Mason found a comfortable spot on the beach, and sat down to collect his thoughts. Still a little drunk from the night before, he took a stick off of a tree branch, and started to draw casually in the sand.
“Hey Picasso, You were just going to leave me in the sand asleep, without saying anything?” Pualani said, startling him as she sat down next to him with Cujo in tow, licking her ankles. She was still stunningly beautiful, even after all that had happened. She has a natural charisma and beauty that transcends all of this chaos, Mason thought.
“Well, it’s kinda tough to get a good night’s sleep, when you’re snoring like an elephant,” Mason said, playfully.
“What? Did you just call me an elephant? Asshole.”
“Hey, take it easy. I like elephants. They’re big and fluffy and you can even ride them sometimes.”
“You better stop now, before I carve an elephant into your fucking face,” Pualani said, sportively, as she brandished her new toy. It was a nine inch Bowie knife, and she was twirling it inches away from his face.
“Okay, okay you win,” Mason said as he snatched the knife out of her hand, rolled her over and mounted her. He had the dull edge of the knife to her throat and was smiling broadly. “I mean, looks like I win.”
“Mason, I want to be part of the raiding party. Last night you told me no way, but I think that was the booze talking.”
“Not a chance, pretty girl. I need you here watching the flock, AND I already just rescued your pathetic ass.”
Pualani’s lips curled as she hooked her right leg around his left ankle, grabbed his right tricep, and thrusted her hips forward, sweeping Mason to his back. Climbing on top of him, she snarled, “I’m fucking serious Mason. I want to fight, I’m not going to stay behind and cook fish for you fuck-faces. I can help, I can fight.”
He started laughing as he stretched his arms out behind his head. “Sure, what the hell, you’re a shitty cook anyway.”
Pleased with herself, she lowered her face down to his, and roughly kissed him on the lips.
“Hey, sorry to interrupt your little sand box porno, but we have a problem,” Kalen said, rubbing the sleep and sand from his eyes.
Mason and Pualani joined the others at the vantage point of the island, where the watch had alerted them to the troubling scene.
“Man… Can we get a fucking break—ever?” Brody said as they saw at least a dozen League of Islam patrol boats scouring the coastline, obviously looking for them.
Anger and hatred started to well up in Mason’s throat as he saw at least fifty armed men aboard the boats. Some of the boats had cages, and it looked like there were people inside them.
“I don’t think they saw us, we can just hide. We’ll dig in and hope they don’t see us,” the man on watch said, scared out of his mind.
“Nope. They’ll eventually find us, and when they do, we won’t have a chance. We need to attack them first, while we still have the element of surprise on our side,” Mason said as he leaned down to pick up a half empty bottle of Jack Daniels.
“Cap’n Tony, if you don’t mind, take who you need and get the tugboat ready for action. Mambo, gather up all of the weapons and ammo. Luanne and Simone, make sure everyone is awake and keep them quiet. Tell them everything is going to be alright and to meet around the fire pit. Brody, bring me all of the bottles of whisky that we didn’t drink or break last night. I have an idea.”
Mason turned to Pualani and said, “I have an idea, but it’ll be dangerous, especially for you and the other girls. I need to know that you trust me.”
“I don’t know if I like where this is going. What kind of crackpot idea do you have this time?”
“That’s not what I asked you. Do you fucking trust me or not?”
“Yes, of course. Jesus Christ, I trust you. Are you happy now?”
“Not yet, but we’re making progress. C’mon let’s join the others, we have to work fast,” Mason said, putting his arm around Pualani and walking her down to where the others were waiting.
****
Billy Boy was nervously sweating in the bow of the patrol boat. There were hundreds of islands that they could be hiding in along this seashore. Amayr was even more vicious than General Aazim, and he wanted vengeance for the brutal death of his soldiers.
“Where are these infidel terrorists hiding? It’s been nearly two days and we have seen no sign of anything. I think you're wasting our time,” Amayr said, taking the binoculars from Billy Boy.
