by Smith, I. J.
“OH, COME ON! GIVE ME CHALLENGE!” MacLeod shouted at the sky.
MacLeod pointed at Kat.
“Stand up!” He ordered her.
The fear in her eyes glowed; she held back the tears refusing to let MacLeod see her weak. She pushed herself up from the ground, wiping the blood from her lip.
“STRIP!” MacLeod ordered her.
Kat frowned, with a scared look on her face. Ray jumped to his feet and attempted to reach Kat. The five men grabbed Ray, punching him back down, kicking him repeatedly.
“STOP! PLEASE! STOP!” Kat sobbed.
“You can make them stop right now, just do as I told you.”
Kat closed her eyes. She undid the buttons on her shirt and pulled it off, revealing a pink bra. She slipped out of both her boots. She undid the button on her jean shorts and dropped them to the ground. She stood there shaking, covering herself the best she could with her hands.
The five men had stopped attacking Ray. MacLeod glanced over at them.
“Did I tell you to stop?” he asked.
Kat screamed. “No! I did what you asked!”
“I said strip,” he replied.
More tears began to fall, she looked into the distance, hoping and praying that Jack would arrive to save her. She looked and looked but no one was coming to help her.
Closing her eyes, she reached back and undid her bra; slowly she removed it revealing her bare, young, full breasts. Then she took off her underwear. She cried as she slid them down her legs. She stood there completely naked.
“YOU FUCKING SCUM!” Ray screamed out as he cried.
MacLeod approached Kat and stroked her face; he ran his hand down to touch her nipple, giving it a little pinch. Kat squirmed.
“NO! PLEASE! STOP IT!” Ray screamed as he tried to fight his way up from the ground.
The five men simply restrained him and held him down.
MacLeod turned and smiled at Ray.
“I have five sex starved friends here all begging for a slice of this young beauty. You want to stop it, you can, just tell me where Jack is?”
Ray cried, his face still bleeding.
“He left. He left on a mission. He was looking for someone you took; a woman... a blonde woman, and a male,” Ray cried, with tears streaming down his face.
MacLeod’s face turned serious, he thought about the blonde woman he left tied up in the church.
“FUCK!” He screamed.
Knowing if he had waited, Jack would have come to him.
He looked at Kat, grabbing her by the neck he pulled her closer to him.
“I am gonna fuck her raw, and then my friends are gonna fuck her to death!”
Ray looked defeated. “Please, don’t!”
MacLeod looked at the pathetic old man in front of him; he felt the shivering of the naked girl he held close.
“Or maybe there is a way you can help me,” he said.
“Anything,” Ray replied.
MacLeod pulled out a gun; he released the magazine and emptied out the bullets. He loaded a single bullet into the chamber.
“Here is your choice; I need you to give Jack a message for me. Now we can spend the night breaking this girl in, or she can point the gun at you and pull the trigger.”
Kat screamed. “NO!”
She began to struggle, but MacLeod was far too strong for her, he looked at Ray and then ran his tongue across Kat’s face.
“Choose!” he demanded.
Ray looked at his sobbing granddaughter.
“Give me your word that she goes free?” he asked.
MacLeod looked Ray in the eyes.
“You have it. Can’t send a message if you’re both dead now, can I?”
Ray nodded his head. Kat squirmed and screamed.
Grabbing her hand, Ray spoke to her.
“Hey, look at me. It’s OK! The most important thing to me is that you’re alive. Jack loves you, he will protect you. Stay with him.”
Kat cried, as MacLeod forced the gun into her hands. He kept a grip on the back of her neck to ensure she did not try to turn the gun on him.
“I can’t,” she sobbed.
“Yes, you can. I love you. You are going to live and achieve so much!” Ray pleaded.
“They’re just going to kill me anyway!” Kat said.
“No, they won’t. They want Jack; they need you to tell him that. So, look at me, know that my heart belongs to you. I will keep an eye on you from above,” Ray said emotionally.
