by Smith, I. J.
Jack took a 9mm gun and ammo.
“Grab those bags, we will take all we can carry,” Jack told Adam.
Looking over to the side of the room, Adam could see the bags, he walked over and picked them up, but when he stood up, he did not turn around. Pausing, as he wanted to say something to Jack.
“I’m sorry about Elle, I only knew her a few months, but she was a friend. I cannot imagine your pain; I just wanted to say that!” Adam spoke with emotion in his voice.
As Adam turned, Jack stood in front of him holding the gun at Adam’s head.
“Who the fuck are you?” Jack asked.
Adam dropped the bags and gave out a sarcastic laugh.
“You really are as good as they say!” Adam said in a beaten voice.
Gripping the gun tight, Jack looked Adam direct in the eyes; Adam looked back at him, knowing the man in front of him would kill him without a second thought.
“You know, Jenkins never believed you were dead!” Adam said.
“Keep talking!” Jack told him sternly.
“After your supposed death, Frank reached out to Jenkins. He wanted to make a deal to get everyone out of this place. I was sent in to determine if Frank was being honest and that only he knew the secret of the outbreak,” Adam told him.
“Frank would have told me,” Jack replied.
“I am sure he would have, except you were busy beating the shit out of him!” Adam said in reply.
Jack raised his eyebrows. “True, but no way was Jenkins ever getting him out of this place,” he said.
Adam looked down, “The deal was for those in the school, but not Frank. He was gonna stay behind or if it would make the deal sweeter, he would eat a bullet,” Adam told him.
At that moment, Jack could see the truth.
Jack lowered his gun, “So what happened?” he asked.
“The deal was done; we were arranging the pick-up, when suddenly I lost all communication with them. I have not heard a thing since!” Adam answered.
There was silence for a moment.
“You know, Jenkins thinks a lot of you. She has kept your file redacted, but I heard the stories about you,” Adam said, breaking the silence.
Jack did not reply, instead he looked back inside the boxes; he found a small metal container and pulled it out.
Throwing everything from the desk onto the floor, he opened the box to reveal a military satellite phone. He opened the small foil antenna on the satellite, and turned the power on, the phone beeped several times, red lights flashed until they turned green.
“Jack I told you, there is no contact anymore!” Adam told him.
“Have you tried the dead wave?” Jack asked.
Adam frowned in confusion, “What the fuck is that?” he asked.
Jack looked at the digital read out of numbers; he changed them to 1001-2002-981.
“The Dead Wave is an emergency means of communication, only ever to be used in a world changing event for communication with the powers that be!” Jack told him.
A shocked looking Adam watched Jack, in his mind thinking who the hell was Jack and how would he know this kind of Top Secret information?
Jack grabbed the small hand held microphone and started broadcasting.
“EAGLE-ALPHA-ONE, passcode 743598,” Jack spoke.
Static played through the speaker, a moment passed until a male voice answered.
“EAGLE-ALPHA-ONE is no longer active, this communication is over!”
Jack took a deep breath in anger, “This is Lance-Corporal Jack Mason, formerly an SAS soldier. Now connect me to someone in authority or I will keep broadcasting, telling all the many secrets I know!” he replied.
Chaos could be heard on the speaker, as if two people were fighting over the microphone.
A female voice spoke out, “Jack is that really, please tell me that is really you?” a female voice asked.
“April 3rd 2012, 11:03am,” Jack simply replied.
“I knew it, I knew it would take more than that to kill you!” a happy voice said.
Jack recognized the voice, “Jenkins?” he asked.
“Yes Jack, look we don’t have much time. Jack I am so sorry, like you I follow orders, I cannot and will not ask for forgiveness for my part in this,” Jenkins replied in a weary voice.
Jack looked upset, “What’s happened?” he asked.
“It spread, the virus is worldwide. Our current location is overrun and I doubt we will last much longer. So I need to ask you something!” Jenkins told him.
Jack looked at Adam, who looked sick to his stomach.
“Go ahead,” Jack said.
“Oasis, find it. Go to where it all began and find Oasis then destroy it. They played God and it must be destroyed. I have no right to ask you this, but you are the only one I know I can trust now!” Jenkins asked Jack, with fear in her voice.
Jack paused for a moment.
“Samantha, good luck!” he replied.
The line suddenly went dead.
Adam broke the silence, “You two were close?” he asked.
“I knew her son, a good soldier, a good man and I left him to die!” he replied.
“What happens now?” Adam asked.
“We take the weapons and we save the kids. Make sure you put all the C4 and grenades in the bags too,” Jack told him as he leaned on the table in shock.
“What the hell is taking them so long?” Ryan asked Ray.
“Probably having a cup of tea,” Ray joked in reply.
Ryan was not amused and then suddenly he shouted, “THERE!”
They watched as Jack and Adam each carrying a bag making a run for the fence, once again everyone made noise distracting the zombies. Within a moment both Adam and Jack were safely back over the fence.
They were lying on the ground catching their breath when the others joined them, “What took you so long?” Zoe asked.
Jack waved his hand, “Just cut my hand, that’s all,” he replied.
