Fight 4 Us (Book 5): Agreement

by Grenda, Brian

  I give Bobby G a hug, and we both walk out of the front door of his house.

  Bobby G greets everyone, and we go over the plan.

  Eric says, “We can’t drive onto Davis Island. At least, we couldn’t the last time I was there. We can get there on foot or boat. We should try to get as close to the entrance as we can, but I don’t know how close that will be.”

  Julia says, “Last time we were there, I saw hundreds of zombies. Davis Island is right by downtown Tampa. It’s a hot bed of death, disorder, and zombies. We have to be ready for a lot of zombies and danger today.”

  Shaun walks over to us and says, “I’ll hold down the fort when you are gone. Be safe out there. I have something for Eric.”

  Shaun hands Eric his riot shield.

  “Thank you, Shaun. This will help a lot. I feel much safer with this,” says Eric.

  Jon says, “Nice, a shield is very helpful out there. I love the shield I use.”

  I look at the group and say, “We know the plan. It might go out the window as soon as we get downtown. Let’s be safe out there. Safety first and always. Don’t be a hero out their guys. I want us all coming back today.”

  Shaun says, “I want my shield back, Eric. You better come back alive and with my shield intact.”

  Eric replies, “I will Shaun. Don’t worry about it. Might have some zombie blood and brains on it though.”

  “Just make sure you hose it off when you return it,” says Shaun.

  Eric, Jon, and Julia walk to Eric’s truck.

  Eric places the riot shield in the back of his truck.

  Lauren gets in the backseat of Phil’s SUV.

  Phil checks the trunk and makes sure that he has his weapons, body armor, helmet, shotgun, ammo, knives, aluminum bat, and handguns.

  Phil is all set, and he gets into the driver seat of his SUV.

  I wave goodbye to Bobby G and get into the passenger seat of Phil’s SUV.

  Eric drives towards the South entrance.

  Phil reverses out of Bobby G’s driveway.

  Shaun waves goodbye, and Phil gives a goodbye beep to Shaun and Bobby G.

  Phil drives through the open gate of the South entrance, and we are off to downtown Tampa and Davis Island.

  Davis Island is about 35 minutes away from Citrus Oaks.

  The streets are mostly clear as we drive towards downtown Tampa.

  The sun is shining, and it’s a hot summer day.

  Phil makes a left-hand turn and sees Eric’s truck ahead of us. In the distance is the huge wall that surrounds the zoo and part of downtown Tampa.

  “That wall is huge. Whoever built that thing, doesn’t want to be bothered,” says Lauren.

  Phil, Lauren, and I marvel at the sheer size of the wall.

  The wall must be about 12 feet high and solid.

  Eric makes a right-hand turn, and Phil follows behind him.

  There is something moving in the distance, but it’s hard to tell what it is.

  “Something is moving down there. It’s probably a shit ton of zombies,” says Phil.

  As we get closer and closer to the moving objects, I notice that it’s a huge group of zombies in the street.

  “There must be at least 200 zombies down there,” says Lauren as Phil stops the SUV behind Eric’s truck.

  Phil and Eric park about half a mile out from the entrance to Davis Island.

  Eric exits his truck and comes over to Phil’s SUV. Phil rolls down his window.

  “What do you think guys?” asks Eric.

  Phil looks at the large group of zombies and says, “You weren’t lying. There must be a couple hundred zombies down there.”

  “I don’t want to drive any closer to the entrance, as we might get stuck or surrounded by the zombie herd,” says Eric.

  Phil says, “I have an idea. Go back in your truck and stay there. I have an idea of how to thin out the herd. Do not drive behind me. Stay parked here. I will signal or come back here, when I’m finished.”

  Eric asks, “Okay, what’s your plan?”

  “You’ll see. Just don’t leave your truck until I say it’s okay,” says Phil.

  Eric gets back into his truck.

  Phil rolls his window back up and puts his SUV in drive.

  Phil drives towards the zombie herd.

  “What are you doing Phil?” asks Lauren.

  Phil smiles and steps on the gas pedal.

