by Jai Williams
“Yeah, I know,” replied Finn, butting in. “We do what we have to do in this world to survive, always and forever,” said Finn and Alice at the same time. Finn kissed Alice. He stopped kissing her and kept his face up close to Alice’s so their noses and foreheads were pressing together. “I’ll see you soon and you’ll see your grandfather soon; I can make sure of that,” said Finn with a smile.
Captain Harris walked up to the door of the motel room and opened it. “Okay men, it’s time to leave,” he said loudly. All the soldiers and Finn walked out of the motel room one by one, leaving Hank and Alice behind. Captain Harris and all the men got outside. “Okay, group one head north, group two head east and group three head south and – good luck, guys; there’s only two of you now and everyone else good luck too,” said Captain Harris.
All the men headed out into the directions they had to clear: group one headed towards a supermarket, group two headed into the main streets and group three headed into a residential area. Group one, which had Captain Harris, Stan and Roger, approached a supermarket. “Okay, Stan and Roger, you two enter this building and check around to make sure it’s secure and I will search around the outside of the building and try and find all the exits and make sure they’re clear,” said Captain Harris. The two soldiers entered the supermarket through a broken glass door and Captain Harris headed towards the right side of the building. The two soldiers split up when they got into the building; one searched the left side of the building and the other searched the right side of the building. Stan and Roger were trying to be as quiet as they could but it was quite hard as there was glass and parts of the wall and ceiling scattered everywhere on the ground. The building was a wreck; it looked like it had been damaged by all types of gunfire and explosives. Pretty much every building in the world was damaged like this or just completely destroyed because when criminals took over the world, other people joined them and went insane. Seeing that there were no more rules, people just thought that they could do whatever they wanted to, like stealing stuff from buildings and destroying them in the process.
Back outside Captain Harris had just found an exit so he reached out to see if it was open and it was, so he entered the building. He checked to see if it was safe by shining his torch around the room, and all he could see was a kitchen with tables and chairs scattered all across the room. It seemed like it was a break room for staff that used to work in the supermarket years ago. Meanwhile, back inside the front of the building, Stan and Roger seemed to have no sight of anyone else in the building but they kept moving forward to make sure the whole building was clear. They reached the back of the building and were about to report to each other that it was all clear when they heard a noise from the door in front of them. It was the door opening, so they both aimed their guns at the door with their fingers on the trigger ready to shoot.
“Don’t shoot; it’s me,” said Captain Harris loudly.
The men lowered their guns. “Sorry sir, we thought it was someone else,” said Stan.
“Well, you’re lucky it’s me,” replied Captain Harris.
“It’s all clear in here, Captain,” said Roger.
Captain Harris pointed to the right side of the building. “It was all clear out there, except the door on that side of the building wouldn’t open. Is it open on this side?” asked Captain Harris.
“No,” replied Roger. So Captain Harris and the two men walked over to the locked door and Captain Harris slammed his foot against the door constantly until the door broke down. The first thing they noticed from the room was a terrible smell, so while they all shined their torches in the room they covered their noses. They could see dead bodies everywhere with blood splattered all over the room; they could tell these men and woman were slaughtered.
“These poor people,” said Captain Harris as he shook his head with a horrified look. He shut the door and they all left the building to go onto the next place to clear.
Meanwhile, group two, which had Bruce, Alan and Jackson, had just reached their first patrol group that was roaming the streets. They were just about to exit an alleyway when the patrol group was coming down. That’s when they spotted the men, so the group decided to take the patrol by surprise. There were only three of them, which meant one for each man. Bruce, Alan and Jackson were waiting in the shadow away from the footpath. They waited for the patrol group to come by so that they could take them out quietly. The patrol group got closer and closer until they could see them walk by the alleyway Bruce, Alan and Jackson were in and just as they passed by the soldiers silently walked up behind them, pulled out their knifes, grabbed the men’s mouths so that they couldn’t scream and slit the patrol men’s throats. Gushes of blood were running down these men’s bodies making a puddle of blood on the ground. The soldiers dragged the bodies off the path into the alley, leaving a trail of blood behind. They laid the bodies down and searched the men for things that could be useful to them, like ammo, guns or keys or something but mainly the first thing they tried to look for was a radio; however, these men didn’t carry one so they threw the bodies into a dumpster. The area they were in looked like a bloodbath.
Now group three, which had Jay and Finn, had already looked through many houses, which were all clear. They had not come across any patrol groups or lookouts yet, but that didn’t mean that they were going to be lucky the whole way through. All the houses that they searched through, were horrifying to look at. There were windows broken into, stuff thrown around everywhere, walls destroyed, bullet holes everywhere, blood on the walls, floor and pretty much all over the place and dead bodies lying around. Every house they walked into was a slaughterhouse, so it seemed like nobody in this town survived.
“Jesus Christ. What happened to the world? This is just horrible. I know I was born into it but the stories my parents told me about what the world was once like, made it seem like, why would you want to change the world?” said Finn with a sad and horrified look on his face.
