by Jack Hunt
“What?”
This guy must have had supersonic hearing because I didn’t hear a damn thing — at least until I hopped off that roof, that’s when I heard the rumble of engines, a low growl of what sounded like multiple vehicles. We slipped back inside the hotel and Daniels hurried down to the room where Lola was. He had me go and wake the others up. I entered the room and all of them were passed out.
“Get up. Quick.”
“What’s going on, Scotty?” Nick said, pawing at his eyes.
“We got company.”
“Zs?”
“No, the living.”
Over the course of the next five minutes we collected our bags and weapons and headed down to where Julius was staying. Daniels banged on the wall until he emerged from an opening he’d made in the drywall. I had to admit he had quite the setup. Not only had he made the corridor look as if it ended sooner than it actually did but he’d piled up boxes to cover the entranceway to the other side. The door had boxes glued to the front of it.
“Come in, quick,” he said beckoning us inside. On the other side of the wall the corridor continued down to the suite he was staying in. Although he’d concealed the entrance to the suite from inside the hotel, he hadn’t been able to do much about the windows of the apartment. For those he’d nailed in boards and done the same for many of the others to give the appearance that they had been boarded up due to a break-in and not to prevent people entering. The Townhouse Suite had two floors. The upstairs was used for a king-size bed, and a marble bathroom, and the downstairs had a pullout sofa which his kids were using. There was a huge oak cabinet, which he said concealed a small entrance into what he called his panic room. Okay, it wasn’t on the level of the one seen in the film with Jodie Foster but it might have done the trick if someone figured out the wall in the outside corridor was false.
“Who are they?”
“I don’t know yet,” Daniels said, “but it’s better to be safe until we can figure out what’s going on.” He hurried to the upstairs window that wasn’t boarded up. “Why didn’t you board this up?” he asked.
“I didn’t imagine anyone was going to bring a ladder around. They would break in through one of the lower rooms. Heck, I didn’t even think they would break in. The front door to the hotel has always been open, which is another reason why I left it like that so if anyone was daring enough to enter, they wouldn’t need to break windows.”
Julius had obviously put a lot of thought into how to protect his family. Okay, it was a little counter-intuitive and went against the grain but he’d lasted a week in this setup. Daniels peered out the window. “I’m going up.”
“Dad, no,” Lola said immediately stepping forward.
“I need to take a look. Just one look.”
“I’ll go with him,” I said. Nick wanted to come along too. We opened the windows and climbed out. Nick gave Daniels a boost to get him over the lip of the roof and then did the same for me before he followed. The only upside to our situation was that it was pitch-black outside. No moon. No stars. Just darkness. We scrambled across the roof staying low until we reached the ridge. Laying down and not moving we peered over. There in the distance, coming down Main Street real slow was an F-150 truck, behind that a military-style Jeep and behind that four motorcycles. Daniels reached around and pulled out his night vision binoculars and took a peek.
His response didn’t sound promising.
“Shit!”
“What is it?” Nick asked.
He rolled over onto his back and handed the binoculars to him so he could see for himself. One look and Nick’s expression said it all before he even uttered the word.
“Skinheads.”
White Power
We estimated there to be at least twenty of them, and they were all armed. One of them was holding a Confederate flag. I glanced at my watch. It was a little after eleven at night. Daniels kept an eye on them while Nick shimmied his way down to tell the others to remain as quiet as possible.
“They’re gonna see the trucks.”
“I know,” he muttered not even looking at me.
“Which means they’re coming in.”
He lowered the binoculars. “They don’t know we’re here. We just need to stay calm and out of sight.”
“And if they discover that wall is false?”
“We’ll deal with it.”
