I squinted to try and make out what was going on, and I saw a few men riding in an old Jeep. The one in the driver’s seat was barking out orders in an almost insane voice… And it was one I recognized. “Get around that bastard behind the truck, we can’t have him spoil our fun!” yelled out Jethro Davidson. The men followed their command and started to make an advance around the corner on the opposite side of the street.
I pulled up the shotgun and fired, taking down two or three of them before they quickly turned with their tails between their legs. That’s when I realized that there was an opening for Mark to make an escape. Most of the men tried to move around the side, so only one was left covering Mark and blocking his escape.
“Run Mark!” I yelled taking aim at where I knew the last person with a clear shot on him was hiding. When he popped up I took the shot and Mark was already bolting down the street. He made his way back to the men while I held the line. When they all started to fire on my position I decided to give it up.
But as luck would have it… “They sent reinforcements huh? And they have the high ground. How could you let this happened?” Davidson screamed at his men and smacked one of them on the head. “Now we have to retreat… You won this street roof gunner.” He pointed at me then flipped me the bird, more as a joke than as an insult. “Let’s go back up the men over on Delvin. The front can’t be doing well.” He raised his hand to signal the fallback.
Before they had left Mark came up the fire escape behind me. He scared the shit out of me at first, but when I realized that it was him I put the gun down. “Mark! Come here.”
“Thanks for the sav-“ he started to say but I cut him off.
“Look, it’s our old friend.” I said sarcastically and pointed out Davidson in the Jeep.
“Who’s that?”
That was when I remembered that Mark never saw him. “That’s their leader. That sick fucker put me in that razor pit and tried to feed us to the zombies.”
“That’s the leader huh?” He pulled up his rifle and started to aim for him.
“You think you can hit him?”
“Probably not… but it’s worth a shot.” Mark fired twice. The first one sunk into the radiator of the Jeep, causing it to spew out steam. The second was concealed by the cloud but we heard the scream.”
Barry stopped Jake. “Is that how their leader died?”
Jake popped his neck. “Nah, Mark wasn’t that good of a shot, he did get him though.
“Ah you Fucker!” Davidson yelled at us from behind the steam.
“Keep shooting” I told Mark.
“I only had two bullets left, I was lucky you came along when you did.”
We heard one of Davidson’s men say something off in the distance. “What are they saying?” Mark asked.
I turned one ear toward them but couldn’t understand a thing. “I don’t know. I can barely hear them.”
Davdison let us know what was happening at the top of his lungs though. “What do you mean fall back? It was just a shot to my arm!” The other man once again said something just short of our ability to hear it. “Shit!” There was pause. “Fine! There’s no point in this if I bleed out and die anyway.” A light wind blew the steam so that we could see him once again. He was pointing at his men giving them directions to where he wanted them to go in his absence. “You two! Come with me, we’ll meet the doc at the rally point.”
Davidson was clutching his arm, but reluctant to give up the driver’s seat of the jeep. He turned the car around and drove away.
“Well what now?” I asked. “Should we go back to Harold and his men?” Mark and I made our way over to the fire escape.
Mark stopped. “No wait.” I could see the gears turning as I looked at his face. “Their leader said this didn’t matter if he died right?”
“Well yeah, but so what?” I asked confused.
“What if the only reason they are here is because of him?”
I held in place. “What exactly are you getting at?”
“When you shot that girl… you said one of them saw you and got away right?”
“Yeah.”
“Now it’s a long shot but what if he recognized you?”
A deep chill came over me. “You think that all this is so he can kill me?”
“Well think about it, as far as we know you and I are the only ones that got away from them. But even more than that, you are the only person that saw him face to face and got away. Then there is the fact that the ‘X’s have been getting more vicious ever since your little hunting trip.”
I looked over what was left of Aegis, a smoking battleground. “All this killing just to get to me.” I was horrified at the thought that I was the reason for all this.
“Hey!” Mark got my attention. “Don’t blame yourself for this. This isn’t happening because you came here, this is because their leader is a sick fuck!”
It took a second for that to sink in, but I knew that he was right. I hadn’t done anything wrong, it was these men who had. I shook it off and tried to get back to the matter at hand. “So what now?” I asked.
“I say we go finish him off. If he gets away he’s just going to regroup and try again. You know how crazy he is, do you think he’s going to just give up?”
I took a deep breath. “No, he’ll just keep coming. But how are we going to find him, his rally point could be miles away?”
“No, I don’t think so.” Mark said in an over confident tone. “With a hole in his radiator his car isn’t going to make it too far. Also you wouldn’t put your doctor too far away from the fighting, because what good is a medic that no one can get to. That makes me guess it’s pretty close by. Then the radiator gives us one more advantage, it’s leaving a trail of water. Provided it isn’t more than a mile or so away, we should be able to find him pretty easy.”
I was astounded with his ability to think clearly about the situation. He always seemed to have an answer to any problem, and even though I had seen it a hundred times before he never ceased to impress me. “Alright good thinking, but what about ammo? Or do you intend to kill him with an empty rifle?” I asked the obvious question.
