Dave points the gun at the man’s head and says, “You aren’t made for this world.”
He is about to pull the trigger on the gun when the man that was attending to the bleeding man tackles Dave.
Dave drops the gun, and a fight breaks out between the two men. They each exchange punches and are separated by the remaining men.
Dave shouts, “You can’t just punch me and get away with it. I’m in charge here.”
The man replies, “I’m sorry Dave, but I can’t have you kill my brother.”
Dave walks over to the gun, picks it up and says, “You are right.”
Then immediately points the gun at the man and pulls the trigger. Dave shoots the man in the face, blood starts to pour of out the man’s head as he falls onto the concrete aisle floor.
The crying man runs over to his brother who is lying lifeless in the middle of the aisle now. He goes to grab his gun and pull it out of the back of his pants, but Dave already has his gone drawn and shoots him in the side of his face.
The man collapses after being shot onto his brother’s body.
I see this is the best opportunity to attack the 3 remaining men and gesture to Shaun and Phil that we run towards the men and take them out now.
I lead the way to aisle two, and stop at the end of the aisle.
The aisle has two men and Dave in it. They are all facing towards the bodies of the men Dave just killed. I run towards the men and take out the guy on the left with a kick to the legs. Phil punches the guy on the right in the back of the head and Shaun smacks Dave with his riot shield square in the back.
Phil and I put our guns at the back of the men’s heads that we secured. Shaun picks up Dave guns from the floor and points it at Dave as he is lying on his back looking up at Shaun.
Shaun says, “Get up Dave.”
Dave stumbles to his feet.
TJ, Bobby G, and Odin run over to our location in aisle 2.
Bobby G asks, “Is everything okay? We heard gunshots.”
I replay, “Yeah. The gunshots where from this idiot taking out his own guys.”
Phil duct tapes the eyes and mouth of the guy he took out, and I do the same with my guy.
TJ asks, “How many guys are left?”
Shaun says, “Just good ole boy, Dave here.”
Dave spits towards Shaun and says, “Just do it. I ain’t scared of you. You ain’t got the guts.”
Shaun is pissed, but not sure that he can kill Dave. Shaun wants to kill him, but the humane part of Shaun can’t do it.
Shaun screams in frustration and lowers the gun as he can’t bring himself to kill Dave.
Dave laughs and shouts, “I knew you couldn’t do it.”
Dave makes a move towards Shaun.
Boom!
The sound of a gunshot goes off and Dave grabs his stomach as he falls back down onto the floor.
Dave’s green shirt immediately starts to fill with blood.
Everyone looks at Phil as he’s is holding his handgun towards Dave.
A huge puddle of blood surrounds Dave now.
Phil walks over to Dave, points his gun at his head and pulls the trigger.
Boom!
The two men kept alive shake in fear as they can only hear the gunshots, but can’t see anything.
We place the two remaining men in chairs.
Shaun asks, “What are we going to do with these two?”
TJ says, “Let’s get some information out of them first, and then we can decide.”
TJ walks over to the man and asks, “So what are your names?”
The men say, “Eric. Jim.”
TJ replies, “Well Eric and Jim. Do you want to live or die? Depending on how you help us or not, will depend on what we do with you.”
Eric shouts, “I want to live. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”
TJ says, “Very good. I like that. That’s what we need from you.”
TJ asks, “How about you Jim? You want to live or die?”
Jim says, “Just kill me. If you don’t. Joseph will.”
“Joseph? Who’s Joseph? I though Dave was in charge?” asks TJ.
Jim replies, “Dave was second in charge, the main guy here is Joseph. He will kill us either way.”
TJ responds, “Joseph sounds like a great guy. Where is this Joseph?”
Jim responds, “Not here obviously.”
TJ punches Jim in the face, “Thanks, Jim. Obviously, but where can we find him?”
Eric interrupts, “You don’t find him. He finds you.”
Jim starts to laugh and says, “You guys don’t know what you started. Joseph ain’t going to stand for this. You are all dead.”
TJ starts to get mad and takes out his handgun. He puts his gun to the back of Jim’s head and waits.
TJ looks at us and says, “We can’t keep him alive. He will rat us out.”
We all know that is the logical thing to do, but it isn’t easy to watch.
I nod in agreement and TJ pulls the trigger. The front of Jim’s face starts to bleed profusely and his body goes limp in the chair.
Eric screams in terror at the sound of Jim being shot and starts to plead for his life.
Eric says, “I’m sorry guys. I didn’t even like them. Conquerors. What kind of a name is that?”
Phil asks, “They call themselves the Conquerors?”
Eric says, “Yeah. It’s what Joseph and the others call themselves.”
TJ kneels next to Eric and says, “How can we find Joseph?”
Eric frantically says, “I really don’t know. I know that he has taken over several buildings and areas, but not sure where he resides.”
Phil asks, “Where do you live? Where do the other members of your group live?”
Eric says, “In a neighborhood. Joseph and his group control a lot of this area.”
TJ responds, “Thank you Eric, but I have one last question for you.”
