by Brown, TW
At last we stepped outside, and I could tell that it was late afternoon. I’d spent a good bit of the day down in that boiler room. That was at least promising. I had been told that I might be rescued if I could survive a certain length of time.
As we exited the school, I could tell that it was still quite warm outside. Judging by the light, I would guess we still had an hour or so before sunset. And it was no surprise that the bleachers were once again full. I could see a cluster of men with weapons gathered at the dugout where I’d been held earlier.
I was surprised when I was taken away from the dugout, but then decided that Don obviously didn’t want me to see what or, more likely, who was inside. Truthfully, there was only one person I could think of and I felt my stomach clench as I awaited to have my suspicion confirmed.
I was taken along the rear of the backstop and then led to what had earlier been called the VIP section. The platform already had a few people sitting there including Lisa and Natasha. Neither made eye contact with me more than to glance at me as I arrived and was shoved down in a chair.
Once I’d had my wrists cuffed to the armrests, Don grabbed his megaphone and walked over to the crowd that were assembled in the stands. I had to crane my neck to see them, and did so, searching for but failing to locate Selina.
“I gotta tell you, people,” Don began, “today has certainly smiled on us. Our good fortune seems to be like a snowball rolling downhill.”
A chorus of hoots and cheers erupted, and he let it go on for a moment before raising his hands to quiet them. When they had dialed down to a murmur, Don began to pace in front of the stands and talk.
“We have had some real problems out there lately, and as I have said earlier, much of it comes from these pathetic remnants of street gangs that are out to do nothing less than terrorize the good, honest, and God-fearing people like you.” This brought more cheers and the scattered evangelical cheers.
Once the audience had settled again, Don pointed to the dugout. “We found one of those responsible for the death of those women and children from that settlement over in Boring.”
An angry murmur swept through the crowd and Don pointed to the goons. I had decided at some point to label the albino “Thing 1” and the other guy “Thing 2”. And as a unit that almost seemed rehearsed, they bowed and opened the gate.
Thing 1 vanished long enough to duck inside and then emerge with somebody in tow. My heart sunk when my suspicions were confirmed.
They had Marshawn. His hands were bound in front of him and it looked like the two Things had had a go at him. His face was bruised and battered, and his lips and nose were still trickling blood.
“We found this…person,“ Don spat the word out like it was something foul that he could taste, “…in the act of killing two of our own.”
The crowd wasted no time in shouting out for Marshawn’s death. Don actually closed his eyes as if he might be absorbing the negative energy rolling over him from his people. I had the realization that his was how he kept them going. He used moments like this to further his agenda. He spun events to fit his purpose. He wielded hatred and fear with an expertise that was terrifying.
“This…mongrel of a human was the sort in the old society that would suck from the teat of government programs like welfare and food stamps. The kind that would use your hard-earned money to buy drugs and then blame society, the white race in particular, for all his woes. And then, when he robbed the local grocery store or robbed innocent people on the street, he would cry about the injustice perpetrated against him based on the color of his skin.” More shouts and curses rained down from the crowd, but I could tell that Don was just getting started.
“This was the sort that would pull a gun on a policeman trying to protect and serve, then have people protesting in the streets when that officer that was looking down the barrel protected himself. These protests were nothing more than more excuses for the blacks, the Mexicans, and the bleeding-heart whites to loot and vandalize. And it was always our fault.”
People started standing up now. They were shouting over each other as they demanded revenge. After all, there was no need for a trial. Their king had spoken, and his infallibility was even more certain than that of the pope. It was clear that they were eating out of Don’s hand.
But as I scanned the people, I picked out a few faces that were images of doubt. And the more I looked, the more it became clear to me that there was an illusion here. From the outside, this was a camp of likeminded racial extremists. But if you looked past the veneer of anger and hatred, there was something much more prevalent…and understandable.
Fear.
How many of these people were here because they were terrified of being out there on their own. How many of these people folded under and compromised themselves simply to have a chance at surviving?
“We are going to send this degenerate to the arena and let him become one of the soulless zombies…which…” Don made an over-exaggerated chuckle that was obviously for show, “…is probably normal for his type. Hell, just like the days of being stoned and playing video games.”
I was listening to this tirade and wondering how he could make all these leaps? And yet, I kept seeing faces that were blank, or disturbed, or…just plain scared.
I felt a surge of adrenaline run through me. My eyes locked on a familiar face. Selina Dubois was staring at me and from her expression I saw hope in her eyes. For whatever reason, she believed that I could somehow do something about this terrible situation. I wished there was a way that I could tell her with my eyes that I was sorry, but I was perhaps even more helpless than her at the moment.
“Put him in, boys,” Don called over his shoulder.
The two big goons grabbed my friend under his arms and I suddenly looked around. I was frantic. There had to be something I could do. I couldn’t just stand here and watch. I certainly couldn’t do nothing once the undead started in on him.
I looked in the octagon and saw the undead versions of Trayvonn and Karasinda along with a few others. Even worse, the children were still in there. One way or another, they had all managed to get free of the harnesses that they’d been in earlier.
