The Agora Virus (Book 2): Anxiety

by Jack Hunt

  He landed on his knees against the pile of pine branches, pulled them off, and scooped up a rifle. He covered the rest and readied himself for a firefight.

  Back at the Guthrie property, under the cover of darkness, Frank looked on in horror. This was the reason he hadn’t killed Joey. If that other guy had just walked away, perhaps this whole plan wouldn’t be coming apart at the seams. Both he and Karla were crouched down in the thick undergrowth staring out at Butch who had tied Tyrell to a post a few feet away from a fire pit. If it wasn’t bad enough that he had the guilt of killing a man on his conscience, he now had the lives of two youngsters weighing down on him.

  “What are you going to do?” Karla asked.

  Frank stared blankly out at Butch and Dougie as they surveyed the area with at least another eight, maybe ten people. He recognized their faces. He’d seen them numerous times when he visited town. These were ordinary folk. Well, as ordinary as you could get for people obsessed with survival. Never in a million years could he have imagined that he would have killed one of the family, or that he would find himself in a life-or-death predicament.

  “Do you really think he will kill that guy?” Karla asked. She was full of questions. Since they had vanished into the surrounding woodland, she wanted to know where he came from, how many others there were, were the police still in the town, and would he help them get off the island?

  “I think he’s capable of anything.”

  Frank got up and paced back and forth trying to get his head around this. He needed help, support from Sal and the others, but there was no time to head back to the boat. By the time he would have reached it, Tyrell would be dead.

  “Shit!”

  He pulled his phone out and wandered around trying to get a signal. One bar appeared and then it would vanish. “Oh come on,” he muttered in frustration before putting it away and looking back out. He weighed the consequences of what might happen if he turned himself over. Would he really let Tyrell go? Where was Gabriel? His thoughts circled back around to his daughter, Sal, and the others. He’d made a big mistake in attempting to get back what was theirs. Then again, had they gone out and scavenged for more supplies, perhaps Butch would have shown up anyway. There was no clear way through this but he wasn’t going to let Tyrell die, even if he had killed a cop in cold blood. He acted in the moment, just as he had with the man inside, except in that case it was an accident. They had struggled with the gun and it went off killing him. He didn’t mean to kill him, he didn’t want to kill anyone.

  He had to think fast. Delay the inevitable. But how?

  “Karla, listen. You said Butch took your husband’s boat, right?”

  She nodded.

  “There is a boat nearby. I need you to do me a favor. I have an island not far from here. It’s small. I will give you the GPS coordinates. If you can get over there, ask for a man named Sal. Tell him that I’m going to try and delay this but if things go bad, he is to look after Ella.”

  With that said he pulled out his anxiety meds and swallowed one down. With his face still masked up and goggles on, he told Karla to go. He told her to head towards the hall, go down to the water on the south side, and keep walking along until she saw the boat.

  “But what about you?”

  “Don’t worry about me. Get your husband off this island, and anyone else who you know, but don’t delay. Move fast. Go!”

  She was transfixed on his face for a few seconds and then she thanked him again for getting her out and darted off into the night. Frank reached into his pocket and pulled out his flashlight. As much as he was willing to hand himself over, he wasn’t just going to walk onto Butch’s property without him releasing Tyrell, plus there was the glaring fact that as soon as he stepped out into the clearing, they would shoot him.

  He breathed in deeply, calmed his mind, and focused on the task at hand.

  “You can do this.”

  He squeezed his eyes shut then opened them and got up and walked towards the clearing. Once he made it to the edge he hollered to Butch.

  “Butch. I’m ready to come out.”

  Butch darted out of the house and his eyes flitted around until he honed in on Frank’s flashlight.

  “But release Tyrell first.”

  “That’s not how this works, Frank. You killed one of my kin.”

  “It was an accident.”

  “Oh, it was an accident. Well, that makes everything better. Dougie, it was an accident,” he said in a mocking tone.