“They’re here, I know it. With the amount of fuel and supplies they had, they couldn’t have made it anywhere else. We just need to keep searching, I can find them.”
Amayr decided to split his forces in order to expedite the search for the terrorists. He was running low on fuel and sent a few of his patrol boats back to the fleet to refuel, and then divided the remainder of the search party into pairs, in order to search all of the small islands further south.
Mason had personally made sure that everyone knew their part in the operation down to the finest detail. They were running low on ammo, and had to get creative with their attack. Brody was more than upset that he had to give up his precious stash of Jack Daniels to use as Molotov cocktails.
There were only a few bottles left that actually had any whisky in them, but plenty of empty bottles. So they used diesel fuel, mixed with a little motor oil, cut up some extra clothes and made them into wicks.
They patiently waited and watched the well-armed patrol boats blindly search for them. “I don’t think they’ll ever find us,” Kalen said, flicking his lighter dangerously close to the wick of the cocktail.
“Knock it off, dipshit. You’re going to blow yourself up. Just wait, we’ll have our chance soon,” Mason said, grabbing the zippo out of his hand.
Brody crawled up next to them and pointed at the boats starting to break off into different directions. They stayed low and waited for over an hour, until Mason broke the silence. “Here we go, it’s game time.”
There were only two League of Islam patrol boats in sight, and they were starting to get dangerously close to the small island. Mason gave the pre-arranged whistle to move everyone into their positions.
Pualani, Luanne and Simone walked out into the open waving their arms and started screaming. “Help! Hey you, over here. Help us!”
The two patrol boats instantly saw them and rode into the shore. Seven armed men, wearing their signature green berets and jungle camouflage fatigues jumped onto the beach, eager to capture the women. They shouted in Arabic to get down and started firing their rifles into the air.
“Now!” Mason shouted, lighting the wicks of the Molotov cocktails and hurling them at the soldiers and their patrol boats. The bottles ignited on impact causing a fireball which exploded one of the patrol boats almost instantly. The raging fire that ensued from the explosion and the other bottles that smashed near the soldiers engulfed them in flames. The five soldiers that were on the beach were now human torches and they ran, frantically screaming in pain, as the fire slowly took the flesh from their bodies.
Kalen rose up from his prone position to open fire on the burning men, until Mason stopped him. “Let these fuckers burn,” Mason said, motioning to the girls to get the hell outta there. The two remaining soldiers hopped into the other patrol boat that was unscathed and opened fire on them. They were laying down cover fire so that they could get away, until the tugboat came at them full speed ahead. The flimsy patrol boat was no match for the sturdy and well-armed tug. The girth of the tugboat neatly split the patrol boat in half as Mambo fired the .50 Cal, relentlessly, into drowning soldiers.
The resistance erupted into joy as they watched the remaining soldiers burn to death on the beach and the two patrol boats sink from fire. Mason knew that the other soldiers and patrol boats would have seen that spectacle and be coming to intervene soon. He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, “Time to go, everybody fall back to position two.”
Mason heard screaming and tur
ned to look behind him. He saw the entire camp of survivors running as fast as they could, directly toward them. “Oh my god,” Kalen whispered.
It was a harrowing sight. Behind them came dozens of these new super feeders. The other patrol boats must have seen the explosion and released them onto the beach from the other side, Mason thought.
These zombie-like savages were moving three times as fast as they were when Camp Freedom fell. Some of these monstrosities were even galloping by, using their front arms as a second pair of legs. It was mayhem as the feeders overwhelmed the group. Mason saw Simone fall as she was pounced on by three of them; they stopped only briefly to rip apart her skin, like they were opening a Christmas present. They let out a demonic howl as they began to eat her alive. She was only able to scream briefly before one of the feeders bit into her throat, decapitating her.
“Fuck this,” Kalen said as he dropped his rifle and jumped into the ocean to swim away.
