Until The End

by Brown, Derek

  “I have brought to you Gods Hand a special gift. The leader of the Hunters Erik and two of his followers.” Z motioned to us with a sweeping motion of his hand.

  “These are glad tidings indeed. This calls for a celebration tomorrow night all will join in the revelries.” With that the Gods Hand raised his arms and the entire town cheered. I kept scanning the crowd for Emma. Where was my baby girl at? I felt the panic in rising up within me, I couldn’t find her and the zip ties holding my hands behind my back were becoming so tight. Queen must have seen how upset I was because she leaned and whispered in my ear.

  “You will do no good by getting yourself killed right now. Pull yourself together. We will find a way.” Destroyer must have seen her talking to me. He moved over and hit Queen hard over the back of the head.

  “No speaking let’s go you all are going to be held in the prison.” We started walking the direction he was pointing. In slow motion I looked up and I saw Emma’s back as she was walking away from the crowd holding someone’s hand. I saw her dirty blond hair that was in braided pony tails swaying in the wind. Emma’s head was down as if she was sad. My body moved of its own accord and I began walking towards her. Then pain exploded across my back as I felt a whip come down upon my back.

  “Get back in line!” Z shouted at me as he towered over us all. I turned around and saw Emma was gone. Something cold formed inside me at that moment.

  “I will kill you Z. I want you to know that.” He started laughing and began whipping my back. I could feel the welts forming on my back as the blood starting running down my back. I was forced to the ground from the pressure of the whip. Somewhere inside of me I found the strength to push myself back up.

  “Stay down you piece of shit.” Z shouted as he whipped me again and I fell to the ground face first onto my stomach. I pushed myself back up on my hands and knees and again I felt the whip open up a new wound. I fell down as I felt the whip curl around me and slice my forehead. My whole body was in pain but I refused to give him the satisfaction of defeating me and so I dug deep. I pushed myself up again. “Stay down!” Z started swing the whip over and over again down on my back until finally I couldn’t get up. I laid there looking in the direction that Emma had disappeared as my vision clouded over going from dark to complete blackness.

  May 18, 2014

  I awoke in the dead of the night to feel water being poured on my back. Queen was gently cleansing my wounds on my back. I felt like I had been run over by train my entire body was a mass of soreness and pain.

  “You couldn’t have just stayed down could you?” Erik looked over at me with a smile on his face. All I felt was a cold anger inside of me, pure fury and rage. I was a volcano ready to explode.

  “What are you fucking smiling about over there? Can’t you see what is going to happen that bastard is going to hurt my daughter and there is nothing I can do about it!” I said the words a bit more harshly then I mean them to be. Erik seemed unaffected as did Queen who merely grunted a hmmm. “What does that mean?” I turned to look as Queen and Erik looked at each other.

  “Should I tell him or you? He is going to try to fight us next if we don’t.” Queen looked to Erik for guidance. Finally Erik moved getting closer to me and spoke quietly.

  “Someone is coming tonight. I don’t know who made it alive out there but we received this note early this evening.” He handed me a crumpled piece of paper on it were the words.

  Be ready tonight. After the celebration you all are going to be relieved of your current predicament.

  The Hunters

  “Who do you think it is?” It was hard to contain the excitement I felt right now as a smile moved across my face. Queen spoke up.

  “Does it matter? No someone is coming and we will be getting out of here. There is something you need to know though Colin.” Her voice got serious as she continued speaking. “The Gods Hand means to hmm well do whatever he calls blessing tonight. I am sorry. We will stop him though and get your daughter back.” Erik nodded his head in agreement.

  “Thank you both. Well let’s get ready.” We all moved around and began to count the seconds off of the clock in our heads each of us lost in thought. Finally when I thought I could wait no longer we all heard a welcoming familiar voice.

  “Aye, Laddie what are you all up to in there. Stop cupcaking and let’s get you all out of there.” Cat walked up to our cell door holding some keys in his hands. “You do want to get out right?” He chuckled in a way that only Cat could.

  “I have never been so happy to see you Cat.” I got up moving towards the door. As he was opening the door I heard another voice from behind him.

  “Hurry the fuck up the real party is about to start.” Cope came out of the darkness towards us. I reached out shaking his hand as Queen and Erik made their way out the cell. Erik turned towards Cope smiling.