“Well if we go back to Lamond to get ammo that might give him enough time to get away, but if…” He was still thinking out loud when I cut him off with my laughter. “What?”
“There’s a dozen or so dead guys in the street with guns they don’t need anymore.”
Mark slumped shoulders in defeat when he realized he was over thinking things. He put his hand to his forehead in frustration. “I feel like an idiot sometimes.”
We continued to make our way down the building when I replied. “That’s good, we don’t need you thinking your smarter than everyone else. Also I was getting tired of feeling dumb all the time.” We grabbed some weapons off the bodies and began to make our pursuit.
“You know we’re probably going to die.”
“The way I see it, if we shoot his ass, good… Or if he kills me, then that might fill his lust for revenge. It just might save the town… I win either way right?”
“Well, except for the part where you die.”
Chapter 32
Jake was excited as he continued to tell the story. “We climbed down from the building and made our way over to some of the bodies that were strewn across the street, and after getting a hold of some better guns we started to follow the trail of coolant toward Davidson.
We kept quiet while we were doing it, and we made sure to take our time, even though we had to be fast enough to get there before he left. We knew there were likely to be more ‘X’s where we were heading, so we didn’t want to get caught up in some unnecessary gun fight. Sure enough it happened anyway, but it was only two men and we managed to get back to following the trail after dispatching them.
When we reached the edge of town and saw that the trail went off into the country, we knew where he was. The only thing out that direction was the old high school. It wasn’t a large school, but I guess
they must have had some good funding back when they were in operation, because they had some nice buildings and equipment. It was about a quarter mile from where we were and it was open country between us and it.
“It’s a shooting gallery.” Mark said looking at the school off in the distance. “I bet they have snipers up on the roofs just waiting for someone to go in there.”
“Yeah, it doesn’t look like a place you would just want to walk into.” I said double checking the gun I had picked up.
“I know it’s going to take more time, but I say we go over into the brush and make sure that we don’t get spotted going in.” He waved his hand gesturing to the overgrowth that went from the town down the river and made its way behind the school.
“Good thinking, I just hope he doesn’t get away.” We moved over to the river. We kept our heads down and tried to stay in cover the whole way. When we were only about a hundred yards or so away from the school we started to take a better look at the roof tops. “Shit.” I whispered. “It’s a good thing we went this way.”
“Yeah I see him.” There was a sniper up on top of the building facing toward Aegis. “My bet is they were smart enough to place more than one too.” We took a moment to survey more. “Do you see their leader?”
“No, I don’t see Davidson. He’s got to be close by though.”
“Ok here is the plan. We need to take care of the gunmen on the roof before anything else. Even if we find this Davidson, it won’t do us any good to open fire if they just gun us down a second later.”
I agreed with him. “Sounds good, but are we sure that there aren’t any snipers looking this way?”
“Well I can’t see any, and I can’t think of a better plan than just running up there… unless you have a can of spray paint I don’t know about.”
I snickered softly. “I wish we did. Although it didn’t work out so well last time.”
“It was fine till I had to go and try to be a hero…” Mark let out a long sigh and rubbed his leg where he had been shot. “And here I am trying to do it all over again. I guess I didn’t learn my lesson.” We had a few moments of silence trying to make sure that there weren’t any more gunmen that we didn’t see. “Well… I guess now is as good a time as any, let’s go.”
We moved toward the school, trying our best to be silent and fast. It was intense. My heart was pounding when we made it to the closest building, but we hadn’t been seen, and we each felt the relief.
“Ok I say we try and get to the top of a few buildings and take out any snipers… quietly.” Mark whispered to me.
I nodded and we moved into the campus. It was slow, but we had to make sure that we weren’t seen. We came up to the building that had the first sniper on it. There was a ladder leading up to the top of the large two story building. I grabbed a hold and was about to climb when Mark stopped me.
“Hey, look at the ladder.” He said. I did, and it dawned on me. To keep the kids from climbing up the buildings they put these big locking cages on the ladders. This one had clearly been opened for use by the ‘X’s with a pair of bolt cutters. “It looks like we can tell which buildings have snipers on them by checking the ladders, and seeing if they have been opened. Well, except for the ones that don’t have ladders, but they’re smaller. I wouldn’t put a sniper on those.”
“Good thinking.” I said back. “Should we go up and take care of this guy first?”
“Nah, let’s wait a little bit, see if we can’t find Davidson or any other snipers. Things aren’t likely going to be quiet when we try to take these guys down, so let’s make sure that we are ready for them.”
We went around the school checking for ladders and men. We found one more ladder that had been cut open that was a vantage point over where we found Davidson to be. He was leaning on the hood of the jeep with his left arm stretched out over the hood, and a man looking at the wound.
“No, I can’t just put a tourniquet on it and let you go back to fighting. If this shit goes on too long you could lose your arm from lack of circulation. Now if you would stop arguing with me you’re just wasting time.” we heard the man who we assumed to be the doctor say.
“What the fuck do you have to do then doc? I can’t keep my audience waiting. I have to find that fucker, and gut him in front of their women and children! I just hope he’s not already dead when I get to him.”