Mason shouted for Kalen to return as he and Brody opened fire on the incoming feeders. “I always knew he was a pussy,” Brody said as he changed out his empty magazine for a full one. “Last clip. You got any bright ideas?”
“I’m almost out, too. We gotta try and get as many people to the tug as possible before these feeders take them. We’ll flank them and create a diversion. Use the Molotov cocktails, and any other weapons you can find. Don’t get yourself killed, run for the water when you start to get overwhelmed.”
They split up and ran into the onslaught of feeders to try to help who they could. Mason saw Luanne and Pualani pinned down by four of the creatures and lit the last cocktail, hurling it close to them. The bottle shattered at the heels of the creatures and lit them up. They were immediately ablaze and momentarily confused as Mason emptied his clip into the fiery flesh eaters.
Pualani was stamping out some of the flames that had come dangerously close to her, when Mason grabbed her. “Gotta go, run for the tug. What’s wrong with her?” he said, pointing at Luanne.
“I don’t know. She’s freaked out,” Pualani said, adjusting her dog underneath her arm.
“Get her the fuck outta here, “ Mason said, grabbing the back of Luanne’s head and shoving her forward.
“Mason look!” Pualani shouted above the chaos, pointing to Brody. He was swinging his ball-peen hammer and shouting like a man possessed. He was inside a circle of fire he had made from the cocktails, and there were maybe twenty or so feeders taking turns lunging at him.
“Get outta here now!” Mason shouted as he ran towards Brody. He had a terrible pang of guilt crossing the beach seeing so many of the survivors dead and mutilated. I’m fucking responsible for this incredible loss of life, he thought as he ran head on into the group of feeders brandishing his ax.
He knocked three of them down with his first impact. The super feeders were now aware of him, and started to break off from attacking Brody and move towards him. Mason was hunched down and trying to slash and hack at anything he could. These feeders were not only faster, but smarter, he thought. They weren’t just mindless apes waiting to be slaughtered, they were attacking with purpose.
Mason shot a glance over at Brody and saw he was overrun also. Brody had been knocked onto his ass and used his arm to cover his face. One of the super feeders had bitten into the outside of his forearm and taken a chunk of flesh with it. Mason knew it was over and he closed his eyes ready to accept his fate, when he felt the heat of the first explosion.
They were firing the 81mm mortars from the tug directly on the beach. Feeders were being blown apart everywhere. Mason’s ears were ringing from the explosions, coming dangerously close to taking him out. It was a war zone as the tugboat was unloading everything they had onto the beach. Mason saw the large caliber rounds hitting the sand all around him as he began to crawl towards Brody. The tugboat onslaught had knocked the feeders off both of them and Mason was able to get to Brody through the thick white smoke.
Brody was in bad shape. He had been bitten two or three times on the outside of his right forearm. He was bleeding and crying, when Mason crawled up to him. “Hey buddy, you ready to go?” Mason asked, wrapping Brody’s wound with the shirt off of his back.
“Go where? I’m fucking bit. I’m going to turn into one of these monsters soon. I’d shoot myself, but I’m out of ammo.”
“That’s not gonna happen. I’m getting you outta here. No one gets left behind, you know that,” Mason said, picking up Brody in a fireman’s carry and running for the boat.
Mason zigzagged the beach with a half conscious Brody around his shoulders. Gunfire erupted all around him; hissing and howling feeders swiped at them. The mortar explosions were everywhere, making his run for the tug nearly impossible. Miraculously, he made it into the water and collapsed. Kalen and Pualani were in the waist high shore break to help bring them onboard. The three of them heaved Brody’s body onto the tug as Mason started screaming to get the fuck outta there. The remaining super feeders were being cut down as they tried to follow them into the water.
“Oh no, he’s been bitten,” Pualani said, in shock.
“Mason, why the hell did you bring him back here, he’s going to turn into one of things and try to kill us,” Kalen said, reaching for his pistol.
“You shut the fuck up, coward, and lower that weapon. We don’t leave our own behind to die like that. We’ll have a conversation later about that,” Mason said, kneeling down next to Brody.
