[many of the other slaves began to panic and shout]
ME: Stay calm! Just get in the backs of the trucks. We’re out of here!
JIM: Talk about flashbacks…
ME: Yeah, but least these are Roamers! If they were Bolters we’d already be dead. Let’s go, buddy.
JIM: Ain’t gotta tell me twice.
Todd went to the first truck and jumped into drive while Ray road shotgun. Jim drove the other with Wayne with him. Mark, Alexis and myself hopped up into the open back of the box truck Todd was driving. I stood off to the left side holding on. Alexis was doing the same on the other side. Mark sat down on the edge with his legs dangling.
I looked in the back of the truck to make sure our prisoner wasn’t causing a problem. Victor was in the very back, sitting with his hands tied, against the wall. One of Wayne’s people had a gun on him as did another opposite of him. He looked at me and smirked. How I wanted to walk back there and knock him the hell out.
I turned back to the road as we began driving away. The massive horde was closing the distance. They were past the halfway mark of The Retreat. The Roamers could move at a fast walk when they were motivated to do so. The Shamblers not so much. I watched many of them being passed up. We were pulling slowly out of the gate and then sped up once outside.
Then in what seemed like a flash, a Bolter came from the side at full speed and grabbed a hold of Mark’s leg and shirt and slung him from the truck. He screamed in surprise before crashing into the ground.
All of us in the truck jumped back.
ME: TODD!!! STOP! STOP!
I wasn’t sure he heard me but then we came to an abrupt halt. The Bolter was on him swinging it’s fists down. Mark was shielding his face as best he could. Another Bolter appeared and pounced on him as well. He was screaming as they both managed to start biting him. I screamed out and the second Bolter jerked around and then sprinted right at us. Alexis put an arrow through it’s face and dropped it.
As I jumped down, Todd emerged beside me and ran with me toward Mark. The horde was about fifteen feet away.
I shot the Bolter but missed it’s head. It leaped at me and grabbed me at the shoulders knocking me down. I held it’s head up away from me. It was so strong. A shot rang and I saw black blood fly from the left side of the creatures head. I pushed it to the side and tried to get to Mark.
He was covered in blood and looked at me. The front of the horde reached him. He screamed for me to shoot him. And I had too. I couldn’t and wouldn’t let him die like that. I screamed I was sorry and he, seemingly collected, said “Thanks…is what it is.” Then, he actually mustered a small grin.
I shot him in the head and walked backwards quickly. Todd grabbed my arm to help me turn around and get back in the back. He ran full speed to the front of the truck. The horde was bending and falling; clawing their way at Mark’s body. They were crawling over themselves. They started ripping him to shreds. The ones that couldn’t reach Mark turned their direction at us in the truck and started walking toward us. The truck kicked into gear and we sped forward.
I watched as the horde grew small in the distance and out of sight. Up ahead we ran into patches of Roamers headed toward The Retreat. We attracted them from all over. Luckily, not in the same numbers in the direction we had to go. A few spots they filled the road but there were plenty of back and side roads to get around them.
We made our way home.
**
We approached the gates of The Haven slowly. Our people wouldn’t be expecting two large box trucks and I didn’t want anyone getting trigger happy.
Larry and Mindy were on watch atop the trailers at the gate. Both had their guns trained on the trucks. Todd leaned out of his window with a hand up. Larry and Mindy lowered their guns. Larry nodded while Mindy climbed down smiling to open the gate.
We pulled in and up the center driveway. When we stopped we all got out and we told the people from The Retreat they could step out. Our people were all coming towards us and were taken aback at the sight of our guests.
Alexis walked into a yard toward Tina, Rachel and Heather; dropping her bow on the ground. Heather asked where Travis was. Alexis shook her head while breaking down. All four of them embraced each other and knelt to the ground sobbing. I felt terrible for them. They lost two close friends in less than two weeks time. Rachel also lost an uncle and wasn’t yet aware. I knew moments later she was, though. Alexis was talking to her and Rachel threw her hands to her face and sobbed harder.
ME: Mindy, all these people will need checkups with you. They’ve been through a lot of trauma.
MINDY: Of course, of course! They can come to my place. I will see them one at a time inside. How many are there?
ME: Nineteen, I think.
MINDY: Alright. I’ll go get set up…you bring them when they’re ready.
ME: Right.
[Alan approached]
ALAN: Fuck, Jack. What happened?? Is everyone alright?
ME: …No, they’re not Alan. I’m so sorry.
ALAN: About what? What happened?
[looks around at everyone]
ALAN: Where’s my brother, Jack? Where’s Travis?
ME: I…I’m sorry, Alan. They were both killed.
ALAN: Oh, no. No no no no…how??
[he put a hand to his mouth and stifled back from breaking down]
ME: Travis…he got. I don’t know, he got brave and it wasn’t the time. He got shot.
ALAN: Fuck…and Mark?