  “Now listen up, fucker, you get your ass out here now or I’ll kill him, and the other one, and then hunt you down. There is no way of getting off this island. So we can either do it the easy way or the hard way. What’s it going to be?”

  “I’m coming out. Don’t shoot.”

  Frank stepped out into the clearing; he lowered his weapon on the ground as a sign that he wasn’t looking for trouble. Not that it would help him but he was outnumbered and outgunned and he figured he could talk his way out of this if given the chance.

  His eyes darted around looking for Butch’s family members. He knew full well that Butch might have given them the order to shoot upon sight. As much as he wanted to go back and forth on this, he figured this was one negotiation he wasn’t going to win. As he made his way across the clearing, more of Butch’s family started to emerge. All of them were packing weapons and scowling at him like he was a piece of trash.

  Right then a woman pushed her way through the others and fired a round at him. Fortunately it missed but it caused several of Butch’s family to grab hold of her.

  “You bastard!” she yelled. He figured it was the guy’s wife.

  “Take her inside,” Butch said. He waited until they dragged her back inside the home crying and struggling before he continued on.

  As he got closer, Butch nudged for Dougie and another one of his cousins to grab him. The moment they laid hands on him, he was thrown to the ground and had his hands tied behind his back. From the ground he looked up to see Butch walking over. He was about to say something when he felt the full force of a boot to the side of his face. That was followed by being flipped over and given a fierce beating. All the while Butch never said a word, he simply lashed out and laid into him with as much fury as he could summon. His hands were like fifty-pound weights hitting Frank in the face. When the beating was over, he rose to his feet and spat on Frank.

  “Put him with the other.”

  Frank tried to force out words but his lip was busted up and blood was dribbling out of his mouth.

  “You said…”

  Again his words got a reaction out of him. Butch turned back and grabbed a hold of Frank’s face by the cheeks with one hand. Dougie was holding him from behind, trying to keep him up. Butch squeezed hard and looked into his eyes.

  “This kid is the least of your problems. I’ve sent my brothers and cousins over to your island to do what I should have done the first time.”

  Frank’s eyes flared.

  “Ah, there we go. That’s the Frank I wanted to see. Get mad. There is nothing you can do about it. Tie him up, when the other one gets back we’ll execute all three of them.”

  “Butch, we had an agreement,” Frank yelled.

  Butch didn’t say another word. He disappeared inside the house while his family members looked on like some inbred hillbilly freaks that were ready to see an execution.

  As Dougie tied rope around his chest and secured him tightly to a post about five feet away from Tyrell, Frank struggled to get loose. He needed to warn them. His hand went into his pocket to grab his phone, but Dougie saw him reach and he pulled it out, smiled, and then dropped it on the floor and crushed it below his boot.

  “Oh, look at that. You’re out of service.”

  “Listen, don’t do this. I can fix this. I can…”

  Dougie plowed a fist into his gut and he felt what little food he had eaten slide up into his throat.

  “If I had my way, I would kill you right now.”
r />   “It was an accident.”

  Dougie stared at him and pulled a knife from his pocket and pushed up against his neck. “How about I slip, eh? It would be an accident.”

  TWENTY

  Ella knew something wasn’t right. She had gone out multiple times since her father had left to see if he’d returned but there was no sign of him. She lowered the night vision binoculars and headed up towards the house. Hayley was coming the other way looking perturbed.

  “Has Gabriel texted you?”

  “No.”

  “Do you mind me checking your phone?”

  Ella took a few steps back and narrowed her eyes. “Excuse me?”

  Hayley shifted from one foot to the next and had this look about her that made it obvious that she was in a salty mood.

  “Look, I just want to check your phone.”

  As much as Ella was up for a good argument, she had bigger things to think about. She pulled it out and tossed it to her.

  “Knock yourself out.”

