by S. A. Lowry
Andrew and Riggs stays silent realizing the entire picture unfolding before their eyes. Aaron now begins laughing once again, then goes on to add, “They didn’t take it so well when they found out what we did to their friends when they came looking for them once all hell broke loose.”
The pair are now apalled. “You are the one who started all this craziness with them. Now we are caught up in the middle,” Riggs says as he glares into Aaron’s eyes.
“I suppose so. However, I am going to fix it,” Aaron declares.
“Yeah whatever, Aaron. We want out. We are leaving right now!” Andrew yells from his seat.
“If you two attempt to step out that door we will shoot you both where you stand,” he warns.
Riggs and Andrew sit there with cold stares unphased by Aaron’s threats. “Your women are mine. We are going to work out a deal with The Death’s Head so this bloody war stops. We’re also going to throw in Teresa so we meet Trim Vain’s quota. Your child will become Amy’s brother. Your weapons are mine too. As for the rest of you, well, I guess ya’ll just be hanging out for awhile in your quarters until I can find a use for you or until I feel like throwing you in Cell Block C,” Aaron concludes.
“Teresa? Who?” Riggs asks with a confused face. That is when without warning, Andrew rises up to attack Aaron as Riggs jumps across the desk to pull him inward. Aaron’s guards quickly intervene and butt strokes Riggs and Andrew across their heads with their shotguns. Andrew is knocked out instantly, while Riggs is dazed as he stumbles around attempting to stand up off the floor. The guard finishes him off from behind with another blow to the back of the head, in effect putting him out instantly.
Some time goes by until Riggs is awakened by Andrew slightly slapping him across the face while he lies back first on a mattress.
“Wake up Riggs. Come on, snap out of it,” Andrew encourages. “Uh, my head. Hurts like hell,” Riggs describes as he comes to and slowly rises up from the bed. Andrew can feel his pain as well, for they have been unconcious for a few hours.
Riggs awakes to the surrounding eyes of all the members of the group, with the exception of Young Andrew, Cynthia and Randall. “Where’s the boy? Why is everyone hanging out around me?” Riggs curiously asks in confusion.
The women are now crying. Some of the men are attempting to comfort them, however, with little to no success. Dwayne informs Riggs of the situation with dread as he quickly darts up from his bunk and attempts to slide open the cage without success.
“So they locked us all in here? Where the hell are the others?” Riggs angrily asks. “Randall joined them. So did Cynthia. The boy was forced to go with Amy. They came in here with their weapons drawn on us and asked who wanted to join them. Of course, it’s obvious who wanted to,” Dwayne explains further.
“That scum bag. First chance I get, his ass is mine,” Riggs declares referring to Randall.
“With Cynthia, well, guess I could of saw that one coming,” Andrew adds as he takes a seat on the cold hard pavement and leans his back up against the solid wall.
“Screw her!” adds Riggs.
“Did you tell him the rest of it, Dwayne?” a saddened Linda asks. Dwayne stares on in silence.
“What?” Riggs orders. “Once Aaron’s boys rounded us all up and locked us in here, they told us the women would be offered over to the bikers and the men will be shot some time this week,” Lance adds in intense dread and anger as he tries to comfort Tabatha in his arms as she begins crying relentlessly.
The news did not startle Andrew and Riggs, for they already figured that much at this point. Now coming to a realization, Riggs places his head down as emotions overwhelm him.
“I want to thank all of you for not abandoning me and Andrew. All of you are true friends,” Riggs confesses. Nobody says a word in response because their eyes said enough.
Riggs takes a few minutes to gather himself. Moments later, he tries to keep the group’s hopes up by desperately trying to devise an escape plan. However, failing miserably, many of them realized it was just to keep their minds occupied in order to avoid the inevitable.
Linda began opening prayer sessions with some members of the group and invited them all to join. Only a few joined in, however, as the days went on without given any food or water, almost all of them were now praying with her in a desperate attempt to make their last peace. It even got to the point of where Tabatha stopped crying as she accepted Lance’s and her own fate. She just wanted to enjoy the rest of the time she had with him.
