by Smith, I. J.
Lisa slapped him on the injured shoulder again. “Without treatment, the cut will become infected, so shut up. You’re coming!”
“No, he is not!” Phyl spoke again.
Lisa ignored her and grabbed Bray’s arm, pulling him away towards their home.
Phyl stood standing still for a moment. She looked at Lucky, who still sat on her shoulder. “They’re not going to like this!” She told the cat; as she started to follow them.
CHAPTER SIX
BLOOD
Adams eyes began to flicker, before his eyes opened; he cried out in pain. He felt a soft hand cover his mouth. “Quiet! You need to be quiet,” the soothing voice of Raven spoke quietly.
The pain was intense for Adam; he tried to hold his screams in. As he tried, tears ran from his eyes. Raven took notice. She could see the terrible pain he was in.
“Jack,” she said softly.
Jack and Ryan were scouting a hole in the wall. Debris made it hard to move quietly, but Raven’s voice made him turn. Jack looked at Ryan, “Stay against the wall and wait for me to come back.” Ryan placed his back against the wall; he glanced out onto the street.
Jack moved over to Raven. He noticed Adam was awake, but suffering. He placed his hand on Adams chest. “Try and stay still, we’re gonna get you of this,” Jack told him quietly.
“Jack, he’s in a lot of pain and there is nothing I can do,” Raven told him.
Looking down at Adam he could see the pain in his eyes. Jack moved behind Adam and lifted his neck, he held him tight. Adam began to struggle. “What are you doing?” she asked.
Adam’s eyes closed.
“He’s OK, just unconscious,” Jack told her as he checked Adam’s pulse.
She watched as he quickly made his way back towards Ryan. Jack crouched by the opening in the wall and looked around the deserted street. What worried him was how clean it looked. There were no abandoned vehicles, no bodies of the dead roaming around.
“It has to be a trap!” Sarah said behind them both.
Ryan nodded in agreement.
“Of course, it is; we’re playing their game now.” Jack replied.
Suddenly their radio beeped, and then they heard the voice of the Butcher.
“Come on Jack, I’m getting bored here!” The Butcher taunted.
Jack grabbed the radio, pushing the talk button and replied, “Then pull your dick out and jerk off. That should keep you entertained for a few seconds.”
The sound of laughter echoed over the radio.
“SHIT! Jack I honestly believed that some of the shit I heard about you was made up. But damn, even now you are swinging those big-old brass balls of yours around.”
For a moment, there was silence.
“Tell you what, Jack. You see the open door across the street. Well, inside there are medical supplies and maybe some little treats for you,” The Butcher says.
“And which roof is the sniper on?” Jack asked.
“Jack, when I kill you. I promise we will be facing each other. That is a promise. You and one other can go across the street, anyone else attempts to follow; you will be shot in the head.”
The radio beeped. Jack shook his head. “I need to go!” Raven spoke out.
“No!” Jack spoke firmly.
“I’m a nurse, I know what we need.”
Jack swallowed hard, knowing she was right. He nodded his head and reached out for her hand. He looked at the others. “Stay safe!”
Holding Raven’s hand tightly, Jack was the first to step out into the street. He looked up and could see the silhouette of a sniper. He pulled Raven closer to him. “Stay close.”
They calmly walked across the street towards the open red door. As they got closer they could see a message had been written in white paint. ‘WELCOME REAPER.’
Jack stopped for a second; he gripped Raven’s hand tight. She placed her other hand on his back and whispered in his ear. “We do this together.” Together, they walked through the doorway and into the dark room. Suddenly the door slammed shut behind them, leaving them both in complete darkness.
A sudden circular light beamed from the end of a small torch, Jack instantly knew it was the kind held at the end of a rifle.
“So, is this the big plan?” Jack sarcastically said.
The man with the gun stepped forward; as he did the lights in the room came on. A bald man with a scar across his face stepped forward.
“Shit! Someone slapped you with ugly.” Jack joked. Raven slapped Jack on the arm trying to get him to shut up.
The bald man smiled. “My name is Daniel!” He spoke in a strong Russian accent.
“And?” Jack asked.
