“Who are they?”
“What are we going to do?’ Leah, Abby, and Kate all asked at the same time, their words overrunning one another, making it impossible to decipher who really asked what.
“We need to move,” Dwayne said, turning back to the group. “We can’t stay here.”
“Then where do you expect us to go?” Kate snapped, the stress of the day taking its toll on her.
“Anywhere is better than here,” Ian offered in response, once again putting himself in between people as a calm-headed mediator.
“Maybe not,” Jack spoke up.
“How do you mean?” Sam asked.
“Yeah, dude, these guys are armed and mean business.” Dwayne joined in the conversation.
“Yes, but they are not after us. They don’t even know we are here. My bet is they are after the warehouse. You know, looking for supplies. If we lay low here, they will be in and out without even knowing about us.” Jack looked around the group, skipping Jared, not that it was a noticeable jump, as he had moved from the window to join the others.
“He’s got a point,” Jared admitted, almost begrudgingly. “Besides, there is at least a dozen of them, with three cars. They will run us down if we try to make it out.”
The news made Kate whimper and brought Abby to her side. Stroking her friend’s hair, Abby pulled Kate close against her, trying to quieten her sobs.
“It’s your call, Chief,” Ian addressed Dwayne but looked at both he and Samantha.
The pair stared at one another as if weighing up the responsibility that had not officially been bestowed upon them.
“Go lock the door.” Dwayne glanced at Jared, who moved off without offering any snarky comments.
“Try to close the blinds too,” Sam added. “The rest of you, get down on the floor over here by the desk. They can’t see this far into the office.”
Everybody moved slowly, terrified of making a sound that may bring trouble to their door.
“Stay down low,” Dwayne whispered as another burst of gunfire rang out. Closer this time, it made everything seem that much more real.
“They are shooting the dead. Maybe they will help us,” Leah offered, throwing out a different opinion on their predicament.
“These guys don’t seem like the introductions type. They would shoot us the moment they saw us,” Dwayne answered, speaking with a certainty he could not explain.
“You don’t know that,” Leah said.
“Are you willing to risk it?” Sam added, staring at Leah, who squirmed under her gaze.
Leah didn’t answer. Instead, she shrank down onto the floor, pressing herself against the wall, her knees pulled up to her chest.
“So, what … we just wait it out?” Ronnie asked, impatient. His irritation at Dwayne and the others in his group grew with each passing moment.
“I guess,” Julie said. She shuffled to one side as Jared rejoined them, the atmosphere becoming a bit more awkward because of his presence.
“Just a thought.” Ian paused, his facial expression saying he wished to take back the sentence he had started.
“What?” Kate asked, her tears had subsided. She sat beside Abby, their fingers interlocked, her thumb stroking the back of her friend's hand.
“It’s nothing.” Ian tried to back out of it.
“Spill, rich boy,” Jared snarled.
“Fuck you, you loner prick,” Ronnie growled, unable to contain himself any longer.
Everything happened in a rush. Nobody knew who moved first, but before anybody could react, Ronnie and Jared were locked in a tussle.
To look at, it was a mismatch all the way. Ronnie was taller, wider, and generally larger than Jared, yet when it came to a fight, the result was as one-sided as it got, in Jared’s favor.
Jared ducked Ronnie’s blows and delivered several shots of his own, including an elbow that broke Ronnie’s nose with an audible pop of snapping cartilage. Ronnie dropped down low and drove his shoulder forward into Jared’s gut, lifting him from the floor, only to hurl him backward, sending them crashing into the filing cabinets, creating a cacophonous din that surely announced their presence to anyone nearby.
Pushing off from the cabinets, Jared slipped from Ronnie’s grip, driving his elbow down into the jock’s trap muscle. Ronnie dropped, and before anybody saw it happen, Jared had pulled a serrated-edged knife from under his jacket and held it to Ronnie’s throat.
The sharp blade rested against his flesh, pressing not hard enough to draw blood, but enough to leave a mark from its presence.