Even Andrew and Audrey began cuddling up next to eachother, resting in eachother’s arms. Tammy saw this and decided to crawl over to Riggs as she grew weaker and couldn’t bring herself to stand. Riggs accepted her into his arms as he leaned up against the wall attempting to conserve his remaining energy.
The guards which stood watch constantly mocked them and even urinated into their cell numerous times. Disgusted as Riggs and Andrew were, they attempted to attack the men numerous times from the other side of the bars and were only met by cattle pronges shocking them to their knees through the gaps.
One night, one of the more friendly guards, was on watch in his chair looking into their cell. When everyone inside was asleep, with the exception of Andrew, who had his arms wrapped around Audrey and lost in his own thoughts of his brother, noticed Young Andrew walking in with Amy holding an entire loaf of bread and two large gallon water bottles.
The guard rose up from his seat and told them to leave, until Amy pleaded with the man. She told him they were her friends and just wanted to give them some food so they wouldn’t die.
Once Amy told the man this, he quickly avoided eye contact with her as he already knew that their fates were sealed anyway.
As persistant as Amy was however, she offered the man a carton of Marlboro Reds, which ultimately sold him as he allowed the two to pass.
Andrew removes Audrey’s arms and gently places her down on her back as he crawls up to the edge of the cell and pokes his head out towards Young Andrew and Amy.
“Hey soldier. Haven’t seen you around in awhile. How you been?” he asks with a hoarse and tired voice. “I’m alright. I miss you guys. Please hang in there. I am going to get you out of here, I promise!” Young Andrew vowes as he hands the loaf of bread and water to Andrew. Amy stares on in silence.
Andrew stares at the bread and water with widened eyes and thanks the young boy as he squeezes his shoulder displaying his affection towards the child.
As a result, Andrew holds back his tears. “You’re one tough soldier I tell you what. Now what you got to do, is soldier up and stay tough. Even without us. You got your whole life ahead of you and you better damn sure well make sure you value it. Now go on. Get out of here before you get in trouble,” Andrew says attempting to value his last words to Young Andrew.
“I know you don’t believe me, but you’ll see,” Young Andrew reiterates with confidence. Andrew shakes his head in acceptance and rubs the top of the boy’s head real fast in a playful demeanor. Amy takes the boy by the hand and walks off as Young Andrew looks back to his hero with tears in his eyes.
Andrew feels his eyes become watery as he continues to prevent himself from crying and sobbing as he places his head down to gather his bearing. Once he is able, he turns around to wake up the rest of the group to share the food and water.
Once the loaf is depleted and the last drop of water is consumed, they all return back to their corners with their company in arms. A lonely Linda, distraught over missing Young Andrew’s visit, curls up to Dwayne out of friendship and the looming fear of possible death. She laid her head on his shoulder as she began to cry.
As dawn loomed, Riggs and the rest of the group remained asleep as rays of sunlight broke through the cracks of the walls and through the windows into their cage. All is quiet until the sounds of automatic gunfire erupting suddenly awakens them from a dead sleep. Shortly followed by the sound of a large vehicle knocking down the front gate or one of the walls on the
perimeter as chunks of concrete are heard seperating in multiple directions. More gunfire can be heard followed by the sounds of roaring engines and motors all around the perimeter. Moments later, screams can be heard coming from inside the prison as the alarm is sounded. Even the guard in front of their cell takes off out of sight.
Everyone who is confined, quickly stands up and begins pacing around and trying to poke their heads through the bars in order to find out what is happening. The sounds of gunfire grow more frequent and violent as it appears the whole prison is in a call to arms.
A few minutes go by until the area sounds like a complete war zone. Screams, automatic fire, shotguns, a few explosions on the perimeter can be heard as Riggs and the rest of the group feel helpless and desperately attempt to yell out to be released.
While they hear the chaos ensue from their confined space, a few men with tactical vests run past their cell in a dead sprint holding assault rifles with their barrels pointed into the air. The situation seems so serious at this point, Riggs goes as far as to say that the whole establishment is being over ran.
