It took about an hour.
Of course, everyone eventually found me. They just happened to find me in my boxers, lying in a tub full of blood.
One thing great about the way my body heals. When it’s over, it’s over. There isn’t any weakness or pain left. When the healing is done, I’m as good as new.
I heard from everyone, that our bodyguards were all dead. I informed them about what happened to Skie and my encounter with her abductor while I was healing.
Then I was finished.
I practically leapt out of the tub and dashed into my bedroom. I dressed quickly in jeans and a t-shirt, while yelling at everyone else to do the same.
I grabbed my tomahawk and stood in front of the mirror while everyone went about getting dressed. I studied the edge of its blade. I ran my finger along that edge and looked at myself in the mirror.
I was going back into hell.
Georgie, Kingsley, Dudley, Javie, Merrick and I were ready in less than five minutes. When we reached the front door, Miriam was waiting.
“I came as soon as I heard about the attack on Crass’s outpost,” she said. “What’s your plan?”
“I’m going back into El Paso after my wife.”
“I’ll take you to the outpost, so you can get some weapons,” she answered.
“Then move,” I told her.
A hug from my mom and dad, and we were driving through the nighttime streets at a furious pace. For an old lady, Miriam was a freaking mad person behind the wheel. She got us to the airport in less than five minutes. Of course, the airport isn’t far at all from the cabin.
There was a Blackhawk helicopter waiting there for us.
In another few moments we were airborne. I can’t even begin to describe the rage that was coursing through my veins as I waited to reach our destination. My anger was a palpable presence in the chopper. Nobody said a word.
Merrick was snuggled up close to me. Dudley was looking out the window. Kingsley was looking down at his hands, Georgie was cleaning a pistol (it wasn’t easy for him to get away from his wife by the way, but he refused to let her convince him to stay behind) and Javie was looking right at me. I could see the worry on his face.
“You really don’t have to come with us Javie,” I said to him.
“Yes I do,” he answered back. No jokes, no nothing.
We landed in the parking lot of a burnt down Motel 6. Soldiers were everywhere. Stretchers and bodies and ambulances were carrying the dead and wounded away from the destruction. I’m not sure that the word destruction can even accurately describe how bad this place was. Max’s boys really leveled the place.
“How many men does Max have?” I asked Miriam.
“He has four, just like you,” she answered. “Guardians always have four lieutenants, not counting animals.”
“Does he have any animals?”
“No, you’re the first Guardian in centuries to have an animal that’s been touched by the power.”
After that, we were off running towards the rear of the motel towards some bunkers that had been (from what I could tell) erected rather recently. We entered one of them and were greeted by about five soldiers with M16’s aimed at our chests.
“The Major would like a word with Jaxon,” said one of the soldiers.
Georgie and I were disarmed (we were the only ones with weapons) and then all of us were led to a small office building down the road. Apparently, Crass had taken over this place as well. There were soldiers and military vehicles everywhere.
As I was being led to Crass, I had that feeling you get when you know things are going to go bad. I was still keeping quiet, just waiting for the other shoe to drop. What happened now was going to be entirely up to Crass.
“Obviously, you thought he was going to stop you from going into El Paso. What were you going to do if he did?”
Well, at that point I had no idea. I was just going with the flow, but I can admit that I was seeing everything through a veil of red that began to cover my eyes when Skie was taken and was now turning about a hundred shades darker from being delayed.
I was going to rescue my wife and kill the bastard that took her…end of story.
Soldiers everywhere were staring at me. Some of them even gave me the ‘General salute’, but whenever a soldier did that, another soldier told them to stop. Things were not going to turn out well at all.
Everyone was told to stay in the waiting area, while I was led to Crass’s office. He was waiting there for me, with a smug smile on his face.
“Don’t bother sitting down,” said Crass. “You won’t be here that long.”
“I need to get back into El Paso,” I answered.
“You really screwed up this time,” said Crass. “You really should have stayed off my radar. I was after you from the beginning. I hate your type. You have no respect for those of us that have earned our power. You just come in swinging and defy us at every opportunity. I was actually hoping you’d die back there at the fence, but your bitch of a wife…well; let’s just say that I’ve now been relieved of this command. I been in charge of it for the last three years, I was about to become classified and now…”
“I need to get back into El Paso,” I repeated. I didn’t give a shit about his life, or what he thought of me at the moment, however…when he referred to Skie as a ‘bitch’, I almost snapped.
“That’s really too bad for you. You see, Mr. Hardin is on his way here. He’s been located and he’s going back on the active status. The old man is actually taking my job. However, in the meantime, I’m still holding down the fort so to speak. I’m still in charge boy and I’m shipping you out to one of our less reputable prisons. I have no doubts that Hardin will release you as soon as he finds out, but arranging for your release will eat up a whole lot of time, time that should have been spent on rescuing your wife.
“I need to get back into El Paso.”
“You need to take your medicine boy,” he answered.
I snapped. I admit it freely. What was I prepared to do if Crass delayed me? Well, I was prepared to kill him and everyone else that stood in my way.
