In three wide steps, she was in the kitchen entrance, grabbing the shotgun that was leaning against the wall. She fired off two quick rounds at the yellow-eyed woman crawling through the kitchen window. As the infected woman hit the ground, two more yellow-eyed men barged through the back door.
Tara shot four more rounds at the men coming through the door until the gun clicked with all the shells sitting empty on the floor. She immediately pulled her handgun out of its holster and held it in front of her.
Before she was able to pull the hammer back, she heard the front door burst open. Two yellow-eyed men stepped into the front room. She continued to pull the trigger until the pistol ran out of ammunition. The two infected lay on the ground, twitching as they expelled their last breaths.
She could hear Kaya screaming in the other room, no doubt from the gunfire. “Stay there, Baby,” she called, trying to sound soothing.
A rustling noise came from the kitchen and she realized she didn’t have time to reload. Instinctively, she reached for her father’s sawed-off shotgun leaning against the rocking chair. Three of the yellow-eyed men charged at her from the kitchen. The lead one caught the full blast of both barrels and was knocked backwards. Before she could engage the other two, thick arms wrapped around her neck from behind and started to squeeze her throat.
She grabbed the man’s arm and threw an elbow into his stomach. With the same fluid motion, she leaned forward and flung him over her shoulder. Before he hit the ground, she had her knife out of the sheath and plunged it into his eye.
Suddenly, the black-eyed man in the white suit entered the house. Tara immediately tried to rush to her daughter’s cries but was blocked by two more men who had entered through the front door. She kicked, punched, and slashed, but they reacted faster than the others, so she couldn’t bring them down.
The man in the white suit yanked Kaya out from under the bed by her hair, and she screamed in agony. He then grabbed her arm and placed a knife to her neck. Tara froze, feeling utterly helpless.
The black-eyed man smiled. “Come now, is all this violence necessary? Put down your knife, and I promise I won’t harm the girl.” His voice sent shivers down her spine.
Tara knew she didn’t have any other choice, so she set the knife down. She was immediately grabbed by the two yellow-eyed men she was fighting.
The man in the white suit walked closer to her. “I like your spirit so I don’t think I will kill you now. Instead, I will let you try for the right of Balla-ah, or ‘chosen warrior’ in your language. If you survive, I will let you and your daughter go free. If you don’t, you will be dead, and we will have your daughter as part of our feast tonight.” He licked his lips and sniffed Kaya’s hair deeply. Kaya whimpered as tears streamed down her cheeks. Tara lunged for her, but by now a rope was around her neck restraining her. Suddenly, Tara felt a sharp pain in the back of her head, and the image of Kaya soon faded to darkness.
Day 4: Blake
“Base, this is Captain Reynolds. Do you copy? Over.”
“It’s good to hear your voice! What is your status? Over.”
“We are clear of the base and on our way back. Operation Scorched Earth has been executed.”
“Glad you and some of your men made it out. Head back to the command center for new orders.”
Blake paused for a moment then pressed the button on his microphone.
“Sir, the men know where to head. I request permission to go retrieve my wife and child.”
Blake stood there for a moment, nervously waiting for a reply.
“This is General Wicket. Captain Reynolds, you know that I can’t allow that. If I let every soldier that had loved ones out there leave, half the company would be gone. I’m sorry. Return to the fallback area, and we might be able to work something out.”
Blake's hand clenched the microphone on the radio even harder as he tried not to scream in anger. After everything he had seen that day, he was terrified for his family’s safety.
“What was that, sir? You are starting to break up,” he said as he shut off the radio. The driver stared at Blake in the back of the truck, using the rear view mirror, in disbelief.
Once the company reached the turn for the command center, Blake ordered the truck to stop and he stepped out. All the trucks and Hummers came to a stop, and most of the soldiers stepped out to see what was going on. Once most of the soldiers had formed a semicircle around him, Blake stood on a large rock on the side of the road.
“We have been ordered to return to the command center, but many of us have family in San Clemente. My wife and child are there waiting for me to come and get them. Even with my sense of duty, I know that they aren’t infected, and I can’t leave them there. So I am going to go save them. Those of you that want to join me may do so. The rest of you, follow your orders and return to the command center.”
Blake noticed that most of the soldiers froze in their places, staring at each other. He could tell they were wondering if this was even allowed. After a few minutes, five men stepped forward. Blake knew each of them and that they had families in the same town as his.
Blake gave orders to his first lieutenant to take the rest of the men back to the command center. He would join them as soon as he knew that his family was safe.
After the company drove away, Blake and the five soldiers climbed into the remaining Hummer and drove west towards the town. Every mile or so they would come across a few uninfected people wandering, and Blake knew they had been through hell. They would usually beg for help, so Blake told them to head to the base camp or to the clean zone that had been mentioned over his radio.
As they ventured deeper into town, they came across more and more of the ABs. Most of them had blank looks on their faces and were wandering aimlessly. “I wonder if they’re waiting for something…” Blake thought.
Some of the ABs attacked their Hummer with rocks and sticks, but the soldier manning the fifty-cal on top brought them down before they could get too close. As they drove closer to town, the ABs became more numerous.