  “I am glad you are alive my friend. What is the plan?” Cope clasped Erik’s hand in his shaking it.

  “Well you are going to love this. Cope and I waited until the Brothers of the Cross army left then we went about pissing of the infected and began leading them here. We also left a trail of food which should lead that pack of wolves here as well. Then Cope and I managed to sneak in here after we placed explosions at all the guard towers. We managed to set C4 charges with a timer set for one hour and that was about 50 minutes ago. Did we mention we also brought weapons for you guys too?” Cat smiled as he moved out of the way showing us guns, swords, grenades, and my bow. As we walked out to the outer room we saw two guards with their necks broke. Cope looked over and shrugged his shoulder.

  “We had to do what we had to do. Alright Erik how do we get out of here now?” We all looked towards Erik.

  “Well we are leaving yet. First Colin is going to go have a word with the Gods Hand and then I have a meeting with Z and Destroyer. They betrayed us and I plan to pay them back. Once we do that then we can leave.” Cope looked over a shocked look on his face.

  “Erik there is an army of the infected coming this way, only a fraction of them were killed at the valley. They are being lead here by a smart one and they will be hitting the city in a couple hours. Not to mention you can hear the wolves howling now and once the bombs go off then this place is going to be a feeding ground.” Cope shook his head. Erik looked at everyone before he spoke. He met each of our eyes and gazed into them.

  “If you don’t want to stay then I understand but I can’t leave and I know Colin can’t. I have to finish this, we should have dealt with this thorn a long time ago but we decided to wait. I am in this until the end which looks like the end is now.” He placed his hand in the middle and everyone got quiet as we heard several howling wolves in the distance. I was the first to place my hand in the middle.

  “Until the end then.” Cat and Queen were quick to follow suit before finally Cope placed his hand in the middle as well.

  “We had a good run, until the end. Let’s take these bastards to hell with us.” We all quickly got ready picking our weapons up and moved towards the door. As we exited the door I turned towards Erik.

  “Good luck my friend. I hope to see you at the end of this.” Erik turned towards me.

  “And good luck to you my friend. I will see you again whether in this world or the next.” With that I turned nodded to Cat and Cope. I turned towards Queen and gave her a hug whispering.

  “Thank you.” Queen held me tight. Cat turned to me and quickly said.

  “See you when I see you.” When that I turned and jogged off looking for the Gods Hand’s house. When I looked back over my shoulder I saw that they had disappeared and for the first time in a while I was alone. I made about it about 100 feet when all a sudden I heard saw several explosions go off around the walls at the watch towers. Stone and fire went shooting at least 150 feet into the all around us. Then rumble began to rain down crashing into buildings through roofs. People began running everywhere and there was chaos all around us. I grabbed somebody and shouted.
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  “Where is the Gods Hand’s house at?” The woman was wide eyed with terror and it took a moment for her to answer. “Hurry up. Where?” She pointed off to my right at city hall of course I thought to myself he would go to city hall. I ran there as fast as I could only to be met by two guards at the door.

  “Halt, sir, the Gods Hand does not take to be bothered during his blessing. You can come back…” I didn’t wait for him to finish I pulled out my kukris and brought it across his neck then I stabbed the other guard in the chest. Then I heard the first tower going down and the snarls of a pack of hungry wolves entering the city. The rest of the walls were shaking and it wasn’t going to take much until the entire wall crumbled down. I could hear the sounds of screams and shouts.

  “Wolves!”

  “No! Run everyone get out.” I never even looked behind I kept my eyes locked on the door in front of me. As I opened the door I was met by another guard who was trying to rush out the door and was surprised to see me. He became more surprised as I savagely stabbed him with a kukri in the chest. Blood spurted everywhere and one of my kukri became lodged in the guard as he fell to my feet. I stepped over his body, making the trek to the door. Then as my hand touched the door handle a wave of resolve washed over me. I heard speaking coming from behind another door down towards the back of the hall as I walked into the building. I quickly rushed to the door and I could hear the Gods Hand’s voice on the other side.

  “Now be a good girl and you will be blessed by God. You want to be blessed by god don’t you?” I could hear the smile in his voice as he was talking to her.

