“Let’s see what we got in here,” says Matt.
Matt, Shaun, and Jon find tons of good things to bring back to Citrus Oaks.
“How many things did we get on our list Matt?” asks Jon as he loads the last item into the back of the old blue pickup truck.
“We need just two more items on the list before we can start making bullets,” answers Matt.
“They aren’t in here?” asks Shaun.
Matt looks around and answers, “I didn’t see the last two things that we need in here.”
“Didn’t you say there was another place around here?” asks Jon.
“Yeah, right on 70th Ave. I think we go there next,” answers Matt.
“Let’s get going then,” says Jon as he puts Silencer into the back of the blue pickup truck.
Matt puts his machete and his shotgun into the back of the pickup truck as well.
Shaun puts his rifle into the back of the pickup truck too.
Shaun closes the back tailgate of the pickup truck as Jon and Matt get into the pickup truck.
“Why does that 70th Ave sound so familiar?” asks Shaun.
“I don’t know. I haven’t been around here before,” answers Matt.
Shaun starts up the pickup truck and asks, “How do I get there?”
Jon answers, “Make a left out of here and then make a right at the first light.”
“Simple enough,” replies Shaun.
Shaun makes the left-hand turn and then drives down the road.
As Shaun approaches 70th Ave, he sees a sign that reads Eagle Square Shopping Center.
Shaun makes the right-hand turn onto 70th Ave and quickly realizes why 70th Ave is familiar to him.
“Shit!” shouts Shaun as he stops the pickup truck.
Shaun tries to put the pickup truck in reverse, but the shifter of the pickup truck gets stuck.
BANG!
A loud gunshot is fired and hits the front hood of Shaun’s pickup truck.
Shaun puts the pickup truck in park.
“We gotta get out of here!” shouts Shaun.
Shaun opens his driver side door and quickly exits the pickup truck.
BANG!
Another loud gunshot hits the blue pickup truck’s front hood.
BANG!
CRASH!
Another gunshot shatters the pickup truck’s front windshield and pierces Shaun’s empty driver seat.
Jon shouts, “Get out of the truck!”
Jon quickly exits from the pickup truck from the driver side backseat door.
Matt freezes in fear and doesn’t know what to do.
Shaun, who is crouched down near the pickup truck’s driver side front tire, shouts, “Come on Matt! Get out of there!”
Jon tries to grab his rifle from the back of the pickup truck.
BANG!
The shooter, that is positioned on the roof of the shopping plaza, hits the rear passenger side back panel of Shaun’s pickup truck.
“Stay down Jon, the shooter is playing with us. Stay hidden,” says Shaun to Jon as Shaun takes cover next to the front driver side tire of the pickup truck.
Jon moves over to the rear driver side tire for cover.
“Matt! You gotta get out of there! They will kill you!” shouts Shaun.
The shooter looks through the scope of their high-powered sniper rifle and sees Matt sitting in the passenger seat of Shaun’s pickup truck.
Matt shouts, “How do I get out of this alive Shaun?”
Shaun answers, “You have to get out of there. See if you can recline your seat all the way back, stay down, and make your way over to us.”
“Are you serious?” asks Matt.
“The shooter is obviously toying with us. It’s your best option right now,” answers Shaun.
Shaun removes his handgun from his hip holster.
“We need to lay down some cover fire,” says Shaun to Jon.
“All I have is my handgun though,” replies Jon.
BANG!
The front passenger side tire of Shaun’s pickup truck is shot by the shooter.
“See Matt. He’s messing with you. Jon and I will provide some cover fire. Recline your seat back and move to the backseat driver side door. The door is already open for you,” says Shaun to Matt.
BANG!
The rear passenger side tire of Shaun’s pickup truck is shot by the shooter.
“On three. You gotta move fast and stay low Matt,” says Shaun.
“Okay,” replies Matt.
Shaun looks at Jon.
“On three,” says Shaun to Jon.
Jon clicks off the safety of his handgun.
“One,” says Shaun.
Jon takes a deep breath.
