by Lowry, C. L.
“What happened to your friends?”
“I don’t know. One of them I told to run, and the others went missing right before the fire.” With everything going on at the hospital, Levi never took the time to think about Sade, Cameron, and Jayven. He did not know what happened to them once the attack took place. There was a possibility that they made it out safe, but there was also the possibility that they did not make it out at all.
Dr. Lee saw how heavy the questions weighed on Levi. “But I guess once you got to the hospital, things got better. I heard there were a bunch of supplies in there, and it’s abandoned, right?”
“Abandoned? Who told you that?”
“One of the members of the search team that rescued you told me that. He said the hospital was full of supplies, and it was still in pretty good shape.”
“It is full of supplies, but it’s definitely not abandoned.”
“It’s not?”
“Not at all. There are people in there and those monster things. We had to hide in a room the entire time so we wouldn’t get caught. If it weren’t the monsters creeping around outside the door, it was those guys. I heard them in there all the time, especially at night. Luckily, there were meds and supplies in the room we hid in. I went out once during the day to find food, and that’s when I ran into those monsters. They were so scary. I barely made it back to room.”
Dr. Lee was in shock. “A-Ar-Are you sure?” she asked, immediately worrying about Dalton and the other members who left with him.
“I’m positive. I heard everything while I was in there. There were nights when gunshots would wake me out of my sleep and other nights when I couldn’t sleep because of the screams. There is nothing good in that hospital, ma’am.”
Dr. Lee ran out of the room. Her heart felt like it was in her stomach. “Where is Maverick?” she yelled as she ran down the street. Tripping over the sidewalk didn’t stop her from entering into a full sprint. The pointing of other members led her to one of The Saviors training facilities. This specific facility was an old fitness gym. It was a no brainer to make it a training facility where members could exercise and train in hand-to-hand combat. “Where’s Maverick?” she asked one of the guards who was standing outside of the training facility.
“What’s going on?” Maverick asked, coming around the corner of the building. “Did something happen?”
“It’s Dalton.”
“What happened to Dalton?”
“He’s in trouble.”
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s all my fault. I should have come to you earlier about this,” Dr. Lee muttered. Tears began to fall from her eyes. She gripped Maverick’s hand. “Please forgive me.”
“You better start explaining why you need forgiveness. What happened?”
“Dalton left. He took some others, and they headed back to the hospital.”
“What?” Maverick yelled. A vein popped up on the side of his head. “What do you mean he left?”
“He told me that he wasn’t happy with the way things were being ran over here, so he packed up his things and headed to the hospital. I just got done talking to the boy that you rescued from the hospital, and he told me that it’s not abandoned. He said there are people in there all the time.”
“Why would he go back there? I already told him we weren’t going to expand that far out.”
“He wasn’t expanding. He is planning on starting his own group.”
“How do you know so much about Dalton’s plan?” Maverick was not naïve. Dr. Lee was telling him too much about this situation. He was now skeptical of the woman who he recently had a disagreement with about Kyle’s fate.
“I’ll be completely honest with you. Dalton told me his plan and invited me to join him.”
“So, why are you here?”
“I’m here because I believe in this place, Maverick. It’s not perfect, but it is progress.”
“That’s not what I was referring to, Doctor. I want to know why you are in my face telling me about a group of people that voluntarily left to go do their own thing. Why would that be my concern right now?”
“They’re still your friends, Mav—”
“Friends? Friends would have come to me and told me their plan. That wouldn’t sneak off behind my back or keep secrets from me, then come running when they need to be bailed out.”
The last comment stabbed Dr. Lee like a knife. “With all due respect, we don’t have time to go back and forth right now. We need to go get Dalton and the others because they are walking into trouble, and they don’t even know it.
CHAPTER 28
Dalton’s eyes were bloodshot. He needed sleep. With the recent events, he could not risk letting his guard down. At face value, the three men entering the hospital seemed to be just a random encounter, but after the torturous conversation with Peter’s killer, something did not sit right with Dalton or other members of the group.
“You told us this place was safe, Dalton. What the hell is going on?” Chuck asked.
Chuck did not bother glancing Dalton’s way. He focused on scrubbing the blood from his hands. Chuck was a shoot first and ask questions later type of guy. He would not dare question Dalton’s plan in public, but behind closed doors, he was curious.
“This place is safe. We just have to secure it,” Dalton replied.
“Secure it?”
“Yeah. Once we secure this place, it will be fine.”
“Those guys didn’t come walking through the front door. They were already here. So, either you knew they were in here, or you lied to us all about this place being safe.”
“I didn’t lie. This place was safe. It is safe. We just have to secure it.”
“There are only fourteen of us. Well, thirteen of us now that Peter is gone. There’s no way we’ll be able to secure a place this size. There are more entrances and exits than we have people.”
“Well, you knew we were coming here. I told all of you this was a hospital. There’s going to be a bunch of ways you can get in and out of this place. You’re acting like I told you we were taking over a fuckin’ food truck or something,” Dalton barked.
