“I will. Thank you for your time Jenna.”
I quickly exit the room with Brian.
Kat and Phil exit the room and close the door.
I look at Kat, Phil, and Brian and ask, “What the fuck was that all about?”
Phil looks at me and says, “Jenna wants the D. She wants it bad bro.”
“Shut up Phil.”
Kat says, “No, Phil is right. Dr. Morris wants to get in your pants.”
“Well, she ain’t getting it. I’m taken.”
Brian says, “Dr. Morris doesn’t care if you are with someone or not. She wants what she wants, and she usually gets what she wants.”
“Then I can’t see her again. I won’t cheat on my wife. I don’t care what Dr. Morris knows about the world, I don’t want to be around her again.”
Brian says, “Okay. You got it. Let’s get away from her office before she pulls you back in and locks the door.”
I run away from Dr. Morris’ door.
Phil laughs.
Kat says, “Okay guys. I have to get back to my rounds. Your truck is cleaned out and ready to go whenever you want to leave. I don’t know if I’ll see you before you leave. I’m heading out early to check out that mega church near the beach. I hear they are still having services once a week.”
“Thank you, Kat. You have been great. I’m sure I will see you again.”
We say goodbye to Kat.
Phil and I follow Brian outside and check out the drone.
“The drone you gave me is pretty sweet. It has a lot of upgrades on it already,” says Brian.
Phil says, “Cool. I have always wanted to use a drone, but the good ones are so expensive.”
Brian says, “The one at your store is a great model. It has a long battery life, big motor, and can even record video with sound.”
“Fire it up Brian.”
Brian explains how to turn the drone on, start recording, and some basic controls.
Brian gets the drone to fly straight up and hover above us.
I look at the big display screen on the controller as Brian is flying the drone above us.
The video from the drone on the big controller is crystal clear and has good sound quality.
“There’s a speaker on the controller?”
Brian replies, “Yeah, it has a speaker. You can even put in headphones to be quieter and only have the controller hear the drone audio.”
Brian safely takes the drone higher in the air and above The Grove.
“The zoom on this thing is great. The drone needs to be closer for better audio recording, but the video recording can be very far away,” says Brian.
Phil says, “Very cool. Now take that thing around St. Pete."
Brian controls the drone and flies it around St. Pete.
Phil and I continue to view the video on the controller display as Brian flies the drone around.
As the drone is flying around, Phil and I see the rough sections of downtown St. Pete.
St. Pete looks to be tore up. There are overturned vehicles all over the place. Trash, debris, abandoned vehicles, dead bodies, limbs, blood, and zombies are all over the streets, sidewalks, and buildings.
“Damn. You can’t even drive down these streets. So many streets are blocked off by vehicles, destroyed buildings, and dead bodies,” I say to Phil as I look at the video display on the drone controller.
“St. Pete was hit very hard by the zombie apocalypse. We are lucky to have The Grove,” says Brian as he drives the drone past a destroyed minivan.
BANG!
BANG!
“What’s that? Where is that gunfire coming from?”
Brian replies, “I’m trying to find the source. It looks to be coming from down this street. It’s pretty far away from us.”
Brian puts the drone in hover and positions the video camera on the drone.
Brian moves the camera on the drone and we see a small group of people.
“This way guys! The large group of zombies was this way!” shouts a short Mexican man.
“Follow them!” shouts Phil to Brian.
Brian drives the drone around a building and stops.
“Holy crap!” I shout as I look at the video display on the drone controller.
The image on the drone controller screen is filled with a large group of zombies at the far end of the street.
There must be about 50 or more zombies on the screen.
“That’s too many zombies for these guys! We have to do something!” shouts Phil.
“We can’t. We’d never get to them in time. It’s far from here,” says Brian.
Suddenly, the small group of people we are watching on the drone camera starts killing zombies.
Zombies are being shot, stabbed, hit, and blown apart.
One of the men has a unique double-sided sword. He is holding his custom double sword with a center handle grip. The man is cutting into several zombies with both ends of his long sword blades.
Another man in the group has several weapons. He has an Ash colored bamboo stick on his back, an AK-47 in his right hand, and a Glock handgun.
“That guy with the double-sided sword is really taking out some zombies!” I shout as I watch the zombies being killed.
“Watch out Felix and James!” shouts the short Mexican guy who is holding a long custom-made steel hammer with a spear tip on the end of it.
Felix looks at the Mexican guy and shouts, “Okay! Hector!”
“Fall back you idiots!” shouts Phil at the drone controller as he watches.
Phil, Brian, and I watch as more and more zombies start to make their way towards the men.
One of the men is bit on his forearm by a zombie.
Felix and James attack the zombies and clear enough space for Hector to grab the man who was bit.
Hector shouts, “Come on man! You are going to make it! We can just cut your arm off to prevent the infection from spreading!”
Felix stabs three zombies in the head and runs back to where Hector is walking with the wounded man.
James shoots several zombies with his AK-47.
DAKKA!
DAKKA!
James runs out of bullets for his AK-47 and puts his gun around his back.
James steps away from the zombies and grabs his Glock handgun.
BANG!
