The Renegades (Book 3): Fortress

by Jack Hunt

  “Nah, I’m sure you can tell it better.”

  Elijah scanned the trees with his assault rifle as he began to share. “So Ben here used to be a gang member. Isn’t that right?”

  “You’re kidding,” I said.

  “When I was younger, yeah. Before someone got hold of me and shook some sense into me.”

  “And tell them who that was?”

  “Elijah’s father,” Ben replied.

  Baja burst out laughing. “Oh this is just music to my ears.”

  “Okay, so how the heck did that work?”

  “Elijah’s papa was a cop. He pulled up on us numerous times when we were doing deals. Of course back then Elijah was just a sperm in his daddy’s sack. Ain’t that right.”

  Elijah shook his head.

  “Anyway, he pulled a few favors and managed to get me into a home. My father and mother weren’t around. He also managed to get my slate cleared.”

  “That doesn’t exactly sound easy to do.”

  “It wasn’t. I don’t know how many police policies and rules he broke to pull that off but he did it.”

  “Okay, so how the hell didn’t that work for you and your brother, Elijah?”

  “Harder to reach your own flesh and blood isn’t, Elijah?”

  “So what’s that make you two? Like eh… surrogate brothers?” Baja started laughing.

  “We didn’t come from the same sperm, you moron,” Elijah said. “Hell, we aren’t even related. My father took him under his wing. That’s all.”

  “Then what?” I asked.

  “I tried the same approach with Elijah. Didn’t work, did it?”

  “Nope,” Elijah said, continuing to scan the trees.

  “So I’m guessing you busted him a few times?”

  “Twelve times.”

  “Thirteen actually,” Ben corrected him.

  “That last time can’t exactly be classed as a bust.”

  “I think it can.”

  “You didn’t do jail time?”

  “Nah, that was the deal, wasn’t it, Ben?”

  I laughed. “So I guess that was the reason he took you in. He knew you would look out for his son long after he left the police department.”

  “How long did you do that?”

  “Too long,” Ben shot back.

  We kept moving until we started to become irritated with Lance. We were sure he had led us down the wrong path.

  “No, it’s just beyond that rise,” he said, pointing into the darkness.

  “You said that six rises ago.”

  Thankfully this was the final one. As we came up to the crest of the hill, we were shrouded by a spruce and fir-lined hillside. Down below us we could see a fire flickering, surrounded by three trailers. The golden tongues of fire cut into the darkness, illuminating the figures nearby. The distant sound of voices and laughter could be heard. We scanned the area for Z’s, so far there were none; then again we were in the middle of nowhere. The only Z’s that would have been out here would have been campers, and by the number of trailers down there, it didn’t look like anyone had been here in a while.

  “Are you sure there were only six?”

  “I’m certain.”

  Crouched down we contemplated our next move.

  “Please tell me you do know how to use that?” Benjamin looked at the fifteen-year-old kid juggling the Glock in his hand like a virgin with a condom.

  “Yeah, yeah, it’s simple, just point and…” He lifted his Glock up in the direction of Benjamin. I slapped his wrist down. Thankfully it didn’t go off.

  “Mind where you’re pointing that.”

  “Yeah, sorry about that.”

  Not exactly a good start, but it was all we had to work with. Dax had hung back. Ben told me he knew about our little escapade. He thought it was best to remain just in case word got out and he needed to keep them level-headed. He was good at that. Helping people to keep their head screwed on. Now as we looked down upon this group of inbred, gun-shooting, booze-guzzling head cases I was beginning to wonder if this was how our lives were always going to be. Going up against those who knew nothing except taking, harming others, and finding pleasure in pain inflicted. Right then, in that moment we heard a cry. It was bloodcurdling, human, and coming from the camp.

