Day One (Book 1): Alive

by Michael McDonald

  I hit the fence and swiftly slide the bronze latch to the right, unlocking it, but instead of trying to take the time to force it open with my full arms, I kicked as hard as I could and it swung open on the first try. All four of us dashed into the ditch, Devin shut the door and we headed in a westerly direction, hunkered as close to the ground as possible, trying to avoid the large, unseen rocks, broken bottles, and anything else that might inhibit our advance safely.

  After thirty feet, we hunkered down near a large shaggy bush and I let the SBR hang on the sling and used that hand to cover Kember’s mouth. The last thing we needed was to get several yards from my house undetected only to be located because my daughter would not be quiet. She fought to remove my hand, although I was stronger and after several moments, she stopped trying and we halted as vehicle lights appeared to our right in the distance.

  “Now what?” Devin whispered, watching our rear.

  At first I had no idea who he was talking to until I turned around and see him and Johnny looking at me, as though I were their new commander in chief. I was at a loss for words. I hadn’t expected the plan to work past the window – expected a group of soldiers to be waiting for us outside – let alone get us into the ditch, so my plan ended there. I shrugged my shoulders to them. “I didn’t think we’d make it this far to be honest with you.”

  “Do what?” Johnny asked. The tone in his voice represented exactly what Devin must have been thinking at this moment in time.

  “I thought for sure the soldiers would surround us the second we jumped out the window. There is a shitload of them and only four of us, well three of us and my daughter,” I stated as a HUMMV passed us slowly, possibly heading to my house to back the current troops up or looking for us. I shot my eyes to Johnny. “I didn’t ask to be the new leader! I’m nowhere near qualified to lead anyone anywhere.” I announced.

  “We should have stayed in the house,” Devin added.

  “No one’s stopping you from going back,” I shot back.

  Johnny interjected before things got out of hand. “Okay, knock it off, both of you. We are out here and we’re safe… for the moment. We need to come together and figure out a way to get away from this place alive, not go for each other’s throats like a pack of misguided dogs.”

  Devin nodded slowly and looked at me. “Sorry.”

  “It’s okay… I probably would have reacted the same way,” I said.

  Johnny looked into the night sky; unfortunately there were no stars any longer to guide us, as the rain clouds were settling in overhead. “First things first,” Johnny said. “We need to find another place to hold up or we’re going to get soaked and it’s not getting any warmer. From there we can plan our next move, together.”

  “Sounds like a plan to me,” I agreed.

  I was about to ask him which way were we going to head, when distant shouts from the soldiers pulled our attention. We could hear them touting about mounting up, and then moments later the HUMMV’s could be heard driving away. We moved back the way we had come and watched from the bleak shadows as the convoy passed through a stop sign and continued forward. Several soldiers on foot lead the way and several more followed.

  “You think they are really leaving, or just making us think that so we’ll come back and be easier targets?” Devin asked, watching the convoy move away.

  “I don’t know,” I said, not knowing if he had asked me or was just speaking out loud.

  “Only one sure-fire way to know,” Johnny said, and then stood slowly. He looked at me. “You stay here while Devin and I check things out. Stay down and stay out of sight just in case. If it’s a trap, take your daughter and get out of here. We’ll try and cover you as long as we can.”

  Devin looked at Johnny shocked. “We will?”

  “Yes, we will,” he said. “This guy gave us food and shelter when he could have easily kicked us out. We owe him that much at least.”

  I watched as they both moved ten feet in the opposite direction, climbed out of the ditch, peered through the open fence door and disappeared from sight.

  I wondered if I would see them again. Wondered if they were walking directly into a trap, or had the military really left as it had looked to us? We weren’t important after all; I mean we really had nothing to offer them, that is unless they were killing everything they ran across. If that was the case, it could very well be a trap. I thought about stopping them, although they were already out of sight and the ditch, so far, had given ample cover. There was no need to endanger my Daughter any further, so I stayed put.

  Whatever the outcome was going to be, we would all know the truth in just a matter of minutes. I scanned the ditch toward the west and began planning my route if it was a trap and I needed to leave in a hurry. The ditch continued west for only fifty more feet before running back into the street. From there it turned ninety degrees to the north and ran a full block, although there were no trees or bushes to shield us from any vehicles that might pass by, so I would have to crawl along the slimy bottom in order to remain safe, hidden and alive.

  Johnny, with Devin backing him up, made their way through the backyard. They were extra careful about where they stepped and were constantly watching the darkness for the signs of movement, no matter how small. They inched their way to the wide gap where the soldier had surprised them earlier to find him no longer there. His buddies must have drug him away as they prepared to leave. His death would not go unforgiven, they would return in greater numbers with a vengeance, but when? We had to be gone long before that.

  Johnny motioned for Devin to remain at the window while he entered and cleared the house, that way if it was a set-up, only one of them would be captured and Devin could escape to the wide mouthed ditch without any problems, explain what had happened and help us bug out.

  “Are you sure about this?” Devin asked, looking nervously around.

