by Jeremy Mac
A loud outdoor siren begins screaming, like those used for tornado warnings, growing louder until it hits its peak then gradually fades before picking back up again.
Reluctantly Lathan pulls away from his nursing.
“What the hell is that?”
Taya can’t believe it.
“That’s our danger signal.” She scoops up her shirt off the floor and slips it back on.
“For what?”
“Maddick’s probably. I don’t know. But whatever it is, it’s bad. That siren does not go off unless it is bad. Come on, let’s go see what it is.”
21
Taya and Lathan step into the hallway and see James and two guards hustling toward them.
“Maddick’s,” James says. “Approaching the front gate. Everything is being shut down and sealed off.” He takes Taya by the shoulders. “I want you to stay here and wait.”
“No, “ Taya adamantly objects. “I’m going to, so let’s not even argue about it.”
James sighs and relents. “Fine. But stay close. I believe they’ll try to bargain first.” James regards Lathan. “Are you with us today?”
“For today I will be, but I won’t promise tomorrow.”
“Very well. Let’s go.”
They follow James to the arsenal. There are two rooms filled with racks of high powered rifles and submachine guns, pistols and knives, and an endless supply of cartridges and clips, with a dozen or so boxes of grenades, RPG’s, and plastic explosives. Weapons are issued out to a long line of potential soldiers. James, Taya, and Lathan are each given a rifle.
In the underground parking garage they load up in a jeep and drive toward the front gate. Pinnacle citizens scatter out of their way and off to their homes. Several guards armed to the teeth are lined up along the top of the gates wall and on the ground next to the gate. Others take their positions as they come up before and after their jeep.
James parks and hurries up the steps to the top of the gates wall. Taya and Lathan follow behind. James is handed a pair of binoculars and is briefed on the situation by the gates head guard. The sirens are silenced.
“Our scouts spotted them a couple of miles out. More than a dozen vehicles coming in slow, all are heavily armed. Bastards got both of our men tied on to the lead truck. They don’t look too good.”
The truck-tank stops fifty yards from the gate. The other vehicles pull up around it.
Moments pass before something happens. The passenger side door of the truck-tank opens and out comes Vincent Maddick himself. He climbs up the side of the truck and onto the cab where he stands behind his prisoners.
Vincent lifts his arms up into a wide V and with a dangerous smile on his face yells out, “Peace be with you!” The smile vanishes and is replaced with a mad smirk. He lays a hand on his prisoners shoulder and says aloud, “I believe I have something that belongs to you! I want to talk to James!”
“I’m here!”
Vincent squints his eyes in the general direction the voice came from. “That you, James? Would you mind gracing us with your great presence, please? In other words, show yourself a little damn better!”
James glances at his sharpshooters and they give him a thumbs up. James turns to move but Taya grabs him by the arm in a panic.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m not going anywhere,” he assures. “I’m only moving up higher where he is able to see me. He’s not going to try anything. Just talk for now, that’s all.”
She releases his arm and he hands over the binoculars and rifle, stepping up higher on the wall. Once he can be seen he waves a hand.
“Here I am, Vincent. Now why don’t you tell me what it is that you want.”
Vincent laughs. “What it is that I want? James, of all people, you should know what I want. The question is, will you be able to stomach what I am going to do to these two fine young men if you don’t comply. And then what will follow soon after. After all, it’s not like your precious Pinnacle is a virgin bitch. It has been penetrated before. And if only a few can do so much damage you can only imagine what an army like this will do. So ask yourself, is The Pinnacle worth digging your people’s graves for? We are willing to give you and your people safe passage so you and yours can go somewhere else and start over. Just look at what you’ve done here. You’re quite capable of doing it again. And I give you my word that no matter where you go we will not follow. We will have no reason to. How say you, good man? Agreed?”
Giving up The Pinnacle is out of the question. Hundreds of people live here, an entire community rebuilt this place, are still building, and he will fight and die if need be defending it, as will many others.
But two of their own are down there and he has no doubt they will be tortured further and ultimately killed if he doesn’t do as Vincent says. Then they will surely invade and it will be a bloodbath. James is positive that The Pinnacle’s defense is superior to the Maddick’s, but the Maddick’s have something they don’t – pure madness. There may even be more of them surrounding the place, laying in the cut and waiting for Vincent’s signal.
James casts his gaze toward The Pinnacle and it’s people. They in turn look back at him expectantly, ready to follow his lead.
“I can’t give you an answer right now, Vincent. I need more time.”
Vincent nods his head in agreement. “Of course. I understand. How’s an hour sound?”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Vincent. That isn’t enough time to work up a good piss. Give me two days. That’ll give me enough time to speak to everyone.”
Vincent’s indignation at hearing the counter response of “two days” was apparent before James finished speaking.
“Two days! Do you think I’m a fool? Give you two days so, what, you can prepare and execute better battle tactics? Let me tell you something James, this is a battle you do not want! Believe it! I will show mercy on no one! We will kill your men, rape your women, and slave your children! Those who aren’t killed, that is! But this is what I will do… I will give you twenty-four hours from this hour and not a minute more! And James, I’ll be right out here waiting, while keeping your two boys here company!”