“Just give me a reason, fucktard,” Jared panted.
Ronnie said nothing. His mouth hung open as he tried to suck in oxygen and his nose continued to pour blood down into his mouth, staining the blade a rich crimson.
Abby mistook the nasal blood for something else, and screamed, certain Ronnie’s throat had been sliced. She collapsed to the floor in a faint and was caught by Jack who reacted just in time to stop her head from colliding with the corner of an overturned filing cabinet.
Leah found herself caught in the same misconception as Abby, and turned to empty her stomach over the floor, showering the wall in a chunky spray of sour-smelling vomit.
“Jared, dude, put that thing away,” Dwayne spoke, holding his hands out and open toward the feuding pair.
“This pile of fuck started it.” Jared sneered, turning to look at Ronnie, a flare of utter contempt flashing in his eyes.
“Well, you clearly ended it. Now put that thing away,” Dwayne said, trying hard to defuse the situation before it spiraled any further out of control.
“These jock bastards are all the same. Think they own the world, but introduce them to the real world and they are all pussies.” The emotion in Jared’s voice flowed on a river of anger, pouring from a source far more deep-seated than his recent relationship with Ronnie.
“Guys,” Sam tried to shush them, but a crash against the office door interrupted her.
Julie screamed––an instinctive reaction––as she jumped backward almost into Ian’s arms.
“We hear you in there,” a gruff voice sounded. “Come out and nobody needs to get hurt.”
“Yeah, right,” Jared offered, the knife still pressed against Ronnie’s throat.
“What do we do?” Julie asked, looking around frantically from person to person.
Jack moved first, surprising everybody. “Fire escape, by the window behind the desk.”
A crash against the door got everybody moving.
“It won’t hold them long,” Samantha said, watching as Dwayne followed Jack to the escape.
“I won’t ask you again. Come out and nobody has to get hurt,” the voice on the other side of the door yelled.
“I really don’t believe him,” Julie said.
“Come on, quickly.” Dwayne had opened the window and studied the escape route.
The metal staircase took them down to the ground but put them directly in range of the group waiting outside. The freshly re-dead corpses that dotted the ground told them any sign of movement and the cavalry would shoot, regardless of any possible, albeit thin, good intentions.
“We go up,” Jack spoke again, his sudden rush of good ideas not stopping yet.
“To the roof?” Dwayne asked as if that detail needed to be confirmed.
“Makes more sense than going down. We can hide up there, and maybe we will get lucky and they leave us alone.”
“Sounds like a plan to me.” Dwayne turned to the group, who had been watching their conversation with eager eyes. “Go. One at a time.”
He was relieved to see Jared had lowered his knife, but the uneasy feeling that had a hold over his gut told him the issue was far from resolved. While he did not know Jared overly well, he now understood there was a much darker side to him than just being a slight social outcast.
It was not a box he wanted to open, not at that point in time, and if pushed for honesty, not ever. Jared was a cool guy, but they did not need
someone like that in the group.
Or do you? The voice echoed in Dwayne’s head as Jared passed him without so much as a nod or even a glance.
Another crash at the door and the wood splintered. Not enough to give way, but enough to bring a second and third crash in quick succession.
“Kate, hurry,” Abby called, as she reached the window and cast a final glance back into the office.
“Go, I’ll get her,” Dwayne said, all but shoving the scared young woman out of the window.
“Kate, please,” Abby cried, moving through the window, holding on as long as possible before disappearing.
“Kate, come on, you can do this,” Dwayne encouraged, holding his hand out as a means of shortening the distance Kate had to travel alone.
She moved a short way, her steps slow and tentative as if walking a tightrope above a sheer drop onto rock ground far below. Suddenly, her eyes went wide and her head snapped backward. Kate was hauled from her feet, and it took a fraction of a second longer than it should for Dwayne to understand what had happened.
