by Unknown
Everything was locked down as he would have wanted it.
From that point forward her father took control of the truck stop and started to give orders to everyone still in the truck stop.
He immediately had his truck moved into the garage and handed out all the guns and ammo brought with him. He had everyone able to use a gun move into various positions around the truck stop so they could monitor what was happening outside.
Rob and Brian were positioned on the roof as they were the best marksman. He told everyone that the world was going crazy, which we had finally seen on the tvs in the café.
Chapter 24
“So that’s how the dead ended up on the street. Brian and Rob are very good shots. They pretty much cleaned house.” She said. “The only real new problem we had was when a gang of bikers showed up on the 3rd day.”
No one from our group said anything. We didn’t know if this was the same biker group and we thought it would be best to see how much Shannon told us.
“The leader of the gang was named Ripper. Can you believe that was his name? Anyway, he told me that was his name because he was descendent of Jack the Ripper.” She shook her head and sighed. “We were letting the living approach the truck stop and offering them either a place to hide out till the situation was under control or gas and food if they wanted to move on. My dad was doing this for free. It was his way.”
Brian walked in and leaned into Shannon and whispered something. She nodded her head and said, “I’m OK. You guys go back and keep a look out for any zombies.”
“I assume that it didn’t work out with Ripper since none of the bikers are here,” I stated, trying to get her to continue the story.
“My dad went out to meet Ripper in the parking lot to give him the same speech he gave all new arrivals; we’ll provide a place, or food, etc.” A tear dropped from her eye and I knew then what happened. “Ripper listened and then laughed out loud and without another word or anything jammed a knife into my dad’s chest. He then yelled to the rest of us that from here on out, this was his place. We had a choice; give it to him so no one else is hurt or die.”
She got up and found a tissue on the table behind her to wipe her eyes. “Brian, shot a motorcycle and it exploded, causing a few of the bikers to catch on fire, he then shot two more before any of them could react. Ripper made our choice for us when he killed our dad.”
“They were quick to scatter and Ripper got away. We’ve seen them scouting the area and I’m sure Ripper will try something since we killed some of his guys.”
“I think we know these guys.”
“How?” She replied as she pulled a pistol out and pointed it at me.
“Take it easy, we’re not with them or like them. We ran into them south of here.” She looked around at each member of the team and then after seeing that they agreed with my comment, she laid her gun on the table and moved her hand slightly to the side. “We had a run in with a couple of them and were able to get away.”
“Where exactly did you run into them?” She asked.
“Do you know where The Commons neighborhood is?” I said as she nodded her head. “Well, we were going to go by the front gate, but had to stop when we saw the street blocked and then the bikers started coming after us. We figured they were trouble so we ran and tried to get away.”
“Well, you were lucky, we haven’t been that lucky. We've seen them attack people that we couldn’t get to first and like I said, they’ve been scouting around here more often lately.” She said. “My brothers and I need to do something and we need to do it soon.”
“How many people are here now?” I asked.
“We have 31 people, 11 men, 15 women and 5 children. Most of the men and women are middle-aged, from the city with just a few from around here. They will fight if attacked, but I’m not sure they will go after the bikers.” She explained.
A couple of women came in and sat down some hot soup and some more water bottles. They placed some spoons and napkins on the table and one of them asked Shannon, “Do you want anything else?”
“No thanks, Karen. Please let everyone know that things are OK, that we appreciate them making the soup for us and we’ll clean up. Everyone can go back to their chores.” With that, the two women left while the group began to eat.
“Thanks for the hot meal,” Amy said between bites. The rest of the team was busy but nodded that they were also thankful for the hot meal.
“Do you know how many of them there are, how many are in the gang?” I asked.
“That first day, there were about twenty of them when they rolled into town. They lost five when they left the truck stop. We’re not sure how many they might have now but it’s should be around 15 left unless they have picked up other members since then.”
“We had five vehicles chase after us, so that would mean at least ten guys. From what we could tell, there was more than that in the compound they look to be building in the neighborhood. Some of them were women and it looked like they were standing guard.”
“Well, I’m not sure how we will deal with them, they outnumber us.” She picked up her spoon and started to eat. “We’ve discussed this with everyone and we keep coming up with scenarios that have too much risk and the chance of failure.”
“We’re all tired and need some sleep. How about we sleep on it and talk in the morning. We’ll have clearer heads and be able to think through this better.” I finished off my soup and got up to clean up the empty bowls.
“Please take the far right corner over there, it's big enough for you all to stick together.” She said pointing to an area in the far right of the hall. “I can take care of the dishes.” She got up to collect the remaining dirty dishes.
“I’ll help with the dishes, the rest of you go get settled and try to rest.” I grabbed the bowls and silverware from the people next to me and waited till she showed the way to the kitchen. I wanted to see the layout of the truck stop and see how the rest of the people here were handling things.