ME: Sadly…he died after the fight. We were almost in the clear, we were in the back of the trucks. The back walls of The Retreat came down by a massive horde of Roamers. A couple of Bolters were nearby as well that we didn’t see. One grabbed Mark and pulled him from the truck. I went after him and another Bolter pounced on me. We killed it and couldn’t get to Mark in time. He was bitten and wounded badly.
ALAN: Is he still there? Is he…one of them?
ME: No…the horde was on him fast. We couldn’t get him, but no! He wasn’t killed like that! He screamed for me to give him a…mercy kill? I shot him.
ALAN: This is too damn much. Please tell me you killed them all.
ME: All but Victor.
ALAN: The fucking leader got away?
ME: No. He’s here.
ALAN: What?! Where??
ME: Got him restrained in the back of one of the trucks. He’s under guard. We’re going to keep him in the barn with two armed men twenty-four hours.
ALAN: Why??
ME: We’ll have a meeting about that.
ALAN: I want him dead!
ME: He will be. Most likely.
ALAN: Most likely? Listen, I still call the shots here, ya know? I built this place. You guys wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for me!
ME: Please, calm down. I know all this. I know you’re upset right now, I get it. Just let us have a meeting so I can explain it all. The fact of what you built here. What we’ve all created here…that’s why I took this prick alive.
ALAN: You’ve lost me.
ME: I’ll explain here soon. Let’s just help these refugees first.
ALAN: Yes. Right. I’m sorry.
ME: Nothing to be sorry for. Forget about it.
I looked around at everything. Everyone. Taking it all in. It was over. Many people were dispersing around. I watched as Alexis approached a solitary Karen and just embraced her. Karen looked stunned and startled but then actually embraced back. All this had put things in perspective for people.
I filled Larry in on things and asked him to be a guard on Victor. He was surprised we brought him alive. Most were. Ray volunteered to assist Larry. He saw the look I gave and assured me he wasn’t going to shoot him. Victor nor his people killed his uncle. The dead did.
Jim had already vanished to find Kelly and Ben. I heard someone yell behind me. I turned and saw Reggie running over to me. He grabbed me and hugged me tight and then let go.
REGGIE: Damn it’s good to see your sorry ass!
ME: I told ya I’d be back.
REGGIE: I just realized people were everywhere. I was napping a bit. I see some glum faces, man. The fuck went down? Is it over?
ME: Yeah…it is. Let’s go. I’ll fill you in on it all.
**
Reggie wasn’t too impressed when he found out Victor was here. His mouth dropped and he thought I was totally screwing with him. Once he realized I wasn’t, he flipped out.
REGGIE: The fuuuuuck are you thinking, man?!
ME: It’s okay, liste-
REGGIE: Hell no! It ain’t okay. He’s a ruthless killer!
ME: He’s under armed guard. He’s alone. His men are dead. He isn’t going anywhere. Come on, we need to have a meeting outside with everyone and I’ll explain it all to everyone at the same time. I don’t want to keep repeating it all.
REGGIE: I hope it’s good! Cause that’s fucked up. Bringing this whack job here. Shit!
We still hadn’t slept. Sleep would be good, if we were even able to. It was about 2:00 when we gathered in the yards near Mindy’s. She had finished seeing everyone awhile earlier and they stood around kind of awkward behind most of everyone else. Except Wayne. He was much closer.
ME: Alright everyone. By now you already know the worst of it all. You know we lost Travis and Mark. I want to tell you all, they fought to the end and we could have lost this fight if not for them. They gave their lives to make sure this place stood and was safe.
TODD: They fought well. They were extremely brave and saved lives.
ME: Speaking of which, I’d like to formally welcome our new guests. They’ve been through some hell and any support is appreciated if anyone has room to spare until we figure permanent arrangements out.
[mostly every nodded and volunteered space]
RACHEL: How did my uncle die?
ME: I’d think you’d rather talk about that later?
RACHEL: No…it’s okay. I want to know now.
ME: Alexis didn’t tell you this?
RACHEL: A little. But everyone should hear it, so please.
ALEXIS: I didn’t want to go into…any of it. The details. I can’t right now.
ME: I get it.
RACHEL: Go ahead. Heather and Tina need to know. We all do.
ME: Travis. He was shot by one of them.
HEATHER: Did he suffer?
ME: No. No, it was instant.
LILY: Mark?
ME: He was killed by infected.
LILY: Infected?? I thought the place had walls?
ME: Walls of that kind can’t withstand hundreds of Roamers. Yes, I said hundreds. That’s not an exaggeration, either. I’ve never seen so many. They tore down the back wall and flooded in. They got attracted by all the gunfire.
MINDY: Roamers are relatively slow…
ME: Agreed and we were almost in the total clear, but two Bolters showed up. One grabbed Mark and pulled him from the truck. They killed him.
[Rachel just nodded and leaned on Heather. I wasn’t going to get into his short amount of suffering or needing to be shot out of mercy]
HANK: So did you kill them all??
