I pulled out the knife and walked over to Christina and Sarah. I cut them loose and was hugged by a crying Sarah. “Are you hurt?” She shook her head no. “How about you?” I asked Christina. She too shook her head. “Good, let’s go.” We left the locker room and headed to the back to the exit. We stood there and I turned to Jason, “Get them out of here, get clear of the hospital and use the flares.”
“Wait what do you mean, you’re coming with us,” said Sarah.
“I have to take care of Cole first.”
“No James, just leave him.”
“I can’t. If we leave now he’ll just come after us. We’ve already killed almost a dozen of his men. He won’t just let that slide, I have to finish this.”
“Then I’m coming with you.”
“No.”
“James…”
“I said no. Take this and go with Jason,” I said handing her one of my pistols.
“James please,” she said starting to cry again.
“I’ll be right behind you.”
“Please.”
I pulled her close, “I won’t leave you,” I said and then I pulled her in even closer and kissed her. She kissed me back. It was passionate, frenzied, wet with her tears and ended far too quickly. I could feel fire blossoming in my chest, warming me and lending strength to my tired muscles and calming my nerves. We separated and I looked to Jason, “Get them out of here, get to the car and go home. I’ll see you there.”
“What about the plan?”
“I just gave you an order. You get me?” I snarled.
“Yeah man. See you at home.”
“Good. Now go.”
I turned and walked away, back into the E.R. and back towards Sergeant Cole Shepard. I knew Cole’s men would be housed near him and that they still posed a threat. Luckily I was armed and they weren’t, excluding Cole of course. I began to systematically check each and every patient room. I started to find sleeping ex-soldiers and I used my knife to make sure that each and everyone wouldn’t wake up. I had executed ten when one came around the corner. I had my bow out and an arrow through his eye just as he was letting out a yell. “Eleven” I whispered to myself. I was about to open the door to yet another patient room when I heard voices coming from inside. I waited and listened to what sounded like four or five of them talking.
“You think the Sarge will let us play with our new toys tomorrow?” said one voice. They were talking about Sarah and Christina.
“Yeah I think so. We’ll get them for a while and then pass them off to the punks. Just like usual.”
“What’s the name of the bitch that killed Jimmy and Marco? Sarah or something? I want her first, she seems to have some fight in her.”
She killed two of them, that’s my girl, I thought as a smile crept through my rage.
“Careful man, she might take your dick off.”
“I think I’ll risk it,” one of them said laughing.
“Me too.”
“That other one isn’t that bad. I just hope she’s not a crier.”
The way they were talking almost made me sick. I could take the blood and the guts and the violence but I couldn’t take this casual talk of rape. They were talking about raping two women like they were talking about their favorite beer. I’d had enough. I threw the door open, pistol in hand, and took out each one of them. It was like shooting fish in a barrel. They just sat there, unarmed and in their boxers. It didn’t matter that they couldn’t defend themselves. They were animals and I put them down like animals. Counting Sarah’s two, that brought the death toll to eighteen dead inside plus another eleven outside, bringing the total to twenty-nine. That left ten more, three gang members outside, six military and Cole inside. After what I heard from the last five I knew I had to kill them all. They were guilty of crimes I couldn’t even imagine and they deserved to die.
I rounded another corner and saw four armed men coming at me, responding to my gunfire. I aimed my Carbine in their direction. They weren’t ready for it and I cut them down in the hall. One of them got off a couple of shots, a bullet slicing through the air by my head. “Three more,” I said to myself as I ejected a magazine and slid in a new one. I made my way to the nearest offices in the E.R. and found Coles room, two guards stationed outside. As soon as they saw me they opened fire. They were carrying M-4’s and knew how to use them. I had obviously lost the element of surprise and now had to figure out how to kill these two, well-armed, well-trained soldiers. What I really needed was a grenade or two, what I had was a lot less substantial. I had one pistol, my Carbine, my Bow, my knife and my pack. Wait a second, I thought and dug through my pack. I pulled out each item Duct Tape, extra ammo. Come on where is it? I thought frantically. Rope, EpiPen “Yes,” I whispered as I pulled out the butane torch. I only had one shot and I had to make it count. Clicking on the torch, I lobbed it around the corner and shot at it with my Carbine. It exploded in a ball of fire but didn’t do much damage. It didn’t have to. It was enough of a distraction that I was able to take out the guards.
Walking to the door I checked to make sure both guards were dead. After making sure I emptied the rest of my magazine into the door and was rewarded with a yell of pain. I reloaded and kicked the door open. Sergeant Shepard was sitting on the ground, propped up against the wall, bleeding. His gun lay on the ground beside him just out of reach. It was obvious he was in extreme pain and was having trouble breathing. “Hello, Sergeant, or do you still prefer Cole.”