The group headed to the area they were letting us use while I followed Shannon to the kitchen. As we walked through the banquet hall, we passed numerous groups of people settling in for the night, a small group of children was huddled around a candle playing a board game and in the kitchen where the two women that served us. They were cleaning up and took the dishes from us.
“I told you I would clean up and you should go rest or carry on with your chores,” Shannon told them.
“We’ve got this, finish showing him around.” They said.
“OK. Thanks again, tomorrow I’ll do the cooking.” Shannon moved me towards the cafe entrance, through a swinging door. We exited into a darker room with most of the booths up against the windows that created coverage from the outside, but let the people inside see through the small spaces between booths. There were two people in the cafe, moving between four sections of windows. Each of them was carrying a pistol and had a two-way radio. Occasionally you would hear someone reporting in or one of the two reporting out.
“They check in about every 15 minutes and if someone fails to report in, someone is sent to check on them. We have two here, one in the garage, two in the retail space, one in the pump station and two up on the roof, moving between two sections. We have two shifts, but it’s still thin and sometimes we have to use the kids.” We continued to move through the building.
In the retail space, the shelving had been emptied of all the merchandise and the shelf units were moved in front of the windows, again making it difficult to see in, but providing small spaces for the lookouts to see out the windows. Only one person was in the space from what I could see. Shannon saw me looking around and said, “Karen was scheduled to be here, but she was asked to help with getting some food ready. She’ll be back to finish her shift. We do allow some change as long as it’s not too much or impacts the normal schedule.”
We moved past the pump station room, where the door was closed and then to the garage where there was one y
ounger guy walking between bay doors using a child’s periscope to look out the windows in the doors. “Why are you using a periscope?” I asked.
“The windows are too high and we’d have to use a ladder or step stool to see out, this way we can look through the windows and move between them quickly.” Shannon replied.
We continued to through the garage and down a hallway. We passed a few doors that were closed and I asked what they were.
“General office, janitor’s room and the doorway to the storage area.” She stated.
“Did you guys happen to have the security camera’s running when the bikers showed up?” I asked. She nodded and pulled out keys to open the door. Once inside, she picked up a tape from the desk and placed it into a player. She gave me the remote and told me she would wait outside.
“I’ve seen my dad’s death more than I need to.” She closed the door after walking out.
I turned on the tape and watched as a group of bikers came into the screen which was pointed at the main pump area with some of them out of the picture. Most of them got off their bikes waiting for orders. Most had a handgun of some type, a bat or pipe. I could see that a man who must have been Ripper was talking to someone off screen. An older man, Shannon’s dad, showed up and stood talking to Ripper and then the knife came out and Shannon’s dad hit the ground. Then all hell broke out as the bikers made their escape. I rewound the tape and watched multiple times to see if I could find something that might help with building a plan. After ten minutes, I turned it off and removed the tape, placing it back on the desk where Shannon had gotten it from.
I opened the door and found her standing in the hallway looking at the ceiling. “I was just thinking of my dad and the fun things we use to do when we were younger. Every time I go in the office I think of him.”
“I’m sorry for your loss. I lost my dad a while back and I still think of him daily. More so now.”
She pointed down the hall and we walked to the banquet hall where we said goodnight and I joined the rest of the team. We spent a few minutes talking through options for dealing with the bikers and how that would help us get to Butch’s parent's place.
Chapter 25- Day 5
I woke to the smell of bacon frying and fresh coffee being brewed. The smell was heaven on earth and it took everything I had to climb out of bed instead of staying there and taking in the awesome smell. There was the occasional laughter from children as they played a game and the hushed tones from other members of Shannon’s group trying to be respectful for others trying to get a few extra minutes of rest before having to deal with the end of the world as they knew it.
I finally opened my eyes looking around and saw Amy and Butch sitting at a small table eating and talking to each other in whispers. Amy noticed me and gestured for me to join them at the table. I rolled out of the sleeping bag I was in and stretched the pain from the last 4 days away as I headed over to the table, sitting down next to them. Amy slid a full plate of bacon and eggs with toast in front of me.
“Fresh eggs and bacon, dude. They may be a bit cool since you decided to sleep all day. I’ve told you before, you can’t soar with the eagles if you hoot with the owls all night.” Butch said with a wink. “It’s the last of what they had. Enjoy.”
“This is awesome, I think I’m in heaven; except for the smartass next to me,” I said to Amy. “What’s the scoop? I miss anything while I was asleep?” I asked as I shoveled a fork full of goodness into my mouth.
“Not really. The truck stop group had a shift change earlier and Shannon dropped by and asked that you meet her in the cafe where she is standing guard when you finally got up. Jamie is in the kitchen working with some of the truck stop group, helping with breakfast cleanup and prepping for lunch. Cindy is across the room playing with the other children. She’s come out of her shell a little. This is a really good thing for her.” Amy replied as she nursed her coffee. “We really going to move forward with going after this Ripper guy?”
