Not quite where I was aiming, but that’ll work, James thought. The last one was on the third floor balcony and would’ve been the first one they took out, but he was too busy sleeping in a chair to notice anything. He slumped a little when Connor’s bullet took him in the skull. He’d never be waking up from that nap.
They lay there, watching the entrance and the sides of the building, waiting for anyone to come out. After a couple minutes they decided the plan had actually worked. James got up first and patted his brother on the shoulder, then took off across the street. He knew Connor was covering him while he ran, but he still stayed behind cover as much as possible. James made it to a car parked in the middle of the street and set his AR on the hood, aiming at the courthouse, covering his brother’s approach. A zombie smacked its hand against the glass from inside the car but he didn’t even flinch. He knew it couldn’t get out and he was searching for any sign of danger. His brother pulled up next to him and patted him on the shoulder. James took his AR off the hood and his brother took his place as James ran towards the front door that was fifty yards away. He kept an eye out while going as fast as he could safely. He was almost there when the plan fell apart.
The door opened.
“Yeah, but I need a smoke and the boss—”
The man cut off as he noticed James running up the stairs towards him. The man brought his gun up, but before he could pull the trigger, a bullet ripped through his chest, exiting out his back and hitting the second man behind him. The front man crumpled to the ground, grabbing at his chest, while the second man went down on one knee. The .223 bullet hadn’t had enough force left to do much damage to the second man, but it had stunned him. The round from James’s AR was enough to put him down for good.
James slammed against the wall next to the door and peered inside to see if there was anyone else there but saw no one. He motioned to Connor, who took off running towards the entrance. A few seconds later his brother was next to him and they were moving through the door and into the courthouse. They saw nothing in the foyer.
“Let’s reverse the plan—clear this floor first, go up, and then down,” James said.
“Semper Gumby,” Connor replied.
They moved to the left and began checking the ground floor, first entering the large center room, moving from left to right. After that, they cleared all the offices, encountering no one. They made it back to the foyer and climbed the stairs, crouching as they came to the top floor where they noticed makeshift beds lying around the large, open landing. Recognizing this floor as their sleeping quarters, they counted four men sleeping in the main room and a total of ten beds. There were four offices, all toward the back of the room. James motioned to his brother. Connor swung his AR to his side, pulled out his tomahawk, and approached the first man. He drove the spike into the man’s skull, killing him quickly and quietly, then moved on to the next one, then the next one. He was at the last man when someone came stumbling out of one of the offices, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
“Wha—” the man began.
James swung toward him and shot the man in the face, dropping him instantly to the ground. The last man began to stir, but it was too late. The tomahawk spike entered his skull and he knew no more. Connor quickly sheathed his tomahawk as they heard a rustling in the office to their right. A man came out armed and ready, or so he thought. He took two bullets to the chest—one from each of the brothers—and fell to the ground, never having fired a shot.
They waited before moving to the office on the left. James nodded to his brother and Connor opened the door. James barged into the room, gun up and ready. It was empty. They moved to the next room, stepping over the dead man. This room was clear, too. The next one was also empty, leaving the last one to the far right. Connor posted up outside and opened the door for his brother, who had taken a single step in when a blast ripped the door apart. James felt a sharp pain in his leading leg as he pulled back, leaning against the wall.
“I know you’re out there. I’ll blow you away if you step foot in this room!” a man’s voice said from inside.
James pulled the shotgun off his back and stuck it around the corner without aiming, letting a blast off inside the room. He pumped and shot again, then again, and a fourth time.
On his fifth shot, Connor crouched down and poked his head around the corner, looking inside. He brought his AR up and aimed at the only hiding place in the room—the desk. He could see a foot sticking out from behind it, and while his brother was doing a great job with cover fire, he’d never gotten close to hitting the man. Connor put the chevron of his ACOG on the middle of the desk and pulled the trigger, hoping it wasn’t too thick. It must have been because the man didn’t even flinch, so he shot him in the foot. The man howled and Connor nodded to his brother, pointing at the desk.
James swept into the room, shotgun at the ready as he saw the man hiding behind the desk. He was circling to get a better view when the man saw him and began to bring his gun up. James blew his face off with buck shot.
James limped out of the room, his leg bothering him.
“Let’s take a quick look at that,” Connor said, coming over to him.
James leaned against the wall and slid down to a sitting position.
“Don’t think it did much damage, but it sure hurts.”
Connor lifted his pant leg and examined the wound.
“Looks like only two or three BBs hit. I think I can see them in there. They’re not too deep. We’ll have to look at it later, but for now you’re not going to die or lose your leg.”
“Good, because we’re not done yet,” James said.
Connor helped him to his feet and they went back down the stairs, keeping a sharp eye out. Whoever was left knew they were here now. Stopping at the top of the stairs leading down to the basement, they swapped out their partial magazines for full ones. They descended into the dark abyss.
