‘Go. Go. Go. Go. Go,’ he yelled before managing to close the door.
My eyes couldn’t pull themselves away from the crowd and thus, my neck turned involuntarily, observing the commotion that we had caused by showing up. How many people had died? Was that guy that I guy that I had watched die the only one to feel the wrath of my bullet? There were so many questions clouding my mind. So many questions I’d never find the answers to.
‘Are you okay?’ Alex asked Timothy.
‘Those fucking bastards,’ he replied; his voice drenched in anger. ‘Can you believe it? You’d think that these idiots would realize that men in a fucking Humvee have enough bullets to take all of them out. Fucking jumping on me like that. What did they think would happen? Did they think we’d toss our guns down and just surrender to them? I can’t fucking stand it. I can’t stand having to deal with all this shit. Fucking scratched up my entire hand.’
I wanted to smack Timothy for complaining about his hand; for calling all those people names. If it weren’t for his fancy Humvee and his rounds of ammo, he might have found himself with nothing, just like those people. My heart bled for them. Our walls blocked out the pain of the nation but being out here made it all a reality. I knew that things were bad. I knew that there was no order in the country anymore. But not seeing something makes it easier to forget. Did Timothy not care about the lives we had just taken?
‘Calm down,’ Alex took a hand off the steering well and patted Timothy on the shoulder. ‘These people don’t have anything, so they’ve got to fight for the chance of having something.’ I was happy that at least someone in this vehicle, other than myself, had some form of sympathy for those people. Alex continued, ‘We’re the fortunate ones. We’re the ones who get to have a meal every day and a clean suit of clothes on our backs.’
Timothy shrugged. I wasn’t certain if he agreed or if he just didn’t want to have the conversation. After what had just happened, reading facial expressions was the least of my concerns.
‘You okay, Thomas?’ I said to the little boy whose teeth were chattering loudly next to me.
‘Yeah. It’s just scary. That’s all. I mean, they fight everyday, but the guns, just…’
‘I know. I’m sorry you had to see that. Now, you said you know where they took the doctor?’
‘Yes sir,’ Thomas replied confidently. ‘Ever since you guys let me go, I’ve been hanging out in this little tent close to your wall. Early this morning, I woke up because I heard a bunch of people talking and then, I saw them push and hoist one guy up over the fence. I ran and hid in the bushes because I knew that if they saw me, they would hurt me. I thought at first, that maybe they were just going to steal stuff but then they came back with the lady who I saw the other night. She was screaming loud, but none of your guys came to help her. Then, they put some duct tape over her mouth.’
‘Where did they take her?’
‘They took her to Mr. Jones’ house.’
‘And how do you know this?’ Stewart interrupted.
‘I know sir, because I heard them talking about how happy Mr. Jones would be that they got her. You see, someone attacked his wife and she’s not doing so good.’
‘Who’s Mr. Jones?’ I inquired.
‘He’s the guy who runs things out here. I know him because sometimes his people tell me to do stuff for them. They’re the ones who still have some food, but even when I help out, the only thing they give me is a drink of water.’
‘So where do we find him,’ I pushed the conversation in the right direction.
Thomas gave Alex the directions, turn for turn. Every street we turned into looked as sad as the one before. Horrific images of men, women and children were the only things to be seen. Here and there we’d see a corpse in the ditch in between broken down cars with smashed windows. After the image of the pain that the people out here had to endure on a daily basis had settled in, I allowed myself to shut it all out with a thought of my wife. We’d been driving for less than fifteen minutes at this point and though I doubted that the baby already came, I knew it was a possibility. Pregnant women aren’t meant to be stressed and a huge part of me regretted ever setting foot in the Humvee, though I knew it had been a necessity. I could only imagine the ghastly things going on in my wife’s head as she realized that I was no longer there to support her. I knew that mom and dad would do all they could to comfort her but of course, having her husband there would have made a big difference.