Kat cried as Ray took her hand with the gun in it. He raised the gun to his head and pushed her finger against the trigger. He mouthed the words ‘I love you!’ With a little pressure, the gun fired.
Ray fell back as the back of his head opened up; he dropped to the ground, dead.
Kat unable to speak dropped to the ground sobbing. MacLeod cheered, quickly followed by his men.
“Way to go kid!”
MacLeod walked over to Ray’s dead body, placing his hand in Ray’s blood and then turned back to a crying Kat.
“Kill me!” she said.
“No, no, no. I made a promise.”
MacLeod grabbed her face and began writing in blood on her forehead, he wrote the word ‘REAPER’!
Standing up MacLeod walked away, his men laughed as they followed him. Kat remained; she moved closer to Ray and laid down to cuddled up next to him.
Hours passed and Kat never moved. The bright headlights of a car appeared, coming to a sudden stop, a large man jumped out and rushed over to a naked Kat.
Tommy stood over his friends in shock; he grabbed her clothes and tried to cover her up. She wouldn’t move or speak. He gave up, cradled her like a babe in arms, and carried her to the car. He glanced back at Ray’s body, before driving away.
CHAPTER EIGHT
FAMILY TIES
The fleet of black 4x4’s drove along the long gravel driveway towards the large mansion of The Mercy. Pauline sat in the passenger seat; she had a hint of a smile on her beautiful face. The driver was a large, vest-wearing man; he had a long beard and smelt like fish.
“Please, I beg you. Take a bath!” Pauline told him.
He glanced over to her and rolled his eyes. He was relieved when they parked the car outside the main entrance. Burning barrel drums scattered the grounds, groups of men and women stood around keeping guard of the house. Pauline exited the car and approached the main door. A bald, skinny man held the door open for her.
“Your mother is waiting for you!” He told her.
Pauline smiled. “Then she can wait!”
The bald man grabbed her arm fiercely. “It would pay you to do as you’re told!”
Looking down at the hand he had grabbed her with, she then looked him directly in the eyes.
“Remove your hand or I will remove your head!”
The bald man laughed aloud. “You are nothing. Your mother and brother are the real powers here!”
She pushed his hand away, gave him a dirty look, and entered the house. She walked through the large hallway, there was piles of supplies stocked high. Large amounts of water, alcohol, food, weapons, and for some reason a stock pile of electronics. She shook her head as she walked past the hoard of supplies.
Guards stood around. They all looked dirty, dressed in grubby clothes, and not one person was shaved. She walked up the large staircase towards two large brown doors; she stopped just in front of the doors. She took a deep breath and pushed down the heavy handles and walked inside.
Two large men holding rifles stood inside the doorway, they moved aside when they saw it was Pauline; she walked into the room. On a large sofa, an old woman sat, drinking whisky from a crystal glass, eating sliced peaches from a tin. She looked at her daughter and stood up. Walking over to her, she placed her arms around her daughter.
“Welcome home!”
Pauline smiled. “Thank you mother!”
Her face changed. “Tut, tut. I have told you, in front of the others, you call me Joyce!”
“Sorry.”
Joyce took her daughter’s hand and led her to the sofa; they sat down next to each other. Joyce poured Pauline a glass of whisky and handed it to her.
“Tell me, what have you been up to?” Joyce asked.
Pauline took a drink and another to finish the glass. “We did a weapons run, found some ammunition. I also had a run in with Jack. The Reaper, I mean.”
Joyce’s face turned angry.
“I told you to stay away from him!”
Placing the glass down Pauline turned to face her mother. “I made a truce, he will stay away from us, if we do the same with him and his people. He doesn’t want a war!”
Joyce stood up and paced around the room. “He cost us dearly; he killed some of our own. He almost killed your brother!”
Pauline took a deep breath. “I know, but we cannot afford a war with him. We have met people on our travels; The Reaper is someone not to be played with!”