“Two,” says Shaun.
Matt grabs the recline seat handle at the side of his seat.
“Three!” shouts Shaun.
BANG! BANG!
BANG! BANG!
BANG! BANG!
Shaun and Jon fire several shots at the shooter that is hidden on the roof of the shopping plaza.
“MOVE!” shouts Shaun.
Matt frantically tries to recline his passenger seat, but his seat won’t recline.
“What the fuck!” shouts Matt.
BANG! BANG!
Jon fires two more shots at the shooter on top of the roof.
Matt clumsily moves out of his passenger seat and moves towards the pickup truck’s driver side backseat door.
BANG! BANG!
Shaun fires two more shots at the shooter.
Matt falls out of Shaun’s pickup truck and faceplants onto the wet street pavement.
CLICK! CLICK!
Jon is out of bullets for his handgun.
“I’m out!” shouts Jon.
“Stay down Matt,” says Shaun.
Shaun checks the bullet magazine from his handgun and sees that he only has one bullet left.
“I got one shot left,” says Shaun.
“What do we do now?” asks Jon.
Shaun looks around and all he sees is open road and an open field across from the shopping center.
“We can’t run for it as he would just pick us off. He probably wants us to run,” says Shaun.
“I’ll run for it and draw his attention,” says Jon.
“That’s suicide Jon,” says Shaun.
Jon looks at Shaun and replies, “We all gotta die sometime, right. Matt has a baby on the way and Ryan needs you Shaun.”
Shaun replies, “No fucking way Jon. We all live, or we all die.”
BANG! CRASH!
The shooter fires a shot that destroys the truck’s passenger side door window.
“I think the shooter wants us dead,” jokes Jon.
Shaun replies, “The way this guy is shooting, I think he wants this truck dead.”
Matt, who is still lying face down on the wet street, says, “If this is it guys, I just want you to know that I love you guys and I’m sorry if I pissed you off.”
Two zombies come walking from the open field that is across from the shopping center and approach Shaun, Matt, and Jon.
Jon holsters his handgun and grabs his hunting knife from his belt holster.
Matt reaches for his handgun, but only feels an empty handgun thigh holster.
“Fuck, I think I dropped my handgun in the truck,” says Matt.
BANG!
The rooftop shooter takes out one of the zombies, that are approaching Shaun, Matt, and Jon, with a headshot.
The last zombie is about to attack Shaun.
BANG!
Shaun fires the last shot from his handgun and kills the approaching zombie with a clean headshot.
“Well, that was my last shot,” says Shaun.
“Now, we are totally fucked,” says Matt.
The roar of a loud car exhaust is heard.
Shaun and Jon look down the street towards the sound of the loud car exhaust.
Jon and Shaun see several vehicles speeding towards the back of Shaun’s pic
kup truck.
Shaun recognizes two of the vehicles.
“Shit! This is either really good or really bad!” shouts Shaun.
Tires screech as the powerful brakes of the two luxury SUV’s and the luxury sports car stop.
Suddenly, vehicle doors of the luxury SUV’s and luxury sports car open and four gunmen open fire at the shopping center rooftop.
BOOM!
DAKKA! DAKKA!
The rooftop shooter narrowly escapes the gunfire and runs away from their position on the roof.
The corner of the shopping center roof is destroyed.
A person dressed in all black, who is wearing a black mask over their face that has an all-black skeleton face and teeth design on the face of the mask, walks over to Shaun, Jon, and Matt.
“Get up! Let’s go!” shouts the masked person to Shaun, Jon, and Matt.
Shaun is freaked out at the skeleton design on the mask, but he stands up.
Jon gets up and helps Matt up from the pavement.
The masked person escorts Jon, Matt, and Shaun into the backseat of the all black luxury SUV and the driver of the SUV speeds away.
The sports car and other SUV follow behind the SUV that Shaun, Matt, and Jon just got in.
The masked person, who is sitting in the passenger seat of the SUV, takes off their mask.
