“What did you find down there, Rook?” The nickname made a lot of sense, since I could tell by his body language how green he was, not to mention his nervous shifting.
“Well, I found the bodies like Ralph said I would, but there was one inside the house that…I don’t know who the other guy was, but I don’t think he’s done.”
“Use your words, or get the hell out of here.”
“He tortured him, and I mean real torture. I think we pissed someone off that-”
“We get the picture. Now, go away and we’ll keep an eye out for the pissed off man that likes torturing people.” The new guy clearly didn’t enjoy being shrugged off, but he left the guards to their business and walked toward the cabin. Since Sam was apparently the leader of this group, it would make sense to assume that’s where I should start my search for Jessica. Still, I also wanted to pay Ralph a visit, so I slowly backed out of my position and worked my way further down the camp, trying to get a look inside the tents as I passed.
Several were occupied, men and women sleeping peacefully after a hard day of marauding. In the center of the camp, I noted a locked shed. It could have just been for supplies, which would be useful, but something told me Mills wasn’t the first prisoner they had taken. Continuing my search down the line, inside the tent closest to the log cabin, I found Ralph, the man who had taken my weapons and Jessica. Despite a sudden rush of adrenaline, I forced myself to remain still and locate Mills.
Turning left, I backtracked into the woods and circled around the cabin, locating a window on the south side that looked inside the kitchen. Edging closer, making sure to avoid sticks or anything that would give away my approach, I stopped next to the window and listened.
“Ralph said this man was your partner, but I wonder if there’s more to the story. Of course, it doesn’t matter either way. Assuming your friend is foolish enough to attempt a rescue, I have a camp of trained killers here who just took down an outpost of soldiers.”
“Those weren’t soldiers, asshole.” My ears perked up at the sound of Jessica’s voice. She spit, breathing heavily enough for me to pick it up. “Most of that outpost were civilians, survivors, just trying to make it out here. You do realize that, right? It’s us against the infection, you deluded bastard.” Sam must have slapped her, because the sound echoed off the walls, causing my blood to boil.
“They were who I say they were! Whatever helps my people do what’s necessary.” There was a muffled knock and a door opened, the hinges creaking.
“Sam, I think we need to raise the alarm.”
“Did you see something out there?” The rookie described the scene, a tortured man to mark the beginning of something worse. Sam seemed to consider the facts for a moment. “I agree with you. Any man who resorts to torture is just getting started. If I were him, I’d be out there right now, scouting the camp and looking for an opportunity to strike. Wake everyone up and inform them of the situation. Oh,” he added as a door opened, “and good job, Chris.”
The door shut and Chris presumably left to alert the camp, making my one-man assault that much harder. My weapons were either in the cabin or the shed, neither of which helped me at this moment. I worked my back toward the campfire, trying to come up with a plan. Chris had done as told, having turned the camp into an active assembly by the time I circled back.
There was definitely a resemblance between Chris and Sam, which, coupled with the accolade earlier, gave a strong argument that they were related. He wore a Glock on his hip, a simple holster that he probably got after the collapse of society. As he addressed the group, his hand nervously dropped to his pocket, smacking against the holster. Contrary to most of the group that I could see, Chris was no trained killer, unused to the holster, which made him my prime target. I just had to figure out how to use him.
“Until further notice, we’re on a full alert,” I heard him say, sparking a wave of disgruntled heckling. “Ralph, can you please come up here and tell them who we’re up against.” He stepped away from the fire, placing himself three steps closer to me, and Ralph took his place. I could see my sidearm on his hip, but I remained focused on forming my plan.
“Earlier today, four of us were killed on the return trip to the outpost. A woman and a man were responsible, but the man was left there. I took his guns, but he may still attempt to rescue his partner, who Sam is currently interrogating. As of right now, we don’t know much else, but I worked her over myself and she’ll be a tough nut to crack.” If I hadn’t already planned to kill him, that made my choice easy.
Still, it was a matter of tact. From their stances and weapon handling, these weren’t amateurs. I could try to set traps, but they would either disarm them or the traps would be rendered useless after the first death. Direct confrontation was suicide, so I didn’t have many options. With that in mind, and my Ka-Bar in hand, I waited for Chris to take one more step backward and made my move.
Chapter 22
I closed the distance in two seconds, pricking his neck with my blade and wrapping my empty hand around his forehead. The group reacted as expected, quickly raising their weapons to fire, but no one pulled a trigger. They instead opted to try and flank me, positioning themselves to take me out without injuring Chris. For now, it seemed like I had made a good call, even though I was staring at the barrels of a dozen weapons.
“Wait,” I shouted, my eyes darting between the moving pieces around me, “this doesn’t have to get ugly. I don’t want to hurt this kid, I just want my partner back.”
“I should have put a bullet in you at that outpost.” Ralph stepped in front of me, a smug grimace on his face. “You and that bitch.” A moment of silence fell over the camp, the flames dancing across my face, before my hand shot to Chris’ hip, coming up with his Glock. With a firm grip, I felt the trigger safety depress before the handgun bucked and Ralph collapsed, clutching his leg as blood spurted between his fingers. Everyone shifted, their weapons threatening death, but still no one fired as I kept the edge of my knife flush against Chris’ throat.
