Broken (Book 3 of The Guardian Interviews)

by Michael Clary

  “Mr. Hardin has a lot of contacts,” I answered.

  “You assholes ready for this shit?” Nick asked. “We’re going out in the first row. That’s some scary shit.”

  I chuckled at his honesty. I also agreed with him. Going out in the first row was some scary shit. How else could we gather the support of all the troops? They needed to see us in action. They needed to see the plan work.

  “AAAAWWWWOOOOAAAA!”

  I had been hearing the Monster’s call all throughout the day. It kept getting closer and closer. We had two shooters armed with .50 cal machine guns on opposite sides of the boulders. Mr. Hardin had even erected them a flimsy looking stand that raised them up fifteen feet in the air. If the Monster was in the horde, they would get him. They were told to look out for him.

  I looked towards the bridge. Jaxon stood on it by himself. He was glaring towards the city as if he could see the former Guardian. I was worried about my uncle. He wanted his revenge. I just knew he did. Unfortunately, he wasn’t in top shape, and even if he was, the Monster was too much for one man.

  Jaxon simply could not fight him. I wouldn’t allow it. The Monster would come. I doubted he’d be stupid enough to walk in front of the machine guns, but he’d come for Jax. Of that, I had no doubt. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a plan for it. I was just hoping to prevent my uncle from chasing after him. It would be better to go at him as a team with some really big guns after we took out the zombies.

  I had visions of us chasing down the former Guardian through an empty El Paso. He wasn’t so fierce anymore. He wasn’t so tough. We would finally corner him in a deserted home, or a filthy alley. There, the team would blow him to pieces with guns big enough to tear through his armor.

  “AAAAWWWWOOOOAAAA!”

  This time, the call was closer. I looked towards Jaxon once again. He was smiling. He lived for these moments. Pitting himself against impossible odds had become a game for him. He had changed so much since the outbreak. He had become a leader. He had become a symbol that people could follow. Watching him on that bridge, with Merrick sniffing around his shoes, he looked every bit the hero people thought him to be.

  The soldiers gathered up behind him. One after another they came. Armed with their shields and swords they looked a bit like an ancient army preparing to defend their homeland. The sky had turned red around us. I saw Mr. Hardin in the distance watching the scene unfold.

  When the soldiers had all come forth, Jaxon turned and faced them. He walked back and forth and sized them up. His green eyes were on fire. The lust for battle was evident in his powerful stride.

  “AAAAWWWWOOOOAAAA!”

  The dead were getting closer. The battle was almost upon us. The team joined the soldiers, and Jaxon began to speak.

  “I won’t lie to you,” Jaxon said. “Very soon we will all descend into Hell. The worst aspects of your worst nightmares will be thrust upon us. You have a right to be afraid. You should be afraid because our enemy knows no fear, and they will never stop. Many of us will die here tonight. But we will not run. We will not break rank. We will stand strong against the Hell that pounds against our shields, for this is the last stand. If we fail, the entire world will soon fall. Your wives, your children, your friends, your loved ones, all of them are depending on you. This is your moment. This is where you make a difference.”

  Everyone cheered.

  “LET’S RAISE SOME HELL!” Jaxon shouted, and after grabbing a shield, he led the way across the bridge. I shoved my way to his immediate right, Georgie took my right. Nick was on Jaxon’s left, and Javie was on Nick’s left. Merrick was out in front sniffing the air. Soldiers were all around us.

  We marched slowly to the middle point of the rock barriers. The street lights came on above us as the sun slipped below the horizon. One of the soldiers passed Georgie a flask of whiskey.

  “To better days,” he said as he drank.

  “To a brighter future,” I said when he passed the flask to me.

  Nick reached out for it and took a big gulp.

  “I’m gonna get laid after this,” Nick said, and handed the flask to Javie.

  “Here’s hoping Nick isn’t referring to me,” Javie said, and passed the flask back down the line to Jax.

  “Here’s to payback,” Jaxon snarled.