  She brushed past her and made her way up to the house. She spotted Zach still patrolling one side of the island and Jameson was on the other. Sal was busy working on some contraption out in front of the house. A small oil lamp was hanging nearby to provide light.

  “Sal. You heard from my father?”

  He glanced down as he cut into a piece of wood, and shook his head. There was something in the way he looked at her that made her doubt his answer.

  “He wouldn’t be gone this long. Something’s not right.”

  “Look, your father knows what he’s doing. He’ll be back.”

  “You mind me using your phone?”

  “Where’s yours?”

  “Hayley is using it. She has trust issues.”

  “I think it’s in the house and needs charging.”

  “Okay, whereabouts?”

  Ella genuinely wanted to try texting her father. He had been ignoring her texts and she wasn’t getting anything back from Gabriel.

  “Um, you might want to ask Gloria. I think she was using it last.”

  Ella gave a nod, and headed inside. Gloria had already settled the kids down for the night. When she found her, she was resting in a chair, reading a book.

  “Hey Gloria.”

  She put her book down on her lap and looked up over her reading glasses.

  “Hey, hon, you okay?”

  “Did you see Sal’s phone?”

  “No.”

  “Oh. He said you used it.”

  “Not tonight. Who would I call?”

  Ella bit down on her lip. It didn’t take much to realize that he wasn’t being truthful. She strolled back out and he had his back turned to her.

  “What are you not telling me?”

  “What?” he said spinning around looking a little startled.

  She put her hand out. “Phone. Come on.”

  “Ella, he didn’t want to worry you.”

  “Oh really. Well, that failed. Come on, give it to me.”

  Sal sighed and fished around in his jacket pocket for the phone. She shook her head as she took it and checked the messages. Sure enough, there they were.

  “He’s not returning for twenty-four hours?”

  “Now don’t get panicked, that doesn’t mean he has the virus.”

  “No it doesn’t, but it sure as hell means he thinks he might have contracted it.”

  Ella tried to text him but there was no reply. She jumped down from the two steps that led up to the porch deck and started heading towards the boathouse.

  “Ella, where are you going?”

  “To find him.”

  “We don’t have the boat, remember?”

  She stopped in her tracks and balled her fists.

  Sal put his hammer down and sat his ass cheek on the white porch railing.

  “Look, he’s—”

  Before the words came out of his mouth, Zach let out a loud cry.

  “Boat coming. Boat coming!”

  “What?” Ella spun around and rushed in the direction of Zach who was sprinting up to meet her. Ella assumed it was her father as who else would be visiting them at this hour. Sal leapt down from the porch with his rifle and once he caught up, Zach led them to the east side of the island. As they broke through the tree line and reached the shore, Ella lifted the night vision binoculars and then handed them off to Sal.

  He took one look and went into panic mode.

  “Jameson! Jameson!”

  All of them turned and rushed up to find him. He was on the other end of the island already making his way up after hearing the commotion.

  “What’s going on?”

  “We have company and they’re armed.”

  Jameson rushed by them and bolted down to take a look for himself. By the time he had made it down there, they could see the boat without the use of binoculars.

  “Make sure everyone has a firearm, and that there are no boats coming from any other direction. Zach, Sal, and I will make sure they don’t get close to the island.”

  Ella rushed back up to the house. Out of breath and panting she burst through the rear door and told Gloria to get a gun.

  “What is going on?”

  She brought her up to speed before darting out the front door and called for Hayley who was perched on the edge of a boulder further down. She glanced back and cupped a hand around her ear as if she couldn’t hear. There was a chance she couldn’t as the thrashing of waves and the howl of the wind made it difficult.

  Ella didn’t wait to explain, she returned to the house, scooped up an AR-15, and headed over to the north side of the island. On a plot of land less than two acres in size it didn’t take long to get around the island. She gazed out using the binoculars. There was nothing. She scanned the horizon, it was all clear.

