Survivors Series (Book 2): Heroes Never Die

by Voeller, Cody

  “But I just can’t leave him there yelling.”

  “You can and you will.”

  “Why should I?”

  “Because I said so and because I have Luke’s backing. So get back to camp,” I said firmly before walking past them. I could hear the two of them bicker back and forth before following me.

  Back at camp, I found Luke, “I need you to get as many of your people gathered around your fire as you can.”

  “Well I’ll try, but some of them are probably asleep.”

  “Then wake them up.”

  “But…”

  “Luke, your son’s life is on the line. If someone goes to help him, he won’t change, and I’ll be forced to kill him. I know you don’t want to hear that, but you know that if he doesn’t change he’s going to get someone killed and sooner or later someone is going to go after him. I’ve given him a choice, but I need your help,” I pleaded.

  He sighed in resignation, “I’ll get as many as I can, even if I have to drag them out by their ears.”

  I smiled warmly at him, “Thank you, Luke. I’m sorry that this has to happen to you.”

  “I know you mean that James.”

  I walked down to the fire pit and waited for others to arrive. I pulled out my Bowie knife and a small figurine out of my pack, I had started to try my hand at wood carving since I saw Thomas’ ring. I chipped away at the small shaped piece of wood in my hand. It was my sixth or seventh attempt at the same design, and while it still wasn’t very good, I was getting better. I lost track of time as Luke gathered his people and I worked on my carving. I felt a hand placed gently on my shoulder and looked up at Luke. “Everyone that’s at camp is here. We have a few groups out on a scouting mission.”

  “Thank you, Luke.” He nodded in response. I looked around at the faces who were staring at me and Luke, some of them were very unhappy at being woken up. I saw a truck stacked high with wood parked near the fire. I climbed up on the back of the truck and spoke in a loud, clear voice. “Good evening everyone. My name is James Ryan, and first, off I’m sorry if you were woken up for this, but it needs to be done. Some of you know me, have met me, some of you have heard of me, good things and bad. I’ve had you gathered here because there have been a few problems with a member of your camp. You all know Luke’s son Adam. I’m sure many of you have had some run-ins with him and his friends. Some of you are probably his friends.” I saw several people glaring at me, arms crossed and fists clenched. “I’m here to tell you that Adam is being punished for his crimes.” There was a low murmur that traveled through the crowd. “I know that none of you are strangers to punishment, I saw those bodies hanging from the bridge. Adam attempted to assault my girlfriend, he’s threatened the lives of some of you, and he endangered the lives of my people on the last raid. I’m well within my rights to dole out this punishment. You might hear Adam scream for help. None of you are to help him, to speak to him or bring him anything. If you do, I’ll be forced to do to you what I am doing to him.”

  “You can’t do that,” I heard a man call out.

  “Who said that?” I asked the crowd. No one spoke up. “Oh come on. If you’re brave enough to defend Adam, then you can come up here and explain to me why.” I waited until a fairly large man of about thirty with lanky black hair made his way through the crowd. He joined me at the front as I jumped down from the back of the truck. “What’s your name?”

  “George,” he said in a deep voice.

  “Well George, what can’t I do?”

  “You can’t just dole out any punishment that you want.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because who gave you that kind of power?”

  “Let me ask you a question. Who gave Adam the power to try what he did? He tried to rape my girlfriend. I should have killed him, but I didn’t. He threatened the life of Robert’s family, he should have punished them.”

  “But he didn’t actually do it,” argued George.

