“I know you can.”
“We gotta go.”
“Alright, hurry back.”
As they drove away the feeling of worry in the pit of my stomach grew. For some reason, I didn’t know if I would see her again. I spent an hour helping around the house and putting away the drugs we got from the hospital. After that hour was up I could only sit and worry. They would have gotten to the hospital and, if they listened to me, should be on their way back. I went outside and spent twenty minutes shooting arrows and when my aim became sloppy and it became apparent that it wouldn’t calm my mind I resorted to cleaning my pistols, and then another three additional pistols. No matter what I did my mind refused to settle. I changed clothes and went out to the front yard. I attempted to go through every step of every form I had learned but my mind kept wandering, so instead I began to practice them. This gave both my mind and my body something to do and when I was done I realized two things, one that I hadn’t worried about Sarah the entire time and two they should have been back by now, it had been almost two and a half hours. Now I really started to worry. I went inside and changed and as I was lacing up my boots my radio went off. “James get out here, it’s Thomas.”
I ran outside, an oily cold feeling filling my gut. Thomas was running up the driveway, clutching his left bicep. As he got closer I saw that he was bleeding pretty badly, his entire left side was covered in it. “Thomas what happened?”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I tried,” he said in a panic, his eyes looking around frantically.
I yelled into my radio “Somebody get me a fucking kit. I’m in the driveway,” I pried his fingers away from his wound, “Thomas you need to let me see this.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, tears flowing freely now.
I got his hand away from his arm and examined the still bleeding wound. He’d been shot straight through the muscle. He got lucky, it didn’t look like it hit bone. “Thomas, you’re going to be fine. Tell me what happened.”
“I’m so sorry. I tried.”
My heart leaped into my throat and I had to swallow it before I could speak again, “Thomas, Thomas look at me. Where is Sarah?”
Thomas locked eyes with me, “They took her. They took her and Christina. Oh God, Christina!”
“Fuck,” I yelled, a plan already forming in my head, “Ok, we’re going to get you patched up and then we’re leaving.”
“Where are we going?”
“We’re going to go get them back before anything happens to them.”
“What are you going to do?”
Through gritted teeth, I said, “I’m going to get the girls and kill everyone who gets in my way.”
CHAPTER 17
“Come on Thomas, let’s get you inside.”
“I’m sorry man.”
“Hey, it’s ok. We’ll get them back.”
I sat next to Thomas as Matt bandaged his arm and he told me what happened. “We got to the hospital with no problems. We parked behind the movie theater and walked to the front of the hospital, arms raised. We were met by the same two guards as before. I saw one of them use his radio before reaching us, I figured he was letting Cole know we had shown up. Cole came out to greet us just like last time and introduced himself to Sarah and Christina. I should have known something was up. The two guards weren’t as professional as last time. They paid way too much attention to the girls. Cole invited us inside to get the supplies that he’d promised us. It’s my fault that they’re gone James, it’s my fault.”
“Thomas they’re not gone, we’re going to get them back and it’s not your fault.”
