“Let’s do this, boys,” Silas said. “Gerald knows what these people look like, so he’s going to lead the way.”
“But sir, I’m not sure I should,” Gerald protested. “I’ve been up all night. and—”
“Get a move on, buttercup,” Silas said. “We don’t got all day.”
The man groaned in protest and began to move cautiously toward the strip mall with the rest of the Guardians following a few steps behind.
“Did you get any sleep last night?” Amanda asked. “You look exhausted.”
“Not much,” Lizzy admitted. “None of the guys made it home last night.”
“Wait, what?”
“I haven’t heard anything from them. I even tried calling Nick twice.”
“And?”
“He didn’t answer.”
“There’s probably a good explanation,” Amanda replied. “Maybe they had to keep the radios quiet because of Reapers near them or something.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
“Don’t worry,” Amanda said. “They’ll probably call when they’re on their way back.”
“I don’t know. Something just doesn’t feel right,” Lizzy said as she paced back and forth. “We were supposed to get out of here already.”
“You worry too much,” Amanda said. “Look, we’ll just leave once the rest of the group returns.”
“I guess. I hope they’re all right. Heck, I hope we’re still safe here, too.”
“Don’t worry,” Amanda said. “We set up the broken glass on the steps like your husband suggested. If anybody besides them comes up the stairs, we’ll hear them. The kids are being quiet. You might as well take a load off your feet before you wear a hole in the floor pacing.”
“I’m not wearing a hole in the floor. I’m—”
Suddenly, there was a loud crunch nearby.
“Did you hear that?” Lizzy hissed.
“Of course I heard it,” Amanda whispered back. “It came from the stairs.”
A male voice, heavy with a Southern twang, called out. “That was clever, ladies. How about you come down here, and let’s talk? Nobody needs to get hurt.”
“Great,” Lizzy whispered. “Now what do we do?”
“Emily!” Amanda shouted.
“What?” the teenager said, popping her head around the open doorway.
“Here, take this.” Amanda shoved the walkie-talkie toward her. “I need you to get a hold of your uncle or Lizzy’s husband. I don’t care which one. Tell them we need their help. They need to get back here right away.”
“OK. Got it.”
“Oh, and Emily?”
“Yeah?” She popped her head back in the room.
“Close the door behind you and lock it. Keep Henry and you in there. Don’t come out unless one of us tells you it’s safe.”
The teenager visibly went pale and nodded her head quickly before disappearing out of sight.
“The guys are going to need time to get here,” Lizzy said.
“I know,” Amanda said. “We need to stall.”
“Do you want to do the talking or not?”
“I’ll try to stall them. See if you can find a good spot to shoot from.”
“Wait. Shoot from?” Lizzy asked. “Are you serious?”
“Right now, these guys think they’ve got a bunch of helpless women and children up here,” Amanda said. “We might have to prove that they’re wrong.”
They had managed to get partway up when Gerald stepped on a bunch of broken glass and announced their presence.
That damn numbskull, Silas thought to himself. He had been tempted to shoot the man just out of a general principle. But the guy was more useful alive than dead right now, and that had stayed Silas’s temper. Counting the numbskull, Silas had five shooters to overpower two women and a couple of kids. The odds were definitely in his favor.
Even so, Silas made sure he was safely behind solid cover before calling out, “That was clever, ladies. How about you come down here, and let’s talk? Nobody needs to get hurt.”
There was nothing but silence. Silas mentally counted to ten and then yelled, “Ladies. We’ve just come to talk. Why don’t you bring the kids and come on down here?” he said. He glanced at the men. He said in a low voice, “Any sign of trouble, I want you guys to open fire. You hear me?”
“You want us to shoot women and kids?” Gerald protested. “Why?”
“Have you been paying attention, boy?” Silas said. He shifted into a deliberately mocking voice. “This is the apocalypse. A woman or child is just as likely to shoot you dead as a grown man.”
Gerald looked down at his feet quietly and said nothing.
“Like I said, they start shooting,” Silas continued, “I fully expect you boys to unload on their asses.”
A mix of yesses and mumbled acknowledgements sounded out.
“Go away. We don't want no trouble,” a female voice called out.
“Well, we don’t want any trouble either, sugar,” Silas said. “We just want to talk. That’s all.”
”So talk,” a female voice said. “And don’t call me sugar!”
“My apologies, ma’am,” Silas said. He shook his head in disbelief. For someone who was only minutes from getting gunned down, this woman had some nerve. He took a slow, deep breath, plastered a fake smile on his face, and shouted, “Well, what shall I call you?”
“How about the woman that wants you to leave her and her friends alone?”
“See, I can’t do that,” Silas yelled. “It seems that some of your friends killed a bunch of my boss’s friends. And now my boss would like to talk to them.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the woman’s voice shouted back. “We didn’t kill anybody.”
”I don’t believe you!”
“Believe what you want,” the woman shouted back. “We’re telling you the truth.”
Silas turned to one of the other men and asked, “Any other way up there?”
“I-I think so...”
“Well, go find out,” Silas growled. “I want you back here with an answer in three minutes.”
“Y-yes, sir,” the man stammered and then rushed out the door.
