Fight 4 Us (Book 10): Ghosts

by Grenda, Brian

  Jerri-Lynn says, “We have seen just zombie heads still alive before.”

  The area is clear of zombies now.

  “I think we can go check out the house now,” says Phil as he sits in the driver seat of his black SUV.”

  “Let’s go check it out, this is only half over,” I say to everyone.

  Phil makes a U-turn and drives back towards the neighborhood where the zombies just came from.

  SPLAT!

  Phil runs over a zombie skull and the brains of the zombie explode onto the street.

  TJ, Shaun, Jerri-Lynn, and Andre drive their vehicles into the neighborhood.

  As Shaun turns into the neighborhood, I look at Lauren and ask, “You doing okay?”

  Lauren answers, “Yeah, I’m all good.”

  Phil parks his black SUV in the street in front of a house that has a car parked on the front lawn.

  I see the car, and I feel that it’s the car that I saw from my meditation vision and say, “Chris is in here.”

  Phil, Matt, and Jon exit from Phil’s SUV.

  TJ, Jerri-Lynn, Shaun, and Andre park their vehicles around Phil’s SUV, but away from the house and towards the street that exits the neighborhood.

  A female zombie staggers towards Jon.

  Jon goes to reach for his sword out of habit but quickly remembers that he doesn’t have Silencer.

  CRACK!

  Jon smacks the female zombie with his shield and the female zombie’s head cracks open.

  The female zombie, that Jon just hit with his shield, falls onto the grass and Jon shoots the zombie in her head.

  BANG!

  SHICK!

  I stab a zombie with my katana and remove my katana from the zombie’s skull.

  “We all know the plan and our roles! Keep your position, but shout if you need help!” shouts Phil.

  Phil, Shaun, and TJ walk towards the front door of the house.

  Phil tries to open the front door, but it’s locked.

  I see that the front door is locked, and quickly walk towards the front door.

  BOOM!

  I kick the front door with a side kick and the front door opens.

  Phil, Shaun, and TJ quickly enter the house and start to search the house.

  “Someone was in here!” shouts Shaun.

  I rush into the house, and I find the house dimly lit as a result of the boards and drapes being over the windows.

  TJ and Phil go into separate bedrooms.

  I run to the back of the house and find Shaun standing in the backyard.

  “Someone got away,” says Shaun.

  “Was it Chris?” I ask Shaun.

  “Chris is in here!” shouts Phil to me and Shaun.

  I walk back into the house and Phil takes me to the bedroom where he found Chris.

  I step into the bedroom and find Chris lying in bed on top of a bed sheet and with bandages around his left hand, face, and left ear.

  CHAPTER 4

  STAY WITH ME

  “Is the house clear?” I ask Phil as Phil and I stand in Chris’ bedroom.

  “I’ll go check with Shaun and TJ,” answers Phil.

  Phil exits the bedroom.

  I look around Chris’ bedroom and see a mess of clothes, medical supplies, alcohol, and trash all over the bedroom floor, chairs, and dresser.

  I carefully look at Chris and see that Chris is breathing, but his eyes are closed.

  I look around the bedroom and I see a closed closet and a bathroom that is connected to the bedroom.

  I open the closet and make sure no one is in there.

  I slowly walk into the bathroom and have my handgun ready in my right hand.

  The bathroom is clear of people and danger.

  I walk back into the bedroom, and I’m met by Shaun, Phil, and TJ.

  “The house is clear, but someone was definitely in here with him before we made it inside,” says Shaun.

  “It was probably his mom or a family member of his,” says Phil.

  “It looked like a woman that hopped the back fence,” says Shaun.

  I can only make out parts of what Shaun and Phil just said as I’m hyper focused on Chris.

  Part of me wants to stab Chris in his face, but the other part of me can’t believe that he has wounds on his hands, face, and ear like I saw in my meditation vision.

  “Chris, you awake? Stay with me asshole!” I shout.

  I see Chris’ eyes slightly open and then quickly close.

  “I think you are awake! Let’s find out!” I shout.

  SHICK!

  I stab one of my sais into Chris’ left thigh.

