Broken (Book 3 of The Guardian Interviews)

by Michael Clary

  Everyone inside was now trapped with a mass of zombies. I had done that. I knew not to press that button. I had just doomed my employees.

  “How many people do you think were in there?”

  There were guards rushing in before I hit the button. There was also the regular staff. Fortunately, the section that housed my office didn’t have any prisoners but I’m still guessing that around thirty people were trapped, not including the Regulators.

  “What did you do after that?”

  I didn’t stop driving until I was out of the state. I left my wife. I left my children. I just ran. At the first gas station I came upon, I opened the trunk. Major Crass had provided for me the documents and funds I needed to begin a new life.

  That’s my story.

  I’m not sure what happened after I left the prison. I do know that whatever happened never made the papers. I missed my family but I knew I could never return to them. Instead, I travelled. Why not? I had the money.

  Almost a year passed without incident. Then, at a truck stop in Baltimore, I saw a man in a black suit write down the license plate number of my car. Later that night, a group of black suited men entered my motel room. I barely made it out the bathroom window alive.

  People are after me.

  I know it’s connected with the Regulators. I know they want me to pay for what I did to that man. I just want them to know that I didn’t know who he was. I would never have let things happen that way if I had I known.

  I need your help.

  I need you to tell them that I’m sorry. I want to return to my wife. I want to see my kids. I don’t want to die. I didn’t know who he was.

  Just tell them that, please. Tell them it was an accident.

  The phone line went dead.

  I never heard from Warden Smiles again. His body was found three months later in a ditch outside Pennsylvania. He had been stabbed twenty three times.

  The voice I recorded has been authenticated by surviving members of Warden Smiles’ family.

  Chapter 9

  Georgie

  Meeting with Georgie is always fun. I’m not sure why that is, but he always seems to make me laugh. This time, things were different. We were in the usual meeting room. Georgie was wearing a button down shirt and some slightly baggy jeans.

  I hate talking about that period in my life.

  “I see Nick told you about our last interview.”

  Yes, it’s a time frame that we don’t much talk about. I did some things that embarrass me now. I guess everyone did, well, everyone but Javie.

  “Why do you think Javie didn’t suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder?”

  Javie’s a weirdo. I’m really not sure. I asked him about it once. He just sort of shrugged, and said something about doing what he had to do, and not feeling bad about it.

  “That doesn’t really cover the entire spectrum of PTSD.”

  No, it doesn’t but that’s all I got out of him. He’s just not a guy that gets bothered by things.

  I could tell that Georgie was very uncomfortable. I could also tell that he was getting ready to leave the room. He was just looking for an excuse. If I didn’t give him one, he would probably make one up.

  “Listen, I’ve got things pretty much covered from the time everyone went on the run till the end. So we don’t need to talk about any of that. How about we talk about something different?”

  Georgie perked up immediately.

  Like what?

  “Tell me about going to Felltrop.”

  Okay. What would you like to know?

  “Take it from the beginning.”

  We hauled ass to get there. We just jumped into our gear, said goodbye to Father Monarez, Ivana and Miriam, and took off. The helicopters took us to the airport. We hopped a private plane to Louisiana, and after landing there, we jumped on another helicopter.

  “Where did Father Monarez, Ivana and Miriam go?”

  I don’t know where Father Monarez went; he had to report everything that happened to someone. He kept a lot of things secret. We never saw any of his allies, but he would meet with them on occasion. Miriam and Ivana went to Ruidoso. They were going to Skie.

  “It must have been a bit of a relief to have everything coming to a close.”

  To be honest with you, I wasn’t doing very well mentally. I’m sure Nick filled you in on everything, but I wasn’t in good shape. I was still excited to find out that Jax was alive. That bit of information made all of us pretty damn happy.

  Once we hit the ground, Mr. Hardin ordered the small battalion of soldiers with us to stand by the helicopters. The team, Mr. Hardin, and Snake Charmer went in. Most of the staff was friendly. I’m not sure we were very friendly in return.