“Why don’t you save us all of a bunch of trouble and come down here,” Silas called out. “We just wanna talk.”
“I don’t think so. You stay where you’re at, and we’ll stay right here.”
“I prefer talking face to face,” Silas said. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll give you five minutes to think about it. And then I’ll ask you what you wanna do.”
Silas looked at his men and grinned. As soon as his man came back and told him there was another way upstairs, he was sending his Guardians to collect this mouthy little bitch and her friends. And once she was cowering in front of him, he’d find out where the rest of their group was hiding.
Chapter Twenty-Two
It had been a few hours since Walker last heard any sounds of nearby activity. He turned to Sams and said, “I think we’re in the clear.”
“Took long enough,” Sams grumbled. “I feel like we’ve been here all night.”
“I think we were.”
“Great. The girls are going to be worried sick,” Sams replied. “I promised your wife that I’d bring you back safe.”
“You haven’t failed yet.”
“Uh-huh. So how do you want to handle breaking the news to Tina and her kind-of-dead husband?”
“As peacefully as possible.”
“Fine with me,” Sams said, “I’ll follow your lead.”
Walker carefully cleared his throat to draw Tina’s attention. He waited until she turned to look at him before saying, “Ma’am. My friend and I are going to get going.”
“Already?” Tina protested. “It’s been so long since we had company.”
“I understand, but I’m sure my wife is probably worried sick about us,” Walker said. “You know how your husband protects you? Well, I do the same for mine.”
“Why don’t you bring her back here? We can have a nice visit together.”
“Perhaps we will.”
“Couldn’t you stay a little longer? It’s been nice to have someone else here to talk to besides Nelson,” Tina said. She leaned forward and whispered, “He’s never been much of a talker.”
“I’m not, either,” Walker said gently. “Would you and Nelson like to come with us instead?”’
“No, no, no,” Tina said. A look of panic came across her face. “It’s not safe out there. Those things are wandering around out there. Nope. Nelson and I are staying right here, and there’s nothing that nobody can say to change our minds.”
“I understand,” Walker said. “Thank you for your hospitality.”
“What’s that, Nelson?” the woman said. She cocked her head to the side as if she was listening intently. “He said, ‘You’re always welcome to come back.’ I agree.”
“Thank you,” Walker answered. He paused for a moment, then reached into his backpack and pulled out a pair of armbands. “These are for you and Nelson.”
“I don’t understand,” the woman said slowly as she accepted the gift. She looked toward her late husband and cocked her head sideways. “Nelson says he doesn’t, either.”
“The local church wears them. For some reason, those monsters won’t attack anyone who is wearing them,” Walker said carefully. “If the two of you put them on, they should keep you safe.”
“What’s that? Nelson says I should take them,” Tina said. She snatched them out of Walker’s offered hand and pulled them close to her chest. “T-thank you.”
“You’re welcome. If the two of you decide to leave here, just make sure you’re wearing the armbands,” Walker said. “And head to the Disciples of the Divine church. They have food and clean beds there.”
“Nelson? Did you hear that? What’s that? You want to think about it? Okay, if you say so.”
“Would you like us to take you there?” Walker asked. “It’s on our way.”
“Nick, what are you talking about? That’s the last place—” Sams blurted. A look of realization spread across his face, and he quickly added, “Unless we take that other route. Then we would be going right past the church. So yeah, like Nick said. It would be no trouble at all for us to escort you there.”
“That’s okay.” Tina smiled. “We know where the church is. Maybe we’ll go there.”
“Okay, be safe,” Walker said. “And thank you for your help.”
“Okay, okay, okay. Nelson says good-bye, too.” The woman turned her back to them, signaling she was done talking.
“I’ll lead us out,” Sams whispered.
“Right,” Walker said. He saw Sams carefully move the boxes away from the entrance, step out, and turn on his light and begin sweeping in a forward pattern, looking for any potential hostiles.
Walker stepped through and pulled the boxes back in place behind him and hurried to catch up to his friend. He wasn’t sure what had happened with the woman, but it was obvious that she was suffering from some psychotic break. He tried to reason with her to leave with them, but she had resisted his help. Walker said a quick, silent prayer that she would take their advice and head to the Disciples of the Divine church. The Disciples may be trying to hurt him and his friends, but his gut feeling was they weren’t completely evil. If Tina arrived at their doorstep, he was sure they would do the right thing and offer her a safe haven.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Sams and Walker had managed to carefully work their way back to the Land Cruiser. To their surprise, no one had disturbed their ride, and the vehicle started up immediately without incident. With Walker behind the wheel, the two men made their way away from the marina.
“Where to?” Sams said. “Back to the hideout?”
“More or less,” Walker said. “Let’s take a different route. See if there’s any suitable trucks or SUVs that we can grab.”
“Needle in a haystack, buddy. The Guardians have confiscated lots of vehicles. The ones they’ve left behind were disabled. At least, that’s what we’ve seen so far.”
“I know,” Walker said. “But I’ve got a feeling we’ll get lucky.”
“We might have used up the last of our luck. Need I remind you that we were just rescued by a lady who was not all there and her dead husband.”
