Broken (Book 3 of The Guardian Interviews)

by Michael Clary

  “I will not fail!” I screamed. “Never again, I will not fail!”

  I stabbed so hard, my knife pierced the body, and took chunks out of the floor. I just kept on stabbing.

  “Georgie,” Dudley said. “Georgie, c’mon back buddy.”

  I heard his voice somewhere in the back of my mind but I ignored it. I was in combat mode. All I needed was another victim.

  “You did it, Georgie,” Dudley said. “Jax is safe. You saved him.”

  I kept on stabbing.

  I felt strong arms come around my back. I fought against them but they continued to hold on to me. My arms became pinned to my sides. I struggled even harder.

  “I gotcha, Georgie,” Nick whispered in my ear. “It’s okay. I got you.”

  I looked over my shoulder. I saw his worried face.

  “I gotta protect Jax,” I said.

  “You already did,” Nick said.

  He sat back and pulled me with him, but he kept his arms wrapped around me. He was rocking me back and forth.

  “I’m sorry,” I cried. “I tried to save her. I tried.”

  “It’s okay,” Nick said. “Everything is going to be okay.”

  “There are more coming,” I cried. “They’re always coming.”

  “We took care of them,” Nick said. “It’s over now. Jaxon is safe. You kept him safe.”

  “Did I?” I asked.

  “You did,” Nick said. “You took out like ten zombies all by yourself. We won.”

  I took that in for a moment.

  “Fuck’n A right I did,” I said.

  I heard Javie laugh from across the room, and I finally turned to see everyone standing there. They looked worried. All of them were splattered with gore, but they were worried about me.

  I patted Nick’s arm, and he let me go.

  “I’m fine,” I said as I got to my feet. “I did my job. I did my fucking job.”

  Dudley came and put his arm around me.

  “You’re the man,” Dudley said. “You’re the hero.”

  Sometimes, my team amazes me. I see the things they do. I see them charge into situations that would make a normal person piss their pants and run screaming into the night. I see them get hurt, and I see them pick themselves up, dust off, and go at it again. Yet, despite all that has happened; despite all that they so recently went through, they were there for me. They talked me down.

  I truly walk among giants.

  Chapter 10

  Dudley

  Dudley was all smiles when he walked into the room. He gave me a high-five instead of a handshake. Then he pulled me out of my chair and spun me around in a strange dance move despite the lack of music.

  “What puts you in such a good mood?”

  I’m just thinking that I’m the one that gave you the teaser for this story. I told you it was pretty wild.

  “Yes you did.”

  Now I’m guessing you want me to come in here and wrap things up. Make it nice and pretty like a little present.

  “I’m not sure if I’m ready for the wrap up. I imagine there’s still a bit more to tell.”

  Wait a minute. How far did Georgie take you?

  “He took me up to his meltdown at the prison. Can you take it from there?”

  Well shit.

  “Come again?”

  That punk ass lied to me. He didn’t want to cover this next part, so he told me he took you all the way to the wrap up.

  “Sorry about that.”

  Yeah, me too.

  “Can you start from after Georgie’s episode?”

  Might as well, I guess. Let’s see, it took about twenty minutes to cut through all the bars and security gates that came down when the zombies were released.

  “Actually, can you tell me how you defeated so many zombies so quickly?”

  We didn’t. Snake Charmer brought explosives, and we just blew enough shit up to barricade them behind some rubble. Hell, none of us wanted to tangle with that many shamblers without having our powers. We would have gotten eaten or turned.

  “Then, was it safe to cut through the security doors that came down?”

  Probably not, but we weren’t going to stay there forever. We needed to get my uncle to the hospital. He was in some seriously bad shape.

  Don’t you worry though; there isn’t a prison down in Louisiana that’s filled with zombies. As soon as we got out, we burned that section to the ground. After the walls came down, Mr. Hardin’s men spend four days clearing out the debris, and making sure there weren’t any zombies still alive and kicking.

  “Where was the team when all that was happening?”