Brody was starting to turn a pale white, and drifting in and out of consciousness. “I don’t know if this is going to work, but I’m gonna try to save you, brother,” Mason said, taking out his ax and severing Brody’s right arm at the elbow.
Brody jerked up, screaming in pain, as Mason elevated the remainder of his arm to stop the bleeding. Mason used bungee cords to tie off Brody’s arm at the elbow and shouted for the medical supply bag.
Luanne slid over to help and gently pushed Mason out of the way. “I was a nurse, let me do this,” she said as she began to disinfect and cauterize his wounds. She worked on Brody frantically and skillfully, but Brody had lost a lot of blood and was passed out.
“Is he going to make it?” Pualani asked as the tears welled up in her eyes.
“I don’t know, but we had to try. He was a brave son of a bitch out there. When others ran, he stood and fought. And this is his reward,” Mason said as he walked over to Kalen.
“You fucking piece of shit,” Mason said, punching Kalen in the face. “It’s because of you Brody may die.”
“I’m sorry… I got scared. I didn’t know what to do,” Kalen said, putting his hand over his bloody nose. “I’m so sorry.”
“You’re sorry? Is that all you can say, you little mother fucker?” Mason said, moving towards Kalen to hit him again.
“Mason stop!” Pualani said, grabbing his arm. “We’ve got a bigger problem.”
****
The remainder of the League of Islam patrol boats had stayed offshore to form a blockade. There was no mistaking those black flags, with their crescent and moon fluttering in the wind. Mason scrambled to the bridge to weigh his options.
Opening the door of the pilot house, Mason met Cap’n Tony’s eyes. “Can we smash through them?” Mason asked.
“If there were only a few boats—maybe. This is a tugboat, and not a warship. I’m amazed that we are even still afloat. Besides that, we are running on fumes. We had to use the extra fuel to make the Molotov cocktails, remember?”
“Just do your best Cap’n, I know this is an impossible situation. But I’m not ready to give up yet.” Mason said as he turned to walk out of the pilothouse. “We’re out of options; just fucking ram them.”
Mason closed the door to the pilothouse and leaned on the handrails for a moment, watching the enemy swiftly flank them. He recognized Billy Boy on one of the boats, and knew it was him who led them to the group.
Mambo was reloading the .50 Cal on the main deck when Mason joined him. “We are almost out of everything. W
e exhausted our ammo supply firing on the beach. This is going to be a short battle,” Mambo said. He was a fantastic soldier and a rock-like man, but the day’s events—especially the brutal death of Simone—had taken its toll on him.
“You know what will happen to us if they take us alive – I’m not going to let that happen. When that time comes I’ll need your help,” Mason said.
Mambo patted his pistol, tucked in his belt, and nodded.
They were on a collision course with the first few patrol boats of the blockade, when the engine of the tug abruptly died. Almost immediately afterwards, they felt the tug stop as the patrol boats drove into it on all sides.
A hail of bullets soon followed. There was shouting in Arabic. Mason watched Mambo turn to fire on one of the boats, when he was cut down. Mambo took several shots center mass, but he kept moving. He reached for his pistol, and almost had it raised when the final headshot came. He slumped on the deck.
Mason tried to make a move for the .50 Cal when he heard that eerily familiar voice.
“That wouldn’t be a good idea. You may want to see this,” Billy Boy said.
He had Pualani’s Bowie knife to her throat, pressing hard with the sharp knife. Speckles of blood started to drop onto the deck. Luanne was covering Brody’s unconscious body with her own. Despair suddenly washed over Mason as rough hands grabbed him and threw him violently onto the deck at the pirate’s feet. Cap’n Tony joined them soon after as he was also thrown into the group of survivors on the main deck of the tugboat.
Lieutenant Amayr gracefully boarded the tugboat. He was resplendent in his perfectly pressed uniform. He was a balding man in his mid-forties with hawkish, intelligent eyes. He curled his lip with a smug smile of satisfaction.
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