Fight 4 Us (Book 4): Conquered

by Brian Grenda

  The explosions wake me out of the trance I was in and I help Shaun get up from the ground.

  Shaun and I immediately sprint back to our vehicles.

  Bobby G is standing next to Lauren at my SUV.

  “What were you doing?” shouts Lauren and Bobby G.

  “Nothing. I saw Joseph’s car and wanted to make sure he was here. It’s our part now. Move to the back of the store towards the rear entrance door.”

  Lauren and Bobby G run to the back entrance and hide behind two trees as they take aim at the rear entrance door that is closed.

  Shaun and I approach the rear entrance as Lauren and Bobby G aim their guns at the entrance while staying hidden next to trees.

  Shaun is about to pry open the rear entrance door when it suddenly flies open and a rush of four Conquerors comes running out.

  Shaun drops the crowbar and falls to his back onto the street.

  Bobby G and Lauren take aim at the Conquerors as the four men stand confused as they look upon us.

  I shoot one of the men with my handgun in the head.

  BANG!

  Bobby G takes out one of the gunmen with a single shot to the head.

  BANG!

  One of the Conquerors struggles to get his gun out of the back of his jeans.

  I run over to him as he can’t get his gun out of his pants quick enough.

  The man pleads for his life.

  I kick him in the stomach.

  Spin him around and grab the gun out of the back of his pants.

  Shaun, who is still flat on his back in the street, takes out his handgun and shoots the remaining Conqueror in the head.

  BANG!

  I grab the man that I kicked in the stomach and drag him towards Bobby G and Lauren.

  The man begs for his life and pleads for me to let him go.

  “Please don’t kill me! I don’t want to be here with these guys!” shouts the man.

  “Keep your mouth shut and maybe you live.”

  The man shouts, “Please, let me go!”

  I punch him in the stomach and in a stern voice say, “Stop yelling! You yell one more time, and I kill you right now.”

  Gunfire is heard at the front of the store.

  People are getting picked off by bullets.

  “Where is Pete?” shouts one of the Conquerors at the front of the store.

  Shaun hears the man yell out Pete’s name and can’t help but to want to go inside and to kill Pete right now.

  “How many people are inside?” I shout at the man that I dragged into the darkness.

  “Twenty or so?” says the man.

  “Is Joseph here?”

  The man cries out in fear and shouts, “Help! Someone please help me!”

  I immediately kick the man in the face as I’m pissed that the man started to yell when I told him not too.

  More gunfire goes off near the main entrance of the Big Club.

  A man screams in pain as a bullet hits him in the right shoulder.

  The growl and bark of Odin is heard in the distance as he latches onto a male Conqueror’s arm.

  Shaun shouts, “We gotta go Ryan!”

  I look at the man that I just kicked in the face and ask, “Is Joseph inside?”

  The man is woozy as I hold him up by his shirt collar, but he tries to answer.

  “Answer the question asshole!” shouts Lauren.

  In a mumbled slurred voice, the man replies, “Yes.”

  I reply, “Thank you.”

  Then I shoot the man in the side of the head.

  Lauren and Bobby G are shocked that I killed the man.

  I look at Lauren and Bobby G and say, “He had to die, we can’t risk anyone staying alive.”

  “I need you both to focus. Shaun and I are going in through this rear entrance. You know your parts. Guard the back door. No one leaves through this rear entrance unless it’s us. No Conqueror leaves alive!”

  I kiss Lauren on the lips and then go inside the rear entrance with Shaun.

  Bobby G and Lauren move a dumpster against a tree to provide cover for them as they take aim at the rear entrance of the building that Shaun and I just went through.

  Chris and Carlos are battling a group of Conquerors at the front of the Big Club.

  TJ, Chris, Carlos, and Odin have taken out several Conquerors.

  Odin has his jaws around one of the Conquerors right forearm.

  The man screams in pain as Odin shakes the man’s right arm violently as he is clamped down on it.

  A Conqueror takes aim at Odin through his scope and says, “Time for you to die dog.”

