by Jai Williams
“Let’s go then,” replied Ronnie. So, off they went with Ronnie in front, followed by the young guy, the woman, the three children and the old man.
They thought that it would be somewhat easy to escape, but they had no idea how wrong they were. As they were just crossing the road from one alleyway to another, an armoured truck came driving up at full speed and they started shooting. They all made it over except the old man, who ended up falling down. “HELP,” he yelled out, but before anyone could run over to help him up, gunfire started up in their direction and it was too late; they had to leave but the men didn’t kill the old man. Ronnie and the others could see them throw the old man into the back of the truck.
“We have to do something,” said the woman, panicking.
“We will get him back, I promise, but we can’t now. We are outnumbered; the only thing we can do now is find somewhere safe to stay,” said Ronnie while trying to keep calm.
Ronnie and the others headed off, trying to find a place that would keep them safe and off the streets. They looked everywhere while still staying out of sight of the patrol and lookout men. They eventually did find a place, an abandoned motel, so Ronnie told the young guy to stay with the woman and children while he scooped out the place to make sure it was safe. He went to the check-in counter first to check that area out, which was all clear apart from the dead body behind the desk. Next Ronnie checked room by room. He thought before leaving this place, it would be best to scavenge anything that was useful like food, water, guns, ammunition and pretty much anything that would be of some use to them. Ronnie got to the last room, went inside and thought there was no point in searching everywhere because he thought it would just be like every other room. Ronnie went back to the others and told them it was all clear and it was time for the woman and children to get some sleep while he and the young man came up with a plan to get the old man back.
The woman and children were sleeping in one of the motel rooms, while Ronnie and the young man were in the room right next to them, planning.
“I need to thank you for what you did for us. You helped us out back there; you saved our lives,” said the young man.
“You saved my life first so I was only repaying the favour,” replied Ronnie.
“We didn’t get to introduce ourselves back there. My name is Finn. The woman in the room next to us is my girlfriend, Alice. Those three children were our neighbour’s kids. Their parents were killed and we decided to save the kids. Their names are Rose, Rebecca and Randy or you can call them triple R, ha-ha,” said Finn.
“Who’s the old man?” asked Ronnie
“Alice’s grandfather, John, the only family she has left,” replied Finn.
“Then we have to get him back,” said Ronnie.
“And what is your name?” asked Finn.
“Ronnie,” replied Ronnie.
The door of the motel room opened and a guy walked through holding a gun and wearing a US Army outfit. “What the hell are you guys doing here?” he asked.
Chapter Three: The Plan
There, stood in the wide-open motel door, a tall man holding a gun, wearing a US Army outfit. He had a mean look on his face; he had really short hair, almost bald. He had a small scar on his left cheek and he seemed like a guy you wouldn’t want to mess around with.
“So, why are you two here and tell me why I shouldn’t kill you?” asked the man with a serious look.
Ronnie and Finn stood up with their hands above his heads “We are not the bad guys here. There is no need to kill us, we had no idea that someone else was staying here,” said Ronnie as he was shaking with fear.
“I thought you said this place was all clear. You told me to stay with Alice and the children while you checked,” said Finn as he looked at Ronnie.
“Wait, you have children with you?” asked the Army man.
“Yes, we do,” replied Ronnie.
“Where are they?” asked the army man.
“The room next door, on your left,” replied Ronnie.
The army man left the room and went next door to the room with Alice and the children. He opened the door and saw Alice and the three children sleeping peacefully. He was only gone for a couple seconds. He closed the door and headed back to Ronnie and Finn. “Okay, I believe you guys; there’s no way you can be cold-blooded killers like most people in this world because that woman and those children sleeping next door look fine. They don’t look like they’ve been abused in any way,” said the army man.
“Well, that’s because we’re not like the rest of the world,” replied Ronnie.
The man lowered his gun and removed the mean look on his face. “Well, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Captain Grant Harris and you guys are some lucky sons of bitches, because you are saved. My men and I will bring you back to our base just like we do to anyone else we find that is harmless.”
“Well, Captain Harris, thank you for not killing us and thanks for the offer but we can’t leave yet. There’s someone one else in this group that isn’t here,” replied Ronnie.
“Okay, where are they?” asked Captain Harris.
“Well, that’s the problem – they’ve been taken by the people that control this town,” said Ronnie. Ronnie and Finn had nervous looks on their faces because they thought the next thing Captain Harris would say is, “Well, I’m sorry but we have to leave here now,” but that was not the case.
“If this person means a lot to you then we will help you rescue them; besides, we have a mission of our own that involves going to wherever the leader of this town is,” replied Captain Harris.
“Wow, thank you. Alice’s going to be so happy because let’s face it, Ronnie, we would have been outnumbered and it would have ended bloody,” said Finn.
“Yeah, we would have been screwed,” replied Ronnie.
Captain Harris told the rest of his men to come inside so that they could introduce themselves and go over a plan that can achieve both objectives.
“Okay men, this is Ronnie and Finn, so please hurry up and get the introductions out of the way so we can come up with a plan,” said Captain Harris.
