Without

by E. E. Borton

  Needing to complete my perimeter surveillance, I left the rooftop – and the long rifle – making my way around to the opposite side of the complex. As I suspected, there was another sentry at the back door. I didn’t see anyone come out of the other side door, but knew there’d be at least one person inside.

  I decided the best place to attempt a breach was where I saw the guard standing in the doorway. It was the only side without windows. I crept closer to the building, stopping behind a van that had died forty feet from the door. The sentry turned his back to me and walked down the hall. Pulling my knife, I moved up to the wall beside the open door. Peeking around the corner, I saw the sentry still walking away. When he heard me coming up behind him, it was too late.

  With his shotgun slung across his back and the end of my knife sticking out the front of his neck, he had no way to alert the others while he was still kicking. I backpedaled, dragging him down the hall to the stairwell by the door. I opened it, throwing his body in a dark corner under the stairs.

  Moving back into the dim hall, I counted two doors on each side. All four were closed. The building was separated into two sections by a fire door. A small window allowed me to see the sentry on the other side slumped over in a chair, sleeping by a lantern. I couldn’t pass up the easy opportunity to remove another threat. As I pressed down on the handle, the door squeaked but not enough to wake him.

  I walked though into a larger hall that connected all four entrance points. From that position I could see the backs of the three heads guarding the front and rear entrances. I crossed the danger zone with confidence, heading toward the oblivious guard. The men who were awake at their posts were looking for trouble or easy targets coming from the streets. My advantage was that the trouble I’d be bringing them was coming from the inside.

  A few feet away from the sleeping sentry, the aurora unleashed a massive sonic boom, startling the guard awake. The first – and last – thing he saw was the blade coming down across his throat. In the last seconds of his life, he reached down for his hunting rifle that I was standing on, pinning it to the ground. When he stopped moving, I started again.

  I wasn’t sure how I was going to take the two men guarding the front door without alerting the others. As I felt the vibration in my chest of the next blast from the aurora, Mother Nature became an ally. I sheathed the knife, trading it for the two Glocks.

  At the first sign that the sky was about to roar, I turned the corner, heading for the front entrance. With my guns raised I walked up behind the two sitting ducks. When Mother Nature rocked Lafayette, standing a foot away from the two heads, I squeezed both triggers.

  Spinning around, dropping to a knee, I locked onto the final target in case he could tell the difference between thunder and gunfire. He couldn’t. My knife took the last guard on the ground level while he was still sitting in his lawn chair.

  All eight apartments on the first floor were empty. With my gun leading the way, I moved into the stairwell and then up to the second floor. I didn’t see any movement through the small window in the door leading into the upstairs hall. Not knowing what was on the other side, I crouched down and opened it. I raised my gun but there was nobody in sight. The difference on the second floor was that every door was open.

  I heard female voices as I clung to the wall and approached the first apartment. Against my better judgment I turned the corner with my gun lowered to my side. Five women in the living room rose to their feet when they saw me enter.

  “I’m not going hurt you,” I whispered. “But if anyone yells out, I will.”

  They complied.

  “Where I can find these women?” I said, holding out a photo Bud gave me. “Their names are Cynthia and Erin Jackson. I’m here to take them home.”

  “I think they’re in the apartment across the hall,” said a young woman.

  “Shut your damn mouth, Tammy,” said an older woman.

  I raised my gun, stepping toward the old woman, aiming at her face. “You need to shut your mouth, lady, or I’ll do it for you.”

  “Alex is gonna put a bullet in yours, mister,” said the woman, smiling. “He’s gonna –”

  Since the event, there have been a lot of firsts in my life. I just added punching a woman in the face to that list. She went down in a heap, unconscious. I didn’t have a problem with it and neither did the other four. One of them grabbed a pillow off of the couch, pinning it over the downed woman’s face. Hearing a grunt, she pressed it down harder. A second girl knelt by her side, helping her guarantee no air would reach her lungs.

