by Unknown
“I agree.” Rob and Brian said in unison.
“I didn’t say we wouldn’t take them out, but its priority one to get the prisoners out, then deal with the gang and Ripper. If we don’t those people could get caught in the middle. If we can set them free, they're another 20 people that can help us in the fight. We could overwhelm the gang and get control really quickly. We can’t take everyone here all the way down there and try to fight toe to toe with them. We’ve got to leave people here to protect this place.”
“What are you suggesting then?” Amy asked.
“First we capture the two guys outside. We find out what they know and what they are doing here. That’s two fewer people to deal with in the compound. Then we can go and scout out the place and figure out our final plan from there, but it has to involve the captives, it’s their only chance to get out and it would give us our best chance.”
“Do we kill or capture the guys outside?” Shannon asked.
“I say we capture them, maybe they will have some information for us,” Amy replied, looking around the table.
“If I go up top right now, I could have both of them down and out in a minute. If we capture them, we need to restrain them, pull the information from them and then keep them guarded the whole time. The chances they escape and warn or worst kill the people here is too great of a risk.” I said.
“How about we wound them and then see what happens?” Shannon said.
“You just said that you wanted revenge. Why the change in heart?” Butch said, shaking his head. “Let’s just get this over with and move on to the next step.”
“We’ve talked about trying to save humanity,” Amy said looking at Butch, “that we need to be better than those choosing evil over good. Now’s the time to put your money where your mouth is.”
“So we capture them and try to get them to talk, and then hold them captive,” I said with a slight smile on my face. “Let’s figure out where they are and then make a move.”
“Hold up a minute. We need to all agree.” Shannon said. “Does everyone at the table agree to capture them?” Everyone nodded their heads, but I was already up and walking to the cafe to see where the guys were. We’d already spent too much time discussing this. These people felt safe behind their walls and thought they could take their sweet time discussing things, but the reality was, the decisions needed to be made quickly and then acted on in order to survive in this new world.
I walked into the cafe and asked, “Susan, those guys still out there?”
“Yea. But one of them has started to wonder south, like he’s trying to get to the back parking lot, by the garage area. There’s a lot of semis parked back there, lots of cover for someone.”
The others came in and I could tell from the look on Amy’s and Shannon’s faces that they did not like it that I walked out. I said to Susan, “So they are going to be out of sight of each other soon. One in the back and one in front.” I turned to Amy and Shannon, “I say we get the one in the back parking lot first.”
“You think you can do that, safely?” Shannon asked.
“Yes. But I need my weapons and a bat if you have one.”
Shannon led the way out of the room and down the hall where she opened the storage room. Inside the room was a stockpile of weapons, mostly blunt weapons, things you could swing; baseball bats, golf clubs, and hockey sticks. “Most of the guns are being used by the group, so this is all of your weapons or what we could use as a weapon. I grabbed a bat and my weapons I had when we got here. Amy and Butch grabbed their weapons strapping them on like they were pros at it.
As we were getting set, I told Shannon, “You might think about collecting all the wood broom handles, mop handles, things like that and having your team make some spears out of the hem. They are good for taking out the infected; keeping you away, don’t need ammo, no noise. Maybe you could have the kids do some whittling to get a point on them.” She was just looking at me like I was crazy.
“Really, have the kids play with knives?” Amy said shaking her head and walking away.
“Yeah, have them learn how to make something that could save their lives. Now is a good time as any to get them used to this new cruel world, how to use a knife safely. You guys think this problem, sickness; call it what you want, is going away or that the government can swoop in and save the world or fix the infection and get things back to normal. If you really believe that, you’re the crazy ones.” I said as we walked into the garage.
“My dad used to say that something like this would happen, maybe not exactly like this, but he always thought that we would have a serious situation that could end the world. That’s partly why he dragged me to live to in the woods when my mother died and why he made me learn how to survive. Now is the time to use those skills.”
Rob was on duty in the garage and turned when we all got there. “Hey, what we got going on, a party?” He said with a laugh. The serious looks on our faces quickly killed the laugh and Shannon explained what was happening. Rob didn’t question what his sister told him and moved to the door to unlock it. “If he is coming from the south, you might want to try to get in front of him and have him come to you,” Rob suggested while he was holding the door opened just enough for me to sneak out. “I’d also suggest not everyone go out there, that might blow the cover.”
Everyone stopped except for me. I walked out the door ready for this next challenge.
Chapter 26
I moved fast, keeping close to truck stop walls, staying low to reduce the chance my prey might see me. I made a quick dash to the semi-trucks parked in the back lot getting behind one of the front tires of the first semi I came to. I crouched down looking under the semi-searching for the biker who was trying to sneak up on the building. At first, I didn’t see any sign of the guy, so I moved a little deeper into the parking lot trying to find him.