Daniel smiled. “You are a strong man, fast man; a man with no soul.” Jack simply laughed. “Great, zombie apocalypse and now a fucking Sunday school lecture.”
Jack stepped forward. “Look if you wanna shoot me, then get the fuck on with it!”
“No, Butcher wants you to suffer.”
Daniel tilted his head toward the medical supplies. There was even a dismantled gun, food and water; sitting on a table just behind Daniel.
Raven went to move toward the table, but Jack grabbed her arm stopping her. “Wait! Why do you need to be here for this?” He asked Daniel.
From his pocket, Daniel pulled a small grey box with a metal switch on it, he pressed the switch. The sudden sound of an alarm behind him sounded out. Jack turned to see the door going out to the street, was rigged with C4; a timer counted down from two minutes.
“A choice!” Daniel said.
Jack turned his attention back to Daniel. “Snap her neck and you can take supplies and leave,” offered Daniel
Raven locked eyes with Jack.
“Just kill me! That is what Oasis wants. That is what The Butcher wants too, right?” Jack told him.
“No, The Butcher wants you to hurt,” Daniel replied.
For a moment there was silence, Raven could see Jack was deep in though.
“Tick tock, only one minute to decide. There are only two options. Kill her or you both die here!” Daniel told him in a soft voice.
Jack took another look at the door. With a smile, Jack turned back. “What about option three?”
Daniel frowned. With his strong accent, he spoke. “There is no three!” Daniel was confused.
“Of course, there is, it comes right after number two.” Jack replied.
Daniel frowned. “But…”
Before Daniel could finish his words, Jack grabbed the tip of the gun and pulled Daniel toward him. As Daniel tried to fight, Jack grabbed him and locked him by the throat. Jack whispered in his ear. “Two mistakes! First you got too close to me, second never leave a trip wire on a bomb visible.”
Daniel looked in fear for a moment as Jack knocked the gun from his hands and threw him towards the door; shouting, “Raven, down!”
As Daniel’s body flew through the rigged door, a massive explosion erupted. Brick and stone collapsed around the door; luckily the shaped charge and most of the debris blew outwards. As the explosion echoed out, blood and body parts flew all over the street outside. Jack was quick to rush to Raven’s side.
“You OK?” He asked, concerned.
She raised her head and smiled. “Option three, huh?”
Jack gave a wide smile as he picked her up; she was quick to throw her arms around him. “Thank you!” she whispered.
Placing his hands on her face, he locked eyes with her. “You really think that there was any other option?” Raven snuggled closer to him, unable to control her emotions; she kissed him.
The kiss lasted for a few moments, and then Jack pulled away. “We need to get back with the others!”
As Raven gathered the supplies, Jack picked up the rifle that Daniel dropped. He looked at the fresh hole in the wall and could see Kat and Sarah looking back at him, from the building across the street. Raven joined him.
“Ready?” he asked her.
She nodded and together they w
alked out. They walked briskly until the beeping of the radio stopped Jack.
Over the radio the static voice of the Butcher spoke; “Only two choices!”
A gunshot sounded out. It was like slow motion as Raven hit the ground.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Jack screamed as he turned to the direction of the gunshot and began to fire back.
Sarah and Ryan rushed over to pick up Raven and the supplies; they dragged her into the building.
“Jack! Come on!” Kat screamed at him.
Jack rushed inside; dropping to the ground near Raven. Sarah was already putting pressure on the wound. Jack looked and could see the bullet hole was to the left of her stomach, he placed his hand under her back, to reveal blood.
“No bullet, it went straight through!” He told Sarah. “Get me something to stop the bleeding!”
In the medical supplies were bandages, he placed one under Raven as she groaned in pain. He pushed down onto Sarah’s hand. “Keep pressure on it.” He told her.
Jack looked back at the supplied, he thought to himself. ‘It was as if they planned it.’
Raven moaned in pain.
Jack leaned over Raven and placed his head over hers, looking deeply into her eyes.
“Raven listen to me,” he leaned closer. “Please, don’t leave me!” he whispered. Jack watched as a tear ran from her eye.