  No sooner had she turned to head back than gunfire erupted. In all the time she had been at the police academy, nothing got her as anxious as the sound of a gun going off. It was much louder than they portrayed in the movies. The first time she had fired a live round, it shocked her. Eventually the more she fired, the less anxious she became. But that was in a safe environment, a firing range. This was the real deal. With a rifle strapped to her back and a Glock stuffed into the small of her back, she rushed back to where Sal and the others were. When she got there, she found them positioned in various places behind large boulders and thick tree trunks.

  Zach was chuckling. “If these asshats thought they were going to creep up on us they must have been out of their mind. Who in the hell holds their rifles in their hands as they approach an island? Now had they been smart and laid them down in the boat, or chosen not to fire at us, they might have stood a chance of getting on here.”

  He turned and fired three times towards the boat that was pulling back.

  “How many?”

  “Looks to be about three.”

  Jameson shook his head. “Three people against us?”

  Ella looked out and could see that one of them was rowing while the other two were now laying down in the boat with the barrels of their rifles perched on the edge. As they were getting farther away, they all heard another series of gunshots, however this time it was coming from the west side.

  “Go,” Jameson said. “We’ll hold here.”

  Zach and Ella rushed up to the house. As they rounded the corner they saw a boat had landed on the west side. Three men were on the island. Ella’s eyes flitted around for Hayley. She’d been down on the same side. Not wasting a second, Zach rushed up to the side of the house, crouched down by the corner, and started unloading rounds at them. They dispersed and took cover behind a cluster of trees. While he did that, Ella rushed into the house and found Hayley helping Gloria get the kids upstairs.

  “Hayley,” Ella was about to tell her to come with her when the windows on the house shattered with gunfire. The walls were peppered with holes. Ella dived towards Hayley and landed on her hard as drywall and pieces of wood spat all over the room. The curtains lifted
up in the air as gusts of wind blew in and dust got in her mouth.

  No sooner had it started than it stopped.

  “Here take this.” Ella gave Hayley the AR-15 and she crawled across the living room floor to the back of the door. “Oh, and give me my cell.”

  Hayley slid it across the floor to her. Ella shuffled over to the door where there was another rifle leaning against the wall in the corner. She snagged it up and stuck the barrel out the window, took a quick peek, and spotted one of the men making a run from one tree to the next. She fired four rounds and one of them hit, as he landed hard and let out a cry.

  Hayley went over to the other side of the wall and placed her back to it. Ella waved her away.

  “Get away from the wall.”

  She turned and saw several bullet holes.

  “Where the hell am I meant to go?”

  “Go up. Take the high ground. Perhaps you can spot them approaching.”

  “What do I do with this? I’ve never fired one.”

  She wanted to say, are you kidding? But unless she had grown up around guns she would have no clue. Hell, even Ella hadn’t fired one until she got to the academy. It just wasn’t something her father approved of. He had always kept his guns locked away and never once did he suggest going to the firing range. It was one of the reasons why he didn’t want her becoming a cop, that and getting infected by someone with a cold.

  She shook her head.

  “Come over here.”

  Hayley scurried over holding the rifle like it was a bomb about to go off in her hand. She was probably better with a hairbrush or a blush applicator than a weapon.

  “Pretty straightforward. Load and unload. Apply some pressure on this bolt catch here and pull back on the charging handle release. Then lock it back into place and rotate the weapon over and look down inside the chamber to make sure there is no ammo inside.” She stopped to look out the window.

  “Hold this a sec.”

  Ella pulled up her weapon and eased it out where a pane of glass had once been. She unloaded several rounds at a guy that was making his way around the side of the shore. He ducked down and then fired back a few rounds.

  “Right, where were we?”

  Hayley handed back the rifle. “With your left hand hit the top of the bolt catch and it sends the bolt forward back into place. Now grab a magazine and insert it into the magazine well then pull the charging handle back and release it. That’s it. The rest is simple. Well, not simple but we don’t have time for some long lesson.”