  Snake Charmer stayed behind but the rest of us flew immediately to Ruidoso. We needed to get Jaxon to the hospital.

  “Weren’t there hospitals in Louisiana?”

  He needed to be near his wife. Trust me, it was debated pretty heavily, but in the end, we went for it. We took the risk and brought our leader to his family. Mind you, a medic was with him the entire time. We did our best to make sure Jaxon remained in a stable enough condition. If there had been any problems with his health, we would have abandoned Ruidoso in a heartbeat and taken him to the nearest hospital.

  Throughout the different helicopters and airplanes, the team never left my uncle’s side. We refused to leave him. People tried; there were military dudes and guys in suits that wanted to talk to us at the first airport we landed in. We pushed through them and stayed by my uncle.

  I couldn’t get used to how skinny he looked. The ragged orange prison uniform he was wearing just hung off of him. I couldn’t see any muscle mass whatsoever. There was just skin hanging off bone. There were also scars, horrible marks all over his exposed flesh.

  I lifted up his shirt. There was a nasty scar where he had been shot. My uncle had never been given a chance to heal from the injuries he received in El Paso. I was pissed. Major Crass had put him through the ringer. When all was said and done, I promised myself that he’d pay for what he did to Jaxon.

  Eventually, we landed on the hospital roof. An emergency staff of doctors and nurses were there waiting for us. They took him immediately and wheeled him inside. The team followed. The doctors and nurses tried to shoo us away. We gave them space, but we kept our eyes on them. We kept our eyes on everyone.

  I’m sure Nick and Georgie told you about how we were all kinds of mental. Well, they weren’t exaggerating. We were pretty dangerous at that point. The slightest thing would have set us off. We trusted in no one.

  Miriam came down to see us. She’s a hard lady but even she got all teary-eyed when she got a look at Jaxon.

  “How is Skie?” I asked.

  “Just as we’d left her,” Miriam answered. “All will be well when he walks into her room.”

  “Miriam,” I said. “I’m not sure he’s ever going to walk again. Did you see what they did to him?”

  “I’m not blind, dear,” Miriam said.

  Eventually, the doctor came out. He was the same dude that worked on Skie back when everything started.

  “How is he?” I asked.

  “He’s in bad shape,” the doctor replied. “His body is a mess. Starvation and dehydration are just the beginning. Those we can fix. It’s the other problems that have me concerned the most. He has multiple broken bones that were never set properly. They’ve healed wrong. We can’t do anything about that now, not in his current condition. One of his knees is severely damaged. He’ll never walk normally again. He has infected burns over forty percent of his body, and that makes me think he was tortured. His hands are the worst. They have been mutilated. I’m not sure what can be done about those. On top of that, he has pneumonia.”

  “Will he make it?”

  “I think so,” the doctor answered. “He’s a tough man. If you’d waited another day to bring him in, I’d say no, but as long as we can control the pneumonia, clear up his lungs, and handle the infection on his burns, I think he will recover. It’s going to take time though. It’s likely
he’s going to have pain for the rest of his life.”

  They moved Jaxon after that. They gave him his own room, and they closely monitored his condition. We stayed with him. There was always at least one of us in his room. The normal rules of the hospital didn’t apply to us, and nobody there wanted to push the issue.

  Eventually, I went upstairs to see Skie.

  The floor she was on looked very different from the rest of the hospital. It was dusty and had an overall look of neglect about it.

  “What’s up with this place?” I asked the nearest nurse.

  “This floor is haunted,” she answered. “Only a couple of the nurses are allowed up here. We’ve had to move the other patients just to keep them safe.”

  “Safe from what?” I asked.

  “I don’t know what it is,” the nurse answered, “but it’s attached to the General’s wife. If anyone tries to move her, they get attacked. Some men in suits came in one day. They were all killed.”

  “Are you for real?” I asked.

  “It’s been horrible,” the nurse said.

  I knew Miriam had worked some of her mojo in order to keep Skie safe but I had no idea how powerful it could be. It wasn’t something that I ever asked her about.

