by Chris Blake
Vintago takes careful aim and shoots at one of the men, when round from a high powered hunting rifle slams into his chest. The impact causes him to stumble backwards, look down at his chest, and trip over his feet. He lands on the wall and pitches forward over the edge.
Logan sees his friend falling over the wall and reaches out for his leg. In a split second, he grabs Vintago’s boot, just as he goes over the edge. Logan ends up with a boot in his hand, and Vintago drops over the edge falling over thirty feet to the creek below.
Vintago has one of those falling dreams and feels like he is flying. He falls head first into the frigid water below and blacks out altogether as he hits the water. As he sinks to the bottom of the deep hole under the overpass, his vision changes from falling to his family leaving him. They pack up the Outlander and drive off into the distance, leaving Vintago standing by himself. Then, out of buildings all over, hundreds of people emerge. They all walk up to Vintago, salute him, and stand in formation.
Chapter Twenty Two
Executions
February, 2013
Logan watched as Vintago fell over the railing and splashed into the water below. Luckily, the water was deep enough here, so he was not seriously injured, but Logan had to get to him quick or he would drown.
“Cover me! I’m going to get the commander!” Logan yells.
Bravo team opens up with their weapons raining lead on the enemy below while Logan sprints to the end of the guard rail and starts sliding down the embankment.
Logan tries to slow himself down, but just scrapes up his hands and legs. He slides down the embankment and crashes into the creek. The creek still has ice on the edges, and the frigid water takes the wind out of Logan. He comes up for air and immediately there are bullets striking the water around him.
Logan drops below the surface again and swims towards the direction he last spotted Vintago. He is floating directly towards the enemies. Logan quickly paddles up to Vintago as his men above return fire trying to buy him some time.
Logan reaches out, and grabs Vintago by the collar of his shirt and pulls his head out of the water. He drags Vintago to the edge of the creek and pulls him out of the water. Bullets zing all around and narrowly miss both of them. Logan quickly pulls Vin behind a large boulder and takes cover. He checks his pulse, which is strong, despite the blood loss and bitter water. Next, he checks his breathing, and Logan can tell that he has sucked in some water. Logan rolls him over and slams him on a back a few times. This causes Vintago to cough and sputter, water dripping from his mouth. His eyes open slowly, and then wildly look around.
“What the fuck happened!” Vin says to Logan.
“You were shot, and then you fell off the overpass.” Logan tells him.
Bullets come crashing into the boulder behind them, causing them both to duck reflexively. Logan tells Vintago to stay down so he can check him over. He does a quick once over and does not find anything broken, and after finding the bullet hole in his left shoulder, he shakes his head.
Vintago, thinking this is the end, says, “Is it fatal!”
Amidst all the chaos, bullets flying, and blood all over, Logan chuckles, “No buddy, you will be fine.”
After knowing Vintago will be ok, he tells him to keep his head down, and stay there. Logan gets up from behind the boulder and sprints to a big outcropping in front of him. Shots ring out from his right and he spins with his rifle and engages, taking out the shooter. Not letting up, he shoots another man that popped his head up at the wrong second.
Next, he crashes through some bushes and comes up next to another one of the shooters. The man looks at Logan with fearful eyes, and Logan places the barrel of his rifle in the man’s face and pulls the trigger, sending the remnants of the man’s head crashing into the rocks behind him.
Logan peeks out from behind another rock as he changes out his magazine and is met with a hail of gunfire from fifteen feet down the creek. Return shots come from the overpass and take the man out before he can even duck down again.
Logan takes this opportunity to move forward again, he sprints forward and dives behind a downed tree. He pops his head up to take a peek, and twenty feet in front of him, the rest of the resort group is flat out running away. There are only three men, two women, and Roger Wilson.
Without an ounce of sympathy, Logan stands up and fires twenty rounds into the backs of the group. Four of the group go down before they realize they are being fired upon, the fifth spins around and fires his gun, subsequently catching a bullet in the nose. Roger Wilson stands in the open, brings up his M4, the M4 that was given to him by Vintago, and tries to shoot at Logan.
Logan shoots him in the knee, and as his leg gives out underneath him, he falls to the ground. His rifle clatters into the water next to him. Roger crawls towards the rifle, splashing in the water with his hands, and Logan casually walks over to him placing his rifle in his sling as he goes.
Logan walks up to Roger and what remains of his men. One of the women is still alive, and she reaches towards a pistol. Logan pulls out his sidearm and shoots her in the head.
Normally, he would be against killing women, but today, these women chose to be soldiers, same as him.
Logan walks over to Roger, just as Roger gets his cold hands on his rifle, and he shoots Roger in the arm.
Roger reels back in pain and looks at his mangled wrist. His hand hangs awkwardly on torn and damaged ligaments.
“Roger, what the fuck were you thinking man? Honestly, what did you think you would achieve here.” Logan scowls at him.
“I wanted justice! Justice for my men, and for myself! He used us, and he got my men killed. Then on top of that, he stole more of my men.” Roger yells out in a panic.
“All your justice got you was a few bullet holes and the rest of your men and women dead.” Logan explains to him very calmly.