  The man keeps his aim on Odin and puts his right index finger on the trigger.

  He takes a deep breath as he looks through his gun scope.

  BANG!

  Odin releases the man’s forearm immediately.

  The man falls to his knees and then face first onto the pavement.

  Blood starts to pour out from the man’s face from the gunshot wound he just suffered.

  TJ steps forward and looks down at the man who he just shot.

  “Come here boy,” shouts TJ to Odin.

  Odin runs over to TJ.

  Chris and Carlos take out the remaining Conquerors at the front of the store entrance, before the rest barricade themselves back inside the store.

  “Fall back into the store!” shouts a male Conqueror.

  TJ and Odin run over to Carlos and Chris who are hiding next to their blue car.

  “What do we do now?” asks Chris.

  TJ says, “We need to get inside or get the remaining Conquerors to come back outside. We took a lot of them out, but I’m sure there are several more of them waiting inside.”

  TJ looks at the main entrance to the Big Club and sees Phil driving towards the store.

  TJ flags Phil down and Phil drives over to TJ and the guys.

  Phil and Matt get out of the SUV and walk to the back of the SUV.

  “Everything okay here TJ?” asks Phil as he opens the rear hatch of the SUV.

  “Yeah. What happened earlier Phil?” asks TJ.

  Phil grabs his body armor helmet and says, “We ran into some zombies and a couple of Conqueror idiots, but we made out okay.”

  TJ sees that Phil is bleeding from his face, and asks, “Are you okay Phil? You are bleeding pretty bad.”

  Matt says, “He wasn’t bit, he got sucker punched.”

  “I’m fine. I’ll need some ice later and a tall Long Island Ice tea, but I’ll be fine. What’s the plan now?” asks Phil.

  TJ looks at the front entrance and says, “I have a plan. How many explosives and grenades do you have left?”

  Shaun and I make our way into a dimly lit part of the Big Club. We are hidden in darkness in the back of the store, but can hear The Conquerors yelling, screaming, and trying to make sense of what is happening to them.

  “My arm is killing me man! You have to help me! I think the bullet is still in my arm!” shouts one of the Conquerors that Carlos shot.

  “Let me see your arm Paul!” shouts Pete.

  Paul reaches his arm towards Pete.

  Pete looks at Paul’s arm and inspects the wound.

  “Yup. The bullet is still in there,” says Pete.

  Pete walks away from the man and grabs a bottle of alcohol and some pliers.

  Pete looks at man and says, “This is gonna hurt. A lot!”

  Pete looks at two surrounding guys and says, “You two, come hold him down.”

  The two men and Paul’s wife walk over to Paul.

  “Keep his arm straight and try not to move it. I have to get the bullet out now, and then bandage you up,” says Pete.

  One of the men puts a t-shirt in Paul’s mouth for him to bite into when Pete tries to get the bullet out.

  Pete asks, “You ready Paul?”

  Paul nods yes.

  Pete says, “I’m going to go on the count of three.”

  “One, Two,” says Pete.

  Before he s
ays three, Pete pours some alcohol on the wound with his left hand and digs the pliers into Paul’s left arm.

  Paul screams in pain and bites down extremely hard onto the t-shirt.

  Paul’s wife shouts, “Hurry up Pete! You are killing him!”

  Pete tries to get the bullet out with the pliers but the bullet is stuck and won’t come out easily.

  “I’m trying Mary!” shouts Pete.

  Paul screams out in pain and then passes out.

  “I got it!” shouts Pete.

  Pete hold up the bullet slug with the pliers and drops the bullet and pliers on the ground.

  Mary tends to Paul who is passed out now.

  The two men lay Paul down and one of the men starts to apply bandages to the open wound.

  Pete takes a big drink from the bottle of alcohol and looks at a closed room at the front of the building.

  Mary shouts, “What do we do now Pete?”

  Pete turns around and goes right up to Mary’s face.

  Pete aggressively grabs her face with his left hand and then takes back his right hand.

