Broken (Book 3 of The Guardian Interviews)

by Michael Clary

After gravity took over and I hit the ground, I slid for another ten or fifteen feet right past my discarded tomahawk. My hand snaked out and grabbed it up. When the ride finally came to an end, I was on my feet again.

  I stared at Max. Max stared at me and smiled. I screamed out my frustration. He smiled harder. Both of us walked back towards the center of the room.

  Once there, we began circling each other again.

  “I can see your hatred,” Max said. “It makes you sloppy. It robs you of thought. I have your wife to thank for that. Her sacrifice has granted me victory.”

  His words bit deep. In a rage, I made my move. I swung my tomahawk. He snatched my hand out of the air and wrenched my wrist. A bone snapped, and when we broke apart he had my weapon.

  “A worthless tool,” Max said as he studied the blade. “You shouldn’t rely on it.”

  Max snapped my tomahawk in half over his knee and threw the pieces to the ground. Breaking my weapon had an effect on me. It felt as if I’d been struck.

  We flew at each other. Despite the broken wrist, I was still punching him. Unfortunately, he was also punching me. For every hit I managed to land, he was able to connect with four, and he hit a lot harder than me. I could feel the damage. I didn’t need a mirror in order to figure things out. My face was becoming battered. His face, however, didn’t have a mark on it.

  The brute was tough. I couldn’t allow him to continue punishing me. I started trying to avoid his blows. Whenever he’d miss, I’d throw out a power punch with enough force to cripple a mule. If I managed to connect, I’d hear the impact but I never felt any of his bones break. I never managed to slow him down.

  “Can you feel what’s happening?” Max asked. “Is your arrogance so great that you fail to realize what’s right in front of your face? You’re losing, Guardian. You’re becoming weaker. I am beating you.”

  We broke apart from one another. There wasn’t a sound in the room except for my breathing, my loud, obnoxious breathing. I was sucking serious air. I was hurt. I was dizzy. I was tired. Max was correct. I was losing.

  I pulled out my pistol and started shooting him. I watched his body jerk and fall backwards to the floor. Once he was down, I emptied the weapon on him.

  It was cheating. I realize that but there was no way I was going to let him win after what he’d done to Skie. Victory was mine. At the end of the day, I still outsmarted the dumbass. He showed up to a gunfight with nothing but his fists. There was a weird rattle in my lungs from the punches to my body but that didn’t really concern me. I’d survived worse after fighting the Master Vampire.

  I stared down at Max’s body. I even snickered that despite how fierce he had become, I still whooped his ass. Hell, it was easy once I pulled my pistol out. I wondered briefly about what Crass had done to bring him back. I also wondered why two people that hated each other started working together. Then I decided I didn’t give a shit.

  The drama was over. True, I wanted the Monster to suffer. I wanted to tear him apart with my bare hands but things seldom turn out the way we want them to. I was lucky enough to come away with my life.

  I kicked Max in the head as I walked away.

  My friends needed my help. I fully intended to be there for them. On the way towards the entrance, I stopped and picked up the pieces of my tomahawk, stuffing them in my backpack. As I searched for my rifle, I heard something metallic clatter to the floor behind me.

  I spun around as quickly as my bruised body would allow. Max was no longer on the floor. He was nowhere to be seen. I suddenly felt very tired. My body was finished. I went looking for him anyway.

  There were smears of his gelatinous blood on the concrete floor where I had shot him. Other than that, not a sign of him remained. I looked to the side of the room where the debris had been piled up.

  I searched for movement.

  Nothing moved.

  I looked around the room. It was empty. He had to be in the mountain of debris. I slowly walked over there. It was a tangled mess of twisted steel and broken plastic. I’m guessing it was about eight feet deep, and it ran the entire length of the wall.

  I stayed a few feet away for the debris. I couldn’t make out any details in the darkness. I reloaded my pistol then shone my flashlight over everything. I walked from one side to the other in front of the tangled mess in an effort to locate my enemy.

  I heard the sound of a vehicle outside the supermarket.

