by Tim Moon
“I’m hungry,” Oliver said, sitting up. “Can we make lunch?”
Ben smiled at his slightly whiny voice. The kid had timing.
“What sounds good little man?” Keanu asked.
“A sandwich or a hamburger. Oh, can we make hamburgers, please?” Oliver asked, getting a little excited.
Keanu looked over at Kaholo.
“Check the freezer for meat.” Kaholo smiled. “Cook them inside on the Foreman grill. Don’t want to attract the infected.”
“Let’s go have a look in the freezer and see if we can find some meat.” Keanu stood up and led the way to the garage.
“You can. I don’t want to go out there,” Oliver said.
Ben was grateful for the distraction. It was uncomfortable to answer questions like that about his dad. He had a hard time believing that he could have helped create this infection.
If he were a part of it though, Ben would have plenty to say about that.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Several hours had passed. Kaholo was fully on board with the plan for borrowing his unit’s ship, the US Coast Guard Cutter Kiska. A plan was formulated for getting downtown and making it to the Coast Guard office so Kaholo could grab stuff they needed for their trip.
Kaholo also wanted to check again and see if there were any survivors from his unit. Once aboard the ship and away from the docks, the brothers would give them some training so they could help. Kaholo estimated that it would take them several days to travel across the Pacific to the Columbia River that separated Washington and Oregon.
Inside the kitchen, Keanu and Charlotte were orchestrating something that smelled glorious. They even managed to recruit Oliver to help. Ben walked into the kitchen for more juice and laughed when he saw the boy peeling potatoes. Oliver had his tongue out as he concentrated on carefully slicing off the potato skin without slicing his fingers.
“Get out of here. It’s crowded enough as it is,” Charlotte said.
“I’m thirsty though. Just let me get some juice.” Ben tried to reach for the fridge, but Charlotte slapped his hand away.
“Go get water.”
Ben sighed and left.
Chadwick was watching the news in the living room. Ben plopped down on the couch while mouthwatering scents wafted out of the kitchen.
“Anything new?”
Chadwick shook his head. “I get the feeling it’s on a loop.”
“So, you’re okay with our plan?” Ben asked.
Glancing at Ben, Chadwick nodded. “If I can see my parents again, I’ll be happy. Staying on the mountain would have been safe, but what is life without risk, or family?”
Ben nodded. He totally agreed. They could hole up somewhere and hope things improved, that their families would be safe, that the infection would be contained and cleaned up. Or they could face the challenges head on, and make things happen. When it came down to it, Ben realized he would rather die taking action than wither and die sitting around waiting for others to fix his problems.
“Dinner time,” Keanu shouted from the kitchen.
“Thank God, I’m famished,” said Chadwick.
They sat around a large round table in the dining room. On platters set in the middle of the table were two dishes that Ben didn’t recognize along with a bowl of spaghetti.
“What are these? They look delicious,” Ben said.
“This one is called beef hekka and the other is huli huli chicken. They’re two of my favorites. No one can cook’em like mama could, but it’s close,” Keanu said with a grin. “Since this is our last supper before we head out on a crazy ass mission, I wanted to have a good ‘ole family meal.”
Kaholo came in and smiled. “This kid is a genius in the kitchen.” He pointed at Keanu.
“That’s so true. I felt like it was my first time in the kitchen,” Charlotte said. “This is all you. I barely helped.”
“You were great, Charlotte.” Keanu beamed at her, his cheeks took on a pinkish glow from all the attention. “Please, you guys, dig in.”
Everyone ate their fill, laughing and talking the whole time. Ben and Oliver had a noodle-slurping contest, much to Charlotte’s horror. One noodle wriggled up and slapped Oliver in the nose, leaving a streak of tomato sauce that made the boy fall apart in glee.
There was a small hole left by Ty’s absence, but they didn’t let it dampen their mood. He had been acting distant for several days now and his attitude pushed people away. Ben sat back and sipped tangy pineapple juice. He wistfully thought back to his own family dinners. It felt like ages ago, when he’d been young, just a little older than Oliver was.
