The group began to separate. Some of them went after Jax and the rest continued towards Dudley and the others. The next thing I knew, Nick turned around and joined Dudley in firing into the advancing zombies.
Meanwhile, Jaxon was a demon. I don’t know how else to describe it. I could hear the bones breaking and skulls crunching from all the way across the parking lot. Obviously I had seen him in action before, but it was something that I had a difficult time getting used to.
I shook off the shock and jumped out of the Jeep. I told Merrick to stay put, and I started firing on the zombies that were outside Jaxon’s slaughtering circle. Then I noticed that Dudley was yelling something at Nick, and Javie was yelling something at Dudley. At that point, I ran around the parking lot and away from the violence. My goal was to reach Javie, because I had a pretty good idea of what had happened.
I was being followed.
A few of the zombies had broken off from the main group and chased after me as I had passed them. I stopped, slowed my breathing and caressed the trigger. One, two, three. I nailed all of them.
Jaxon was still in the middle of the group and fighting for his life when I finally reached Dudley. I was correct in my assumption. Nick had abandoned Javie to go help Dudley and Jaxon with the advancing group of zombies. The only problem was that Javie wasn’t enough to keep back all the zombies trying to exit the church.
The situation had become critical by the time I joined him at the doorway. The zombies were literally right on top of him. I fired and fired as fast as I could. It only took a few moments, but the surge towards the door had been stopped.
“You got them all?”
Not yet, but we managed to keep them from escaping the church in a great big wave. Then I heard Dudley screaming at Nick once again. I turned slightly to see what the next problem was going to be and saw Dudley reaching out for Nick just as Nick pulled out his fire axe and charged into the group of zombies.
“He jumped in to help Jaxon?”
I guess so, but Jaxon doesn’t really need help. Even if Jaxon takes a bite, he’ll be okay if we can get him healed. Nick, however, is a regular guy. We didn’t even know for sure if he could recover from a bite. If Kingsley was still alive somewhere, then Nick may not have been touched by the Guardian’s power. There are only supposed to be five of us, but none of us really knew if that was a hard rule.
“Javie, can you handle this?” I asked.
“I got it,” Javie answered.
I turned around immediately and joined Dudley.
Jaxon looked like a scene out of a comic book. Every move he made caused damage. Every blow he struck was on target and devastating. Nick on the other hand looked clumsy. He would swing his large axe and miss. He would get swarmed and end up running backwards to avoid getting bitten.
All in all, he caused a lot more harm than help. He was actually breaking up the crowd and spreading them out. This made it a lot harder for Dudley and me to get a good shot, because targets are a lot easier to hit when they are closer together.
In the end, Jaxon actually had to save Nick from being overwhelmed. He didn’t do it kindly; he sort of shoved Nick out of the way and finished off the five zombies that were trying to eat him.
Again, he made it look so easy. He ducked the first attacker and slashed his kneecap before swinging his tomahawk sideways into the temple of the next zombie that came for him. As the third charged, Jaxon brought up his knife at the last second and the zombie actually impaled his own head on the weapon. The fourth met another swing of the tomahawk. The weapon buried itself in its face. The fifth actually managed to grab Jaxon by the waist in a tackle, but before he could accomplish anything the knife was slammed into the top of the zombies head.
Nick was stunned from what had just happened. Seeing Jaxon work seems to have that effect on people, but he recovered enough to chop the head off of Jaxon’s kneecap victim. He then smiled a shit eating grin and raised his hand up high for a high five. Jaxon ignored him and instead walked over to Dudley.
“What happened?” Jaxon asked.
“We came in and checked out the perimeter,” said Dudley. “Everything looked good so we situated Katie and Jason in the parking lot while we backed off further down the road. I figured it would be the best place to provide any needed backup and still give us an escape route after the chopper left. It was a good plan. I mean, there’s only one road up here. Any approaching zombies would need to get by us.
“It was a good plan,” Jaxon agreed. “So what happened?”