  “I take it she’s with them?”

  “Yes,” replied Tammy. “There’s at least one in each room.”

  “Are there any men up here with guns?” I asked. “I know about the five goons downstairs.”

  “Other than Alex and Terry, I don’t think so,” said Tammy. “Those two are down the hall in the first apartment past the fire door. The rest of the men have gone out for the raid.”

  “Can you point out the den mother in Cynthia’s room for me?”

  “With pleasure.”

  Tammy walked into the next room, pointing to a woman sitting at a dining room table. Before she could yell out, I knocked her out of her chair. After suffocating the first den mother, the two women came after the second. I turned, looking into the living room. Cynthia and Erin were sitting next to each other on the couch. Cynthia wrapped her arms around her daughter when I walked up to them.

  “Bud sent me,” I said, smiling. “He’d like for you to come home now. He’s been a little worried about you two.”

  “Bud?” said Cynthia, puzzled. “He’s alive?”

  “Very,” I said.

  “They told us he was dead,” said Erin. “They told us he came looking for us and they killed him. Are you sure it’s my dad? Are you sure he’s alive?”

  “Yes, I’m sure,” I said. “But you need to go now. The others will be back soon. They’re not going to be happy with what I did here.”

  “You’re not coming with us?” asked Erin.

  “I’ll be right behind you,” I said. “It looks like there are a few other folks who’d like to leave this place.”

  “If you can,” said Cynthia, standing, whispering in my ear, “kill him.”

  “Alex?”

  “Yes,” replied Cynthia, glaring. “He’s sick. The things he did to these women were inhumane. He needs to die.”

  “I’ll see what I can do,” I said. “You need to head for your parents’ house. Don’t go to Bud. I’ll find a way to bring him to you.”

  “Okay.”

  I needed Tammy one more time. She obliged, walking me down the hall to where Alex was staying. I stood against the wall beside his door as she knocked. She yelled that some of the girls were running. I motioned for her to get behind me. Terry was the first to come darting out of the room. He didn’t notice I was there until I put two rounds in his back between his shoulder blades. I turned my aim to the inside of the apartment, catching Alex as he was coming out. He dropped his shotgun, throwing his hands in the air.

  “Any more inside with you?” I asked.

  “Three women in the back room,” answered Alex, shaking.

  “Are they armed?”

  “No.”

  “Tell them to come out.”

  All three women came out of the bedroom with wide eyes and hands up. I let them know I wasn’t going to hurt them and they were safe. I asked Alex where he kept the food and supplies for the group. He gave up the information without hesitating. (The leader of the cowards seemed more concerned with self-preservation than maintaining control.) Tammy gathered the women and they took everything.

  When everyone was outside – most of them now armed – I told her to lead the group around town and into the square from the south side. While giving them instructions, I bound Alex’s hands and tied a leash around his neck.

  “Please, don’t kill me,” said Alex, crying.

  “I’m not going to kil
l you,” I said. “But trust me; you’re going to wish I had.”

  Chapter 26

  (Day 13)

  King Alex

  With a firm grip on his leash, I recovered the rifle from the rooftop and directed Alex to lead the way back to the square. For a man about to face certain death at the hands of the people he tortured, I expected more of an effort to escape. It seemed the only fight left in him was coming from his mouth. Without his merry band of thugs, he offered little in the way of being a threat.

  “You and I both know I’m a dead man walking,” said Alex. “The least you could do is talk to me.”

  “I’ve had a long night killing your friends,” I said. “I’m not in the mood for a conversation.”

  “That, you did,” said Alex. “All of them. What are you? Some kind of super cop?”

  “No,” I said. “I’m just a guy keeping up my end of the deal.”

  “What deal was that?”

  “Find two women you kidnapped, tortured, and raped, and take them home.”

  “Looks like you accomplished the mission,” said Alex.

  “I keep my promises.”

  “You know, I’m not a bad guy,” said Alex. “Just like you, I’m trying to survive out here. Do you know what I did before the world went to hell? Go ahead, guess.”