“I think we should. No one has to help me if they don’t feel like it, but I can’t just let someone like Ripper cause so much devastation and pain to innocent people without trying to stop him. Even if we fail, we would have tried. It goes back to the discussion we’ve already had; that we need to be better humans, because of so many other people, like Ripper, are making the bad choices thinking this situation is a time to do what they want.” I replied with a full mouth of eggs and bacon. This was the best breakfast I’d eaten in the past week, even before this hell began.
Butch smiled and said, “I’m in. I think we need to deal with this now. If we don’t, Ripper and his gang will just continue to spread out further and further in this area and eventually they’ll run into my parent's place and we’ll be forced to do something then. Better to attack them instead of waiting for them to come after us.”
Amy nodded her head in agreement and I patted both of them on the shoulder and thanked them for their support. As I got up to find Shannon, they both gave me the one finger salute. I headed to the bathroom to clean up a bit and to take care of the normal morning business people dealt with. I entered the locker room where the original attack had happened and found Shannon’s brother Brian getting dressed.
“Morning,” I said as I moved past him to a sink to rinse my mouth out. “You guys still have hot water for the showers?”
“Yep. So far the gas and electric have continued to work, so take advantage of it while you can.” He replied. “We have toothbrushes in the store room, you might want one.” He suggested as I turned the water on. “You guys going to help with the bikers or you moving on?”
I really didn’t have a feel for this guy, so I just replied, “Might have one. Need to speak to Shannon first.” I continued to rinse and wash my face while he continued to dress. “How good of a shot are you and your brother?”
“Rob is a better shot than me, but I generally hit what I am aiming at between 300 to 400 meters. Rob is better past that. That’s given the wind and surrounding factors aren’t too great.” He replied watching for my reaction in the mirror. “How about you? You any good?”
“I have my moments. I did some shooting with my dad as I grew up. You guys must be really good based on the number of the dead outside.” I finished up and headed to the toilet stalls and then to take advantage of the warm water with a shower.
After the best feeling shower in forever, I walked into the dressing room and found it empty, Brian was gone. I took a few minutes to look at the various cuts, bruises and scratches on my body in the mirror thinking I hadn’t looked this beat up ever in my life. I’d had some accidents, fell from a tree once and busted a few ribs, but my body today looked even worse. It was amazing what having to run for your life did to you in such a short timeframe. I finished getting cleaned up, dried off, dressed in some fresh clothes and headed out to find Shannon and the rest of the team.
I found my way into the cafe and found Shannon peering through some binoculars through a crack between benches out the window. Another woman was on the opposite wall doing the same. “You see anything?” She asked the other woman.
“Yeah. Over by the library, there are still only two of them. Just hanging out and watching the building.” The other woman replied.
Shannon stopped looking and turned around seeing me. “Oh. Good morning, you’re finally up. I didn’t hear you sneak up on us.” She said to me with a smile. “You clean up well, looking good in your clean clothes, washed hair and all fresh.”
I think I turned a little red because the smile on her face said she was amused at my embarrassment.
We have some guys hanging out and watching the place. I think they are part of Rippers gang. They’ve been here for about an hour, moving around the building.”
“Are they armed?” I asked.
“Yeah, it looks like they each have a pistol, nothing that would really cause us problems as long as we stick inside. Guys on the roof are keeping low, just in case.”
“What mak
es you think they are part of the biker group?”
“They have the look. I don’t recall seeing them that first day. Maybe they’re new recruits.”
“Can we talk about the plan, maybe someone else can watch while we discuss it in the banquet hall with the rest of the group and your brothers?” I asked.
“Sure. Susan, please keep an eye out while I’m gone. I’ll see if I can have Mary come and help you.” Susan nodded and turned back to the window to continue watching the two guys.
Shannon and I walked to the banquet hall where she called Rob and Brian to meet us and I collected Amy and Butch. We all sat down around the conference table we had used the night before.
“ So, I’ve been thinking of a plan.” I started. “We know where Ripper’s gang is staying, we have a basic layout of it since we saw it on the way up here. We saw multiple vehicles, bikes, and trucks parked mainly around what I assume is the clubhouse for the neighborhood. There were tennis courts with what looked like prisoners and a pool, basketball court, etc.”
“I dated a girl once who lived in The Commons with her parents,” Brian said. “There is a fence around the whole neighborhood to provide privacy.”
“A privacy fence is good for stopping prying eyes, but won’t stop a determined and capable person from entering. That’s not why they built it. It’s also a very large space. There are lots of houses and outbuildings to hide between. They can’t patrol the whole place, they're spread thin so getting in should be easy for us. Plus most of their people are watching the front gate. It’s really nothing but a guard's shack with a pole across the road. If we can get inside from the back part of the neighborhood, we could figure out where they are keeping everyone and how we get them out. We could create a diversion that would allow us to move in unnoticed, find and free the prisoners and rid the area of those monsters.”
“Is that what we need to do? I thought we were going there to get rid of Ripper and his gang. That has to be priority one. Nothing else matters if that asshole gets away.” Shannon said with hatred in her voice. “We owe him for what he did to our dad. He and his gang need to pay for what they did.”