  I turned my head for just the briefest moment, and I felt a warm hand reach out and snatch my pistol away.

  I jumped back in an effort to gain some space and fell on my ass. I was too slow. Max stood up in the mass of trash. Metal bent, and clattered to the floor around him as he shoved his way out of the debris, and rushed towards me.

  “You gave it a good try,” Max sneered. “You really did. I’m almost shocked that you lasted so long. But you’re out of your depth. The last time we met you won. This time it will be me. This is how it should have been all along.”

  “Go fuck yourself,” I responded.

  Max reached down for me slowly, his impossibly big hand getting closer and closer as if he had all the time in the world. I reached into my pocket and placed my hand on my Ti-lite folding knife.

  The muffled sounds of automatic gunfire peppered against Max’s big chest. I spun around and saw Nick and Dudley, but they had some friends with them as well, who were firing from a position of cover, whereas Nick and Dudley strode boldly into the open.

  Max screamed out more in rage than pain as his body jerked underneath the onslaught of bullets. I scurried out of the way as quickly as possible. By the time Max dropped, I was standing next to Dudley.

  “You look like Hell,” Dudley said.

  I didn’t answer him.

  “We need to move,” a voice called out. “How bad is he?”

  “He took a beating,” Dudley answered. “But he’ll live.”

  “Can he fight?” The voice asked.

  “We need to get him healed up,” Dudley answered.

  “Then let’s go.”

  Dudley made a move to help me walk but I shrugged him away. I think it was the sting of my wounded pride. I had been beaten. Shooting the bastard didn’t win the fight for me. My friends had to come to my aide. My Ti-lite wasn’t going to save me, and I wasn’t used to losing. I didn’t like it one bit, but I sure as Hell deserved it.

  I had charged into that fight without a plan. I had no idea who or what I was fighting, and I never took a second to find out. I was blinded with rage. My head wasn’t in the game, and I almost got killed for it.

  Failing isn’t something I’m used to doing. I didn’t much like the feeling. I walked to the entrance without a backwards glance. I wanted to leave. I wanted to go to my wife. My vengeance wasn’t entirely satisfied but it was the best I was going to get.

  I passed our friends as I made my way out the building. Snake Charmer and Scalp Hunter stood up and followed just after Dudley.

  “Where did they come from?” I asked Nick who was in front of me.

  “They bailed us out of your house,” Nick answered. “They’ve been following us ever since we entered the city. They just got a bit delayed on the mountain, dumbasses.”

  “We’ve been in the city for a few weeks now,” Snake Charmer added. “We were finally sent back to help aide in the decimation of the undead population. Everything was as normal as it gets around here until the Northeast entrance was attacked. Communications went down shortly after that. We made our way over there anyway. Obviously we were too late to do anything, but we saw your Jeep’s lights headed up the mountain, and we figured we might as well follow.”

  “I saw them coming down the road while we were on the roof,” Dudley added. “I figured, I’d try and radio them just in case they were one of the good guys.”

  “We heard you radioing in for Mr. Hardin plenty of times,” Snake Charmer said. “We just weren’t sure if it was a trap or not. Good thing I recognized Nick; we weren’t sure
who we should attack.”

  “They pulled up in front of the bad guy’s house and let loose with some serious firepower,” Nick said. The bad guys stopped shooting at us and the zombies became distracted by the new arrivals, so we made our way off the roof, and hauled ass down the street. As soon as we were in the clear, they picked us up.”

  “Don’t you boys normally travel in bigger teams?” I asked.

  “We were reinforcements for another team that suffered some casualties,” Scalp Hunter answered. “Unfortunately we…”

  I turned around immediately. Everyone turned around immediately.

  Max was standing behind us. He was holding Scalp Hunter’s severed head in his hand.

  “You think it’s going to be that easy?” Max asked before throwing the head at me.

  Then, he puffed up his chest, and arched his back before letting out the very same human-foghorn bellow that we had heard before. The dead would soon be coming.

  Snake Charmer screamed out for his fallen friend. Dudley and Nick began shooting at Max. Max began forcing his way towards us despite the bullets peppering his body.