  Johnny held a finger to his lips and nodded, then turned and crawled through the window as silently as any professional burglar. Devin watched him check the door immediately to his left, which lead into the kitchen, found nothing and began moving toward the master bedroom and the second door that lead into the living room.

  “I don’t like this one bit,” Devin mumbled under his breath and turned to ensure no one was on the street watching him. His fear of soldiers popping out of nowhere kept him on his toes and the even greater fear of one of the HUMMV’s returning and opening up on them with a .50 caliber mounted machine gun made him tremble. It was serious firepower in which you could not hide from. The round, depending upon which one they had loaded, was capable of all kinds of nasty things… however, instant death was the one true constant with any of the rounds.

  “Hey,” A voice spoke and startled Devin so badly that he almost turned and fired point blank. Johnny was looking at him through the open window and could see the fear in his eyes. “You alright, man?”

  “No I’m not,” Devin responded.

  “Well, climb in here then. I checked the whole house and it’s clear.”

  “You sure?”

  Johnny nodded. “Just get your ass in here and cover the front door while I go get Brandon and his kid.”

  The fear of being outside was great, but the fear of being inside and trapped or surrounded was even greater in Devin’s mind. He shook his head. “You stay there and I’ll go get them.” He dashed away before any other words could be uttered.

  I could hear the approaching swift stride of someone, but had no idea if it was Johnny, Devin, or more soldiers, returned to look for us. I gripped the SBR tightly with my right hand, using my left hand to pull Kember closer and cover her ears. If I had to shoot someone the concussion and sound from my weapon was more than enough to deafen an adult. It was even more dangerous for a toddler.

  Once again, as I had done a million times before, I prayed I wouldn’t have to shoot.

  A voice came to me, barely in a whisper and had I not seen the faint movement a few yards away, I was about
to play it off as the wind blowing through the large oak trees limbs above my head and nothing more. I slipped my finger on the trigger and held Kember’s ears. She didn’t like me shielding her so tightly from the world. Devin stepped into the faint light of a nearby street lamp, searching the ditch for our whereabouts.

  I started to raise my hand and call to him when something stopped me. I couldn’t see anything but his upper body sticking through the fence door, which meant I could not know for certain that he wasn’t being forced to call me into the open. When you’ve experienced what I’ve gone through in the last week or so, your mind has a tendency of blowing things greatly out of proportion to the point where you don’t know what is real and what is just over imagination. And I was more than sick of feeling helpless and without real choices. “Over here,” I replied in the same barely audible tone and waved my hand, freeing Kember to see the darkened world.

  Devin’s eyes filtered through the ditch until they came to me. I stood slowly, still poised to strike if forced too. He motioned for me to come to him and I did slowly, my eyes darting from left to right as I moved. Kember fought against my grip of her and I was concerned she might cry out at any moment, so I released her slightly and she was happy once more.

  “Johnny cleared the house,” Devin said. “He said it was safe and had me come and get you.”

  “The soldiers are gone?” I asked.

  “Yeah. Now let’s get inside before the rain gets here,” he said offering me a hand out of the ditch.

  I was nervous walking back to my own house, as if I were a prisoner being returned after an escape attempt. The walls within were anything but paneling and painted sections of sheet rock. To me they were iron bars disguised as belongings, furniture, clothing and such. Nothing more than subtle perceptions made to fool the eye and relax the mind, although I saw right through all of that and into the heart of the truth. To me no amount of paint or expensive paneling could cover up what I knew was there, just below the surface circling like a hungry shark, waiting for the perfect moment to lunge up from the depths and attack without mercy.

  When we reached the window, Devin held Kember while I crawled through and then retrieved her. I watched his back as he made his way in, and then shut the window and drew the shades, cutting any amount of light from venturing out into the unfriendly night.

  “I say we pack as much shit as we can into that SUV of yours and haul ass, now!” Devin suggested.

  “I agree with you,” I replied, already looking for several things to bring. “Get Johnny and you two grab whatever you need from the cupboards and fridge.”

  “I’m on it.” And with that Devin vanished.

  I sat Kember down and she grabbed a doll from under my computer desk and began stripping its clothes. I dropped a large blanket on the floor and decided I’d use it as a make-shift carry bag, putting whatever we would need within it, and then tie it up and haul it out to the SUV. It wasn’t Prada luggage, I know this, but it would get the job done.

  I grabbed the shotgun from my closet as well and found it still loaded with buckshot. I had enough weapons in the back of the SUV to take over a small country, if I was so inclined too, so what harm would it be to add another weapon of mass destruction to my growing arsenal? Can you really have too many weapons?

  From the bedroom door I yelled for Johnny and Devin to hurry up, that we were leaving in under ten minutes, whether they were ready or not. Lloyd’s body was still in the same place where he’d fallen and I quickly turned away, unsettled by that fact he had died for nothing. Although I hadn’t known him long, he had seemed like a good man, someone with whom I could have had a great friendship with in the past world. Of course that would have been a different time than now and under much better circumstances.