Mark nudged me with his elbow as we peeked around the corner. “Told ya.” he whispered.
The doctor opened up his medical bag and pulled out a needle and thread, and said “Well, you still won’t be able to use the arm. But if you have to go back there, and you don’t want to bleed out, I have to stitch your ass back together.”
Davidson looked up at him. “Alright so what are we waiting for?”
“Jethro…” The doctor paused. “I don’t have any anesthetic.”
“Well that’s going to fucking hurt!...” Davidson fell silent then shrugged. “No choice! Get to it.” The doctor hesitated. “I said fucking do it!”
“Yeah suffer you son of a bitch.” Mark whispered. “Ok that will buy us some time to take care of the other men. You go to the one out front, and… hang on.” Mark looked at the buildings for a moment. “Ok if we’re on the ladders we can see each other. When we give each other the thumbs up sign, then we go to take down the snipers. Got it?” I nodded in agreement and started my way back to the first gunman.
I could hear Davidson howling in pain as the doctor stitched him back together. It was a sound I admit, I was a bit happy to hear. But, it scared the crap out of me when I saw the sniper at the top of the ladder looking over the building to see what was going on with Davidson. I hid in the bushes when he yelled out. “Is everything ok?”
“Yeah, it’s just fucking dandy! Now shut your mouth and stay in position!” I heard Davidson scream out. I saw the gunman turn around and head back to keep an eye on the approach to the school.
I climbed up to the top of the ladder, but didn’t get onto the roof yet. I looked back to Mark. He had been waiting at the bottom of his ladder to make sure that he didn’t get seen while I was making my move. After he made his way to the top, he gave me the signal. I took a big gulp and a deep breath before giving the signal myself, and we moved in unison.
I reached the top of the roof to see the gunman lying on the ground with his back toward me looking off the edge through the scope of his rifle. I thought just how easy it would have been to put a bullet right in the middle of the big ‘X’ on his back, but I inched closer to try and take him out quietly. I pulled a knife out and got closer. My heart was throbbing and it took everything I had to keep myself from breathing too hard, but I got right up behind him. I was less than a foot away.
That’s when everything fell apart. I heard a scream behind me that wasn’t Davidson’s. I snapped back to see the man that Mark was supposed to take out falling from the roof of the building he was on.
“What the fuck?” I heard the man I was to kill behind me. I turned back to him while he brought his rifle around. I grabbed the tip of the barrel and stopped him from pointing it at me. He fired the weapon, but it only shook my hand. I plunged the blade into the man’s thigh. He screamed and head-butted me. I reeled back, but didn’t fall. I came back with a hard punch straight to that guy’s throat. Now I have never been punched in the throat before, but I saw what it did to that man, and trust me, it’s not pretty. I had crushed his trachea and he couldn’t do anything but grab at his neck and struggle for air.
I heard gunshots behind me, but I didn’t take my attention off of my target this time. He was in no shape to do anything but die, but I didn’t let his pain last that long, I grabbed my gun and put an end to him.
I turned back to see what the situation was. Mark was on the other snipers post firing down at where Davidson and the doctor were. I checked the tops of the buildings to make sure that no one else was around, and we were alone.
I slid down that ladder, and ran to get to where the fig
ht was. When I got there Mark was climbing down his ladder. “He’s getting away go after him!” Mark yelled at me.
“I ran around the corner where I last saw him. The doctor was dead, lying just out of reach of cover, and he was riddled with bullet holes. There was a slight trail of blood leading from the body going off around the corner. I went after it as fast as I could. A bullet whizzed past my head, and I took cover behind some cafeteria building. I looked out to see Davidson keeping an eye on me and lining up a shot. I put my head back down just in time.
“Hey well ain’t this a surprise?” Davidson yelled at me. “It’s you, I can’t believe it… I recognize you.” He said the last part almost happy to have the chance to kill me again.
Mark came running up behind me and took cover across from me behind a concrete staircase. “The bastard used his doctor as a human shield!”
“And a damn fine shield he made! If only he were half as good a doctor! I mean look at the shitty ass job he did on my arm, it’s still bleeding.” He took a shot at Mark. “Well maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if he had the time to finish, but you had to fuck things up!” Davidson’s voice was quivering.
I popped out to take a shot, and got a good look at him. He was pale from the pain of getting stitched back together, and looked weak from blood loss. I snapped at him. “Davidson I owe you a bullet between the eyes.” I fired but missed.
“I should say the same! Did you know you were the only… No wait there was another guy… Alright! So you encompass half! Half of the people that ever got away from me?” Davidson was ranting at me. He was enjoying it more than anything else. “I never saw the guy, but he got away at the same time.”
A smile curled on Marks face. “Yeah I was other one! Ain’t this fucking poetic?”
“Ooh a good drama… But! It’s not over till at least one… Or two, of us die! Still, to have the chance to kill the both of you again, what a day. What do you say we end this in a show down, we all rush at the same time?” He waited for our response. “Well come on pansies! At least give me an answer!”
The Red X_Complete Edition Page 15