Shaun sees the person remove their mask and is relieved to see that the person is a clean-shaven African American male and not some deformed or disfigured savage.
“Oh, thank god, I thought you were going to be some hideous disfigured psychopath or something. Your mask freaked me out,” says Shaun.
The clean-shaven African American male looks at Shaun and asks, “How do you know I’m not?”
Matt gets a freaked out look on his face.
“Are you going to kill us?” asks Jon.
“No, we are taking you home. You live in Citrus Oaks, right?” answers the clean-shaven African American male that is sitting in the passenger seat of the SUV.
CHAPTER 13
WE HAVE OUR WAYS
“Stop right there!” shouts Brody, from the lookout platform at the main entrance inside Citrus Oaks, to the all-black luxury SUV that Shaun, Matt, and Jon are in that is stopped outside of the main entrance of Citrus Oaks.
Matt gets out of the SUV, looks at Brody, and shouts, “It’s okay Brody! They helped us! It’s me, Shaun, and Jon in here!”
“You’ll probably want to keep your other vehicles outside of our community. It could be intimidating to our group,” says Shaun to the African American male that is sitting in the passenger seat of the SUV.
“What’s your name anyway?” asks Jon to the African American male that is sitting in the passenger seat of the SUV.
“It’s Bakari,” answers the African American male to Jon.
Bakari picks up his radio and says into his radio, “Ayo and Saba hang back. We will go in alone.”
“You sure boss?” asks a man over the radio.
“Yeah, Ayo. We got this. We can handle this meeting,” answers Bakari over the radio.
Matt gets back into Bakari’s SUV and says, “Brody will open it for us. That kid takes his job seriously.”
“It’s good that he does. You don’t want just anyone getting in here,” replies Bakari.
The driver of Bakari’s SUV drives through the main entrance and towards Bobby G and Shaun’s homes.
“Where is your leader?” asks Bakari to Shaun, Matt, and Jon.
“Park in front of that white house there. That is my house, and I will get our leader,” answers Shaun.
“How did you know where we lived?” asks Jon to Bakari.
The driver parks the all-black luxury SUV in front of Shaun’s house.
Matt quickly exits the SUV and enters his house.
Bakari turns and faces Jon and Shaun and answers, “It will all be explained gentlemen.”
Bakari and the large African American male SUV driver exit from the SUV.
Shaun, from the backseat of Bakari’s SUV, looks at Jon and says, “This is fucking weird.”
“Yeah, it is, but they saved us,” replies Jon.
Jon exits from the SUV, but Shaun hesitates to exit from the SUV as he thinks about what to do.
Shaun realizes that he has no other options but to get me and to talk with Bakari.
Shaun slowly exits Bakari’s SUV.
“We will wait here,” says Bakari to Jon and Shaun.
Jon and Shaun walk over to my house.
KNOCK! KNOCK!
Shaun knocks on my front door.
I hear the knock at my front door as I’m in my man cave.
I exit my man cave and open my front door.
Jon and Shaun walk into my house.
“What’s up guys?” I ask Shaun and Jon.
“Umm, there are two large black guys here and they want to talk with you,” answers Jon.
“What? Who are they?” I ask Jon.
“Some guy named Bakari and some other huge black guy,” answers Shaun.
“Should I take my gear?” I ask Shaun.
“I don’t know. They seem friendly, and they did save us,” answers Jon.
I pick up my katana that is sitting on it’s vertical stand near my front door.
“They have guns Ry,” says Shaun.
“Okay, I’ll get my vest then,” I reply to Shaun.
I walk back into my man cave.
Milo walks over to Shaun and Jon.
Phil and Nicole, who are walking outside with Mia and Mason, come walking around the corner towards the sidewalk of the street that Matt and I live on.
Phil sees Bakari and the other African American man standing in Shaun’s driveway.
Phil stops walking and says, “Nicole stop. I want you and the babies to go to Matt’s house now.”
“What? What’s wrong?” asks Nicole.
Nicole sees that Phil is staring at the two African American men in Shaun’s driveway.
“I’ll take you over to Matt’s house,” says Phil.