  I smiled wickedly at him, “Are you one of Adam’s friends, George?” His eyes narrowed “Ah, so you are. Well, let me tell you something, he didn’t succeed because he got his cowardly ass beat by a girl half his size. So you can fuck off with that little excuse.” George’s face turned red. “Now if you’re done trying to defend your little leader you can go back and stand with the rest of your group,” I said turning my back to him. The crowd was silent as I walked back to the truck. If they had been talking or making any noise, I would have probably died that night. But since they were silent, I was able to hear a pistol slide out of its holster. My adrenaline spiked as I heard the click of the snap being undone and I was instantly in motion. I slide my Bowie out of its sheath, turned and threw without aiming much. All I knew was that George was drawing his gun on me and I had to stop him, so I didn’t care where the knife landed or whether or not I even hit him, as long as I didn’t get shot. After I let my knife fly I drew my pistol and drew a bead on George. He let out a yell of pain and dropped his gun, clasping his arm where my knife protruded from the bicep of his gun arm. I walked towards him with my gun drawn, “Shut up. Don’t you fucking move, any of you,” I finished glancing at the crowd. I bent down and picked up George’s dropped Glock 35 and holster my own gun. “So who gave you the power to try and shoot me?” I asked him coldly. He didn’t answer, he only glared at me. “This is a good gun,” I said looking the weapon over, “Do you know how to use it because I don’t think you do. Congratulations George, you tried to shoot a man in the back, I can see why you follow Adam,” I said while I ejected each bullet from the magazine I pulled from the gun. I let each bullet fall to the dirt and then slammed the magazine back in. I stood close to George and dropped his gun in the dirt. “The next time you try to kill a man at least have the decency to face him. And if you try to kill me again you better succeed because I won’t just put a knife in your arm, I’ll put two in your chest and one in your fucking head.” I left George where he stood bleeding and addressed the crowd. “Leave Adam where he is. Period. Now you can all go back to what you were doing,” I said coldly. I went over to where Luke stood looking ashen with his hand on his gun, it looked like a Colt Diamondback. He looked like he was ready to take George out if I hadn’t. “He’s going to need some medical attention,” I said gesturing at the big man.

  “I’ll have him taken care of,” said Luke and two people escorted him away.

  “I want my knife back,” I called after them.

  “You’ve just made even more enemies James,” said Luke sadly.

  I let out a little chuckle, “Can’t win them all, plus if my plan works and all these guys follow Adam then I should be ok.”

  “Will it work?”

  “I don’t know Luke, do you think it will? He is your son after all.”

  He shook his head sadly, “I want to believe in him but I don’t know, I just don’t know.”

  “We’ll find out, but right now I need to catch a few hours of sleep. Do you have anywhere I could rest?”

  “Yes of course,” he said, “There is a small room near my office that I use as a bed. You can sleep there.”

  “No, I couldn’t. I can sleep in the dorms.”

  “I insist, really. I won’t be sleeping tonight.”

  I sighed, “You are a stubborn man aren’t you Luke?”

  “Yes, but I sense that you are too,” he said smiling.

  I nodded, “I might be.”

  I walked to the room that Luke gave me to sleep in and sat on a small cot. I didn’t spend a lot of time looking around the room, but I could see that Luke had surrounded himself with family pictures. One caught my attention and warranted a closer look. It was Luke and his wife surrounded by his sons. They were all grinning as they sat on a small dock on a lake somewhere. I smiled at the picture and sat back down. I yawned and set a timer on my watch for three hours. I placed a chair up against the door to add a little security and lay down. I was out before my head hit the pillow and slept hard for the next three hours. I sl
ept so hard that I was surprised that my timer woke me. I stood and stretched, yawning while I put my jacket back on and opened the door. I stepped on something that was lying on the ground and bent over to pick it up. It was my Bowie knife, removed from George’s arm and clean of his blood. I put the knife back in my sheath and went outside.

  I visited Adam three times that night. The first time I walked into the glow of the fire and his head instantly snapped up to look at me, rage burning in his eyes. “And how are we doing Adam?” I asked.

  “Go fuck yourself,” he snarled.

  “Still defiant, I see.”

  “I said, go fuck yourself.”

  “You should really work on your insults. You’re beginning to sound boring.”

  “What do you want?”

  “Just checking on how you are doing,” I said taking a seat in the dirt in front of him.

