Fight 4 Us (Book 10): Ghosts

by Grenda, Brian

  “Nice, thanks buddy,” I say to Phil and then I put the earpiece in my right ear.

  “I’ll be with Shaun and Phil you’ll be with Jon,” I say to the guys.

  “What about me?” asks Matt over the radio.

  “You are the eye in the sky. Keep us posted on what you see,” I say to Matt over the radio.

  “I’m putting the drone up now. I’ll make my way over to the gun shop,” says Matt over the radio.

  Shaun and TJ arrive at a small gun shop parking lot. It’s quiet in the parking lot and there is only a single car parked in front of the gun shop.

  TJ, Janet, and Odin exit from TJ’s jeep.

  Shaun, Phil, Jon, and I exit from our electric truck.

  Shaun sees that the gun shop front door has a chain and lock around it and says, “That’s a good sign.”

  I look up into the sky and see Matt’s drone.

  “Hey boys!” shouts Matt over the radio.

  “See anything Matt?” I ask into my radio earpiece.

  “I’ll look around the building,” answers Matt over the radio.

  Phil bangs on the closed front door of the gun shop.

  Odin barks at something moving in the distance.

  “What is Odin barking at Matt?” I ask into my radio earpiece.

  “Looks like a group of three zombies coming your way,” answers Matt over the radio.

  I take out my katana and walk towards the side of the gun shop building.

  A zombie comes around the side of the building and lunges towards me.

  I swiftly step backwards from the approaching zombie and the zombie falls onto the street.

  SHICK!

  I stab the zombie in the back of his head.

  Phil grabs his metal baseball bat and comes over to me.

  “Don’t cut the chain yet Shaun!” shouts TJ.

  “Why?” asks Shaun to TJ.

  “Let’s clear the zombies out first and then we should check the back of the building before we just rush inside,” answers TJ.

  SVAASH!

  I decapitate two of the approaching zombies with my katana.

  CRUSH!

  Phil slams his metal baseball bat on the head of the last approaching zombie. Blood and brains from the zombie Phil just killed splatter onto the street.

  “Gross,” I say as I look at the zombie that Phil just killed with his metal baseball bat.

  “How’s the back of the gun shop look Matt?” asks Shaun into his radio.

  Matt turns the drone and sees the back of the gun shop on the monitor of his drone remote control.

  “There are a couple zombies near the back door of the gun shop,” answers Matt over the radio.

  Phil and I run back over to Shaun and Jon who are standing at the front of the gun shop.

  A zombie comes from the back of the gun shop.

  Odin sees the zombie and runs towards it.

  Jon has his gun aimed at the zombie.

  TJ sees Jon aiming his gun at the zombie that Odin saw and says, “Lower your gun Jon. Odin has him.”

  Odin jumps towards the zombie and latches onto the zombies arm.

  The zombie’s left arm is ripped off by Odin.

  The zombie falls right in front of me, but Odin is near the zombie still and I fear that Odin might get in the way of me trying to kill the zombie.

  Odin drops the zombie’s arm and bites the zombie’s skull.

  Odin’s bite crushes the zombie’s soft skull and the zombie is dead.

  Phil and Shaun run around to the back of the gun shop and kill the remaining zombies.

  “Come here O!” shouts TJ.

  Odin runs over to TJ.

  I stab the head of the zombie, that Odin just bit, with my katana just to be sure he’s dead.

  “Good boy. You did so good,” says TJ to Odin.

  “It’s all clear back here!” shouts Phil.

  Jon and I walk around to the back of the gun shop.

  “I think someone is in there,” says Phil as he is looking down at the shoe and boot prints in the soft dirt behind the gun shop.

  “What should we do?” asks Jon.

  KNOCK! KNOCK!

  I knock on the thick metal rear entrance door of the gun shop.

  “What are you doing?” asks Shaun to me.

  I look at Shaun and answer, “Seeing if they’ll answer.”

  Shaun replies, “I don’t think they’ll just let us in Ry.”

  “Hello! We come in peace! We just want to see what you have in there, and we’ll pay you for your guns and ammo!” I shout at the gun shop closed metal door.

