El Paso Under Attack - 01

by Michael Clary

  Miriam eventually came back.

  I went out to see her on the front porch.

  “Did it work?” she asked.

  “It did,” I answered.

  “Good. We need to get down to business. There are a lot of people that need him right now.”

  “No,” I told her. “It took too long for him to come back to me. I don’t want you to say anything to upset him again.”

  “Sweetheart, if Jax doesn’t embrace his destiny, he’ll regret it for the rest of his life. Aside from that, there’s no one else that can save all those trapped people.”

  “Find someone else,” said Jaxon from over my shoulder. “I’ve thought about what you told me that day and I don’t believe you. I don’t believe that I’m anything special. I almost died. Those people need the military to stop acting like a bunch of cowards and do their jobs. I’m a false hope. I got lucky.”

  “The military is frozen right now,” said Miriam. “They were put on hold until Mr. Hardin gets here to take charge. They’ve just located him by the way, he’ll be arriving in a week or so and he’s going to need you Jax.”

  “Well,” said Jax. “Whatever crazy shit it is that you’re selling, I’m not buying. Tell this Mr. Hardin to go fuck himself. I’m done.”

  “I’ll relay the message, but Max is still out there somewhere in that city and until he’s stopped, there will be no brighter day for all those people trapped in the crossfire.”

  “Who’s Max?” I asked.

  “He’s the former…”

  “He’s nobody,” Jaxon interrupted. “Get out of here lady. Don’t talk to my wife anymore.”

  “Jaxon, he’s going to come for you,” said Miriam.

  “Whatever,” said Jaxon before he walked back inside the cabin.

  “What’s going on?” I asked Miriam.

  “Ask your husband,” she answered before she too started walking away. After a just a little bit, she turned back and looked at me. “And by the way, the Guardians always have four less powerful assistants. Since Tito has disappeared, you should probably be expecting company.”

  “What about Merrick, doesn’t she count?” I asked.

  “Merrick has been touched by the Guardians power, but that’s a lucky side effect. Expect a friend of Jaxons to show up sometime soon. This man will be drawn to him and his duty.”

  With that, Miriam left.

  I went inside to find Jax and found him downstairs playing poker with the boys. He seemed to have forgotten all about Miriam.

  “Jaxon, are you going to tell me what Miriam was talking about?” I asked.

  “I’m not sure what Miriam was talking about,” he answered.

  “Can you tell me who Max is?”

  “Never met him,” he answered.

  I wasn’t about to leave it at that. Also, Kingsley and Dudley immediately perked up upon hearing the name.

  “Just because you haven’t met him doesn’t mean you haven’t heard of him,” I announced.

  “You may be right.”

  “What have you heard about him?” I asked.

  “Nothing worth repeating,” he answered.

  “Jaxon, if you don’t tell me who this person is…someone else will and that someone else will receive some Dunkin Donuts as a reward.”

  Dudley perked up immediately. He had a very popular attraction for Dunkin Donuts. In fact, it was the only non healthy food he allowed himself to eat.

  “He fought zombies back in Nam,” blurted Dudley. “We heard about him from some mercenary. They called him a Guardian or something.”

  “If he’s a Guardian, why would he be coming for you Jaxon; I thought the Guardians were the good guys?”

  It took Jaxon awhile to answer. He was busy glaring daggers at Dudley.

  “To be honest, I don’t really care,” he finally answered. “I’m done with the violence and the fighting. I don’t have it in me. I’m not the guy they think I am. C’mon Skie, let’s not talk about it anymore…okay?”

  “Alright,” I answered.

  As long as Jax wasn’t interested, I was happy. I didn’t want him dragged back into the nightmares of El Paso. That part of our life needed to be over. I was thankful to Miriam for saving me and my kids, I was also thankful that she helped Jax. Now, we were done.

  Two days later, one of the soldiers guarding us announced that there was a man here to see Jaxon. Jax went out to see who it was and came back with Javie, an old friend of his.

  “I brought an Xbox,” said Javie when everybody came over to hug him.

  Javie is a great guy. He’s always happy and he’s always funny. Not in the pick on people kind of way that Jax is. Javie more or less makes fun of himself. Miriam predicted that someone would come by to join up with Jax. Javie’s sudden arrival made me kind of nervous.

  Fortunately for Javie, he wasn’t in El Paso when the outbreak occurred. The man loves to travel and he was lucky enough to have been in New Orleans at the time. However, he now had no home to come back to. Thinking the bunch of us might be at the cabin, Javie ventured on over to see for himself.

  Now there were five.

  That made me nervous. Jaxon had his lieutenants. Still, it was hard to think of Javie as a violent man. He just wasn’t that kind of person. He was the most gentle of the bunch. Of course, Jaxon and Dudley were the only ones that actually looked like they could fight. Georgie however, was really good with guns and Kingsley had at some point in his life been a marine.

  I didn’t like the way things were transpiring. It was almost as if some cosmic power was trying to force this group of men to become warriors. I knew if Jaxon decided to go out and play hero, the boys would all follow him. I was pretty sure that none of them wanted to, who in their right mind would? Yet, I knew they were waiting for Jaxon to decide what to do.

