by Thomas, Jack
“What do you mean? How well do you know this guy?” I asked. My interest grew. A story would be a great way to kill the time while Richard took the time to realize that he would rather kill us.
“Richard and I, we go way back, pre-military kind of way back. We enlisted together and demanded to be part of the same unit until they gave us what we wanted. We ranked up together in the military to command our own units and work side by side,” Marcus explained.
“How exactly does this tie into his current mental breakdown?” I continued to ask to deepen my knowledge of the situation.
“He reacted the same way once before.”
“Well are you going to tell the story? It’s not like we have a large number of distractions at the time.”
“Alright, I suppose.
Years ago, Richard and I were given a recon assignment. The mission was simple. We were to work our way into an enemy outpost by the desert and recover some Intel stolen from a fallen chopper. We made it in successfully and retrieved the Intel but on our way out we were captured and the Intel was taken by the enemy, again. We were held as prisoners along with some rebels that made a stand against their government and failed.
Two weeks captive. Within that time, the daily food supply given to us wasn’t enough for everyone held captive. We were barely given rations.
Imprisoned with us was a young girl, nine years old. The customs of the country dictated that women were worthless compared to men. This included the little girl.”
“Children were imprisoned too?”
“Yes. It didn’t matter to that government. A traitor was a traitor regardless of age. Her family was of rebels and to their government it meant she was too.”
“That’s disgusting.”
“Tell me about it. The rebels, who were all men, believed the girl did not have rights to her rations and they would starve her out. With the arrival of Richard and I, this all changed. We would share our food on a daily basis with the girl, but this did not sit well with the rebels. They felt that if the food was going to be shared, it should be with them because they still thought the girl was unworthy of something they could have.
Over the days, the rebels became more hostile because we continued to share our food with the child. Eventually the hostility became physical and we were forced to defend ourselves numerous times. On a random day, with no warning, one of the rebels pulled out a rock they managed to sharpen and turn into a makeshift knife. He tried to use it against us.
Richard and I both saw that knife as an opportunity to escape and so we fought the man for it and took it from him. During the encounter the other rebels became more violent and Richard escalated to take one of the rebel’s lives as a way to strike fear into the rest of them. It worked and they left us and the girl alone.
That same night, we used the sharpness of knife to break around the wall in which the cell doors were held up and we reached outside to capture and subdue the prison guard in charge of food distribution. From him we took the keys to the prison and we made our escape.
The escape was meant to be simple. We were going to take the most isolated routes out of the enemy grounds and enter more populated areas to blend in to the general population on our way back to the base with the girl, but the events that took place in the prison changed something inside Richard. He felt the rebel soldiers and the government soldiers were all equals in brutality and this interpretation continued to develop into a more negative view of living things in general. How ‘humanity’ is the problem instead of those specific people.
We stole some weapons to make our way back to base easier and we escaped the enemy grounds successfully. But when we reached the more populated parts of town to blend in, we were spotted. Richard lost all regard for the people involved in the war, regardless of what side they were on.
At first he took the lives of soldiers on either side, whether armed or not, so long as they confronted us or tried to arrest us. I dealt with it for the sake of the girl.”
“That’s messed up. Was it not possible for you to both stop him and escape to the base?”
“Sadly, it wasn’t. The presence of the girl alone signified trouble. The weight of protecting her and being fugitives was more than I could handle alone. I believed there was still hope for Richard, that the change that consumed him was superficial and would fade overtime. Our situation called for some drastic measures, maybe not to the extent he went to, but I was willing to excuse much of in for our own lives and the life of the girl.”
“So Richard was given a free pass to kill. A free pass to do what he saw fit. I’m not saying I agree, but evil is obvious. There is no hiding the true evil nature in a person. Maybe that experience was just the way for his eyes to open. His resolve wouldn’t be my first choice, but it is understandable.”
“That’s the same mentality I adapted to cope with what he was doing.
We came across the opportunity to capture some of the government soldiers and we took that opportunity. It was a chance for us to interrogate and possibly recover the information that we lost a second time.
To skip the ridiculous length of this story, they were tortured. Richard tortured them for two days in a location hidden from the public. But their screams were not hidden as well.
At the end of the second day, we were discovered in hiding by a group of civilians that took the investigation of the screams into their own hands. They confronted us on the torture and tried to persuade us that regardless of their crimes, they were still people. I completely agreed and tried to talk some sense into Richard, but by this point he was long gone. All the screws were loose and the lid was off. The civilians took my word that he would stop and we would either turn them in to be executed by the rebels or we would kill them ourselves to end their prolonged suffering, but it turned out to be a lie and my word held no water.
The following day, the screams were back in town, and so the civilians once again came to our location. This time they created a human shield to protect the soldiers from any further torture. Richard interpreted this as though they sided with the soldiers and adapted the ultimatum mentality of ‘With Us or Against Us’. He opened fire on the civilians and killed them all. He went mad, became obsessed with the retrieval of the Intel. Intel that other American soldiers successfully retrieved when our communications were severed; turned out, they thought we were dead and sent a second team in to locate our bodies and the Intel, which is all we learned from the soldiers that were tortured.
