“I was wondering why I never saw any military rolling down the streets, I kept waiting for the Calvary but it never came. I guess I know why now,” Paul said.
“Yea, there was no Calvary to send,” David said.
“I had a friend with me when you guys found me at the bar. Do you know if he’s here?” Paul said.
“I’m sorry, you were the only one they found alive in that bar. I’m really sorry,” David responded.
“I’m sorry to hear that, I was hoping he had made it out. He was a good guy,” Paul said.
“This new world is a hell of a place and it seems to be winning more everyday. There are less and less of us living people everyday. We could use a good solider like you if you’re interested?” David said.
Paul thought about it for a minute and responded “thanks for the offer but I have a mission already. Do you know if any of the government jerks who started this are still around?”
David wasn’t sure what to make of Paul’s question but he answered it anyways “I’m sorry you can’t join us but I understand and as for your question, rumor is that a lot of them are hold up in some underground base out in the desert. Why do you ask?”
“Just wanted to know so I could add them to the list. Thanks for the information and I hope there’s no hard feels about your jaw,” Paul said as a slight smile crossed his face.
David cracked a smile too before he spoke “I had it coming, I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you everything before.”
“I have one more favor to ask and then I’ll be on my way,” Paul said.
“Name it and if I can help I will,” David responded.
“I need some weapons,” Paul said.
“That I can help you with, we raided the weapons storage before we left the base. It’s all locked up in a couple rooms down the hall. I’ll have Marcus take you there and you can help yourself to whatever you need,” David said as he stood and reached his hand out for Paul to shake.
Paul stood and shook David’s hand and said “thank you, I’m sorry things went the way they did in the past. I think we could have been friends.”
“Maybe we still can,” David responded.
The two men walked together to the front door of the room and David opened the door. Marcus was still standing in the hall as David spoke to him “take Paul to our weapon storage and give him whatever he needs.”
“Yes sir,” was all Marcus said back.
David turned back to Paul who was now standing in the hall and extended his hand to him once more and said “take care Paul.”
Paul shook his hand once more and replied “you too.”
David released Paul’s hand then walked back into the room and was beginning to close the door behind him but then he stopped. David stood in the doorway and turned his attention back to Paul “you said before that you were going to add those guys to your list, I was wondering what you meant by that?”
“I made a promise to kill everyone and everything that had anything to do with this nightmare. I’m starting with those things outside and now I’m adding those guys to the list. Anyone that had anything to do with this or knew about it will be dead soon,” Paul said. He had a small grin on his face as he said the last part of his statement and by the look on David’s face Paul knew his message had been received.
“Good to know and good luck with that,” David said. He then stepped back into the room and closed the door.
“I’m glad to see you guys were able to work things out. He really is a good guy,” Marcus said.
“Yea he seems alright,” Paul said.
Eighteen
Marcus lead Paul to a room at the end of the hallway, the door had been fitted with two large deadbolts. Marcus pulled a set of keys out of one of the pockets on his tactical vest and unlocked the door. The door swung open to reveal a large collection of weapons, everything from small arms to high grade explosives. The room wasn’t a suite like David’s room had been, it was a standard single size hotel room with all the furniture removed and replaced with weapons and ammunition. Paul felt like a kid in a candy store as he stepped into the room and looked around.
He turned back to Marcus who was standing in the doorway and asked “Do you have any duffle bags I could use to load up some of this stuff?”
“Yea no problem. I have a couple in my room that you can use. My room is right down the hall so I’ll be just a minute,” Marcus said as he stepped back into the hall and walked away.
Paul began to look through all the weapons and was trying to figure out what he wanted to take. He found a shoulder holster that had a 9mm Beretta in it and it also had a spot for two magazines on the holster. Paul put the holster on and checked the magazine in it, it was fully loaded. He slid the magazine back in the gun and put the gun back in the holster. The search for two more magazines to put in the holster was short as he found a box of magazines and a container full of ammo right next two it. A few moments later the magazines were full and in the holster and he was on the search for more weapons.
He came across a box of black cargo pants and decided they would be better than the sweat pants he was wearing. The pants were a variety of sizes and he searched until he found a pair that fit him. He put the pants on and found some belts in the box and put one on as well.
There were some crates in the corner of the room that caught his eye so that was his next stop. The crates took him a minute to open but once they were open he couldn’t help but smile. The crate was full of AA12s and Paul was more than happy to take a few of them. The shotguns were unloaded but it didn’t take him long to find another crate full of shells. He was in luck because the AA12 was able to fire regular shotgun shells but it could also fire explosive shells and the crate was full of both kinds. The explosive shells had small grade explosives in them and when they made contact with their target they made for a nice blast that did a lot of damage. Paul knew that the AA12 was a fully automatic shotgun that could fire off a steady stream of these explosives and level a building if it came down to it. He was still admiring the shotguns when he heard Marcus coming back towards the room in the hallway.