  All was not lost yet. For the time being and it looked like it might even be for eternity, Jaxon had no interest in fighting. I was glad for that, Lucy was glad for that and Ivana was glad for that.

  “Jaxon said that he didn’t believe he was the Guardian. Did you believe he was the Guardian?”

  I had no doubts in my mind that my husband was the hero they were looking for. I saw with my own eyes the power he wielded when he let go at the fence. It was amazing. No mere human being should have been able to do what he did. I also saw the way he healed from all those bite marks he received, when only one of them should have killed and turned him. In addition to all that, I had read the posts on EPUA almost religiously. So, I knew some of what he did when he was trapped in El Paso. My husband was no normal man, for whatever reason, he was the Guardian. He was the chosen protector.

  It was inevitable I suppose, he had the kind of personality that made people want to follow him. It made people want to root for him. I always knew he was made for something greater…but, I sure as hell didn’t think it would be this.

  “Promise me that it’s finished,” I asked Jaxon one night. “Promise me that you won’t go back there and fight no matter how hard they try to talk you into it.”

  He looked at me in a strange sort of way.

  “I won’t go back there,” he finally answered. “I’ve done my part. It’s up to the military now. I just don’t understand why they don’t get off their asses and do their jobs.”

  “You have done your part you realize?” I asked. “Nobody else risked their life to save everyone. You did that. You took your chance, now it’s over. You made it back to me and now it’s done.”

  “What are you so worried about Skie?”

  “Because I can see it in your eyes…you feel guilty. Some part of you thinks that there’s something you could be doing.”

  “Skie…I’m afraid to go back. I hate admitting it, but I’m terrified. You don’t understand what it was like for me and It’s not only that I’m afraid for myself, I’m also afraid that I might make a mistake and others will die. I don’t know how to face it. So even if I wanted to and yes, you’re right, there is a part of me th
at wants to…I simply can’t do it. I don’t know how.”

  “Then I’m glad that you’re afraid,” I told him. “If that’s what keeps you and all the other guys safe, I’m glad for it.”

  “Then what’s bothering you now?” he asked.

  “I’ve never seen you afraid of anything. I’m not sure how it’s going to sit with you. I’m not sure you’ll be able to be afraid of something without fighting back.”

  “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

  “I’m worried that the fear will at some point make you angry,” I said. “If you get angry, fear itself isn’t enough to hold you back. You’ll go out and fight. I just don’t think you’re the type of man that can avoid facing your fears head on.”

  “I’ve been doing pretty well so far,” he said. “Besides, I can’t leave you to go out there to fight. I know how worried you are about me. That in itself is enough to keep me away from any danger. I don’t want you to have the kind of life in which you’re worrying every night about whether or not your husband is going to come back alive.”

  “Good,” I said.

  With that, I changed the subject. I was satisfied that he was not only safe, I was also satisfied that he was going to stay that way.

  I never for a moment thought that I was the one in actual danger.

  Chapter 9

  Jax

  Once again, I have to wait for my meeting with Jax. The team has gone into battle. The outbreak (according to them) was small. There were no casualties. The fight was over in moments. I was actually able to watch from the top of a building as about one hundred zombies strolled into town. For me at least, it was terrifying. Not only the zombies, but the casual violence the General is capable of unleashing. One thing is for certain as we sit down and begin our discussion, if I ever needed rescued; I would want Jax to be the man who got the job.

  So, you want me to talk about my last evening of living a normal life?

  “Yeah, just start off where Skie left off.”

  No problem. I had assured her that I wasn’t going to fight anymore. I had a bad case of the nerves. I’m not sure if it was the fight by the fences or just the aftermath of everything, but the thought of facing zombies again just turned my blood cold. Some Guardian I turned out to be.

  He makes light of his problems with a little laugh and begins to scratch Merrick behind the ears. I’m pretty sure that he’s going to clam up on the subject, but I’m just not ready to quit yet.

  “Does it make you uncomfortable to discuss what you went through after you left El Paso?”

  It does. I know I’m being ridiculous, but I just feel embarrassed about it. Skie was right though. She knows me very well. I can’t stand to be afraid of anything. It won’t be long before I confront whatever it is that’s giving me the nerves.

  In this case, I had a little push.

  The conversation Skie told you about was right before we went to bed; I was sitting by our bedroom window listening to the rain fall. I like the sound it makes when it hits the metal roof of the cabin. Then again, I’ve always loved the rain. Skie hates it. She’s like some kinda weird solar battery. Give her lots of sun and she smiles, but put out a rain cloud and she’s liable to be in a mood.

  “I think it’s perfectly normal to be afraid after what you went through.”

  I had to tell him that. This man should in no way be embarrassed about what he internally went through after all the times he risked his life for others. It falls on deaf ears however, he simply continues on with the tale and it isn’t long before he has me captivated.

  I fell asleep thinking about how wrong she was to be worried about me ever endangering myself again. My time was done. Thanks for the fame. Thanks for the good times. I’ll leave you with the bill, but my ass is going home.

  I’m guessing it was around two in the morning when I woke up. To this day I have no idea what woke me up, I certainly never felt Skie leave the bed. Something just didn’t feel right. Merrick was still asleep next to me, I could hear her snoring.