22
Twenty-four hours. One day. First, the prisoner on top of the truck-tank’s cab will be killed, and then Vincent will make the signal and Maddick’s crawling out of the woodwork will charge The Pinnacle. The truck-tank will ram through the gate killing the prisoner tied to the front grill in the process and the other vehicles will follow through. Senseless deaths will occur. There will be so much blood spilled the town will be painted with it. Life will once again be a constant cry of hardship and misery.
In The Pinnacle’s conference room those present are James, the high brass, and Lathan and Taya. Discussions are accompanied with hot tempers. Some of them think it’s best to move on and away from all the chaos, like out in the country where it is peaceful and the land can be cultivated. Others will refuse to leave. The Pinnacle is their home, they’ve built it and it is rightfully theirs and they should not give it up just because they are threatened. They will stay and fight for it.
The room erupts with noise as everyone argues points at each other.
“Quiet!” James yells. “Please, everyone quiet down.”
Everyone goes quiet except for two men arguing with each other, trying to get the last word in.
“Bill, David,” James says to the two. “Quiet please. Thank you. We are getting nowhere arguing with one another. We are a democracy, so if you don’t want to stay, then you may leave. Simple as that. We’ll tell the people and let them make their own decision. But I’ll say this, if you go, you will be running, and if you run now then you may have to keep running until you are forced to either give up or fight. Yes, they have weapons and for the most part they are crazy. But they bleed just as we do. We can defeat them. We have the numbers as long as we stick together. The choice is yours, but we need to be ready one way or another by tomorrow.”
They deliberate
, ticking off considerable points. Those who at first were for leaving now are more for staying, and the few who aren’t swayed are distraught with little understanding. Why stay to only meet your death tomorrow when you can leave and start over somewhere else and perhaps somewhere even safer? Everyone is either under the notion that they will wipe out the Maddick’s or the Maddick’s will be the one’s doing the wiping out. It is either hot or cold.
As the meeting continues Lathan discreetly withdraws from the room and goes down to the underground parking garage. He retrieves two duffle bags from his SUV and brings them up to his room. He lays out on the table everything inside the bags and begins assembling this to that.
It is still daylight. He’ll wait until dark. The night is a better ally.
23
As much as he did not want to get involved, Lathan’s hand has now been forced. If this place is invaded he will then be forced to deal with them along with trying to get to the safe to retrieve its contents and then try to exit the city unscathed. It occurred to him that he can simply go to the safe right now and then slip out of town, and he could very well do just that. But for whatever reason, and against his own good judgment, he isn’t going to do that.
Kill the head and the body will die.
24
Lathan doesn’t have a problem sneaking out. He rappels down the side off the building with a rope through one of the windows. The wall runs deep with guards but their main concern is keeping those from coming in, so their focus is outward, not inward.
On the other side of the wall Lathan silently makes his way to the front gate while staying within shadows and minding the perimeter in case of Maddick’s who may be lurking.
Once at the front he hides out in an alley long enough to count the number of men outside the gate and study them for a moment, their grouping and their habits. He estimates there to be approximately one hundred of them, a handful of them women. Some are gathered around bonfires and others stay in their vehicles; conversing, sleeping, and what-not. Many walk amongst themselves, drinking and taking an occasional offered hit from a smoking pipe. The boss man is nowhere in sight.
Lathan slips off his coat and straps the katana around his back, unsheathes two eight inch blades, and enters the battlefield.
He silently approaches the three closest to him, they are away from the others enjoying pipe hits from something he’s never smelled before. Lathan lunges forward, jabbing the blade into the head of one and slicing open the neck of another. Yanking the blade out of the head he spins and plants the blade into the third man’s chest and follows through with the other blade into his temple, causing his eyes to turn severely to the side. The action only takes a couple of seconds with no sound. He doesn’t bother moving the bodies. They’re far enough away that they won’t be noticed.
Crouching low to the ground he moves in closer, using their vehicles for cover. He stays clear of the bonfires, too much light and too many around. He eliminates the weaker links first, those who’ve strayed from the groups, and carefully works himself in. Many of them are inebriated from some form of intoxicant so they aren’t as alert as they should be. Easy pickings.
He finds two empty vehicles he is able to hunker down between and lay in wait, like a trapdoor spider, for someone to walk by and then shoot up, snapping their neck or knifing them as he drags them in. Soon he accumulates too many bodies and must move on.
With still no sign of Vincent he must get closer to the truck-tank, Vincent is either in the back under the canopy of the thing or in another vehicle close by it. Lathan isn’t going to be able to keep this up without eventually being noticed, and probably more sooner than later. He is going to need to start taking bigger risks and acting faster.
He fishes out a small magnetic device from the side pocket of his pants. It is rectangular, about the size of two matchboxes put together and highly explosive, detonated by a remote control switch. Mean little devil. He has three of them. He flips its receiver switch on and places one under the gas tank of a vehicle.
