Endgame (Book 1)

by W. A. R.

  Everyone standing about in the room shifted uneasily, as if prepared to run for their lives, should the occasion arise, and yet Amber knew that they wouldn’t attempt that unless she said to. That burden alone weighted her shoulders down enormously. She shifted the bat in her hand and eased it slightly behind her leg, looking around the kitchen. It wasn’t big enough for what she had in mind. She glanced at Buddy as the truck engine died. He would be in the house within a few seconds.

  She looked at Cassie pointedly. “Say nothing besides that we are in the garage. Remember what I said, whatever you hear, stay in the kitchen.” She ordered and Cassie nodded gravely at her mother, straightening her stance. She grabbed Buddy’s sleeve with one hand and George’s between the fingers of her other, the rest of her fingers holding the bat, and she drug them with her. Derek and Katie followed, Katie reminding the children to stay in the kitchen as the five adults made their way into the garage just as the front door opened. Amber turned to each of them, motioning for them to stand around the room. She urged Buddy to stand on the opposite side of the door, tossing him an old shirt to gag Damien with, to smother his screams. He caught the shirt, and after glancing at it for a moment, he looked at her and nodded his understanding. She pressed her back against the wall next to the door, raising the bat above her shoulder, ready to swing.

  She waited patiently, listening as his voice carried down the hall. Nervous apprehension was gripping at her. “This is it. No turning back. After this, the real trouble starts.” She warned them and she could see tears in Katie’s eyes and the fear in Derek’s. She shifted uneasily. Yes, she was scared; would she let him see it? Hell no.

  “Where is everyone?” he asked nervously and she knew that Cassie merely pointed in the direction that they had gone unable to speak to the man that had taken away those she loved. Amber shifted, tightening her hold on the bat and trying to calm her racing heart and trembling hands. She was beyond angry and apprehensive. She was pissed; furious. She simply saw black and she wandered if she was slowly losing her mind. She had been waiting for Damien’s presence since she realized what he had done and now that he was so close, it took everything she had to remain still and silent.

  Her eyes snapped to Buddy, knowing that he would have to move first. Yes, she thought, he understood. It was instant once the garage door opened but everything played out slowly, so slowly that she was able to see every detail, every minute movement and look that was tossed her way. Blood coated his arm from two bullet wounds and Katie glanced at him sincerely horrified. He had a gun slung on his shoulder and a pistol in his waistband. Brian’s pistol. The idiot. Buddy rushed forward as Damien took one step into the garage where they all stood. Quiet, reserved, regretful Damien. Guilty, guilty, guilty, was the chant in her heated ears. He wrapped the cloth around his mouth, pulling back tightly with both hands as Damien’s hands immediately reached up to claw at the fabric stumbling with the force Buddy used. Amber couldn’t have him screaming. Banging began sounding in the kitchen; the teenagers making the sounds of a struggle. Amber had her hate filled eyes on his then and his widened in response. Oh yes, he was scared. He was terrified.

  She grit her teeth and swung at the side of his knee as hard as was physically possible for her, throwing all of her weight into the swing. The metal bat met the bone of his knee with a sickening crack and his screams were muffled from the cloth. The impact jarred the bat, the vibrations racing up her arms and she simply rolled the tension from her shoulders and let the bat hang loose from her fingertips. He lay in the floor, unable to move his leg and crying from the agony. Her eyes remained trained on him as he rocked back and forth on his side, gripping at the filth covered concrete floor. Gasps were heard from around the room but no one dared move. She was blinded with rage and there was nothing that any of them could do to stop it…nothing they wanted to do. After a moment, when his screams had quieted, Buddy released one hand on the cloth and Damien fell to the floor with a loud thud.

