“You will not live to see the end of this, I promise on the life of my daughter that you have taken from me. I will kill you and you will die slowly. I promise.”
“You only have yourself to blame…”
“Fuck you. You sound like some fucking dictator. Get out of my face.”
I will leave you in your grief. But, remember how we got here.”
Moments later the group converged on me. Emotions were raging and Karen was the worst.
“Karen,” I called to her. “Karen, take my hand.” She did but couldn’t control her crying.
“Tracie, don’t be obvious but I need to know if we’re alone.”
She stood up and pretended to look for something in her pockets.
“No, we’re good.”
“I don’t think they’re dead.” My statement unleashed another wave of emotion. Everyone was trying to speak.
“Shhh,” I said. “He could’ve killed me today in front of all of you to make a point. He didn’t. He could’ve just lined John and Tabby up and shot them. He didn’t. No, I think he had Tyler and Ben leave them downtown.”
“You can’t be sure of that,” said Tony. “I don’t want you to get your hopes up for nothing.”
“I know, Tony. But Tabby’s alive. I know it.”
“So what do we do about it?” asked Tracie.
“We’re leaving. Tony and Mike have a plan. Get with them. Don’t be obvious. We need to look defeated. And be careful who you tell.”
They all nodded and moved away except for Tracie and Pat.
“I don’t think Tom can move,” said Pat. “It’ll kill him.”
“You’re gonna have to talk to him. Make a decision. I want you and Willie to come with us. I fear for your safety after we go. Talk to Tom then let Tony or Mike know.” Pat turned to leave but I continued. “Tell Tom that I’m sorry I let him down.”
“It wasn’t you, Ryan. We failed you, not the other way around.”
Tracie waited until Pat left then took my hand.
“I’ve listened to Tony and Mike hash this out. They don’t think we can get either door open without making too much noise. That means over the wall. Ryan, I don’t think I can do that: Not in my condition. I’m a little pregnant if you hadn’t noticed.”
“I noticed. But, you’re coming with us. So, you’d better be ready.”
She nodded.
“Do you really think Tabby is alive?” she asked.
“Yeah, they’re alive.”
When the boat got back, Tyler and Ben were let in each carrying a few bags of medical supplies. They went right over to Rendina. He definitely did not looked pleased with what was said. But, from my vantage point I could not tell why. A ball of dread filled my stomach. Was he not pleased because they were alive? Did something go wrong and they really were dead? There was no way to tell. It was a bitter pill to swallow; the waiting. But he wasn’t going to tell me anyway.
I ate a little dinner, brought by Karen. She wanted me to tell her again that I thought Tabby was alive. I did. But the part about Rendina being upset I kept to myself. I had no appetite. And it’s really difficult to eat when you’re in the pillory. But, I figured that I’d need the energy later.
Tony came by to see me right before dark.
“Pat wants to stay. She wants to stay with Tom but I also think she’s scared. Karen is working on her because of little William. Tom doesn’t want her to stay either so he’s working on her, too. Tracie, on the other hand…”
“Tracie comes with us. Figure it out. And don’t think I’m leaving without Thor either.”
He nodded and walked off.
A light appeared behind me which startled me at first. Then Lois appeared. As she changed my bandages, she asked about the pain level.
“I don’t want any more painkillers,” I said.
“Think for a minute. You might have to move quickly or quietly and you can’t do either very well if you’re in pain.”
In the end, I agreed to take half a pill. She was right but I also wanted my wits about me. It was a good compromise.
Turns out that even if you wanted to sleep, it’s not going to happen in the pillory. If you let your head down the weight of your head pushed your neck against the wood cutting off your air and circulation
The reality of what was going on suddenly hit me and I almost laughed. Here we were, safe at the fort. Safe from the zombies, of all things. Now, we’ve been taken over by a military dictator. I’m in an actual pillory. And now, we were about to escape. . It would be a long night waiting to break out of Fort Sumter. Just another day in a world gone mad, I suppose.
