“Let me help,” Tommy said. They picked Kurt up and draped his body over Frank’s shoulders. Frank took him over to the JERRV and gently laid him inside. He turned back toward Steve.
“We can’t keep living with fear that these people are going to come after us, especially with what these people want to do to us. I won’t stand for it,” Frank said angrily.
“You can’t take them all on yourself,” Tommy said.
“You’re not going. I can handle it,” Frank ordered. “Come on. Let’s go home.”
Once they got home, Frank and Tommy took Kurt’s body out of the truck. Everyone gathered. Everyone cried. It didn’t hit them as badly as it did with Nick. Kurt was part of the family but the kid could never find a way to really fit in. It didn’t matter to them though. It still hurt.
That night after burying Kurt and having a small ceremony for him, Frank was getting his gear ready. Everyone was in the room and hanging outside the door, all watching him. He was dressed in all black and had all of his tactical gear on. He reached down deep into his duffle bag and retrieved a small black case. He opened the case and retrieve a set of night vision goggles. He put the goggles up to his face and turned them on to do a function check. He turned them back off and stuffed them into his backpack.
“Frank…” Anna said. She did not approve of this course of action.
“Don’t start. I’m going. If I don’t then someone else will die, if not all of us,” Frank said, sternly.
“At least let me and Tommy come with you,” Anna pleaded.
“And if we all die?” Frank asked.
Silence.
“What if something happens to us!? What will Isabelle do!? Natalie,” Frank exclaimed.
More silence.
“Listen. I’m going to take care of this and come back.” He took her by the hands. “I promise.”
Anna finally gave in. “You better.”
Frank let her go and picked up his bag and left the room. He went down to the basement where they stored all of their weapons. He was looking for a particular rifle. Finally, after looking through their arsenal, he found it. He grabbed his silenced M14 that he attached his thermal camera too.
‘Damn sexy,’ he couldn’t help but think. Frank loaded subsonic rounds, rounds that traveled slower than the speed of sound. He planned on using his silencer but normal rounds would still make a lot of noise when fired. The disadvantage with this was he would have to manually cycle the rifle to chamber a new round after every shot. He saw one of the rocket launchers sitting there.
‘Might as well,’ he thought and grabbed it, slinging it over his shoulder. The AT-4 high explosive, anti-tank (HEAT) rocket launcher is primarily used to take down tanks and armored vehicles but he figured he would make use of it.
About an hour later, he stopped short of Jameson farm and proceeded on foot through the woods to the farm. As he approached, he noticed a hill that overlooked the backside of the house and the corner of the barn. He moved as swiftly as he could without making too much noise to the top of the hill. There were two lookouts sitting on the porch. Frank readied his rifle and turned on the scope. The image appeared as white and gray. Gray was the surrounding cool surfaces and the white was any heat source.
Frank decided not to engage quite yet, only observe and formulate a plan. He noticed a figure coming out of the barn. He was holding something. It was big. He zoomed in with the scope.
‘What the fuck!?’
The man was carrying a human leg, taking it to the house.
‘Ok… Looks like the guy wasn’t lying. This is definitely the place.’
He saw the three targets here.
‘Where are the other seven? They must be in the house.’
He flicked off the safety switch. He saw a flag waving on a pole in the front. He estimated that there was about a 5 mile an hour wind coming from the northwest. He made sure that he would compensate. He targeted the two on the porch first and gently squeezed the trigger. In an instant, the target’s head exploded, splattering brain matter and blood against the wall. Surprised, the second target jumped out of his chair shouting expletives into the night. Frank jerked back on the charging handle as fast as he could, chambering a new round. Frank targeted carefully. He squeezed the trigger again. The second target was down. He cycled the rifle. The third, still holding the leg, was so scared he couldn’t move, standing in place. Frank took advantage of the opportunity. He targeted the leg of the target. This is an old sniper tactic. Cause the target pain, make him scream, to draw out more targets. He didn’t want to kill him yet so he decided to wing him. He squeezed the trigger. The round went through the target, tearing through the muscle tissue, just missing the femoral artery. The target was down, screaming. Frank took his eyes off the scope to have a broader view of the area, waiting for more targets. Three targets burst out of the house, running toward Frank’s victim. They were scanning the area but were unable to tell where their enemy was. Two more stumbled out of the house, struggling to get dressed and get their shoes on.