  REDNECKS

  What was the deal with people finding pleasure in someone else’s pain? We had made our way down to the outskirts of the rednecks’ camp to get a better look at what was going on. The cries of fear sent a shiver up my spine. Between the trailers we could see Tommy and Reed. They had tied them to two tall log posts just a distance from the fire. One of the rednecks was taunting them with a Z. He had a chain around its neck and waist. It must have been fresh otherwise the metal would have torn through its frail frame. The man had a wicked mullet that would have given Billy Ray Cyrus a run for his money back in the day. He sat in a folding chair and would release the chain, which was wound around a post. The Z would jump forward snapping its chops and raking the air trying to claw at Tommy and Reed. Then he would reel it back in. Four of them sat drinking beers. A light was on inside one of the trailers which meant the other two were inside.

  “So what’s the plan?”

  “Well, I’m thinking we just mosey on down there, break on into a rendition of ‘Achy Breaky Heart’ and see if they join in,” Baja said. “You know how these rednecks are for a good ole singsong.”

  “Yeah, you do that. Meanwhile, I’m going to put a cap in an ass,” Elijah said, leaning to one side and checking his magazine for ammo.

  Benjamin shook his head. “Did you both graduate from the school of idiots? We are not going to just rush in there guns blazing. Now. Here’s what we’re going to do,” he turned to me but I had already got up and moved towards one of the trailers. “Oh for goodness’ sake, are you really going to make me regret coming along?”

  Baja snorted, “Hawaii Five-O, you’re going to learn why they called us the Renegades. We don’t like rules, plans, or pretty much anything that doesn’t involve going against the grain.”

  I cast a glance back to see the others coming up behind. It wasn’t that I didn’t think we couldn’t have come up with some badass plan to overtake this group but time was against these two. Every time they released that chain that Z got a little bit closer. Now were they going to yank it back at the last minute or watch as it chewed them apart? Who knew but I wasn’t going to sit around discussing a plan that could, maybe, perhaps work when right now the best chance we had against these freaks was the element of surprise.

  I pressed my back against the cold metal trailer. Crouched down just below an illuminated window, I peeked inside. Two men sat at a table playing cards. Empty cans of beer were stacked like a pyramid beside them. One of them had a cigar in his mouth, the other was dressed in army fatigues. He stood out among the others I’d seen who were wearing your typical plaid shirts, hunting flak jackets, and torn jeans.

  “What do you think?”

  “One is military. Did you see him when you were here?” I asked Lance.

  “Yeah.”

  “Don’t you think it might have been useful info for us to know?” Ben said.

  He shrugged.

  “So how do you want to do this?” Benjamin asked me as if assuming I was going to go in there guns blazing. Which was probably what I had in mind. Truth was this would be ugly. They weren’t friendlies; Lance’s group had proven that. It was in these moments when faced with the thought of killing another that I wished there was another way.

  “Baja, Elijah, head over to the other trailer and come around the left side. Ben and Lance, you take the right side. I’m going to cover this trailer. When I give the signal…” I trailed off thinking about what I was asking them to do. “Well, I think you know.”

  They nodded and moved into position. As the four of them disappeared into the darkness I snuck a peek around the side towards the fire. The four men took turns holding the long chain that held the Z in place. They
seemed to relish the fear that they were producing in the two young men. Just as I was about to give the signal the door to the trailer swung open and the other two stepped out.

  “Stop taunting them and just get it over and done with, we are moving out.”

  “Hold up, don’t you dare kill them yet, I need a piss. I don’t want to miss this.”

  A guy with a thick beard jumped up, tossed a beer can into the fire and strolled in my direction. I slunk back into the darkness, pressing myself as tight as I could against the side of the trailer. He was still approaching. I lowered down and squeezed underneath. Now I assumed he was just going to walk straight past and take a piss in the forest. No, not my luck, or at least not his luck. He stood a foot away from me. I heard his zipper go down and his palm hit the trailer. He groaned as he began to unleash a large spray of piss all over the floor. Some of it sprayed up near my face. It was nasty. Then as if it couldn’t get any worse as he wrapped up, he decided he was going to squat and take a shit. That was the final straw. I crawled up from beneath that trailer, slid out a large bowie knife. He was making so many grunting and groaning noises as he cut a rope that when the sharp side of the blade went around his throat he just raised his hands.