No lights were on in the basement as they arriving at the bottom and the long hallway before them was completely shrouded in darkness. If they continued in the dark they might miss something, but if they used flashlights it would give them away. What they needed was some night-vision goggles or a thermal scope, but they had neither. They turned on the flashlights attached to the side rails on their ARs. Instantly, light burst into the darkness, banishing it. The hallway went down and curved to the left. There was a door on the left side of the hall that led into a big central room with an entrance opening to each end of the hall. When the hall curved to the left, there would be two doors on the back wall and one at the end of the hall.
Connor motioned towards the big central room on their left and James nodded. They would clear this one first. The door was already open, so they posted up on both sides of the door, with James crouching. They came around the door at the same time and wood splintered off the frame beside Connor. The sudden light from their high-powered tactical lights blinded the men inside, who had been waiting in the dark. James counted three men and took aim on the one closest to them, who had just fired the shotgun that went wide. James fired, taking the man in the left eye as his brother fired, killing the man in the back with a rifle. That left the last man in the middle, spraying wildly with the handgun. James sighted on him at the same time his brother did, and he was shot twice.
They’d stopped in the doorway for a few seconds, making sure they’d gotten them all, when James thought he heard something coming at them from down the hall. As he turned, he caught sight of a man raising a baseball bat a few feet away. He took a step back, swinging his AR around, and shot the man in the chest at pointblank. The man fell, dropping the baseball bat on James’s foot, and he cursed under his breath.
He looked back at his brother and they went into the central room, sweeping left and right. They came to the door on the other side of the hall. Across from them were two doors, with the third one being at the end of the hall to their left. No one was out in the hall. They went to the door on the far right, not wanting to
have possible enemies behind and in front of them.
James posted up next to the door and Connor nodded to him. James opened it, and Connor went through the doorway, noticing the body of a young woman on the floor. She had been beaten and blood was pooled around her. He checked her pulse and she was barely alive. Looking her over once more, he assured himself that his assessment had been correct. She would never survive. They’d gutted her alive. He quickly brought his knife out and plunged it into the base of her skull.
“Find peace,” Connor whispered as he gently laid her head on the ground.
He exited the room, shaking his head, and James glanced inside. They were both thinking the same thing now—this was looking less and less like a rescue mission. They came to the next door. James went to open the door but it was locked. He aimed his AR at it and shot the doorknob. It was empty of enemies but full of treasure. There were guns, food, ammo, clothes, and all sorts of valuables. A lot of it was useless now, except for all the guns and ammo. By the time they came to the last door, James was beginning to doubt that their mother was even here.
James opened the door and Connor burst through, gun at the ready. There was a man inside holding a handgun to a woman’s head as he hid behind her body with only his head sticking out. The woman was their mother, Connor realized, bloody and bruised almost beyond recognition.
“Now, now, let’s—” the man began to say.
He stopped talking when the .223 round entered his brain and his body fell to the floor. Diana collapsed along with the man, not having the strength to stand. Connor rushed into the room with his brother close behind and went to his mother, cradling her head in his lap.
“Oh, Mom, what did they do to you?” Connor asked, tears forming in his eyes.
She was barely conscious as she reached her hand up, and Connor took it.
“I love you, boys,” Diana whispered.
“We love you too, Mom,” James said, coming over and kneeling down next to her, taking her other hand in his. Tears were falling freely down all their faces, making streaks in the blood and the dirt.
“Don’t let this moment define you. Keep your faith. Promise me.” She was beginning to have trouble breathing and they knew she had held on this long just so she could see her sons one last time.
“I promise, Mom. We will,” James said.
He didn’t feel the same tearing sensation he’d had when he lost first Felicia and then his father. No, he didn’t feel that now. In fact, he didn’t feel anything inside but a burning hatred.
Diana Andderson breathed her last and her two sons, the only surviving members of their family, knelt on the bloody ground and wept.
~~~
It was some time before either of the brothers had the strength to move.
“She might be turning soon,” James said, pulling out his knife.
Connor looked him in the eyes and then shook his head, pulling out his own knife. James looked down at their mom and knew his brother was right. It was better for him to do it. Connor slid the knife into the base of their mother’s skull. James no longer felt a burning hatred. No, the hate had turned into a calculated coldness. He would make them pay; he’d make them all pay!
James walked over to the fallen man and picked up the handgun, then joined his brother at the doorway.
“We should get all those supplies packed up to the entrance and loaded into the truck,” James said.
Connor nodded. “Yeah, there are probably six full loads once we get things packed up. We’ll be set for a while with all that.”
James nodded.
The brothers went to the task at hand with numbness. They didn’t think about anything—neither their current situation nor their next move. They just packed up everything they would need from the supply room and hauled it up to the entrance. When that was done, they went upstairs and grabbed all the weapons and ammo, going through the men’s personal gear for anything useful. They all had those red Xs on their outer clothing, marking them as part of the gang, or cult, or whatever it was.