  AHHHH!

  Chris screams in pain.

  “Good! I’m glad you are still alive!” I shout.

  Phil, Shaun, and TJ watch as I torture Chris.

  Chris grabs at his left thigh and tries to pull out my sai.

  “Let me help you Chris,” I say to Chris right before I twist my sai into his left thigh muscle and then pull it out.

  “Please, please Ryan,” pleads Chris.

  I feel angry at Chris, and his pleads for me to stop hurting him only makes me angrier.

  “I never wanted to have to do shit like this, but I can see this world makes good people do bad things,” I say to Chris as I stand next to Chris’ bed.

  I see Chris slowly reach for a small knife, with his bandaged left hand, that is sitting on the nearby bedside table.

  Chris places two fingers from his bandaged left hand on the handle of the small knife.

  SHICK!

  I stab my sai through the bandage that is on Chris’ left hand and my sai pierces the wooden bedside table.

  Phil grabs the small knife off the bedside table.

  I’m surprised that the sai I just slammed into Chris’ bandaged left hand didn’t make Chris scream, so I pull the bandage off his left hand to see why.

  Shaun, TJ, and Phil each give a look of disgust as they see my sai going through the gunshot wound in Chris’ left hand and into the wooden bedside table.

  “I’m sorry Ryan. I truly am,” says Chris to me.

  Phil whispers to Shaun, “I think we need a good cop here; we need to get some information out of Chris before Ryan kills him.”

  Shaun agrees and says, “Ryan, let me talk with you a second.”

  I keep my eyes focused on Chris and ask Shaun, “For what?”

  “It’s important, I found something,” answers Shaun.

  BANG!

  BANG!

  Two gunshots are heard outside of Chris’ house near our vehicles.

  TJ says, “I’ll check it out.”

  TJ runs out of the house and checks on everyone outside.

  Phil and Shaun stare at me and Chris.

  Shaun puts his hand on my right shoulder and whispers, “We have a plan. Trust us.”

  I turn towards Shaun, and Shaun motions for me to exit the bedroom.

  “I’ll watch him Ry,” says Phil to me.

  I reluctantly exit the bedroom with Shaun.

  Phil stays in the bedroom with Chris.

  “Do you need some water Chris?” asks Phil.

  “Yeah, I do,” answers Chris.

  Phil goes into the bathroom and finds an empty cup.

  Phil turns on the bathroom sink faucet and water starts to flow out of the sink faucet.

  Phil looks at the toilet in the bathroom.

  Phil turns off the bathroom sink faucet and carefully scoops some toilet bowl water into the empty cup.

  Phil exits the bathroom and walks over to Chris.

  Chris tries to sit up in bed, but he can barely move much without pain and he can’t move his left hand as it still has my sai in it.

  Phil helps Chris drink the water from the cup, and he tries not to laugh as Chris drinks from the cup.

  Chris finishes drinking the water and thanks Phil.

  “You doing okay Chris?” asks Phil.

  Chris laughs and sarcastically answers, “Yeah, just living the dream.”r />
  “You alone here Chris? Where is your family? Where is Jacob?” asks Phil.

  Chris laughs and answers, “I haven’t seen Jacob in a while.”

  “We saw Jacob, and we know he took over The Grove, but not anymore,” says Phil.

  Chris gets a look of intrigue on his face.

  “Oh you didn’t hear? The Grove is gone now,” says Phil to Chris.

  I look at Shaun as I stand with him in the living room of Chris’ house.

  “Let’s have Phil try to get some information out of Chris, before you kill him. He might lead us to Jacob,” says Shaun to me.

  I nod my head in agreement to Shaun’s statement.

  “Let Phil interrogate him for a little bit,” says Shaun to me.

  I walk outside of Chris’ house and make sure everything is okay.

  Lauren runs over to me and asks, “Are you okay? Is Chris here?”

  “Yeah, Chris is here, and we are okay. How are you?” I answer Lauren.

  “We are okay. We saw a couple zombies, but we took them out,” answers Lauren.

  I see someone walking down the middle of the street towards Chris’ house. The person has a jacket on with a hood that is covering their head and face, a red backpack, and they are holding something around their neck and on their shoulders.