Phil and Nicole, who are each pushing a stroller, walk over to Matt’s house.
Nicole opens Matt’s front door, enters Matt’s house, and Phil enters Matt’s house behind Nicole.
Kylie sees Phil and Nicole and says, “Oh hey guys. What’s going on?”
Phil closes Matt’s front door and asks, “Where is Matt?”
“He’s in the bathroom. Is everything okay?” asks Kylie.
“I don’t know. We might have a problem at Shaun’s house,” answers Phil.
Phil takes out his handgun and says, “Tell Matt to meet me outside. You two stay in here.”
“Okay I will,” replies Kylie.
Nicole kisses Phil and says, “Be careful Phil.”
Phil exits Matt’s house and waits outside on Matt’s front porch.
Phil peeks through a tall bush and sees Bakari and the other African American man talking in Shaun’s driveway.
“This place is pretty nice. I think it will be nice for us here,” says the African American man to Bakari.
Phil’s impatience for Matt starts to take over.
Phil checks his bullet magazine in his handgun and says to himself, “Better now than never.”
Shaun, Jon, and I exit from my house.
As I close my front door, I see Phil charge at the two African American men standing in Shaun’s driveway.
“Put your hands up!” shouts Phil at Bakari.
Bakari slowly puts his hands above his head.
“Fuck! Phil is going to get killed!” I shout.
Shaun, Jon, and I run across the street.
“It’s okay Phil! They saved us! We know them!” shouts Shaun.
Phil keeps his gun pointed at Bakari.
Bakari looks at Phil and says, “We are only here for a conversation.”
“It’s okay Phil. Lower your gun,” says Jon.
I recognize Bakari and walk over to him.
I get in the way of Phil�
�s gun and Phil says, “Ry, what the hell.”
“It is okay. I know this guy,” I reply to Phil.
“Bakari. How are you man?” I ask Bakari.
“I’m good Dr. Briggs. How are you?” answers Bakari as I shake Bakari’s hand.
Shaun and Jon give each other a confused look.
I turn and look at Phil, Shaun, and Jon.
“Bakari is a good guy. I think we can trust him,” I say to Phil, Jon, and Shaun.
Bakari smiles and says, “Well, I trusted you with my shoulder and I was able to play another six years in the league after you operated on my shoulder.”
“I know. You were great. I used to watch you play every Sunday,” I reply to Bakari.
“What the fuck is going on?” asks Shaun.
I laugh and ask Bakari, “Good question, what the fuck is going on Bakari?”
“Can we talk somewhere out of the sun and a little less heated?” asks Bakari.
“Sure, let’s go inside my house,” I answer Bakari.
Phil holsters his handgun.
The large African American man that was with Bakari stares at Phil.
Bakari senses that his driver is not liking Phil and says, “Give Phil a break Cyrus, he was only protecting this place.”
Phil looks at Cyrus and says, “I’m sorry big man. I didn’t know who you two were.”
With a deep low voice, Cyrus replies, “That’s okay, but don’t let it happen again. Next time I’ll put your little ass down.”
Phil, Shaun, Jon, Bakari, and Cyrus enter my living room.
“So, what happened out there?” I ask as I close my front door.
“Bakari and his group saved us. We were trapped by a shooter that was on the roof of a shopping center and they rescued us,” answers Shaun.
“Where is Matt?” I ask.
“He’s home taking a shit,” answers Phil.
“He did look nervous on the ride back here,” says Jon.
Shaun looks at Bakari and asks, “How did you know we were there?”
Bakari answers, “We heard the gunshots. The snipers at the shopping center use some very loud rifles.”
“Where did you come from?” asks Jon.
“We were in the area and close to you guys,” answers Bakari.
I see the black cloth face mask around Cyrus’ neck.
The mask looks familiar, and I remember seeing some people wearing face masks like that before.
I ask Cyrus, “Can I see the face mask that you have around your neck?”
Cyrus looks at Bakari.
Fight 4 Us (Book 9): Settlement Page 14