Twenty minutes go by as there is no end in sight. The gunfire grows ever closer towards them from inside the prison. The loud echos of weapons being expended in the general area inside the compound grow more deafening by the minute.
Linda instantly panics while worrying about the where abouts and safety of Young Andrew.
“He needs me out there! He’s all alone! For the love of god let us out of here!” Linda frantically yells out into the hallway. Nobody outside the cage can hear her. At that point, moans are heard off into the distance. The group realizes whatever just came into the compound, possibily the bikers, something else was let in as well. All of them realize it at this point as the gunfire, the screams and the moans grow ever closer.
Riggs and Andrew decide to take a seat beside eachother and allow the situation to unfold. They realize that they are helpless at this point. “You can’t give up! Stand up and help me!” Linda desperately cries out to the pair as she continues to shake the bars and scream to the top of her lungs. Lance, Tabatha, Audrey, Dwayne and Tammy decide to follow Riggs and Andrew’s path as well as they take a seat on the floor and await whatever is coming in ease.
That is when Amy and Young Andrew are seen sprinting up to the doorway and into the hallway. Young Andrew is in the lead as he holds a large set of keys on a giant metallic ring. Amy is right behind him.
Linda is the first to notice him and calls out his name. Everyone else inside the cell, whom are startled by what Linda called out, quickly stand up on their feet. “We got the keys! We got the keys!” Young Andrew yells at the top of the lungs with anticipation and excitement as he approaches the lock to the sliding door. Everyone else inside quickly runs up to the bars and begin welcoming him back. Young Andrew quickly flips through the keys as he places them into the lock one by one attempting to open the door. Everyone else encourages him on to move quicker as time is running out.
Andrew looks at Amy from inside his cell for a moment.
“How did you two get these?” he curiously asks, while anxious to be released.
“I stole it from my father’s office. These keys are to all the cells, including the vehicles in the motorpool,” Amy informs with a sense of pride on her face. Rigg’s eyes, along with everyone else’s light up with hope. Riggs tells them, as soon as the gate is open, that they are headed in the opposite direction of the battle and will escape out the back side to enter the motorpool. Once they do this, they will steal one of the parked vehicles and attempt an escape.
Everyone is on board as they anxiously tell Young Andrew to hurry up. Right as he is still going down the line trying one key after another, Amy remains still, with widened eyes as she looks down the hallway into the direction of the main door.
Nobody notices her change in facial expression as they are too focused on trying the keys to open the door. That is when a loud and thunderous voice can be heard from down the hallway.
“Amy! What the hell do you think you are doing!” the man from down the hallway exclaims in a furious tone of voice. Everyone stops in dead silence.
Young Andrew looks down the hallway, then turns back to the keys and picks up the pace trying to unlock the door.
Amy now begins crying and sobbing. “I am sorry daddy, I didn’t mean too. Please don’t hurt me!” Amy pleads as she is drawn to her knees. Young Andrew is still attempting to open the door while ignoring the unfolding situation beside him.
At that point, Riggs and Andrew realize who it is. Aaron is seen, in his black fatigues with his tactical vest, welding an AK-47 as he draws it on his daughter as he slowly walks forward. He is bloodied and seems disoriented.
“You little whore! You are just like your mother, an unreliable traitor! A liar! A sneak!” Aaron continues to yell on as he approaches her closer and closer with each passing step. Her sobs grow louder as a result. Her face leans closer into the ground in shame as he approaches.
“You’ve betrayed me!” Aaron continues in a fit of rage. Andrew along with the others begins yelling at him to put the weapon down. Riggs, realizing Aaron came back here to kill them, is the only one to notice the boy finding the right key at the last second. As a result, the locking mechanism pops free as Riggs doesn’t waste any time to push forward and break through the breach.
That is when Aaron pulls the trigger. He shoots Amy three times execution style as she knelt on the ground crying and attempting to apologize to her supposed step-father. Amy’s lifeless body falls flat onto the pavement as she ceases to move.
Aaron stands over her in disbelief at what he has just done.