One of the men stepped forward. He looked around thirty years old and was African American, a bit taller than Ronnie and Finn. He was bold; he had the look of bravery in his eyes so you could say he was brave and bold. He was a bit muscular, not too massive but not small either. He looked at Ronnie and Finn. “My name is Hank Gibson, it is an honour to meet you surviving men,” he said.
“We are honoured to meet you too,” said Ronnie and Finn.
Another man stepped forward; he looked to be in his late twenties. He had that hairstyle that was all bald on the sides and back and had only a fair bit of hair on top that was pushed back to the back of his head. He had a tattoo of a big red flame going across the left side of his head where his hair would grow and he gave off that bad-ass vibe. “My name is Stan Wells and just because my captain trusts you guys, doesn’t mean I have to, so you better prove yourself,” he said while lowering his gun.
“Okay, well, I hope we can change your mind about that,” said Ronnie.
Another guy stepped forward, and this guy looked a bit younger than the last guy; he looked about three years older than Ronnie. He looked a bit shaky with his gun, like this was his first time out and about doing a mission. It seemed like he was trying to prove to the captain that he could be brave just like him. This man had somewhat curly hair. “My name is Roger Hunter and this is my first time out of the base doing a mission,” he said while trying to stop shaking.
“And I think you are going to prove yourself tonight,” said Captain Harris.
The next man stepped forward. He looked like he was in his early thirties and was wearing army pants, boots and a tank top. He was smoking a cigar and he had spiked hair. He took the cigar out of his mouth. “Hello boys, I’m Bruce Dixon but you can call me Dix, that’s spelt d-i-x not d-i-c-k, so don’t get confused,” he said while blowing smoke out of his mouth.
“Okay, nice to meet you, Dix,” said Finn.
Another guy stepped forward, and he looked near the same age as Roger Hunter. He was the tallest out of all the soldiers. He seemed like a guy who could be nice, but at the same time be a smartass. He was spinning a revolver around on one of his fingers like he was a cowboy and he also was wearing a cowboy hat. “Yee-haw motherfucker, I’m Alan Hunt and I’m the best goddamn shooter around,” he said while still spinning his gun around his finger.
“Yeah and you’re also one lying piece of shit,” said Captain Harris with a smile. All the men laughed apart from Ronnie and Finn. Alan stopped spinning his gun and frowned.
Another soldier stepped forward and he looked two or so years older than the last guy. He was the shortest of all the men, including Ronnie and Finn. He had that look where he seemed like he was harmless but in reality he was one bad-ass fighting machine. He had long hair and was wearing a bandana around his neck. “I’m Jackson Mills,” he said while he pushed his chest out.
The last soldier stepped forward and he looked the same age as Ronnie. He had his hands behind his back with a serious look on his face. His hair was combed over to one side and he seemed like a guy who wouldn’t say much unless provoked. “I am Jay Jacobs and I am a loyal man. I will do what I have to do to save myself and my people and I will never give up even if others do,” he said with confidence.
“Yes, you are loyal and I love that spirit,” said Captain Harris. Captain Harris turned to Ronnie and Finn. “Most of these men have grown up in this horrible world without a childhood. Their childhood was taken from them. Instead of playing catch with their dad like most boys do, they were forced into training to prepare themselves for this world. They gained the skills that they needed to have, so that you could survive this world,” he said. Captain Harris looked at his soldiers.
“Okay, men, these two guys are going to fill you in with their situation,” he said.
Ronnie and Finn looked over at the seven soldiers. “Okay, so earlier tonight, I was about to get caught by some men but Finn here saved my life by allowing me to enter where he and the others he was with, were safe. Then men broke in and I had to kill them. Then we left and we got to a street where they started shooting at us and John, which is the guy that got caught, fell and these men took him and well, now we’re here and that’s it – that’s the story; that’s our situation,” said Ronnie.
“It’s really important that we get John back; he’s Alice’s grandfather and last family member,” said Finn.
Captain Harris laid out a map on the bed and circled the location where the leader of this town could be. “Okay, so if they were going to take John or anyone they find anywhere, it would be to the leader of this town, which would be the police station,” said Captain Harris.
“Okay, let’s do this then,” replied Ronnie with excitement.
“Yeah, we can’t just go in there, guns blazing, like a bunch of amateur assholes. No, we need to take it one step at a time,” said Captain Harris with a serious look on his face.
“Yeah, that’s totally what we need to do, one step at a time. Which is what exactly?” asked Ronnie.
Captain Harris walked away from the map on the bed, looked up at the ceiling and looked back at all the men. “So, here’s the first step: we take out all the patrols, all the lookouts, pretty much everyone who’s roaming the streets. Then, so as not to draw any attention to ourselves, we have Hank here take care of the radios so it looks like nothing happened,” said Captain Harris.
“That sounds like a great plan and all but won’t they automatically know something’s wrong when they hear Hank’s voice instead of whoever should be responding?” said Finn, butting in.
“Hank is the best goddamn impersonator I have ever seen. Show them, Hank,” said Captain Harris.
“Hi, I’m Finn and every time after sex I cry,” said Hank as he was impersonating Finn’s voice.
“Okay, well, that’s not true – probably once I’ve done that,” replied Finn with an embarrassed look on his face.