  I see the person nonchalantly approaching our position and then they stop walking in the middle of the street.

  “Who is that?” I shout.

  Everyone looks down the street at the unknown person that is standing in the middle of the street.

  The person quickly drops what they had behind their neck and shoulders, grabs their rifle, and takes cover behind a parked car.

  “Don’t move!” shouts Janet to the person, as she aims her rifle at the person that just hid behind the parked car.

  Everyone aims their weapons at the mystery person.

  Brody sees the person behind the parked car and sees something familiar about the person.

  Brody feels that he knows the person and shouts, “Hold on everyone!”

  “Whitney?” shouts Brody towards the person who just hid behind the parked car.

  “Who’s asking?” asks the unidentified person.

  “Brody, from the Haven!” answers Brody.

  “What’s the Haven?” asks the unidentified person to Brody.

  “It’s run by William! Also known as Warrior High!” answers Brody.

  “You sure about this Brody?” shouts Kiersten.

  “Yeah, I recognize her backpack, rifle, and boot laces,” answers Brody to Kiersten.

  “Whitney! Lower your weapon, and we will do the same!” I shout to the hooded person.

  The hooded person keeps their rifle pointed at us for a couple seconds, but then they lower their rifle and come out from behind the parked car.

  “It’s safe Whitney! You can trust us!” shouts Brody.

  Phil walks over to Shaun and me and says, “I got everything I could out of him. It’s time for him to go.”

  Lauren overhears Phil tell me and Shaun that it’s time to kill Chris and she gets nervous.

  I walk back into the house with Shaun and Phil and enter Chris’ bedroom.

  Chris sees me enter the bedroom and then he looks at Phil.

  “What the hell Phil?” shouts Chris.

  “Okay, Chris. I got only one more question and then we will leave you alone,” I say to Chris.

  “What’s that?” asks Chris.

  “Why? Why did you do it?” I ask Chris.

  Chris laughs and answers, “That’s it.”

  The obnoxious laugh by Chris pisses me off.

  “Yeah, moron. Why did you kill a person that had no reason to die?” I shout at Chris.

  Chris answers, “Everyone has a reason to die, and your father’s death served a purpose.”

  I so badly want to kill Chris after his answer, but I look back at Phil to make sure it’s okay.

  Phil nods his head at me.

  I take a deep breath and say to Chris, “Like I said before… I didn’t want to ever have to do this, but we clearly have to now… In this world.”

  I remove my sai from Chris’ left hand.

  Chris screams in fear, “Ryan! Please!”

  SHICK!

  I stab Chris, with my sai, in the left side of his head and Chris stops screaming.

  I remove my sai from Chris’ skull, and Chris’ lifeless head falls towards his left shoulder.

  I clean off my sai with the sheet on Chris’ bed.

  Shaun says, “Fuck that guy Ryan. He deserved to die way worse than that.”

  “I’m just glad it’s over. Let’s search the house and take whatever may be useful,” I say to Shaun and Phil.

  Shaun and Phil exit the house and call for Matt and Jon to help them search the house.

  As I stand next to Chris’ bed staring at Chris’ lifeless body, Lauren enters the bedroom.

  Lauren looks at Chris’ dead body and says to me, “It’s done, and I hope this helps us move on.”

  “Me too, but I feel that my father’s death has forever changed me… And how I see people, the world, and any threats against us,” I reply to Lauren.

  “Come on honey, let’s get out of here,” says Lauren.

  “Nice deer,” says Sam to Whitney as Sam looks at the dead deer that Whitney has next to her.

  “It’s kinda small actually, it’s probably only a couple years old,” replies Whitney to Sam.

  Lauren and I exit Chris’ house, and I see Brody and Sam talking with the unknown person who was wearing the hooded jacket before.

  Brody sees me and says, “Sir, I want you to meet Whitney.”

  Lauren and I walk over to Brody and Brody introduces us to Whitney.

  “You alone out here Whitney?” I ask.

  “Yeah, I feel when going hunting, it is best to go out alone,” answers Whitney.