“I hope these will work for you,” Marcus said as he entered the room and set the two bags on the floor.
Paul walked over to the bags and picked up one of them and checked it out. The first bag was black and huge; the bag was large enough that a person could have fit in it. It had a large thick strap on it and Paul went to work filling it.
The first thing he put in the bag was two of the AA12s and then he found some drum magazines for them. He took the time to load four 32 round drums with shells, two of the drums had explosives rounds and the other two had standard slug shells. He placed the drums in the bags with the shotguns. He loaded one more drum with shells but this time he alternated between the explosive shells and slugs as he loaded the drum. He took one more AA12 out of the crate and loaded the drum on it.
“Do you know if there are any slings for these?” Paul asked Marcus who was standing guard at the door.
“If there are any then they should be in the crate with the guns,” Marcus replied.
Paul dug his hand down to the bottom of the crate and found a plastic bag with the slings in it. He connected a sling to the AA12 he had loaded and placed it in the bag with the others and put two more slings in the bag also.
The next thing he loaded into the bag was a M4 with a flashlight mounted on the front and red dot tactical scope mounted on top of it. Paul loaded up a half dozen magazines for the m4 and grabbed a few extra boxes of ammunition and placed it all in the bag as well. He took another M4 out of the crate and loaded a full magazine into it. This M4 was the same as the other one he had put in the bag and it already had a sling on it so he threw it over his head so that the rifle hung in front of his chest.
He zipped the bag shut and set it on the floor near the door and then returned to the second bag. The second bag was black like the first one but wasn’t quite as large as the first bag. It still had p
lenty of room but was only as large as a standard gym bag. Paul found a box with large survival knives in it. The knives had sheathes on them with metal clips on the back so he hooked one of the knives to his belt and placed three more in the bag.
The next crate he checked was marked explosives and he found the crate was full of M67 grenades and M84 stun grenades. The M67 grenades were fragmentation grenades and would destroy or kill anything or anyone that happened to be near it when it went off. The stun grenades would also come in handy because the bright flash and loud noise would stun any human or zombie he tossed it at. He knew it worked because that was what knocked him back and unconscious at the bar. He loaded a dozen of each into the bag and it gave him another idea.
He turned to Marcus and asked “do you know if there are any grenade launchers?”
“I think I saw some off to your left in a black trunk,” Marcus replied.
Paul saw the trunk that Marcus was talking about and as he moved a small box off of the trunk he saw that the small box had bricks of C4 in it. That put a smile on his face because C4 could be very useful, so he put the box in his bag as well. If he was going to use the C4 then he was going to need to find the blast caps and remote detonator for it.
He turned his attention back to Marcus “you got any caps and detonators for the C4?”
“Off to your right on the floor in the brown bag,” Marcus said.
“Thanks. You seem to know where everything is in here,” Paul replied.
“It’s my job to know where everything is. If shit hits the fan then I need to know where everything is,” Marcus said with a smile.
“That’s why I love ya Marcus. You’re always thinking ahead,” Paul said as he smiled too.
Paul went back to what he was doing and went back to the black trunk and opened it to reveal two M32 grenade launchers. He pulled one of the M32s out of the trunk and flipped the cylinder open but all six chambers were empty. So he would have to find some grenades if he planned on using it. It crossed his mind to ask Marcus again but then he saw what he was looking for in a box on the floor next to the trunk. There were about fifty grenade rounds in the box but Paul knew that he would never be able to carry that many in his bag. So he made sure that he loaded the M32 and then dropped another dozen into his bag. The M32 would go in the other bag so for the time being he would leave it on top of the trunk he had found it in.
The second duffle bag had grown very close to its full capacity and Paul was just about done but he wanted to grab some more rounds for his 9mm Beretta. He was putting a few boxes in his bag when he heard Marcus talking quietly in the hall. At first Paul thought he was talking to him but he was talking too quiet to understand. Paul peeked around the corner into the hallway to see who Marcus was talking to but there was no one else with him. Marcus had an ear piece in and a throat microphone on so Paul knew there had to be someone talking into his ear and he was betting it was David.
“Are you sure we have to do this?” Marcus said quietly.
“Yea but he was one of us. I don’t think we need to do that. What if I try to talk to him? Maybe I can change his mind,” Marcus said.
Paul was beginning to understand what the conversation was about, he knew David understood what he meant when he said he would kill anyone that knew about what the government was doing. David knew that Paul was going to come for him soon and now David was trying to convince Marcus to kill him. Marcus was silent for a minute and Paul figured David was laying it on thick as he tried to convince him that he had to kill Paul.
“Yes sir. I understand. It will be taken care of,” Marcus said.
Paul backed away from the door and thought about what he was going to do. He really didn’t want to kill Marcus but if it came down to it then he would do what he had to do to survive. Paul drew the 9mm from its holster and chambered a round; he knelt down behind one of the larger crates and waited for Marcus to come back to the room. Paul sat there preparing himself for what he would have to do but Marcus still hadn’t came back to the room.