  From across the street I heard squealing tires followed by the cracking sounds of many machine guns. Max’s Albanian Mafia friends had just arrived in two stolen Jeeps.

  I grabbed a hold of Snake Charmer, and I pulled him towards the Jeep I had used to get to the Supermarket. Fortunately, it was parked between us and the Albanian Mafia trying to shoot us. I dove in with Snake Charmer. Nick grabbed onto Dudley, and both of them jumped in the seat. Somehow, despite their tangled bodies, Nick was still able to close the door behind him.

  Max approached the window.

  He was smiling.

  His face and body were smeared with that weird gelatinous blood of his but he didn’t seem in pain.

  Then the smile faded as I handed Nick the keys and he started the Jeep. Max tried the door. Nick had locked it. Max began to pound on the window. The Jeep rocked from the impact of his fists.

  “Holy shit!” Nick exclaimed. “Who the fuck is this guy?”

  “He’s the former Guardian,” I answered.

  Nick tore off just as a mass of zombies flooded into the parking lot. I then understood why Snake Charmer wanted to leave so quickly. They were being followed by shamblers.

  “Slow down,” I ordered from the backseat. “I wanna see this asshole get eaten.”

  I was hoping to see the horde of shamblers tear Max to pieces. I wanted to see them tear him to pieces. I wasn’t able to beat him but that didn’t mean I wanted him to have a free pass. Dead was dead, and I wanted to see him die.

  The zombies rushed towards him.

  Max didn’t move.

  I think he was still smiling.

  They approached him and slowed down. They surrounded him. They sniffed at him. Then they lost interest, and started chasing after the Albanians who immediately stopped shooting at us and fled the scene in their stolen vehicles.

  “What the Hell?” Nick asked.

  “I have no idea,” I said.

  Nick sped off. I’m not sure where he was headed. That wasn’t really important at the moment. The only important thing was that we put some distance between us, Max, and the horde of shamblers.

  We drove in silence for a while. Nick was driving, so we were all occasionally thrown around the vehicle as he went over curbs and bumped into abandoned cars. I was worried about Snake Charmer. The man had been close to Scalp Hunter. That was obvious from the first time I met them.

  Still, he was a professional.

  “Head Downtown,” Snake Charmer advised. “The city has the highest concentration of the undead. They may not go after the former Guardian but they’ll go after his men. I doubt they’ll follow us down there.”

  “Maybe not,” Nick said. “But the shamblers are still going to come after us.”

  “Do what he says,” I added. “We have experience on our side.”

  The ride was uneventful, even with the occasional small group of zombies chasing after us. None of them even warranted a bullet, not with Nick behind the wheel.

  A block away from the city, a voice appeared in our ear.

  “Headquarters contacting the General,” the voice said. “Headquarters contacting the General, come in Jaxon.”

  I tapped my earpiece.

  “This is Jaxon,” I answered. “Who’s this?”

  “Are you alive and well?” The voice asked.

  “We’re fine,” I answered. “Now who is this? Where’s Hardin?”

  “Hardin has been injured,” the voice answered. “There was an attack. I’m here to arrange your extraction.”

  “How many times do we need to attempt contact with you morons before you answer us?” Nick interrupted.

  “I’m sorry, sir,” the voice answered. “There was an attack. We established communication as soon as we could.”

  “Well, fuck you anyway!” Nick yelled.

  “We’ll be on the roof of the Abraham Chavez Theater,” I said. “Pick us up there.”

  I’m not sure if you remember this or not, but the Abraham Chavez Theater is where I killed Max. I wanted to see if his body was still there. I was having a hard time believing he was somehow resurrected from the dead.

  “Wouldn’t the zombies have picked his corpse clean?”

  That was certainly a possibility, but even if they had, I was still hoping to see some bones. Zombies don’t normally eat bones. They seem much more interested in the red and bleeding parts.

  We used the parking garage entrance. I borrowed a pistol from Snake Charmer. It was a Remington .45, 1911 that had been customized for a silencer. Not a bad weapon at all but a bit overkill for plugging a zombie in the head.