  “Why is that?”

  They had Jaxon. We weren’t too happy about finding out that our boss had been in a prison all this time. I was actually dreading what he was going to do when they finally freed him and restored his position in the Regulators. Beating the Hell out of his captors would be very Jaxon-like.

  All of us got a sort of weird feeling when we met the warden. That fucker just looked guilty of something. I don’t know why, but he made me very ill at ease. Mr. Hardin started talking to him, and he started acting guilty as well. He was acting like he had something to hide.

  Dudley got very agitated.

  Mr. Hardin did his best to calm the situation down. Fortunately for the warden, he began to realize that we weren’t there to play games. He had Jaxon sent to the infirmary. At that point, I knew without a doubt that something was rotten. Why the infirmary?

  We waited.

  Dudley became more and more agitated, and that was very worrisome. You have to understand: Dudley wasn’t all there. He was pretty messed up. I’m not sure any of us should have been placed in a tense situation. Mr. Hardin just didn’t understand how bad we were.

  The scene started to unravel when some guards brought in some hobo on a gurney. Dudley was tired of the warden’s games. Nick was happy to help him out. I was barely paying attention to them. I couldn’t stop staring at the hobo.

  The man had long hair polluted with a ton of grey. He also had a long beard filled with grey as well. He reeked horribly, and his body was ridiculously thin. The man had been starved. I’m not sure what was worse, the horrible condition of his body or his ruined hands.

  Something about him looked familiar.

  It was Jaxon. He just looked as if he had aged twenty years. I said something. Everyone looked at Jaxon. Realization began to set in. Dudley went completely off his rocker. He was literally vibrating right in front of everyone.

  One of the guards made a wise-ass remark about Jaxon’s condition. Dudley shot the man instantly. The boom from the gun was deafening in the small room. I know I flinched like a bitch. I know I did that but I didn’t do much else.

  There was yelling. Then everyone began shooting. The warden slammed right into me as he ran out of the room. Dudley eventually ran after him. The gunfight didn’t take too long, not with everyone standing within ten feet of each other.

  Nick and Javie eventually ran after Dudley in case he needed backup. We were just regular people at that point. We didn’t have special abilities to help us stay alive. We could die just as easily as anyone else.

  Mr. Hardin and Snake Charmer stayed behind with Jaxon and I. Mr. Hardin immediately grabbed a doctor and put the man to work on Jaxon. That’s when I found out he had pneumonia.

  Mr. Hardin was pissed. I’m not sure I ever saw him get angry before, but he was really pissed then. He told the prison doctor to stabilize Jaxon for transport. I watched as he plugged IVs and monitors to my friend.

  I suddenly found myself growing angry as well.

  I hadn’t been angry in a long time. I normally just felt lost and empty. Anger was something I wasn’t used to anymore. Yet, there it was. I was angry. I was angry that these people hurt my friend. I was so angry, I couldn’t move. I couldn’t stop staring at the damage they had
done to Jaxon.

  “What did you do to him?” I asked.

  The doctor ignored me and called a male nurse to come and aid him.

  “What did you do to him?” I demanded.

  They looked at me but continued to work.

  I began moaning. It was a strange sound that came from the depths of my soul. I couldn’t control it. I was making an idiot out of myself, but I had no control. The sound became louder and louder.

  Snake Charmer came and put his arm around me.

  “I need you to relax,” he said. “Get control over yourself. These people need to work.”

  “What did they do to him?” I asked. “Look at him. There are burn marks on his arms. They tortured him. They hurt him.”

  “I know they did,” Snake Charmer agreed. “We’ll come back here. We’ll all come back here and tear this place to pieces but right now they need to work. They need to keep him alive and get him stable enough to get him out of here.”

  “I’m going to kill them,” I said. “I’m going to kill them all.”