“That was a lucky break. It kept us from getting overrun by Reapers,” Walker answered. “When you’re neck deep in hay, you might as well keep looking for that golden needle.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“I mean, we got nothing to lose by trying to find another ride. Foster got lucky. We might, too.”
“Well, why didn’t you just say that?” Sams said. “Just drop the woo-woo talk and get to the point already.”
“Woo-woo?”
The walkie-talkie came alive. “Mr. Walker, Mr. Walker, are you there?” a young voice called out.
Walker looked at Sams and frowned. “Any idea who that is?” he asked.
“Charles’s niece?” Sams answered. “Emily. Right?”
“Yeah. It can’t be good if she’s calling,” Walker said. He picked up the walkie-talkie and said, “Go for Walker.”
“I-I’m sorry. I'm trying to reach Lizzy’s husband?” the female voice said.
“This is he,” Walker said. “Who is this?”
“It’s Emily. There are some men who just showed up. Amanda told me to call you and say that we need your help.”
“We’re ten to fifteen minutes out,” Sam said. “We might not make it in time.”
“We’ll make it in five,” Walker said. The engine immediately revved higher, and the Land Cruiser began accelerating. He cued the walkie-talkie and said, “Tell Amanda we’re on our way. She needs to stall them as long as possible.”
By his rough estimate, more than three minutes had passed, and Silas was getting pissed. They were still waiting at the bottom of the staircase, and Silas was no closer to knowing if there was another way they could attack Foster’s group. There was a noise behind him, and Silas turned toward it. He watched as his scout came into view, stopping on the landing. The man immediately bent over, panting and out of breath.
“You’re late,” Silas blurted. “You better have a good reason.”
“Sorry.”
“Well?” Silas demanded. “What did you find?”
“The other way is barricaded,” the man said between deep breaths. “No way to get through without making a whole lot of noise.”
“You can’t move it?”
“I tried. It’s too much for me to move by myself. Sorry, boss.”
“Damn it,” Silas said. “All right, it looks like we're going up the stairs.”
“Are you kidding?” Gerald protested.
“Do I sound like I am?” Silas challenged. “But since you can’t keep your big mouth under control, you can go first.”
“No way,” Gerald said. “I ain’t doing it.”
“What?” Silas said.
“I can’t just go shoot a bunch of women and children. That ain’t right. And you better believe, when I get back, I’m gonna tell Ezekiel—”
Silas immediately drew his gun and fired. A hole suddenly appeared in the middle of Gerald’s forehead, and the man dropped lifelessly to the floor.
“Anybody else have any doubts? Or wanna go tattle to Ezekiel?” Silas said, looking at the four remaining men. He looked at each one, daring them to make eye contact. Each man made a point of looking away. “That’s what I thought. Now, if you boys can get your head out of your asses, we’ve got a mission to complete.”
“What was that?” a woman’s voice called out.
“None of your business,” Silas hollered.
“It sounded like gunfire,” the woman yelled back.
“Listen, sweet lips.” Silas shot up the stairs. “I’m sick and tired of waiting for you to come down here. Now maybe you don’t want to bring those children with you. That’s al
l right with me. The brats will probably make so much noise, you and I would have trouble talking. So how about you come down here instead?”
“How about you go fuck yourself?” the woman answered.
Silas lost his cool. “Girl, I am done fooling with you. I’m going to count to five, and then you’re going to be sorry that you back-talked me.” Silas began counting down. When he reached zero, he gestured for his men to charge up the stairs.
“You shouldn’t have told him to go fuck himself,” Lizzy scolded. “That’s just going to make him mad.”
“I guess.” Amanda sighed softly. “But the guy sounds like a total asshole. I mean, ‘sweet lips’? Who the hell talks that way to a woman?”
“Shit, they’re coming,” Lizzy said. “Get ready!” She got into a comfortable shooting position, hugging the doorframe. After all the hours spent at the firing range with her husband, the Glock felt completely comfortable in her hands. She glanced across and saw Amanda had taken up a similar nearby position. As the first man’s head and shoulders appeared above the stairs, Lizzy aimed her Glock, sighted on the man’s head, and shot once.
The gun reported loudly, and the man tumbled backward down the stairs and out of sight. A loud grunt and the sound of a collision further down the stairs. A second man appeared, and Lizzy fired twice. The first shot missed, second one tagging the man high in the shoulder, twisting his body to the left. A second gun sounded out nearby, and Lizzy’s ear began to ring. She saw the bullet slam into the top of the man’s head, and his head snapped backward. He dropped face-first onto the stairs. A barrage of bullets came flying back in response, and Lizzy crouched down, trying to make herself as small as possible. She looked over at her friend Amanda and saw she was just as scared as Lizzy felt.
“Wait. Wait for them to reload, and fire!” Lizzy yelled back to Amanda. She saw her friend nod once and looked toward the stairs again. Lizzy heard more footsteps, waited. A hat began to appear and Lizzy eagerly fired, knocking the hat off. The man immediately dropped down the stairs, scooting backward.
The Wretched Series | Book 4 | Wretched Aftermath Page 11