“Nick thought it was taking too long. He left the Jeep and went back to the parking lot. After that, I don’t know what happened.”
“Nick?” the General asked.
At this point, Nick was helping himself to a serious piece of humble pie. His entire attitude seemed to have changed the second Jaxon refused the high five.
“Just like he said Jax, I was worried about them, so I went back up. When I got there, Jason said he was thirsty so I tried to open the front door of the church. I figured there was probably something to drink in there that he would like.”
“Let me guess,” Jaxon said. “You opened the door and found out that the church was filled with zombies.”
“That’s right,” Nick said. “I screwed up. I should have listened to Dudley when he told me to stay in position. I did my best to close the door. I even held back the zombies until the rest of the team could help me out.”
“It was close, Jax,” Dudley said. “We got there right before the chopper landed. If we’d have been just a little bit later, they’d all be dead. If you hadn’t of shown up when you did, we’d be all be dead. I don’t want him here anymore. He doesn’t listen to orders. He’s a liability that’s going to get people killed.”
“Like I said,” Nick said. “I screwed up. It’s not a mistake I’m going to make again. I think, I think I really screwed up.”
With that, Nick held up his hand for everyone to see. The bite mark was small, but it was still there. Nick had been infected.
“Shit,” Jax said. “When did that happen?”
“I don’t even know,” Nick answered. “I only realized it was there when I tried to high five you. How bad is it?”
I personally couldn’t tell how bad it was. It didn’t seem very deep, but it was difficult to tell because the wound was bleeding somewhat steadily. Nick was trying very hard not to panic. His skin had gone chalk white and his hand was beginning to tremble. I didn’t blame him a bit. I would have been crying like a baby.
“We need to wash it out and clean it up,” Jaxon said.
Dudley and Jax both grabbed Nick by the arms and dragged him into the church. Fortunately, the bathrooms were close to the front door so after wading through a bunch of corpses, they managed to get Nick to the sink. Javie and I kept watch at the bathroom door as Dudley began to wash out the wound with water from the sink and soap from the dispenser. Nick sort of collapsed into a wooden chair by the sink. Dudley wasn’t being gentle with the scrubbing and there was a look of pain on Nick’s face as Dudley worked. Jaxon quietly watched all this from a distance. It seemed as if he were waiting for the inevitable bad news.
“Jaxon,” Dudley said. “You need to see this.”
Jaxon let out a big sigh and approached the sink. Nick didn’t even bother looking up at him as he came near. Instead, he kept his eyes focused on the floor. Jax stared at the wound for a long time and finally let out another sigh.
“Is it okay?” Nick asked.
“No,” Jax said. “It’s not okay.”
“Oh fuck,” Nick mumbled. “What am I gonna do?”
“You’re not going to do anything,” Dudley said in a sad tone. “It’s too late.”
“I’ll do it,” Jaxon said as he pulled out and snapped open his folding knife.
Nick’s eyes went wide with fear.
“No,” Dudley said as he pulled out his machete. “He’s closer to you than he is to me. I should be the one that does it.”
>
“I don’t want you to have to carry that burden for me,” Jaxon said. “I can make it quick. He’ll barely feel a thing.”
Nick apparently couldn’t take any more. He jumped out of his chair in a frightful panic and started backing away from Jaxon and Dudley.
“FUCK YOU GUYS!” Nick shouted. “NOBODY IS STABBING ME! THIS IS BULLSHIT! I DON’T WANT TO GO OUT LIKE THAT! IT’S NOT FAIR!”
Jaxon and Dudley just looked at him in a sad way.
“He’s right,” Dudley said as he pulled out the pistol he stole from me. “He deserves better than that.”
“Maybe,” Jaxon said. “But, what if your hand shakes and you only wound him? I still think I should be the one to do it.”
“Why would my hand shake?” Dudley asked.
“Because you like the guy,” Jaxon said. “You might freak out when it comes time to pull the trigger.”
“I don’t like him that much,” Dudley said.
