“I’ll grab Dudley,” I shouted.
Snake gave me a slight nod and continued firing.
I smacked the dead off Dudley and helped him to his feet. He was dazed. When the shamblers charged the door, he must have taken a hit on the head. He put his arm around me, and we made our way to the helicopter. As I passed Snake, I tapped him on the shoulder, and he retreated with us, never once taking his eyes off the doorway.
As soon as we were in the helicopter, we took to the air. I watched as the dead swarmed the roof. Some of them even fell off in their eagerness to jump up and grab on to the rising chopper.
After that last look at the Hell we had so narrowly avoided, I turned my attention back to Jaxon. One of the soldiers was working on his gunshot wound, and administering basic first aid. The other three soldiers were pointing their guns at Snake, Dudley, and me.
“What the fuck?” I asked.
“You assholes have a good time shooting our friends?” A soldier asked.
I didn’t recognize any of them. They weren’t our usual pilots.
“I take it you jack wagons are more of those government agents?” Dudley asked. “Shouldn’t you be wearing black suits?”
“Who we are isn’t important,” the soldier replied. “Just know that you’re expendable, and if you make any sudden moves, we will kill you.”
We were disarmed. They moved efficiently for such big guys. I waited for an opportunity to attack but they gave me none.
“So you fuckers attacked Mr. Hardin,” Dudley said. “You took over his base, and then you went after us.”
The men didn’t answer.
“I bet you had something to do with the shooting at the awards ceremony,” Dudley continued.
“Nope,” the most talkative of the soldiers answered. “We’re just the cleanup crew.”
The other soldiers laughed. I fumed. I was stuck, and I didn’t like it. On the floor of the chopper, Jax began to moan. I was relieved that he was alive but he was too messed up to be of any use in our present situation.
“I don’t get how this guy is still alive,” the medic soldier said.
“He’s the Guardian,” the talkative soldier laughed. “Don’t you know anything?”
All of the soldiers began to laugh at that point. It pissed me off. I hate being laughed at. I hated for Jaxon to be laughed at. I began to shake I was so angry. Snake Charmer put a hand on my arm to calm me down.
“He needs water to heal,” Dudley said.
“We don’t want him to heal,” the talkative soldier said. “We just want him to survive.”
After that, nobody said a word.
The second we left the airspace above El Paso it was obvious where we were headed. It made sense: the rest of their unit was probably still in the area.
“I hope you assholes put some men on those fences,” I said. “When the real bad guys got in they killed everyone guarding the gates.”
“I think we have things under control, big guy,” the talkative soldier said. “Thanks for the advice, though.”
The fuckers began to laugh again.
Eventually we landed in Ruidoso. The airport was empty of everyone except those black-suited government jerks. There was a small army of them around the helicopter the minute we touched the ground.
All of us left the helicopter at gunpoint.
Jaxon was taken away in a black van. Dudley took a small step towards him when they started carrying him off, and they shot him in the leg. Snake and I couldn’t go to his aid for fear of being shot as well.
“How the Hell did all of them survive?” A middle aged, geeky looking man asked as he shoved his way through the black suits.
“No clue,” the talkative soldier replied. “Your man must have failed his objective.”
“Is my man still alive?” The geek asked with a pissed off expression.
“No clue, sir,” the talkative soldier answered. “We never saw him.”
“Major Crass,” Dudley said as he tried to rise to his feet. “You mother fucker.”
Major Crass looked him up and down.
“Well,” Major Crass said. “Things aren’t a total bust. We have the Guardian, and we have two of his men. It won’t be long before we get the other two.”
“What do you want to do with them, sir,” the talkative soldier asked.
“Kill them,” Major Crass answered. “All we need is the Guardian, and when you find the other two, kill them as well. In fact, put out a kill order on anyone connected to the Regulators. That includes Hardin, Miriam, and that lesbian girl.”
“What the fuck?” I asked to nobody in particular.