It got cold standing there on the parade grounds when the sun went down. I think it was Jerry who stood watch for the first part of the evening. He’s the one who climbed down about 3am and got into his sleeping bag. Tyler had gone up a few minutes before to take the next watch. Everything was quiet and still. The loudest noise was the waves crashing onto the rocks around the fort. I thought a couple of times that I could hear the lines for the boats creaking.
My watch claimed it was 4am when I thought I glimpsed a shadow moving off to my left. I couldn’t be sure. It took all the strength I could find in my soul not to turn and look that way. If there was someone looking at me they would look too. Fifteen minutes later I heard a slight scraping noise coming from high behind me. It was killing me that I couldn’t see up there. A few more minutes later the sound was right behind me. Either it was one of my people or I was about to be murdered.
“I’m sorry Ryan.” It was Mike. “I had to kill him. I don’t have any drugs and I couldn’t risk him waking up.” I could barely hear what he was saying.
“Get the others moving,” I whispered. “It’ll be obvious if I’m gone.” He pressed. Tyler’s handgun in my hand and left
I silently wished him luck. I couldn’t see much but I knew people were moving. In the cloudy night I could see Mike walking ever so slowly with a ladder from the front near the door to the side where we had driven the nails for defense. Getting silently over that wall was going to be tricky. One wrong step drives a nail through your foot. It would be impossible to remain silent if that happened. I saw the ladder go up and over very slowly. Amazingly it made no noise when Mike sat it down. I thought maybe Tony went over first. Then it looked like Mike handed something to him. Thor! It was Thor.
My heart was beating so hard in my chest that I thought it would wake Rendina up. The anticipation was horrendous. I could barely stand it. The entire escape was dependent on slowly doing this difficult thing over and over. One slip up and the noise would wake up the bad guys and they still outgunned us.
Karen, then Mal I think. Beth, Pat then Willie. Or was it Mal. Justin then Mary. Then Tracie. Mike helped guide her. Each step was difficult as she climbed and tried to be quiet. She made it up to the top of the wall, I could see her silhouette. And then, guided still by Mike, she turned and very gently stepped onto the ladder. I thought I could see someone on the ladder helping her down.
Lois and Mike appeared by my side just a moment later. I could tell that Mike was unscrewing the hinge that held the wood down on me. It didn’t take long.
Lois placed a gun in my free hand. It was my Glock. I had hidden it under a couple of bricks underneath my bedding.
“Tom has John’s gun and Tabby’s knife. He’s awake and watching us,” Mike whispered. “He’ll cover us if something bad happens.”
I tried to stand and found that I could with Mike and Lois’ help. But not without extreme pain. The wounds on my back were screaming. They had been in the same position for hours and the moving of the skin caused much distress. To make things worse, my ankle was not fully healed and hadn’t moved much all day. It was stiff, painful and uncooperative. It felt like it was taking forever to get to the ladder.
“Lois first,” I whispered.
Lois went up quietly and stepped over. But no one was holding the ladder at the bottom. It slid against the rocks and fell
. And it was loud.
Mike climbed up the ruins and jumped over. As he did, shots rang out from behind me. Rounds went over the wall where Mike had just been. Some impacted on the bricks near me, showering me with debris. I could hear Rendina shouting instructions to his men. More shots impacted near me. I was sure they’d find their target. Then more shots rang out. Closer this time. Tom! He was returning fire. Even the best trained people in the world will shoot back at whatever is shooting at them. It’s instinct. Tom’s fire was giving me a break to escape. I started climbing the ruins. My ankle screamed at me to stop. My back screamed at me to stop. And the whole time I knew that my daughter was out there somewhere and I had to get to her.
Looking down from the top of the wooden wall, I could see that Mike had righted the ladder. He was climbing up to help me and paused to fire a few rounds from his handgun. I stepped over onto the ladder and he grabbed me and steadied my decsent. I do not enjoy heights and my ankle was slowing me up. Normally I’d jump down but that wasn’t possible. It seemed to take forever. We tossed the ladder aside and started for the boat.
“Can we disable the other boat?” I asked Mike
“Already on it,” he replied.
Just then we heard a cry come from inside the fort and Tom’s gun fell silent.
Thank you Tom.