Joyce clenched her fists, her knuckles all cracked, and as she lifted her head and twisted her head, a mighty crack echoed out. Pauline flinched at the sound; it was obvious that she was scared of her mother.
“OK! Maybe what you did can work to our advantage. We have some major plans and having some crazy psycho coming after us will just slow our plans down.” Joyce replied.
Pauline smiled as she stood up. “Thank you!”
“For what? In the future, you will talk to me before deciding on any action that involves this family,” Joyce replied.
Pauline stood still, Joyce approached her. As Joyce reached out for her, Pauline flinched in fear, but calmed when her mother kissed her on the cheek and hugged her daughter.
“I love you,” Joyce said in her ear.
“I love you too mother.”
As they held each other, a commotion could be heard from outside, the slamming of doors echoed throughout the mansion. Pauline and Joyce looked at the main doors of the room; they swung opened and in walked a large man. The two guards stepped back.
“Aww, Mother! Sister!” MacLeod said.
Joyce looked overjoyed at the sudden appearance of her son. Leaving Pauline, she rushed to meet her son. As she reached him, she touched his leather jacket and felt something sticky.
“Is this blood?” she asked.
MacLeod smiled. “Not mine!”
Joyce placed her arms around her son’s large shoulders and kissed him on the cheek.
“Where have you been?” She asked him softly.
MacLeod walked across the room towards the bottle of whisky and took a long drink.
“We found him. Within twenty-four hours, the bastard will be dead!”
Pauline looked confused.
“Found who?”
Taking another long drink, he wiped his lips.
“The Reaper!”
Joyce was overjoyed; she joined her son in a drink to celebrate. Picking up her glass she toasted the death of their enemies.
“You fucking idiot!” Pauline told him.
A stunned Joyce pointed at her daughter.
“Shut your mouth. Your brother handles things here,” Joyce told her firmly.
Rubbing her face, she approached MacLeod.
“I found Jack. We made a truce. It was over!”
MacLeod’s face turned angry. He threw the bottle against the wall. He reached out and grabbed Pauline by the throat.
“You made peace with the man who killed our people?”
Pauline struggled to escape his grip.
“You moron, you killed them first. You attacked and took their children, Jack only took them back!”
MacLeod released his sister and walked towards the large window, he looked out over the large garden.
“We are Mercy, we are the rulers here!”
A frowning Pauline looked at her brother.
“You’re mad! We survived and we should be happy that we can now protect ourselves. We don’t need enemies.”
Pauline walked towards the door and then suddenly turned.
“Maybe I can speak with Jack, make it clear that we don’t want a war!”
MacLeod laughed, loudly.
“Too late! I left him a message soaked in blood. Soon he will join them.”
“You have started a war,” Pauline replied.
“The Reaper will fall on my sword. I promise it,” MacLeod said.
Pauline shook her head in disbelief; she turned and walked out of the room.
“She is a problem!” MacLeod said to his mother.
Taking her son’s hand she replied. “She is family, for now at least.”
CHAPTER NINE
DONE!
Jack was sitting in the passenger seat, when a hand touched his shoulder from behind. He glanced over to see Sarah leaning towards him, her face was bruised and bloodied, and she moved her head closer to him.
“Thank you.” She spoke with a quiet tone and reached over and kissed him on the cheek.
Jack reached over and touched the bruising on her face. “We will find the bastard that did this, I promise.”
Sarah closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. “They were looking for you Jack, and that guy was crazy. He bashed Randy’s head to nothing with his own fist.”
Jack took her hand and gave his half-smile.
“I know.”
Sarah sat back, Raven placed her arm around her.
“I needed help, I had to find Jack!” She told her friend as if she was sorry for including Jack.
Adam was driving back towards the caravan park; he had a thousand questions to ask. He was about to talk when he heard snoring behind him, he glanced at Jack who smiled at him.
“What the hell is that?” Adam asked.