  “So if something ghost-like is on this floor, why is there like an entire staff here now?” I asked.

  “The elderly woman with you folks said it was safe now,” the nurse answered. “We’re going to clean it up. I’m not sure what she did but it certainly doesn’t feel anywhere nearly as menacing as it used to on this floor.”

  I left the nurse and walked into Skie’s room.

  Miriam was sitting quietly by her bed. Ivana came up and hugged me. She had tears in her eyes.

  “How bad is he?” She asked.

  “He’s pretty bad,” I answered. “The doc thinks he’ll pull through but it’s going to be a long road, and he’ll never be the same again.”

  “I need to go see him,” Ivana said. “Is he awake?”

  “No,” I answered. “He’s been completely unresponsive since we found him.”

  Ivana left the room, and I was alone with Skie and Miriam. I went to Skie’s side. She hadn’t aged a day or changed even in the slightest. She certainly didn’t look as if she’d been in a coma since she was shot.

  “Is it a spell that’s keeping her looking so good?” I asked.

  “It is,” Miriam said.

  Skie looked like a sleeping angel. My heart went out for her. She should never have been touched by the evil the rest of us face. It wasn’t the way things were supposed to end up.

  “Do you really believe that if Jax walks in here, everything will be okay?” I asked.

  “I do,” Miriam answered.

  “Why did we lose our powers?” I asked. “Jax is still alive. It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “I have no answer for that,” Miriam said. “I wish I knew but I don’t understand it any more than you do. The situation is unprecedented.”

  Ivana came in bawling about thirty minutes later. I put my arm around her but I didn’t have any words of comfort to offer.

  “What did they do to him?” Ivana asked. “Dudley, they hurt him so bad. Why would someone do that?”

  I pulled her in tightly at that point. She hugged me back. She even shocked me a bit with how tightly she embraced me. My shoulder became drenched with her tears.

  “What about Jaxon’s parents and Skie’s children?”

  They all came. I just waited for them to stabilize Jaxon before I called. Skie’s kids had been staying with my grandparents during our absence. They had also been visiting her every single day. Whatever presence Miriam had summoned had no problems with their visitations.

  Everyone exchanged hugs and tears when they arrived. I did my best to keep my grandparents from seeing Jaxon. I didn’t want them to see him that way. My best efforts were futile. My grandpa wasn’t having any of it. He wanted to see his son, and by God he was going to do just that.

  My grandma cried. My grandpa went over to Jaxon’s side. He sat in a chair next to his son and held his arm. Then he started talking to him, just whispering things into his ear. They stayed with him for hours. Neither one of them wanted to leave his side.

  “What did his father say to him?”

  It was a private conversation.

  “I understand.”

  Anyway, it took four days for Jaxon to open his eyes.

  “That must have made everyone happy?”

  Yes and no. My uncle was awake, but he wasn’t responsive. He wouldn’t speak to anyone. He wouldn’t look at anyone. No one could reach him, and boy did we try. This went on for another week.

  Meanwhile, Mr. Hardin brought in a specialist to talk to all of us. I’m not sure talking about things with the shrink made me feel any better but he prescribed some decent enough drugs. Those took the edge off. The man had zero results with Jaxon.

  The doctors had a feeding tube in him. They tried taking it out at one point, but my uncle refused the food they offered, and they were forced to put it back in.

  “I don’t understand,” the doctor said. “He’s just not improving. In fact, he’s slowly deteriorating. It’s almost as if he’s lost his will to live. I hate to say this, but I believe he’s willing himself to die.”

  That conversation happened in the doctor’s office. I think it was close to midnight. The entire staff had been staying late. None of them wanted to lose the General. I left the office without another word. What the hell could I say? None of us understood the situation.

  I went to Jaxon.

  He was awake. His head was tilted towards the window. He seemed to be watching the moon but who could say. His face was illuminated. I could see him clearly even in the dark room. I hated seeing all the grey in his hair. The long beard was also infused with grey. It didn’t look right on him.

