Plebs

by Jim Goforth

  "It's a double sided garage," Corey played that particular trump card, inwardly applauding the decision, whose ever it had been, to design the four car storage facility in that fashion. "I'll drive out down the lane into the street behind my house. Even if Haskell is watching the joint with binoculars he won't see me leaving. He doesn't know about the back doors to the garage."

  "Brilliant!" Desiree applauded. "I'm coming with you."

  "Are you sure?"

  "Sure I'm sure," Desiree said resolutely. "You're not going alone."

  "What if somebody is in the back yard or something?” Britt queried, a chilling suggestion Corey hadn't thought about, didn't want to think about.

  "We'll cross that bridge if we get to it. Besides, it's nearly impossible to get into so I doubt that's a likely scenario."

  "Hey. What about the guns?" Melissa asked. "Shouldn't you two arm yourselves up? If you run into Raven's crew along the way and they're armed to the teeth-which they will be-you want to be able to fight fire with fire."

  "Good idea."

  "Besides we need some here too," Rachel put in. "We only have the shotgun. If the Plebs storm the house they will overrun us."

  "Yeah, alright."

  "Come on, come on! Hurry up!" Lee shouted, practically dancing from foot to foot. "We're wasting time! You go Corey; I'll get them the damn guns!"

  "Lee, we need guns too," Corey reminded him of Melissa's word spoken mere seconds previously. "If we happen to get ambushed by a pack of lunatics with AKs or something what am I gonna do with a little handgun?"

  "Well it is a nine millimeter," said Lee as if it were a cannon. "Besides if Haskell had an AK wouldn't he just open fire and spray the house?"

  "Nobody has AKs or Uzis or anything like that," Melissa informed him. "But Raven's crew does have some serious weaponry, hence Corey is right and he and Desi do need a fraction more than one handgun. At least one each and some for the rest of the guys couldn't hurt. You have that many guns Corey? And enough for all of us here?"

  "I do," Corey replied.

  "He's got a lot of guns," Lee informed her. "Okay hurry up and get them. Come on!"

  Clearly edgy and agitated by the daunting prospect of having more friends murdered Lee was a very tense soul indeed.

  "They far away these guns?"

  "Yep, right up top."

  "Why so far away?"

  "To keep them safely away from stupid people."

  "Good idea."

  "COME ON!" Lee bellowed. "Stop chattering Corey, get up there! I'll wait here."

  "Alright, alright. Desi, Melissa, you come with me and pick some guns for these girls." Corey said. "The rest of you stay with Lee."

  There was a murmur of disappointment from some of the women who may have wanted to catch a glimpse of this supposed massive firearms collection, but they could view it later Corey decided. Right now Lee was correct and time was of the essence. There was no time for Corey to take a group tour of his gun room.

  "Here, Lee," Melissa thrust her shotgun at him. "Hold the fort. Anything happens, give us a yell."

  "Let's roll," Corey said and charged off, back up the stairs again with Melissa and Desiree in pursuit.

  "Ideally," he said as they mounted the stairs to the second level and headed off down the hallway to the third level ascension. "I would have given something like a crash course in firearm safety and usage, that sort of thing, but there isn't time. Plus, would I be correct in assuming you all know how to use a variety of guns anyhow?"

  "You would be correct," Melissa confirmed. "Each and every one of us. Some of us obviously are very adept whilst others are barely competent, but we all know how to use them. That was a prerequisite upon joining our crew, regardless of each woman's stance on firearms; we made sure that everybody could use them safely."

  "We actually held our own 'crash course' as you put it," Desiree added. “Though unfortunately many of the more capable students either now belong to Raven's renegades or perished in the fire."

  "Shit," Corey murmured, not wanting to appear insensitive to the fire tragedy by adding more to that statement. "So who are the crack shots in your crew?"