  “Sunday school teacher?”

  “Ha, funny. But not even close. I was a dentist. Can you believe that?”

  “I couldn’t care less what you did in your past life,” I said. “But you’re wrong. You are a bad guy. You’ll figure that one out soon enough.”

  “Is that why you’re not going to kill me?” asked Alex. “You’re going to let them do it?”

  “Yep.”

  “I didn’t torture or rape them,” said Alex. “I know the two women you’re talking about. I did take them, but they did walk right into our camp. If I didn’t hold them, my men would’ve thought I was weak. People don’t respond well to weak leaders. You may not believe this, but I actually protected them. I didn’t let anyone hurt them.”

  “You were saving them for yourself,” I said. “Drop the righteous bullshit, Alex. They were going to pay a price for your protection. Maybe not right away, but eventually you would’ve made them pay with the only thing they had to offer.”

  “I’m sure you’ve noticed a few things have changed, my friend,” said Alex. “A pocket full of cash won’t buy you anything. Drugs, booze, and sex are the new currency.”

  “Call me your friend one more time and I’ll tighten that leash. You and I are not friends.”

  “Am I wrong?” said Alex. “Be honest with me. I’m a dead man anyway. Nobody where we’re going will care what I have to say. Tell me I’m wrong and I won’t say another word. Did you pay cash for your last meal? Did you use your credit card to book a hotel room? Have you not had to kill to make it this far?”

  “I haven’t had to rape or trade women for guns to make it this far. The only people I’ve had to kill are people like you.”

  “People like me?” said Alex. “I was trying to make my way home from Chattanooga when I was stopped by a group of armed men. One of their guys had been shot and was bleeding to death. I was able to patch him up and save his life. After that I had no choice but to go with them. It was either that or die.”

  “And since then there hasn’t been a chance for you to escape?” I asked, knowing the answer. “Weak, Alex. Very weak. I’m being honest with you. Why don’t you show me the same courtesy?”

  “No, you’re right,” said Alex. “It wasn’t difficult moving up the chain of command. A little education goes a long way out here now. I admit it. I tasted a little power leading those morons and I wanted more. They’d do anything I told them to do.”

  “How did you manage that?”

  “There were three men who were leading the group when they took me,” said Alex. “All three were addicts. When they were running low on drugs, I told them where to find the pharmaceutical equivalents to heroin and meth. We’d raid a pharmacy or doctor’s office and I’d get them high. I became their best friend. They gave me food, water, and protection. They offered me women, too.”

  “And you’re not a bad guy how?”

  “At first, I declined the women,” said Alex. “I’m not lying. But when I saw what they were doing to them, it made me sick. They would use them up and toss them away like trash. When they offered a young girl to me, I accepted. She stayed with me, but I never forced her to do anything. When she was with me, they left her alone.”

  “How noble,” I said. “I’m guessing that nobility didn’t last long.”

  “She came to me,” said Alex. “Four days after they took her, she willingly climbed in to my bed. I never asked her to do that.”

  “I’m sure you didn’t tell her to stop either.”

  “No, I didn’t,” said Alex. “Since we’re being honest here, it felt good to have someone to be with. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever put my eyes on. A woman like that would never be with me under any other circumstance, but she felt safe with me. Was that so wrong?”

  “Do you seriously believe she wanted to be with you, Alex? Come on now, she had no choice. In your fucked up head you may not think you raped her, but you did.”

  “I know that,” said Alex, stopping and turning around.

  I could see the pain on his face.

  “Remember which end of the leash you’re on,” I said, lowering my rifle and pointing it at his chest.

  “I know that, too.”

  “Good. Then keep moving.”

  He complied.

  “One night after I got them high, they decided they wanted their turn with her,” said Alex. “All three of them. She tried to fight, but it just made them hurt her more. There was nothing I could do.