  A lone figure entered the opposite end of the street. It sort of shambled out of nowhere. It spotted us immediately and screamed in our direction. Our entire army screamed back at it. The figure ran at us. It moved fast.

  Jaxon pulled his tomahawk out of his belt sheath.

  The figure entered the canyon of rocks. More figures appeared behind it. They began screaming out as well as they entered the canyon and charged towards us.

  Our shields came up and overlapped one another. The shields of the men behind us pressed against our backs. I looked to my right. Georgie’s eyes were wide but he was hanging in. On my left, Jaxon’s green eyes were shining in the dim light.

  The first figure never made his way to us. Merrick brought him down five feet from our shields. We watched as she tore into the back of the corpse’s neck, and then we looked past the both of them to the small horde not far beyond.

  There must have been forty or fifty of them. They ignored Merrick and her zombie. They rammed straight into our shields, and we stopped them flat. From there it was a massacre. They couldn’t get around us, and we hacked them to pieces.

  It was over in a matter of seconds.

  Everyone was cheering.

  “AAAAWWWWOOOOAAAA!” called the former Guardian from somewhere near the mouth of the canyon.

  “Brace yourselves!” Jaxon shouted as a massive horde took shape under the dim streetlamps farther down the road.

  Brace ourselves we did. First, we steadied our bodies. Then, we steadied our nerves. The horde was too numerous to count. The smell they gave off was nauseating. The sound they created was deafening.

  They poured into the mouth of the canyon. There they shoved and trampled on one another in an effort to be the first to reach us. Their numbers were counting against them. The vast size of the horde counted for very little inside the narrow canyon walls.

  The dead slammed against our shields. They shoved against us but we lost very little ground as we hacked and pushed back against them. Nick was laughing as he handled his fireman’s axe with only one hand to deadly effect.

  Jaxon was using the blade tips of his tomahawk as a stabbing weapon. Each thrust punctured a skull. Bodies were mounting up at our feet.

  After thirty minutes of battle, my arms began to grow tired. My machete was no longer slicing the air with evil intent. My strikes were getting clumsy. I looked towards Jaxon. He looked tired as well. Of course, he still hadn’t nearly recovered from all he’d been through.

  “Time!” Jaxon shouted.

  Shields opened up behind us. We were pulled backwards down the rows as the men behind us took our place.

  “Merrick,” Jaxon called, and the black dog followed her master.

  In a matter of seconds, the front line was at the back of the formation. We were able to rest. I grabbed a canteen full of water from my utility belt and took a swig.

  “Holy shit,” I said. “That was crazy. I can’t believe it’s working.”

  “Two minutes,” Jaxon said. “Then let’s get back at it.”

  More and more zombies piled into the rock canyon. It didn’t matter. They couldn’t gain an inch on us. The narrow confines of the canyon combined with our blades and shields stopped them cold until they were just one big putrid, screaming mob waiting to have their skulls cleaved in.

  Three or four rows had taken their turn when something bad happened. The dead bodies for the most part aided in our defenses, but the leaking fluids made the ground slippery. A soldier went down.

  He was torn into immediately, and then the gap closed as another shield took his place. His body was hauled backwards past me. He was just a kid. Younger than me, probably around twenty or so and scr
eaming that he wanted to go home. Somehow, the dead managed to rip off the pants of his bite suit. His legs were shredded.

  Jaxon left his place and followed the soldier to the back of the formation. He put the kid out of his misery. As always, a bite was fatal. The army helping us out wasn’t gifted with our abilities to heal. The soldiers were lucky enough to all have bite suits.

  We lost people. The ground was becoming too slippery. We couldn’t advance forward; there was an army of corpses pushing against us. Not to mention all the fallen bodies blocking our way. Reluctantly, we went backwards until our soldiers once again found traction.

  The canyon was filled with the dead and still more were trying to shove their way inside. Our army was getting tired. It wasn’t going to be long before we had to give up more ground. The seeds of doubt began to enter my mind. We could only give up so much ground. Our soldiers were getting tired. Would we be able to bring them all down before we ran out of room and grew too weak to prevent them from overwhelming us and crossing over?