I scoffed. “Man.” I swallowed hard trying to get a grip on a situation that was spiraling out of control. I would have preferred facing a hundred zombies. At least they wouldn’t fire bullets at us. These guys disturbed me. Ever since I’d learned about the skinhead movement, there was something about the way they dressed that freaked me out — combat boots, bomber jackets, skinheads, and all those neo-Nazi and white power tattoos. Perhaps it was the violence that was associated with them or the stories my father had told me about their glory days in the ’80s. Either way, I didn’t like the idea of sticking around or entering some war. Daniels and I made our way down and closed the windows behind us.
“Okay everyone pull in tight, I don’t want to raise my voice.”
Everyone drew in close.
“We have a serious situation. Now it can go one of two ways but either way they are coming in. There is a chance they will rip this place apart and not find us, and…”
He didn’t have to finish speaking, we all knew the alternative.
“We can stay here or get out now but even if we do there is the possibility of them finding us in the town. If they think we are here, they will remain.”
“Who are they?” Julius asked.
Our eyes shot to Finn who was gritting his teeth and looking more agitated by the second. The fact was we didn’t know his history with these people. Since being found, he’d remained tight-lipped. Even as we ate that evening he only spoke up to say thanks or decline whatever Julius offered.
Daniels turned his head. “We ran into a bit of a problem back at Indian Lake.”
“We killed four of them,” Jamal blurted out. “Execution style.”
“Thank you, Jamal.” Daniels furrowed his brow and shook his head.
He scowled. “Well it’s true. I think they should know.”
Esther tugged on Julius’s jacket and pulled him to one side. I could just make out what she was saying. She was concerned for their kids. Any mother in her situation would be. I didn’t catch everything but the last few words I did, “I want them gone.”
Julius turned and looked as if he was searching for the words.
“How do I put this?” he started. “My wife and I feel it’s best that you—”
Before he could spit out the words, voices could be heard as well as a lot of hooting and hollering. There was also a fair amount of banging as if someone was taking a metal pipe and pounding against the walls.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are!” a voice yelled.
Instinctively we all brought up our rifles towards the door even though we knew they couldn’t see the front entrance. It didn’t matter. All it would take was for one of them to bang a little too hard against the walls, which by the sounds of it they were doing already, and it would be game over. I moved over towards the door and eased it open.
“Scotty!” Daniels said in a whisper.
“I just want to hear what they’re saying.”
Some voices were muffled.
“I have an idea,” Ryland piped up.
Tobias made a sarcastic comment about how that was impossible as it required having a brain. No one laughed. Our nerves were on high alert.
“Why don’t we just distract them? Draw them away.”
“Sounds like a plan. Go on, you head out and let them chase you down,” Tobias said with a smirk on his face.
“Actually I was thinking of sending your ass out there,” Ryland shot back. Tobias scowled and Nick pointed his finger at both of them and made a gesture for them both to zip it.
“No, he has a point. As long as they are in this buildi
ng there is a chance they will find us,” I replied.
“Thank you, Scott,” Ryland replied before shooting Tobias a grin and tossing him the bird.
“No, it’s too risky,” Nick added.
“And staying here isn’t?” I peered out the crack in the door. “Look for the sake of Julius and his family and for all of us, I think we should at least consider it. Put it to a vote.”
“A vote?” Tobias stammered as if disgusted by the idea.
I closed the door.
Through gritted teeth I spoke, “Keep. Your. Voice. Down!”
My heart was already pounding in my chest, and he was only adding to my anxiety. While they continued to quietly argue, I slipped out the door and made my way down to the wall so I could hear them better. They were smashing glass, tables, and God knows what. All the while they were yelling for us to come out or they would find us.
I thought I was alone until I heard her voice behind me.
“They’re not going to leave, are they?”
I looked over my shoulder. Alexa had her rifle at the ready. I shook my head. “No.”
“So we do as Ryland said. Distract them. Lead them away. Besides, as long as they are here, we can’t get to our vehicles.”
I nodded. I was about to turn and shuffle back to the room when I heard a deep booming voice.