  Zombies become ripped in half and destroyed as Phil drives his SUV plow into the herd of zombies.

  “Careful Phil, let’s not repeat what happened the last time a zombie herd attacked us at Citrus Oaks.”

  “Good point, I don’t want to break down again,” says Phil.

  Phil pushes on the brakes and stops his SUV.

  The remaining zombies turn towards us, as we sit in the SUV.

  It’s a strange sight looking at the foggy bloodshed eyes of the dead staring back at you.

  Phil puts his SUV in reverse and speeds backwards away from the zombies.

  Several zombies are crushed and knocked down as Phil is driving back towards Eric’s truck.

  Phil repeats the process of driving forward in his SUV, running over and crushing a lot of zombies, and backing away to safety.

  Eric, Julia, and Jon watch safely from inside Eric’s truck.

  “Glad we met these guys,” says Julia.

  Jon says, “You have no idea.”

  After several passes of Phil’s SUV through the zombie herd, the zombie herd is whittled down to a manageable six zombies.

  Phil beeps his horn, and Eric drives towards Phil’s SUV that is parked near the blocked off entrance road of Davis Island.

  Eric speeds down the road and drives into three zombies.

  Zombie blood splatters all over Eric’s truck windshield and grill.

  “Gross!” shouts Julia at the sight of the zombie blood on the windshield.

  Eric parks his truck next to Phil’s SUV.

  The last three remaining zombies turn away from the entrance barricades of David Island and make their way towards our vehicles.

  Jon gets out of Eric’s truck with his sword and shield.

  SVAASH!

  Jon slashes Silencer into two zombies.

  The top half of the zombie’s skulls hit the street, followed by the lifeless zombies’ bodies.

  Jon takes out the last zombie with another slice from Silencer and shouts, “All clear guys!”

  Lauren, Phil, and I are at the trunk of Phil’s SUV.

  Phil puts on his body armor and helmet.

  Lauren puts her backpack and arrow holder around her back. Her arrow holder is loaded with twenty arrows.

  I put my samurai armor and chest plate body armor on.

  Eric and Julia are looking at us, and they feel a bit out of place.

  Julia looks at Eric and says, “I think we are underdressed for this party.”

  Phil closes his SUV trunk and locks his SUV.

  A loud screech of tires is heard in the distance. Gunshots go off.

  BANG! BANG!

  We all look towards the direction of the gunfire, but don’t see anything.

  “Let’s get moving, downtown Tampa is not the place to hang out in right now.”

  Eric leads the way to the entrance of Davis Island.

  The entrance road is blocked off by several thick concrete barricades, but we can easily hop over them.

  The barricades are designed to prevent vehicles from getting by, but people can easily get over them.

  We all hop over the barricades and walk down the middle of Davis Boulevard.

  There are only a couple of zombies near the entrance of the street. We easily take them out and continue our journey around Davis Island.

  “What are we looking for Eric?”

  Eric replies, “People. The living. I’m looking for my friends Brad, Randy, Trent, and DJ.”

  Davis Island is a small piece of land in South Tampa. The rich and famous live there, as it’s seclu
ded from most things, and it’s very close to downtown Tampa.

  As we walk down the middle of the road, I am amazed at the sight of the million-dollar homes, cars, and boats.

  “Is this the famous baseball player’s house?” asks Phil.

  Phil has always been a huge New York fan. He loves baseball and New York sports.

  We pass a house that has the letters DJ on the front entrance iron gate.

  Eric replies, “DJ is a good guy. I was hoping he would still be alive and living here.”

  Sports cars, electric cars, overpriced SUVs, and luxury sedans fill most driveways that we pass.

  Lauren sees a zombie in the distance. She grabs an arrow from the arrow holder on her back and takes aim with her compound bow.

  The zombie is slowly moving down the right side of the street, near the edge of the water.

  We see that Lauren is focused and stops walking.

  Lauren takes a couple of steps closer to the zombie and stops again.

  Lauren pulls the arrow back, takes a deep breath in, and pauses.

  Lauren releases the arrow, exhales, and watches the arrow fly.