Marshawn jerked away from them just as they opened the cage. They lunged and he stepped aside. Instead of making an attempt to run, he simply walked into the opening and pulled the gate shut behind him.
It did not go unnoticed by me that every man or woman with a weapon had brought it up to bear on Marshawn. Maybe that was why he seemed to simply accept his fate.
As soon as the gate was shut, Marshawn seemed to assess his situation and quickly ran over to the smallest of the child zombies. That proved to be a good call since they all just continued to watch him. They were, as usual, exhibiting peculiar behavior.
He paused just for a heartbeat before lunging in and snatching up the smallest of the children. This one was perhaps two years old. Except, he didn’t actually pick it up. He grabbed one arm and then stomped down on the child and yanked with all his might.
The arm ripped free and I actually staggered back a step at the brutal ferocity of his actions. I had no idea what he could be thinking. Even some of the crowd—I was willing to bet it was the ones who were already showing some semblance of discomfort—groaned out loud in response.
That was also all it took to up the number of “active” undead in the ring with him. All the children lurched forward to attack. But now, Marshawn was…armed!
“Brilliant,” I breathed.
Don also had a reaction to what was going on, but it didn’t match mine. His look of eager anticipation that almost bordered on lustful changed to one of astonishment that turned to anger.
“Foul!” Don shouted. You can’t do that!”
“Can is a question of ability,” I mocked. “Seems to me he was perfectly capable.”
I felt something slam into my kidneys. The pain was instant and dropped me to my knees. I hadn’t even been able to cry out. All that came from my mou
th was a pathetic squeak.
“Shut your mouth!”
I’d forgotten that Natasha was there. I’d been so caught up in what was going on that she had managed to vanish from my circle of awareness.
I was on my hands and knees and had to wrench my head around to see her. She was standing over me with a COBRA baton. She was holding the base with her left hand and slapping the end of it into her open right palm.
“You hit like a girl,” I managed once I could breathe.
Her eyes widened and I almost laughed. In fact, had I been capable, I would’ve. But there was still the issue of getting my ability to take a breath back without it being pure agony. Then a trickle of blood came out of the corner of her mouth.
I had to blink a few times to be sure that I was not seeing things. When Lisa stepped around Natasha, I understood. That was also when I saw the tip of the blade push the rest of the way through Natasha’s chest.
“I always hated you,” Lisa whispered. Only, instead of hate and venom, her voice was almost a purr.
Natasha opened her mouth to say something. I imagine she had some sort of nasty retort, but all that came out was blood and a sound that was equal parts gaging and choking.
“I didn’t quite catch that,” Lisa cooed as she yanked her blade free and let Natasha drop.
“What the fuck!” Don’s voice boomed, causing me to turn my head way too fast.
“Donnie, dearest…do you remember how many times I warned that bitch about crossing me?” Lisa stepped past me with no visual care or concern for the half dozen guns that spun her direction.
I, on the other hand, wondered how many of those people had the ability to hit a target from any real distance. Since she was now standing directly beside me, I had a feeling I was going to be more than a little disappointed in their various skill levels.
“Have you lost your mind, Lisa?” Don fumed as he began to stomp over to the platform. And that was when I noticed that something was just a bit off. Not every gun was aimed at Lisa. As I scanned the area in front of me without trying to be obvious, I could see a few guns were pointed at the other guards. I had to make the deduction that perhaps these were Lisa’s people.
Wait…did Lisa have people?
Natasha was now sprawled in a growing pool of blood and I had to move to keep it from getting my hands. And then I heard a meaty thud that brought my attention back to the arena.
Marshawn was standing over a zombie and jerking the arm out of its face. He’d stabbed it with the jagged end. I had to imagine he’d plunged it through the eye socket since that would be the easiest area to pierce and stab the brain.
Trayvonn was shambling up from behind, but Marshawn was ready and kicked backward. He sent the zombie careening into the fence. Before it could recover, he sidestepped one of the children and swept its feet from under it and stabbed down with a vicious attack using the apparently pointed end to dispatch yet another of the undead.
Karasinda was the next to close on him and he grabbed her by the hair and slung her forward. She collided with Trayvonn and the pair went to the ground in a heap of tangled limbs.
“You disappoint me, Lisa,” Don scolded like he was a parent speaking to a wayward child. “I gave you a place in my bed as one of the chosen. You were my favorite. I brought you with me when all this started and swore to protect you.”
“You never said anything about…” She paused and turned to octagon where Marshawn was dispatching yet another of the undead. “You never said anything about this.”
“Don’t act like you didn’t know what we were building here. You were just as adamant about this as me,” Don scoffed.
“What?” she spun back to the man as he reached the bottom step of the platform. “When did I say anything that made you think I would be okay with what you are doing?”
“We used to watch the news and you used to say—” Don began.
“Are you even kidding me right now?” Lisa snarled, cutting Don off. “I never said anything about what is going on here. Being upset about crime, or gang violence, illegals being given special privileges, or people abusing the system has nothing to do with wanting to try and commit genocide!”