  I never considered the Monster. I should have known he wouldn’t be content to sit back and watch the battle unfold.

  The explosion wasn’t too big, but it was loud. Four people on the front line were killed instantly. Two people in the line behind them later died from their wounds. The dead had broken through our defenses.

  “What the Hell?” Jaxon demanded as he left his place and forced his way to the hole in the frontline.

  I followed behind him. I watched as he slammed the shamblers with his shield and cut them down with his tomahawk. He shouted out orders. The front line was sealed. Jaxon and I dealt with the zombies inside our formation.

  Another explosion took place just as our line made its way to the front once again. I saw it that time. One of the zombies was wearing an explosive vest. Max set it off just as the corpse slammed against our shields.

  More people were killed. The first eight lines of our formation were in complete disarray as the zombies swarmed into the gaps. Jaxon didn’t miss a beat. He fought, and the Regulators joined him. He ordered the disarrayed soldiers to fall back behind the remaining formation, and we held off the advancing zombies that washed around us.

  Back to back we stood. To see the different styles each of us employed made for a Hell of a sight. Nick used brute strength. Javie attacked wildly. Georgie reacted defensively. I picked my moments, and Jaxon did what Jaxon does. He mixes everything together and he seems to be everywhere at once.

  Merrick joined up with Georgie. That was good. He needed the help, and I’m sure he appreciated the way Merrick would bring down a zombie so that he could easily strike it on the head.

  Another explosion blasted out behind us towards the formation of soldiers still holding their ground. I prayed they would be able to close the gap without us.

  “The son of a bitch figured out how to bring us down,” I said to Jaxon.

  “Yeah,” Jaxon agreed.

  “What are we going to do?” I asked.

  “He’s using a remote detonator,” Jaxon said. “He has to be. They only blow up when they reach the front line. Max is watching us from somewhere. We need to take his hand off the button.”

  Not long after that, we were able to make our way back to the formation. Thankfully, they were able to plug the holes. Unfortunately, they had lost more ground in the process. The soldiers allowed us past their shields, and we made our way to the back of the line.

  The battle was raging, and there was no indication that it was nearing an end. We were slowly losing but not one single person deserted their position.

  Another explosion rocked against the frontline. The wave of the undead broke through once again. We were tired. We were injured. The zombies were able to kill many of us before we managed to cut them down and plug the hole.

  Still, we pushed on. Well, we tried at least. Our numbers were low. We were being shoved backwards. The force of the great horde was so powerful; those in the front lines were no longer able to strike them down. They had to concentrate all their energy on keeping their shields up.

  “This is bad!” Nick shouted.

  “We’re being overwhelmed,” Georgie agreed.

  “To the last man!” Jaxon shouted as he pushed with all his considerable might.

  “To the last man!” I screamed out, and joined him.

  A moment of great despair came from a final explosion. Our formation was ripped apart. The dead were upon us. We fought bravely. We fought like heroes, and we died like heroes. Jaxon tossed away his shield and pulled out his long Bowie knife. He became a whirlwind of destruction but it wasn’t enough. We could not reform our wall of shields.

  And then when all seemed lost, a bright light came from behind us, and I heard a roaring louder than the screams of the zombies. I spared a look, and my eyes grew wide. Help was rushing towards us. A great force of over five thousand strong and they were led by a short man with a roaring chainsaw.

  “THIS IS OUR LAND!” Father Monarez shouted as his force thundered over the drawbridge and joined the fight.

  As they rushed in around me, I could see that they were both young and old, men and women. Some of them had weapons; others had kitchen knives and gardening tools. They came from New Mexico, Mexico, and many other places. They were people that would not be evacuated. They were people that wanted to help, and the entire world should be thankful that they came.