“Wow, that was amazing how quickly you could do that,” said Ronnie with an impressed look on his face.
“Okay, now that we’ve got that out of the way, it’s time to split up into groups. Now there are ten of us, meaning we split up into groups of threes and Hank will stay here. Now it’s very important that when you’ve taken out a patrol or lookout, make sure you get back here before anyone talks on that radio or else that’s it, it’s over,” said Captain Harris.
The men broke up into three groups. In group one there was Captain Harris, Stan and Roger. In group two there was Bruce, Alan and Jackson and in group three there was Jay, Ronnie and Finn. Group one was to take the north side, group two was to take the east side and group three was to take the south side. This town wasn’t too big; it was a reasonable size for eight men to do the job. Ronnie and Finn walked over to meet Jay so that they could discuss how they were going to work together so that nothing could go wrong. Jay started off the conversation. “Okay, now I’m in charge of this group and first things first: we need to trust each other. If we can do that, then we can work together a lot easier,” he said.
“We can trust each other,” said Ronnie and Finn at the same time.
“Okay good, now secondly, do you guys know how to use a gun?” asked Jay.
“Yeah, I know how to use a gun,” replied Ronnie.
“Yeah, I know how to use a gun, I just prefer not to,” said Finn.
“Well, in this case, Finn, you’ll have to just look at it like this: would you rather get shot and die or do something about it and end someone’s life for the greater good? After all, these aren’t nice people; these are people who kill for fun,” said Jay.
“When you put that way, then it’s almost like we’re doing the world a favour,” replied Finn.
“It all seems like that’s what the world is now; you have to kill to survive,” said Ronnie.
Jay looked at Ronnie. “Look, the first time you kill someone it’s not easy; you have nightmares and it’s the only thing you can think about but when you keep telling yourself that there was no other way then it gets easier and trust me, it does,” replied Jay. Jay laid a map of the town down on the table and circled the section that they were covering.
“Okay, so this is the section we’re covering. It seems like a lot but when we clear it, it’s going to be a lot easier to take over the police station,” said Jay.
“I’ve got it: every time we take out a group of men or just someone who’s by themselves, one of us grabs the radio and hurries back here to Hank. It would save a lot of time, but that person will have to be quick and smart about it,” said Ronnie as he snapped his fingers.
“I’ll do it,” said Finn.
Jay turned to Finn. “Are you sure about this? I don’t want you to do this unless you are one hundred percent sure that you can do it,” said Jay as he raised his eyebrows with concern.
Finn took a deep breath in and out. “I’m sure,” he replied.
“Okay, now we’re going to have to figure out what we’re going to do if we face groups of men larger than three because there are three of us, which means three guns, so you’ll have to prepare yourselves and think quickly and take out multiple targets because if they alert anyone, then it’s over,” said Jay.
“There is one more thing,” said Ronnie with a worried look on his face.
“What’s that?” asked Jay.
“The men out there know that we are out here, so what happens if they’re already heading this way?” asked Ronnie with a worried look.
Jay walked to the middle of the room and clapped his hands to gain everyone’s attention. “Guys, we may have a problem. Ronnie just informed me that those men out there know that these guys are somewhere in this town, so they may be heading this way now,” he said.
“Well, we have a man outside on watch. He would come in if that was the case,” replied Captain Harris.
Jay held his po
inting finger up and shook it. “Sorry Captain, but you’re wrong there, because all the men we have are inside right now, and we’ve been going over a plan for quite some time now,” he said.
All of a sudden they heard the door of the motel room open and all the men pointed their guns towards it. “Please do not fire it’s me, Alice,” said Alice.
Finn walked over to the door in a hurry. Put your guns down; that’s my girlfriend,” he said.
“Lower your guns, men,” said Captain Harris as he was lowering his gun.
Alice fully opened the door and jumped into Finn’s arms, giving him a hug. “Who are these guys?” she asked.
“These are US Army men and they’re going to help us rescue your grandfather,” replied Finn.
Alice let go of Finn and looked around at all the men. “Thank you guys. I don’t know how I can ever repay you for doing this,” she said.
“You can thank us after we rescue him,” said Captain Harris.
“Oh, so those are your men outside?” said Alice.
“No, these are all my men in this room,” replied Captain Harris.
Ronnie walked over to the window and looked through it. “Fuck, shit, that’s them,” he said in a worried tone.
“How many?” asked Captain Harris.
“A fuck load, like twenty to thirty or so,” replied Ronnie.
“Shit we’re outnumbered,” said Captain Harris.
Ronnie walked over to Captain Harris. “I’ve got a plan. It’s a crazy one but it will work,” he said.
“Well, come on, tell us,” replied Captain Harris.
“I’ll distract them. I’ll lure them far away from here so that you guys can go on with the plan, except you’ll be down one man but that’s better than losing all your men,” said Ronnie.
“That is too risky. What happens when they catch you – more importantly, what happens if they kill you?” asked Captain Harris with concern.
“They’re getting closer and closer. Do you have a better idea?” asked Ronnie.
It was silent for a second. “No, ok, so I’m doing this,” said Ronnie, feeling really worried about what he was about to do.