“My name is Dominic Grayson, I know you are in here. We will find you. So listen carefully. All I want is the ones responsible for killing my men, and Finn. You hand them over and I will give you safe passage out of here to go on your way.” He paused. “Ignore me? And you will suffer. Do you hear me?”
It went silent, just the sound of his voice echoing off the walls.
“Okay, boys, bring the dogs in.”
The dogs? Oh shit. We hurried back into the room.
“We are going to need to move now. They might not be able to find us but the dogs will.”
“I’ll go speak with them,” Finn said standing upright and placing his gun on a table.
“What?”
“They want me.”
“No, they want whoever was responsible for those that were killed.”
“I’ll say it was me. They’ll believe me. I have a reason. There’s no need for any of you to die,” he said making his way over to the door. “Head out now.”
Daniels hurried over and put himself between the door and Finn.
“No. That’s not how it works. We are not sending you out there.”
“No you’re not. I’m sending myself out there, now step out of the way.”
He took a hold of him by the shoulders. “Finn. They’ll kill you.”
He smiled. “They already did the day they took the life of my wife and kid. Look, I appreciate what you guys have done,” he said, his eyes washing over us. “But I need to deal with this. They won’t kill me.”
“Really? Then let’s send him out,” Jamal said.
“Jamal,” Alexa spat.
Jamal shrugged with his hands out. “Hey, he said it, I just agreed.” He made a tutting sound and headed upstairs.
“You know they will kill you.”
“He’s my brother.”
“What?” Daniels asked.
Finn sighed. “Dominick.”
I screwed up my face and raised a finger. “You’re telling me he’s your brother and yet he was responsible for killing your wife and child?”
“He didn’t kill them, the others did but he let them. It’s complicated.”
“Complicated?”
“Look, you are wasting time. Every second you spend going back and forth with me, he is out there tearing this place apart. He will find us. False wall or not.” Finn adjusted his position, moving from one foot to the next and pushing his long hair out of his face. I suspected the reason he grew it that long was as an act of defiance to the life he’d lived before.
“Okay,” Daniels replied.
“What?” I couldn’t believe he was agreeing.
As Finn went to walk past him, Daniels said, “Sorry, Finn.”
A quick swift jab to the back of the head with his gun and Finn collapsed. Daniels caught him on the way down and dragged him back inside.
“What the hell are you doing?” Julius asked.
“Ensuring that we all stay alive. I wasn’t going to let him go out there and blow our cover.” He turned to my brother. “Nick, find something to tie his wrists and ankles with.” Nick went off to do that while I loomed over Finn checking to see that he was still breathing.
“Don’t worry, Scotty. He’s still alive. He’ll just have one hell of a headache when he wakes up. Gather what you need and we are going to draw them away.”
I nodded and went about grabbing up a bag and filling it with several boxes of ammo and a few items that would come in handy.
Ryland was leaning up against the wall. He rolled his eyes. “I make the suggestion and it gets shot down. Daniels says it and we all bounce. Typical!”
So it was arranged that Daniels, Ryland and I would head out leaving the others to watch over Finn and protect Julius and his family just in case they discovered the false wall. Tobias protested saying he wanted to go but Daniels was adamant that having too many out there wasn’t a good thing. Well, that went over like a lead balloon. Tobias snatched up a rifle and told him to go fuck himself as he was going whether he liked it or not. Eli was the same.
“Tobias,” Daniels raised his voice a little and grabbed him by the arm.
“You going to knock me out, Daniels? Try it,” Tobias said backing away and heading up the stairs. Instead of arguing he just shook his head and turned his attention to leaving. Nick managed to convince Eli to stay, so it was just the four of us heading out.
On top of the roof we stayed low, sticking to the rear side of the building and working our way along the top, dropping down to the second level before hitting the ground. Now had it only been the skinheads we had to worry about, we might have been okay but Zs were roaming the streets and some of them were the fast suckers. Using our weapons was out of the question so we had to hope we didn’t run into any.