  “Where are you living?” asks Lauren to Whitney.

  Whitney sees Lauren’s bow and says, “Nice bow. I have a couple of those.”

  “Where are you living Whitney?” I ask Whitney.

  Whitney looks around the neighborhood at a couple different houses and answers, “I move around at times, but I’m staying in a couple of these houses right now.”

  “Is it safe around here?” asks Brody to Whitney.

  Whitney answers, “It’s okay. It just got a whole lot safer now since you guys killed that big horde of zombies. What are you guys doing here?”

  “Settling a debt,” I answer Whitney.

  Jon, Matt, Phil, and Shaun exit Chris’ house with a fair amount of supplies.

  Whitney sees the guys carrying the supplies from Chris’ house and says, “Yeah, and also looting.”

  I don’t like the tone in Whitney’s statement, and I ask her, “Is there a problem with that?”

  Whitney gives me a half smile and answers, “As long as you don’t take my stuff, then I don’t have any problem with what you do.”

  “I’m pretty sure Chris was getting help from his family or someone,” says Phil to me.

  Lauren and I turn towards Phil as he puts some of the supplies from Chris’ house in his black SUV.

  Lauren says, “It was probably that bitch Jamie.”

  “Yeah, or maybe his family. I’m sure they are still around,” I reply to Lauren.

  Brody looks at Whitney and says, “You can stay with me in Citrus Oaks if you want.”

  Kiersten does not like that Brody just offered Whitney to stay with him and says, “It sounds like she has a good thing going around here.”

  Whitney looks at Kiersten and replies, “I do actually, but thanks for the offer.”

  “Well if you need help or anything, you can come by Citrus Oaks anytime,” says Brody to Whitney.

  Kiersten can’t believe that Brody is still being so hospitable to Whitney.

  “You know how to butcher that deer?” asks TJ to Whitney.

  “Do you?” asks Whitney with some attitude.
r />   “Actually I don’t,” answers TJ.

  Whitney laughs at me and asks me, “Why are you dressed like that?”

  “It keeps me safe. I got it from William and Bruce at the Haven,” I answer Whitney.

  “The Haven was okay, but not my style. I’m thinking about checking out some other places around here,” replies Whitney.

  TJ asks, “What other places?”

  “Around Tampa Bay first, I heard the old football stadium is a refugee camp now,” answers Whitney.

  I say to Whitney, “You be careful out here. Good luck to ya.”

  “Thanks, you too,” replies Whitney.

  “Okay, let’s get the fuck out of here!” I shout.

  Matt sees a house that is a couple houses away from Chris’ house, and it interests him. The house Matt is looking at is an orange painted house, and it has solar panels on the roof, several satellite dishes, and several groups of wires around the outside of the house and roof.

  Phil and Jon walk towards Phil’s black SUV and they see Matt staring down the street.

  “You coming Matt?” asks Phil.

  Matt sees someone looking out the blinds of the orange house and then shouts to Phil, “I’ll be right there!”

  I get into the back truck bed of Shaun’s electric truck and Lauren joins me.

  Lauren asks, “You didn’t want to sit inside the truck?”

  “I can’t really fit in the truck with this ridiculous outfit on,” I answer Lauren.

  “Yeah it’s a little much,” replies Lauren.

  “I guess no one likes this samurai style but me,” I joke.

  Shaun starts to drive away from Chris’ house and TJ gestures at Shaun to stop.

  Shaun stops the electric truck and TJ and Janet walk over to us.

  “We will come by tomorrow, if that’s okay,” says TJ to me.

  “Sounds good. You still have to tell me about the military and everything that happened,” I reply to TJ.

  “We will,” responds TJ.

  I thank TJ and Janet and then Shaun drives away from TJ.

  Sam and Andre drive towards the exit of the neighborhood in Andre’s truck.

  Brody tells Whitney, “Seriously though Whitney, if you need anything, come by Citrus Oaks and ask for me.”

  “Thanks, your name is Bryce, right?” asks Whitney.

  “Brody, I’m Brody and I run security at the main gate at Citrus Oaks,” answers Brody.