“I’ll tell you what happened to the world; it died and everything that kept it alive died with it and I too was born into this so-called world,” replied Jay.
They kept searching house to house to make sure that their section of the town was clear and they couldn’t find anyone. It was almost like all the men patrolling this town were chasing Ronnie, so they headed back to the motel where Hank and Alice were waiting. Meanwhile groups one and two were still looking from building to building, from street to street and they only ended up finding two patrol groups, so they too headed back to the motel.
Jay and Finn finally got back to the motel room before the other groups did and waiting behind that door, was a scared and worried woman. Jay opened the door and as soon as Finn entered the room, Alice ran up to him and jumped into his arms.
“I’m so glad you’re ok,” she said with relief.
“Yeah, we’re fine; in fact, there were no patrols or lookouts where we went, which is why we weren’t gone that long,” replied Finn.
“Really?” asked Hank.
Jay walked over to Hank and placed his gun on a bench near Hank. “Yeah, there was no one else out there. It seemed strange,” said Jay.
“Hmm, maybe all the men that were patrolling the town followed Ronnie,” replied Hank.
“I guess so, but we’ll find out when the others get back,” replied Jay.
Just a few minutes later, Captain Harris opened the door and entered the room. He looked at Jay. “Wow, you two are back already – that was fast,” he said.
“Actually sir, we never ran into anyone; the streets and houses were empty,” replied Jay.
“Well, that’s strange because we only found one patrol group, same as the other group,” said Captain Harris.
“Yeah, we think that all the men patrolling the town followed Ronnie," said Hank.
The rest of the soldiers entered the room, closing the door behind them. “Okay everyone, it seems that the streets are clear so now it’s time for the next step, which is heading to t
he police station,” said Captain Harris.
“How do we know that the leader of this town is held up at the police station?” said Finn.
“Where else would they be?” asked Captain Harris.
Finn walked over to look at the map on the bed and he looked carefully all over the map until he pointed somewhere on the map. “There, they could be there,” he said with confidence.
Captain Harris walked over to the map to see where Finn pointed to and he saw that Finn was pointing to what seemed to be a school. “A school?” said Captain Harris with a curious look.
“Yes, a school. I mean it looks a lot bigger than the police station and it’s got many rooms for locking up people they capture,” replied Finn, still with confidence.
Captain Harris walked over to a duffle bag. “Hang on, we’ve got pictures of what buildings used to look like here,” he said while searching through the bag. He finally pulled a folder from the duffle bag. He walked back over to Finn and pulled out a bunch of photos from the folder, some of the school. Captain Harris handed them to Finn and Finn flipped through them. One of the photos he looked at, had an image of the school from the outside. The school was a double story building. Captain Harris politely grabbed the photos from Finn and looked through them all. “I think you could be right. Okay men, we’re now heading to the school so get ready to leave again,” said Captain Harris. He pulled out a small white board from the same duffle bag he grabbed the folder from, and started drawing up a plan. He drew a sketch of the school. “Okay, they probably have snipers on the roof so we’re going to have to go through these trees to get close,” he said. He looked back and forth at the map and white board. He drew circles to indicate them and drew X’s to indicate the targets to take out. “They will have guards on each entrance so we’re going to have to take care of them and when we get inside, that’s when the real fun begins,” said Captain Harris. He looked at the pictures of the school again and looked back at the white board. He flipped the white board over to the other side and started sketching the inside of the school. “Okay, now these guys are probably smart and have men patrolling the hallways so we’re going to have to time this perfectly so we don’t get caught. We’ll make sure we check every room and every corner because as soon as we get caught, it’s over before it began,” said Captain Harris.
“Am I going with you guys?” asked Finn.
“We need every man we can find to do this, so yeah,” replied Captain Harris. Captain Harris told everyone to reload and head out, so he, Finn and all the soldiers headed out once again.
Finn walked over to Alice. “Go into the room with the kids, lock the door and barricade the windows and door and do not open it unless it’s us, ok?” he said with a serious look.
“I will, you just make sure you come back to me again, promise?” said Alice as she started hugging Finn.
Finn gave Alice a kiss on her forehead. “I promise,” he replied. Finn and Alice left the room, turning the light off and shutting the door behind them. Finn handed Alice a gun. “Just in case. You remember how to use it?” Finn asked.
“Yes, I do,” replied Alice. Alice headed towards the room that the kids were sleeping in and she opened the door, blew a kiss to Finn and shut the door behind her. When she got inside the room she did what Finn told her to do and locked the door and pushed with all of her strength the bed she was sleeping on against the door. She placed whatever she could find over the windows and piled up the pillows and blanket on the floor so she could sit on them while she guarded the door.
All the men ran off towards the school. It only took a couple of minutes for them to reach a playground, where they tried to catch their breath from all that running, and from the playground they could see the school and just like Captain Harris said, there were trees for them to take cover behind so they set off towards the trees. They quietly approached the trees and from there the men could see two snipers on the roof. “Wow they are prepared,” whispered Finn. As the two snipers were looking away from their direction one by one, the soldiers and Finn walked over to the wall of the school and crouched down and when they were all across they headed to the back of the school. They were in one line, all following Captain Harris. Captain Harris came to a stop; he could see more men that were around a playground but they were facing away from him so he turned to look back at all the soldiers and Finn.