  Once Skie falls asleep, nothing ever really gets her out of bed until morning, so I went to go see if she was alright. She wasn’t in the bathroom, so I went upstairs to see if she wandered over to the fridge for a late night snack.

  She wasn’t upstairs, but across the room, under the light of a soft lamp was a young man sitting in my father’s lazy boy. He was rather wet, so I took it that he had recently just come out of the rain. He had long, tangled black hair that fell to his shoulders. He wore dirty jeans and black combat boots. He had no shirt on.

  I knew who he was of course. At least I had an educated guess. I just didn’t know what the hell he was doing in our living room reading one of my books.

  He finally found me worthy of attention and glanced over at me.

  “I realize this must be rather odd meeting me like this,” said the young man. He couldn’t have been over twenty. “I just really felt it important that we meet and I noticed that you weren’t coming back to El Paso, so I came to you. My name is Max.”

  I was right about who he was, but I wasn’t really patting myself on the back. I was staring at his face, or actually the left side of his face, around his jaw. There was no skin. His cheek had been torn off and drool was occasionally dripping down to his chest. It was pretty disgusting.

  “Hi Max. Have you by any chance seen my wife?” I asked.

  “She’s safe. I can’t exactly tell you where, but I can tell you where she’s going to be. All you have to do is come and get her.”

  “Max… I’d rather rip you into pieces then play games.”

  “That’s the spirit,” he said. “I was hoping you wouldn’t disappoint me. You know I’ve seen another Guardian once…a long time ago. It was in France. Man that guy could fight. It took me about a half an hour to convince him to die.”

  “What do you want?” I asked. Because to be perfectly honest with you, I had no idea what this freak was after.

  “I want to fight you. I want to kill you and I want major Crass to know it was me,” said Max. “My boys are currently paying him a visit in order to cover that last part by the way.”

  “Yeah great, so if I fight you, I’ll get my wife back unharmed?” I asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Let’s get it over with then.” I said with a snarl in my voice. My adrenaline was pumping overtime. I was prepared to rip this man into pieces for involving my wife into whatever problem he had with me.

  “Not yet,” said Max as I took a few steps over to him. “If I killed you now, everyone would think I gave you a great big sucker punch. I certainly don’t want that. I want to kill you fair and square.”

  “Why are you doing this?” I asked.

  “Revenge,” he answered. “That idiot Crass put me out to pasture, now I’m going to show him what a mistake that was. The second I turned bad, I knew another Guardian would be chosen and I’d heard Miriam mention that he was more than likely going to come from El Paso. But I can’t tell you how difficult it was to cause an outbreak. I mean, once it all got going, all I had to do was sit back and watch, but getting that fucking gypsy off that island was a major pain in the ass. We had to kill a few of those little soldier boys in order to pull that one off.”

  “You did all this to get even with Crass?” I asked. I sincerely doubt I kept the astonishment out of my voice.

  “Of course I did. I’ve been fighting evil since Nam. All of a sudden Mr. Hardin decides to retire and a few months later Crass dismantles my entire team. I had a purpose. I had a cause. I had power. Crass left me with nothing.”

  I couldn’t believe that this guy actually enjoyed being a Guardian.

  “I’ll kill you just to prove that help no longer exists, but I started the outbreak just to show him how useless he was without me. Of course outbreaks happen all the time, but I needed a big one. One that hits hard and fast…there are only a few places you can go to find that kind of potential.”

  “Well, you’re offic
ially a psycho,” I said. “Congratulations on that.”

  I rushed him. I’d learned all I needed to know. Now, my plan was to break one of his bones for every second that he refused to give me back my wife.

  I can’t tell you how shocked I was when he answered my charge with a backhand that I barely even saw. I flew across the room and through the banister of the bottom floor stairway. I ended up somewhere around the middle of the stairway, flat on my back.

  Max strolled over to the edge and peered down at me.

  “Come back to El Paso little Guardian. Your wife will be waiting for you.”

  With those words, Max pulled a pistol from the back of his jeans and shot me four times in the stomach. It hurt like hell. My blood was gushing out all over the stairway.

  I looked back towards Max, but he was gone.

  I only had a few moments before I bled to death. I fought through the pain and crawled down the remainder of the stairs. It took way too long; I was getting weaker by the second. I could hear the commotion from upstairs as everyone began to wake up.

  I figured someone would come and help me, but then I heard the gunshots coming from outside the cabin. All my friends and family went outside to investigate. By the time they got back, I’d be dead if I didn’t make it to the bathroom.

  So, I crawled. Merrick found me and began to paw at me as I slowly pushed myself forward. I didn’t have enough strength left in me to tell her to stop it.

  When I finally reached the tub, I cranked on the water. I didn’t much care about the temperature. I just needed that well water. I mean, any water would do, but well water was probably the best. I almost couldn’t haul my broken body up over the lip of the claw footed tub, but I did it.

  I felt the sting as the water hit the bullet holes. I felt the push as the bullets were expelled from my stomach. It hurt almost as bad as the gunshot itself. Slowly, my body knit itself back together.