Ranger Martin (Book 3): Ranger Martin and the Search for Paradise

by Flacco, Jack

  In the meantime, Abigail nudged Jon to pass her the binoculars so that she could have a peek at what went on at the docks. Abigail had stayed quiet for a long while since her mother Olivia’s death. She thought of her mother often and the loneliness that had tightened her chest wouldn’t leave her. She thought if she could stay active, she didn’t have to think about the awful death her mother had gone through. She hurt inside and quite often, she would hide the tears from the others. She didn’t need anyone’s pity with what she was going through.

  Minutes passed before anyone said anything. Matty had her mind on Abigail, hoping she wouldn’t feel sad all the time. She saw the tears, but couldn’t say anything to her. Randy, though, had his mind on Matty. Her red hair caught the sunlight through a crack in the leaves making the strands glow. His insides tossed at being near her. The longer he stared at her, the more beautiful she was.

  “What are you looking at, Abigail?” Matty asked.

  “The men with the crates.”

  “What crates.”

  “The crates the men are moving from the docks to a boat tied to the shore.”

  “That’s what I saw, too.” Jon said. “Weird, huh?”

  Matty took the binoculars from Abigail and peered through them. She wasn’t sure where to look, so she scanned the whole area until she found them. Removing the binoculars, she rubbed her eyes of the blurriness from the lens. Soon, she spied through them again taking note of the cargo, the soldiers with their rifles guarding the area and the boat. “If it were supplies, they’d be unloading the boat, not the other way around.”

  “Maybe they’re shipping supplies as trade.” Randy said. “You know, like a trade agreement between cities.”

  “Maybe you’re right. But what kind of cargo are they hauling that the crate would need holes at the top?”

  * * *

  Ranger drove the pickup back along the highway from where they came. Silver fixed his eyes at his surroundings. They searched for the car parked along the highway, just as Lean One had described. So far, nothing popped into view. They passed the same set of trees, bushes and landmarks twice before Ranger stopped the truck. He flew from the driver’s side and climbed into the back. He threw his hands on Bulky One first, and tossed him by the side of the road. Bulky One landed on his shoulder with a loud yell. Lean One followed, crashing into him.

  “We’ve been driving around for an hour. No car.” Ranger said, and jumped from the back into a puff of dirt that hit their faces.

  Silver had earlier left the vehicle with his gun drawn.

  “You missed it back there.” Lean One said, nodding in the direction opposite where they travelled.

  “I ain’t missed anythin’.” Ranger grabbed Lean One from the lapels. “Are you boys gonna tell me where’re from, or do I have to beat it out of you?”

  Bulky One shook his head at Lean One, but Lean One widened his eyes not wanting to get hurt. He said, “Okay. Okay. We’re from the city.”

  “I told you they were no good. I told you, Ranger.” Silver said, pointing his gun ready to blast them.

  “Keep your finger off that trigger. We ain’t done with ‘em yet.”

  Silver did as Ranger asked but kept pointing his gun at the men.

  “What were you doin’ outside? What are ya, some kind of guard detail?”

  Lean One didn’t say anything, he groaned from the impact on the ground. His hands were purple and they felt numb. He didn’t bother with Ranger anymore.

  Bulky One, however, sat up and jostled his shoulder from the pain of having slammed on the ground. He had choice words for Ranger. “If you treat us with respect, then we might actually tell you something you didn’t know.”

  “Respect?” A smirk hit Ranger’s face as he bent to Bulky One’s eye level. The word flowed from his mouth as if he had waited for a long while practicing it for this special occasion, “I don’t know where you think this is, and I don’t care. If you didn’t know, I’ll tell ya. You’re off by the side of the road with a kid here wishin’ you’d lie again so that he could put a bullet in both of ya. He’s killed like I ain’t seen anyone kill, and it’ll take him some hard convincin’ if I have to keep him from making you worm’s meat.”

  The men traded glances. It seemed as if whatever Ranger said didn’t threaten them.