‘This should be enough for now,’ Frank thought. He targeted the one closest to the house. He needed to take as many as possible down. He squeezed the trigger. The man was bent down still trying to get his shoe on. The man slumped over. The rest of them noticed. They all jumped, scanning the area again. Frank decided to fire as fast as he could to try and take them all down. He aimed at center mass on two that were back to back. The round went through the chest of the first one and exited through the chest of the second one. Two more in the open. One bolted and jumped behind a 55 gallon metal drum.
Frank chuckled to himself. ‘That won’t save you.’
He targeted the center of the container and let another round loose. The target slumped over and started screaming.
‘Good enough for now.’
Frank noticed the last target from this group ran back inside the house.
‘Damn it. Need some x-ray vision.’ ‘What to do now,’ Frank thought.
He scanned the upstairs windows to see if anyone was up there. He noticed someone was peeling back the curtain to look out. Thankfully the window was open and he could see a target’s heat silhouette. Frank let a round loose. The target disappeared. He could hear expletives coming from the house. He assumed he got the target.
‘Two more to go. Where were they?’ Frank decided to spice things up a bit. He put his rifle aside and grabbed the AT-4. He got up to a knee, draping the weapon over his shoulder. He turn off the safety and acquired his target, the house. He targeted the window where he just shot and fired. The rocket powered projectile flew toward his target, entering the window. The windows in the adjacent room blew out, then the walls and rear roof collapsed. Feeling satisfied, Frank checked the magazine in his M4. He dawned his night vision goggles and turned on the power. His world went from darkness to green in an instant. Everything was visible now. He decided to clear the area on foot so he moved out of the cover of the brush and proceeded down the hill, scanning the area for additional targets. He made it to the rear corner of the barn, hugging the wall as he proceeded to the front. He whipped himself around the corner, weapon at the ready. He staged himself next to the open door. He glanced in quickly to see if any enemies were in the barn. He saw none. He breathed deep and burst through the opening, scanning as quickly as he could. The barn was unoccupied, except for a steel animal cage. There were human body parts hanging everywhere like pieces of cow. A fresh body of a young man was hanging from the banister, missing a leg, his organs, and had a fresh bullet wound in the center of his forehead. The floor was covered in sticky dried blood. This was no barn, it was a slaughter house. He couldn’t imagine how many lives were taken here. He walked up to the cage and noticed a woman and small girl locked in. They were terrified at the sight of him. The woman coddled the little girl, trying to protect her.
‘Jesus Christ…’ he thought.
He knelt down to them and whispered as quietly as he could.
“It’
s ok. I’m going to get you out of here.”
He motioned with his finger for them to be quiet. The woman looked at him, then glanced behind him. Frank noticed the glance and turned around as quickly as he could. It wasn’t quick enough. He turned just in time for the man’s rifle butt to strike him in the temple. Frank’s world went dark.
Anna was pacing the floor. Frank had already been gone for three hours. She was finally fed up with waiting. She rushed to the kitchen where Tommy and Steve were also waiting impatiently.
“Frank should have been back by now! Something is wrong,” she yelled, frantically.
“I know,” Tommy said.
“We have to go get him,” Anna said.
Tommy thought it over. He knew Frank would be angry if they disobeyed. But Tommy also knew that deep down, he wouldn’t care. He looked at Anna.
“Guys. I feel you, but we need to trust Frank,” Steve said. He stood up to face Anna. “You know I would like to ride in and save the day for Frank but we have to trust him.”
“Steve… I know it in my bones that something is wrong. I’m going. You’re not going to stop me,” Anna said with a fire in her eyes that could have incinerated Steve.