  The arrow flies directly towards the zombie.

  SCHHWAFF!

  The arrow hits the female zombie directly in the left temporal bone in her skull, and the zombie falls into the water.

  “Nice shot!”

  Lauren has a huge smile on her face. She feels a sense of confidence and accomplishment.

  We walk through the whole community on Davis Island.

  We kill every zombie that we encounter walking around outside.

  “I think we are all good here,” says Phil as he scans the surrounding homes and water line.

  Eric says, “No one is here. I can’t believe it.”

  Gunfire goes off.

  BANG! BANG!

  We all duck down, but the gunfire isn’t near us.

  Phil stands up and tries to see where the gunfire came from.

  DAKKA! DAKKA!

  Automatic weapon gunfire is heard.

  Phil thinks he knows where the gunfire is coming from.

  “I’m going to check out the gunfire!” shouts Phil as he runs towards a park near the entrance off Columbia Drive on Davis Island.

  Phil looks across the water into downtown Tampa and sees gunfire at the convention center.

  The rest of the group, and I run over to Phil’s position.

  “Something is happening at the convention center. It’s hard to tell who it is without binoculars, but it looks like Conquerors,” says Phil.

  Jon sees a dead body lying in the grass being picked apart by vultures. There appears to be something in the right hand of the deceased person.

  Jon walks over to the body. The vultures fly away, and Jon reaches down to pick up the object on the ground.

  It’s binoculars.

  Jon asks, “What are the odds of that?”

  A woman screams in the distance, as we are watching the chaos at the convention center on the water.

  SPLASH!

  A woman jumps into the bay.

  Jon hands me the binoculars.

  I put the binoculars up to my eyes and scan the area around the convention center.

  I see a group of four men going after a group of two men and a woman. Another man is looking into the bay, where the lady jumped in.

  The man shoots into the water and waits to see if the woman comes up from the water.

  I look back at the group of four men that I saw before. They have the two men and woman on their knees.

  A short white man with short brown hair, dressed in a flannel red shirt, jeans, and brown cowboy boots walks over to the men.

  I recognize the man immediately.

  It’s Jacob.

  “What’s going on over there Ryan?” asks Phil.

  I keep looking through the binoculars and say, “It’s Jacob. He has two men and a woman on their knees.”

  PKOW!

  Jacob shoots one of the men in the back of the head.

  “He just shot one of the men. He’s yelling at a man and woman now.”

  As I watch the man and woman plead for their lives, I feel a mix of anger and focus.

  “I knew we couldn’t trust Jacob!” shouts Phil.

  The man on his knees pleads to Jacob. I see him mouth the words, “Take me. Just let her go.”

  Jacob laughs and shoots the man directly in the face.

  BANG!

  The woman screams in fear, as she is now covered with the man’s blood that was just shot by Jacob.

  “What should we do Ryan?” asks Lauren.

  I see the woman get picked up by one of Jacob’s men and taken to Jacob’s truck.

  “Nothing. It’s over now. They just took the girl with them and drove off. It was Jacob and his Conquerors.”

  I look over at the water, near the convention center, and I see a woman swimming in the bay.

  “There is a woman swimming this way. She is the one who jumped into the water and got away from Jacob and his men.”

  The group sees the woman swimming towards Davis Island.

  “What should we do?” asks Julia.

  Eric looks for a boat and finds one at a nearby dock.

  “We help her,” says Eric as he runs towards the boat.

  Eric, Julia, and Jon make it to the boat.

  Eric finds the boat keys on the body of a dead person on the boat.

  Phil unhooks the line from the dock, while Eric

  starts up the boat.

  The boat struggles to start initially, but it starts up and Eric drives the boat towards the woman.

  Julia can’t stop staring at the dead body of the old man that had the boat keys on him. Julia isn’t sure if the man is a zombie or not. The man has a knife wound to the right side of his head.

  Eric makes a sharp turn, and the dead body falls face first onto the floor of the boat.

  Julia screams and then shouts, “Sorry! That dead body just freaked me out!”