  “What in the hell is wrong with you?!?” he exclaimed, his voice cracking with the agony she was sure he was enduring. She swung the bat around her fingers once again and placed a foot firmly on his hip. His fingers pried at her boot but to no avail and within seconds, she had kicked him onto his opposite side, his broken knee connecting with the pavement of the garage. He cried out from the piercing pain. Katie winced and paled, appearing sick and she quickly rushed from the room, Derek hurrying to assist her. Banging and hollering, things being thrown around and against walls was heard from the kitchen, masking Damien’s cries. Amber didn’t care who stayed and who went, so long as they didn’t interfere with what she was doing.

  Amber squatted down, holding the bat between her knees and resting her chin on the handle of it. She sighed. “You twisted son of a bitch.” she accused of him and he glared at her through his tears, whimpering as he tried again to move his leg. She lowered her head closer to his, her voice dropping real low as if sharing a secret. “I know what you’ve done…” she trailed off, watching as his eyes widened with fear and surprise. He tried to shove away from her, turning his head but she quickly grabbed a handful of his hair and turned his face back to her. He grimaced at the new pain and began scrambling for the gun on his shoulder, for the pistol. “Do you know what is going to happen next Damien?” she asked of him and he spit at her, saliva hitting her neck and sliding down against her shirt.

  “Fuck you.” He declared and yet she never wavered. Instead, she simply wiped away his retort with the collar of her shirt and sighed as if bored but the fire in her eyes told him she was the complete opposite. She was angry and he was the cause of the reckless abandon that was sweeping through her. She watched as cold desperation ran through him; helplessness that she refused to alleviate. She reached forward and jerked his weapons from his desperate hold and George stepped forward to retrieve them from her. She leveled her gaze at him once again.

  “We have about ten minutes and you are going to tell me what I need to know.” Her voice was but a low growl and he frantically shifted his head, pulling his hair from her grasp and leaving her holding a handful of brown curls. He rolled onto his back and began dragging himself away from her as quickly as he could, his limp leg dragging behind him. She slowly stood and sidestepped following him.

  She shook her head in mock sorrow. "Wrong choice, Damien.” She told him and fright took control of his features, his fingernails scraping against the floor. She quickly reached down and grabbed the ankle of his bad leg, pulling on it and dragging him back to where he previously lay. He grabbed at his leg, trying to reach her hand with a wild determination as he screamed his agony. Once he was where she wanted him, she released his ankle, his foot thudding against the hard floor of the garage and he again cried out, squeezing his eyes shut tightly as he sobbed, attempting to compose himself. Amber glanced up at George and Buddy, and was surprised to see nothing but hatred mixed with emotionless features wash across their faces. Turning back to the source of her newfound personality, she scowled in disgust. “You are nothing but a coward.” She told him, her words biting and dripping with disdain. “You survived in this world at the cost of innocent people’s lives…do you really think that makes you a man?” she asked of him and when he didn’t answer she scoffed at him, lifting her bat once more. “That first hit was for my father. I know you killed him you sorry piece of shit.” She told him before swinging her bat down as hard at her muscles would allow her to.

  The end of the bat connected with his other knee with yet another sickening crack that echoed against the walls. He roared with suffering and Amber was relishing in every miserable sound he made. Drool slid from the corner of his mouth and hit the floor, mixing in with the dirt and tears that were already there. His face was deformed and twisted in wretchedness.

  “That one was for my brother. You have at least three more coming.”

  “Please stop…I’ll tell you whatever you want to know…just please stop.” He begged of her and she stared hard down
at him, dropping her bat onto the floor with a loud clanging. She stepped her left leg over his waist and knelt down over him. She gripped his sweat and blood soaked shirt between her fingers and lifted him, urging his face closer to hers.

  “Where are they taking them?” she demanded, her voice low and frightening.

  Damien refused to look at her; instead he looked away, whimpering. “There is a compound on the other side of Tiger Point…that is where they are taking them…”

  Amber gripped his shirt tighter, confusion tainting her features, but Buddy had stepped over Tiger Point and everything was destroyed.”