“You still out there Marcus,” Paul shouted out.
“Yea I’m here brother,” Marcus yelled back.
“So what are we going to do? I know David wants you to kill me and you know I can’t let you do that but I really don’t want to kill you either. So I need to know what you plan on doing,” Paul yelled out from behind the crate but he never took his eyes off of the doorway.
“I’m not going to kill you brother. We’ve been through to much and you’re like family to me. Plus I never liked David that much,” Marcus yelled back from the hall.
“I’m happy to hear that. So what’s the plan?” Paul asked.
Marcus stepped back into the doorway with his hands out in front of him and said “don’t shoot, I said I wasn’t going to kill you and I meant it but we need to get you out of here before David shows up. He’ll want to personally make sure that I took care of you.”
“Then I guess we should get going,” Paul said as he got up and grabbed his bags.
He was leaving the room when he remembered the grenade launcher and went back to grab it off of the trunk. Paul placed the grenade launcher in the bigger bag and handed Marcus the larger bag, while Paul took the smaller one. The two of them headed out into the hall and Marcus locked the room back up. Then they headed down the hall.
“We’ll have to head downstairs and I’ll let you out one of the side doors. Hopefully David hasn’t put the word out about you to the other guys yet. If we’re lucky we’ll be able to get out before anyone else sees us,” Marcus said as they walked down the hall.
David’s room was between them and the stairs they needed to get to so Marcus signaled for Paul to be quiet and follow him as they passed the room. They were almost to the stairs when they heard the door to room 214 open. David and three other men stepped out of the room. The three men didn’t look familiar to Paul but he knew they had to be ex-military by the way they carried themselves. Also by the way they were dressed and by the guns they were holding. They were all dressed in tactical gear head to toe and all three were carrying M4s with scopes and grenade launchers attached to them.
Paul and Marcus thought they were close enough to the stairs to get there before David saw them.
David spoke and they knew they were caught “I knew you were loyal Marcus but I thought it was to me. I had a feeling you would do this and that your loyalty was to him and it actually pains me to say but now I have to kill you too.”
Paul still had the 9mm in his hand and the M4 hanging in front of his chest. He wasn’t sure if he would be able to get to the M4 before these guys started shooting so for now he was going to stick with his 9mm. The man off to the right of David was the first to make a move and as soon as Paul saw his finger move towards the trigger the fight was on.
Paul raised his 9mm and started firing at the men and Marcus was firing his M4 as they turned and started running for the stairs. The noise in the hallway was making his ears ring as round after round flew past him. He could feel shrapnel hitting him as the rounds tore through the walls.
They were only a few feet from the door that led to the stairway and Paul had switched to his M4 and kept firing behind him while he kept running. So far he had been lucky that none of the bullets flying at him had hit their mark. As far as he could tell he hadn’t been hit yet. He dove for the door and tumbled into the landing at the top of the stairs.
He gathered himself and started heading down the stairs but he noticed that Marcus hadn’t followed him through the door. He set the bag down on the next landing between the first and second floor. He put a fresh magazine in his 9mm and then holstered it. The M4 was out of ammo and the extra magazines were in the bag that Marcus was carrying. He took the M4 off and set it next to his bag since it would be useless to him until he got more ammo. He went back to the bag and pulled out one of the M84 stun grenades and pulled his 9mm back out of its holster.
He was surprised that the men hadn’t come through the door y
et and it seemed that the gun fire had stopped. There was no way for him to know how many of them were still alive since he had been running away from them when he was firing. Paul slowly started to make his way back up the stairs, he was determined to make sure they were all dead and he wanted to find out if Marcus was still alive. As he crept closer to the door he heard one round fired off in the hallway. His heart sank as it occurred to him that it could have been one of the men finishing off Marcus.
The sound of David’s voice giving orders caught his ear and he knew without a doubt that he had to go back through that door and put a bullet through David’s head. Paul couldn’t make out what they were saying but he was sure he had heard at least one other voice that wasn’t David. That meant that he was going to need at least two bullets and he wasn’t going to leave until they were all dead.
The sound of men gathering downstairs was the next thing he heard. David must have called for reinforcements and Paul was running out of time. Soon the order to take the stairwell would be given so Paul had to make his move. He had his 9mm in his hand and the M84 in the other as he knelt off to the side of the door. Paul reached up with his hand and began to open the door when he heard David talking again and Paul paused to listen through the door “we go in 5, 4...”
That was as far as David got before Paul pulled the pin on the stun grenade and pulled the door open and tossed the grenade in the hallway. He quickly closed the door as the grenade went off, he had been spared the blinding flash but his ears were ringing again. The noise was hard to miss when the M84 went off but Paul had to get moving if he wanted a chance to make it out of this alive.
Love, Revenge and Zombies Page 15