  Ranger had another idea. He lied. “You know what? I’ve changed my mind. I’m gonna throw you back in the truck, drive you from where we came from and toss you in the middle of the field where those belly rippers can have a party at the expense of your body parts. I’m sure that shoulder of yours would be the least of your worries once they get through with you. I don’t think there’ll be much left of you for you to complain about anthin’ botherin’ you. How does that sound?”

  Lean One trembled then said, “Tell him!”

  Bulky One agreed, “We’re from the city.”

  “You said that already.” Ranger shook him.

  “Let me talk, okay? We’re from the city. I don’t know about you but we went searching for Paradise. We heard of this place and we heard the military had nothing to do with it. We thought it was safe. We brought our families with us. Or what was left of us. We couldn’t find a way in through the front so we found a boat and docked by the shore out back of the fortress.”

  Silver slowly lowered his gun.

  Bulky One lost his defiant stare and looked at the ground. “We thought it was safe.”

  “What happened?” Ranger released him and placed his hand on Bulky One’s shoulder to press him to continue.

  “They took us by gunpoint. First thing they did was take the kids. We didn’t know where, but it was inside the city. Next, they separated us, male and female. They took our wives and sisters and threw them in cages. From our group, there were five men. We were the only ones to escape alive.”

  Ranger closed his eyes thinking he’d thought he heard it all. He asked, “What else?”

  “They made us listen to the screams of the women in our group. Night and day. The screams wouldn’t stop. We sat in chairs in the middle of a room and I could hear my wife crying my name. They would feed us porridge. I wasn’t hungry. No one was hungry.”

  “What about the kids.” Silver asked, holstering his gun.

  “I don’t know what happened to them. It was the last I saw of them.”

  Rising to his feet, Ranger put his arm around Silver’s shoulder and walked away with their backs turned toward the men. So many things floated through Ranger’s mind that he needed to unload on someone. Silver seemed to be the perfect candidate. “We’ve got to stop whatever’s going on in there.”

  “Ranger, I appreciate your concern for other people, but this isn’t our fight. If we get involved, I don’t even think we’d get out of there alive. Think about Abigail and Jon.”

  “I’m thinkin’ about Abigail and Jon. I’m also thinkin’ about Matty, Randy and you. What if it were your family?”

  “My family’s dead.”

  “What if it had happened to your family?” Wouldn’t you have wanted someone to pay a price for their death?”

  “So that’s what this is? Revenge? I just want to survive, Ranger. Nothing more. Nothing less.” Silver stopped walking and turned to Ranger, making sure they locked eyes, “Let’s go back to Las Vegas. It was safe there. We had plenty of food and lots of—”

  “No. I can’t stand here thinking other people are sufferin’ on account of idiots who have a skewed view of the world. I’ve met too many of them already and thankfully they’re all dead.”

  “You killed them?”

  “They killed themselves.”

  Silver took a deep breath and held it a few seconds before letting it out slowly. He didn’t want to feel like a holdout for Ranger’s big plans to overthrow the fortress. At the same time, he didn’t want to risk good lives for lost ones either. The whole idea of one man and a bunch of kids taking over a city overrun by ex-marines, better equipped and having the ability to kill without re
morse, didn’t appeal to Silver. In fact, he shook his head and allowed his anger to swell in his stomach until he spewed a simple word, “Figures.”

  Pulling his knife from the sheath strapped around his leg, Ranger marched toward the men. They saw the knife and the first thing they did was lose the color in their faces. Lean One rose to his knees and crawled into the bushes. Had he known what Ranger had in mind, he would have stayed where he was sitting. Ranger turned Bulky One around, slipped the knife between his hands, and cut the bind that held him captive. He then walked to Lean One and in that same way freed him as well.

  The men rubbed their wrists and raised their eyebrows. They weren’t expecting Ranger to release them. Then the other surprise came.

  When Silver strolled on the scene wearing a scowl on his face from his conversation with the zombie slayer, Ranger nodded for him to get to the cab. Silver didn’t need any other instructions. He knew Ranger all too well.