  “Now steady there,” he said nervously.

  That’s when the idea came to me. Maybe we could get them back without any loss of life.

  “Get up.”

  “Um. I’m trying to take a shit.”

  “You are going to be shitting blood if you don’t do what I say,” I said. I grimaced at the smell of piss and what he had managed to unload before he felt the blade on his throat. He started yanking up his pants.

  “Slowly.”

  He nodded. I knew he wouldn’t try anything. I had that knife pressed so tightly against his throat that if he even thought of bolting or elbowing me in the gut, he would cause his own death. My eyes darted over to the other men who were growing impatient.

  “Hey Beau, hurry up.”

  Now it was very possible that this was all going to go horribly wrong. But for the first time since this whole shitfest had kicked off, I really didn’t want to kill. In fact, it was the furthest thing from my mind as I pushed this man out from the darkness into the light of the fire. How was it that we humans had forgotten who we were so fast? Of course there would always be those who would believe that groups wouldn’t turn into monsters at a drop of a hat just because society had fallen. But that was just wishful thinking. The plain fact was, we were all capable of atrocities. One thought, one action away from losing our minds and doing what we never imagined we would do. What did it take to cross that line? To go from someone who abided by the law to one who no longer cared? What could drive people to become the worst version of themselves? Hunger? Cold? Loss? Did it all boil down to survival of the fittest? Nothing more than primal instinct?

  I was about to see. This wasn’t to test them, it was to test myself. Could I restrain from killing what some might have said was an innocent? Or would they force my hand?

  One of them glanced up. His eyes widened as we came into view. He was about to reach for a gun when I stopped him.

  “Unless you want your friend to bleed out. Don’t.”

  The man’s hand hovered over his assault rifle.

  “Right now there are more than enough weapons aimed at you all. Lay them down. No one needs to die tonight. There has been enough bloodshed.”

  My eyes scanned them. I kept my distance. One of them started laughing.

  “Is this the part where we are meant to be scared?”

  A bullet hit him in the shoulder. Baja or Elijah must have fired it.

  “Does that answer your question?”

  The one in the military fatigues seemed to have a little bit more sense than others. He held out his hands in front of him.

  “What do you want?”

  “Release them and we’ll be on our way. No harm done.”

  The military guy studied me, his eyes drifted across the camp. He was weighing the odds. He had no way of knowing how many of us there were but he would have been stupid to call my bluff.

  “How many of you?”

  “More than enough that if you even go for your guns, you’ll all be dead before you take two steps.”

  “Why should I believe you?”

  I shook my head, pressing the knife tighter against my hostage’s throat until he groaned.

  “Just do what he fucking says,” the man in front of me groaned.

  I tilted my head to one side.

  “Release them.”

  “But.”

  “Just do it.”

  I watched as one of them hurried over to the two posts and untied their ropes. The Z looked on, its jaw snapping up and down.

  “You know you are making a big mistake,” the military guy said, scanning the darkness for more of us.

  I never replied. Tommy and Reed scrambled over to where I was. I started backing up with the guy.

  “Hang on now. We released them. What about our man?”

  “Once we are within a fair distance from here we will let him go. You have my word.”

  “Your word means nothing.”

  “To us it does.”

  I could see his hand becoming fidgety around the handgun on his side.

  “Don’t do it,” I reminded him.

  “Release him.”

  I kept backing up.

  “Like I said—”

  “Release him,” the military guy bellowed. His eyes flared with hate. And there was me thinking this was going to go well. I continued moving backward towards the shadows of the trees. That’s when it all kicked off. He went for his gun. Before I could say another word he fired a single round in the forehead of one of the two men. Was it Reed? Tommy?