“That would be Jacob.” He glanced over to see Jacob, his head was hanging back, his mouth wide open and he snored loudly. Jack giggled to himself.
“So, you met these guys while you were gone?” Adam asked.
Jack stared out the windshield; he remained silent for a moment.
“There is a lot you still don’t know about me Adam. Take my advice, you don’t wanna know.”
Adam knew Jack had no interest in talking, so he decided to leave it alone. They continued to drive along a country road. As they drove along, a large horde of zombies appeared on a bend in the road, Adam slammed on the brakes.
“SHIT!”
Jacob was thrown forward, banging his head on the driver’s seat.
“Oh come on, I was having a nice dream involving whip cream.”
Raven slapped him on the leg and pointed ahead out the window. Jacob rubbed his eyes and looked ahead.
“OH SHIT!”
The headlights of the car illuminated the horde of zombies ahead. They were turning and moving towards the car. There were too many to count. Jack was a little shocked; this was the first large pack of zombies he had seen in the area.
“We should turn round and find another way,” Raven said.
Adam glanced at her.
“We don’t have enough fuel to go around. Most of the other roads are blocked.”
“I say, let’s kick their ass. I need a good fight,” Sarah suggested.
“WHAT!” Jacob replied.
“Put your foot down!” Jack told Adam.
He looked over at Jack. “There is no way we can make it through that lot!”
Without warning Jack lifted his leg and slammed it on top of Adam’s that sat on the gas pedal. The car raced forward, Adam struggled to keep ahold of the wheel.
“You’re fucking nuts!” Adam claimed.
“You only just now figured that one out?” Jacob said with a laugh.
“By the way, you might want to put the wipers on,” Jacob added.
Jack looked all serious. Raven and Sarah braced themselves for the impact. Jacob crossed himself and placed his hands together and prayed.
“SHIT!” Adam screamed.
Slamming into the dead, blood impacted the windshield like a water balloon explod
ing. Bodies rolled over the car, the car began to slow, but Jack kept pushing down on the gas petal. The noise of bodies bashing against the car made Jacob pray harder.
“Please God, get me outta this! I have only been with them again for a few hours and there are already bodies and blood.”
“AHHHHHHH!” Jack screamed out with his nose screwed up in determination.
Suddenly the car got faster; they had made it through the zombies. However, the car was dragging to one side.
“Just keep going, don’t stop till we get closer to the park,” Jack told Adam.
They drove a few more miles and came to a small roundabout. As they drove through, a familiar white van raced out and almost ploughed into them. Adam had to turn the car to avoid hitting the van, slamming the brakes; they came to a stop. The white van also came to a stop, Jack watched as Tommy jumped out the driver’s seat, waving his hands in the air.
“There’s something wrong!” Jack said.
Jack quickly jumped out of the car and rushed over to Tommy.
“What’s wrong?”
Tommy stared at him for a moment; Jack noticed how white he was, how upset he was.
“It’s Ray,” Tommy mumbled.
Jacks attitude changed. He stepped back, sick to his stomach. He stood shaking his head.
“Where is he?”
Tommy did not reply.
Adam appeared, quickly followed by Raven, Sarah, and Jacob.
Jack turned and looked up into the sky. “It’s Ray,” he said.
Raven and Sarah moved forward, both touching Jack’s back.
“OH MY GOD!”
“What happened?” Adam asked.
Tommy looked around. He noticed the blood-soaked car, covered in body parts.
“Tommy, what happened?” Jack demanded to know.
“I don’t know, Kat’s not talking,” Tommy replied.
Suddenly Jack’s expression changed, he grabbed Tommy. “Kat was there? Where is she?” he asked, in a panic.
For the first time in a long time, Tommy was scared of Jack. He pointed at the van.
Jack let go and rushed towards the side door of the van. He practically ripped the sliding door from its track as he rushed to get to Kat. With the door open, he froze. The others started to come over, but Jack raised his hand stopping them.