We pulled up to a large house with the outside walls covered in scrappy graffiti. Most of the houses in the community had shattered windows. However, this house was perfectly secured with wood replacing the curtains. This made it difficult to get a glance of what was going on on the inside. Thomas insisted that this was where Cindy was being held and so, soon enough, it would be time to bore our way inside and save the day. Unfortunately, it was clear that saving her wouldn’t happen without a fight. Standing guard were two men in their early twenties, equipped with an MP5 and what appeared to be a .44 Magnum each. At a different time, and in a different place, the two of them may have looked like decent human beings; but not today. Thomas told us that he doubted the guns were loaded as Mr. Jones had been more than generous-in the previous months- with the amount of ammunition he shelled out to those who opposed him. The men observed the vehicle in a manner that told us they weren’t to be messed with. If it were only Stewart and I who showed up to win Cindy back, I would have turned away and called it a loss. But with the man and firepower that our Humvee was packing, alongside the countless hours of battle experience, we clearly had what it takes to get answers. Behind us, Jonathan and Henry’s vehicles stopped. Alex was the first to exit, followed by Henry and Jonathan.
‘Ready,’ Stewart turned to me.
‘Ready, I replied.
Now, the entire team that we’d brought with us, including Thomas, exited the vehicle. Two of the men stayed back to ensure that no one got close enough to our vehicles. I walked behind Jonathan, Alex and Timothy, observing the grim looks on the men’s faces as we moved closer and closer to their territory.
‘Where is he?’ Timothy asked in an angry and threatening tone.
‘Where’s who?’ One of the men giggled, seemingly unimpressed by the weaponry we were flashing.
‘Don’t answer my question with a question,’ Timothy snapped. ‘When I ask where he is, you tell me where he is.’
‘And what makes you think we’re just going to allow barge in on our little party?. You must be out of your fucking mind old man.’
Timothy was exceptionally hot tempered and these guys were seconds away from realizing that. ‘Because,’ Timothy responded, ‘when it comes to guns, size does matter’ He pointed his gun at the man and moved a few steps closer. The other guy, inched closer to Timothy as a means of protecting his friend. He was stopped in his tracks by Alex, who didn’t refrain from pushing his gun against the guy’s chest and warning him to back up.
‘Now,’ Alex spoke, ‘Are we going to have to ask you this question again.’
Some men are brave and others have nothing to live for. In the case of the guy who Timothy spoke to, he was both. Rather than complying, he thought it was wise to whip his gun back and attempt to strike Timothy with it. Unfortunately for him, Timothy’s hands were too quick. Too quick to smack the gun away and too quick to pull the trigger. Three bullets, milliseconds apart were pumped through the guy. The sound of Timothy’s gun firing caused my ear to go deaf temporarily. I couldn’t look. I’d seen enough dead bodies for the day and I just couldn’t bring myself to look down on the bloody mess I knew lay before us. There was something on my face. I’d felt the splashes dot themselves across my forehead and down my cheeks. I didn’t want any of this. The reality that another man’s blood sprinkled my face was something that I wasn’t ready to face. I looked at Thomas, who was standing closely to me; his face also wore the blood of the guy Timothy had shot.
‘Now,’ Timothy spoke to the other guy who ha
dn’t seen such drastic actions coming. ‘Are you gonna let us have the key to this door or do you want your brain to hit the side walk too?’ His face was enough to tell that he wasn’t one to be messed with. Timothy was a mean man, a broken man, but a man who chose a side and stuck to it. He’d never met Cindy, but his mission was to find her, to protect her and it was evident that that’s just what he intended to do. Anyone who got in his way, would be dealt with depending on the mood he was in at the time.
There was no reason for him to answer because a round of bullets came soaring through the hardwood door in front of us. I grabbed Thomas and jumped to the side, landing on top of him on the ground. ‘It’s okay,’ I whispered to him. ‘It’s going to be okay.’ Thomas was wrong. Mr. Jones hadn’t run out of bullets. For a minute, it crossed my mind that he may have sent us into a trap but the look on his face when he looked up to me wiped the thought cleanly off my mind.