  A few seconds later, Silver returned carrying the men’s guns. Ranger nodded again. Silver shook his head with reluctance and gave the men their guns back.

  “You’re free to go.” Ranger said.

  “You trust us?” Lean One asked.

  “I wouldn’t be giving back your guns if I didn’t.”

  They checked their weapons to find them fully loaded. Bulky One asked, “What are you going to do?”

  “Let me figure that out myself.”

  “Can we join you?” Lean One asked.

  “No. Two more’s a crowd.”

  Ranger and Silver hopped into the pickup and took off in a cloud of dust leaving the two men by the side of the road staring at them in the distance.

  * * *

  In the clearing where the kids sat alone, Matty and Abigail on one side with their backs against a tree and Randy and Jon on the other side, waiting for Ranger and Silver to come back, the warm wind blew dirt through the air. Matty covered Abigail’s eyes with her hands.

  “I’m getting hungry.” Jon said.

  “You’re always hungry.” Matty said.

  “No, this time I’m really hungry. I only had a snack bar for breakfast and I left my backpack in the truck.”

  “We all left our backpacks in the truck, but you don’t see any of us complaining.”

  “Actually, Matty,” Randy said. “I’m getting pretty hungry, too.”

  Matty slapped her forehead. If anyone were to have shown loyalty to what she said, as a way to keep everyone calm, she thought it would have been Randy. “You’re not helping.”

  “C’mon, Matty. They should have been back by now. How long does it take to find a car, rifle through their belongings to make sure those guys were telling the truth and come back? Not long.”

  “Maybe they didn’t find the car.” Abigail said. “Maybe it was a trap and they’re stuck trying to get out of it.”

  The thought did happen to pass Matty’s mind but she knew Ranger was smarter than that. He would have quickly found a way out. It didn’t stop her from thinking what if. What if Abigail was right and Ranger and Silver did fall into a trap? Where would that leave her and the other kids? Would they stay where Ranger had left them? Or would they try their luck finding a safe place to sleep for the night until they came up with a better idea? Whatever anyone thought, Matty knew the safest place to be would have been where Ranger had left them. She wasn’t about to allow doubt creep into her mind. She needed to keep everyone together.

  “I’m hungry.” Jon said.

  “Listen,” Matty said. “All you stay here. I’m going to see if I can find something to eat. I’m sure there are berries we can eat around here. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

  “I’m coming with you.” Jon said.

  “Me, too.” Abigail said.

  Randy raised his hands in exasperation. “Yeah, I’ll come, too.”

  “Hold on a minute. No one’s going anywhere.” Matty said, then shook her head. “Everyone’s staying here. I’m going alone and—”

  “Like hell you are.” Randy pulled his knife. “You don’t know what’s out there. You might not come back.”

  “Fine. We’re staying here.” She said, then plopped her back hard against the tree. Randy had a point though. If anything happened to any one of them, she’d feel responsible. She didn’t want that on her conscience.

  A few minutes later, she and the others propped their heads in the air as the sound of footsteps seeped into their ears. Jon was the first to scoot to his feet running toward the footsteps. “Ranger!”

  The others followed not thinking their hunger could have played a part in making them less cautious. The footsteps could have been a wild animal, perhaps even the undead. Nothing could have prepared them for what came next.

  Jon’s sudden stop in the middle of the woods as he stared at what was in front of him scared Abigail to hide behind a tree. For the others, it was too late. Matty and Randy fell to the allure of instant gratification thinking it was Ranger as well.

  It was not Ranger.

  Jon raised his hands and began to tremble in the center of the clearing. Matty and Randy had no choice but also to raise their hands. Abigail slunk into the bushes staying quiet.

  Three men held their military issue rifles at the three kids. They all had smiles on their faces and they all nodded to one another. It was a good day after all.

  Chapter 20

  The afternoon yielded its heat and Ranger had all he could do to keep cool. He rolled his window open wanting the wind to cool the interior of the cab. Silver’s forehead streamed with water as he wiped it dry with his sleeve. The road ahead had a vapor floating on its surface but the zombie slayer could see it was nothing more than a mirage.