  “Aren’t you thoughtful,” he sneered.

  “If you’re going to die I’m going to be the one to kill you,” I shrugged.

  “Why are you doing this, just get it over with.”

  “You just don’t get it.”

  “Explain it to me,” he growled.

  “How does it feel?” I asked, tilting my head to one side. “How does it feel to be such a disappointment? Your father loves you, I can see that, but he is disappointed in you, in your actions, in what you have become. You don’t deserve his love.” I said quietly.

  “My dad loved my brothers more than me,” he spat.

  I shook my head, “Your dad doesn’t seem like someone to play favorites. I think it’s all in your head.”

  “Whatever,” he said looking away from me.

  “No one is coming for you, I’ve made sure of that.” He remained silent, refusing to even look at me. “Think about your life Adam, think about what you do every single day. Are you proud of your actions? Do you feel powerful? Does hurting others, threatening and mocking, does it make you feel good? I think it sickens you. I think you regret everything you’ve done that has earned you that spot on that tree. You deserve to be here, and I think you know it.” I sighed heavily and got to my feet. “You are a disappointment Adam, but you don’t have to be.” I walked away, leaving Adam once again, firelight reflecting off of the tears he didn’t want me to see.

  My heart was beating heavily in my chest, emotions fighting with one another amongst my thoughts. I had lost my dad, my entire family, to the undead and here was this little shit, his father alive and well, taking everything for granted. It infuriated me and, at the same time, saddened me. I would give anything to have a semblance of my old life back without it being ripped away again. There was no way I could sleep, not with my mind battling my soul, and so I walked the perimeter of Luke’s encampment. It felt good to be outside and night once again, the crisp air filling my lungs and the cool breeze against my face. If I closed my eyes, it almost felt like the world was back to normal.

  After a few hours calming down, I made my way back to where I left Adam and, staying out of site, checked in on how he was doing. He sat there, still tied to the tree, and it looked like he was sleeping. The fire was dying down, and I moved quietly and rebuild it, I didn’t want him to die by hypothermia. After the fire was built back up, I exited the circle of light and kept watch for a while. I was about to take off when the fire popped and woke Adam. He looked up and around the small circle and called out “Hello? Is anyone there?” I was surprised by the tone of his voice. He wasn’t angry, he wasn’t scared, he was sad. “Please? Someone, please?” I had taken away the very thing that Adam seemed to value the most, I had taken away his power. He couldn’t order anyone around, he couldn’t bully, he couldn’t even take a drink by himself. He was powerless, but on the other hand, he held all the power in the world. He could decide whether or not he was going to live as a new man or die as the same asshole I first figured him to be.

  I decided to stay for a bit longer, and Adam managed to surprise me again. He gave up calling for help and hung his head, sobbing. I didn’t know whether he was crying because he was upset at his situation or if he was truly sorry for everything he had done, but I would find out the next morning. I left Adam crying in the firelight and went back to camp. I didn’t sleep the rest of that early morning, choosing to work on my figurine instead. I kept the huge fire burning for warmth and thought about how much I’d rather be lying next to Sarah. When five-thirty rolled around the camp started to come alive with early morning activity. Bread began baking, guard changes began, and breakfast started cooking. I sat and watched as people went about starting their day, many of them either glaring at me or giving me a wide birth.

  “Good morning James,” I heard a tired voice say.

  I turned to see Annie giving me a small smile, “Morning, Annie.”

  “What are you doing up so early?” she asked me.

  I let out a small laugh, “You have to go to bed to be able to get up.”

  “Why haven’t you slept?” she asked with some concern in her voice.

  “I’ve had more important things to do.”

  She was silent for a while as she stood there and people watched with me, “Why don’t you just kill him?”

  “Who?”

  “Adam. Why don’t you just kill him? You know he deserves it.”

  “I won’t disagree with you, but I talked to Luke and decided that I had to still give him a chance.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I took that all important choice away from someone already and it turned me into someone I didn’t like.”