They had everything sitting down at the entrance when they went back to the truck, killing a handful of zombies on the way. The Red Xs must have cleaned out the town pretty well because there weren’t many zombies roaming around.
James pulled the truck in front of the courthouse and shut it off. Connor began to haul the loot to the truck while James organized it in the bed and backseat. Their big backpacks were in the backseat, loaded with enough supplies to last them a week if they had to leave in a hurry. The rest of the stuff was organized by type in the bed of the truck in the totes, boxes, and bags they had.
Once that was done, they sat down on the front steps of the courthouse and stared out over the city as the sun began to brighten the early morning sky.
“Found these,” James said, pulling out a box of Cuban cigars.
He handed one to his brother and then pulled out one for himself and grabbed the cigar cutter. They had the cigars lit when Connor pulled a bottle of rum out of his bag.
“Found this,” Connor said, taking a swig from the bottle and handing it to his brother.
The sun rose behind them, casting long shadows in the street. Still, they sat there, the cigars running down and the bottle almost empty.
“What the hell do we do now?” Connor asked his brother as he flicked his cigar stub onto the sidewalk.
“That’s a damn good question.”
11
Lost Sheep
Monday, post-outbreak day three
Emmett lounged on the bed in their room. He’d taken the first shower and been out quickly. The girls, however, were still in the bathroom after an hour. He lay on the bed, trying to decide if he felt safer here than outside the walls or not. On the one hand, they didn’t have to worry about the infected, but on the other hand these people could turn against them at any moment.
The room Levi had given them was in someone’s house, or had been before all this. They had the whole place to themselves, but they were just to use this room, leaving the rest of the house for other guests. It was furnished with two queen beds and included the connecting bathroom. There was a small nightstand between the two beds with a lamp on it and a dresser against the opposite wall. The only part he didn’t like was the lack of windows, but it was the only room that could fit all three of them comfortably. He let his mind continue to wander and soon he was sleeping lightly.
Emmett bolted upright, hearing a door open, and noticed the girls coming out of the bathroom. The door leading to the rest of the house was still closed. He let out a sigh and holstered his Beretta. He hadn’t expected to fall asleep.
“You girls ready?” he asked, getting off the bed and stretching.
“Almost,” Alexis said. “I’d forgotten how nice a hot shower was.”
“Ditto that,” Ana said.
They spent the next few minutes grooming themselves. Emmett had the girls keep their handguns in their purses, which held some survival items also. He carried his Beretta openly as he didn’t care if they saw it or not. He wore a clean black t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans with his combat boots. The girls had dressed in clean clothes, too. He smiled at his daughter. She had grown up so fast.
They exited the house and walked across the road which was illuminated by street lights. The Dining Hall, which used to be a café, sat in between two buildings that had previously been stores. He opened the door for the girls to go first, and then went in after.
The place was surprisingly busy. There were sixteen people sitting at the tables and booths. He noticed a table against the wall with a great view of the door and the whole café, which was close to the exit. They walked to it and he sat down where he could keep an eye on everyone. An elderly woman in an apron came over to them with three glasses of water.
“Welcome to the Dining Hall. Three meals?” she asked in a kind voice.
“Yes, please,” Alexis answered, smiling at her.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes with
your food,” she said, heading back to the kitchen.
“I wonder what it is,” Ana said, looking around at the other tables.
He stopped listening as the girls continued to talk. He was scanning the room, trying to get a read on these people. Most of them seemed like normal people trying to adjust to life in a hostile world. Actually, it was surprising. Most of them seemed to be at ease and relatively calm. This community had gotten the walls up quickly, maybe even before the infection had begun to spread. Did someone here have inside information? He was pulled from his thoughts when the woman returned with three plates of food.
She set them down on the table. “Enjoy, and let me know if you need anything else.”
“Thank you,” Emmett said.
This place might actually be the real deal—a sanctuary full of good people safe from the infection. He looked down at his plate. It held mashed potatoes, corn, peas, onions, and ground beef, all mixed together.
“Shepherd’s pie!” Alexis exclaimed. “I love shepherd’s pie!”
They dug into their food and it tasted even better than it looked.
“Sorry, sir,” Ana said after taking a couple of bites, “but this is a lot better than your MRE.”
Alexis laughed and Emmett joined in.
“That it is,” he said, sticking another bite into his mouth.
Once they were done they sat at the table with full bellies, feeling content and safe.
“I could get used to this,” Ana said, leaning back in her chair.
“It is nice,” Emmett said. “But this kind of living will make people forget what’s beyond the safety of these walls.
“Yeah... but it’s still nice,” Alexis said.
Emmett casually watched the interactions between the people seated around them. Only a few of them had looked their way the whole time they’d been sitting here. They must see visitors quite often.
The Brother's Creed (Book 1): Outbreak Page 11