“Stop!” Sam was at the door of the cabin, Jessica held tightly against him with a gun to her head. “I assume you’re after her.”
“You’d be correct.”
“I also assume telling you that the man you have means nothing to me would be pointless?”
“I’m guessing brothers by the age difference, but I’ve been wrong before.”
“Well, then, it seems we have a negotiation before us. You hand over my brother, I give you back your,” he paused, “partner, and we all go home happy.”
“Full disclosure, no matter how this ends, I’m going to kill Ralph.” Ralph, who hadn’t been paying close attention, suddenly seemed very interested in the conversation happening. Sam raised an eyebrow, but his body didn’t so much as twitch.
“May I ask why?”
“You can, but it won’t change anything.”
“I see. Ralph is my second-in-command, though, so I have to say this puts a damper on our trade.” I shrugged.
“To be fair, I’m torn whether or not to add you to that list.”
“Ralph, I understand, but if you point that weapon in my direction, my people will open fire and you won’t like the outcome.” He was referring to the small army with their sights currently trained on my skull. Banking on a mutual distrust within the group, I decided to play the only hand I had.
“Do they know that those weren’t soldiers at the outpost they attacked? That they just helped you murder innocent civilians in cold blood?” His eye twitched, a sign of weakness that told me I was getting somewhere. “I heard you talking earlier, when you were beating on her. She told you the same information, but you already knew that when you attacked. Hell, I’d bet Ralph was the one that made up that intel in the first place.”
“What’s he talking about, Sam?” Chris broke the tension, talking to his brother like a knife didn’t currently draw blood at his throat. Sam frowned, exhaling sharply.
“Shut
up, Chris, we’ll talk about this later.”
“I think we deserve to talk about this now!” One of the women chimed in, her AR-15 lowering slightly as she turned to look at their leader. “You told us they were a raiding party.” I laughed at the irony.
“Seriously? We came after your group because you were the ones doing the raiding. Sam has been using you all to do his dirty work, lying about the people you’re attacking.”
“Sam,” Chris shouted over everyone’s outbursts, “is he telling the truth?” The hurt in his voice was painful to hear, but Sam’s response was even worse.
“Oh, come on, Chris. Like you would have survived this long without me? Hell, most of you just wait for orders. News flash! The world has gone to shit! We ran out of supplies weeks ago.” The looks on the group’s faces were a mixture of confusion and realization, the pieces coming together.
“Wait, so that farm we sacked last week that you told us was going feral?” A muscular man, his biceps making the shotgun in his arms look like a toy, wondered aloud. The murmur of dissention quickly became a roar and, in an instant, the weapons that were pointed at me found themselves aiming at Sam.
“Hard times call for hard choices. What do you want me to say? Do you want me to apologize? I’m the only thing holding us together! Without my lies, you would have starved and started killing each other out of desperation. Is that what you want instead?”
“We would rather know the truth!” Chris yelled, anger causing his voice to deepen. “Even after all of this, though, I just want to know one thing.” Chris began to walk forward and I let him, releasing my hold on his throat. “The first time we,” he choked on the word, “raided, you told us they were responsible for murdering Meredith’s son. We massacred those people, even when they denied it to the end. I thought it was wrong then, but I need to know. If you tell me right now that you had nothing to do with it, that they really did murder her son, I’ll forgive you, Sam.” Tears fell from his eyes, realizing the downfall of his brother over the course of weeks. “Please, tell me you didn’t lie then.”
The look in Sam’s eyes was enough to tell his brother the truth and Chris collapsed, destroyed with the knowledge of his actions. The others looked to each other, then the ground, then anywhere that wasn’t inward. They had been misled into murder and whatever else for weeks, the knowledge making some physically sick.
“You bastard,” Chris muttered, no longer heaving. “You’re not my brother.” He charged toward Sam, grabbing a stick from the fire and waving it overhead. I have to think it was a reflex rather than intended, but a gunshot split the night and Chris doubled over, the barrel of Sam’s gun smoking. I didn’t hesitate, quickly firing a round into Sam’s shoulder. He absorbed the impact, clearly stunned from shooting his brother, and fell to his knees.
Jessica picked up his dropped pistol and stepped to the side, allowing him to watch his brother bleed in the snow.
“I…I was protecting him,” Sam stuttered.
I stepped forward, stopping next to Ralph, who looked at me with hateful eyes.
“You’ve destroyed this group. We had a good thing going, we were surviving, and you just ruined everything. Are you happy?” I looked down and cocked my head, not even responding before I pulled the trigger. Once, twice, three times, before the smell of smoke flooded my nostrils and left Ralph with half a face. He was truly a monster, still believing he was right despite everything, which was the only reason I didn’t feel ill.
“Eric, get over here,” Jessica called out, kneeling over Chris and putting pressure on his abdomen. I rushed to her side and knelt across from her, lifting her hand to see the damage.
“Does anyone have medical supplies?” I yelled over my shoulder, hoping someone would snap out of their internal torment.