  Shaun, Jon, Phil, and I just look at the closed door.

  “I’m going to cut the lock out front,” says Shaun.

  “Please! We will come in through the front and ruin your nice chain and lock!” I shout at the closed metal door.

  Shaun starts walking away from us and towards the front of the gun shop.

  I hear movement inside the gun shop near the closed metal rear entrance door.

  “What do you have?” shouts someone to us from inside the gun shop.

  Shaun stops walking and looks back at Phil, Jon, and me.

  “We only have a couple things with us today, but we have more at our community! We can make a deal!” I shout at the closed rear entrance metal door.

  “Are the dead gone?” shouts the person from inside the gun shop.

  “Yes, it’s safe! We mean no harm!” I shout towards the closed metal door.

  I hear the sounds of people disagreeing inside the gun shop.

  “Go get the supply bags from the truck,” I say to Shaun.

  Shaun runs to our electric truck.

  “What’s going on Ry?” asks Matt over the radio.

  The thick metal rear entrance door of the gun shop slightly opens, and a double barrel shotgun is pointed at us.

  “Whoa!” shouts Phil as Phil, Jon, and I move away from the metal door.

  Phil grabs his handgun.

  We can’t see inside the gun shop, and we can only see the two shotgun barrels peeking out from the doorway.

  I put my hands above my head and shout, “Lower the gun! We mean no harm!”

  “What do you have?” asks a woman from inside the gun shop.

  “My friend is going to get the bags right now. Please lower the gun,” I answer the woman.

  Shaun, Odin, TJ, and Janet come around the side of the gun shop building and stop walking as they see the double barrel shotgun pointing at me.

  “I told you they were lying Stacy!” shouts a woman from inside the gun shop.

  “We do have things. We have two bags of things to trade,” I say to the people inside the gun shop.

  Phil and Jon move away from the thick metal rear entrance door of the gun shop, but I stay where I am.

  “We could have just come through the front and shot up your store, but we are trying to avoid killing people,” I say to the people inside the gun shop.

  The rear entrance metal door is slowly pushed open, and a thin white young woman with brunette hair is standing there with her shotgun pointed at me.

  Phil and Jon aim their handguns at the woman.

  “Please don’t shoot. You might kill me, but my people will definitely kill you,” I say to the woman that is standing with her shotgun pointed at me.

  The woman lowers her shotgun and asks, “What do you have to trade?”

  An older white woman comes over to the young white woman, points her shotgun at me, and shouts, “What the hell Stacy! They could kill you!”

  I look at the older white woman and say, “Please lower your gun ma’am. We don’t want to kill you.”

  The young white woman looks at the older white woman and says, “Lower the gun mom. They could just kill us and take our stuff. Let’s see what they have.”

  The older white woman slowly lowers her shotgun and I let out a deep sigh.

  “Thank you. I’m Ryan,” I say to the women.

  “I’m Stacy and
this is my mom,” replies the young white woman.

  “Bring the bags over here,” I say to Shaun.

  Shaun slowly brings the two duffel bags over to me.

  Phil asks Stacy, “Do you have ammo in there?”

  “We have a couple boxes left,” answers Stacy.

  “What do you have to offer us?” asks Stacy’s mom.

  “We need to see what you have first before we show you our trade goods,” I say to Stacy and her mom.

  “Fair enough. I’m only letting one of you in though,” says Stacy to me.

  I look at Phil and ask, “You got this?”

  Phil walks towards Stacy.

  Stacy says to Phil, “Look, but don’t touch.”

  “Understood,” replies Phil to Stacy.

  Stacy lets Phil inside the gun shop.

  Stacy’s mom says, “I’m going with him. I gotta make sure he doesn’t steal nothing.”

  Phil and Stacy’s mom go around the gun shop.

  “You the only two in there?” asks Jon to Stacy.

  “Yeah, my dad got bit and turned a couple weeks ago,” answers Stacy.

  Matt’s drone flies lower over our position.

  Stacy sees the drone and asks, “Is he with you?”