The radio beeped. “Andrew is upset, you killed his brother!”
Grabbing the radio, Jack quickly replied; “Don’t worry; he will be joining him soon!”
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE WALLS
Phyl walked muttering to herself with Lucky, her cat, still sitting on her shoulder. She watched as Lisa, in her cowboy hat, strolled ahead with an injured Bray.
“Let’s help him, she said. Let’s bring a stranger home, she said. Well I don’t like him, he looks shifty.” Phyl muttered.
Lisa was trying to talk with Bray, but he was proving to be elusive with his answers. “Look, I’m fine! I can stitch this myself and not bother any of you!” Bray told her again.
As they walked up a hill, suddenly it came into view. It was a small coastal town that was surrounded by twenty-foot high wooden walls.
“Holy Shit!” Bray utterly surprised.
“Beautiful, right? It took us months to build and luckily the dead took a while to get this far north. Thankfully, it gave us time.” Lisa replied.
Bray suddenly frowned. In his mind, he thought of one thing, ‘How the hell did they know they were coming north?’
Along a muddy path, they walked towards a side entrance to the wall. They were met by three men with handguns. “Peter, it’s us!” Lisa told him.
“Who the fuck is that?” Peter waved towards Bray.
Before anyone could answer Phyl jumped in with a reply. “I told her, should have left him to die!”
“Phyl! Shut up!” Lisa demanded.
Peter stepped forward; and looked at Bray’s blood-soaked, bandaged shoulder. “You need medical help. We can help you, but we need your weapons!”
Bray backed off a little. Lisa grabbed his hand stopping him. “Look, if we wanted to hurt you. We would have done it by now!” Bray took a deep breath and handed over his blades.
“The Doc is doing rounds, so you take him directly to the surgery.” Peter told Lisa.
Lisa guided Bray inside the wall. He was amazed; children played, people laughed and joked. He noticed a lot of people in military uniforms; there were Army, Navy and even Air Force uniforms. As they walked along, he looked down a long slope that led to the ocean. He could see small tug boats moored. Fishing boats were out working. The more Bray noticed things, the more he become concerned.
The town was clean and well looked after. They walked into a small white building, an elderly woman sat behind a desk. “Gloria, we have a patient for the Doc.” Lisa informed her.
Gloria had her grey hair tied up in a bun, her glasses hung down her nose as she looked at Bray. “He will be back soon.”
She looked at him and handed Bray a form and a pen. “Fill this out!” Gloria demanded.
A confused Bray asked why. Before Gloria could give a sarcastic answer, Lisa spoke. “We all have to, especially anyone new to the town. It’s just procedure.”
“I can speak for myself,” Gloria said rudely. “And manners! Take that damn hat off indoors.”
Both Lisa and Bray sat down along a wall. Lisa removed her hat to reveal her long beautiful blonde hair. It caught Brays attention, but he tried to hide it. Lisa gave a little smile.
Bray filled out the form. When he wrote his full name, Lisa eyes widened. “Bray Murray, nice name”, she remarked. Bray laughed. Lisa looked over at Gloria, who was shaking her head.
“Excuse me for a moment; I want to check where the Doctor is right now. Don’t want to keep you waiting all day.” Gloria made her excuse and left the room.
Outside, Phyl was still wandering around and Lucky had run off again. She walked towards a large black door, where two armed men stood outside. “Is she in? I need to talk to her.” Phly asked.
“Go on in, Phyl,” one of the guards answered her.
As she entered the room, it was filled with computer servers. Computer screens lit the room as people worked on them. On the back wall was a large map of the world. Part of it was shaded in different colors, some red, some blue and others green. A woman with long black hair and civilian clothes stood staring at the map.
Before Phyl could say anything, Gloria burst into the room. “Ma’am! We have a problem!”
The black-haired woman turned. “How many times have I told you, call me Samantha?” she said to Gloria.
Samantha looked at Phyl. “Good journey, find that damn cat of yours.”
“Yes, thank you. Sadly, we also found something else.” Phly replied.
As Samantha looked at Gloria, seeing that she was anxious to talk. “And what was that?” Samantha asked Phyl.