“Yeah, I’ve got some in my tent,” one of the men called out. “Joseph, Summers, get him in the cabin and out of the snow.” Two men rushed to hoist Chris up and ran him into the cabin, followed quickly by their medic. Jessica looked after them, sadness playing over her features.
“Are you okay?” I whispered, touching my thumb near her bruised eye.
“I’ll be fine.” She shook her head, reaching up to grab my hand tightly. “These people had no idea they were the enemy, what they were becoming. Where do they go from here?” I frowned, not sure of the future for this group of unknowing raiders.
**********
The door of the cabin opened and Chris limped out, his walking stick planted firmly against the floorboards. He had survived the gunshot, but he was definitely a changed man, carrying himself with more strength. Jessica and I stood outside, holding the reins of our horses. The shed had been opened shortly after the events that night, releasing four survivors from the outpost that had been taken prisoner. After explaining that the members of the raiding party had been misled, and hearing them apologize profusely, the prisoners forgave them and agreed to come with me and Jessica to the nearest outpost.
“I know you almost killed me, but thank you, both of you, for showing us the truth.” Chris stepped down carefully and offered his hand, which we took.
“Are you going to be okay here? You could all come with us.”
“I think we’ve got a long way to go before we can come with you.” He was, of course, referring to their actions under the deceit of his brother.
“I understand.” After seeing what I was still capable of in that outpost, I still had a long way to go on my own journey. “What are you going to do about…” I trailed off, knowing it was a sensitive subject.
“My brother, despite his flaws, had assembled a solid foundation of rules that we went by, and we’ll uphold those rules. He lied to us, murdered, stole, and he has to answer for all those crimes.” Chris stopped, his eyes welling up, but he took a deep breath and looked back toward the shed where Sam was locked up. “I don’t know when he stopped being my brother, but the man I met last night was a complete stranger.” I put my hand on his shoulder and squeezed, knowing his road ahead would be hard.
“I know you’ll all do the right thing.” I released his shoulder and mounted my horse. Being in Kentucky, the group brought a few extra horses for the prisoners to ride as a way of apologizing, so they would be mostly more comfortable than walking the entire way. “Good luck, Chris.” I shook his hand once more before urging my horse onward, leaving the camp behind.
“I was a little surprised you didn’t kill everyone when you came for me,” Jessica kept her voice low so that only I would hear.
“It just didn’t feel right for some reason. Maybe I’m getting soft.” I thought for a moment, adding, “Honestly, though, I’m just tired, Jessica. I hate that I can still torture a man, and I’m tired of killing. I’m not taking that pacifist road that I tried before, because I think any chance of that’s long gone, but you were right.”
“Which time?” She smirked, and I snorted.
“When you told Sam that we should all be on the same side. I thought about killing everyone in that camp, and believe me I was ready to when I came up that hill and saw Sam hit you, but I wanted there to be a better way. Those people were lied to and used, so they didn’t deserve to die. Besides, I know what desperation can do. Without you or Kat to pull me back, who knows where that path of darkness would have taken me? That’s why what we’re doing, finding our humanity, is so important. Someday, I want to look down at my hands and find them clean.” She let that linger in the air for a while, riding in silence, before finally responding.
“Well, for what it’s worth, I’m really proud of you, Eric.” She leaned over and kissed my cheek, smiling. “I like this you, and I think we might be getting somewhere.” I smiled back, searching her gaze for any indication of humor, but she meant every word.
“I think so, too.”
Part IV
Chapter 23
It was nice to not be knee-deep in snow for a change, though the downpour from above wasn’t much better. While the rain had a pleasant familiarity,
the cold air brought an ominous chill with it that had me on edge. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something felt wrong as Jessica and I rode through the forestry of South Carolina.
We had been debriefing Murray after five months out, mostly focusing on Kentucky and the potential of someone running into Chris’ group, when an emergency beacon had gone off. Established outposts were connected to an emergency relay via the nearest radio tower, whether it was a switch to be flipped or a button to be pressed. The relay sent a signal to the central outpost in Mississippi, bringing reinforcements as soon as Murray could send them. Among the outposts that we had lost contact with was Outpost Twelve in South Carolina, dropping off the grid weeks ago.
Unlike Kentucky, though, the last supply convoy had returned, calling Twelve abandoned. Because of the thirty-person vanishing act, Murray’s curiosity had been piqued when the emergency beacon had been tripped, enough so that Jessica and I found ourselves in the forest playing detective again.
“How are you feeling?” Jessica asked over the radio. We chose to ride a hundred yards apart, covering more ground while keeping our eyes peeled for an ambush. This way, we would have an advantage of surprise if one of us was attacked by raiders.
“I’m strangely calm, to be honest. The way I see it, either they left for some reason and just decided to come back, or someone triggered the alarm to draw us in. If it’s the former, we ask some questions and head back without incident. If it’s the latter…we handle the problem.”
“That’s pretty optimistic of you.”
“What can I say? I’ve got reasons to be happy these days.”
“Care to share?” I considered confessing for a moment before shaking my head.
“Ask me tomorrow.” I knew how dangerous it was to not live for the moment out here, but I had been looking forward to the future more each day.
A Broken World (Book 3): Fractured Memories Page 8