My wife is special to me. There is nobody on the face of this earth that reserves the right to keep me away from her.
I grabbed Crass’s borrowed office desk and through it across the room. It made a hell of a noise, the thing was huge. After that, I grabbed his neck and lifted him up from his leather chair. I slammed him against the wall hard enough to crack the plaster. My face was very close to his and I could finally see the fear creep into his eyes.
Crass had crossed the line with me more than once. He was lucky I was busy trying to save lives the first time and he was even luckier the second time when I was in a funk and he threatened to have me arrested.
Now, I was all me.
I worked him over a bit. He really didn’t enjoy meeting the walls with his face, but he sure as hell deserved it. I was surprised that the wall gave out before he did and suddenly we were standing in the waiting area with the rest of the gang.
Georgie tried to stop me; he went sailing across the room. I didn’t actually shove him, I just never stopped going after Crass after I threw him through the wall. Miriam said something, but I’m not sure what it was or who it was to.
I heard a group of soldiers running towards me. One of them had my tomahawk. I picked up Crass’s limp form and threw him at the soldiers and then I was on them as well.
We ended up in the hallway leading to the office when everything was over. The white walls had quite a bit of blood on them. There were ten soldiers in all. They lasted less than a minute against me. I didn’t kill any of them, but I wasn’t completely against such an action if that was what I had to do to rescue my wife.
“Let’s move,” I shouted to my friends. “Doesn’t look like Crass wants to help and now we’re gonna have to fight our way in.”
They all just stared at me.
I heard the footsteps before I actually saw the next group o
f soldiers. Bad luck for them, I had my tomahawk back in my hand.
They rounded the corner of the hallway and came to an abrupt stop. The hallway was dusty with all the broken and cracked walls and I was standing in the middle crouched low and ready to lunge when a voice came out from behind me.
“Stop,” said the voice and believe it or not, all the soldiers stopped dead in their tracks.
I chanced a glance at the owner of the voice and saw a man in his mid fifties. He wasn’t wearing a military uniform; he was dressed in jeans and a black, long sleeved button shirt.
“You must be the man I’m looking for,” he said.
“Bad luck for you then,” I replied.
“Not at all son,” he said. “Looks like I got here just in time. I’m Mr. Hardin.”
I sized him up and relaxed just a little bit as he dismissed the soldiers and sent them out to find a medic for all the injured men lying around. My group was crowding around Mr. Hardin. It looked like they had finally got in the game and were wondering whether or not to jump him.
“Hello Miriam,” said Mr. Hardin when he finally noticed her standing there in the background. “You’re looking well. I guess I should have kept in better touch with you.”
“You’re here now,” answered Miriam. “That’s what matters. These ravens are ready to fly.”
“Well, follow me then. Let’s have a brief chat and see what we can do.”
All of us followed Mr. Hardin into an even bigger office with plenty of seats. I didn’t sit down. I was ready to go. Patience has never been one of my strong suits.
“First of all,” said Mr. Hardin as he sat down at the office desk. “I’d like to apologize. I really take full responsibility for everything that’s happened. I should never have retired. Max has always been unstable and I’ve been the only one that can control him. I’ve been doing this for about eighty years or so and figured it was time I gave myself a break. Enjoy life, have some fun, take a break from fighting evil. There hadn’t been anything major happening in a few years, so I chose major Crass as my successor and hit the high road.”
“You chose that asshole?” I asked. I couldn’t believe someone would choose Crass for anything. He’d be the last guy that I’d pick in a game of dodge ball.
“Unfortunately I did. I had no idea that he was harboring resentments towards Max. It’s actually his dismissal of Max that led to all of this. Crass thought he could handle anything that came along without the help of a Guardian. Max showed him just how wrong he was.”
“I’ve heard that much already from Max when he kidnapped my wife,” I said. “And by the way, how in the hell have you been doing this for eighty years?”
“Miriam,” said Mr. Hardin with a shocked look on his face. “Haven’t you explained anything to him?”
“Not really,” she answered. “He doesn’t seem to like to listen.”
“If you’re gonna start chatting, make it quick,” I said. “I’m low on patience at the moment and my wife needs me.”
Miriam went on for awhile and I finally listened. She told me about the secret history of the Guardians and how there has always been a Guardian around since the dawn of man. She told me that nature can heal my wounds. She told me that higher temperatures can weaken me. She explained how my friends are also more durable and can also be healed by natural elements. Finally, she explained that I and those around me basically no longer aged and we’d all stay this age until I was killed.
There were a lot of things that she didn’t know, like the whole ‘why?’ of everything. Why were there Guardians? How are we chosen? Who does the choosing? Why are my friends involved? Why are there five of us (six including Merrick)? And why are others infected with a lack of aging?
She touched on the scarier things, like zombies aren’t the only things out there that people need saving from. I won’t go into it now. No reason to make people nervous until they need to be nervous.
All in all, it was rather interesting. At the moment however, I planned on going after my wife. I could always ask questions about this stuff later, but she needed me now. This is where Mr. Hardin came in.