  “Who was it?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Who was it that you took that choice from?”

  “He was my best friend,” I said before walking away without further explanation. I didn’t feel like going into my recent past with her. It was a quarter past six when I checked on Adam again. He was fast asleep, head lolled and resting on his chest. I woke him with a small slap “Wakey, wakey Adam.” Adam’s head rolled from side to side groggily. He picked his head up, and I saw as his eyes widened in recognition. “Good morning sunshine. Are you ready for a little talk?”

  He nodded weakly. “What did you give me?” he rasped.

  “Sodium Pentothal,” I said. “You feel like you have a really bad hangover don’t you?” He nodded slowly. “Here,” I said raising a bottle of water to his lips. He drank several sips before I took it away. “You’ll throw up if you drink anymore.”

  “Why do you care?”

  “I told you last night Adam, I’m giving you a choice.”

  He let out a weak laugh, “Yeah, ok.”

  “So Adam,” I said ignoring his last response, “I’ve got a question for you, and I’m wondering if you have an answer.” He let his head droop. “My question is a simple one. Do you think you deserve to live?”

  He looked up at me, “What do you want me to say, James? Huh? Do you want me to argue? Fight back? Do you want me to beg or cry? I won’t do it,” he said, his voice getting stronger. “What do you want to hear? That I’m sorry? Well, I am. I’m sorry for everything I’ve done, every stupid thing I’ve said. I’m sorry for what I did to Sarah and you. Would I go back and change it? No.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because those were my choices and they’ve led me to this. Without those choices, I wouldn’t be tied to this fucking tree, and I wouldn’t realize what an ass I’ve been.”

  I contemplated his words before asking again, “So do you deserved to live?”

  He smiled at me and chuckled, “No, I don’t, but I can’t say that I deserve to die.”

  “Are you sure that’s your answer?”

  “Yeah, just do what you promised to do,” he said letting his head droop again.

  I looked down at him and pulled out my knife. “Alright,” I said walking towards him, the early morning light glinting off the blade, “Alright.”

  Chapter 4

  Adam’s head hung limp as I walked towards him, knife in hand.
Adam had made quite the transformation before he had been arrogant, violent, conceded and filled with delusions of grandeur. In short, he had been a bully. As he sat there now, tied to a tree, he was none of those things, he was broken. He had admitted to me that he regretted the decisions that he had made in his life, he had even told me that he didn’t deserve to live. Whether or not he was serious, I didn’t know, but I was curious to find out. I placed my knife under his chin and forced him to raise his head to look at me. I whispered coldly to him, “That Adam, was the answer I was looking for.” I removed the knife and sliced through the rope holding him. He started to fall to the side but was able to catch himself.

  He looked up at me in surprise, “I thought you said you were going to kill me?”

  “You don’t get it, do you? I did kill you Adam, the old you. You took the first step to becoming a new man. But here’s the catch,” I said putting the point back under his chin, “If I find that any part of that old bastard remains, I won’t tie you to a tree in the middle of the woods, there won’t be any elaborate plan to redeem you. All I’ll do is slide this knife across your neck and leave you to rot wherever you fall. Do you get me?”

  “Yeah, I get you.”

  “Good. Earn this. Now get up, we have to get you back to camp,” I said offering him my hand.

  He took my hand and stood shakily. “Could I get some more of that water?”

  “Yeah, just don’t drink it too quickly or you’ll feel worse.” I handed him the rest of the water. He started to guzzle it, but after glancing at me, he stopped and capped it. We walked for a little while in silence before I asked, “You wouldn’t happen to know a big guy named George, would you?”

  He winced a little, “Yeah, I do. Why?”

  “Oh, he just disagreed with some of the things I told the camp and forced me to put a knife in him.”

  “Y…you killed him?” he said looking at me worried.

  “No. He pulled a gun on me, and I buried a knife in his arm. He’s lucky I didn’t have better aim.”