  As the afternoon wore on and Silver squirmed in his seat, Ranger pointed at one of the backpacks for something to eat. He wanted to keep the kid occupied so he wouldn’t think much about the heat.

  Handing him a small bag of chips, Ranger used his teeth and free hand while holding the steering wheel with the other to open the package. Three chips fell on the seat beside him when it broke open with the sudden jerk he’d given. Silver didn’t bother picking them up. It wasn’t his meal and thought Ranger wouldn’t appreciate him touching his meal.

  “I’ve been meaning to ask you something, Ranger. Whatever happened to your wife?”

  Ranger glared at Silver.

  “I—I’m curious. Nothing else. I mean, I know you had a wife. I won’t tell anyone if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  Juggling the bag of chips between his legs and dipping into them, Ranger had his hands full. He didn’t pay attention to Silver but kept his eyes on the road while eating his meal.

  The crunch and smell from the chips made Silver’s stomach grumble. He picked up the chips that had fallen on the seat next to Ranger and ate them. When he finished, he asked, “Will you tell me?”

  Again, Ranger gave Silver a look, but this time he added an exasperated sigh. He crumpled the remainder of the chips and tossed them from his window. He then wiped his mouth clean with his shirtsleeve. After a small burp, Ranger glanced at Silver. Leaning his left elbow from the window, he said, “That mornin’ Darla had on the new dress I’d bought her for the trip to meet my momma. She walked down those stairs lookin’ as beautiful as the first time I’d met her.”

  Silver sat quietly listening intently. His mind wandered, picturing the scene.

  “We were at my momma’s farmhouse when we heard the radio announcement of wild people in the streets eating other people. I thought it was a joke, so I paid no mind to ‘em. Darla was out in the kitchen. Damn, that dress looked good on her. It was violet, her favorite color. Momma was in the barn feedin’ the chickens when ol’ Roy from down a ways rode up in his car tellin’ how he was takin’ his family and leavin’ the farm. He said the bad folk were comin’ and we ought to consider headin’ for the mountains, too. I didn’t take him seriously. We were out on the porch wavin’ good-bye thinkin’ how foolish he was actin’. Darla went back insi
de on account she hadn’t had any breakfast.”

  “You didn’t think it was real?”

  “I was a fool.” Ranger smacked the top of the steering wheel. “No. I didn’t think it was real. Bad folk eatin’ people in the streets? Sounded like a fantasy. I went off to help Momma with the feedin’ in the barn, but when I came back, the back door was open. I didn’t think anythin’ of it. I thought Darla had gone outside and had forgotten to close it.”

  “That’s not what happened. Was it?”

  “I walked into the kitchen and I saw devastation on the floor. Bloody handprints were all over the doorpost. From the kitchen to the foyer, streaks of blood covered the corridor wall. I walked slowly through the hall until I saw her. Next to her was one of them lying on its back with a knife stuck in its face. It had torn her beautiful dress open. Her belly—” He said, then smacked the steering wheel several times still thinking how he hadn’t taken the announcements to heart.

  “You don’t have to tell me anymore.”

  “I was stupid. So stupid. I should’ve listened. I should’ve done what was right. We should’ve left when we had a chance. Darla would still be alive and I wouldn’t be here talkin’ with you. I was so stupid.”

  * * *

  The pickup screeched to a halt in the middle of the road where he had left the kids. With Darla fresh on his mind and blaming himself for her loss, Ranger wielded his shotgun at one of the zombies slogging its undead limbs across the road. He didn’t have to wait for anything when he placed one of his shells right where it belonged, in the head of the mischievous dragger. Stepping over the corpse, Ranger continued on his way.

  Silver walked three steps behind Ranger not knowing how stable he was after killing the beast, and after visiting the memory of his dead wife. Silver only knew what he saw in the past of how people would do crazy things when faced with the prospect of a loss. He should have known by now that Ranger wouldn’t do anything to harm him. It wasn’t in the zombie killer’s nature to harm others unless they posed a threat. Silver figured that out early in their friendship.