“There’s a secret military island near Hawaii,” he said. “It’s where we keep the unfortunate souls that have been cursed. It’s a small island, never really gets noticed by anyone and it houses around forty civilians and twenty soldiers.”
“What are they cursed with?” I asked.
“They make zombies,” Mr. Hardin answered. “They don’t do it on purpose, it’s not their fault, but whenever someone in a hundred mile radius dies around them, that same someone will rise up as a zombie. It’s real horror movie stuff. In earlier days, they actually tried to kill these cursed people only to find that the curse would travel down their family tree and attach itself to one of their relatives.”
“This is what Max meant when he started babbling about getting some gypsy off an island.” I said.
“Exactly,” answered Mr. Hardin. “He waited for the right moment and attacked. He took a young woman named Clara, brought her to El Paso and basically waited for the curse to take effect. It worked in about twenty four hours. Even caused an outbreak on the island after they shot up two soldiers, but we had that under control almost immediately.”
“Max must really hate Crass to being causing all these problems.” I said, basically because I couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“Crass took away his purpose in life,” answered Mr. Hardin. “Max took it very hard; it drove him over the edge you might say. From what I’ve learned so far, major Crass seems to have developed some problems with Max. Actually, it seems that he has an incredibly difficult time dealing with anyone unwilling to follow his every whim and wish. Power can rot a man to the core. Crass has been rotted and he was ill equipped to deal with the supernatural side of life without Max around, which is exactly what Max set out to prove. Regardless, Major Crass will be dealt with legally after he gets out of the hospital. Unfortunately for you, yours and everybody in El Paso, you just happened to get caught in the middle of all their drama.”
“Crass seems to have a more personal problem with me than just being unlucky enough to get caught in the middle of him and Max.”
“Well,” said Mr. Hardin. “You are the new Guardian. He’d rather have handled things without one. I understand that he may have even hired some mercenaries in an attempt to destroy the city against orders. Regardless, he was unable to and as a result we have our current situation in El Paso. You were destined to be the next man that came in and took away his power. From what I’ve been briefed on, you were already stealing most of his thunder while you were still in the damn city, but all that’s over now son. Let’s get to the part where we save lives.”
“First, let’s talk about saving one life in particular. I want my fucking wife back.”
“You’re putting me in an awkward situation here Jax,” said Mr. Hardin.
Oh boy… I knew this guy was too good to be true. I’d been waiting for the other shoe to drop and I had no interest whatsoever in whatever he was going to say.
“If you plan on telling me some sort of reason as to why I can’t go to my wife,” I interrupted. “Please understand that I’m going to beat the living shit out of you just like I did to Crass. I’d also like you to understand that I’m prepared to break anything that stands in my way.”
Mr. Hardin didn’t look the list bit shocked.
“Well, of course you are,” he said. “That’s what the problem is. If I try to stop you, you’ll attack me and everyone else that gets in your way. If on the off chance that we can stop you, all that will do is result in the death of your wife and give me another Guardian as an enemy.”
“What’s the problem then?” I asked impatiently.
“The problem is… Max is going to kill you.”
“I’ll take my chances.”
“Of course you will. What you don’t understand, is that Max has been around for a long, long time, probably long
er than any other Guardian and in that time, his sole purpose in life was fighting. He’s more powerful than you and he’s got a hell of a lot more experience than you. I don’t see how you’re going to beat him.”
“Well, he’s obviously lost before,” I answered. “Just look at his face.”
“Sorry to disappoint, but that happened to him in the war before he became a Guardian. It might be one of the reasons that he’s so unbalanced. That wound will never heal.”
“Once again,” I replied. “I’ll take my chances.”
“And I’m not going to stop you,” said Mr. Hardin. “But have you thought about how you’re going to find him? Crass was hoping to do exactly that and it didn’t work out too well for him. Hell, if Crass could have managed to locate him, he wouldn’t even be a problem anymore. Crass would have just dropped a few bombs on his head, but being smack dab in the middle of zombie territory has given Max a pretty decent hiding place, which probably explains the mercenaries, if you can’t find the needle in the haystack…destroy the haystack.”
“What about the Gypsy?” I asked.
“Clara,” said Miriam.
“Yeah,” I said. “Won’t Max be somewhere close to her?”
“Most certainly,” said Miriam. “He’d keep her pretty close to make sure he doesn’t lose her. It’s part of his revenge. Anywhere he takes her, she’ll cause another outbreak the minute someone dies. He could effectively destroy the entire country if he wanted to, but nobody knows exactly what his plans are after he’s ruined Crass.”
“He’s at the Abraham Chavez Theater,” I said. “I’ve seen Clara chained on the steps.”
“You can’t be serious?” asked Mr. Hardin.
“Will the zombies attack Clara?” I asked.
“No,” answered Miriam. “The cursed ones are never attacked by the undead.”
“Then Max is at the Abraham Chavez Theater,” I said.
Mr. Hardin immediately spoke into the phone and a few seconds later a nerdy little soldier guy came running into the office. Mr. Hardin told him that he wanted schematics on the Abraham Chavez Theater brought into the war room immediately.
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