Chuck threw down the bloody sponge. “Yeah, you told us we were going to take over a hospital, but you definitely didn’t say it was going to only be fourteen of us making this trip. What the hell do you think we’re going to accomplish with only fourteen people?”
“We’ll recruit, my friend. Whether we have fourteen, thirteen, or twelve people, we will grow. All thirteen of us will do what needs to be done to survive, and soon, there will be 1,300 of us, then 13,000, and eventually thirteen million. We are the future.”
Chuck laughed and picked the sponge back up. “You’re starting to sound just like Maverick.”
“Never. Maverick is soft. The Saviors are soft. I’m not him, and we aren’t them. We are survivors, and this hospital gives us the best chance at survival.”
“I hope so.”
With a heavy heart, Dalton stood to his feet and walked out of the room. He was not too keen on the fact that Chuck compared him to Maverick. The last thing he wanted was to hear an “I told you so” from Maverick if his plan failed. He knew Maverick all too well. He knew that the leader of The Saviors would forgive them all and welcome them back with open arms. In Dalton’s eyes, he had nothing to lose. If this plan did not work out, then they would head back to The Saviors and think of another one. He stared down the dark hallway, and the only thing that would playback in his mind was the first mission with Maverick and how Maverick took control of that situation and put those creatures down. It was nothing short of bravery at the highest level. Maverick sacrificed his own life to save everyone else, and that was what Dalton felt that he should have done for Peter. He felt like a coward for not going after the three men, when they had disappeared.
A part of Dalton wanted to turn back and lead the group back to their home, but he just could not leave all these supplies alone. His goal was to use the
items as a form of currency. Even if it meant he had to barter with other groups, he wanted the power to do so. He formed two search teams composed of four members each to check the main floor of the hospital for more supplies. If they were going to head back to The Saviors, at least they would be stocked up when they did.
“Dalton,” a female voice said lightly.
Dalton turned to see Maddie and her search team approaching him. Maddie was an ambitious young lady. She was a pharmacy technician in her past life, and she brought so much value to The Saviors by sharing her knowledge of medicine identification and distribution. Maddie was grateful when Maverick and his team defended her from an attack by savages who were breaking into the pharmacy she worked at. Because of Maverick, Maddie and her boss were saved, which allowed them to join The Saviors. Maddie’s discrepancies with Maverick were more personal. With her knowledge, she felt that she should have been included in the prior mission to gather supplies, but Maverick thought it would be too dangerous for her to come with them. When Dalton returned and bragged about the endless amount of supplies that were left back at the hospital, Maddie took that opportunity to check out what medications were brought back from that mission. She was not impressed. She truly believed that her skills and knowledge would have allowed them to get more quality items. The lack of opportunity to be on missions was the driving force of Maddie’s departure from The Saviors.
“What is it?” Dalton asked.
“You won’t believe it. We found the cafeteria, and it’s loaded.”
“Are you serious?” Dalton’s mouth dropped. She was right—he could not believe it. “What do you mean it’s loaded?”
“There’s still stuff on the shelves in the inventory room. A couple of the refrigerators have been emptied out, but one of them has stuff in it. The refrigerator has obviously been off for a while, but the stuff inside doesn’t smell too bad. It’s worth a shot.”
“That’s unbelievable.”
Maddie tossed a small bottle of orange juice at Dalton. He caught the bottle and immediately examined it. The first thing he noticed was the expiration date, which was almost a year old. The second was the discoloration of the juice. It was a very dark orange that almost appeared brown. Dalton wasted no time cracking the juice open and gulping it down. It tasted just like it looked. Although tart, the old beverage was refreshing.
“Well, it’s not too unbelievable. In the actual café, there are the remains of about thirty people. We can’t tell how long they’ve been down there, but the bodies look old.”
“It was probably those beasts that we ran into last time.”
“Or maybe the gas got them all.”
“Maybe. Well, anyway, take your team back down there and get the bodies piled up to the side. I’ll gather everyone else up so we can have dinner.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea? We could just grab a few items and eat in our rooms.”
“No. We will eat as a unit, and we damn sure aren’t going to be hiding in our rooms.”
“Understood.”
A part of Maddie was disappointed. She thought Dalton would be ready to tighten things up since they just lost one of their own, but the complete opposite was happening. Little did she know, he had a point to prove, and she was not going to stop him from proving it. Dalton went room to room, instructing people to head to the cafeteria. He even pulled the people who were standing guard at the entrances, replacing them with filing cabinets and heavy bookshelves that were used as barricades.
Despite discovering the medical supplies, Dalton felt the need to ensure his group that they made the right decision. He knew others wanted to return to The Saviors, and it was only a matter of time until they did. Watching them in the cafeteria was the feeling he was longing for. They were like kids in a candy store. The corpses in the corner of the room didn’t even faze them.
“We should head back to the rooms,” Maddie advised.