We returned to base and were both discharged after some investigation took place. I was honorably discharged but Richard faced a short prison sentence.”
“What happened to the little girl after you guys rescued her?” one of the soldiers from the base asked.
Marcus turned his attention to the soldier. “And who are you?”
“Lieutenant Jackson, sir.” The man responded.
“Well Jackson, after we rescued her, she was taken into custody by the United States military and used as a witness for Richard’s crimes against her people. After that, she decided to reside in the US after the option was proposed. In exchange, when she becomes of legal age, she has to dedicate her life to the military. She was later put into adoptive services and as of there I haven’t heard from her,” Marcus said. The volume in his voice went up, he was curious. He wanted to know of the girl too.
My own curiosity surfaced. “If you and Richard had a falling out, what led to him being a brief part of the unit you formed to fight the infection?”
“He showed up voluntarily. For the sake of old times I thought he could have changed and turned into a person who actually wanted to help, but I was wrong.”
“Tell me about it.”
“He was after the opportunity to better serve his own needs. And I apologize to everyone for so foolishly being tricked by someone I know so well.” Marcus’s hate for the things Richard did made his skin crawl almost visibly, but there was some buried friendship that still existed somewher
e in there.
After all, Richard kept us alive for some reason… right?
“Enough of irrelevant life stories,” Marcus began. “We need to work on a way out of here.”
“Agreed, the only way out of here is to be cut loose,” I said.
The soldier left to watch the captives was impatient. I’m sure he didn’t want to be left there to watch us and die of boredom in the process.
“Do you know that soldier?” I asked Marcus.
“Yeah, his name is David Queen. Lieutenant Queen.”
Loud thumps on the door out of the Dining Hall made me jumpy, unfamiliar screams followed. Scratches and more thumps followed that. There was something outside. Nothing was at the window as far as I could tell but I was far from it, Lieutenant David on the other hand, was curious of the sound and went over to the window for a closer look. When he made it to the window his body became stiff. It was impossible to see the look on his face but his lack of movement spoke volumes. Something happened outside that wasn’t part of the plan as far as David was told.
“DAVID!” Marcus yelled. “What is going on out there?” Marcus asked aggressively trying to snap David out of his horrified state.
“Nothing, it’s under control.” David looked back at us. “You just need to worry about how much longer you have to live before Richard comes back under the impression that you’ve become even more useless,” He said, and returned his attention to the window.
“If something went wrong, you need to get us out of here! We are stronger in numbers. If they left you here to die with us, you won’t make it far. You are going to need us,” Marcus told David with hopes that he might eat the words up and set us free.
“Do you think I’m stupid? I don’t need your help. If anything, I could just leave you here as a nice snack to distract those freaks while I make my escape,” David said. Those words served as a clear message to me that Marcus failed to persuade the man.
“He’s right, and by the looks of it, you will have no escape route without our help.” I gave a nod as a way to point towards the window, where two of the infected looked in.
“Let us go, give us our guns, and lets all get out of here alive. It’s the only option you have aside from dying here with the rest of us,” Marcus said.
The infected on the other side of the window pounded on the glass and broke it within a couple of hits.
David fell back in fear. “Okay, okay. I’ll get you out. Let’s get out of here.” He ran to us and pulled out a knife to cut the zip ties. He released Marcus first, followed by me, and ended it with the other three captives. “What are we going to do?” he asked.
As we were freed we went over to the table with our guns on it and rearmed ourselves in preparation for the trip outside.
“We are going to shoot our way out and get to the others before something bad happens. We need to make noise and draw the infected to us. But first, we need another door out of here. Let’s find it,” Marcus said. He was more energetic than before. The thrill of a problem to solve was his turn on button.
“The other door is in the kitchen. Let’s get to it,” David said and ran towards the kitchen, being followed by all of the no longer captive captives.
Just as he said, in the kitchen there was a door, and our way out. Everyone readied their weapons and left.
The sun was bright enough to blind us all when we ran outside, but winter kept the sun’s warmth in the distance. The Dining Hall’s backdoor exit was clear of infected but we knew how fast they worked. It would be a matter of time before they caught up with us. Quick and quiet was the theme.
Marcus walked right pass David and took the next turn around the building. He headed in the direction of the infirmary, where everyone else was either being eaten alive or not yet attacked by the infected unleashed on the base. By the time we caught up with Marcus around the corner, the base was already overrun by infected. It had been a few minutes since Richard left the Dining Hall, but it managed to look like they’ve roamed the base since the outbreak. Hundreds of infected walked the streets in the base, many of which were soldiers and others were just survivors brought into the base during the initial outbreak.