BANG!
James kills two approaching zombies.
James runs back to Felix and Hector.
Suddenly, two trucks come speeding down the side street.
“Who is that?” I ask as I see the two trucks.
Brian moves the drone to get a closer view.
“I can’t make it out. I have to position the drone better,” says Brian.
Brian moves the drone and we can see a great view of the action.
“Get behind the trucks!” shouts an unknown man to Felix, James, and Hector.
BOOM!
BANG!
DAKKKA!
Gunfire goes off from the several gunmen that are in the truck beds of the two trucks.
Hector walks past the trucks and places the wounded man onto the street.
Hector looks at Felix.
“You have to do it!” shouts Hector.
The wounded man is bleeding profusely from the bite on his left forearm.
James holds the man’s right arm.
The wounded man is fading in and out of consciousness.
Hector grabs the man’s left arm.
Felix retracts one of the blades back into the center handle and leaves one blade out.
Felix asks, “Okay. You guys ready?”
James and Hector say yes.
The wounded man in a low tone of voice asks, “Ready for what?”
Felix shouts, “On Three!
James and Hector nod in agreement.
Felix slowly counts, “1, 2, 3!”
SLICE!
Felix cuts off the man’s left forearm just below his elbow.
The man screams in pain.
; AHHHH!
Hector shouts, “Stay with me Ken!”
Ken looks at Hector and then passes out.
“We need to get him somewhere safe,” says James.
A bald white man steps out from the lead truck that is firing on the zombies.
“Shit! That’s DK!” shouts Brian.
DK fires on the zombies and directs his men to keep firing on the zombies.
“There are only a couple left! Keep firing! None of them live!” shouts DK.
I look at Brian and ask, “Who’s DK?”
Brian says, “He’s bad news. He’s part of a group called the Conquerors. Have you heard of them before?”
I look at Phil and say, “Yeah. We have heard of them.”
I step away from Brian and Phil and take a deep breath.
Brian says, “Okay guys. I’m going to bring the drone back here.”
Phil says, “Sounds good. We have seen a lot. That drone is pretty cool.”
Phil walks over to me.
“What’s up Ry?” asks Phil.
I look at Phil and ask, “The Conquerors are here too? With some guy named DK?”
Phil says, “That doesn’t matter. We have the agreement with Jacob. They won’t do anything.”
“I hope not, but we don’t have any boundaries set for St. Pete. We will have to talk with Jacob about St. Pete boundaries now.”
Brian safely brings back the drone and lands it in The Grove parking lot.
I walk over to Brian and ask, “Pretty cool stuff. Can I get a copy of that recording?”
Brian walks over to the drone and takes out a memory stick from the video camera.
“Take this. It’s the memory stick with the recording on it. I have plenty of them,” says Brian.
“Thank you, Brian. Very cool. I want to start using one of those drones when I get home,” says Phil.
Brian says, “You are welcome. It was my pleasure.”
Phil and I say goodbye to Brian.
Phil looks at me and asks, “We going home now?”
I look at Phil and say, “Yeah. Let’s get home. I want to check out this video and see what we may be up against with this DK guy. Jacob may have some other tricks up his sleeve.”
CHAPTER 9
WHO IS JACOB?
“What do you mean you don’t know?” shouts Jacob at a woman who is sitting in a chair with ropes tied around her wrists and ankles.
The woman starts to cry and puts her head down.
Jacob grabs her hair and pulls her head back up.
“Just tell me something useful about Channelside and I’ll let you go,” says Jacob to the woman.
“I don’t know anything. I just live there with my husband and my son,” says the woman with tears in her eyes.
“Bella. Everyone knows something. I don’t need much information from you,” says Jacob.
Bella asks, “Why are you doing this to me? Your brother had an agreement with our Captain. Why are you breaking that?”
“My brother isn’t alive anymore. That agreement died when he died. I’m trying to figure out a new arrangement between our groups. I don’t want to hurt you or your people, but your Captain has left me with no choice,” says Jacob.
KNOCK! KNOCK!
Jacob looks at the closed door and shouts, “Yeah! What is it?”
A man shouts, “They are back from their trip!”
“I’ll be right out!” shouts Jacob.
Jacob looks at Bella and says, “Look. I’m not trying to hurt anyone else, but your Captain isn’t helping matters between our groups.”
Bella starts to cry.
Jacob walks towards the door and exits the room.
Jacob closes the door, walks down a hallway, and into a bathroom.
Jacob washes his hands in the sink of a nice clean bathroom.
There is some noise coming from another part of the house.
Jacob exits the bathroom and walks down the hall towards the noise.
Jacob enters the room and sees people talking in a kitchen and the adjoining living room.
There are three men in the kitchen and four men sitting in the living room.
The men look at Jacob and stop talking.
An awkward silence fills the kitchen and living room.
Jacob looks at the men and asks, “Where is he?”
A man says, “Outside.”
“Go get him,” says Jacob.
A man exits the kitchen and walks out the front door.
Jacob opens the refrigerator and opens a bottle of beer.
Jacob takes a sip of beer and his men aren’t sure what to do.