  "That would be Blaise number one, then Desi and I are fully competent. The scale sort of goes down from there I suppose. Jess is fairly reasonable with a handgun and Caroline can hold her own I guess. Rachel is alright if she's pushed, but unfortunately I can't exactly rate the rest. Take Serena for example, poor dear. She couldn't hit a barn wall if she was standing inside the barn, shooting out."

  "Ooh that's nasty," murmured Desiree.

  "Yeah. Nasty but true. No offence to her, she's a lovely girl, but she needs others around to look after her."

  "Is it advisable to be giving these people firearms?" Corey asked as they ascended the final staircase to the third story of the residence.

  "I suppose a very small calibre pistol, maybe a .22 or something would suit Serena," Desiree said.

  "I doubt a .22 would stop one of those Plebs," Corey said. He tapped the butt of his own piece. "I hit one with a shot from this and it just kept coming. As for Haskell he seems to have become a steroid freak and I know he is very into taking speed also. If he's pumped up on a mix of all that shit I bet a .22 wouldn't stop him either."

  "We won't leave it up to Serena to try and stop anything then. Maybe just slow 'em down. Either that or give her a shotgun and make sure she stands way the fuck away from everybody else."

  Melissa laughed dryly as they reached the third level and Corey steered them right.

  This level was pretty much identical to the one below, composed of a hallway populated by closed doors. Heading left would have taken them down to a large sun-room featuring a big wide balcony just like the second level.

  With the two balconies, one above the other at the fore of the house, from the street it would have looked like a small, but ritzy unit block or apartments in a holiday resort.

  Their destination wasn't in the direction of the balconies, but to the back of the house where a single large door stood closed at the end of the hallway.

  Corey led the two girls to that door and opened it.

  "Not locked?" Melissa queried incredulously.

  "Doesn't need to be," Corey replied and as they stepped through the door they saw why.

  Behind the door was a room within the room, a massive boxlike structure which looked as though it were entirely comprised of stainless steel. The only feature on the front of this construction was a numbered control panel like an intercom security system with a blinking red light.

  Corey stepped to this panel and though he didn't do it deliberately, more an instinctive movement on his part, he blocked the girls’ view of the panel and rapidly punched in an access code.

  The security panel responded with a double chirp and the blinking red light changed to a fixed green one. Corey pressed another button, this one solid black and unnumbered though the girls didn't see which one, and the metal seemed to separate with a hydraulic hiss, becoming sliding doors which glided effortlessly open.

  "Awesome," Desiree commented and then Corey ushered them inside.

  Once the trio were in Corey pushed a button on a control panel on the interior wall and the doors hissed shut behind them. They were in a smaller hallway which lead to another controlled door.

  "Shit, Panic Room hey?" Melissa said, impressed by the security.

  "Yeah, it's something like that," Corey said. "It could be used for one."

  "Hey, why don't we put Serena and the others in here until the war is over?" Melissa suggested. "Can't stop by waiting for Raven and crew to go away because they won't."

  "It's an idea," Corey said as he punched in a shorter simpler code to access this room.

  It wasn't particularly an idea he was fond of. He wasn't overly enamored by the thought of inept gun handlers locked with each other in a room full of firearms. If they got to playing around with the weapons chances were good they would kill each other faster than Raven, Haskell
and company could.

  The final set of doors glided open and the threesome wandered into the Somerset Contemporary Museum of Firearms and Weaponry.

  CHAPTER 28

  Upon first gazing upon the scene which greeted them as they walked in, Desiree and Melissa reacted with stupefied amazement.

  "Jesus Christ!" said Melissa.

  "Holy fucking shit!" said Desiree.

  The room was a simple square formation, but it was the objects which lined all four walls marching from floor virtually to ceiling which captivated the attention and astonishment of the women. There were scores and scores of weapons from handguns, through to shotguns, rifles, crossbows and all manner of deadly implements.

  One wall was entirely covered with racks and exclusively dedicated to handguns. There were revolvers and pistols of all descriptions, from the smallest calibre to giant hog leg pieces designed to blast gigantic holes in things. This was Corey's favourite section in the room as a handgun aficionado.