An arm burst through the door, the skin rippling with muscle, making the tattoos that covered its every inch dance as if they were alive and calling the shots.
Someone had grabbed hold of Kate’s long blond hair and pulled back hard.
Screaming, Kate stumbled backward, and Dwayne moved to grab her.
“Run,” she whispered as she flailed backward.
“I’ve got you now, honey,” the voice snarled as the hand released her hair, only for a forearm to slide under her chin. It gave her assailant the chance to pull her against the door with enough force to further splinter the damaged wood.
Dwayne rushed forward, but he was too late. Kate was yanked back with such force that she disappeared through the door. The splintering wood tore deep gouges through her flesh as she was roughly yanked through a hole far too small.
Reversing his direction, Dwayne stumbled back and leaped out of the window onto the fire escape. He closed the exit point and hurried up to the roof, hauling himself over the ledge, before collapsing in a tired heap.
“Where’s Kate?” Abby cried out.
Dwayne raised his head to respond, but Jack reacted the quickest and pulled Abby against him, stifling her cries.
“Shh, they can’t find us,” Jack implored, understanding that sometimes self-preservation was the only way to go. “Abby, Abby, listen to me. It’s going to be all right.”
Abby struggled against Jack’s grip, breaking free from his hold. Her eyes were wild, her face twisted by grief into something feral and ugly. Turning around and searching for Dwayne, the target of her rage, she prepared to yell, only to be silenced when Jared appeared, his hand sliding over her mouth and his knife coming up before her eyes.
“Shut the fuck up if you want to carry on breathing,” he growled.
Dwayne said nothing but watched on as Abby instantly calmed.
“Everybody get down, find something to hide behind, but for the love of God, don’t make any noise,” Samantha said, looking around at the terrified faces staring at her.
People moved slowly as if treading on eggshells, and if even one was to break, they would all be cast out and into a pit of fire. Moving in a crouch, she followed Dwayne over to the edge of the roof, not daring to lean across. The pipes that rose from the roof around them provided enough cover for them to hide without moving too far.
The others had similar ideas, and while they were not bunched together, the entire group hid among the same stretch of piping.
The group stood, frozen in fear, hidden, their melee style weapons were no match for the guns the other group possessed. All apart from Jared, who held his knife at the ready, looking every bit the crazy hunter.
“What …” Leah whispered, her voice barely louder than the thundering of her heart.
She did not get to finish her thought because a hand clamped over her mouth. Offering no resistance, she looked over at Ian, who only removed his hand after she nodded the silent promise she would not say another word.
Time slowed, and the clouds above them drifted by far too quickly, while everything else seemed frozen. Like watching a movie where the subtitles are not quite in sync with the show; everything felt off to them.
Jared reacted first, unable to hold his position any longer. Inching his way along the pipes, he advanced with a strangely feline grace, his knife at the ready. He nodded at Dwayne as he passed, and the group’s leader made no attempt to stop him.
The crash from below them shattered the silence, while the scream that accompanied it froze the blood in their veins.
“We’ve got a live one here,” the same gruff voice spoke from down on the ground as had broken through the office door.
“Let me go, please.” Kate’s pleas drifted up to them, sounding all the more helpless after traveling the distance from her mouth to their ears.
Abby edged to the side of the roof and peered over. Dwayne made the same move but indicated for the others to remain where they were. Sliding over beside Abby, Dwayne readied himself to do whatever was necessary in order to protect the rest of the group.
Peering over the edge, they saw the three vehicles, all parked with the engines running. Four men stood outside, one against each four-by-four, and two against the open rear doors of the panel van. They were all armed with automatic rifles. The two by the van stood with theirs slung over their shoulders, their barrel chests puffed out as if they were guarding the most prized assets in the world, rather than a rusted-up, broken-down old Ford.
Across from the four men, forming a rough circle, were six others, again, each one was armed. Most held their guns ready, while one held a baseball bat in his hands, holding it the same way the others held their guns. His long blond hair flowed over his shoulders, and even from a distance, Dwayne could read the malicious intent in his eyes.