  “When they finished beating her, they left her naked and bleeding by the fire. After they passed out, I took her to my room. She never regained consciousness. They killed that beautiful girl.”

  I wanted to correct him, saying that he was a part of “they,” but he’d be paying for that soon enough. I could hear the genuine sadness in his voice. If his story had ended there, I wouldn’t have had him on a leash.

  “I didn’t have a gun,” continued Alex, “but I had other weapons. The next day I acted like nothing happened. Hell, they didn’t remember anyway. But that night they had the best high of their pathetic lives and their last. My only regret is that I didn’t make them hurt before they overdosed and died.”

  “So that’s how you moved up the chain,” I said. “Nice work.”

  “The crazy thing is, not all of the others left after I killed those three,” said Alex. “A few people they kidnapped did leave, but not all of them. I guess they didn’t have a place to go. They looked at me as the guy who liberated them from the psychos. That night two of the women that stayed wanted to stay with me. They did have a choice. They did feel safe with me.”

  “Have you ever heard of Stockholm Syndrome?” I asked. “It amazes me that you actually believe your own crap. I’ll even give it to you that those cowards needed to die, but all you did was fill the position they vacated.

  “Cynthia and her daughter didn’t have a choice. The woman that escaped from you had a different story about how you treat your guests. Your sob story isn’t going to save your sorry ass, buddy. You became the men you killed. Plain and simple.”

  “Look, I’m no saint,” said Alex. “Things just started spiraling out of control. More people joined us because we could offer them what they needed to survive. When stragglers would walk into our camp, they looked at me like I was some kind of badass. I was a fucking dentist two weeks ago, and now I’m treated like a king. My wife took her new tits, most of my money, and banged half of north Chattanooga two years after we were married. I was never the king of anything. Like I said, just being honest here.”

  “Why Lafayette?” I asked. “There wasn’t enough to pillage around Chattanooga?”

  “I was
born and raised here,” said Alex. “I moved after I graduated from school. I know the area and I know there’s a huge food distribution warehouse on the edge of town. There’s more than enough in there to feed the people of Lafayette and my group for months. Five days ago a few of us peacefully walked into the square looking for help. My hometown turned us away at gunpoint. They said if we came back, they’d kill us.”

  “Aren’t you the one that told me a few things have changed?” I said. “They’re just trying to survive this thing like you are. The difference is, they’re defending what they have. You’re trying to take it from them. A better idea would’ve been to look elsewhere for supplies. Or better yet, figure out how to grow your own food.”

  “They would’ve cut my throat if I told them we were just going to walk away,” said Alex. “I’m the one that told them about the food warehouse. I’m the one that brought them here. They followed me. When the group discovered it was easier to take what we needed by force, any other way was ignored. Killing three addicts is one thing. Now there are over three dozen armed men who would love to take my position. If I don’t provide them what they need, they’ll replace me with someone who will.”

  “Again, walking away would’ve been a better choice,” I said. “Now you can’t.”

  “I made some bad choices,” said Alex. “I took advantage of the situation and abused my power to get laid. But do I deserve to die because of it?”

  “Not my call.”

  “Of course it is,” said Alex. “You’re the one with the gun. You get to make all the choices. Doesn’t that sound familiar?”

  “If you’re seriously trying to compare us, don’t,” I said. “I never raised my weapon to take from anyone.”

  “Guns aren’t the only weapon. You haven’t taken advantage of anyone or anything since all this started? Nothing? You’re that pure?”

  “Pure enough not to end up on the end of a leash,” I said.

  “They know nothing about me, but they’re going to kill me,” said Alex, stopping again. “I’m sorry I couldn’t control what the others were doing. I swear to God I tried to stop them. They listened to me when the first few women were taken, but after a couple of days they didn’t care about what I had to say. I’m not a bad guy. I’m just a dentist who got caught up in a bad situation. I want to survive like you and everyone else. Don’t let them kill me. At least make them listen to what I have to say. Please, I don’t want to die like this.”