“Fuck you,” he gasped.
“Where are your manners? You were so polite earlier, you know before you kidnapped my friends.”
He let out a laugh, “Is that why you’re here? Because I stole some tail from you?”
“No Cole, I’m here because you don’t deserve to live. I’m here because you teamed up with filth like those gang bangers outside, they’re dead just so you know, well most of them. So are your men, all of them. Do you want to know how I got inside and slaughtered all your men? It’s because you trusted those pieces of shit to keep you safe. It was too easy. A question before you die Cole. Were you a scumbag before the end of the world or did hanging out with animals like that make you one?”
“Fuck you kid. We did what we had to in order to survive.”
“You don’t have to rape women to survive Cole.”
“I had to keep order somehow. The men get lonely, so I reward them sometimes.”
“So you kidnapped my friends.”
“Had to add to the collection. They men were getting bored with what we had.”
“What do you mean?”
He laughed again “You didn’t think those two bitches were all we had did you? No, we have half a dozen girls under lock and key in the other Semi. What’d you think we meant by ‘special supplies’?”
One thought raced through my mind, The gas! and just as I finished the thought I felt and heard the explosion. “Fuck,” I yelled, “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
“So,” Cole continued ignoring both the explosion and my outburst, “You’ve killed all my men, destroyed my supplies and now you’re going to kill me, is that it?”
I put the thought of all the lives that explosion just ended out of my mind and focused on Cole, “Not exactly.” I pulled out and arrow from my quiver and showed it to him, “You see anything different about this arrow? See how I stripped all the feathers off? That’s so I wouldn’t use it by accident, it’s special. I killed a Walker with this arrow and never washed it. See the dried blood? Do you know how someone becomes a Walker, or Z if you prefer? Of course, you do, it’s in the blood and the spit. You get any of that in you and you’re done.” His eyes widened in fear. “So you’ve figured it out haven’t you?” He reached harder for his gun, I walked over and kicked it away. “Sorry Cole, but true death is too good for you.” I grabbed his arm and stabbed him in the muscle, wetting the tip of the arrow in his blood. I pulled it out and stabbed his other arm and then finally, directly in his gut. I tied him up as he was yelling a
t me and turned to leave.
“You think you’re so righteous? You’re no better than me. You’re a murderer just like me.”
I turned and looked at him one last time, “You might be right, but if you are then there’s someone out there who’ll judge me for my crimes. Until then, I’ll do what I think is right,” and with that, I left the hospital.
The fuel tanker was in flames and so were parts of the hospital. I limped to where we parked the truck, fully expecting it to be gone. Once the adrenaline had run its course the pain had returned in full force and I noticed injuries that I hadn’t recalled receiving. Cuts to my face, bruised knuckles, and the most surprising, a bullet graze on my left arm. If I made it home I would be out of commission for a while. To my surprise, I saw that the car was still there and it was packed with my friends. They made it, I thought happily and limped the rest of the way to the car.
They piled out and I hugged Sarah who was crying again. By now my vision was going dark and things were becoming a little fuzzy. I vaguely recall saying, “Don’t cry beautiful. It’s all ok,” before I promptly passed out. The next thing I remember was waking up in a pitch black room. I heard even breathing next to me and knew Sarah was right by my side. I smiled and fell back into unconsciousness.
CHAPTER 18
“Where are my pants?” I muttered to myself as I woke to a dark room. I sat up and my yawn turned into a groan as I felt my numerous injuries call out for my attention. I didn’t have my watch but I knew it wasn’t nighttime, someone had just covered my windows so I could sleep. I put pressure on my aching side and said, “When did I hurt my ribs?” At the sound of my voice Sarah came through my door and she didn’t look too happy.
“Well, it’s about time you woke up.”
“How long have I been out?”
“Only a day and a half.”
“Damn,” I tried to get up but my body protested.
“Where does it hurt?”
I laughed, “Everywhere.”
“Even your face?”
“No not really.” Her eyes softened and sat on the side of my bed and smiled before she flicked my forehead. “Hey!” I proclaimed, “What was that for?”
“For being stupid. For trying to be a hero.”
“I couldn’t just lea…” I started but was cut off when she kissed me. I smiled, “What was that for?”
“For being stupid and for being a hero,” she said smiling and got up to leave.
“Sarah.”
“Yeah?”
“What happened to my pants… and my shirt?”
“I took them off you,” she said grinning even wider and leaving.