Kaholo burped loudly, setting off a wave of laughter from Oliver who tried his best to match the rumble. A small squeak emerged instead.
“Nice try,” Kaholo said. He shot a wink to Oliver.
Anuhea made a tsk-tsk sound. “Is that how you behave at the dinner table?”
Oliver and Kaholo looked at each other, then at Anuhea.
“No, sorry,” Kaholo said. Then he turned to Keanu. “You want to show them PMCS on the weapons, while Oliver and I clean up?”
“Sure.” Keanu wiped sauce from the huli huli chicken out of the corner of his mouth and stood up. He licked his fingers off and wiped his hands on a clean paper napkin. “Folks, if you’ll follow me out into the garage, please.”
Keanu led them through the breezeway, into the garage and had them spread out a sheet. He went out to the Humvee and un-mounted the machine gun. He carried it inside the garage, then went back for the ammo, and set it on the ratty old sheet they had spread out on the floor.
“Time for weapons maintenance, or PMCS as we call it. Preventative maintenance, checks and service, good old fashioned cleaning,” Keanu said. “We’ll also take stock of our weapons and ammo.”
Everyone laid out their rifles and magazines. Each of them would be responsible for cleaning their own weapon. Keanu was more the weapons expert, since he had spent several years in the US Army. He showed them how to do each step, while he espoused the virtues of keeping weapons in top shape, just in case they ran into any trouble in town.
The garage was bigger than it looked from the street. Ben was impressed. Although it was only two cars wide, it was deep and could fit three or maybe four vehicles. Kaholo had parked his truck inside. The body had bullet holes all over and a shattered rear window. It seemed miraculous that Charlotte was the only one grazed by a round.
A pair of kayaks hung from the ceiling, above where they were organizing their weapons. Tools hung on pegs above a large workbench that sat along the wall beside them. A refrigerator and a big freezer were near the door to the breezeway for quick access. The back corner of the garage held an assortment of sports equipment. Ben spotted a dusty baseball bat and some badminton rackets standing up in a bucket.
Finally, a large portion of the rear section of garage was devoted to gym equipment, including a nice weight bench, a squat rack, a dip stand with a pull-up bar, and a barbell on the floor, along with an assortment of dumbbells and a few kettle bells. The equipment looked well cared for and heavily used. No wonder Kaholo was stacked like The Rock.
The machine gun, an M249 SAW or Squad Automatic Weapon, lay on the sheet with belts of ammo lying next to it. Next to the SAW were the three M4s that Anuhea, Ben, and Chadwick carried, along with Keanu’s M203. For ammo, they had almost six hundreds rounds for the SAW, twelve magazines for the rifles, and eight rounds left for the M203 grenade launcher.
Kaholo brought out his personal stash, which included the shotgun he carried since they arrived. He also had an AR15, the civilian version of the M4, two 9mm pistols, a .45 caliber pistol, and a .308 hunting rifle with a big scope. Kaholo had almost a full case of ammo for the AR15, which could be shared their M4 rifles, and the SAW, if necessary. He had four hundred rounds for the 9mm pistols, two hundred for the .45, and almost two hundred for the .308.
Ben whistled when he saw it all laid out. “I’d say we’re pretty well set.”
“You might be surprised how fast you can go through it all,” said Kaholo. “Especially when shit hits the fan. I’m betting we’ll run into a lot of the infected out there.”
Ben nodded. “I’m sure.”
“And if we see those impostors again, well, then you’re gonna see me light some shit up.” Kaholo flexed his jaw.
Ben didn’t doubt for a second that those guys would be in trouble if they decided to mess with their group again. With Kaholo, they’d added another able-bodied, well-trained fighter to their group. The vigilantes had lost at least three in the most recent fight.
How many more bodies did they have left to spare?
Chapter Thirty-Six
Ben handed the M249 up to Keanu who was in the Humvee’s turret.
“Thanks,” Keanu said. He took the machine gun like it was a paperweight and reattached it behind the curved steel plate that served as armor.