Adam looked at Jack, “Yeah, I had to bandage him up,” Adam added.
Adam knew they could not tell them the real truth yet, the kids had to be their priority.
They all climbed in the minivan and drove off towards The Mercy.
CHAPTER EIGHT
KNOCK KNOCK
A group of twelve men sat around laughing and drinking beer. They were sitting in an old garage. The sound of children crying could be heard from behind a locked red door in the corner of the room.
“Shut those fucking kids up!” a man wearing a black bandana shouted out.
Everyone just laughed and carried on drinking.
A teenager was part of the group, he liked to think he was part of the men, but he was nothing more than a slave to them. His name was Craig, but they called him Squid, due to his long lanky arms.
“OI! SQUID, WE ARE HUNGRY! START COOKING NOW!” a dark man shouted at him.
Squid rushed to gather food from the bags; he so much wanted to be a member of The Mercy that he would do anything for them.
As they all sat there suddenly a knocking noise came from the front door.
“Must be the wind,” one of the men joked.
They sat in silence when again, ‘knock, knock,’ on the door.
All the men stood up, grabbing their weapon, metal bars, baseball bats and knives. “Let’s go see who is going to die tonight,” one of them said.
“Squid; carry on cooking,” he was told.
They opened the front door and looked outside at the pouring rain and the pitch black sky.
A broad man stood outside. “Excuse me, I can see on the map there is a hotel nearby, could you give me directions?” the man asked.
Suddenly all the men laughed out at once.
In the trees opposite the fueling station, Ray, Zoe, Adam and Ryan watched as Jack was talking to the men at the door.
“He is crazy!” Adam said quietly.
Everyone looked at Adam and just shook their heads.
Jack stood in the rain facing the men, “So… directions, anyone?” Jack said again.
The men stepped outside, “No hotels round here, but congratulations, you just found The Mercy,” one of them told him.
A soaking wet Jack stepped back, “The Mercy, yeah I heard of you. You’re those inbred fucks right?” Jack laughed.
“You’re gonna die here tonight bitch!” one of the men said angrily.
“Well before you kill me, are any of you Macleod?” Jack asked.
They all laughed, “Macleod? You are not worthy of seeing Macleod!” they answered.
“Before we kill you, what’s yer name?” the man with the black bandana asked.
Jack smiled, “Me? I’m The Reaper!” he announced.
Before they could laugh, they were shocked when he pulled a grenade out of his pocket, pulling the pin and held the spoon firmly.
One of the men laughed, “You drop that, you die!” he said.
“I never think that far ahead,” Jack replied, as he threw the grenade into the group of men.
Jack jumped for cover over the bonnet of an abandoned car as the explosion roared though the air.
Bray and Zoe quickly ran with their guns raised to help Jack.
Getting to his feet, Jack could see at least half the men were dead, but not all of them.
Pulling both his machetes free, Jack began to move towards them, quickly followed by Bray and Zoe. Ryan rushed over to join them, Ray and Adam moved around the building to look for the kids.
Jack was quick to slice down the face of one man, Zoe and Bray shot their way into the front door with little resistance. One of the men ran from the front door towards the road, Jack turned to give chase but halted when he saw Ryan catch the man. Ryan hit the man with a baseball bat, as the man fell to the ground, Ryan kept repeatedly hitting the man in the head. Blood soaked the ground, rain water made it run along the gutter. Ryan looked at Jack and simply tilted his head, to let him know he was there and ready to fight.
Squid had heard everything and escaped through a back window, he watched as two men came around the back of the building. Squid recognized one of the men from the school they earlier attacked; he turned and ran off into the night.
Inside the garage, Bray and Zoe looked for other Mercy men. They walked past the dead bodies on the ground without checking them. One of The Mercy was still alive, he had a small handgun and struggled to raise it, he was about to shoot when Jack stabbed the man in the head with his machete. A shocked Zoe and Bray quickly turned to see Jack looking at them.
“Always make sure!” he told them while walking past.
Ray and Adam joined them, “No one else around,” Ray told everyone.
The sound of the kids could be heard from behind the red door.
Zoe and Adam rushed to the door and forced it open, the kids rushed out to the familiar faces, Jack stayed in the background. Jack looked around at the happiness from the kids for being rescued, a tear began to form in his eye, and he turned and walked back outside.
Ray watched as Jack walked away.
Jack stood in the rain looking up at the sky, Elle filled his mind. Ryan looked over to see Jack standing there; he walked over to him.
“This was quick and easy!” Ryan tried speaking to him.
Jack continued looking up.
“I tried, I tried so hard to get to you all,” Jack suddenly said.
“You did find us, and once again you saved us!” Ryan replied.
“I wish I died back in London, because feeling like this scares me,” Jack told him.
Ryan touched Jack on the shoulder, “Elle loved you, and she absolutely adored you. She always talked about you, I would see her walking around holding her belly talking to the baby about you,” Ryan said as he choked up.
Tears ran down Jacks face, “I always wanted a family I never had one before. But this is like a cruel joke, being one day late to save her.” he forced out the words.
“She trained me Jack, she showed me how to fight, how to survive and I let her down, I couldn’t get to her!” Ryan struggled to say.