  “Yeah, he’s our eye in the sky,” I answer Stacy.

  I look at Shaun and say, “Please tell Matt to shut up for a second. We have this under control.”

  Shaun talks to Matt over the radio.

  “You can talk with that thing?” asks Stacy.

  “Yeah, he’s back home operating it,” answers Jon.

  Odin barks.

  Stacy looks at Odin and says, “Pretty dog. I used to have a shepherd before the world fell apart.”

  We hear some disagreement from inside the gun shop between Phil and Stacy’s mom.

  “Everything okay in there?” shouts Stacy to her mom who is inside the gun shop with Phil.

  Phil and Stacy’s mom come walking outside the gun shop and Stacy’s mom answers, “Yeah, he was just getting a little too nosey in there.”

  I look at Phil and ask, “Anything worth trading for?”

  “Yeah, they have a couple things we could use,” answers Phil.

  I drop the two duffel bags in front of Stacy’s feet.

  Stacy looks down at the duffel bags and says, “Let’s see what ya got.”

  Stacy goes through one of the duffel bags and she likes most of the items in the bag.

  “Like anything you see?” I ask Stacy.

  “Yeah, I see a couple things. What do you want for this stuff?” asks Stacy.

  I look at Phil.

  Phil answers Stacy, “We want boxes of ammo and a couple vests.”

  “You can have two boxes of handgun ammo and a vest for these two bags,” replies Stacy.

  Phil does not like that offer and says to Stacy, “We need way more than that honey.”

  “Okay three boxes of ammo and a vest,” replies Stacy.

  “You can’t be serious. You have tons of ammo in there,” replies Phil.

  “Okay well, you know what we have and what the price is now,” says Stacy to Phil.

  “Look, we have tons of things back home. What could you really use?” I ask Stacy.

  “We really need food, water, and more stuff like that,” answers Stacy.

  “Okay, we have a lot of that, and we can bring you more the next time we come,” I say to Stacy.

  “And next time you will get more stuff, but the deal is what the deal is for today,” replies Stacy.

  “I need to see what you have in there and then we’ll work something out,” I say to Stacy.

  Stacy looks at her mom.

  “That’s fine, but only you,” says Stacy’s mom to me.

  “And my friend Phil,” I reply to Stacy’s mom.

  “Okay, just don’t go taken nothin,” replies Stacy’s mom.

  I pick up the two duffel bags and Stacy’s mom gives me a dirty look.

  “I’m just bringing them in for you. They are yours now,” I say to Stacy’s mom.

  “We’ll be right out guys,” I say to Shaun, Jon, Janet, and TJ.

  Phil and I enter the gun shop.

  I place the two duffel bags on the ground, look at Stacy’s mom, and ask, “What’s your name?”

  Stacy’s mom answers, “Vivian.”

  “Nice to meet you Vivian and Stacy. I’m Ryan and this is Phil,” I say to Vivian and Stacy.

  Stacy starts taking out the items from inside the duffel bags.

  I look around the dimly lit gun shop and ask, “Are you two living in here?”

  “Yeah, we stay here now as we lost our house to that idiot group with the steroid freak leader,” answers Stacy.

  “They are gone now. We took them out,” says Phil.

  “No shit?” replies Stacy.

  I look around the gun shop and see a lot of different calibers of ammunition, hunting gear, rifles, shotguns, bows, handguns, and various supplies and gear.

  “You should be able to go back home now! The Conquerors seem to have left the area!” I shout across the gun shop to Stacy and Vivian.

  Phil walks over to me and says, “They have tons of good shit here, plus they have a backroom that is closed.”

  “Can we see what you have in your backroom?” I shout to Stacy and Vivian.

  “Not today, but maybe if you bring us some awesome stuff next time,” answers Stacy.

  Vivian looks at Stacy with a concerned look.

  Stacy grabs four boxes of handgun ammunition and two bulletproof vests.

  “Come here fellas!” shouts Stacy to Phil and me.

  Phil and I walk over to Stacy and Vivian.

  “You can have this for now,” says Stacy to Phil and me.

  Phil checks the bullets and looks at me.