“Yes, it is. One of Cole’s men asked me about my rifle, asking me if I knew how to use it. I started to talk to him about how before everything started I had never even shot a gun and how you said I was a natural. He invited me to look at some of the rifles they’d brought with them. He said that I might be able to take one if I could show him that I could use it. The girls said they could grab the bags without me. We shouldn’t have split up but they seemed fine like they really wanted to help. Me and the guy, he told me his name was Mark, we headed down a hallway to where they said they kept their weapons. They were just distracting me. We only made it fifty feet or so before I heard Christina scream. I turned to run to her when Mark grabbed a hold of my wrist. I don’t know how it happened but I grabbed his thumb and I think I broke it, then I aimed a kick at the side of his knee. I think it was surprise that let me get away with it. I ran around the corner to where the girls had gone and was confronted with Cole, standing further down the hall with his arm around Christina, his gun pointed at her head. He aimed at me and I did the only thing I could think of. I ran. I made it through the door and took off. The only thing I thought of was getting back here to get help, so I ran down the street, dodging the parked cars. I thought I was going to make it out clean but then glass started to explode around me. I realized that they were shooting at me and I felt pain erupt in my arm. They got me, but I kept running, it’s all I could do. I figured that they would chase after me so after I ran several blocks I ducked into a house, there wasn’t a car in the driveway and the garage door was open so I figured it was empty. I only had to wait a couple seconds before two guys ran past. When they passed the house I was in they slowed down, I was afraid that they might have seen where I went. They started yelling for me to come out. They… they kept yelling about what they were going to do to the girls. I wanted to burst out of hiding, I wanted to hurt them, to kill them. But I knew I couldn’t take them, even if I didn’t have a hole in my arm. So I waited until they gave up and started to walk back to the hospital. I climbed up on a large propane tank and then up onto the roof. I was so angry and worried that they would hurt the girls, so I… I used my rifle to shoot both of them. It was so easy to do.” Tears began to flow but he wiped them away, “They were so close that they didn’t even have time to react. I killed the first one and the other one just stood there. After they both went down I made my way back here. I couldn’t risk being found so a car was out of the question, instead, I found a bike and came back, I ditched it at the bottom of the driveway. We gotta get them back.”
“We will, but first, we’re going to need to make a plan.”
“No we need to go now,” he said standing up.
“Thomas,” I snapped, “We’re going to get the girls back, I promise. But if we go in there half-cocked and just start shooting then we’re all going to die. So we’re going to make a plan. And then we’re going to kick some ass.”
“How do you plan on taking on forty-one armed men?” asked Justin.
“You’re forgetting a couple things. One, there are thirty-nine men now, thanks to Thomas. Two, they’re not armed when they’re inside the hospital. Three, they’re not all military, some of them are just thugs. Fourth, they have no idea who they’re fucking with,” I said angrily.
“Who you?” said Jason.
“Well yeah, but they don’t know Sarah,” I said laughing a little, “I’m guessing that she’s giving them hell.”
“So what’s first?” asked Thomas.
“First, we remember every detail we can about their setup. Then we draw a map and figure out a plan of attack. We have to be able to take on thirty-nine men, rescue the girls and get everyone out safely.”
“We don’t have to take on all of them, just the ones on guard, the ones with guns,” said Jason.
“That’s true, now let’s get started on the map,” I said pulling our several pieces of paper. We spent the next ten minutes planning on how we could take the hospital and rescue the girls. “Matt go get the carbines from the armory, all the ammo for them and the scopes. We’re going to upgrade for this. They think we’ve only got small munitions, shotguns and the like. We’re pulling out all the stops.” Matt took off to get the guns. “Thomas, you think you’re ok to do this?”
“Never been better.”
“Good because you’re our way out. You’ll be here,” I said pointing at the ma
p, “on the roof of this building. You’re going to be our sniper and you’ll cover our asses when we have to get the hell out of there. We just need a way for you to get down when we need to bug out.”
“I could repel down.”
“With what?”
“I have some gear left over from school. It was at the bottom of one of the bags I packed my stuff in. I should have enough rope to repel down, that way I won’t have to take the stairs.”
“Perfect.” Matt returned with the guns and ammo. “Ok, Matt and Justin. I want a major distraction for when we leave. You guys are going to be in charge of that. Here’s what you’re going to do. This gas tanker out front, you’re going to get it ready to be taken out. I want you to shove a gas soaked sheet into the opening and coat everything in gas. I don’t care if you drench the whole thing, I just want it to go up when it gets shot with a flare.”
“A flare?” exclaimed Justin.
“Yeah, we have several flare guns from the gun shop. I want each one of us to carry one so no matter what happens one of us can take it out. You two will prime it after we lure away the guys guarding it.”
“How are you going to do that?” asked Thomas.
“We’re going to take out the front guards, then the rear guards. We’ll make a small distraction to lure them in and take them out. As soon as they leave the tanker I want you to make your move. After all the guards are taken out Jason and I will sneak into the hospital and find the girls. Once we’re out Thomas will cover us and we’ll blow the tanker. Then we go home. Simple.”