“Great,” I groaned. I lay there a few more minutes before I forcing myself to get up. It wasn’t fun but I was able to stand and inspect my wounds. My knee was bruised and swollen and I was thankful that that soldier only clipped me. The bullet graze on my arm was clean and bandaged. My knuckles, which had been bloodied by the fight in the locker room, were clean and covered in butterfly Band-Aids. I chuckled as I inspected my hand, it must have been Michelle’s doing. I was covered in cuts, scrapes, and bruises, but I was alive. I put on a pair of basketball shorts and a tank top and headed out to the living room. I was quickly greeted by a small blur rushing towards me. Michelle clutched onto my waist and spoke into my stomach as she hugged me. “What was that?”
She pulled away from me and repeated, “I’m glad you’re ok.”
I smiled, “Me too. Was this your handiwork?” I asked as I raised my hand for her to see.
She smiled and nodded, “I helped Sarah.”
“Well thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” she said and then hit me.
“Hey!”
“Sarah said I should smack you because you were being stupid.” Everyone laughed.
“Oh she did, did she?” She nodded, “Well, do you remember that secret I told you.” She glanced at Sarah and nodded again, “Well that’s why I was being stupid. I had to make sure she was safe.”
“Oh…ok,” she let go and ran off.
“What secret?” questioned Justin.
“It wouldn’t be a secret if I told you. Everyone make it back in one piece?”
“Yeah. As soon as I got the girls out the door Thomas starts taking out the guards on the roof. I don’t think he wasted a shot. As soon as we got clear of the hospital I told Matt to fire a flare and take out the tanker. It worked perfectly and it took out the four guards and blew the shit out of that storage container.”
“Oh fuck,” I blurted, “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
“What? What’s wrong?”
“The container. Before I took care of him Cole told me that he was holding a bunch of women prisoner in the container. Remember, he said it was for their special supplies. They’re probably all dead, but I have to go. I have to find out if…”
“You’re not going anywhere. You’re going to stay here and not go off and do something stupid,” said Sarah angrily.
“But I have to. If they’re dead then it’s my fault,” I turned and went back into my room to change. As I took my shirt off I turned as my door was opened and then closed. Standing there with arms crossed was Sarah and she looked like she had something to say, but I had to stop her. “Sarah, please don’t argue with me.”
“I won’t, but you will listen to me first.”
I ran my hand through my hair and winced as the motion sent pain cascading through my body. I knew I had already lost this argument, that I would be staying and that she would be the one to convince me. I sat on my bed, “Ok, I’ll listen.”
She sat next to me, “When they took me I…” She stopped to gather her thoughts and with a long breath began again, “When they took me I was scared. I was scared that they would hurt me, that they would hurt Christina. I was scared that they were going to kill me and I was scared that I would never see you again. When Christina and I went with Cole and one of his guys to get the med supplies I felt wrong. Cole and his guard were looking us up and down, it felt like we were walking through a really sketchy bar, only worse. I was going to write it off but then two more guards came out of nowhere and came at me. I only had a pistol and I didn’t even think of using it. I just fell into what you taught me. The first guard tried to grab me and I broke his wrist, just like when we practiced. I drove him to his knees by his broken wrist and without another thought, I kicked him in the head. I didn’t know at the time but I killed him. The other guard came at me and aimed a punch at me. I got inside his guard and blocked while I jammed my hand into his throat. You were right,” she said smiling sadly, “it sounded just like a rice cake breaking. I was going to go after the guard holding Christina but then Cole pulled out his pistol and placed it to my head. I stopped fighting then, I don’t know what happened I just froze. I saw as Thomas came around the corner and Cole aimed at him and started shooting. He took off and all I could do was pray that he would make it back. As they tied me up and gagged me I listened to what they said they were going to do to me, I listened to what they said they’d done to other women. I felt real terror for the first time and I started to cry and all they did was laugh at me. Christina was shaking so badly and all I wanted was to help her, to get her away from them, even if I had to stay. They took us to the locker room and left us there in the dark. I couldn’t move, not even to get closer to Christina who was bawling. The waiting was awful. Each time one of the guards would come in to check us out and make their comments I thought that they were going to do more. Then Cole came in, and he was still all chummy and pretending to be nice. I couldn’t believe my ears. He fucking apologized. He said he was sorry for what he had to do. He said that he had to control his men somehow. I wanted to kill him and I think that if my hands were free I would have. Sitting in the dark all I could do was worry and be scared, but then a thought came to me. It didn’t matter if Thomas made it back to you guys or not, it didn’t matter because I knew you would come for me,” a tear rolled down her cheek, “I knew
that when I didn’t show up you would do whatever it took to find me. I knew you would tear down every wall and remove anyone who got in your way. Then I realized something else, I was scared that as you were playing the hero and coming to rescue me you could be hurt, or killed and my fear and panic rose. I can’t stop you from wanting to run off and play the hero, it’s just who you are. You’re that guy. You were before the shit hit the fan and you will always be that guy. You help, you have to.”
Survivors Series (Book 1): Heroes Aren't Born Page 27