  “Jax?” I said.

  No response.

  “You’re dying,” I said.

  No response.

  “Is that what you want?” I asked.

  No response.

  I was crying at that point. I was also angry and frustrated. Hell, I think I was running through just about every emotion imaginable.

  “I can’t believe this,” I said. “After all you’ve done. After all you’ve survived. Why? What is so terrible? This is the coward’s way out. Do you think the rest of us aren’t suffering?”

  No response.

  “What can I say to bring you back?” I asked. “What is it that you want? I don’t want to lose you. Everyone’s so worried, and you’re just giving up.”

  No response.

  The tears were really flowing now. I angrily wiped them away with the back of my hand. I searched frantically for something to say. I needed something that would reach him.

  “What do we tell Skie?” I asked. “What do we tell her when she wakes up?”

  Jaxon turned his head and looked me in the eyes.

  There wasn’t much emotion, just the barest hint, but I knew. I figured it out immediately. Everything came together in a great big explosion inside my head. I approached his bed.

  “Jaxon,” I said. “Listen to me very carefully. Skie is alive. She survived, and she needs you.”

  I left after that.

  “Anything?” Nick asked as I closed the door behind me.

  “Maybe,” I answered.

  That night I went to sleep on a couch in the waiting room. It was the first bit of rest I’d had in a long, long time.

  Georgie woke me up in the morning. He was frantic. For a brief moment I thought the worst had happened. It took a second for me to realize that Georgie was smiling.

  “Dudley!” Georgie shrieked. “You gotta come now. He’s asking for you.”

  “Who’s asking for me?” I asked.

  “Jaxon!” Georgie said. “He’s awake!”

  I ran to his room. I shoved my way past the crowd of people at the door. The only person in the room with Jaxon was the doctor, and
he was pleading with my uncle to be still.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  “He shouldn’t be moving,” the doctor said. “His body is in a fragile state. This could be a shock to his system.”

  Jaxon was trying to sit up. He’d already removed all the medical tubes from his body.

  “I got this,” I said. “Give me some space.”

  The doctor backed up a bit. I placed my hands on Jaxon’s chest. I tried to calm him down but there was something in his eyes that wouldn’t be denied.

  “Where’s my wife?” Jaxon asked.

  I laughed out loud.

  “She’s a couple floors up,” I said. “She’s waiting for you. All you have to do is walk in the room, and she’ll wake up.”

  “Help me up and get me some clippers,” Jaxon said.

  I motioned my hand for the doctor to be quiet. Jaxon had made up his mind. Nothing was going to stop him. We could either help him, or he’d do things all on his own. The man was going to see his wife if he had to crawl out of the bed and search every room in the hospital.

  “Get us some hair clippers,” I told the doctor as I pulled him up to a sitting position. “He’s not going to go and see his wife looking like a hobo.”

  The doctor didn’t move. He just argued some more but it was under his breath, and I was able to ignore him. A nurse from outside the room evidently heard us talking. She brought in some hair clippers. Jaxon tried to take them from me but his hands weren’t exactly cooperating.

  “Let me help,” I said.

  I ran the clippers through his hair. Fortunately, Jax doesn’t have a very difficult haircut. He just likes it short. I slapped on a number three guard and went to work. When I was finished, he asked me to get rid of his beard as well. I left him with his usual stubble.

  “What room is she in?” Jaxon asked when I finished.

  “I’ll take you there,” I said.

  “All right,” the doctor interrupted. “That’s enough. I’m putting my foot down. This man can’t take a shock to his system.”

  The doctor tried to get between us, and I shoved him back.

  “DO YOU KNOW WHO THIS MAN IS?” I demanded. “THIS MAN IS THE GENERAL! HE HAS FOUGHT LEGIONS OF ZOMBIES! HE HAS BATTLED VAMPIRES! HE HAS SAVED COUNTLESS LIVES! HE WILL NOT BE DENIED!”