Logan grabs him by the good leg and starts dragging him on his back towards the overpass. He drags him through the rocks, tree branches, snow, and water. Roger pleads and cries the whole way. By the time Logan has finished dragging Roger to the overpass, the rest of the men are at the bottom tending to Vintago. They have his wounds field dressed, and he is sitting up against a rock.
Logan pulls Roger in front of him and drops him.
“I brought you Roger so you can decide to do with him as you like.” Logan says to Vintago.
Vintago looks at Logan, and then looks at Roger. He pulls out his Taurus 24/7 and sets it on his lap.
Roger looks at Vintago with red, crying eyes and pleads for his life.
“I wanted to make you a friend and an ally Roger. Instead, you betray me and kill two of my men and wounded several others.” Vintago says.
Internally, Vintago is fortunate that only two of his men were killed. Considering the force they were attacked by, they made it out fairly well.
“What should we do with him Commander?” Logan says.
“Get me out of here so I can get some dry clothes. Restrain him and throw him in the back of a truck, then go into the resort and clear the rest of them out. I want them all brought back to the Hatchery. Leave someone to pick up all the bodies and weapons too.” Vintago orders his men.
The men do as they are told, restraining Roger, and helping Vintago out of the creek area and into a nearby truck. They take him up the hill toward the Hatchery with Roger in the back of the truck.
Logan leads Bravo team into the resort area and is met with zero resistance. Apparently, they thought they did not need to defend their home and took all the guns and ammunition with them.
Logan rounds up the remaining women and children into the backs of their trucks. They are all crying and screaming about their husbands and lovers. Some of the children cry out for their mommies, mothers that will never return.
It’s heart breaking for Logan to watch, but these are difficult times, and these were hard lessons. If you wanted to attack another group of people, you had better win that battle.
&nb
sp; Logan and the guys drive back to the Hatchery Compound in relative silence. They have the women and children screaming in the back of the trucks, being guarded by some of the Bravo men.
They arrive at the hatchery, and it looks like a warzone triage unit. Logan’s wife is running around patching up their men and trying to get everything under control. Even Vintago’s father Ben forced himself out of bed to help her out. The two of them were covered in blood up to their elbows, and the wounded men were yelling out for painkillers and help.
On the ground nearby, covered in bloody sheets, were undoubtedly the bodies of Lieutenant Trevor and Corporal Nathan, their only two casualties. The two men had been wounded within the first few minutes of the fight. It was an offence for men that had been through so much.
Vintago was sitting in a chair with his shirt off. He had a blanket wrapped around his shoulders for warmth. His wound had been patched up the right way, and he looked like he was not in much pain. Maybe it was the hardcore painkillers too, but either way he looked stoic.
The Bravo men rounded up all the women and children and forced them into a circle in the middle of the parking lot. Colonel Bradley brought Roger over and placed him in front of the women and children.
Vintago gets out of his chair with a little too much effort and walks over to the group of people in the middle of his parking lot. They all looked scared and feared for their lives, rightfully so.
Vintago pulls out his Taurus once again and waves it towards Roger.
“This is the man that you have followed since the outbreak!” he yells, “Today, he saw fit to attack me, my men, and my family.”
“As you can see, that did not turn out as well as he had expected it.” Vintago continues.
“Instead of whatever he promised you, he got all of your men and women killed, no doubt some of your mothers and fathers.” he directs towards the children.
“I was more than willing to help your group, and eventually take you into the fold. Instead, you have failed me, and I cannot let this go unpunished.” this time more directed to Roger.
Vintago walks up to Roger, places his pistol against the top of the man’s head, and blows his brains out all over the ground, directly in front of the women and children. Then, he wipes the blood off his Taurus on the side of his pants.
“Now, I don’t know who you women are, but you have one of two choices.” Vintago tells the now screaming women and children.”
“You can either join this group and be good, or you can choose to be shot like this piece of shit in front of you.” Vintago explains, kicking Roger’s corpse. “I can’t let you leave and further compromise our mission, you must understand.”
“I am not, however, a child killer, so the children will be taken care of either way.” Vintago tells them.
“You have ten seconds to make a decision.” he says and walks to the group of three women, coddling the screaming children.
He places the gun in the face of one of the women, and unilaterally, they all make a decision.
“We will stay with you and keep out of trouble, just don’t hurt us!” one of the women tells Vintago.
“Good, that’s excellent news.” Vintago says and walks away.
Logan catches up with him a second later and whispers into his ear, “That was pretty fucked up Vintago. You didn’t have to kill his ass right in front of them!”
“I want to let them know that I will not tolerate any more bullshit. They either fall in line and get with the program, or they will not be around any longer. I am done negotiating with people. They can either be part of our group and follow our rules, or we are going to get rid of them.” Vintago says coldly.
Logan takes a second to contemplate what Vin just told him, and nods his head slowly, leaving it there. Logan isn’t sure where they are going to go from here, but he is confident that things are going to get uglier. While he still has faith in Vintago and the empire that he wants to forge, but he also knows that he will have to keep an eye on Vintago.