  Many of the pieces were antiques and war replicas, but the majority of the guns in the room were authentic deadly weapons.

  Though many people, including Errol Haskell, were aware that the Somerset residence was host to a great many firearms, few realised the extent of the collection. Most people only knew of the small collection in a display case in the bedroom formerly occupied by Corey's parents.

  These were the firearms registered to the Somerset’s while the majority here in this room were neither registered nor even legal.

  Carson Somerset had been an avid collector of firearms and many of these pieces had been collected after his death, as Corey continued his father's pursuit both as a legacy and to pay his respects to him.

  Plenty of the weapons had been given to Corey by Carson's old buddies and war mates as tokens of friendship and to commemorate his passing. One fellow in particular, an old timer Jake Masters, provided at least forty per cent of the weapons in the room, pieces he knew Carson would have dearly loved to add to the collection.

  If Corey ever had the inclination to move into the field of black market gun exporting he could have made a very tidy sum out of it, and grizzled old Jake would have been on hand to aid him in a second.

  Corey was by no means a lunatic gun freak like Tackleberry in Police Academy, but he was fond of his father's collection and saw continuing it as a constant way of paying tribute to his father’s memory.

  Besides one never knew when they might come in handy and the time for that had rushed up on Corey with the impetus of a speeding freight train. He was glad he was more than prepared now.

  "Wow!" Desiree wandered around in a trance.

  "Hell Corey," Melissa said. "You sure you aren't the one we have to look out for? I've never seen this many guns in the one place before."

  "Yeah I bet the cops and gangsters out there would just love to get their paws on this lot," Corey said. "But guns were one of my father's passion-despite his time serving in wars driving him to breakdown. I keep them all to keep his name alive really."

  "Where did you get them all? Where'd they come from?"

  "My father was collecting then even before I was born, and as far as I can remember growing up. After he died I carried on getting particular ones I could that he had on this big list of weapons he always tried to find. Just to have a display collection, that's all he wanted them for. After his funeral about twenty or thirty of his old mates and war associates and people like that turned up at the house and each one of them had a box which had some sort of firearm or weapon he'd been seeking for his collection as a mark of respect for him, knowing how much he would have liked that.

  I think he always wanted to have some kind of gun museum where he could just educate everybody all about them, on both their good and bad facets. You know, create intelligent debate about them, open peoples eyes and so forth. Of course that didn't happen."

  Desiree and Melissa were both seemingly overwhelmed by the sheer size of the conglomeration of weapons, both still gazing in awe from pistols to rifles to shotguns.

  Corey realised he'd lost track of time with his rambling explanation and thought of how Lee must be waiting tensely for the trio in the gun room to return.

  "Stand around looking at them later," he advised the duo, echoing a hint of the impatience Lee was probably in the midst of right now. "Pick some out. As you can see there's enough for everybody, but choose carefully. Get ones you know you are capable and efficient with. But don't take all night, we don't have the time."

  For his own part Corey headed to the far corner of the room where a storage cupboard nestled between racks and rows of pistols on one wall, distance guns on the other. He yanked open the doors, seizing and tossing out three large leather carry cases. All three were empty and unzipped so taking one he began to load boxes of particular ammunition into it.

  Elsewhere in the room the Twilight Twins snapped abruptly out of their overawed states and settled easily into their dark mercenary persona's, methodically selecting a variety of weapons from the range, placing the chosen items in the available bags, marrying suitable ammunition from the bullet cupboard with them.

  In a mere matter of minutes Corey had his carry case loaded with the items he wanted, each firearm fully loaded with plenty of surplus ammunition provided for each selection. He hefted the weighty bag up in his hands, observing that the girls also appeared to have finished taking what they wanted or felt they required.

  "We done?" He asked.

  "We’re done," Melissa confirmed.

  The Twilight Twins had gone about their work with ruthless efficiency and clinical precision and had their bags packed, bulging full.