Dalton frowned and cracked open a small can of ginger ale. “No, we should eat and enjoy this moment,” he countered. “I know you are upset about Peter. We all are. But this is what we came here for. To live, to survive, and to be free. Now, go join your friends and have a good time.”
Maddie followed the advice of Dalton and headed over to the table with her friends. The group laughed and shared stories over their hot meals. One of the members was able to light a small fire on top of the stove, and another found a shelf full of baked beans. That was the meal of the day. The entire group continued enjoying themselves and their meal. The pile of human remains in the corner of the café didn’t raise any questions. Society was to that point. Everyone in that room was used to seeing death.
Dalton enjoyed the view. He enjoyed watching the people who took the journey with him, seeing that the reward outweighed the risk. This was their new home.
BOOM!
The blast from the shotgun startled everyone in the cafeteria. Dalton and a few others dropped their food and drew their weapons.
“I’m looking for the one they call Dalton.”
Everyone looked around at each other, wondering who just made the request and where he came from.
BOOM!
Another shotgun blast roared in the large cafeteria.
“Who is Dalton?” the man asked in a stern voice.
“Who wants to know?” Dalton asked, stepping forward.
“You can call me The Reaper.”
Dalton chuckled. “I’d rather not call you anything. I’d rather you go back to whatever hole you just crawled out of.”
“That won’t be a problem. Just let me know where my men are, and I’ll be on my way.”
Dalton’s eyebrows perked up. “Men? What men?”
The man’s eyes locked on Dalton’s face. “The men you shot at, Mr. Dalton. I had a few men in this hospital last night, and I was told that you and your militia shot at them. Luckily, one of them was able to escape with just a shoulder wound, but I want to see the other two.”
“We didn’t just shoot at those men for no reason. They killed one of my friends.”
“Listen, Dalton, I’m not here for a debate. Just give me my men so I can leave.”
“I can’t do that.”
“And why is that?”
“I don’t know where your men are. They all got away.”
Maddie and the others turned in response to Dalton’s statement. They never noticed that the man immediately picked up on their body language.
“Is that true, Dalton?” the man asked as he exited the darkness and into the poorly lit cafeteria. He climbed on one of the tables, overlooking the entire group and the new food and supplies they had accumulated. “Listen up, everyone. Your leader has just lied to my face. I have no other choice but to assume that my men are dead. This means that someone has to answer for their deaths. I will give you all the opportunity to bring the people that killed my men to justice. This is the new world we live in. I call it accountability. You bring your people to justice, and I’ll get out of your hair.”
“What if we don’t?” Maddie asked. “We didn’t kill anyone, so what justice are you looking for?”
“My dear, you may have not killed anyone, but someone in here did. Your job is to bring that person or those people to me in the next ten minutes. If you don’t deliver what I want, you all will end up the next batch of dead bodies to fill this room.”
Chuck raised his pistol toward The Reaper. “What’s stopping me from putting a bullet between your eyes and sending you to meet your fucking friends?” Chuck knew what was at stake. The last thing he was going to do was allow anyone to end up like Peter.
BANG!
The pistol fell from Chuck’s hand. A .556 round traveled through his head, and his body quickly dropped. Screams filled the cafeteria as some of the members rushed to Chuck’s side, and others armed themselves. Dalton looked up to where the shot came from, which was on the second-floor level directly above the cafeteria. Dozens of men and women flooded the second-floor area a
nd the cafeteria.
“You all have eight minutes left to give me what I want.”
Dalton did not hesitate to send shots up to the second-floor area. The Reaper let off a few shotgun rounds at the leader before dipping back into the dark corner of the room and disappearing. A fire fight erupted in the cafeteria. Members of Dalton’s group exchanged shots with The Underlings. Bullets flew up to the second-floor landing, and bullets flew down to the main level. There were casualties on both sides. More screams were let out as bodies began to drop.
Dalton let off a few more rounds before his gun locked back. Unlike the night Peter got killed, Dalton was prepared to reload. He crawled under a table and reached into his pocket to grab the extra bullets that filled his pocket. He dropped the magazine out of the gun and began filling it. Pushing down on each round in order to slide the next in, Dalton was going to take it to the top. The last few rounds were a struggle to get into the magazine. A sharp pain shot up through Dalton’s left side. His adrenaline was pumping, and he never noticed that he had been hit by one of The Reaper’s shotgun blasts. The blast ripped off a chunk of his side, which was pouring out blood. Dalton dropped the three hollow-tip rounds. He mustered up the last of his energy to slam the magazine into the gun before cocking it and blindly sending shots up to the second floor.
A warm sensation hit Dalton’s arm, forcing him to drop his gun. He screamed out in pain. It was not long before blood began pouring from the fresh gunshot wound. Although shots were raining down from above, this shot came from the main level. It was too late by the time Dalton’s eyes trained on the men and women who had stepped out of the shadows. They fired more shots at Dalton and his group. Blood dripped down his lifeless body. That did not stop The Reaper from emerging from the darkness and putting another hole in Dalton. He then turned toward the other bodies and let off more blasts from his shotgun.