After reaching the first semi-truck I started to get a feeling like I was being watched, it was just one of those things, those feelings that make the hair on you neck stand up. It’s that feeling when someone is close by, but you can’t see them, but you know they’re there watching everything you do. I looked up and back towards the truck stop scanning the door I had come through, the windows of the garage trying to see if I could see the periscope peeking out the windows and then I looked up to the roof. I couldn’t see anything in the garage windows, but I did catch a glimpse of Brian perched low on the roof of the building using his rifle to watch over the parking lot and it looked like he was currently locked on me, watching me sneak through his parking lot.
I gave him the thumbs up to let him know I saw him and that things were good. I was also hoping he wasn’t tracking me as his target, but since I got no response from him, I was a bit concerned and looked for an opportunity to find a hiding place out of his line of sight. Since I didn’t know Brian, having just met him yesterday, I knew he was a good shot at a long distance so it kind of creeped me out.
I moved further on through the parked semis until I was only two trucks away from the back of the parking lot area. There was a wire fence surrounding the lot area which I supposed was there to make sure people paid for their services and to provide a protected area for truckers to leave their trucks. I turned and look at Brian once again, giving him thumbs up hoping he would respond. This time, he responded.
He was making a hand signal that told me to look south of where I was. I could tell he was moving between points, my location and what I assumed would be the biker trying to sneak into the parking area. Knowing he wasn’t targeting me made me a lot more comfortable and relaxed. I continued to keep low behind tires moving back towards our target. I would stop and watch under the semis, looking for another set of legs which would tell me where he was. After moving between a couple more semi-trailers, I couldn’t see the guy, but I could hear him. His radio was turned on and I could hear the conversation.
“Jerry, you there? Over.” He said. “I don’t see anyone out back. There’s a c
ouple guy on the roof, I think, watching the parking lot back here but I can’t tell if they know I’m here. Over.” So, this was interesting, could that be my old friend from yesterday?
Did Jerry think he could show up and take me on? I knew I should have cut his Achilles tendon so he couldn’t come back at us. This was a lesson that I would have to remember and make sure I didn’t repeat in the future.
“How many guys on the roof? Over.” Even through the radio, I could tell it was, in fact, the same Jerry.
“I think two. They’re staying low, trying to stay hidden. Over.”
“Try to get closer, try to see if you can tell how many there are. Bossman will be pissed if we get this wrong. Over.” Jerry replied.
I continued to watch the biker as he tried to sneak closer to the truck stop building. I looked back at Brian but couldn’t see him now. He must have hunkered down so he wouldn’t give his position away. I hoped he had his rifle on the guy, just in case. I continued to watch under the semi-trailer and finally saw two legs moving towards the building. I moved as quietly as I could, watching every step I took so I didn’t step on something that would make any type of noise and made my way to the guy so I could sneak up on him.
The new guy wasn’t even aware of me as I came up behind him. I swung the bat I had, hitting him in the head with just enough power to knock him out. He immediately dropped to the pavement moaning and curled up in a fetus position.
I searched him for any weapons, removing his pistol, a knife, and another two-way radio. I spent a minute continuing to check him over for anything else that could be a used as a threat or used to escape. I grabbed him under the arms lifting his upper body off the ground and starting to drag him to the back door of the garage area.
Rob and the others were waiting for us and helped me get the biker inside. We sat him next to the car lift pole. His eyes were rolled back in his head since I had hit him pretty hard.
“We should get him tied up and gagged before he comes to,” I said to Butch and Rob who were standing to the side of the biker.
Butch and Rob grabbed him and moved him against the automotive lift and using some tie wraps to get him tied up. I grabbed a greasy rag from the work bench close by and put it in his mouth.
“That rag is disgusting; it’s got oil all over it,” Shannon said to me.
“Really, does it really matter? I just hit a guy in the head with a bat and we’re tying him up to basically interrogate him….and you’re wondering if a dirty rag is the best thing to gag him with.”
Just then the guy’s radio spoke. “Andy, come in.”
I looked around the group landing on Shannon. She looked away at Amy and said, “You’re right, he can be an asshole sometimes. No need to be an asshole, Matt.”
“Do we answer or …..” I waited for someone to make a decision. No one jumped at the chance so I made the decision.
Using my hand, I held it over the mic of the two-way radio and said. “Hold on a second. Going off the air for a minute. Over.” I turned the radio off and looked at everyone. “What’s the plan for our friend Jerry?” I asked the group standing in the garage.
“Who’s Jerry?” Rob asked. I explained how we had a run into the biker gang yesterday, how they had chased us through the back woods. I told them about Jerry and his pal, Al and what I had done to them in order to get some info. I left some of the detail out because I knew they would all not agree with my approach, but I did what I had to do to get the info we needed.
“Wish you had brought this up last night when we talked,” Shannon said.
“We can talk about why we didn’t later. The why now doesn’t help with answering the question. We need to deal with this now while we have an advantage.” I replied.
“Well, I’ve never dealt with anything like this. I mean we have a prisoner now.” Rob said shrugging his shoulders.
Everyone acknowledged that this was a new and different experience for all of us. Then Amy said, “Except that you did kind of do something like this yesterday, so maybe you have the most experience.” She smiled at me with that knowing smirk and a wink.