Alex, Timothy, Jonathan and Stewart pointed their guns at the door.
‘Don’t shoot,’ came a husky and rambunctious voice. ‘That pretty lady that you’re looking for is standing right in front of this door. If you shoot me, you shoot her.’
I assumed the voice came from Mr. Jones. He knew exactly why we were there which meant that Thomas was telling the truth. It meant that he hadn’t set us up.
‘Let her out and we’ll let you live,’ Alex replied.
‘Not a chance in hell,’ the man replied. ‘You people over the wall have got everything you need. I think I’ll keep this one. You know, a finders keepers kinda situation.’
‘You sure that’s the answer you wanna go with?’ Timothy barked.
They were taking a chance and a huge one at that. We had no idea how many men were in that house. There was no way of knowing just how many of them were armed.
‘Thomas,’ I whispered. He didn’t answer. ‘Thomas, do you know how many of them are in there?’ Still no reply. I removed my hand from underneath him and lifted my body. Looking down, I noticed that a pool of blood was beneath us. Thomas had been shot. ‘Fuck, Thomas. Thomas,’ I smacked his face. His eyes opened just a little, only to close themselves shortly after. ‘The boy’s been shot,’ I yelled. ‘They shot him. Oh my god. Oh my god. I can’t believe they shot him.’ At that moment, I felt guilty; I felt as though I was to blame.
They all turned around and looked at me. Although Timothy and Allex had never met the boy, I could see the fury build in their eyes. Alex whispered something to Timothy, who crawled his way to the door. He seemed to be looking through the bullet holes. He had a plan. His fingers gave Alex instructions which I couldn’t decipher and again, the shooting started, this time, only coming from Alex’s gun. He stopped and there was nothing to be heard. No screaming. No bullets being fired from inside the house. Just silence. I looked behind us, in the direction of the Humvee, to see that the guys who were standing guard were now in the Humvee with the big machine gun on top pointed in the opposite direction of the house. Around them gathered a crowd; one that was only kept in order by the fear of a weapon that was intended not only to take lives, but to split limbs from their owner’s body.
‘We’re going in,’ Timothy instructed.
I placed two fingers on Thomas’ pulse to check if there was still a miniscule amount of life in his motionless body. There was something, faint but it was there. I couldn’t fight the feeling that if we got to Cindy, she’d be able to save him. There was still hope. Still kneeling over the boy I could feel the pressure in my chest build up. At first it felt much like when I quit smoking 8 years ago; but just a moment later I knew that this was a different feeling. One that I hadn’t felt in that way ever before.
Timothy put his face closer to the door and peeked inside. ‘Shit,’ he exclaimed. ‘Alex, I think you shot her.’
Chapter 11
Our entire group froze. The urgency to get inside the house had subsided. At that moment, it seemed as though all our efforts were for nothing. We’d killed. I’d killed. I’d killed a man for the hope of getting our doctor back and now, that hope had vanished. Today was meant to be about welcoming a new life into the world, not taking one.
‘We’ve got to go inside,’ Alex whispered to Timothy. After attempting to break it down with a couple of hard kicks, he turned back to Timothy. ‘On three! One, two…’ he counted before simultaneously throwing all of his weight against the door at the same time as Timothy.
Cindy was right there. Just a few feet from who we believed to be Mr. Jones. Inside the house, there was an abundance of old and worn furniture which made it easy to assume that these guys had gone around looting houses. The place wasn’t well kept, which wasn’t very surprising. I looked around, astonished that there was no one waiting to take revenge. This Mr. Jones guy was meant to have a lot of men on his side so it was difficult to understand that he was the only one standing behind the door.
Stewart rushed over to Cindy’s lifeless body and gave her a good shake. I could hear my teeth grind as I watched him inspect her, and finally settling his head on her chest.
‘Guys,’ his watery eyes turned to us as he sprung to a sitting position. ‘Guys, she’s alive. Her heart’s beating.’