Clearly the shot to the chest and the fall has flipped some kind of switch in his mind.
Epilogue
March, 2013
The rest of the month passes by without incident. Vintago and his men take their time to heal and recover, which takes quite a while. Logan, Robby, Bravo team and the rest of Alpha team had been looting nearby homes one by one. They had found tons of useful supplies and equipment. They also hit the jackpot on one house that had an underground bunker full of food, clothing, and equipment. They figured it must have been one of those “preppers.” A lot of good it did them, go figures.
The new group of people from was left of the resort group had been placed in one of the cabins down at the Church Camp Compound. They were under constant watch from one of the Compound members at all times. Their loyalty could not be trusted, especially under the circumstances of their addition to the group. Vintago debated just getting rid of them and dropping them off in the middle of Payson to fend for themselves. In the end, he just could not put himself up to abandoning a bunch of women and children in an infected town. He may have turned a corner on his morality, but he was no monster. Not only that, he did promise to take care of the children, and it was not the children’s’ fault that their families had been so careless.
Vintago gets up out of his bed and heads outside to take a walk around the compound. His chest still hurt him, where the bullet entered and exited. It was more or less his shoulder, but it felt like it was his whole chest. Both Christine and his father told him how lucky he was that it had not actually hit him in the chest, or he certainly would not have made it. He told them that he did not feel extremely lucky.
While Vintago was walking around, Sergeant Anthony Smith poked his head out the door of the office building and yells to Vintago, “Commander come listen to this!”
Vin walks over to the office building, which had been totally renovated and turned into actual quarters. The Steele family and the rest of Alpha team wanted a little more privacy than cubicles, and Greg had helped them out. He built new walls, and they had built some bunk beds. They didn’t have proper mattresses, but they were better than sleeping on the ground.
When Vin walks in, Anthony Smith waves him over to take a look at his radio. The radio had been scavenged from the resort after everything had cooled down. Unfortunately, the radio was a mess, and it took the Sergeant a fair bit of time to get it all fixed up.
Vin approaches the radio and the sergeant turns it up so Vin can hear. Over the speakers, he hears a person talking.
“Transmitting from the Camp Navajo Military Base. We have food, water, clothing, munitions, and security. We are currently taking in survivors. Make your way west of Flagstaff off I-40. After being screened for infection, you will be accepted into our camp.”
Vintago listens to the recording two more times, analyzing it in his own mind. After a minute, Anthony looks up at him and asks him what he thinks.
“Is this the first time you’ve heard this?” Vin asks.
“I was going through the channels one by one listening for anything interesting and I stumbled on it. I was just about to come find you.” Anthony replies.
Vintago ponders on it another minute and then decides to go find Logan. He leaves the building and walks around the compound looking for his second in command. Just as, he is about to give up and ask someone where he is, he hears gunfire coming from the range. Knowing that must be where Logan is he heads over that way.
After a short walk, Vintago finds Logan and some of his men. They are spending some time on the range, which Vin has no problem with at all.
Vin waves at Logan and beckons him forward. Logan says something to the guys that Vin can’t hear, and they nod as Logan walks away.
“What’s up boss?” Logan says with a smile.
“Anthony found an interesting radio transmission supposedly coming from an army base near Flagstaff.” Vin explains.
“You talking about Camp Navajo?” Logan a
sks with a funny look.
“Yep, that’s what they said.” Vin replies.
“That’s not an army base Vin, that’s an army ammunition depot. It was one of the largest ammo dumps in the country.” Logan tells him.
“Sounds like the perfect place to hold up and create a survivor camp then.” Vin says.
“It’s not really a base though, unless they added additional defenses, it wouldn’t make a very good defensible location.” Logan explains.
Vintago thinks about that for a second and then says, “Maybe they just set up there because of the readily available ammunition.”
Vin continues, “I mean it makes sense, it is right next to Flagstaff, and they could use that as a staging ground and housing area if needs be.”
Logan thinks about that and then replies, “I suppose that’s why they setup Flagstaff as one of the original safe zones.”
“You don’t think that they kept it together this entire time do you? I mean it’s been over two months now.” Logan says.
“Who knows, if they got organized quickly enough, and supplies weren’t an issue.” Vin says as his voice trails off.
“Do you think we should check it out?” Vin asks his second.
“I’m not sure, it may very well be a trap that some goons have put together to lure people in.” Logan says with much suspicion.
“Maybe we could just go check it out, I mean it’s less than three hours from here, even if we take the back roads and stay off the highways as much as we can.” Vin says.
“It’s your call Vin.” Logan tells him.
Vintago thinks long and hard, and in the end, he decides that it is too good of an opportunity to pass up. If they can find a large group of survivors or even true military personnel, it could tremendously help his cause. Vin wouldn’t want to join their group of course, he would mainly try and expand his own company.
Vin decides to get everyone rounded up and explains the plan. A little while later, everyone is assembled in the general area between the compound buildings and Vintago explains his plan to them. His plan is met with mixed feelings mostly, but in the end they all let him make the decision. Vin tells them he wants two vehicles ready to go in an hour. He plans on making the trip today.