“Okay, there are two men guarding the playground but they are facing away from us so there is no need to take them out and if we do, the snipers on the roof will see and we’ll be caught. But what we can do, is go one at a time through the door I see just a couple of feet away from us. Now we must do this quick and quietly,” said Captain Harris. Captain Harris silently walked over to the door and opened it but first he quickly checked to make sure that the coast was clear and there were no other men guarding near that area. He signalled for the soldiers to start heading over to him, so the next soldier in line quietly came across and the next and so on, until all of them were safely inside the school. Captain Harris closed the door carefully. “Okay, we made it inside. Now let’s head this way,” whispered Captain Harris. They followed Captain Harris and headed to another door, which led into the main halls. Captain Harris quietly opened the door and poked his head out to see if the hall was clear, which it was, so he looked back at all the soldiers and Finn. “Coast is clear. Let’s go,” he whispered.
So, they all stood up and one by one they all walked through the door. They were about to approach a turn that led left and right but from both corners an armed man turned in their direction and they aimed their guns at Captain Harris, Finn and the soldiers and just when they were about to run the other direction a couple more men armed with guns stopped them. They were outnumbered. “Drop your weapons,” said a guy from both sides, so Captain Harris, Finn and the soldiers all placed their guns down on the ground and all of a sudden, they could hear someone clapping. All the men from one side moved to make room for the mystery clapper and it was Ted, the man that John, Alice’s grandfather, was talking to earlier.
“Well fuckin’ done, gentlemen; I mean, you almost made it – almost. But one of you messed up. You could’ve made it through these halls and probably found whoever it is that you are looking for, but one of you guys fucked up,” he said with a smile. Ted started walking by Captain Harris and the soldiers with his finger pointing at them. “And that fuck-up wasssss…” he said while he was still walking. Ted came to a stop and looked at Finn. “…you,” he said with a grin. Ted walked back towards his men. “Take these men downstairs. I think it’s time I have a little chat with them,” he said demandingly.
Chapter Seven: What We Have To Do
Ronnie and Dave were still on their way back to town, going in the same direction they came from. Dave was still in pain. “Are you ok? You’re not going to pass out on me are you?” asked Ronnie while he concentrated on the road.
“Nah, I’m not, but my leg is still bleeding,” replied Dave.
Ronnie stopped the truck, “Well, I have a solution,” he said, looking at Dave.
“What is it?” asked Dave.
Ronnie ripped some of his shirt. “Put your leg up here,” he said, so Dave pulled his leg up and put it right next to Ronnie. Ronnie started wrapping the piece of shirt he ripped and tied it around Dave’s cut on his leg so that he could stop the bleeding for now, until they got to the motel.
“Thanks,” replied Dave, still in pain. Dave put his leg back down and Ronnie looked back at the road and started driving again. They were only driving for a minute or so until they saw in the distance a bunch of men blocking the road with three trucks. These men looked scary and mean, they looked like murders, rapists, guys who abused women and just like the worst criminals you could think of. These guys looked like they were locked away in prison before all this shit happened to the world. They seemed to be wearing the same clothes, like jeans and black jackets.
Ronnie put his foot down on the brakes and looked at Dave. “Oh
shit,” he said with a worried look on his face.
“No, oh fuck,” replied Dave.
“Shit, these are probably the men that were chasing me earlier in the forest; they must have given up and set up a road block,” said Ronnie.
“Fuck,” said Ronnie, still with a worried look on his face.
“We should’ve gone in the other direction,” replied Dave.
“Well, we could quickly turn around and try to lose these guys but chances are they will ram us off the road and this time we won’t be so lucky,” replied Ronnie.
“It’s too late now,” replied Dave.
One of the men fired his gun in the air. “Hey you guys in the truck, get out with your hands up and leave whatever weapons you have in the truck,” said the man with a mean look on his face. Ronnie and Dave slowly opened their side door and hopped out of the truck with their hands up. They walked to the front of the truck. “Now where did you get that truck? You couldn’t have stolen it because we would have seen you doing it, so that means you killed our men and took it,” said the same guy who fired his gun a second ago.
Ronnie and Dave looked at each other with fear in their eyes and they looked back at the group of armed men. “We found this truck on the side of the road, so please, we don’t mean you any harm. So, why don’t you just let us go and no one will get hurt?” said Ronnie, trying to lie the best he could.
“Really? You found it – whatever you say but I believe that you killed our men and took it. There’s blood on your face,” said the same guy that spoke before.
“Listen, it doesn’t have to go down like this; we can work something out,” replied Ronnie.
“Wait a second, you’re the guy that we were chasing before, ha-ha, and you came back thinking what we gave up – no, we didn’t. If I was you I would’ve gone the other way and kept driving but you’re probably a fuckin’ idiot,” said the same guy.