  Why didn’t they respond? My mind asked, as I was moving away from the door, which stopped me and I turned back toward the living room. I stopped at the threshold and scanned the dimly lit room, unable to see Devin or Johnny. There wasn’t any faint light coming from the kitchen, nor did I see any other lights from the hallway. The entire house, with the exception of my room was almost completely dark. “This isn’t the time to be screwing around guys!”

  Still no reply.

  I slowly backed into the bedroom and retrieved the SBR from my computer chair; it never should have left my grasp to begin with. An uneasy feeling was coming over me – I could feel the danger closing in around me. If there had ever been a time in which escape was paramount, this was it. My instincts were telling me to grab Kember and go. Don’t wait!

  “Time to go, baby,” I said scooping Kember up and heading for the door. With the SBR slung over my shoulder I used my free hand to pick up the shotgun. How would I grab the make-shift Prada luggage though? I wasn’t about to take a load out to the SUV and then come back for the rest, as I had learned the hard way about pulling stupid shit like that in the past.

  “Dammit,” I mumbled under my breath.

  Wisps of shadows danced across the floor in front of me and I quickly put Kember down and shielded her from the emerging danger, shouldered the SBR and waited.

  “That won’t be necessary,” a voice from the darkness said.

  “Show yourself!” I demanded, ready to fight.

  “There’s a child present and I do not want her to get hurt,” they replied. “So lower your weapon.”

  “Show yourself!” The anger was rushing through me, tunneling my view of the situation. My reckless assault propelled me forward without caution. The lights popped on and though I fought a few quick seconds threw the blinding light, my vision cleared and I could see a soldier immediately to my right with an M4 carbine pointed at me. Six more on the opposite side of the couch and a tall man with only a sidearm – hands folded behind his back – looking directly at me. Two more soldiers ushered out of the dining room with Devin and Johnny who were gagged and cuffed. That explained to me why they had never answered any of my calls.

  “I’m Captain John Andrews with the United States Army. And you are?”

  I was staring down the barrels of a shitload of assault rifles, so at that moment in time my name was ‘fucked.’ There was no going through them and living, no going around them either, and to think that I could easily exit through the window with Kember was a complete and total waste of time.

  “Where I come from, when someone tells you who they are, and then asks yours, you give it to them or you’re considered rude. And I’m sure you don’t want me to think you’re rude, do you?” he asked.

  “I’m Brandon,” I replied. “Brandon Ellis.”

  “There, now that wasn’t so bad was it?” He moved closer to the couch to get a better look at me and I was able to see him better as well. His forearms were toned like polished marble and he had a huge tribal tattoo extending from his wrist all the way up and disappearing under his rolled sleeve, several inches above the elbow. His eyes were fiercely dark, stone colored like wet rocks drying slowly in the sunlight. His uniform was well pressed; everything on it was in immaculate condition, as though he had just put it on moments before walking through my door. His combat boots shined like ebony keys on a high dollar piano and his cover – the hat upon his head – was perfectly squared with his face, centered and hung low almost concealing his eyes brows all together.

  “We haven’t done anything to you, we’re just trying to gather as much stuff to survive and make it through another day. So what do you want?”

  “Straight to the point I see. No screwing around with you, huh?”

  The subtle build up was already boring me and would surely get worse. “Just get to the point.”

  He stopped and stared at me for a few seconds. “I can deduce that you having a daughter means the only time you would do anything foolish or irrational, is if someone tried to harm her in any way, correct?”

  I simply nodded my head.

  “I thought so,” he stated and looked from me to Johnny and then Devin. “Then which one of you killed one of
my men in the backyard?”

  My blood instantly ran cold. I knew that they would return and seek revenge for their murdered soldier, and even though I had not been the one to shoot him, I still felt my palms begin to bead up with sweat. The nervousness came at me full speed and there was no way to dodge it. The Captain’s eyes quickly met mine and I wanted to look away, yet at the same time if I did, that could easily resonate guilt in this man’s head. And that’s the last thing I wanted him to think.

  “Was it you that shot my man?” he asked me.

  Without a fraction of hesitation I shook my head, instantly condemning the men that had helped me escape the first time. I could feel their stares burning holes through my body, but when I looked at them; neither man was looking at me. Instead they were both looking at the floor; no doubt they were aware of what would come next.

  The Captain motioned for the soldier to my right to take my little girl and as he took a single step, I jerked the SBR up into my shoulder and switched it from semi-auto to full-auto. “Touch my daughter and I’ll kill every last one of you!” I said staring through the micro optic at the frozen soldier. He knew I wasn’t playing and stopped. The full-auto mode had no way of ensuring that I could kill them all, but it did give me a slight advantage, as the other soldier’s carried their weapons barrel down. In order to shoot me they would have to raise them, which gave me more than a few good seconds to pull the trigger and swing the short barrel in their direction.

  The Captain smiled and pointed a finger at me. “I knew you weren’t that foolish. You have a child to attend to, and the last thing you want to do is make the wrong choice. Am I right?”

  I simply nodded once again and he motioned for the soldier to stand down. I however, kept my weapon up and ready, watching the Captain circle the two men like a predator, trying to figure out which one would make the easiest and quickest meal.