Snake Charmer was stoic. Dudley was still rolling around on the ground, and clutching his leg. I, on the other hand, had made up my mind. I was a Regulator. I was a warrior. I wasn’t going down without a fight.
I grabbed the closest man and wrapped my arm around his neck. The circle around us instantly raised their weapons. I was about to take a bullet in the back but suddenly I felt Snake’s back pressing against mine. He had managed to grab a man as well.
After that we were sort of stuck.
“What are you waiting for?” Major Crass asked his men.
“I’ll break his neck!” I shouted.
They didn’t seem to care. Fortunately for us, right before the bullets started to fly, a bunch of the black-suited men burst into flames. The circle around us broke apart. Snake dropped his captive and went immediately to Dudley, helping him up.
Gunfire came out of the darkness. Our enemies were forced to retreat. Snake, Dudley, and I grabbed our confiscated weapons and ran in the direction of the gunfire. I had no idea who was firing the weapons but they weren’t trying to kill us, so I thought it was a safe bet to head off in their direction.
Dudley caught another round before we cleared the lights of the airstrip. I heard him cry out. Snake Charmer dropped to the ground next to him and placed his own body over Dudley’s.
“We have a man down,” I shouted into the darkness.
Shapes appeared. I saw Georgie step out of the dark woods. I saw him shooting down the men that were trying to kill us. Javie came next. They flanked us and provided an opportunity to retreat.
As soon as we stepped away from the lights and entered the woods, Ivana ran towards Dudley. She had bottles of water and began pouring them on his wounds. Miriam didn’t look right. She scared the crap out of me. There was something evil in her distorted features. Also, her damn hands were on fire.
“What the fuck is going on?” I asked.
No one paid me any attention. I watched as scary Miriam walked out of the woods. She went to the edges of the lights and began motioning with her hands. I looked back towards the airstrip; I saw a great ball of fire that seemed to be following her commands.
“Wow,” I said. “Didn’t know you had it in you.”
I had always heard that Miriam was a witch. That was nothing new to me. However, I had never seen her do anything even remotely witch-like. Seeing her there with her features all distorted and her pale green skin, it was nice to know that she was on our side.
The government assholes eventually had enough. Every time they tried to return fire, Miriam would nail them with that great big ball of fire, and if it wasn’t Miriam it was Georgie or Javie shooting them.
They finally fled back towards the airport.
“Jaxon,” Dudley said. “They took Jaxon.”
All of us stood in silence and watched our enemy retreat. I wish we could have done something. I wish we could have chased after Jaxon to rescue him but we had no idea where they had taken him.
“We need to get out of here,” Georgie said.
Dudley tried to argue. He wanted to go after Jaxon. I didn’t blame him. Each and every one of us would have gone after our leader if only we had known where to go. Instead, we dragged Dudley behind us and made our way into the woods.
After a short hike, we came to a dirt road. We followed the road for about a mile until we got to a w
aiting car. Father Monarez was behind the wheel.
“Where’s the General?” he asked.
“They got him,” I answered.
No one said a word as we drove away.
We left Ruidoso. There were no longer any roadblocks. In fact, nobody even seemed to be looking for us. Miriam had fallen asleep next to me. Her features seemed to be relaxing as she slept. She was beginning to resemble the old lady everybody knew and loved.
Hours later, in some old and forgotten town that had just a few stores and a single gas station, we pulled off onto yet another dirt road. We followed this road for about two hours, and eventually came to an old, rundown church in the middle of the desert.
Mr. Hardin was waiting for us by the front door. Behind him were a few priests and about ten soldiers.
“You better start talking!” I shouted, as I got out of the car. “We tried to radio you about a thousand times. If you have a problem picking up on your end, how about I surgically attach the radio to your face?”
“I was attacked,” Mr. Hardin said. “Most of the people in our base were killed. I never got your radio transmissions because I was on the run.”
“Well,” I said. “That sucks.”