“We should park the Hummer and make the rest of the way on foot so as to draw less attention,” Blake said to the others. “Everyone head to your homes and meet back here in three hours. Anyone not here by that time will be presumed to be dead. Any questions?”
“No, sir!” they replied.
Blake glanced at the sun high in the sky. He was sweating as he jogged forward, but he ignored the heat as he thought about his family. Corporal Munns was accompanying him as they lived within a couple of blocks of each other, but they both kept silent.
The closer they came to most of the homes where located, the harder it was to avoid the AB drones. Munns’s house was the closer of the two that needed to be checked. As they approached from the back, they could see that the window was smashed and the back door was wide open. Both men slowly approached the backyard, not making a sound. They shared hand signals as a signal to move from one place of cover to the other.
When they made it to the house, they pressed their backs against the outside wall to remain unseen. Munns quickly poked his head through the open door to see what was inside, and Blake peered through the broken window. When he couldn’t see any movement, he pointed to his eyes and shook his head to signal that he hadn’t seen anything. Munns nodded in understanding, and they lifted their rifles in preparation.
Slowly, both men entered the house and searched each room for signs of Munns’s family. After each room was examined, they shouted, “Clear!”
As Blake reached the final bedroom and yelled, “Clear,” he could tell that Munns was devastated. “At least we didn’t find any bodies,” Blake said as he patted Munns’s back.
They walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table. Not knowing what to do next, they both sat there in silence. Blake hated the uncertainty of his family’s safety, so he stood and began to pace. Suddenly, he noticed a note on the refrigerator held by a magnet.
Blake pointed it out to Munn
s and began to read the hastily written note out loud.
My dearest Charles,
Things started to get crazy here. Some men from your base came driving around and told everyone to evacuate to the high school. I have packed up the kids and a few things, and we will meet you there.
Love,
Sue
Munns exhaled and relaxed in the chair. A smile crossed his face. Blake could see the relief sweep over him.
“That’s great news!” Blake said.
“Yes it is! Now let’s go find your family.”
Blake nodded his head, and they stepped outside, still holding onto their rifles tightly. They walked a few more blocks and then entered Blake’s neighborhood. Every fifty yards they would take cover and scout out the next fifty yards. The closer they came, the more numerous the bodies were. They were scatted all over the ground, and the heat from the sun was making the smell unbearable.
“Things must have gotten pretty bad here,” Munns said. Blake didn’t reply. He knew his wife was strong, and he had to keep reminding himself that she could handle herself. Still, he picked up the pace. Finally, they reached the house. Blake noticed that the familiar sounds of his neighborhood were missing. He didn’t hear birds chirping, dogs barking, or children playing in their yards. He only heard silence.
Blake glanced at his neighbors’ houses and felt an urge to look inside, but the image of his wife and daughter made him shake his head and move forward. As they approached the house, they scanned the perimeter carefully. When they decided it was safe, they crept to the corners of the house. On Blake's signal, they peeked into the windows. Munns gave Blake the all-clear signal first, and Blake did the same.
Silently, they both stepped to the front door. They kept their backs against the wall, not wanting to stand in front of the door and get an unexpected shotgun blast from the other side. As he opened the door, his blood turned cold. There were several bodies on the floor, and he didn’t recognize any of them. Then he noticed a trail of blood leading to the guest bedroom.
Blake’s stomach clenched, and he followed the trail. “Please don’t be dead!” he thought. As he walked inside the room, he gasped in relief at the dead body lying on the floor. It was his neighbor, Sally.
“Clear!” Blake called out. Then an even worse thought crossed his mind. If his neighbor was dead, where were Tara and Kaya? “Tara?” Blake yelled. He burst out of the room frantically, and Munns followed.
There were several more bodies scattered throughout the house, but he didn’t know any of them.
“I’ll keep watch…” Munns said quietly. Blake knew there was only one reason he didn’t want to search the other rooms; he thought Blake’s family could be dead.
As Blake searched each empty room, the sick feeling in his stomach grew deeper. When he finished looking for his family, he returned to the front room where Munns was standing guard.
“Blake?” Munns asked. Blake ignored him and dropped onto the first step of his porch. He pulled off his helmet and placed both hands onto the back of his head.
Munns stood over him for a few minutes while Blake tried to figure out where his family might be. “Blake, they might have gone to the evacuation area,” Munns said.
“You don’t know Tara, and the bodies…” Blake replied. “I told her to stay here and that I would come get them. She would have only left if there was no other choice.” Guilt started to wash over him.
He blankly stared at his neighbor’s house across the street when he noticed something moving on the roof. He immediately brought his gun to his shoulder and peered through the scope. Munns followed him on instinct.
Blake could barely see a head above the walls on the flat roof, but he recognized the shining bald head. He ran across the street and shouted, “Is that you up there, Don?” After a couple of seconds, the rest of Don’s head appeared up over the wall.
“Yeah, who wants to know?”
“Don, it’s me, Blake.”