[I glanced at everyone. I glimpsed a stare I knew well from Kelly. It was obvious Jim had already filled her in]
ME: Okay, people…I don’t want a panic or outburst, please! We have something to tell you but keep in mind we just went through something horrible and before we get into it, know that you’re safe. We’re safe.
LILY: Are more coming for us? Bunch got away, didn’t they??
ME: Please…Lily. I just said we were safe. No one is coming for us!
MINDY: So they’re all dead? You didn’t answer Hank’s question.
[I noticed some of the refugees realizing Hank was there surprised them, but not in a bad way]
ME: They’re all dead. Minus one.
LILY: So…one lived and got away. You said no one was coming for us! One man can still be a threat and attack us!
TODD: Lily…dammit. He just said no one is coming for us! I’m sorry…not meaning to snap. If you’d gone through what we just did, you’d understand. But no one is coming.
ME: The leader I told you of. Victor. He’s alive. He’s also…here, in Haven. Please don’t fre-
LILY: What the FUCK do you mean he’s here?! Here in our home? Where my kids are??
ME: He’s under lock and key, so to speak! You’ll notice Larry and Ray aren’t here…they’re guarding him. He’ll be guarded day and night by armed men. He’s restrained, he’s not hurting anyone. I promise.
LILY: This is bullshit!
MINDY: I have to agree, Jack. Why??
ME: He was the last one. He was injured and unarmed. He basically surrendered.
LILY: Great…why didn’t you shoot his ass?
ME: Because he wasn’t a threat at that moment. Others at the time wanted to just kill him, too. But as I thought about it, I thought…we have him. I thought about Haven and what we’ve built for ourselves. We fought to defend this place. We fought to save the lives of innocent people that needed our help, our new friends in the back there. What’s our goal? Do we want to remain lost in this desolated new world or do we want to continue to expand and add on to what we’ve got here? That means trying to be more civilized again. It means to try to set up standards and rules for ourselves. I thought a huge step in that direction would be taking a man alive when he surrenders. That’s the right way, is it not? I thought giving him an actual trial for what he’s done was a step in that direction. How we set it up, I don’t know. We’ll figure it out. If it comes down that we execute him, so be it. He sure as hell deserves it, but let it be done the right way by a group decision after hearing everything from everyone. Tell me I’m wrong.
[Everyone looked at me and at each other bewildered]
TINA: You’re right. It’s better than what you did to the other one you captured. That was barbaric and no different than them.
ME: I won’t argue that fact, it was. I also knew you’d agree with this approach to it and appreciate it.
TINA: I do.
ME: Any objections?
[to my surprise no one really said anything. Not even Lily]
ME: Listen…we just went through some shit…so if you don’t mind, we just need to rest. Please speak with our new arrivals and help them settle in. The rest we’ll figure out later.
Everyone walked away and began to mingle with refugees. Reggie came up and patted my shoulder. We walked to his house and I collapsed onto his couch. To my surprise, I quickly fell asleep and slept through the rest of the day and night.
When I woke, I made my way over to Mindy’s house. When she opened the door she looked like she had woken not long ago herself. She invited me in and we sat at her kitchen table.
ME: How’s all of our new guests? You checked them all out?
MINDY: No worse for wear. Some a little malnourished or dehydrated. Cuts and scraps. Nothing serious.
ME: How did they seem to you?
MINDY: I don’t know…grateful for sure. Nervous, but they seemed to calm down over time. Now, real question…what about the prick in the barn that put them through all that?
ME: I’m working on that. I need to talk with Alan and everyone. A traditional trial is kind of off the table. It’s not like we can bring in unbiased people to serve as a jury. The refugees were under his boot for what? Over a year? Not all of them but most. They attacked us and we attacked them. We’ve lost people. No one here can be unbiased. Everyone wants him dead, naturally. The ones who didn’t say it outright I know do as well. I saw it in their eyes. Maybe this idea was stupid, I don’t know.
MINDY: No, I think it was a good idea. At first, no, but the little speech you gave of bringing back at least a semblance of civilization, adding to this place…that shut people up if you didn’t notice. Gave them something to think about. Myself included. Unbiased? Impossible…but I think some of them would try.
ME: Yeah, maybe. We’ll figure it out. I gotta go. Thanks for t
he chat and checking out our new arrivals.
MINDY: Just doing my job. You have a good one.
I went back to my house and sat in silence to just ponder. I thought about the start of it all. The early days sitting on our porches. Reggie sitting with me and us keeping tabs on the television. Asshole Stan looking out of his window at us periodically with disdain. Our neighbors all dying around us. The wonderful elderly sisters next door. Our other neighbors fleeing to doomed designated safe zones. I hadn’t thought about all of this in a very long time. There just hadn’t been the time to really reflect since getting to The Haven. Nothing slowed down much. Once we really started getting settled in here, then came the threat from The Retreat.
The Dead Lands Diary Vol. II) Page 17