Steve looked at Tommy, hoping for some assistance with talking sense into her.
“Don’t look at me. I’m going with her,” Tommy said.
“Fine. What the hell? Let’s go,” Steve said.
“No. Just Anna and me,” Tommy said as he stood up from the table.
“Wait, What?” Steve said, confused.
“If something happens to us, who will be left for the rest of our people to rely on?” Tommy said.
“God damn it…” Steve said. He knew Tommy was right.
“Grab your gear,” Anna said, sternly. “We leave in five.”
Frank awoke suddenly to a splash of cold water. He tried to open his eyes but the lantern was so bright. He tried to reach and rub his throbbing head and realized he couldn’t. His hands were bound and he was hanging from them, suspended a few inches from the ground.
“Wakey wakey,” he heard from a voice in front of him.
“The fuck…” Frank said weakly. He was trying to get his bearings, still suffering from the concussion. He forced his eyes open. The blurred image started to clear and the man was nose to nose with him. The man’s face was plastered with sores and acne and his breath was horrid. The second target he missed was next to him. A bigger man, balding. He had no shirt on but had the classic, henchman pants on, complete with suspenders.
“Finally awake, huh?”
“Yep. Wishing I had some tic-tacs for you,” Frank said, defiantly.
“Oh, we got us a funny man,” he said, then punched Frank in the ribs. Frank took the hit, trying to not flinch. He breathed in deep and settled his breathing. Frank knew that he needed to toy with them to buy as much time as he could. They would probably kill him, he knew that much, but it would buy the woman and kid some time. Frank started laughing.
“Bitch, I’m hilarious. Did you hear the one about the cannibal who got hooked on meth?”
The bigger ones struck this time. This one hurt. Frank gasped and coughed but quickly recovered.
Frank chuckled. “Yeah… It wasn’t that funny anyway.”
He looked at the bigger man.
“Nice shot, but your boyfriend over here hits like a bitch. He must be the feminine side of the relationship.” He took another shot to the ribs. Frank felt a pop then severe pain run along his chest, side and back.
‘Motherfucker broke my ribs,’ Frank thought. He was now pissed off beyond belief.
“Fucking asshole. Where is the rest of your people,” the man asked.
“What people,” Frank asked. He took a shot to the face for his trouble.
“You know who I fucking mean.”
“Not a clue,” Frank said then spat out the blood filling his mouth on to the man’s shirt. Another shot to the face. He could feel his hands slipping out of his restraints.
‘Just a little more…’ he thought.
The man looked down at his blood streaked shirt. “That won’t be the last of your blood on this shirt.”
“Maybe not, but I’ll make you work for every drop of it,” Frank raised his legs and hips and kicked the man bigger man in the face. The man fell to the ground, dazed. He leaned up and unsteadily got to his knees, spitting out blood. This was the jerk Frank needed. He was holding on to the restraints, appearing that he was still bound.
The main torturer went to the shelf next to him. “I’m going to enjoy this. Usually we shoot people in the head before we get to this part but I’m going to make you feel every bit of this. Where are the other people?”
“Yeah. Go ahead and give me your best shot,” Frank said with a smile. He hopped down while they were distracted and snuck up behind the main torturer. He grabbed a hand full of his hair and rammed the man’s head into the shelf with all his might. The man fell unconscious.
Frank grabbed the knife from him and turned to the bigger of the two. The behemoth was already moving toward him. He made a wide right cross at Frank. Frank ducked as quick as he could, barely dodging the blow. He drove the knife as hard as he could into the man’s rib cage. Frank twisted the blade, making sure the wound stayed open as much as possible then ripped it out of his chest. The man gasped, dropping to his knees. He gazed up at Frank. Frank looked dead into his eyes, watching him die. The man fell over.
“MOTHER FUCKER!” The main torturer tackled Frank from behind.
Frank twisted as hard as he could, forcing them both around, landing on the man.