  Snake Charmer spun me around. He faced me towards the window so I wouldn’t be looking at Jaxon. I looked past the bars. It was a sunny day. Snake Charmer talked me down. He helped me gain control over my breathing.

  In the distance, I could hear alarms blaring. I’m not sure when they began, but I could sure as Hell hear them then. I also heard gunshots in the hallway outside the infirmary.

  Eventually, I heard screams.

  They were the screams that haunted my nightmares. They were screams that came from something that was no longer human. I heard people yelling. I heard pounding feet. I heard more gunshots.

  Snake Charmer ran from my side. He was at the door with his weapon. He was shooting at something. I heard loud clanging sounds. I didn’t know it at the time, but we were being shut inside the building. The clanging sounds were security doors coming down from the ceilings and locking into place on the floor.

  There was more screaming.

  I heard Dudley and Nick calling for help.

  Snake Charmer left the room.

  Mr. Hardin looked over at me.

  “Georgie,” Mr. Hardin said. “I need you to protect Jaxon. Can you do that?”

  I nodded that I could.

  “Don’t let anything happen to him,” Mr. Hardin said. “All is lost if the General falls.”

  I slapped myself in the face. I needed the focus, and focusing wasn’t something that I was particularly good at in those days.

  Mr. Hardin pulled a pistol from a pocket in his suit jacket and calmly walked out into the hall. I was alone with Jaxon, a doctor, and a male nurse. I hadn’t moved from the window. I knew I should go out and close the door, but I couldn’t move. I kept hearing the screams of the dead.

  The male nurse began to freak out. The doctor tried to calm him down but he couldn’t. The male nurse fled the room. Still, I couldn’t move.

  “What’s going on out there?” The doctor asked.

  “They’re here,” I answered. “No matter where we go, they’re always there. There’s nowhere to turn.”

  “Who’s out there?” The doctor asked. “What’s out there? Why’s everyone screaming?”

  “The dead have come to this prison Doctor,” I said. “Stay with the General. He’ll protect you. He protects everyone.”

  I wasn’t making much sense. Obviously the doctor realized that. He ran for the door. He just didn’t make it through the doorway. Instead, he came face to face with a zombie. A grey-hued, dried up corpse in a flannel shirt. I watched as the doctor’s eyes grew wide in fear. The zombie bit him in the neck.

  Blood flew out in an arterial spray. It splashed over the white blanket covering Jaxon’s legs. The doctor screamed an awful cry. He did his best to fight off the zombie. His fists pounded and pounded against the beast’s shoulders, but the zombie refused to let him go.

  By the time another shambler came through the door, the doctor’s strikes had gotten very feeble. The second zombie latched on to his leg. There wasn’t a lot of blood. I stood there listening to the sounds of their chewing. I still couldn’t move.

  I heard an explosion from another part of the building. It shook the entire room. Three more zombies entered. One of them joined the previous two zombies and latched onto the doctor. I closed my eyes in the hope that they would go away. They didn’t.

  The zombies that didn’t attack the doctor looked from Jaxon to me, and back again.

  If they had come for me, I probably wouldn’t be here right now. I don’t think I would have reacted. I would have just let them tear me apart. Instead, they went for Jaxon.

  Something inside of me snapped.

  I roared out my anger.

  It was a barbaric sound. It was filled with everything that had darkened my soul. It was a war cry.

  “You can’t have him!” I shouted. “You can’t have him!”

  I came to life instantly. My hands went for a weapon, and what they found surprises me to this day. I’m a gun guy. I like the feel of a pistol or a rifle in my hands. I like the distance those weapons keep me from my enemy.

  I pulled out my Bowie knife.

  I charged the zombies just as they reached their skeletal hands towards Jaxon. I hacked the first one right on top of the head killing it instantly. The second one turned on me as I attempted to un-wedge my knife from the skull.

  I put up my arm in an attempt to fend off the second shambler. It bit into my bite suit. It hurt like Hell, and I screamed out. My knife came free, and I pushed the point of the blade deep into its eye socket. I pushed with all my might. I drove the zombie backwards into the wall. I kept on pushing until my blade burst through its skull and embedded into the plaster.