  “They built it…the man…he’s brilliant…they have electricity…they have water, food, medicine…”

  Amber felt a cold fear grip her, freezing everything inside of her. “What do they plan on doing to my family?” she asked and his face twisted up once more, tears flowing form the corners of his eyes. He wasn’t going to answer, or he knew Amber wasn’t going to like the answer. Either way, his refusal to reply infuriated her and she released him. He fell back with a thud and she turned to grab her bat from the ground, seeing George handing it to her. His face was pure hatred and he nodded at her his agreement with everything she was doing. She turned back to see Buddy gripping Damien’s wrist as the man struggled beneath them. Amber placed a firm foot against his chest as Buddy pulled his arm taut. Damien’s eyes widened in fear.

  “No, no…please…” he begged and Amber applied more pressure to her foot.

  “We are running out of time. Answer my question.” She demanded and he blubbered, squinting his eyes against the pain.

  “I can’t…you won’t like it and you’ll only hurt me anyways…”

  “Try me.” She countered and he glanced pleadingly up at George, who stood resolutely beside Amber. She was growing impatient. “One…”

  “No!”

  “Two…” she counted, lifted the bat to her shoulder, taking aim at his elbow as he struggled under her foot.

  “Okay! Alright! I’m not sure exactly…” Damien began and Amber halted her movements, watching his face as he anticipated her actions. “They have some sense of community there…they really do but the man in charge keeps most of the hybrid monsters and the new people they come across pretty private. The people in the community either can’t stop it or don’t want to.” He pleaded with her. He was a smart man. He knew that she was eventually going to find this compound and destroy whoever she had to in order to reach her family and get them to safety. He was reaching out to her humanity, her compassion.

  “Not the answer I wanted to hear, Damien.” Amber told him, rearing back to swing once more and he tried to pull away from Buddy, holding up his other hand in protest.

  “Amber please! They are going to…” he paused, as if unsure of how to word his next sentence. Amber glared at him.

  “Going to what? I don’t have time for your games.” She told him, lowering her bat. He swallowed.

  “They think they are good leaders…so probably…if they work together with them, they will be some of his right hand people…if not…then…” he explained between sobs, his breathing heavy and erratic.

  “Then?” George prodded him, but Amber already knew the answer and she felt her energy heighten in response to it. Damien’s face screwed up once again, knowing what was coming.

  “The hybrids…” he all but whispered to them.

  Amber cut him off. “You’re right. I didn’t like your answer.” She declared before swinging the bat up with every bit of force she had. Amber watched as the bat met his elbow and his arm bent at an odd angle with the pressure of the impact. He screamed, begging for mercy. “That was for Shelly.” She bit out, before stepping away from him and rubbing a hand across her face. She was beginning to feel tears prick the backs of her eyes. Either way it went it seemed, whether they cooperated or didn’t, her family was going to become monsters. She couldn’t let that happen. She closed her eyes tightly and she could feel Buddy’s and George’s eyes on her. They were asking a million questions that she simply couldn’t answer. And she realized with unwavering certainty…she was becoming a monster…an empty shell of what once was. “When are the others going to be here for us?” she asked Damien who buried his face in the dirt. When he didn’t answer she opened her eyes and advanced towards his twitching body on the floor.

  “Amber…” Buddy began, but Amber ignored him, her focus intent on Damien who looked up at her, frightened, terrified.

  “When are the others going to be here for us?!?” she shouted at him, demanding an answer; determining for herself if the people on the radio had been right or not.

  He cowered down from her imposing form, attempting to curl into the fetal position. “About noon…in…in…almost ten…minutes now…”

  She saw red from his blatant treachery, from his lies and his complete detachment from what they had all shared within the recent two to two and a half months. She swung the bat up at his already broken arm as he shielded his face, hitting his forearm and breaking his radius and ulna. The ulna ripped through his muscle tissue and his skin, the point of it sticking out and deforming his arm. He yelped and howled from the excruciating agony and Amber stood tall over him, tossing the bat to the side as Buddy neared her.