‘Are you sure?’ I asked, making my way to my feet to see for myself if there was any truth to his words. I was hoping and praying that what he had heard and felt with his head on her chest was more than just the echo of a shot fired in the distance.
The other men followed, and rushed over to Cindy. ‘She’s not bleeding,’ Alex noticed. ‘She wasn’t shot. I didn’t shoot her,’ his voice was coated with happiness.
‘She’s got a bump on her head,’ I yelled at the guys, as if they wouldn’t have been able to hear my words otherwise.
He ran his hand across the front of her forehead and over the bruise. ‘Those bastards must have hit her.’
‘Let me take over,’ Alex insisted.
We all gave him the space he needed to tend to Cindy. First he checked to see if she was breathing and then positioned her properly on her back. He stood in front of her, raised her legs and held them there. Cindy let out a groan.
‘Cindy,’ Alex responded. ‘We’re here Cindy. Just stay calm okay. We’re going to take you back. You’re going to be okay.’
She wiggled her feet, uncertain of who the voice belonged to. ‘It’s us,’ Stewart ensured her that it was okay; that we had found her.
A small smile made its way across Cindy’s lips only to be whisked away by the sound of feet traveling rapidly toward us. Timothy, who was still holding his gun, opened fire towards the far side of the room from where the noises had approached. It was naïve of us to think that we were the only ones in the house. The first guy fell as three more jumped around the corner of the room. Hidden behind the corner from behind which the three men had appeared from was a door leading to the rest of the house. The shortest of the three, holding a 9mm Glock was first to get hit by the barrage laid on by Timothy who had been aiming in that direction ever since the first guy had popped up. Finally able to overcome the force that seemed to have been holding us- tending to Cindy- back, Stewart and I opened fire into the dimly lit part of the room where the two had been standing. My ring finger moved as if it had a life of its own, pulling the trigger of my black 9mm Beretta. The stream of lead emerging from the tip of my gun did not dry out before I heard the third clicking of the hammer hitting nothing but an empty chamber.
‘Help me to get her out of here, Jimmy,’ Alex said to me. ‘The rest of you handle inside and make sure that there are no more of these assholes.’
Alex and I lifted Cindy- he held her upper body and I lifted her lower region. Carefully, we guided her out of the house and into the backseat of the Humvee, our every move carefully observed by the countless eyes in the crowd surrounding our getaway vehicle. Turning away from the angry mob, who seemed to be afraid of the .50 caliber gun Jonathan was moving from side to side, my eyes briefly glanced over Thomas as I went by him. A huge knot developed in my st
omach. I could tell that he was gone; that there wasn’t even a whimper binding him to this earth any longer.
‘Alex,’ I said, once we’d gotten Cindy- who was now responsive- into the vehicle, ‘I’ve got to check on the boy.’
‘He’s gone, Jimmy. I’m sorry, but he’s gone.’
It didn’t matter if he was gone. It didn’t matter if the men who stood behind the Humvee peered at me in a way that made me feel like I was about to be their next meal. I had to get to Thomas. Much to Alex’s dismay, with Cindy propped safely in the back of the truck, I jumped back out of the vehicle and made my way to Thomas- dodging the bottles and other items that people in the crowd behind the Humvee insisted on throwing in my direction.
‘Thomas,’ I whispered once I’d gotten to him. ‘I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect you. I’ m so very sorry that I couldn’t save you from these people. You were a great boy, a smart boy and I’m just so sorry,’ I cried. I took his motionless hand into mine and whispered a short prayer. I knew that God had gained another Angel. I knew that Thomas was in a better place. It didn’t make a difference. It didn’t make the pain of seeing someone so young, so innocent, slip away right in my arms even the least bit better. At this moment I wanted everyone to pay. The guys who had shot him, the government that hadn’t protected him, the crowd that had stared at him while he died.
Prepper Central: A Prepper Fiction Novel (Prepping - Together we will Survive Book 1) Page 9