After hitting the ground, Frank began head butting him in the face and stabbing him in the groin. The man released his grip on Frank, cradling his face and groin area. Frank turned over on top of him and thrust the blade into the side of his neck. With one swift jerk, Frank completely sliced through the arteries and esophagus. Frank got to his feet, barely. The man was still slightly struggling, grabbing at his neck. Frank could hear him gurgling from the blood flowing into his throat.
Frank noticed someone peek in the door. His eye sight had blurred, he couldn’t tell who it was. He raised the knife, readying himself, just in case. Anna and Tommy burst through the barn door, surrounding the man. Frank still couldn’t tell, he raised his knife, about to thrust it into Tommy.
Tommy noticed. “Frank! It’s us! Stand down!”
Frank stopped mid motion and dropped his arms.
“Sorry, Tommy. I can’t see…”
Anna saw Frank’s bloodied body and swelling face in the dim light. Her rage was well beyond controllable. The man’s body was still twitching. She shot him while he was on the ground. The man was long dead but she was still shooting him. By round four Frank was yelling at her to stop. Anna looked at him, tears were already streaming.
“I know. I’m an asshole,” Frank said, apologetically.
“Shut up,” Anna said as she cried on his chest.
“I’m sorry…” Frank said.
Anna looked up at him still crying. “Are you ok?”
“I’m ok. We need to get out of here. Tommy, get them out of there,” Frank said, motioning toward the cage.
Frank’s pain was at an all-time high. The adrenaline was already wearing off. He could barely move.
Tommy leaned down and looked into the cage. “What the fuck? These people were fucking barbaric.” Tommy could see that they were terrified. “Don’t worry. I’m going to get you out of there.”
Frank became dizzy and fell to the ground. Anna rushed to his side to help him up. Tommy was looking for something to pry the lock off the cage.
“Tommy, check their pockets…” Frank said weakly.
Tommy went to the torturer and checked his pockets and found a set of keys. It took a moment to find the right one but soon the cage was open. The woman took her daughter and backed away from them.
Tommy raised his hands to show her that he wasn’t a threat. “It’s ok. We’re not going to
hurt you.”
“Stay away,” she shrieked.
“I’m sorry,” Tommy said, taking a few steps back.
The woman looked at Frank.
“Thank you for helping us. They were about to kill us when you started killing them. They already killed my husband…” she said staring at the fresh corpse hanging from the banister.
“I’m sorry I didn’t get here sooner…” Frank said with a grunt, fighting through his pain.
She rushed over to him and hugged him tightly around his neck.
“Thank you…” The woman start sobbing.
He grabbed her arm. “It’s ok. We’re going to take you home.”
Her sobbing intensified.
Frank looked at Anna who looked mesmerized at the scene in front of her. She had always wondered why he did it. Why he was always so selfless. He was like a hero from legends. Always fighting for the weak and helpless. This time it nearly didn’t end well.
The woman finally released him and took a step back.
“What’s your name,” Anna asked.
“I’m Sam and this is Dorothy,” Sam said, still sobbing.
“I’m Anna.” She put her hand on Frank’s chest. “This is Frank. That guy is Tommy.”
“Thank you all,” Sam said.
“Is there someplace we can take you? Someone to help you?” Tommy said.
“My parents are in a house outside Manhattan off of Oak St. I’m pretty sure they were ok after we were taken,” Sam said.
“Ok. Let’s get Frank home first and we’ll take you home,” Anna said.
“I’m ok. Her place is on the way. It won’t be a big detour,” Frank said.
“Are you sure? I don’t mind waiting. You’re pretty banged up,” Sam said.
“Honey. We need to get Steve to take a look at you. There’s no telling how bad you’re really hurt,” Anna said.
“Come on boss. We need to get you home,” Tommy said.
“Fine. Three against one isn’t fair,” Frank said with a chuckle that hurt more than it was worth.
“Well, seeing as how you took on ten guys alone, I don’t think you’ll mind,” Tommy snickered.
“Smartass. Can someone help me get my gear on?” Frank said, still giggling.
Life In Death (Book 1): Surviving Death (The Struggle) Page 15