  Pete is about to smack Mary in the face when the closed room door that Pete was just looking at slams shut.

  “Enough!” shouts a man at the front of the store.

  Pete looks back at the man walking towards him, releases Mary’s face, and puts his right hand down.

  “Don’t even think about hitting her Pete!” shouts Joseph.

  “I’m sorry Joseph!” says Pete.

  “What the hell is going on outside? Are we under attack? Are we losing?” asks Joseph.

  Before anyone can answer, Joseph says, “It doesn’t matter what is going on or what happened. What matters is what we do about it right now!”

  All the Conquerors are together in the middle of the store while Joseph addresses them.

  Shaun and I realize that Joseph and his group are all together in the middle of the store and start to walk to towards them, but remain hidden and stealth as we do so.

  As Joseph continues to address his group and rally them against our group, I have to fight the urge to run over to him and slit his throat. Just the sight of seeing Joseph makes me want to kill him.

  Joseph must die, but I do not want to sacrifice myself because of my carelessness.

  I come across a pile of dirty rags that smell like they have oil or gas on them. I see a big industrial sized laundry cart and motion for Shaun that we need to get that laundry cart.

  Shaun quietly walks over to the laundry cart, but doesn’t move it.

  Shaun releases that the cart will make a lot of noise once it starts being pushed, and it will give away our position.

  I look at Shaun and Shaun motions for me to come over to him.

  I make my way over to Shaun and he says, “We can’t move this laundry cart without it making a lot of noise. Once we move it, we will lose the element of surprise.”

  “Crap. Good thinking. Let me try to get a hold of TJ or Phil over the radio, keep an eye on Joseph and his group. I’m going to move to very back of the store to talk on the radio.”

  Shaun stays hidden next to the laundry cart, while I move to the back of the store.

  There is a loud generator by me, so I’m not afraid to talk on the radio as the generator noise will drown out my voice.

  “TJ or Phil. Someone come in.”

  “We are here Ryan. What’s up?” asks TJ over the radio.

  I turn down the volume on the radio to make sure it’s not heard by The Conquerors.

  “Joseph is here, along with his Conquerors. There must be about 10 of them in here. They are in the middle of the store talking right now. The rear of the store is clear and guarded by my dad and Lauren.”

  “Good to know. We will be making our way through the front of the store in a couple seconds. Stand clear of the front entrance until we are in,” says TJ.

  “How will I know when you are in or not?”

  Phil replies, “Oh, you will know! Just look for the explosion at the front.”

  “You got it. Be safe! Shaun and I are clear. We are away from the front door now. We will try to draw some of them towards the front now. You are clear to do whatever you are going to do now.”

  “Good. See ya soon!” replies Phil.

  I turn the radio off and walk back to the spot where I left Shaun.

  I walk back to the laundry cart and Shaun is nowhere to be found.

  I start to look around for Shaun, but I can’t find him.

  There are no signs that Shaun is injured or that Shaun was captured, but I don’t know where he is.

  “Psst! Up here,” whispers Shaun.

  I look up at the top of a metal storage shelf and I see Shaun.

  Shaun somehow made his way up to the top of a metal storage shelf and positioned himself between two pallets of food.

  I quietly ask Shaun, “What are you doing up there?”

  “I have my sights on Joseph and the rest of them. I can take Joseph out with a single shot. There are 12 remaining Conquerors,” says Shaun as he looks through the scope of his assault rifle.

  “You will give our position away with the shot though Shaun.”

  “Give me the order, and I’ll take the shot,” says Shaun.

  As I process what Shaun might be able to do with a single shot, I can’t help but think what is the best decision to make here.

  I think about the consequences of Shaun taking the shot and all of the situations that could arise after he pulls that trigger.

  What if he misses, and it gives up our position?

  We would be screwed as the remaining Conquerors would be right on us and kill us.

  What if he kills Joseph and the threat of Joseph is done?

  Killing Joseph is the ideal result, but I can’t help to think that the remaining Conquerors would still come after us though.