Marcus wasn’t a bit worried about the infected. His mind was set on getting to the survivors at the infirmary and getting them back to safety. He walked around the infected that weren’t gathered up, and avoided close proximity to the ones that were.
I tried to keep my eye on David out of fear that he might turn on us again. Marcus continued to move faster than the rest of us and eventually he was gone. All of the infected in the area made the line of sight shorter while they stood in the way. We already knew Marcus was headed to the infirmary so we just needed to survive on our way there.
Gun shots dropped the infected around us, but the rounds didn’t come from our group. Someone else took the shots. The older soldier in the group was shot on the shoulder by one of the stray rounds.
“General!” Lieutenant Jackson yelled out.
David wasn’t concerned by the General’s wound. He took cover. I helped Jackson move the General behind a building wall for cover before I looked around the wall to where the shots came from. All of the infected turned their attention to the direction of the sound and completely ignored us. I couldn’t make out who shot at us but the infected sure knew where he was. I tried to watch the direction they headed and spotted a guy on top of the roof a few buildings down. When the person on the roof realized they were spotted, they opened fire with an automatic weapon and sprayed the area in front of me, he nearly hit me.
Jackson took the General with the help of the other soldier and tried to going around the building. I let them go while I kept my eye on the guy on top of the roof. David took cover on the building across from where the rest of us did the same. I didn’t mind him being left behind to die on his own, after all, he did believe Richard was right at some point and because of him enough bad things already occurred.
More gunshots came from the side that Jackson left through. I rushed over to see what was going on, my heart stopped for a moment and I froze up. They were killed, shot down by Richard, which I managed to get a glimpse of as he made his escape through the side of a hanger.
Marcus vanished, everyone we escaped with was killed, and the survivors were likely being killed as I figured out what to do. Nothing made sense about Richard. It was like he did these things just because he could, but the events that led him to do them were justifiable to an extent. I didn’t know what to think. I didn’t know how to deal with that level of chaos. But I had to focus, as hard as it was to do with the thought that a maniac walked around in search of people to kill, for no apparent reason.
Every second that went by made the survival window smaller and smaller, and the triple threat of Richard’s psychotic actions, the mindless infected and Richard’s followers made it impossible to get back to the infirmary with a clear mind.
Every time rounds were shot, the infected flocked to that direction and tried to find their next meal. Being left alone gave me less to worry over when it came to the ability to move freely. I decided to make a run for it and just avoid all of the infected at the same time that I avoided Richard and his men. If I moved at a constant pace, this would be easier to do, but there was still one thing that kept getting to me, and that was David. If at any moment he underwent a change of heart and decided to take me out, he would have every chance to do so. I acted first. I turned around and headed back to where I took cover before I came to Richard killing my chance of a safe travel. When I turned the corner, David jumped out at me and grabbed me by the neck. He threw his whole body weight on me and knocked me down to the ground. I hit my head on the way down but it wasn’t severe enough for me to pass out. He kept his thumbs pressed against my throat to cut the flow of air to my lungs.
Richard, seemingly anywhere at will, walked around the corner and watched David choke the life out of me.
I was asphyxiating, but it was slow enough for
me to have a chance to defend myself. I slammed the handle of the assault rifle against David’s head. He didn’t loosen his grip against my throat with just one blow, but I hit him a few more times on the right temple and he fell over to the side. It become a shoot or be shot moment, and if I left David alive he would surely come back for me to stay on Richard’s good side.
Richard stood there and watched in wait for a result.
I drove into a small panic because of what I did to get back to the infirmary. I took the assault rifle and slammed it into David’s head while he rested on the ground. I hit him again, and again, and again, and again. Blood dripped from his ears and nose while I made sure he was dead. I couldn’t stop. I found a relief when I took out my anger and fear of everything that took place the last few days. His skull was cracked where I repeatedly hit him with the gun. After a minute of consistent bashes to his head I found the will to pull myself away from him. I stood up, took a deep breath and hovered over David’s dead body while I took in the ‘result’.
Richard still watched me and I raised my gun up to him. “I wouldn’t stand here without considering every possibility. Don’t be foolish,” he said.
I pulled the trigger.
Click, click.
The gun was empty all along. He had one of his men take the ammunition out of the gun.
“Enjoy the feeling,” Richard said before he vanished around the corner he came from.
What was he referring to?
I walked away from David’s body and went over to the three bodies that included Jackson’s and I took his gun, checked it for rounds and just like my own, it was empty. There was nothing else to do so I left before the infected tracked the dead bodies. I didn’t run for long before I spotted what looked like people in the distance. I stopped to get a more focused look, and it was two of Richard’s men. That left Richard and maybe two or three more guys unaccounted for.
The gun I held was grabbed from my hand and thrown far behind me. I turned around and it was yet another of Richard’s men, accompanied by two more. I swung my right fist at him and he dodged under it and followed up with an uppercut. He slammed his head against mine and tackled me into the wall we fought next to. I fell to the floor and was kicked on the stomach by him once, twice, and a third time.