“Simple? You call that simple? Ok James Bond,” said Jason sarcastically.
“Just trust me.”
“How are we going to find the girls.”
“We’ll I figure that they’ll keep them in the locker rooms. Remember, Cole said he was using them as detainment centers. But I have a plan to find out exactly where they’re being held,” I finished darkly.
“Ok, so we’ve drawn a map and we’ve planned. When do we leave?” asked Thomas.
“As soon as it gets dark.”
“What? We can’t wait that long.”
“Yes, we do. That’s the only way we can pull this off. The longer we wait the more likely it is that Cole and his men will think we wrote them off as casualties. They don’t know what happened to you exactly, they know you were hit and escaping on foot. With all those Walkers out there that would mean that you’re not going to last very long. We have to wait.”
“But…”
“Trust me ok, we’ll get them back. I swear.”
“Fine. I trust you.”
“Couldn’t we leave now? Observe them until it gets dark and then attack? That way we won’t waste any night hours traveling,” said Matt.
“That’s a good idea. Let’s gear up and move out. It should be dark enough in,” I glanced at my watch and then outside, “four hours or so. Let’s clean your rifle before we leave Thomas and make sure you have enough rope to repel. Let’s move.”
We were ready within the hour, each of us geared up and dressed in black. Justin and Matt had prepared their sheet and had filled several large Ziploc bags with gas that they could tie around their waist for easy transport. They would have to be quick and agile to make it to the tanker without being seen. “Are we ready?” I asked as I looked at them assembled before me. Matt, Jason, Justin and I were each holding a Carbine, Thomas had his recently cleaned rifle. We all had sidearms, I had two, and each carried at least one knife. I had decided to bring my bow because it was silent and I figured it could come in handy. They all nodded with hard eyes and piled into the car. “Good,” I said to myself.
As we approached town I decided that for the sake of stealth we would stop fairly short of our destination and when it got dark we’d push it the rest of the way before we began our attack. I didn’t want to tip anyone off in the hospital before we killed a few first. Coasting into town we stopped about five blocks from where we intended to stay for a few hours. Getting out of the car we started our slow walk towards the hospital. A lot of time was spent stopping, taking cover and scouting the area in front of us. We finally made it to the building where Thomas would snipe from and where we would observe the guards until dark. It was a four-story building right across the street from the hospital. Staying behind buildings we made our way to the emergency exit at the back of the building. I took out some Duct Tape and covered the doors small window in it. Taking out a pillow I placed it over the window and smashed it with my elbow. It made a muffled crack and we waited to see if anyone heard. Five minutes passed without incident and we decided that we were safe. I peeled away the broken glass and reached through to turn the handle. Normally an alarm would have sounded but the power had been out long enough that any reserves or backup power would have been depleted. We climbed the several flights of stairs to the very top. Staying low to the ground, we inched forward towards the large bay windows. We had a perfect view of the entire hospital and could easily see where each guard stood. “Justin, back up and spread out the map, I’ll relay you the guard’s positions and you mark them on the map.” Once he had the map out I began whispering locations to him, “Two on the roof of the main building, one at each corner. Three guarding the gas, four with the other semi. I wonder what’s in there that requires four guards? Looks like two advance guards and two rear. Another four guarding their vehicles.” The parking lot of the hospital was crowded with abandoned cars. Looks like this is where everyone came when people started getting sick. Since the lots were full and the road was packed they’d parked their trucks on the football field located next to the hospital. “That makes for seventeen on guard and twenty-two inside.” I moved back away from the window and brought Thomas with me. “Let’s set up your exit,” I said to him walking to the rear of the building. We found a window large enough for him to use as an exit and began preparing his climbing gear. “After we’ve made it safely out of the hospital with the girls and blown the gas truck I want you to break this window, get to the ground and haul ass back to the car. Got it?”
“Yeah.”
“You think you have enough rope?”
“I think so, at least I hope so,” he laughed nervously.