Once the shots were heard right behind Young Andrew, he quickly falls sideways attempting to avoid the intensity of the nearby rounds ripping into his friend Amy. That is when Riggs charges out of the doorway the boy had just unlocked for him a second ago and tackles Aaron to the ground in a dead sprint as Aaron attempted to point his rifle towards the others in order to finish them off.
The AK-47 falls to the ground out of reach of a murderous Aaron. Riggs acts on the oppurtunity as he is on top of Aaron and begins pummeling his face in with fist after fist of striking blows to the face and head. Everyone else screams in horror as they run out of the cell. Andrew instantly goes for the rifle and picks it up as he sets up a defensive posture on Aaron who is being brutally beaten to a bloody pulp by a furious Riggs.
Once Riggs is finished, he stands up over Aaron with him between his legs. “You son of a bitch. I’m going to kill you!” Riggs yells in pure hatred. He then proceeds to stomp his face in with his boot. Andrew jumps in and begins beaten him in the torso with his rifle as Dwayne and Lance come running up and begin taking turns kicking in Aaron’s head into the pavement.
After each striking blow by the group of men, Aaron grows less and less in tune with his surroundings as he begins to drift into nothingness as he stares up at the ceiling beside his daughter who lies in a pool of blood as a result of his action. Once the men calm down and cease to strike him, Riggs walks off swearing in frustration at witnessing Amy’s murder. Andrew, without saying a word, stands erect over Aaron as he places the barrel of his own rifle up to the center of his forehead and pulls the trigger. Brain matter and blood splashes in every direction peppering Linda and a nearby Tammy on their shirts as they watch in horror.
Young Andrew, after witnessing what just happened to his friend and the girl who possibily saved them all, runs up to a lifeless Amy as she lays face first into the pavement.
Tears runs down his eyes as his little face grows beet red. He begins sobbing over her body as Andrew and Linda pull him away.
“Come on! We have to go! We have to go now!” Yells Andrew as the gunfire becomes even closer at this point.
“No! No! We can’t leave her like this!” Young Andrew screams, kicks and bites Andrew as the boy is dragged down the corridor to safety by Andrew. Once Linda has control of him, Andrew runs back to Aaron’s body and
takes the remaining magazines he has out of his tactical pouches on his vest. Andrew uncomfortably stuffs four banana clips into his pockets and turns around to catch up with the group which has already taken off in a dead sprint.
As they run down the corridor which leads to the cafeteria, they come across multiple four way intersections. As they run by them, they can see a good distance down the hall from either side as they see stumbling assailants whom appear to have already reached the state of rigor mortis.
Once they all make it into the cafeteria, the group notices a group of three bikers in the middle of the food court hiding behind concrete pillars firing off their weapons towards the upper level balconies which overwatch the food court. Members of the prison are locked into heated battle with The Death’s Head over the right to the facility.
It is clear to the group now as they stop dead in their tracks and flank around the ensueing firefight behind serving stations as they use it for cover to move by the engaged individuals. All of them stay low as they quickly move into the kitchen where they notice multiple afflicted women feasting on what Linda believed to be Teresa, the woman she spoke with earlier, whom is being eaten alive as she screams at the top of her lungs attempting to escape her attackers. The dead rip into the flesh of our thighs and work their way up as she punches them, kicks them and scratches them. Welding in no results.
Teresa notices Linda sneak by her as they exchange eye contact. She puts up her hand and reaches to her for help as Linda quickly turns away and keeps moving with the rest of the group who attempts to go out the back entrance unseen.
Once they reach the exit door and run down the fire escape steps, a full on firefight can be seen in the courtyard as members of The Death’s Head and Aaron’s men hide behind concrete serpentine barriers for cover and exchange heavy volleys of automatic and semi-automatic fire.
Riggs yells at them to keep moving as they hit the pavement and begin following the brick wall to the motorpool as they stay low and Andrew maintains lead with his rifle up. They move a good few hundred meters unnoticed until Andrew has to turn an unseen corner outside the wall which ultimately leads towards the motorpool as Riggs quickly attempts to identify a vehicle key while on the move.