Blake turned to Munns to let him know about Don. “Don is a retired Marine who saw a lot of action in Iraq back in the nineties. However, he wasn’t quite the same after his last tour. After Don retired, he became a little suspicious of the government and who knows what else. He built his house like a fortress with only two steel doors and a few small windows that were only large enough to look out but not crawl through. The roof was flat with high surrounding walls, and more than once he had called it his ‘sniper perch.’ He is always preparing for some kind of catastrophe.”
“Are you still human or are you one of those things?” Don yelled.
“I’m as human as you,” Blake said with a half smile.
“Prove it!”
Blake laid his gun on the ground, raised his hands, and walked to the center of his yard while being in the crosshairs of the scope on Don’s gun.
“Don, if I were one of the infected, would I have just done that?” Blake said. He could tell that Don was thinking about it. “I just want to know if you have seen Tara and Kaya.”
Don lowered his gun. “I have something to tell you. Come to the front door, but leave your friend across the street. I don’t like the way he looks at me.”
Blake glanced at Munns and shrugged his shoulders. He then walked to the front door. Don opened it just wide enough to poke his head through. His eyes darted left, right, and then left again. He then abruptly yanked Blake inside.
Blake quickly scanned the room, which was surrounded by military supplies.
“A swarm of them came down the street several hours ago. They were going from house to house, gathering supplies and looking for normal people. Luckily, most of the people left soon after the troops announced the evacuation.”
“The enemy came to my house. I could see them looking through the windows. Thank goodness I built them small. They tried to break down the doors, but I had them built strong enough to withstand a small mortar blast. Still, they kept banging it with whatever they could get their hands on. It seemed to go on for forever.”
“They must have gotten something larger to hit it with because the door started to give. I had my shotgun in one hand and my pistol in the other. I wasn’t going to let them take me without a fight! But that is when I heard screams coming from your place. This must have distracted the bastards at my front door because all of the sudden the pounding stopped. I peeked out the windows, and they ran over to your house. I quickly went to my roof but didn’t dare take a look. I could tell that Tara was giving them hell, though.
“Finally, I got up the nerve to peer over the wall on the roof and look at your house. That is when I saw a man in a white suit enter your house. Then the fighting must have stopped, because it got really quiet… A few minutes later, two of the bastards came out carrying Tara down the street. She was unconscious. Another one was dragging Kaya, who was kicking and screaming with a rope around her neck. That little girl has some fight in her – you should be proud!”
Blake’s fists were clenched tightly. He was horrified to hear about his family, but he was just happy they were alive. “Did you see which direction they went?” Blake asked.
“I watched for several minutes. They went two blocks west and then headed south toward the old white church. I’m not sure which way they went after that. Sorry, Blake. I wish I could have done something, but I’m not the soldier I used to be.”
Blake didn’t know whether to be grateful or angry. “Thanks, Don,” he muttered as he opened the door and walked outside. Before he made it to the road, Don shouted at him.
“Wait, let me redeem myself and gain some self-respect back. I can help you get Tara and Kaya back!”
Blake stopped walking and considered the proposal. Part of him wanted to turn and shoot a bullet in Don’s head for not helping his family, but without his help he wouldn’t know where his family was. Besides, they could really use the help. Blake tilted his head around slightly towards Don. With clenched teeth he said, “OK, but you have to follow my orders. It will be dar
k soon; you have five minutes before we move out.”
Don disappeared into his house to gather a few supplies. Blake crossed the street and briefed Munns on the details of the conversation just before Don joined them.
Day 4: Tara
Tara heard Kaya crying softly and wished she could keep sleeping. She wanted to roll over and shake Blake to tell him to see what was wrong. However, as she tried to move, a stabbing pain shot through her head. Suddenly, the memory of the day’s events flashed through her mind, and she opened her eyes. At first, everything was blurry, but she knew the small figure huddled in the corner was Kaya. She closed her eyes again until she felt someone shaking her.
“Momma, wake up!”
Tara rubbed her eyes until her vision cleared. She pushed herself into a sitting position, held her head with one hand, and wrapped the other around Kaya.
“Momma, I’m scared,” Kaya said between sniffles.
“I am too, Baby. We just need to be brave until Daddy comes to get us. Can you do that?”
Kaya stared into Tara’s eyes and nodded her head. “I think so.”
Tara stood up, ignoring the pounding in her head. She picked Kaya up and walked to the cot in the corner of the room.
“We’re locked in here…” Kaya said as she stared at the door. “Those scary people put us in here.”
“Shh, don’t worry. Everything will be OK.” She cradled Kaya and sang her favorite lullaby. Soon, Kaya was fast asleep. Tara drifted between sleep and wakefulness, her head slowly feeling better.
As soon as the back of her head stopped pounding, she decided to assess the situation. They were the only ones in the basement. If it hadn’t been for her military training, they would already be dead. However, she feared that it would only be a matter of time before they were killed.
“Just stay alive. I will find you.” Blake’s words echoed in her mind. She laid Kaya on the cot and walked to the small window in the door. Something down the hall caught her attention; she noticed two men walking towards the room. They were grunting and making strange clicking noises to each other. Their stench came into the room before they did. Tara was reminded of the time she used to ride horses and how they smelled after they had been ridden all day.
AB (The Blake Reynolds Chronicles Book 1) Page 7