Eric says, “What is it? I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”
TJ asks, “What should we do with you? I don’t want to kill you, but how do I know you won’t go run to Joseph and tell on us.”
Eris starts to cry and says, “You have no way of knowing what I will do. I guess you should trust me. I don’t know where Joseph is to tell him.”
As I watch TJ interrogate Eric, I’m not sure what to do about Eric. Killing him takes any doubt out what he will do as he can’t do much against us if he’s dead. Keeping him alive is humane, but very risky.
I have a quick team meeting with the guys to decide what to do with Eric. We all know the risks of keeping him alive, but will feel bad if we kill him. He did provide information to us and cooperated with us. Everyone brings up good points on why and why not to kill him.
After several minutes, we still have no resolution and turn to TJ and Phil on what should be done. They are the most seasoned at making difficult decisions in situations like this.
Phil and TJ decide that the best and safest decision for the group is not to have any survivors from this attack and must kill Eric.
I turn to Phil and ask, “You okay with this decision of killing Eric?”
Phil responds, “It has to be done.”
I feel bad, but we can’t jeopardize our safety. Keeping us alive is our number one priority.
TJ and Phil stay by Eric as the rest of us go back outside to start loading up the trucks with the supplies we came for.
As we exit the building, a single gunshot is heard. Phil kills Eric with a headshot execution.
I’m torn with the decision of killing Eric, but I know that it had to be done to assure our safety.
Keeping us safe and alive is our number one priority. Killing Eric and the rest of these men wasn’t easy for us, but they weren’t willing to work with us and they presented a potential threat to us and our families.
It’s either them or us. This new world will ultimately come down to that basic principal. It’s either them or us, and I will always
make decisions that will better us.
CHAPTER 6
CARLOS THE BUILDER
“Move that over there! Wait for me before you start that!” shouts Carlos.
Carlos is busy directing the workers on finishing the wall on the West entrance.
The South entrance is secure with an 8-foot tall cinderblock wall and functioning gate now.
Bobby G and I examine the South entrance wall and help Shaun and Matt build the last lookout platform for the South entrance. I am relieved that we have a safe and secure South entrance.
Several weeks have gone by, and we have accomplished a lot around the neighborhood.
Bobby G has taken over Martha’s house. He is living comfortably with Milo and Callie in the house. He is using a generator to power the house, as most of the houses that people live in now are using generators until we can set them up with solar power.
Matt, Kylie, Ann, Nicole, and the babies have taken over Kyle’s house. They have plenty of room for all of them and are very happy living together.
Shaun and Lisa took over Ray’s house and enjoy having TJ and Odin over as house guests.
Matt hammers in the last nail of the support beam for the South entrance lookout platform and says, “We are done with this platform.”
Shaun runs up the platform stairs and looks out at the surrounding area.
The South entrance shows us several neighborhood entrances and a good vantage point for looking down all directions.
Matt and Shaun come over to Bobby G and I and we examine the South entrance.
“Good job guys. It looks great. With the 8-foot-high cinderblocks walls, the palm trees in front of the wall and the shallow trench in front of the palm trees, nothing should be able to get close to this entrance.”
Shaun asks, “How is the West entrance coming?”
“Last time I saw it, we had the one wall up and Carlos was working on the other, but no gate yet. Let’s go check it out.”
Matt, Shaun, Bobby G, and I make our way over to the West entrance.
We make our way past Shaun’s house and see Phil working on his police SUV. He has fixed up the damage to the front bumpers, wheel wells, and is now working on replacing his broken windshield.
“Looks good Phil,” I shout as we walk past him.
Phil shouts, “Shaun, can you help me with the windshield later?”
Shaun jokes, “No way bro. I’m just kidding. I’ll be over there, after we check out the West entrance.”
We pass my house and Matt’s house and make our way to the West entrance.
The West entrance is chaotic, it has tons of workers around it and a bunch of materials scattered all over the place.
Chris and his family are placing cinderblocks on top of a row of cinderblocks. They are about half way done with the last wall.
Several workers are making the gates for when the walls are finished, so that they can attach the rolling gates quickly once the walls are finished.
Matt looks at the West entrance and asks, “What’s your plan for this entrance? Two lookout platforms again?”
I look at the left side of the entrance and see a big Florida Oak tree. The oak tree is getting in the way of building a tower on the left side of the entrance.
“We will have to build one lookout point for the right side of the entrance and see what we can do about the oak tree on the left side of the entrance.”
Carlos walk over to me and greets us.
“Hey guys. The entrance is coming together. We should finish the walls tonight and hopefully the gate will be up over the next two days,” says Carlos.
“Looks great Carlos. Sooner the better. Let’s make this place safe and secure.”
A palm tree is cut down and needs to be put in place near the entrance. Carlos goes over to help the workers move the fallen palm tree.
I look at the West entrance and say, “The entrance looks pretty good, hopefully it will be done over the next two days. Eventually we will have to check out the rest of the borders around the neighborhood. Especially the backyards of the homes at the North end of the neighborhood.”