“You went on the patrols. You see what is out there.”
“But never once did I see anything that justified using children as zombie bait…strapping them to the zombie versions of their parents. That is a special kind of evil.”
Don stopped his advance. I wasn’t sure if it was because he just realized that she was holding a nasty looking curved blade in front of her and he didn’t have a single weapon on him. I used their confrontation to sneak a quick peek at the armed sentries scattered around the area.
After a quick look, at least from what I was seeing in front of me, Lisa had the numbers in armed guards. Had this been in the planning for a while and this was just a happy coincidence?
“Lisa, put the weapon away.” Suddenly, Don’s voice was soft. Almost kind. “We can talk about this. You’re still my number one girl. We can work this out.”
“No…we really can’t.” Lisa backed up a step to maintain a distance between herself and Don. “This is not something I can be a part of. And you are not even close to the man I thought you to be.”
“Think about what you would be giving up,” Don said with a sickly sweetness that did not come across at all sincere; especially when he waved his hands up and down his body to indicate himself.
“I am sure you won’t have any problems filling the void,” Lisa shot back.
There was a moment when Don looked confused. I wasn’t sure if he could not believe somebody had spurned his offer or perhaps Lisa’s statement in general.
“You know I can’t just let you go, babe,” Don said, his tone dropping to a combination of dangerous and almost pleading.
He glanced at me and then gave a dismissive sniff. I’d gotten up and was now looking back and forth between the faceoff happening between Lisa and him as well as Marshawn as he finished off the last of the zombies in the octagon. He was now looking between me, Lisa, Don, and past the dugout for some reason.
From my vantage point, I couldn’t see past the bleachers. The dugout was off to the side and, while I could see the entrance to it, I could not see beyond.
Don paused and looked around. For the first time, he seemed to realize that not all the armed sentries were pointing their guns where they should. He turned back to face Lisa and his expression had transformed to the evil sneer I was more familiar with.
“Is that right?” he scoffed. “You been planning a bit of an overthrow?”
“We just want to leave,” Lisa replied. “All you have to do is let us walk out of here and nobody has to get hurt.”
I was more than a little impressed. Lisa had no tremor in her voice. Clearly that outward badass she projected visibly with the leather and blades were more than just image. The hand that still held the blade out in front of her was not shaking at all. She was calm and steady.
Fearless.
“You have to know I can’t let that happen.” Don shook his head for emphasis. “You know every inch of this place. Hell, we might have a weakness that you could come back to exploit. Or…” He glanced at me. “Him? You gonna leave with that twerp?”
Twerp? Seriously, did anybody use that word anymore?
“I doubt it,” Lisa said with a sniff. She shot me a sideways glance that was almost disdainful. “We just want to go our way. We have no desire to fight you and the people here. But you should know that not all these people are here because they want to be. If you press this…you might find yourself on the losing end.”
Don opened and shut his mouth like a fish out of water a few times. He glanced around again like he might be trying to gauge how many people were really on his side. I took that time to shoot a glance at Marshawn again. He was no longer looking this direction at all. His gaze was locked on something that I obviously could not see.
Was help coming?
Where
would he find anybody to help us? He certainly had not had enough time to return to our place and bring back any of our people.
“Lisa, since you are my main girl…here’s what I am gonna do.” Don clasped his hands in front of himself like he was about to give a lecture to an eager class. “I’m gonna let you go.”
I wasn’t the only one to hear the emphasis he put on that one word. Movement out of the corner of my eye drew my attention to the goons. They had left their spot by the arena and were now moving over to flank Don, arms folded across their massive chests.
“But the people that are holding my guns, pointed at my people? I can’t allow that. They stay. They will be given a fair opportunity to explain their actions. If they have compelling arguments, I will be merciful and banish them from this place. If not…” His gaze drifted over towards Marshawn. “Then they face the…” His voice trailed off. I looked over and realized that Marshawn was still looking past the dugout. Only, now, he had a smile on his face.
“Maybe our guest here can prove just how much of a badass he is. Taking down a bunch of zombies with the arm he ripped off a child is one thing. But how long can he last in a knife fight?” Don turned back to Lisa for a moment, then shifted his gaze to me. “And I’ll even toss in this little bitch. Last person standing is set free.”
“No.” Lisa let that single word sit for a moment before she continued. “My guys come with me.” She glanced at me for a second. “Do what you want with this one. I would’ve brought him with us, but not at the expense of any of my people.”
“YOUR people?” Don roared. “None of these idiots is yours. Every one of them owes me their lives. Hell…so do you for that matter, but I am willing to let you go out of respect for what we once had. Hell, I have another dozen or so waiting to take your place.”
Nice to know where I stood. I couldn’t really blame her. In fact, I wasn’t sure why she’d made the offer to bust me out of this place to begin with.
There was this moment where everybody seemed frozen. It was a total standoff in just about every sense of the word. None of Lisa’s people were flinching and she had made no move to lower her knife.