  “Amber, we have to go get ready.” He urged her, glancing at the door where Derek was standing, watching what was happening. Amber knelt down over Damien and he flinched at her every movement.

  “That was for Miles, you pathetic excuse for a human being.” She spat at him and he sobbed. He had long since tried to stop fighting. Instead he was a limp hunk of flesh beneath her. “Thank you for your cooperation Damien.” She told him, physically seeing the relief that washed over him before she jerked the collar of his shirt back so he could face her. “Oh, and one more thing…this is for Rick…he’s the one that told me about your little plan.” She finished, rearing back her fist and driving it into his cheek. His eyes widened in shock and realization just before her fist made the connection. He moaned in his own misery as George brought her the cloth to gag him with. She nodded at George, who shrugged, both parties ignoring the banging and hollering happening in the kitchen.

  “Can’t have him ruining anything by yelling at them from here.” He offered her by way of explanation and she merely agreed silently, taking the cloth and wrapping it tightly under his head, shoving the cloth into his open mouth as he cried.

  “Buddy’s right. We do have to start getting ready.” Amber said to George before turning to look over her shoulder at Derek, who stood in the doorway, and Buddy who was to her left. Both men were watching her. “Derek, Buddy… Get the ax and make a hole in the floor in the living room. Katie can climb down and stay directly under the porch without risking being seen going under there outside. Then have Cassie and Jacob tie you up and tell Katie where she needs to go after that. Make sure she understands what she needs to do. I’ll help George get ready.” Amber stood and leaned back on the heels of her feet, looking at Damien’s gray, blood covered shirt and jeans, as well as his bloody arm. She glanced up to see George doing the same. Their footsteps grew distant and Amber waited until they were gone before she looked up and stared at George full in the face.

  “Go. I’ve got this.” He told her and she nodded.

  “Shirt and shoes…we will figure out your arm when you come to the kitchen.” She said, knowing that he would understand what she meant. She glanced at Damien, who was steadily growing unconscious. “We shouldn’t have to tie him up. He isn’t going anywhere.” She told him and George readily agreed, kneeling down to the man and a nervous feeling settled in her gut. She quickly had to turn away from him as fear made her heart pound and her mind scream with refusal to go forward with what they had to move forward with. It was really going to happen…they were really going to fight and make a stand with these other people and though she wanted to be confident in their ventures, she couldn’t help but feel as if they were going to lose. Someone was going to
die…and there was nothing she could do to prevent it.

  Five minutes later Cassie and Katie were finally tying up Derek and Buddy when George came into the kitchen. Amber handed him a few zip-ties and sat, lifting her ankles up to him. He took the ties from her and knelt down to bind her feet. He had put on Damien’s bloody and torn shirt, as well as his shoes and he was now wearing the old hat. He could certainly pull off being Damien as long as they didn’t study the face under the shadow of the hat. Fresh blood coated his arm from a wound that he had obviously put there himself.

  She furrowed her eyebrows in concern. “I’m sorry you had to do that.” she said and he glanced up at her, releasing her bound feet and holding a hand out for her to ease up with. She balanced on her feet and held her hands out to him behind her back as he reached for more ties. Her wrists pressed together roughly and he turned back to her, gazing at her sadly.

  “Whatever I have to do to save our lives, I’m willing to do. You take care of yourself out there.” He told her, holding both of her hands in his own. Amber nodded and glanced over at her two children.

  “I will…promise me you will take care of them all? If it gets too bad, you will all run? You will lead them somewhere safe?” she asked of him and he offered her a sad smile, wrapping the ties around her wrists.

  “You never needed to ask.” He told her as he tightened the ties around her. She winced as the plastic pinched her skin. He grimaced. “Sorry.” He admitted to her before turning her and pulling her into an embrace. She exhaled and leaned against him. Ever since they found one another he had been her friend, her confidant; he had helped her, saved her. She appreciated everything that he had ever done.