We jogged up Main Street circling around the back of three stores that were directly across from the hotel. Looming near a dumpster over a half-eaten body were two teens, their heads turned and under the glow of the flashlight they snarled and drew back their gums. They staggered to their feet and stumbled towards us on shaky legs and we moved in fast to put them down. Once they were out of the way Ryland stepped in to jimmy a rear door open with a crowbar. Inside the store it was dark and smelled rancid. The smell was so putrid I wanted to puke. Who needed ipecac syrup in this new world?
Tobias led the way, his Rambo-style hunting knife at the ready. The sound of groaning and another Z stepping into view didn’t faze him. He slid the knife through its butter-like scalp and then kicked it to the ground, stomping over the top of it without any respect. As we made our way through to the front so we could get a better look at those that were outside the hotel, I noticed we were inside a small bar. There wasn’t much to it. A few leather booths along the back of the wall, a bar with stools and a nice selection of beers and liquors on the other side.
Ryland’s eyes lit up, and he was about to tuck into the goods when Daniels grabbed him by the back of the collar and shoved him forward.
“We’re not here for that.”
“Fuck, Daniels, you really are a buzz kill. You know, you remind me of Sean .”
“Ryland,” I said shaking my head. Daniels was right, it was the wrong time. He had his game face on as he approached the window that overlooked the front entrance of the hotel. Outside they had parked their vehicles blocking off our two trucks. Any chance of getting those was gone.
“So how do you want to do this?”
“Well, we don’t stand a chance of running from them. Not with those motorcycles. However, if we were to take those, we certainly could give them a run for the money around the town,” Tobias said.
“That depends
if they left the keys in them?”
Daniels brought out his binoculars and took a look. “Those look like keys to me. At least in two of them. I can’t make out the others because of the angle.”
Fortunately all the skinheads were inside, probably tearing the place apart piece by piece. “So let’s do this,” I said.
“You know how to drive one?”
“Hell yeah,” I said. Small-town living might not have been as exciting as the big city, but one thing country folks knew how to do was create their own fun, and off-roading was one of my father’s all-time favorites.
“I don’t,” Ryland said.
“You can jump on mine,” I said.
“Perhaps that’s best. Stick together,” Daniels said.
Tobias’s brow furrowed. “Well I’m driving,” he said.
“Suit yourself,” Daniels replied.
We continued to stare out the window over the next five minutes. I’m not sure if it was because Daniels was unsure or whether we were all nervous but there was a lot of hesitation. There was no easy way to do this, two of us were going to have to watch our backs as the other two fired up the engines. Daniels pulled off the bag from his back and reached inside, fishing out two smoke grenades.
“Oh beauty.” Ryland swiped one out of his hand.
“Toss that into the front entrance. I’ll take out the two bikes so they can’t follow except by truck. And if we’re lucky, maybe we’ll stand a chance of surviving this.”
Did he mean it? I mean the part about us actually standing a chance. Who knows? All of us were as nervous as hell as we headed out the door running at a crouch towards the vehicles. This was it, now or never. There was nothing that could have prepared us for this. No survival camp. No police academy. It was about making split-second choices and hoping to God they panned out.
Duck and Drive
Okay, it was a crazy idea. Now as I look back on it I think we should have tossed Finn’s ass out there and said to hell with it but that wasn’t to be. Two skinheads chin-wagging in the entrance didn’t know what hit them — literally. Their bodies dropped as we squeezed off two rounds. What followed next could be called batshit crazy. Ryland lobbed a smoke grenade through the door, as did Daniels, while Tobias and I hopped on the dirt bikes and brought them to life. A huge surge of red smoke unleashed with a hiss, filling up and blocking what little view they had of us. As I look back now I understand why Daniels only shot the motorcycles’ wheels on the other two and not the Jeep or truck. He figured if we couldn’t get at our trucks, we might have to steal theirs.