  “Yes God is great, I want to be blessed by God, what do I have to do?” Emma’s response came through the door. Sickened I brought my bow up, notching an arrow as I used all my might to kick the door in. The wood splintered everywhere and the door just shattered into a million pieces from the force of my rage. I stood there looking in and I met the eyes of the Gods Hand who was standing over my daughter in a blood red robe with gold trimming. His eyes met mine and I saw the fear clearly etched in his face. Then Emma turned towards me and it was as if my world was complete again.

  “Daddy, Oh Daddy, I missed you, see I told them you would come.” Excitedly she went to get up but Gods Hand grabbed her and brought her up blocking himself from me. He put his hands around her neck making sure she couldn’t get away. Emma’s face turned red with fear and she was struggling to get out of his grasp.

  “Put her down, now.” I kept my voice level as I entered the room, I stood about five feet away from them both. His face was filled with fear, as his gaze met mine. My blue green eyes were ice cold like the fury I felt in that moment.

  “If I do that you are going to kill me. I didn’t do anything wrong, I have provided these people with shelter and safety. I have done nothing wrong.” His voice trembled and sounded weak to my ears. Emma kept struggling to get out of his grasp. “Stop it you little bitch, you owe and I am going to collect.” He pulled her closer, pushing his nose against her hair and smelling her hair all the while looking at me. I went to move closer and he tightened his grip on her. She grimaced in pain and looked at me trying to get to me. “Now put your damn bow on the ground in front of you. Then you step away slowly and no one gets hurt here.” I stood silently watch him, I made no movement to comply with his demands. “I said drop them now or I will kill her!” He shouted at me. “Guards get in here!”

  “Calm down, the guards are dead, I killed them. Everyone else is fighting off a pack of wolves and dealing with the walls coming down. So what you need to do is let my daughter go, NOW!” I kept arrow up and aimed down my sites as I felt my arm getting tense as my muscle strained to keep the sixty pound draw back.

  “No asshole you will listen to me. Now get your head out of your ass and put your shit down. I am walking out here with your daughter.” He glared at me and motioned again for me to put my weapons down. At first I didn’t move and then he tightened his grip on Emma’s neck and she cried out. At first I moved towards him slightly but he backed up. “No you don’t fucker, drop your weapons, I said!” I stopped in my tracks, I couldn’t bear to see Emma in pain any longer. So slowly I placed my bow on the ground then I placed my hands behind my back with my right hand gripping my last kukri. “Now that’s better, I am glad you can listen, alright now back up slowly. Don’t make me kill her, back up!” He was becoming frantic.

  “Listen you have my bow now let her go, please she has nothing to do with this.” I was pleading with him. He wouldn’t hear me though he just motioned for me to back out of the room. Seeing no option I began to move out of the room. As I got to the doorway he picked up and threw Emma on the bed.

  “Sit down bitch; I’ll be with you shortly.” He turned and winked at her then moved towards me. I made no motion to run instead I stood facing him not flinching. “Aren’t you the brave one? You’re the Archer right? I just want you to know that because of this little stunt you pulled. I plan on blessing her over and over again.” He wink and moved towards as I pulled the kukri out and brought it up under his chin and drove it has deep as I could into her head. I yanked out the kukri then drove it into his right eye. He screamed out in pain as blood erupted like fountain from his eye. I pulled him close looking him in his left and hissed at him.

  “You should have just let her go, and I may have gone easy on you. But then you went and called her a bitch. Now you have to understand that is not acceptable, not one bit, how’s your vision? Well I sure hope you can see a little bit. I want make sure you can see me.” I punched him in the face making sure I broke his nose. As he went to grab his nose he dropped the kukri on the ground. He bent over to pick it up, as he did I drove my knee into his face causing him to go flying backwards landing on the floor on his back. I stood over him and stared at him. He attempted to say something.

  “I.” I cut him off.

  “No I’ll see you in hell.” I picked up the blade looking at the cold steel covered in blood. Then drove the kukri into his throat. I could hear the blood welling up in the back of the throat, gurgling. He begin to choke at first and then the last bit of air escaped his lips as his eyes glassed over staring at the abyss of the ceiling above him. I turned moving towards the bedroom to find Emma sitting there waiting for me. She was crying and then she saw me. It was like slow motion as she rushed into my arms.