“YOU ASSHOLES AREN’T LISTENING!” Nick yelled. “NOBODY IS GOING TO KILL ME! WHY AREN’T YOU LISTENING?”
“Well, you like him more than I do,” Jaxon said. “I had enough of him in college.”
“I do not,” Dudley said. “I barely like him at all.”
“Bullshit,” Jaxon said.
“It’s not bullshit,” Dudley said. “I’ll prove it right now.”
With that, Dudley aimed his gun right at Nick’s face. Naturally, Nick went into a full on panic. He backed up past Javie and I and screamed out a slew of obscenities while Jaxon and Dudley just stared at him.
Outside the bathroom and in the hallway, Nick found a plush recliner and picked it right up into the air and held it before his chest as if it were a shield that could stop a bullet. He carried his recliner shield all the way out into the parking lot and he never once heard the snickers and eventually full on laughter of Dudley and Jaxon.
“Wait, what?”
Nick was fine. The water had healed up his hand. He wasn’t infected.
“So Dudley and Jaxon were just messing with him?”
Correct.
“That’s mean. That’s so mean. I can’t believe they did that.”
I was completely shocked. I was laughing, but I was shocked. I guess it was one of those things that are funny when it happens to someone else, but it wouldn’t be funny at all if it happened to you. It was a really mean thing to do.
Yeah, it was a pretty rotten thing to do, but then again Nick did just endanger everybody’s life.
“Were you and Javie in on the joke?”
Not at all. We didn’t have a clue. Even when they started laughing, it still took us a moment to figure it out.
“How did they tell Nick that they were just messing with him?”
That was even funnier. They both walked to the door and just watched him shouting obscenities from the middle of the parking lot. Nick was so freaked out that he didn’t even realize that they were laughing at him. Then Jax gave out a shrill whistle, and Merrick bounded out of the Jeep, ran up behind Nick, and bit him in the ass.
At this point, I was laughing heartily. In fact, I was laughing so hard I was actually crying and having problems catching my breath.
She didn’t bite him hard, mind you. She just gave him a nasty little nip. Nick freaked out even more and dropped the recliner on his foot. Now all of us were laughing hysterically at the poor guy. It was just too funny, and, to be honest, Nick sorta deserved it.
He finally noticed that we were laughing at him. He didn’t know how to react. Finally, he looked at the clean wound on his hand and then he got pissed.
“Oh, you guys are funny,” Nick said. “That’s just a riot!”
Everyone else was still laughing, but I knew Nick from way back in college. I knew better than to push my luck. The dude got scrappy when he was pissed.
“That was not okay,” Nick said as he walked over to us. “I don’t know why you’re laughing; that wasn’t funny.”
The smile vanished from Jaxon’s face, and he moved forward to meet Nick in the parking lot.
“Actually,” Jaxon said in a sinister tone. “It was funny. It was also deserved. Your actions jeopardized my team and could have cost someone their life. This isn’t a game and it sure as fuck isn’t the Nick show. I make the rules around here, and if I happen to be absent, Dudley is in charge. You can accept it…or you can do something about it.”
They were now face to face. Well, actually Nick is a lot taller than Jaxon, so let’s just say that they were up in each other’s grill. I truly began to get a little nervous. Neither of these guys were the type to back down. I simply could not see how a fight could be avoided.
“Would it have even been a fair fight?”
I don’t know. Nick is a huge guy, but Jaxon knows how to fight and let’s not forget he is the Guardian. Then again, Nick punched out a lot of drunks back in college. I don’t really know who would have won, but it would have been a bitch to break them up.
Luckily, instead of throwing a punch, Nick mumbled something quietly to Jaxon. Jaxon began to mumble something back, and Merrick started to wag her tail. The tension was lifted. I’m not exactly sure what they were talking about, but it consisted of a lot more mumbling from Jaxon and a lot of head nodding from Nick. When Nick offered his hand and Jaxon shook it, I knew that all would be well.
