoulder. As I fired into the forest I was grazed in the leg. Gordon grabbed my arm and began leading me to the huts. My arm was over his shoulders when another bullet came racing through and clipped me right here,” Brian said as he lifted his hand pointed towards his middle finger knuckle. “I fell to the ground and Gordon fired behind us.
Brian went silent for a moment while grabbing another marsh mellow.
“Well, what happened next,” Brock asked.
“Gordon lifted me from the ground and helped me the rest of the way to the huts. We stationed in there for 3 days waiting to be ambushed. They set fire to the poppy field burning all of the bodies that lay there. But the ambush never came for us. I wrapped my hand in bandages and dug the bullet out of Gordon’s shoulder.”
“So, they never came to look for you,” I asked.
“Turns out, once we reached the edge of the field it was sacred ground. It was beyond Vietnam territory. Though they seemed like all they wanted to do was invade and kill, there were specific areas they respected due to their ancestors,” Brian explained.
Logan reached for the bag of marsh mellows, but Brian smacked his hand.
“Nope,” Brian said as he reached in the bag.
As Brian smiled, he grabbed a fluff and tossed it to Logan.
“How did you get home,” Shaun asked.
“We walked. We walked for miles until we found refuge at a camp site to where they led us the rest of the way to base,” Brian replied.
“Where’s Gordon now,” I asked.
“Gordon was killed in action on the next ship out. He was a good man and a strong soldier. You actually remind me of him Atlas. Always there to help, and never back down from a fight,” Brian replied.
The grass behind me began to crunch. I thought just a couple more seconds to myself is all I need before whatever is behind me comes too close. I gripped the handle of my pistol and waited in my own little world for a couple of more moments. The grass crunched louder. Right now, it was just me and my gun. My gun thinks like I do. When something needs to die, we kill it. But this intruder didn’t have to die at first sight.
“Hey there little fella. Where did you come from,” I asked as it stared at me.
This intruder was nothing more than a stranded animal searching for food and trying to survive this world as we do. It had a rank odor to its scent, but the dog seemed harmless. It was probably as hungry as the drifters are becoming considering the food supply for them is as scarce as ours.
I pulled out a piece of dried peach from my pouch on my bag and displayed it towards the mud-covered dog. It slowly approached my hand and sniffed around it for a couple of moments before completely devouring the dried fruit. As it enjoyed the rich flavor that you can only obtain from dried peaches, I placed my hand on its hide, and with every rub across its hair a dusting of dirt crowded the air.
“You were hungry weren’t you buddy?”
As my hand kept brushing the clumps of dirt from its matted hair, I felt a collar around its neck. I cupped the tag attached to it and read his name.
“Darwin,” I said as the name tag rested in my palm. “That’s a proper name for you.”
I gripped more dried peaches from my pouch and presented them to Darwin. He insisted on licking my hand after his meal disappeared.
“Would you like to come home with me Darwin?” You can have all of the dried peaches that you want.”
By Darwin wagging his tail I took his excitement as an acceptance to my invitation.
“Kiere is going to love you. Let’s just hope Chase hasn’t made a new rule about dogs inside the bunker.”
Darwin arched his shoulders and began growling before we started walking.
“What is it boy,” I asked as he stared behind me.
I turned around and a group of drifters had appeared just inches away from us. They were camouflaged in the tall grass, and I was so focused on Darwin I didn’t hear them coming. I fired a series of bullets towards the hoard approaching us, but there were too many. I gripped my Winchester blade and waited for some of them to get closer. Darwin began barking as one of the zombies gripped my shirt while attempting to leave a permanent mark on my shoulder with its teeth. I struggled with the zombie, and we fell to the ground. I noticed Darwin biting the ankle of the zombie and tugging it off me. Another drifter appeared out of the tall grass with bloo
d dripping from its mouth, and its arms stretched out believing it was going to have a feast today. I searched for my knife before it could get to me, but I knew I had to change its direction before I could find my blade. I prepared myself to shove my boots into its body until the drifter vanished before me as a mysterious figure tackled it into the tall grass.
I shuffled across the ground to find my knife. Darwin still had a zombie busy as I was finally able to firmly plant the knife into its head. I aimed my gun towards the distance again and placed bullets into multiple roamers. Darwin distracted a cluster of drifters with his bark while I placed my knife into their temples. I was gripped from behind and pulled to the ground once again. My fingers interlocked with its straggly hair keeping its mouth away from my skin. Darwin ran over and bit the throat of the zombie ripping its flesh while disconnecting its head. I held the severed head to the side while its mouth was continuing to chomp towards me. I slid my knife into its forehead causing the chomps to fade. Darwin walked around me examining my stature. His saliva and blood covered tongue cascaded my face. All though it was gross, it was very comforting.
“Good job boy,” I complimented Darwin as I quickly rubbed his fur.
I stood from the grass and walked to the one who joined the fight. I walked through the tall field and saw a man repeatedly punching the roamer in the head with his bare fists. Darwin and I watched as he finished his carnage and he rose from his knees. He was a short broad man with his head shaved and a tribal tattoo stretching from the top of his head to his neck. I attempted to engage him in showing my gratitude for his assistance.
“Hey man, thank you for saving me,” I said as he stayed facing the other direction.
He didn’t say anything. He just stared into the horizon catching his breath.
“What’s your name sir?”
In a raspy voice he said, “Julian.”
“Thank you, Julian. Do you have shelter?”
Z.E.D.S. Series (Book 2): Z.E.D.S. Wayward Son Page 3