“Dudley needs to finish healing,” Ivana interrupted.
“We have tubs of water waiting, just in case,” Mr. Hardin said.
The priests came forward and helped Dudley into the church.
“Is anyone else injured?” Mr. Hardin asked.
“They took Jaxon,” I said. “What’s going on?”
“We’ll talk soon,” Mr. Hardin said. “After Dudley has recovered.”
It took Dudley a long time to heal. While he was healing up, everyone traded information so that we’d all be on the same page when the meeting began. The sun was coming up when Dudley finally joined us. Everything looks different in the light of day. In this case, anger gave way to hopelessness. Every one of us looked defeated.
“We need to find my uncle,” Dudley said.
“Yes,” Mr. Hardin answered. “We do.”
Mr. Hardin led us behind the church to what appeared to be a couple of old wooden doors that looked like they would lead to a dirty cellar. He placed his hand upon a flat rock five feet away from them, and the doors slid open with the hiss of technology.
We went down the metal stairs to a state of the art control room. Beyond the control room were bedrooms, showers, and a living space.
“Get used to this place,” Mr. Hardin announced. “This will be your home for the next few weeks because all of us are in danger. The worst has happened. Our very own government has turned against us.”
“Why have they done that?” Dudley asked.
“We have been framed,” Mr. Hardin answered. “Before I was forced to flee, I was able to discover some of the truth. Major Crass has framed us for an attempt on the President’s life.”
“How the Hell did he do that?” I asked. “They weren’t even after the President; Skie was their target. The President wasn’t even there when the attack on the awards ceremony began.”
“He wasn’t there because Major Crass called him away,” Mr. Hardin answered. “My sources tell me that he planted evidence against us. Evidence showing that we snuck a large group of criminal Albanians into the country for the purpose of assassinating the President.”
“How is that even believable?” Ivana asked with a quiver in her voice.
“It’s believable because Major Crass has fabricated a significant amount of evidence that points to its authenticity,” Mr. Hardin answered. “Major Crass was very clever. They went after Skie, and gave us a formidable enemy in the President.”
“Why would we want to kill the President?” I asked.
“I have been arguing rather aggressively with the President against the use of nuclear weapons on El Paso,” Mr. Hardin said. “I believe we have all been painted as extremists willing to kill certain officials that do not agree with our opinions.”
“Have there been any other attacks aside from the banquet hall?” Dudley asked.
“Apparently, a number of officials and military advisors that share the Presidents views have been eliminated within the past forty-eight hours,” Mr. Hardin said with a sigh. “Things look very bad for us right now, gentlemen.”
“Why have the Men in Black gotten involved?” Miriam asked.
“I can only speculate,” Mr. Hardin answered. “The Regulators represent the hope of the nation. In the eyes of the public, they are the force that keeps the outbreak from spreading outside of El Paso. If Major Crass kills the Regulators off quietly, he can keep their deaths a secret. As far as the world would know, the Regulators are hard at work fighting zombies, and the citizens of this country continue to feel safe.”
“That’s why the checkpoints have all been taken down,” I said. “That’s why our faces and names haven’t been posted all over the news. Major Crass wants to kill us off quietly. He wants everyone to think we’re still doing our thing. Eventually, if he ever figures out a way to end the zombie outbreak, he’ll probably release some story about how the entire team died in the line of duty.”
“I agree,” Georgie said. “Major Crass looks like a hero because he uncovered us traitors, and saved the President’s life. Meanwhile, we all get killed off quietly so that the world thinks we’re still out there protecting them. This is some fucked up shit.”
“Major Crass brought Max back to life somehow,” Dudley added. “He had him waiting for us in El Paso. Headquarters was attacked in an effort to kill off Mr. Hardin, and these so called Men in Black fuckers were sent to the hospital to take out everyone else. Wow, he really wanted all of us dead.”
“Let me interrupt, and see if I understand this correctly.”