Bobby G says, “Let’s do that another time. We can start tomorrow, or the next day on that.”
Matt says, “I will help you do that tomorrow. I should get back to my house. I want to check on the babies. Mason was developing a cough the other day. I’ll see you guys later.”
Shaun says, “I’ll walk back with ya Matt. I have to go help Phil with his SUV windshield.”
Matt and Shaun walk back to their houses and leave Bobby G and I at the West entrance.
I turn to Bobby G and ask, “What else can we do to make it safe around here? Am I missing anything?”
Bobby G looks at the main entrance and around the neighborhood and says, “I think this is a good starting point, you are doing a good job. We cleared out the hardware store of all useful supplies, materials, tools, and generators.”
I look up at the sun and say, “We have to setup more homes on solar power, that should be our next step.”
Bobby G says, “That’s a good idea. Where can we get more solar panels?”
“We can go back to the solar panel company, or find another closer company or building that was hooked up with solar panels.”
Bobby G says, “I believe there was a nearby school that looked to have a solar panel setup. I saw it, when I was driving around the other day.”
“I like the idea of the school, but we can check out the solar power company again. We already have the converters and a lot of the wires, we only need to get the panels. We can go back out tomorrow and load up several vehicles with the panels.”
Bobby G and I walk over to Carlos and the workers at the West entrance. I want to talk to them about the plan going forward, and keep them encouraged.
I gather Carlos, Chris, and the workers around and say, “Thank you all for doing this. You are doing a great job. Keeping this neighborhood safe is very important. Once we control our neighborhood, we can move out and continue to grow our connections. More people need to be out there, and we will find them. With the right people like ourselves, we can continue to survive.”
Carlos, Chris, and the group are looking at me with support and agree with what I’m saying.
I look at the group and say, “I’m going to be taking out a group tomorrow to get solar panels for more homes around the neighborhood. I want to get away from using the generators and harness the power of the sun. Keep up the good work everyone. Everyone of you are awesome, and I truly appreciate your support and hard work.”
Carlos says, “Thank you Ryan, but let’s get back to work everyone. We need this entrance secured as quickly as possible.”
Bobby G and I start to leave the West entrance and walk back towards my house. I look at the house that sits at the south side of the West entrance. I haven’t seen the owner of the house, since Phil and I went to talk to them. The owner of the house was reluctant to open the door for us and something seemed off with that house.
As Bobby G and I walk along the sidewalk towards the house, I see someone looking out the window through the blinds.
I see the person looking at us, and say, “Hold on a second. I want to check out this house. Phil and I weren’t able to meet the occupants before.”
I walk towards the front door and the person moves away from the blinds.
I knock on the front door and say, “Hello. May I talk with you for a second? Can you please open the door?”
No answer.
I knock on the door as Bobby G looks at the house from the walkway.
No one answers.
I get concerned about the person not letting us talk to them and look to see how I can get inside the property.
I see that they have a wooden backyard fence. I walk over to the wooden fence gate and open it. I open the gate and walk into the backyard.
I take two steps in the backyard and am shocked at what I see.
Bobby G walks over to my location
in the backyard and says, “What the?”
“I think we got a problem here. Let’s get back to the group and get to the bottom of this.”
Bobby G and I exit the backyard and close the gate of the wooden fence. As I close the gate to the fence, I can’t get over what I just saw.
The backyard had several dirt patches that looked to have been freshly dug. There must have been at least 8 graves. The graves looked to be dug at different times and one of them looked in particularly fresher than any of the others.
My dad and I turn the corner, and we approach Matt’s house.
I ask Bobby G, “Can you get Matt and meet me at your house?”
“I’m going to get Phil and Shaun and bring them right over.”
Bobby G knocks on Matt’s front door as I walk over to Shaun and Phil who are finishing up replacing the SUV windshield in Shaun’s driveway.
I walk over to the SUV and say, “Guys we got a potential problem at the house near the West entrance, and I might need your help. Meet me over at my dad’s house in a couple of minutes.”
Phil says, “It’s that house at the West entrance that we couldn’t get into, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, I will talk about what I found when we meet at my dad’s house.”
I walk over to the oak tree that stands in the front lawn at Bobby G’s house and sit down in the shade.
Lauren walks over to me and asks, “Hey honey. Everything okay?”
I reply, “Yeah. The entrances are getting done, but we might have a potential problem at the house near the West entrance, but I’m working on a solution.”
“Always the problem solver,” jokes Lauren.
“How are things at the house?”
Lauren says, “Everything is good, a lot quieter without the babies there. I kind of miss them. Oh, and the vegetables are starting to grow in the backyard.”
“That’s great about the vegetables. Can you please keep an eye on them and keep watering them?”
“Yeah, no problem. I definitely want to see how they grow and hope they will be a good food supply for us,” replies Lauren.
Bobby G and the guys come over to me. They say hello to Lauren and join me on the front yard in the shade next to the oak tree.
Fight 4 Us: (Book 3): Refuge Page 6