  Eric drives the boat near the woman who is swimming in the bay.

  The woman isn’t sure, if Eric is friend or foe.

  The woman stops swimming and says, “I can’t tell you how to get in. I won’t tell you.”

  Eric shouts, “What are you talking about? I’m not with the people that were shooting at you!”

  The woman still isn’t sure if she can trust Eric or not.

  Eric points behind the woman and shouts, “Get in here! There is a shark coming behind you!”

  The woman starts swimming frantically towards the boat now.

  Eric and Jon help the woman into the boat.

  The woman looks back into the water.

  “There isn’t a damn shark coming!” shouts the woman.

  “I know. I just had to make you get out of the water. You can trust us. We aren’t with the people who were attacking you,” says Eric.

  Jon looks at the woman and asks, “What was that all about with Jacob?”

  The woman hesitates to answer.

  Eric drives the boat back to the dock.

  Phil hooks up the line from the boat to the dock, and the boat is secure.

  Eric escorts the woman over to me.

  “What’s your name?”

  The woman pompously says, “It’s Elizabeth.”

  “Nice to meet you Elizabeth. I am Ryan. My people and I won’t hurt you, but I want to know what happened back there with Jacob and his group. Why did he take the other woman that was with you?”

  Elizabeth doesn’t answer.

  “Where are you from? Where do you live?” I ask Elizabeth.

  Elizabeth looks across the water, towards the hockey arena, and Channelside Bay Plaza.

  Elizabeth reaches into her pocket, pulls out a whistle, and blows into the whistle.

  I am taken back by the loud whistle Elizabeth just made.

  Elizabeth looks around and whistles again. This time even louder.

  Suddenly, two boats come speeding in the w
ater and rush to the dock that we are standing on.

  The boats pull up to the dock and stop.

  Several armed men jump off the boats and run over to us.

  Eric looks at one of the men and asks, “Brad? Is that you?

  CHAPTER 14

  CHANNELSIDE

  “Put your hands up! Elizabeth come here!” shouts a man that has his gun pointed at us as we are standing on a boat dock on Davis Island.

  Elizabeth walks over to the man.

  “We saved her! We aren’t with the people that attacked her!”

  The man that Eric was looking at before walks over to Eric with his compound bow pointed at Eric.

  Eric looks at the man and says, “Brad, It’s me Eric. You know me.”

  The man doesn’t say anything.

  “You got a lot of nerve talking to me, like we are good friends or something,” says the man.

  I look at Eric, and I don’t know what to make of the situation.

  Suddenly, the man lowers his compound bow and shakes Eric’s hand.

  “How the hell are you Eric?” asks the man.

  The man shouts, “Lower you weapons guys! It’s okay! Eric is a good friend of mine!”

  One of the men asks, “You sure Brad?”

  “Yes! Lower your weapons!” shouts Brad.

  Eric looks at Brad and takes in a big breath.

  “You had me there, for a second Brad. Always the ballbreaker,” says Eric.

  Brad looks at Julia and says, “Hey Julia! How are ya?”

  Eric introduces Brad to everyone, and then Brad and Eric talk.

  “What’s going on here Brad? Are you having trouble with the Conquerors?” asks Eric.

  Brad asks, “You know about Jacob, Joseph, and their Conqueror group?”

  Eric replies, “Yeah. Ryan, and his group know all about them. Ryan took care of Joseph though.”

  “What do you mean?” asks Brad.

  “I cut his head off and made a deal with Jacob to leave us alone!”

  Brad walks over to me and asks, “Are you serious? Joseph is dead?”

  “Yes. I am serious and yes, Joseph is dead.”

  The group of men and Brad are shocked to hear that news. I guess Joseph is known all over Tampa Bay.

  Brad asks Eric, “What are you doing here?”

  “I’m looking for DJ, Randy, Trent, and the rest of the gang. I was looking for you also,” says Eric.

  Brad replies, “Well, you found me. DJ, Randy, Trent, Warren, and most of the gang are back in town. The homes here are mostly vacant now and have been since the Conquerors started bothering us.”