  While Corey’d added a number of useful non-firearm items he thought may come in handy he guessed that the pair of women, impressed by the expansive abundance of the armoury, had done likewise.

  He did a quick sweep around the perimeters of the room, mentally trying to calculate what items they'd all stored in their bags then headed for the control panel to let them all out.

  "You wearing that?" Melissa cast a scornful look at Corey's T-shirt and shorts ensemble, complete with bare feet.

  "No, I'll stop by my room and change."

  "Top idea. We'll take the bags down."

  "You take yours, I'll keep mine."

  On the second level the girls headed downstairs while Corey made a beeline for his bedroom.

  Once there he tossed the gun laden tote bag on his bed and pulling the pistol from the waistband of his shorts, added that to the pile. He dressed quickly in a black pair of jeans, strapping a holster of his own creation around his midriff. This creation was made to sit snug just under his left armpit so a handgun could sit in it with the butt of the weapon facing the front. That way he could swiftly reach inside his jacket once he put it on; seize the butt and draw, ready to open fire if the situation warranted it.

  He threw on his steel capped black boots and hastily laced them, mentally counting the seconds he was expending.

  Though he was well aware that he and his people inside the house were distinctly making decisive preparations for all-out war, he felt strangely calm.

  Maybe his father, Carson Somerset had possessed some freakishly uncanny sixth sense which allowed him to see the calamity which was going to befall his son and had steadily been making preparations for it right up until his untimely death.

  Faced with the daunting prospect of waging war upon a vile enemy Corey couldn't help but feel as though a little of the preternatural lurked within the situation.

  Done dressing Corey grabbed his black leather jacket out of his wardrobe plus another black beanie and pulled them both on.

  He took a Glock pistol from his bag-his favourite hand gun-slipped it into his underarm holster, picked up the carry case and left the room, ready to go into battle.

  Downstairs the natives were getting restless.

  Even with the calming influence of the two alpha females on hand to reign in the outlandish stories the others w
ere concocting, the ridiculous tales and possibilities were still running wild.

  Spearheaded by the vivid and terrified imagination of Serena, ably supported by all the other girls-bar Desiree and Melissa-including Tasha, the horrible likely outcomes were spilling over, each one more ludicrous than the last.

  Among these very unlikely eventualities was the suggestion that the entire army of Plebs was already deeply ensconced inside Corey's house, hiding under beds, in dark corners and in the various rooms which nobody had yet entered.

  Even more ridiculous was the idea, proposed by Serena, that Raven somehow bugged the house and therefore knowing they were on the way to Bodyworx had already despatched a horde of Plebs to account for the missing quartet.

  Ignoring these outrageous claims Corey stepped into the room and surveyed the lounge area with an air of puzzlement.

  Lee was conspicuously absent, both from the horror story debate and the room.

  "Where's Lee?" Corey wanted to know.

  "He's in the garage," Rachel was kind enough to cease the rumour mill and advise him. "He's warming up the car."

  "Good old Lee," Corey said, then to Desiree. "You ready?"

  "Yeah. If you've got yourself the guns you want, you think I could have my pistol back?"

  "Sure." Corey bent and retrieved the gun in question from the top of his bag, handing it butt first to Desiree. "Ready now?"

  "Yep. Melissa, we're leaving now."

  "Okay. Look after each other you two. Be very careful."

  "We will be."

  Melissa and Desiree embraced and then brief goodbyes were exchanged.

  "Keep everything locked up," Corey told Melissa. "Nobody go outside, not even you. I will call you from Bodyworx to let you know what's happening."

  "Okay. Now go. Go!"

  That said Corey hefted his gun bag and departed the lounge room with Desiree, walking through the kitchen to an adjoining door which connected with the garage. The door stood open and through it Corey could see Lee in the driver's seat of his trusty powder blue sedan. The garage door leading to the lane behind the house was already open and ready to go Corey observed as he entered the garage.