  The man in front of me reached for my hand. It was the worst mistake he could have made. I yanked at the knife, slitting the guy’s throat from one ear to the next not because I wanted to but he gave me no other choice. His body dropped in front of me as a hail of bullets unleashed in every direction. The men dived for cover. Several of them were instantly killed. We scrambled out of there.

  “Pull back,” I yelled to the others, hoping to prevent any further bloodshed but it was pointless. The noise of guns going off was deafening. Taking cover behind a trailer I handed a gun to who I came to know was Tommy.

  The men in the camp didn’t stand a chance. They were fully exposed. I didn’t even have to fire a round. They dropped one by one. When it was over, a deadly silence hung in the air. I came out from behind the trailer and made my way into the center of the camp. Cautiously I approached their bodies. Standing over one I looked down at him. He was coughing up blood, his eyes full of fear, his hands trembling. What were we becoming? Were we any different? Then he released his last breath. I dropped down to a knee and pulled from his bloodied hand what looked like a photo of him with a family. A mother, a child. Where were they? Had they been killed by Z’s?

  The Z? I looked up to see it had fallen.

  In that moment I didn’t feel a sense of victory, hate, guilt, or anything. I felt numb. All of this could have been avoided if these men had simply shown a little human decency. But it was safe to say that had all been washed away by the horrors of the apocalypse.

  “Hey, one of them is still alive.”

  I turned to see Baja about to fire into the military guy on the ground.

  “Baja, no.”

  He looked at me and frowned. I came over and pushed his gun out of the way. He had a bullet in his shoulder, one in his leg. He was writhing around on the floor. I noticed his last name tagged on the front of his gear. It read, Bennett.

  “I say we put him out of his misery like the way he did with Michael,” Lance stepped forward with his gun.

  “Enough. No more.”

  “What? He was the one who shot Michael. He didn’t show any mercy. Why the fuck should we?”

  Lance attempted to push past me. I shoved him back. “I said enough.�
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  On the floor the man chuckled. “You can’t do it, can you?”

  I glanced at him. My eyes darting back and forth between Lance and him.

  “Let’s go.”

  “You are just going to leave him alive?”

  “Yep.”

  I turned to leave.

  “I can’t do that.”

  “You will do that. You kill him like this, you are no better than him.”

  “Better? When did being a better person come into this? Unless you’ve missed it, they aren’t handing out awards for being a nice person now.”

  I took a hold of Lance, grabbed him by the collar, and dragged him over to Reed’s body.

  “You see that? Do you see that?” I yelled.

  “What?” he stammered back. “That wasn’t my fault. He did it. I say we kill him.”

  “This was never about revenge, Lance. We came with you to help get them back. Alive. This shouldn’t have even happened. Now you can go back there and kill him or you can walk away and have some part of your fucking humanity still left.” He studied my face, breathing hard. “But I am telling you right now. You won’t feel better. You never feel better.”

  With that I let go of him and trudged away into the darkness. Every step I was waiting to hear the sound of a gun going off. I was certain he would do it. I was wrong.

  Minutes later they had caught up with me. That night we returned through a dark forest with only one of the men, Tommy, still alive. We may have lost Reed but at least we walked away with some sense of humanity intact. However great or little that was didn’t matter. It was the decision that mattered. A choice of who we would be in that moment.

  I never realized the depth of that decision until later on. But for a short while, at least I didn’t carry any more guilt than I already had.

  OUTCASTS

  If looks could kill, Theo’s would have been enough to kill us twice. Tommy’s family were in tears upon seeing him. They embraced and held him tightly while the parents of Reed looked beyond the open gate expecting him to walk in. Instead we carried his body back. His mother fell to her knees sobbing while his father stared on in shock.

  No words could ease the pain, loss, or anger, and maybe Theo knew that. He only had one thing to say to me. “Tomorrow, you and the others will leave this place.”