“You never found out what they were saying?”
Knowing Jax, it was probably very straightforward. I’m guessing that he let Nick know who the boss was and what the rules were. If Nick didn’t like it, he was free to leave. If he screwed up again and someone got hurt, well, I’m sure he explained some consequences for that as well.
Life however, wasn’t even close to getting better for me. As soon as they came back to the doorway of the church where the rest of us were standing, Nick waited for everyone to get distracted and promptly hit me in the balls with the handle of his axe.
“I saw you laughing asshole,” Nick said as he smiled at me.
I didn’t have a chance to respond. I’m not sure that I would have even if I had a chance. I wish I could have just shot him in the leg or something, but I’m not sure that Jaxon would appreciate that too much. Anyway, Hardin chose that very second to radio in. He was speaking to Jaxon, but it was an open communication and all of us could hear what he was saying.
“Jax,” Hardin said. “We’ve got big problems.”
“What’s going on?” Jaxon said.
“We have two teams down, and we’ve just lost contact with the third.”
“I thought you were removing the teams from the area?” Jaxon asked.
“That was the plan. The Northeast team wanted to do one final extraction on their way out. I gave permission. It ended up being another one of those traps. There were no survivors. The Eastside team was attacked by your vampire friend shortly after sundown. There were no survivors. This is rapidly turning into a cluster fuck.”
“Wait up,” Jaxon said. “What’s going on with the Downtown team?”
“I’m thinking it’s another trap. They entered an abandoned hotel for a final extraction as well, something attacked them, but I couldn’t get a clear visual before communications were lost. I believe that they have lost some men, but I’m not sure how many.”
“So there could be survivors?” Jaxon asked.
“These are elite teams,” Hardin said. “I’m actually surprised that we already lost two of them, but they just aren’t used to fighting a supernatural presence.”
“So there could be survivors?” Jaxon repeated.
“It’s possible,” Hardin answered.
“Jax,” I said. “We need to check it out. If we keep hunting the vampire, we may find a lead on Kingsley.”
“I agree,” Jaxon said. “But we still need to extract the rest of the survivors.”
“What do you mean find a lead on Kingsley?” Javie said.
“We didn’t see a body,” I answered. “We found a grave. We probably should have checked
it out but we’re guessing it was probably just a lead up to a trap we fell into. We were also thinking that live bait would work better than just killing him.”
“So Kingsley could still be alive?” Dudley asked.
“It may be wishful thinking,” Jaxon said. “But there is a chance.”
“So what do you want to do?” Dudley asked.
“I want to see if I can track this bitch down and find my friend,” Jaxon answered. “And this possible trap is the only crappy lead we have right now. I’ll take Nick with me and check it out. Dudley, you take the rest of the team and continue with the extractions. Take Merrick as well; she’ll be a good bodyguard for Georgie.”
“Should we be splitting up?” I asked.
“I would like to look for Kingsley,” Javie said.
“I’m sure everybody would,” Jaxon said. “We just can’t forget about all of those trapped survivors while we search for our friend. I’m taking Nick with me. I want to make sure that he’s learned to be a team player. The rest of you can keep on with the extractions.”
Just like that, it was over. Our jobs were given and we set out to do them.
“Were you disappointed that you weren’t going out after the vampire?”
It wasn’t the vampire we were concerned about. We just wanted to find Kingsley, but yeah, I think everybody not going was disappointed. Kingsley was a teammate and a friend. We wanted him back.
Chapter 6
Snake Charmer
It was quite a journey to reach the man I can only refer to as Snake Charmer. I can’t actually reveal where it was that I met with him, but I can tell you that it was overseas. I have also been asked to not give too detailed a description other than to say that he is tall, though not as tall as Nick, he has a muscled body and a thick beard.
Snake Charmer works in one of the most elite sections of the military; again, I cannot reveal which one. His job description has only been described to me as a position that allows him to save and take the lives of others. He is a very intelligent and well trained man.
The Regulators - 02 Page 16