  “Can we get a box of shotgun shells?” I ask Stacy.

  Vivian answers, “No.”

  I look at Vivian and Stacy and give them a smile.

  Stacy grabs two boxes of shotgun shells from the shelf behind her and puts them on the counter that Phil and I are standing at.

  “You can have two, but I want something really great when you guys come back,” says Stacy.

  “If they even come back,” says Vivian with a sarcastic tone.

  “Where are you from?” I ask Stacy and Vivian.

  “Jacksonville originally,” answers Vivian.

  “How about you?” asks Stacy.

  “North Carolina originally, but I moved down here for school and my career,” I answer Stacy.

  “You some kind of doctor or something,” jokes Stacy.

  “Yes, actually. I was an orthopedic surgeon,” I answer Stacy.

  “Good for you,” replies Stacy.

  Vivian sarcastically says, “I’m sure that career is really helping everyone right now.”

  Stacy looks at Vivian with an annoyed look on her face.

  “Actually, he has saved several people because of his education,” says Phil to Vivian.

  “Well, thank you ladies for the ammo and vests. We will be back… I’m not really sure when, but we’ll be back with some awesome stuff,” I say to Stacy and Vivian.

  “I won’t hold my breath,” replies Vivian.

  “Man Vivian, you are a tough one,” I joke.

  “You have no idea,” jokes Stacy.

  I placed the boxes of ammo and the two bulletproof vests in our empty duffel bags that had our supplies that we traded to Stacy and Vivian.

  “We’ll be in touch. I’ll make sure we bring a coffee maker and some coffee for you Vivian. Hopefully that will cheer you up,” I say to Stacy and Vivian.

  Phil and I exit the gun shop through the rear entrance.

  Stacy and Vivian close the rear entrance door of the gun shop and lock it.

  “Everything go okay in there? What did they have in there?” asks Shaun to Phil.

  “They have tons of ammo and gear. We definitely need to come back here,” answers Phil.

  CHAP
TER 13

  WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?

  “This wasn’t here yesterday,” says Jon as Jon, Phil, Shaun, and I look through Shaun’s electric truck front windshield and we see a partially flooded street in front of us.

  “Are you sure?” I ask Jon.

  “Yeah, I think I would remember this amount of water covering this street when I searched this area with my drone,” answers Jon.

  TJ drives his jeep over to the driver side of Shaun’s electric truck.

  Janet rolls her passenger door window down and asks us, “What’s up with this water?”

  “We don’t know. First time we have seen it,” answers Shaun.

  “We still doing this?” shouts TJ to us.

  “Yeah, I don’t think the water is that deep as we can see the street still,” I answer TJ as I sit in the passenger seat of Shaun’s electric truck.

  “Okay, we’ll see ya there,” replies TJ.

  TJ drives his jeep through the partially flooded street, and we all look at each other.

  Shaun looks at me and jokes, “It’s a jeep thang, you guys wouldn’t understand.”

  Shaun drives his electric truck through the partially flooded street and then continues driving towards the water treatment plant.

  Shaun approaches the water treatment plant, and I see the large metal fence that surrounds the water treatment plant parking lot and main entrance security gate.

  “A lot of security for a water treatment plant,” says Jon as he looks at the metal fencing and empty guard security station that is at the main entrance of the water treatment plant.

  TJ raises the entrance railing from inside the empty security guard station.

  “I guess they still have power somewhat,” says Phil as he sees the security railing raise.

  TJ gets back into his jeep and drives through the main entrance of the water treatment plant.

  Shaun follows behind TJ and they both park their vehicles near the front entrance of the main building of the water treatment plant.

  “You sure about this place?” asks Shaun.

  “I don’t know, but I wasn’t sure about the gun shop either and that worked out pretty well for us,” I answer Shaun and then I exit from our electric truck.

  “What was up with the water back there?” asks Phil as he exits from Shaun’s electric truck.

  TJ answers Phil, “It could be the pumps finally stopped working and more and more areas will start to flood.”

  “I didn’t see that water when I checked this place out with my drone the other day,” says Jon to TJ.