“Me too. Now, when you take your first shot it will break the glass, but probably not completely, so you need to take a second shot with the rifle or have your pistol ready to knock out the glass. Whatever you do, do it quickly, we’ll be counting on you to cover us and I don’t know what condition the girls will be in. We might have to carry them so we’ll really be counting on you.” At the mention of the possibility that Christina could be hurt, I saw his face harden. “Don’t worry, I’m sure they’re fine,” I said grabbing him by the shoulder, “Everything’s going to be ok.”
“It better be or I’ll rip Cole apart.”
“Don’t worry, I have a plan for Cole,” I said smiling coldly, “He’ll get what he deserves.”
We spent the next several hours just observing the hospital and the guards. Before nightfall, there was a change in the shift. Up till now, the guard consisted ex-military. You could tell by their stance, their movements, and their precision. It made them easier to predict but more dangerous. They were trained to look for small movements and changes in their environments. But now, the guard was made up of solely gang members and they added another two to the roof. “Mark those two on the map,” I told Matt. We kept watch on this new set of guards and discovered something to our advantage. They were sloppy, unprofessional and didn’t take it seriously. They would talk with each other and mess around instead of keeping an eye on their surroundings. Cole probably gave them the night shift so his men could sleep, that was a mistake and I was going to exploit it. “Thomas stay here, keep an eye out. Let’s go get the car guys.” We walked the five blocks to our parks car and pushed it the rest of the way. It was slow going but it was silent and we soon had it parked and positioned for our getaway. Back upstairs we quickly went over the plan one more time. “You guys ready
for this?”
“Let’s do it,” Jason said eagerly.
“Just remember the plan and stay calm. Alright, let’s go.”
We headed down the stairs and I stopped on the bottom landing “Guys. I need you to stick to the plan. If I tell you to do something then I need you to do it. I can’t afford for you to question what I’m going to do.” They looked at me and I knew they were behind me one hundred percent. I hoped that they would stay that way when it counted.
“Matt, Justin, I want you two to be on the street, using the cars for cover. When the semi is unguarded then you two make your move. Once done get back into hiding before the bullets start flying. When Thomas starts shooting take out whoever you can see, just don’t shoot me and Jason, or the girls. Let’s go, Jason.” We separated and Jason and I headed to take out the front guard.
As we got closer to his location I signaled for Jason to stay back. This guy couldn’t have been more visible, standing near a flashlight pointed directly at the sky. As he stood there smoking his cigarette I snuck up behind him quickly. This guy wasn’t a soldier or a cop, he was a punk who’d been fighting Walkers and those weaker than him. I’m sure he’d never fought an equal, he’d never had to fight me. Silently drawing my knife I placed it to his neck and covered his mouth with my other hand. “You make one noise and I’ll slit your throat. Do you understand?” I whispered in his ear. He nodded his head yes and I continued, “Hand your gun to my friend here.” Justin walked up and took the weapon. “Now, I’m going to gag you and tie you up. You’re not going to fight. You’re going to do exactly what I say or you’re going to die. Do you understand?” Another nod “Good.” Matt quickly gagged him and bound his hands and feet, hands out front. I sat him on the ground and said, “Now you just wait here, I’m going to go talk to your friend.” If these guys had been pros they would have kept in visual contact with each other, but like I said, they weren’t. The second guard gave me a little more trouble. It seems that he didn’t like the knife across his throat and instead of calling for help, like he should have, he attacked. I guess he’d had had a knife at his throat before because instead of panicking he reacted on reflex. He grabbed my wrist and tried to twist the knife out of my grip. I managed to hold on to it but I pushed him away to get him outside my guard. He managed to get away with only a shallow cut on the side of his throat. The good part was that when he went for my wrist he was forced to drop his gun, so he reached for his own knife. It wasn’t much, nothing compared to my Bowie, just a little switch blade designed for quick stabs. In this fight, I would have to be faster than him and my knife would only get in the way, so I sheathed my knife and prepared to disarm the guy.
Survivors Series (Book 1): Heroes Aren't Born Page 25