He sneaks out, stealthily taking out several more men and also one woman (in cases like this everyone goes) and along the way he plants a second explosive device under another gas tank. He needs to go directly to the opposite side of the street but won’t be able to without everyone seeing him, and so he thinks “Why not?”
Lathan rises to his feet, sheathing his blades, and walks nonchalantly in plain view toward the other side. At times as he passes by many of them he is able to hear their hallowed indiscretions and plans for the beloved Pinnacle once it is breached. It sickens him to hear such things and only fuels his ever growing hatred of them.
Just before he makes it across the way a big fuzzy faced man suddenly grabs him by the arm and pulls Lathan into him. Lathan nearly strikes him down but the man bellows in his face. “Tomar’ we’ll be drankin’ fine whiskey and filling our bellies with swine by the pound.” His breath reeks of halitosis and bootleg alcohol. He squeezes Lathan’s arm and shakes with excitement as he says, “Gods of the world! Ahh-hooo!”
Lathan peels the man’s hand away from his arm and shoves him on his way.
25
Unlike the side of the street he just came from, this side of the campground is thoroughly covered, making it difficult to plant the last explosive device, but not impossible. A little improvisation is in order.
Lathan begins to walk in a drunken gait, mumbling to himself. He stumbles over his feet and collides into the side of a truck, falling flat on the ground. Those who see this happen laugh at him. But no one saw him slip an arm under the truck, sticking the device to it.
“Looks like someone can’t hold their liquor.”
“Pick ‘im up and throw ‘im in the back of the truck.”
Lathan picks himself up on all fours, sways side to side, then follows through with a foot on the ground and then the other. He unsteadily rises to his full height and places a hand on the truck for balance.
“You alright, pal?” one of them asks.
“I’ma aw ‘ight. I’ma ‘kay.”
“Say,” another says curiously, this one is so ugly he makes most of them look GQ, and comes closer to Lathan. “What kind of sword you got there?” Just when he’s about to put his hand on it Lathan turns his back to the truck.
“What? I can’t have a look at it?” the man says, his ugly face knotted up in insult. “Who the hell are you, anyway? Jax! C’mere! You know this guy?”
Here comes Jax, not quite as ugly but just as nasty. He scrutinizes Lathan, giving him a head to toe inspection.
“Naw. Never seen him before. Who’d you come in with?”
Lathan answers with a slur of words, which gets him a slap in the face by Ugly Face.
“Ay, asshole, snap out of it. Tell us who the hell you came in with.”
Lathan acts as if he’s unfazed by the slap and keeps slurring his words which gets him another slap in the face.
“Ay, who the hell are you? What’s your name, huh?”
Another slap follows. Those who are watching start to laugh. Then Jax throws in his own slap which nearly makes Lathan spin on his feet, and everyone really guffaws at that.
Ugly Face turns to the growing crowd and asks aloud, “Does anyone know this asshole?” Everyone responds with a “No”. He turns to face Lathan and says, “You gonna start talking? Huh? Because if you don’t it’s about to get real bad for you, stranger.”
Ugly Face’s hand is caught right before it meets Lathan’s face, and all the sobriety in the world cannot match Lathan’s eyes when he says, “It’s already gotten real bad for you, asshole.”
Just then someone hollers in a frenzy at the top of their lungs, “They’re dead! They’ve killed them! They’re here! Find them!”
Lathan punches Ugly Face in the nose, snatches out his blades and unloads on Jax. The others are stunned but soon realize what is happening. Ambush. They lunge after Lathan but are stopped by his thrown blades, one strikes the head and the other the ch
est. He unsheathes his katana and swiftly slices off the top half of Ugly Face’s head, exposing his brain, and taking down the next two coming after him without a hitch. Those who are unaware of the current situation he is causing run toward the area where the bodies were found.
Several men jump from the canopy of the truck-tank. The last one who emerges is Vincent Maddick.
Lathan makes his way toward the truck-tank, no sense in being stealth anymore, word is out loud and clear.
Most of the men have no idea where the threat is so they glance about them unsure of where to begin fighting. But those who are aware are no match for Lathan. Although many are strapped with guns, they don’t do them much good once Lathan is right up on them. They have a killer’s instinct but aren’t actually trained very well with the tools that will kill. Lathan goes through them like a tornado in a trailer park.
Vincent barks orders at everyone. Then upon seeing a man with a sword slaying everyone who comes to him, making a beeline directly at him, Vincent points and yells in a near panic, “There! There’s one of them! Get him!”
The Maddick leader reaches into the canopy of the truck-tank and pulls out an assault rifle. He cocks it for action but has no time to aim before Lathan is upon him preparing to strike. Vincent raises the rifle to shield the blade and kicks out a foot, causing Lathan to double over and backpedal from the blow to his stomach. He rights himself in two steps and responds with a roundhouse kick to the rifle Vincent is about to aim his way. Vincent is thrown off balance, exposing him to danger.
So long Vincent Maddick.