  I was tackled from behind.

  I twisted as I fell. My helmet banged on Jaxon’s gurney. The next thing I knew, there were three of them on top of me. I never even saw them enter the room. I flailed as I felt their teeth clamp down. I screamed as I felt their strong hands pulling at the fabric of my bite suit.

  My Bowie knife fell from my hands.

  As this was happening, some dim part of my brain realized that I was only human. A bite would be lethal. I realized that I would probably die, and it scared the Hell out of me.

  Their hands were rough. They pulled and bit, pulled and bit. My bite suit held up but the protection wouldn’t last forever; eventually they would find the flesh they sought. I pounded on their heads. I struck them as hard as I could. I tried everything. I couldn’t get them off of me.

  Then I felt it.

  A boney hand had made its way up under my shirt and utility vest. It clawed at my vulnerable skin underneath. I grabbed the arm and tried to pull it out. The owner of the arm bit down on my wrist. I felt its teeth grind and crunch against my wrist bone.

  I heard another explosion.

  It sounded closer. I turned my head to the door in the hopes that help was coming. All I saw was more shamblers entering the room but they weren’t interested in me. They were headed for Jaxon.

  I screamed once again.

  I scanned the floor and found my knife. I began to furiously slash and stab. I wasn’t just aiming for their heads. I was aiming for anything I could hit. The blade cut deep each and every time. It cut through tendons, and cleaved into bone. Arms became useless, and I frantically got to my feet.

  “You can’t have him!” I shouted.

  I meant it. I lost Skie. I was supposed to protect her. Jaxon gave me a job, and I failed. He trusted me, and I let Skie come to harm. I should have been better. I should have been tougher. I failed. What happened was my fault. If I had managed to protect Jaxon’s wife, he never would have…he never would have…

  Georgie began to cry. It wasn’t loud, but before he turned his head away from me, I saw the soft tears fall from his eyes.

  “Georgie, it’s not your fault.”

  His shoulders began to shake. I said no more. I simply waited patiently for him to regain his composure and co
ntinue his story.

  Where was I?

  “You had just climbed to your feet.”

  Yeah, that wasn’t easy. In fact, everything was a lot more difficult since we had lost our powers. Just getting out of bed was a pain in the ass. I was in my late thirties at that point, but I had stopped aging before things began to creep up on me. The amount of aches and pains a body accumulates in just a few years are staggering. Especially when you wake up powerless one day, and everything hits you all at once.

  Anyway, my rage continued when I got to my feet.

  “You can’t have him!” I screamed. “You can’t have him!”

  I rushed forward. I stood between the dead and my fallen leader. I was ready to die in his defense.

  “I am a Regulator!” I screamed out to the world. “I am a warrior! I am a hero! I will not fail!”

  I charged into them.

  I hacked and I slashed. I think there was about six of them. I can’t even remember. Everything was in a fog. I just kept swinging. I had an mp7 on a strap and a pistol on my hip but I only used the big Bowie knife. Jaxon would have been proud. Cold Steel lived up to its reputation. I felt like I was wielding a damn light-saber.

  They grabbed at me but I twisted. I hacked at their fingers and hands. I punched them with my free hand. The blade carved bone, and bodies began to drop. It was easier when I took out their hands. All they could do was swing at me. I didn’t mind the punches and slaps. Those didn’t slow me down in the slightest.

  Things just got easier and easier. Still, I was tired. My body was slowing down. The sounds of my breathing became louder than the growls and moans of the dead. I fought on. I never gave up. I won.

  The room was a mess. One last corpse crawled to Jaxon’s gurney. I must have taken out its legs at some point. I watched as it pulled itself up. I came up behind it silently and rammed my knife downwards through the top of its head.

  It was destroyed, but I kept on stabbing it. Over and over I stabbed at its face and body.