“I can tell, you now that Jason wouldn’t have died, on our little trip here, he killed many and if I might add, he killed them in very creative ways,” Conway said.
The two walk on their sweet time, arriving at Key West they can see from a distance, that it was a warzone there, burned bodies everywhere, the mass amount of bodies with the large pools of blood, it couldn’t smell more terrible than this. There is still a few roaming the area, not to many, they are pretty much scattered far apart so there is no real danger here, not anymore at least.
“Well the boats are gone, some must have gotten out alive,” William said.
“I suppose, one of them must be seriously injured if you look at all the blood here,” Conway said worried.
“Well we passed a few bodies, freshly eaten; it’s strange how some of them were eaten and chewed up almost entirely,” William said.
“Guess, that’s what an entire horde will do to you,” Conway said.
“Don’t worry about it, injuries were meant to happen, lives were meant to be lost, here today,” William said.
“Injuries sure, not lives, not like this,” Conway said.
“If we had more men and more time, things would have been better, you can’t blame this on anyone,” William said.
“We can’t leave, the few boats left have been stripped of parts so that no one can invade us at Fort Jefferson,” William said.
“By the looks of it, unless they spread out more, it will be way too dangerous to search for a working boat any suggestions?” Conway asked.
“Yes one, we have rigged a room with steel bars, its ghetto but safe, we can stay there for at least two days before food runs out,” William said.
“Only two days?” Conway asked.
“Sadly so, my eye caught a glimpse of our food storage here, burned down, there might be canned food that’s maybe still ok to be consumed but I highly doubt it, not worth taking the risk, can’t afford to get sick now due to bad food,” William said.
“After two days, what do we do then?” Conway asked.
“We most likely won’t wait two days; we still have a few more people at Jefferson that will look for us,” William said with confidence.
“Let’s get going then, I am dead on my feet tired,” Conway said.
“I agree, my feet are sore and I am starving,” William said.
“Remember big guy the food has to last for two days like you said,” Conway said laughing, as he follows William to the safe room.
“You can drop the jokes, it’s not funny anymore,” William said.
“It is, it’s funny to me, just kidding lets go,” Conway said smiling.
Arriving at the safe room they insure it’s safe, they double check to make sure it will last if they had to come this way, so tired they skipped making food entirely and just went to lay down and get some rest, both falling asleep shortly after a few minutes passed.
William wakes up with some serious body pains, though its quickly forgotten when he see Conway is preparing food, it smells delicious; he really can’t wait much longer. After eating, they feel much better, refreshed and with the little sleep it couldn’t be any better, the little happiness they had for the day didn’t last very long as those things have rounded up again, almost like they to smell the food.
William can almost tell for a fact that these things are getting smarter by the day and soon they will have undesirable smart opponents to face, so far, fire and water seems to be their greatest weakness, shooting them takes long to bring them down, unless it’s directly to a vital organ, the heart or brain.
Of course some of them just die, the ones that just die are the weak ones, the ones that didn’t have enough fresh flesh to eat, they rot much faster and cripple around much more than the healthier ones.
The ones that are lucky to find prey, they are the strongest and fastest, everything about them is better, hearing seeing including thinking they will even kill of the weaker ones just to get some food in their system, to keep them going until their next meal, they are also much harder to kill.
At first everything have started slow, they were just sick people and weak, some eventually died from this virus, they could only track movements really. Later on they started seeing and operate their bodies much better. The ones that advanced far enough knows and realized they need to eat to survive it’s like they developed this as an instinct.
William is getting a lot of education from Conway, William didn’t realize much this but it makes a lot more sense to him now, it’s like a rebirth of something entirely new, they start out small and dumb just like a baby.
Before the small group could get any closer, they were picked off one at a time, William have never been so happy to see Samantha, Taylor and Emma surprised that they were still alive.
Samantha and Emma feels guilty for just hiding while the rest did all the fighting, knowing that if Martin survived he will be furious, Taylor in the other hand pretty much slept straight through the entire thing, no idea how he did it.
Emma feels the worse hating to leave so many to die, knowing she didn’t have much of an option, like William said she has a daughter to take care of, as a mother only she will be able to take good care of her, this is how any mother would feel about their child or that’s at least what Emma believes.
“I am truly happy to see all of you made it,” William said.
“Glad to see you made it; did you maybe see Danny in that crowd or maybe a body?” Emma asked.
“No I didn’t, I tried checking some of the burned bodies but none looks like him,” William said softly almost crying.
“Then that must mean he is still out there somewhere, you three guys should go and look for him, just to be sure.” Emma said.
“She is right, while you look for him we can look for Ashley and Jason’s two daughters,” Conway said.
“I think that’s a good idea,” William said.