  Shaun becomes inpatient for my answer and says, “I’m taking the shot. I can end this right now.”

  “Wait, let me get into a safe position first.”

  Shaun replies, “Hurry up about it. They are starting to move towards the front of the store.”

  “I have to warn TJ and Phil. Don’t take the shot yet. Phil and TJ are planning to come in the front of the store.”

  I switch my radio on and say, “TJ and Phil? Are you there?”

  TJ replies, “Yes. We are coming in right now.”

  “They are coming right to the front of the store now!”

  “Perfect, right where we want them to be! Stand Clear! Fire in the hole!” shouts TJ.

  CHAPTER 3

  GO GET HIM

  I look up at Shaun and say, “Take the shot!”

  I grab my handguns and position myself at the end of an aisle.

  I remain covered by the items on the pallet at the end of the aisle, but can see anyone coming towards us.

  Shaun looks through his scope on his assault rifle.

  He takes a deep breath and tries to relax as he gets Joseph in his sight.

  Joseph turns to Pete and says, “I’m going to leave and go home after we take care of this shit.”

  Before Pete can respond.

  BOOM!

  A huge explosion goes off at the front of the store.

  Shaun pulls the trigger of his assault rifle at the same time of the explosion.

  BANG!

  The sound of the bullet hitting a person’s skull is heard but Shaun isn’t sure who was hit.

  Smoke fills the air and makes it difficult to see.

  Screams come from Conquerors who are on fire from the blast.

  Shaun gets a Conqueror male in his sight and pulls the trigger.

  BANG!

  The Conqueror male falls to the floor.

  Shaun shouts, “Three Conquerors are coming right at you Ryan.”

  Shaun shoots one of them in the head, but the other two are coming down the center aisle towards me.

  I point my handguns at them, and they freeze in place.

  It’s a
male and a female.

  The woman charges at me, and I shoot her in the neck. The man watches the woman fall to the ground and then points his gun at me.

  I dive down another aisle and get out of the way as the man fires several shots at me.

  Shaun gets the man in his sights as he comes towards me and takes the man out with a single shot to the head.

  BANG!

  The man falls to the ground and I give Shaun a thumbs up with my right hand and say, “Thank you.”

  Shaun says, “No problem Ryan.”

  Phil drives through the massive hole in the front of the Big Club store with his police SUV and takes out a couple of Conquerors as he drives into the store.

  The store is a chaotic mess.

  Thick smoke is in the air from the explosion.

  People are screaming in pain as they were set on fire from the explosion that TJ made, and blood is all over the floor of the Big Club entrance and middle of the store.

  I turn to walk towards the front of the store and am immediately knocked to the floor.

  My handguns fly out of my hands as I hit the ground.

  “What have you done?” shouts Joseph.

  Joseph swings his battle axe down at me but I’m able to roll out of the way and escape down a nearby aisle.

  Shaun takes a shot at a Conqueror and Joseph sees where Shaun is hiding.

  Joseph walks over to one of the support beams and smacks the support beam with his battle axe.

  The steel support beam rattles and becomes very lose.

  Joseph sees that the support beam chipped the blade of his battle axe and becomes very angry.

  He looks up at Shaun and screams in rage, “I’m going to kill you!”

  Joseph drops his battle axe, grabs the support beam and starts to rip it off the shelf.

  I shout up at Shaun, “Get out of their Shaun! He’s going to rip it down!”

  Shaun narrowly jumps down onto a pile of debris before Joseph rips the support beam off and the pallets coming flying down off the shelf.

  I come down the aisle that Shaun fell onto and shout, “Shaun, you okay?”

  Shaun replies, “Yeah, I’ll be okay. My shoulder is pretty banged up but I’ll make it.”

  Joseph picks up his battle axe and throws it at me.

  I narrowly duck down as the battle axe flies into several bags of cat food that were sitting on a pallet behind me.

  Joseph charges at me, but I escape down to the aisle that Shaun is laying in.