The doors inside the fort would take a minute to unblock in the dark. Tony was waiting on the pier to cover our retreat. He waited until we went past him then he turned.
We heard a cry of pain from inside and Mike laughed.
“I picked up a bag of marbles on a supply run recently. I didn’t know what I’d ever use them for. But I scattered them just inside the door we use.”
“Good thinking.”
“I also padlocked that door from the outside.”
“Damn, Mike. You really thought this through.”
Just at the end of the pier was Karen and Lois with their guns out. We ran by them as Justin appeared, jumping off the other boat. He was grinning from ear to ear.
“Done?” asked Mike.
“Done,” replied Justin.
“Then let’s go.”
The Beauregard was already running. Tony, Justin and Lois threw off the lines and the boat began to drift away from the dock with incoming tide. I gunned the engine throwing everyone off balance. A few shots rang out from the fort and everyone hit the deck. More shots kept us our heads down for the most part. Mike and Tony got off a few shots but I don’t know what they we’re aiming at. The fire from Rendina’s men intensified as they moved down the pier. We were moving away but the boat wasn’t built for speed. If Rendina and his men got the other boat moving we’d be in trouble. They still had better firepower than we had. I poked my head out of the wheelhouse and could see someone on the deck of the other boat shooting at us. I spied Mike on the deck and yelled out to him.
“Mike. Hey, Mike what was Justin doing on the other boat?”
Just then a bright light lit up the end of the pier as a loud “whomp’ washed across the Beauregard. The other boat was in flames. One person was blown into the water by the explosion and another fell into the water on fire. I only hoped that one of those was Rendina. That bastard. I should’ve made sure he was dead.
Mike, Karen, Tony, Tracie and Justin came back up on deck and into the wheelhouse. Justin was grinning again.
“I cut a fuel line in the engine room and lit a candle. I didn’t know what else to do,” he said.
“Well, I think it worked pretty damn good,” said Mike.
“Mr. Knight?”
“Yeah, Justin?”
“Thank you. For what you did back on the fort. I didn’t understand at first but Mom explained it to me. You sacrificed yourself so that I wouldn’t get beaten. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Justin.”
“How are you feeling?” asked Tracie.
“I hurt like hell. But, we’d all be dead if it wasn’t for you guys. Mike, Tony, all of you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. It was excellent work.”
“No problem Boss Man,” said Mike. “Just another day in a world gone mad, right?”
I nodded and smiled at him.
“You’d have done the same for us, Ryan,” said Tony. “And have.”
“Let’s not forget Tom,” I said. “Rendina would’ve gotten us for sure if he hadn’t returned fire and sacrificed himself.”
“It was selfless,” said Karen.
“We owe it to him to go get his son and my daughter. Let’s see if this was all for nothing.”
I opened a drawer next to the throttle and pulled out the radio I’d been keeping in there. Next to it was a pack of fresh batteries. I turned it to channel three and pushed the button. C’mon Tabby be there.
“Tabby, copy. Tabby. It’s your father.”
Nothing.
“Tabby, Copy. Tabby.”
Nothing.
Tracie grabbed the batteries and opened the package. I changed the old ones out and tried again. C’mon Tabby. I can’t go on if I lose you, too.
“Tabby, Copy. It’s your father. Tabby.”
Nothing.
“Tabitha Knight, this is your father. Do you copy?”
“Daddy? Dad is that you?”
I burst into tears at the sound of my daughters’ voice. Karen nearly collapsed onto me as she began to cry. Tracie put her head on my shoulder.
“Yeah, Tabby. It’s me. We got out. We’re on our way to you. Where are you?”
“I’m in Roper Hospital somewhere. I don’t know where.”
“Where’s John?”
Tabby began to cry into the microphone and I feared the worst.
“I don’t know, daddy. We got separated. Those two men tried to kill us. John saved me, but I don’t know where he is.”
Damn, Rendina was going to kill them outright. That’s what he was upset about earlier. Tyler and Ben didn’t finish the job.
“Ok, honey. We’re coming.”
“Hurry daddy. The zombies are getting in.”
Knight Terrors: A Zombie Apocalypse Survival Tale Page 12