Jack looked Ryan in the face; looking at the cuts and bruises that covered him.
“Looks like you gave one hell of a fight, she would be proud, I am!” Jack said, placing his arm around Ryan.
“We are gonna kill them right?” Ryan asked.
Jack face changed, “I’m gonna kill all of them!” he said.
Ryan smiled, “I’ll be there right beside you!” he replied.
A noise from the trees made Jack and Ryan look, suddenly a swarm of zombies headed their way.
“SHIT!” Ryan shouted.
“Go get the others!” Jack told him.
Jack walked towards the zombies, pulling both machetes again from his side, “This is just what I need!” he said while swinging his blades at them.
A few miles down the road, Squid was running hard, trying to get away.
As he slipped in the rainwater on the road, two bright lights appeared, they approached him.
A large black 4x4 stopped in front of him, a large woman climbed out, followed by someone dressed in all black and wearing a black hood.
“Please, I need to get home. The Reaper is coming!” Squid begged them.
The large woman looked over at the person in black.
“Come on, we will give you a lift,” the cloaked figure said in a rusty voice.
CHAPTER NINE
FEAR THE REAPER
As the rain poured down harder, Zoe and Ray rushed the children through the muddy ground towards safety. Behind them, Jack, Bray, Adam and Ryan were fighting the zombie horde coming at them. The soft mud made it impossible to move quickly, they were all slowed down to the same speed as the zombies.
Jack’s machete cut through the face of a zombie. Jack turned but found himself firmly stuck in the mud. A half rotted zombie was approaching him. Jack was ready for it, but was suddenly sprayed with blood when the zombie’s head exploded right in front of him. Jack looked up to see Ryan holding his blood stained baseball bat, and tipped his head in acknowledgement.
The four of them were fighting for every inch of ground.
Ray and Zoe moved faster and faster with the children towards the minivan, which was parked on the other side of the woods.
They reached the clearing, only to be stopped by the zombies surrounding the minivan.
“OH COME ON!” Ray shouted.
Bray and Ryan continued the fight at the rear of the group while Jack and Adam raced to the front after hearing Ray shout.
Jack raced to the vehicle, a zombie approaching him, but he simply sliced its stomach open, all of its intestines dropped to the ground, Jack followed with a shot to the head.
Adam was using his knife on one of the zombies, but was grabbed from behind. Adam attempted to fight free, but the zombie made a lunge for his face. A gunshot sounded out, Adam opened his eyes to see the zombie fall to the ground, he turned around and noticed Jack holding a gun aimed at the now finally dead zombie.
“I owe you one!” Adam told him.
“Actually, that’s two you owe me!” Jack told him firmly.
They hurried the kids into the car, and within moments they drove away, heading back to the school.
Squid sat in the back seat of the 4x4; he looked like a scared child running home to daddy.
His short blonde scruffy hair and stubble was stained with dirt, he looked at the two people in the front seat.
“You will be rewarded for helping me!” Squid told them.
A rusty voice spoke in reply, “I only want one thing, and you are too weak to give it to me.”
Squid frowned in fear, “We will be there soon,” he told them.
Back at the school, the zombies were now crawling under the bus to get to the living.
Kat and Tommy were crushing their heads the moment they appeared from under the bus, everyone else was packing, getting ready to leave the moment Jack and the others got back.
; Zarina was tending to Frank’s wound, “It’s not fair,” she said to him.
Frank had a look of peace on his face, he was not scared, not afraid to die and deep down he welcomed the ending. He gently took Zarina’s hand, “When the others get back, and the people leave, I want you on that bus!” he told her.
“What about you?” she asked, while trying to hold back her tears.
He gave her a small smile, “I’m already dead, it is only a matter of time!” he replied sadly.
“I’m not leaving you!” she told him.
Frank stood up and kissed Zarina with passion, “Listen to me, the last few days have been the best of my life. That is because of you! I can face death, but I need to know you’re safe before I do!” he told her gently.
The tears rolled down her face.
“I love you!” she whispered to him.
Frank kissed her again, “...and I love you, that’s why you need to go!” he replied.
They stared into each other’s eyes, when a scream echoed from outside, Frank was quick to rush out, leaving Zarina to stand there crying.
Frank looked towards the scream, it was Alice. She was standing near the front gate; several motorbikes were revving their engines.
“WE ARE MERCY, OPEN THE FUCKING GATE!” A male voice shouted out.
Frank looked around; he could see Kat and Tommy still killing the zombies, who attempted to climb under the bus, several others stood around. Frank feared they would break the gate open again, and this time would kill everyone, he knew he needed to buy them some time.
“OPEN IT!” Frank shouted to a shocked looking Alice.
The Mercy drove inside; there were at least a dozen of them.
Back on the road, Jack sat in the front of the overcrowded minivan. Zoe was driving along the black road; she kept the headlights off so she only had the shining of the moon to guide her.
Jack realized he had not spoken to Zoe properly since he returned.
“At least it stopped raining,” Jack observed.
Zoe glanced at him with a smile.
“You OK?” Jack asked her.