  I was next to Jaxon and Merrick. I saw the look on Jaxon’s face through the tears in my eyes. I don’t know exactly how to describe his expression. He was covered in blood. He was battered and tired but he was also alive with hope.

  “Not over yet,” he grinned, and then I watched as his grin turn to acid.

  Immediately, I looked behind me. I saw the large man holding a double sided battle axe standing atop the rock wall. He was silhouetted beneath a street lamp but his proportions were unmistakable. He dropped into the canyon with a mighty arrogance and strode forward to meet my uncle.

  A blur of movement rushed by me, I tried to grab on to him but he was too fast. I tried to chase after him but undead hands grabbed me by the shoulders, and I was once again fighting for my life.

  Chapter 13

  Jaxon

  Jaxon walked into the meeting room with a bottle of Jack, a pitcher of soda, and two glasses filled with ice. He was smiling as he poured.

  If you wanna hear the end of this story, you’re gonna need to drink with me.

  “That sounds fair enough. Dudley told me all about the battle. It was a good thing Father Monarez and all those people showed up when they did.”

  You’re not kidding. Imagine how we felt.

  “What I’d like to know is how you felt when the former Guardian jumped into the canyon?”

  I knew he’d make an appearance eventually. I needed him to. The exploding zombies were fucking us up. I needed to see him so I could stop him.

  “After what happened before, were you at all worried about fighting him?”

  Jaxon scratched his chin and considered my question a bit before answering.

  I think I was. I think I was very worried, but I also wanted that fight. I didn’t want help. I didn’t want to burn him down or shoot him with really big guns. I wanted to beat him myself, and despite what anyone said, that was my plan from the moment my powers returned. I guess I just needed my Batman moment.

  Merrick was helping Georgie. The rest of the team was distracted. Dudley was the only obstacle in my way aside from the machine gunners, which couldn’t fire anyway for fear of hitting all the humans scattered around the area. I made my move before Dudley could stop me. He tried, I’ll give him credit for that, but he wasn’t nearly quick enough.

  The Monster and I passed each other at full speed. He swung his battle axe. I swung my tomahawk. I opened him up, and he missed me completely.

  He growled out his fury and homed in on me. We ran at one another again. Despite his strength, his battle axe was a slow-moving weapon. It was just too heavy to
be of much use against somebody as fast as me. I went into a roll at the last possible second. His weapon nicked off a piece of rubber from the sole of my shoe. I sliced his leg open.

  A normal human would have been covered in blood and on their way to the morgue after the wounds Max just received. However, his pink-tinged gelatinous blood refused to pour. My attacks didn’t even weaken him, but I expected that.

  “I knew you would be here,” Max said. “Your pride made you come. You should have run. Let the outbreak spread. What do you care? You could survive it. You could keep your loved ones safe, at least until I come for you, and I’ll always come for you.”

  We sized each other up from a safe distance.

  Max wore only combat boots and camouflage pants. His body was burnt even worse than his face. He had never healed from his wounds. He had just continued on. From his pale blue-hued skin to the metal showing beneath his wounds, the man had become a true monster to behold. He had replaced the glowing disk over his heart, and I made a mental note not to strike him in that area. I needed his power source functioning.

  He made his move.

  I dodged out of the way but his sudden charge still clipped me on the shoulder and knocked me off my feet. Before I knew it, he was standing over me and raining down punches on my face.

  I raised an arm to defend myself, and sliced away at his stomach. The cuts didn’t hurt him. They didn’t slow him down. Still, he eventually stepped away as if he was worried about the cosmetic damage I was causing him.

  I rose to my feet. I took my time. The effort it took was obvious, and Max started smiling.

  “You aren’t as tough as you were the last time we fought,” Max said. “Back then, you were able to absorb a lot of punishment before your body finally gave out. I’m a bit disappointed.”

  I ran at him.

  He expected me to swing my tomahawk. Instead, I jumped in the air, and struck his knee square with the heel of my boot, and all my weight behind it. His knee cracked. Max grabbed ahold of my neck and lifted me in the air.