Phyl screwed up her face, “A man!”
Gloria continued to shuffle. “Damn it Gloria, what is it?” Samantha demanded.
“Murray, Bray Murray; one of the names on the list is sitting in our surgery!” Gloria blurted out.
Samantha’s expression changed to fear. “Private Carter!” Samantha shouted.
“Our guest in the surgery, once treated he is to be locked downed and questioned.” Samantha ordered Private Carter.
Private Carter immediately replied. “Right away, Captain Jenkins!”
Lisa was still sitting with Bray; the Doctor had now arrived and was stitching his shoulder. As he snipped the last stitch, Bray spoke, “Thanks Doc!”
“Please call me Taylor, everyone does.” The Doc said and smiled.
As Bray stood up, two men walked into the room. “Is there a problem?” Bray asked.
As the men stepped forward, Lisa got in-between Bray and the men. “This is just procedure. We have a contained home for you to stay in; just while we interview you.”
Bray gripped his hands into fists. “Am I a prisoner?” he asked as he looked at Lisa.
“No, you’re a guest. But we have to careful; you know what it’s like out there.” Lisa replied.
Bray moved closer to Lisa, “Anyone touches me, I will kill them.” Bray told Lisa with a tight voice.
Bray moved away and walked off with the men. Lisa looked at Taylor, he smiled at her. “I wish you could have the look on your face when you saw his name.” She looked back at him with a disgusted look on her face. “Bray Murray; let’s hope he can answer her questions.” Taylor tells Lisa.
Lisa stared out towards Bray walking away with the two men. Her heart began to fill with guilt.
CHAPTER EIGHT
RAGE
Ryan kneeled with his gun facing out into the street. Every time he took an inch closer outside; a shot would be fired from the sniper into the debris as a warning not to move.
“STOP!” Jack shouted at Ryan.
Ryan was frustrated; Jack could see he w
as worried about Zoe. “We need to do something!” Ryan says.
“Yeah!” Kat agrees.
Both Jack’s and Sarah’s hands were covered in Raven’s blood. They looked at each other, both knowing there was nothing they could do for her. Sarah whispered to Jack, “Tell them!”
Jack looked at Raven, she had turned pale from the loss of blood, and her eyes were barely moving. He looked over at Kat who was tending to Adam. The medications they had retrieved had morphine with it, and Adam was given a dose.
Jack stood up. “There is nothing we can do!” He said suddenly.
Ryan and Kat both looked at him in shock. Ryan stood, approached Jack and asked, “What?”
“We fight our way out!” Kat says.
Jack shook his head and replied, “Maybe, if we had the weapons and a proper unit!”
Ryan went to throw a punch at Jack; Jack easily grabbed Ryan’s arm and twisted it behind his back. “Ryan, you’re a mechanic. Kat, you’re a kid. Sarah, you can fight. But you’re no match for them. Then we have Raven and Adam, right now all they are good for are human shields.” Kat looked upset by his words, but deep down knowing they were true.
Jack grabbed the gun from Ryan. “What are you doing?” Ryan asked. Without replying Jack threw the gun outside; into the street. Ryan tried to rush for it, but Jack pulled him back throwing him to the ground.
The radio beeped.
“Reaper! What are you up to?” The Butcher asked
“We surrender!” Jack replied. He dropped the radio and walked out onto the street, with his hands held high.
Ryan looked around at the others. He was shocked to see Kat following Jack, hands held high. Sarah could not move as she was still trying to stop Raven from bleeding out.
“You should go!” Sarah told Ryan.
Slowly Ryan walked outside; onto the street with his hands held high.
For several minutes they stood there, a red dot appeared on Jack’s chest. He looked up to see the blonde female sniper smiling at him. The sudden creaking of a rusty door caught Jack’s attention. A broad shouldered bald man with a smile on his face appeared. He was followed by another man with a similar scar across his face, as the man Jack had killed just moments ago. “I’m guessing you were related to the other guy? Not to worry, a needle and thread and you can sew him back together,” Jack said with a smile. “There are bits of him scattered all over,” as he pointed to the limbs lying in the street.