“Fine; if you want me to be in charge of this task, then I need each of you to agree to my tactics and not interfere.” I sarcastically said back to Amy and the rest of them. “I don’t need anyone questioning what I do when I do it, how I do it or anything.”
When everyone agreed or nodded their heads in agreement, I told everyone to be quiet, turned on the two-way radio, placed my hand over the mic and spoke. “Two people on the building. Over.”
“Good. Same as last time.” Was the reply from Jerry. “Over.”
“I’m heading back out, meet me by the fence,” I said.
“Heading that way now. Over.”
I turned to Shannon and said, “Call Brian on the two-way and ask him to track Jerry as he moves to the south parking lot. Let me know when he is out back.” I finished as Shannon picked up her two-way radio and called Brian to tell him what I had said.
As Shannon was talking to her brother, I told Rob to watch the first guy and moved Butch and Amy to the door. “Go out there and get Jerry. Find him, restrain him and bring him back here. Make sure he doesn’t use the radio to alarm anyone.” I opened the garage entrance door as they both nodded to me as they passed by and slipped into the parking lot.
The first guy was still knocked out when Amy and Butch dragged an unconscious Jerry through the door. “Tie him up like the first guy,” I told them.
After Jerry was secured to the second car lift pole, we all moved out of the garage except Rob who agreed to watch over them.
We went to the office to talk about next steps with these bikers. Everyone found a seat or a wall to lean on and Shannon said, “What’s the plan?”
“Simple,” I said. “We wait till they come to, we make them uncomfortable. When they’re ready to talk, we ask them questions to learn as much as possible. We need to do whatever it takes to get them to talk and get answers. Then we can use the information they give us to make a plan based what we learn.”
“Simple?” Shannon asked. ”Sounds a little more involved than just a simple question and answer session.”
“What happens if they don’t talk?” Amy asked looking at Shannon to let her know that she was siding with her. “Are you prepared to hurt them? Kill them?”
“Look, it’s not rocket science, it’s very straight forward.” I could tell they didn’t approve of my approach and may not back me when it got tough. “I’m ready to do what needs to be done to get answers. You guys can stay here. Let me do what needs to be done to get the answers we need. I’ll get the info and then we can figure out what we’re doing next. What are plan is going forward”
They both looked at each other and nodded. Butch agreed with me so I walked back out and headed to the garage to take care of business.
Chapter 27- The Torture of Jerry- Act 2
I walked into the garage and met Rob standing there watching guard. “I’m going to have a word with them and it may not be a pleasant conversation. It’s your choice to stay or go.” I whispered to him so the two bikers couldn’t hear what I was saying.
“I’ll stay, I can handle whatever happens. Seen enough shit the last few days and you may need some help. The first guy is coming around, might want to start with him.” Rob said as he moved closer to the first guy.
I followed Rob to the first guy and gave him a slap across the face. His eyes popped open looking around the room. He was trying to figure out what happened to him and where he was. He focused on me standing there smiling at him. “You took quite a hit to your head. Knocked you clean out and you might have hit your head a second time on the ground. Be lucky if you don’t have a concussion. I’d suggest you relax as we talk. You understand?”
He stared at me wide-eyed with the oily work rag sticking out of his mouth. “You understand? Nod if you get it.”
He nodded his head up and down to acknowledge that he understood me.
> “We know you guys are from The Common’s neighborhood. We know who the leader is of the gang, that douchebag Ripper. We also know that you guys are using innocent people to play games with and using the women for your own sick pleasure. Nod if I’m right.”
He shook his head over and over denying it.
“You saying I’m wrong about what I just said?” I asked.
He nodded his head.
“So, you know your buddy over there, Jerry. You see, he told me all about what you guys are doing over there.” I pointed at Jerry tied to the vehicle lift pole. “Did he tell you about our first meeting the other day?”
He shook his head.
“Well, you see, Jerry and I played a little game. It was like this, I would ask a question. If he told me the truth, I didn’t hurt him. But if he lied to me or I thought he was not answering my questions honestly, I’d cut him and him not only got hurt, but he got to go to the next level of pain in the game, eventually hitting the highest level, where he gets crippled. He almost got to the highest level, but he was smart and decided to tell me what I wanted to know. Did he happen to show you how he made out with our little game? The cuts on his right leg?”
Once again, he shook his head no.
“Well, that’s interesting that he didn’t share any of that with his friends. What did he say when you guys finally picked him and Al up in the woods? Did he tell you that he cut it on a rock or something?”
This time, he nodded.
“That hurts my feeling that he didn’t tell you guys the truth about the game we played, how he failed at it and what happened when he lied to me. Might have to talk to him about lying...anyway, here’s what happened.” I filled him in on how the conversation with Jerry went and how and where he got cut. While I was explaining this to him, I pulled out my knife and cut his left shirt sleeve off. “Did you know if you get cut on a joint area of the body, the elbow, the knee? You know. It can be painful and it’s something you remember as you heal because every time you bend that joint, the scab breaks and you feel the pain. Did you ever think about how you have to bend your arm to do just about everything? Drink a beer, comb your hair, wipe your ass, pick your nose….?”