“Ain’t she pretty,” the blond man sneered, taking a step closer to Kate, who had been forced to her knees.
“Eli, take it easy,” the tattooed man who had ripped Kate through the door spoke. He was not overly tall, but even from behind it was clear he was solidly built. He held his weapon in one hand and waggled a finger from the other toward his long-haired cohort. “We don’t want to scare the poor thing … too early.”
The man laughed, and the rest of the group joined in, cackling like a group of hyenas.
“How many others are in there?” an older man with grey hair and a thick, neatly trimmed beard asked.
“She said she is alone, that her old man worked here, and she came looking for him,” the tattooed man answered, looking at the older man.
“You believed her?” the old man questioned.
For a moment, Dwayne wondered if he were wrong. If maybe the older man was the one in charge. His voice sounded far more prone to reason than his angry, tatted up friend. His faint hope died when the tattooed man walked over to the older member of the group and hit him in the stomach with the butt of his rifle. The sound of the man’s breath leaving his body was clear even from the rooftop.
“Don’t you ever question me, Leo,” tattoo man growled.
Leo dropped down to a knee, snatching shallow, rattling breaths. Coughing and spitting the sudden torrent of saliva from his mouth, it looked as if he were doing everything in his power to prevent vomiting.
“I checked the room she was in. I saw nothing. Besides, you think a group would be dumb enough to hold up in a place like this? Fuck no,” tattoo man continued.
“A group of bitches, maybe,” one of the van guards spoke, bringing a round of laughter from everybody.
“Maybe, but then the rest wouldn’t have been smart enough to hide from me, would they? Women can’t think like that.” Tattoo man took over the conversation once more.
“Shame, really. This one is pretty, but all on her lonesome, she’s gonna spoil fast,” the other van guard said, running his hands over his bloated belly.
Another round of laughter came from th
e ground, while beside him, Dwayne felt Abby tense. Reaching out, he placed a hand on her shoulder. He could feel her body, rigid beneath her clothes.
Abby looked over at him, and Dwayne shook his head. Now was not the time. Abby’s eyes were red with tears, but she nodded in return. The tears fell, as she realized what she had just agreed to. Kate was lost to her, to all of them.
“You like sucking cock?” another of the armed guards spoke, bending down to get right in Kate’s face.
“Fuck you.” Kate’s voice rose from the ground, finding its defiance when she needed it the most.
“Oh, oh, she’s got a real dirty mouth on her. Good thing my cum will wash it clean, you useless slut,” the man roared, grabbing hold of Kate’s face with one hand. “How about I teach you a lesson right now. Bitches ain't good for talking. Fucking and cooking, that’s what you get. Now, I don’t see an oven around here, so you had better prove yourself useful in some other way.”
“Go to hell,” Kate growled, fear heavy on her words.
The man stood for a moment and looked down at her, nodding his head, as if lost in some deep level of contemplation.
He struck out with a roar, his fist crashing into the side of Kate’s head, sending her to the floor. His roar became a cackled laugh as he danced around her fallen frame.
“Did you hear her? Did you, Billy?” He stopped and looked at tattoo man. “She needs to learn.”
“Aye, that she does,” tattoo man, whose real name of Billy was far too disappointing for such a vicious-looking man.
“You hear that, girly? You need to be taught a lesson, and Ed here is going to be the one to teach it.” The man pointed at himself as he grabbed Kate’s head and hauled her from the floor. “No, stay on your knees.”
The order was followed by the jingle of a belt being loosened.
“No, please,” Kate sobbed, her words almost inaudible through her cries.
“You keep moving those lips like that, and you gonna be saying yes a lot more often.” Ed laughed.
Dwayne took ahold of Abby and pulled her over to him. He needed to use all his strength to do it.
“You don’t want to watch this,” he whispered, holding her tightly against him.
ZPOC: The Beginning Page 11