  “Daddy, you came for me. I love you my Batman to infinity and beyond.” She was squeezing me so tight. “I was scared the bad man was going to get you.” I picked her up holding her close while tears of joy ran down my face.

  “Nothing in this world could have stopped me from reaching you. Oh my god Emma, I found you.” I just stood there holding her for what seemed like forever. “I love you Emma.” Then I picked up my bow and we walked out of the building to the street. We could hear the walls of the city falling apart as wild animals ransacked the city. Off in the distance though I could hear loud grunting noises. Although I could see through the smoke of the burning walls. I knew there must have been at least a hundred if not more out there of the infected out there. The camp was in panic people were running back and forth through the streets. Everyone was rushing to get somewhere or get something it was pandemonium. I looked around somehow finding Erik covered in blood standing with Queen and Cat. His face was pale and deep lines of stress were written all over his face. Holding Emma I rushed over to Erik he turned to meet me and nodded towards the building. “The Gods Hand has been relieved of duty, permanently.” Erik looked at me and then simply shrugged his shoulders and turned towards the perimeter overlooking the surrounding area.

  “It looks pretty bad out there, we are surrounding the infected seem possessed to get in here. I told everyone to start barricading the walls with whatever they can find but that only buys us minutes to be honest. Any ideas Archer?” He was being blunt and I heard the fear creeping into his voice.

  “Well we can get everyone around the walls and shoot or stab the infected that close enough to us. It
will at least buy us a bit more time, what do you think?” I looked around and I thought it might work. But as I heard the infected clawing and banging getting closer and closer to the wall I began to realize how bleak the situation was becoming. I thought to myself to finally reach my daughter only to end up dying here. I wanted to scream at the irony of it all. Erik looked around and then started motioning for people to gather around. It is interesting how much more willing people are willing to listen to you during times of crisis.

  “Listen up everyone; I thank you all for barricading the walls now I am going to ask you all to start stabbing the infected that come close, if you do not then we all will die. If you have a gun then shoot them we are not worried about ammo conservation here. I understand you are all scared and I don’t blame any of you.” He looked around at the gathered crowd their faces were full of fear. “I don’t blame any of you but I do have to ask you to put that fear away or we are not going to see tomorrow morning’s sunrise. So please defend the fence, defend your homes.” He looked around making sure to make eye contact and plead with them. It was quiet except for the infected no one was speaking they were all silent. Finally someone from the crowd spoke up.

  “Fuck yeah let’s kill these bastards!” The crowd cheered and then began moving to the walls grabbing whatever they could find to stab the infected through the holes that had been created by the bombs. I sat Emma down and I told her not to move from my side and I began firing arrows at the infected. It was amazing everyone was stabbing and the wave of the infected began to slow down. The infected were just dropping as they were killed and everyone began cheering. A sense of relief began to settle over everyone as the clawing sounds died out.

  “It’s working Colin!.” Erik stepped back after he stabbed an infected in the head and it fell to the ground. I turned to look around at the gate and I noticed the bodies of the dead infected were piling up but that the infected kept coming. In the distance I heard something at first just a distant scraping noise. Everyone stopped moving and then we saw it, we saw a horde of about a hundred more of the infected with burned bodies howling and clawing towards us. At the head of the horde was figure he was howling like a maniac. As he got closer I could see that the figure was Michael and he seemed to be leading the infected towards us. Everyone stopped moving and looked as the infected closed the gap coming towards us. No one had to say it we knew we were dead now there was no way we could survive an attack of that many infected. Emma was crying and clutching at my leg. Even I felt like crying at the hopelessness that I was experiencing. We were going to die and there was nothing I could to do stop that now. It was a fate worse than death to know that I could not defend my daughter as I fell to me knees. I brought my daughter in holding her close as tears began to roll down my face. It was almost as if watching it in slow motion the infected were moving towards the wall they were steadily advancing. A wave of uncertain death of grim reapers arm were coming to claim their prize. In my entire life I have never experienced anything like that before a sense of just complete and utter dismay. It was over, there was no escape, there was no way out of this, not this time. So I sat there clinging to Emma rocking back and forth humming to her as the tears came rolling freely down my face. Her face was pressed up against my chest and I could her breathing in and out as she was crying.