  He also didn’t have a lot of ammo for it.

  We didn’t run into much opposition. A few zombies rushed out at us from between the cars but they were put down immediately. Snake Charmer’s shooting was impressive. He hit the forehead on every shot. I had developed a bad case of double vision. So, I didn’t even bother trying to shoot. I left it to the others and conserved my ammo. Besides, I hadn’t been shooting very well since I entered El Paso.

  Silently, we carefully walked into the theater.

  The last time we were here, we left the place crawling with shamblers. There were certain to still be a few around. A part of me wondered about Snake Charmer. The man was only human, but he was with us one hundred percent. A bite to him would be fatal but he never seemed too concerned about that. The man just followed us into danger like a consummate professional. He impressed me. If Georgie or Javie died from their wounds, we probably already had our next team member.

  The thought of losing Georgie or Javie tore me up inside. They were my friends, my family. They had to be okay. Whatever power worked inside of me, also worked inside of them. They were stronger than Skie. They healed fast. Not as fast as me, but they still healed pretty fast. They had to be okay.

  Skie.

  I had one chance to avenge her, and I had failed. I had charged in like an idiotic ape, and I had lost. The Monster tore me apart like I was an amateur. He would have killed me if the team hadn’t arrived when they did. I couldn’t stop thinking about that. I couldn’t believe that someone had beaten me so easily. It was all I thought about on our journey downtown. It just kept circling around in my mind. The Monster had beaten me.

  NO.

  I couldn’t think like that. I could beat him. I would have beaten him. My Ti-lite, it was in my hand. It had worked for me before. I was ready to make my move. The opportunity never came because reinforcements arrived. Forget my earlier thoughts. Forget how tired I was. Forget about the injuries. I could beat him. I could kill him. I needed another chance. I wanted another chance.

  Someone turned on a light in the hallway. I panicked at first but nobody else did. It was one of us that had found the switch. Everyone was looking at me. I wasn’t paying attention. I was lost in my own head with my stupid pride.

  We made our
way to the theater where Max and I had our battle.

  The place hadn’t been touched. It looked exactly the same. The little walkways made in the seating area, the chains hanging from the ceiling.

  “Don’t touch the chains,” I warned.

  I moved to where Max had fallen. I remembered it quite well. The carpet was heavily stained with his blood. There was no body. There were no bones. There were no remains at all. I sighed heavily. My head was pounding. I probably had a concussion from too many shots to the head.

  “Well, that settles it,” Dudley said. “Let’s make our way to the roof now. We’ll figure out how to beat this fucker later. We’ll come back with the rest of the team. We’ll take him out big time. “

  “Yeah,” I mumbled.

  We left the theater area without a backwards glance. Somehow, Max was still alive. Somehow, he was different. He was bigger. He was stronger. Injuries had no lasting effects on him. I had made a grave mistake bringing everyone here. We were lucky to be alive. Scalp Hunter paid for my error with his life.

  I should have planned. I should have known my enemy. I shouldn’t have come when I wasn’t in the right frame of mind.

  I didn’t want to leave. There was still some fight in me. Another round with the Monster was what I felt like doing. I had so much anger. I was ready for another fight.

  He went after my wife.

  Out of all the cowardly things that a person could do, I think that one tops the list. Skie was innocent. She wasn’t a fighter. He went after my wife.

  I could feel my busted lip pulling away from my teeth in a snarl. What the hell did I do wrong? A mistake was made somehow. I should have beaten him easily. Too many punches to the head, that’s what messed me up. A little more blocking, a little more dodging, that’s what I needed.

  If I could get behind him, I’d be able to choke him out. Maybe even break his neck. Let’s see the bastard walk around with a broken neck. My hands were swollen from punching him. I clenched them into fists anyway.

  “Jax,” Dudley asked. “You okay?”

  “Yeah,” I answered.

  “Seems like you drifted off for a minute there,” Dudley continued.

  “I’m fine,” I said. “Keep walking.”