Go ahead.
“Major Crass wants his revenge. So, he teams up with a resurrected former Guardian. He plots an assassination attempt on the General’s wife. He then masks that assassination attempt on Skie’s life as an attack upon the President planned by Mr. Hardin and the Regulators?”
You got it.
“What about witnesses? People saw you fighting the Albanians. They saw you defending them?”
There weren’t many witnesses. A lot of people were killed at that banquet hall. It was, by all accounts, a massacre and the ones that survived weren’t exactly paying attention to who was shooting who. They were just trying to survive. In the end, it looked just like a botched assassination attempt. Hell, they even thought we turned on the Albanians, like that was all a part of our plan. Let them come in and do the dirty work, and then take them out so we look like heroes that failed to save the President but still managed to rescue everyone else.
“But Major Crass never intended to kill the President?”
Nope. He wanted the President on his side. So, he comes in and has the President removed from the banquet hall like some kind of hero. Immediately after he pulls him out of there and shows him a bunch of bogus evidence about us, the attack happens. Pretty convincing if you ask me. After that, Major Crass immediately goes after Mr. Hardin and attacks his base because he needs to make sure Mr. Hardin never gets a chance to talk.
“Major Crass also knew that Jaxon would track down the person responsible for shooting his wife and go after them.”
Exactly, and Jax, Dudley, and I were supposed to die in El Paso, and the second the Monster failed to kill Jaxon, in came the backup plan with the fake soldiers sent to rescue us.
“His plan sounds perfect.”
It does, doesn’t it?
“Then what went wrong? He failed on all sides. All the Regulators survived; Mr. Hardin survived. The plan went to Hell.”
Did the plan go to Hell? I’m not sure it did. The asshole had Jaxon and the rest of us secretly branded as traitors. If we poked our heads out of the burrow, we were going to get a bullet in the brain pan courtesy of the Men in Black.
“But everyone survived. All of you were supposed to be dead. How did all of you survive?”
/>
Luck. I don’t know what else to say. Mr. Hardin somehow got a warning that bad things were about to go down. He was ready when Major Crass’s people came for him. Dudley, Jax, and I survived El Paso, but we may not have if Snake Charmer hadn’t turned up. The Men in Black attacked the hospital. They should have been successful, but no one expected Miriam to be such a badass. Maybe they underestimated us. Maybe it was just luck. Who can say?
“The Men in Black were the only people trying to kill you? Are they really deadly enough to be the only ones assigned to that task?”
I wondered the exact same thing. I mean, how many had we already mowed over? They didn’t impress me much at all. Eventually, I found out they were essentially just secret keepers, which was a nice way of saying that they killed anyone that attempted to release information they didn’t want released.
It was Dudley who finally asked the question, though.
“Before you became a part of the Regulators,” Mr. Hardin answered, “did you ever hear about zombies, or vampires, or anything else that shouldn’t exist? They make a habit out of killing journalists and threatening family members.”
“That sounds pretty dangerous,” I said. “There go any attempts on our part to take things public.”
“That might be a good thing,” Georgie said. “We don’t have every law enforcement agency in the country hunting us down. We’ll be able to operate without a lot of interference and clear our name.”
“I think you’re underestimating the situation, Georgie,” Mr. Hardin said. “The Men in Black have been issued orders to kill all of us on sight. As we speak, they are tracking your relatives, your friends, and any other known sources you might turn to.”
“You think they could beat us?” I asked.
“You will never even see them coming,” Mr. Hardin answered. “There’s only one way to play this out. All of you need to stay in hiding while I go to Albania. I have connections there. Perhaps I can find a way to clear our names.”
“Why don’t we go with you?” I asked.
“Your faces are too famous,” Mr. Hardin answered. “I’d never be able to operate the way I need to operate with you boys with me.”
“What about Jaxon?” Dudley asked.
Broken (Book 3 of The Guardian Interviews) Page 24