Ben looked out into the street. It was dark, the sun having set about an hour ago. None of the streetlights were on, which seemed odd because Kaholo’s house had electricity.
“Do you hear that?” he asked.
Keanu stopped doing whatever he was doing. He held still and cocked his head to listen.
They both heard it. It was the sound of footsteps slapping against pavement as someone ran.
“Shit, get me the ammo belts,” Keanu said. “Then get the others.”
Ben ran inside the garage and grabbed the long links of ammunition for the SAW. It was surprisingly heavy and awkward to carry, but he ignored that, running outside to deliver it. He hoped they wouldn’t need to shoot. They didn’t need the attention right now.
After the weapon, Ben handed up the ammo. Keanu took it and began to load it into the machine gun. Glancing out into the street, he saw a dark form moving from the street to the sidewalk in the distance. Cursing softly to himself, Ben ran into the house to get the others.
Everyone was sitting in the living room, watching a movie from Kaholo’s extensive Blu-Ray collection. Ben noticed that they’d draped blankets over the curtains. Smart.
“Someone is coming,” Ben said. “Grab your weapons and come outside.”
“No rest for the weary,” Charlotte muttered.
“Too right, mate,” Chadwick said.
“Hurry!” Ben said. He turned to leave. The person would be close by now.
“They’re coming,” a voice outside shouted.
“Shut up and stop right there,” Keanu shouted back.
Ben looked at Anuhea. “Is it Ty?”
She just rolled her eyes, as the group followed closely behind him. They poured out into the breezeway with their freshly cleaned rifles. Ty was limping his way up the driveway, breathing hard.
“I’m so sorry! I’m sorry, please. Please help.”
“What the hell are you doing?” Ben asked.
“They’re coming. I was escaping from infected and they saw me,” Ty said between breaths.
“Who?” Anuhea asked.
“The gang from the road block. They’re pissed.” Ty bent over and put his hands on his knees. “We need to get inside and hide.”
“Gang?” Keanu asked.
“Yeah, yeah,” Ty said. “Can’t we go inside? Shit, man.”
“Tell us what happened?” Ben asked.
“And why you led them back here,” Anuhea said before she walked away.
“You guys go inside. I’ll stay here and watch the street,” Keanu said. He gestured at the workbench. “Wait, hand me the 203 first.”
Charlotte picked up the M203 off the workbench and passed it over to Ben who handed it up to Keanu.
“Head on a swivel, bro.” Kaholo nodded at Keanu.
“I’ve got this.”
Each of them had their weapons and a proportionate amount of ammunition. So, they went back inside to hear what kind of trouble Ty brought down on them. Anuhea was right. Ty had led whoever was chasing him right back to Kaholo’s house. This wasn’t going to be good.
Ty was at the kitchen sink gulping down water.
“So, what happened?” Ben said as he unslung his rifle and held it at the ready. There was no telling how long until this gang showed up.
“Those guys found me when I was running away from infected that were chasing me. I just ran right out in front of them by accident. Their cars were dark in the middle of the street. How was I to know people were inside?” Ty asked. He put the glass down and leaned against the edge of the counter. “One of them turned a flashlight on me. I almost had to fight off an infected because I was blinded, but they killed the infected.”
“They turned on their headlights. I recognized the man that was dressed as a cop. He realized I recognized him, and then I ran. They shot at me.” Ty was speed talking, trying to get it all out. “One shouted that we’d killed his brother and he was coming for us.”
“Why’d you call them a gang?” Charlotte asked.
“One of them shouted that they broke out of prison and wanted a piece of that ass,” Ty said. He shivered visibly.
“How’d you get away?” Kaholo asked, gesturing at Ty’s leg. “Aren’t you still crippled?”
“I ran and hid for a while. Then I changed directions and ran back in the general direction of the house. It took me a while to find a street I recognized in the dark.” Ty wiped his forehead. “But I heard them driving up and down the streets. Even though they’d turned off their lights, I know they were trying to track me down. And…and…I think some infected saw me run this way.”