Jacob looks at his men and asks, “What’s going on everybody? Why is everyone so quiet?”
The front door opens, and two men walk into the house.
A bald white man walks into the kitchen.
Jacob looks at the man and shouts, “Hey Lane! What’s going on?”
The bald man looks at Jacob with a look of irritation.
The bald man looks at Jacob and says, “I don’t know why you can’t call me DK.”
Jacob replies, “Sorry. That’s right. My mistake.”
Jacob takes a sip from his beer bottle.
“Well, DK? How was your trip around Tampa Bay? Anything to report?” asks Jacob.
DK replies, “It’s getting worse in both counties. St. Pete is by far the worst spot and is still badly overrun by the dead.”
Jacob asks, “What about the wall around part of downtown Tampa?”
DK says, “Still no luck with finding a way inside the wall. My men took some fire around the wall, but everyone is fine. I’m going to be heading back into the Gulf of Mexico and checking in with my Navy contacts.”
“Good. Keep me informed. I want to know what the military is doing next,” says Jacob.
A woman’s cry for help is heard down the hall from the kitchen.
HELP!
Jacob looks at a man standing in the kitchen and says, “Go shut her up.”
DK looks at Jacob and asks, “Who is that? Did you take another person from another community?”
Jacob shouts, “Everyone out! Leave me and my brother in law for a minute!”
Jacob’s men exit the living room and kitchen, and then exit the house through the front door.
Jacob looks to see if everyone is out of the house.
Everyone is gone from the living room and kitchen besides DK and Jacob.
“Do you have a problem with what I’m doing DK?” asks Jacob.
DK looks directly at Jacob and asks, “You want me to be honest?”
Jacob says, “Always.”
“Well, I hate some of the things you do. I worry about my sister and nephew. I have seen some crazy stuff around Tampa Bay. I just want my family to be safe,” says DK.
Jacob walks over to DK and asks, “What about me? Do you worry about me?”
DK hesitates to answer.
Jacob says, “I’m your family also. You are my brother. My only brother now.”
“I’m sorry about Joseph. I can’t believe he is gone. He couldn’t leave that group alone huh?” asks DK.
Jacob walks towards the refrigerator and grabs a bottle of beer out of the refrigerator.
DK asks, “What’s the plan for that group who killed Joseph?”
Jacob opens the bottle of beer and slides it to DK.
“They will get what’s coming to them. We have an agreement of peace for now. We will honor the agreement, but I plan to get even with Ryan and William,” says Jacob.
DK says, “Sounds like a plan. Keep me posted of the plan going forward.”
Jacob says, “I definitely will. How was St. Pete?”
DK says, “St. Pete is a place to avoid if we can. We will need more firepower to clear out the dead and take over that area. I was only able to take over a couple of buildings, but our connection with The Grove and Dr. Morris is strong. She is on our side still.”
“Good. Good. We will continue to send in groups
to downtown St. Pete to take over more buildings and businesses. I know the St. Pete airport and docks are somewhat secured by the Coast Guard still,” says Jacob.
Jacob finishes his beer and puts his bottle in a trash can.
DK says, “I’m going to see Beth and Brandon before I leave. I was going to head over there next after I talked with you.”
Jacob smiles and says, “I’ll go over there with ya.”
DK and Jacob exit the kitchen and exit the house through the front door.
DK walks out the front door and Jacob follows behind him.
Jacob shouts, “The house is all yours guys! Don’t drink all the beer!”
The men laugh and go back into the house.
DK and Jacob walk down the middle of a road.
The road is clean and empty.
“How’s the neighborhood been holding up?” asks DK to Jacob.
Jacob looks down the street and says, “Pretty good. The front gates are holding up and we control every house in this neighborhood.”
Jacob and his men have taken control of a large neighborhood in Clearwater, Florida right next to Clearwater Beach.
Jacob and his Conquerors control a lot of neighborhoods, buildings, businesses, and other properties around Tampa Bay.
DK and Jacob walk to the front door of a very large beige house with a paver driveway and three garage doors.
“Home sweet home,” says Jacob as he enters the house through the front door.
DK enters the house behind Jacob.
Jacob and DK enter the house and walk into the kitchen.
A woman and boy, who are standing at the kitchen sink, turn and look at Jacob and DK.
“Hey dad. Hey uncle DK,” says the boy.
Jacob walks over to his wife and son.
DK says, “Hey Brandon. Hey Beth.”
Beth kisses Jacob.
Jacob rubs the top of Brandon’s head and short hair.
Beth turns towards DK and asks, “Hey Lane. How are ya?”
Brandon says, “He doesn’t go by that. He’s DK.”
“Sorry. I forgot,” says Beth to Brandon.
DK says, “I’m good. Just wanted to say hello. I haven’t seen you two in a while now.”
Beth finishes cleaning the plate Brandon used for lunch.
Brandon cleans his hands and runs over to DK. Brandon punches DK in the stomach and DK falls to the ground.
“Man, you are getting too strong big guy. Take it easy on me,” jokes DK.
Brandon jumps on top of DK and pins him.
Fight 4 Us (Book 6): Keeper Page 9