“Oh no,” Chadwick muttered.
“You’ve got to be shitting me.” Kaholo rubbed his chin.
Ben just shook his head. He was shocked. Just the other day, he’d thought Ty couldn’t surprise him anymore, but he’d done just that.
Anuhea stepped forward. “Do you have a way onto the roof?”
Kaholo eyed her for a moment as a sly grin lit up his face. “Sure do. Out back, you’ll see a shed. Get onto the shed and you’re practically there.”
“I can’t believe you led them back here,” Anuhea said again, scowling at Ty. He didn’t get a chance to respond before she left.
“I’ll go with her,” Charlotte said.
It didn’t make much sense to Ben, but he wasn’t going to tell her what to do. Maybe she just wanted to talk with Anuhea.
“Are we really going to make a last stand here?” Ben asked Kaholo. “Maybe we should just go to the docks now. We’re already packed and ready.”
Ty limped forward a step. “We can’t fight them. We have to leave now.”
Ben was pissed and had to fight the urge to punch Ty again. “Why do you say that?”
“There was more than one vehicle full of people. I think there were, like, two or three cars and an SUV.” Ty raised his eyebrows like it was obvious they would lose.
“We should load up the Humvee and truck. If we can leave before they show up, it’s not a bad plan. If nothing else, we could hide somewhere else until morning,” Kaholo said. “The thing is, once we leave, we lose any chance we have of ambushing them.”
“Even if we make a beeline for the ship?” Ben asked.
“Load up the vehicles. I think I have plan for dealing with these guys,” Kaholo said, with that sly smile returning to his face.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chadwick set the last bottle of water in the bed of the truck.
“Looks like we’re all set,” he said, wiping his forehead. The night was warm despite the breeze.
Ben nodded. They were quick. It took less than five minutes to load everything for their escape. He looked over the supplies and it looked like they had everything. There was enough food and water to last them a week or more.
Sliding the rifle off his shoulder, Chadwick climbed into the truck beside Ty. Kaholo lowered the window down and the Brit pointed his rifle outside toward the street, prepared to shoot at people for the first time in his life.
“This is mental. I’m never telling my m
um about this,” Chadwick said.
Kaholo chuckled in the front seat. Oliver poked his head up from the front passenger seat.
“What’s a mum?” he asked.
Everyone laughed at that, although Chadwick didn’t find it quite as humorous.
“Mum means mom,” Charlotte said.
“That’s funny,” Oliver said.
“I love that kid.” Ben chuckled.
“Let’s get serious, shall we?” Chadwick said.
“Good point. I’ll take my position.” Ben stepped away from the truck and walked across the driveway to the breezeway.
The main garage door facing the street was open. Kaholo’s plan was to keep the truck in the garage until he gave the signal for them to make a dash for downtown. It’d been at least ten minutes since Ty returned to the house and still no sign of infected or the fake cop and his crew.
Ben was starting to think no one would show up. Maybe their luck had taken a turn for the better. He knelt on the ground beside the Humvee.
Minutes ground by like a glacier, slow, persistent, and unconcerned with the toils of men, much like the infected. Ben sighed and stood up.
“Do you think they’ll come?” Ben whispered to Keanu.
“They’re here now,” Keanu whispered back. “Focus.”
Ben dropped down and looked across the street. The road was empty and he didn’t see any movement. He looked at the houses, but they were dark with only the moon to provide illumination.
Then he saw something on the roof directly across the street. It was subtle and slow. Someone was on the roof. Ben hoped they hadn’t spotted Anuhea. No one made any noise. Ben opened his mouth slightly and slowed his breath.
A car started somewhere in the distance. With its lights off, the car rolled slowly past the front of the house, off to Ben’s left. Without changing speed, it came around the corner and drove up the street that they were facing. Its windows were down and Ben saw guns poking out. Kaholo was supposed to signal the attack, but nothing happened. The car would be in front of them in just a few seconds.