“We girls will stay here, if one of them had to come looking for us, then we can make sure they wait until you return,” Emma said.
“That would be great,” Conway said.
“Let’s get going, if we play our cards right I suggest we split up and look through one house at a time by jumping the fences,” Conway said.
“That way, we can cover more distances and have this place searched in no time,” Conway said.
“I am sorry I can’t help you find Ashley but if I were to be Danny, then start looking at the places we already swept clean of resources, it’s a good place to hide as he know no one will look for him there,” Emma said.
The small group pack their bags, restocking on anything they need with anything they could find, a few cans of food with only three bottles of fresh water, not much, though enough for a fast search and if each one ration their water, then they can really go the extra mile with their search for the people they care for most.
Chapter 12: Showdown
A few hours after they started their search, Samuel arrives with Martin, to fetch any survivors and the other boat that was left behind, Emma finds it strange, was the boat stolen if Martin said they all escaped with just one boat?
“We should leave soon, I take Conway and William didn’t make it back?” Martin asked.
“He did, he went to go look for Danny while Conway searches for Ashley,” Emma said.
“We already found the people Jason and Conway were looking for, however one of Jason’s daughters died last night murdered,” Martin said.
“What do you mean murdered?” Emma asked.
“I don’t know the story but some guy was holding a gun to her head and pulled the trigger, killing her on the spot right in front of Jason,” Martin said.
“That doesn’t sound good, what happened did you capture him or maybe even killed him?” Emma asked.
“He took off the very second he pulled the trigger, Jason opened fire and pursued him but he managed to get away, I don’t know if he took a bullet or not,” Martin said.
“That’s horrible
to hear, not something he will get over easily,” Emma said.
“Start packing, as soon as they get back we should go,” Martin said
“You might as well get comfortable they only left a few hours ago,” Emma said.
“By the way, did you maybe see Danny along the horde?” Emma asked.
“No, I am 100% certain he wasn’t among them, yet again there is still many around and if you should see the ones that fell, you can’t recognize them at all, in a horde those things are like piranhas,” Martin said.
“Then there is still hope,” Emma said
“Where were you when all of this went down?” Martin asked.
“I thought about what William said, its true I need to take care of her as long as possible, I asked Samantha to join me, Taylor in the other hand just hid with us, sleeping through the entire thing” Emma said.
“I understand your reason, though you could have returned Fort Jefferson at any time, I won’t lie I am very disappointed in you three,” Martin said.
“It’s not my fault Taylor didn’t join the fight,” Emma said.
“Your right, though you could have stayed and not come in the first place, just because you wanted to tell William about Danny you risked all of us, you could have left at any time, maybe if Samantha and Taylor joined the fight, maybe we could have saved a few, maybe defend the entire Fort, next time don’t get in the way unless you really have a reason to,” Martin said angrily.
Emma remains silent thinking about what Martin had to say, she knew he was right, if she didn’t stay both Samantha and Taylor would have joined in on the fight. Emma feels horrible but what’s done is done, she can’t change anything now, she does find this to be a valuable lesson. While they wait for them to return, Luke is already on the island thinking of a way to make Jason pay for what he did.
Even if he killed Maggie, it’s not enough, Luke can’t stop there, and Jason must suffer, just like Roy did, stabbed and nearly burned alive, the only way Jason will suffer, is if Luke takes his other daughter too.
Maybe if she is killed brutally, maybe then it will be enough, Luke figures once the deed is done he can make his escape with the boat he arrived with, then make his way as far as possible and simply leave his father behind, it’s not like Bradley was of any good help anyway, its slightly due to him that Roy ended up like this.
Luke starts sneaking closer searching for Jason, after several minutes he finally found him, Luke can see that he cried a lot, he just finished digging his daughters grave, Luke can take him right now but instead figures it will be more enjoyed if he just wait and listen to his final words before he closes Maggie’s grave.
Several minutes later, only Jacky had a few words to say, though Jason said nothing as Jacky starts to pray, Luke aims his rifle not too far from them, it will be an easy shot to take, Luke thinks twice about what his about to do, feeling some slight regret but then he starts thinking about his brother, Jacky ends her prayer with Amen.
Jason hears a loud gun shot, opening his eyes at the same time, seeing Jacky on the clean sand, the blood is flowing heavily but she is still alive, Jason looks around him and immediately spots Luke, Jason starts running after him, this is exactly what Luke wanted, Luke runs extremely fast and made his escape by entering the Fort.
Jason looks and searches for him, unable to find Luke, Jason figures it will be best to return to Jacky now before she bleeds out, from a distance Jason can see that her body is gone, Jason follows the blood trail all the way to the far end of the island.
“You finally made it,” Luke said, shouting at Jason.
“Hold it right there, leave your weapons right there,” Luke said, shouting at Jason, still distant.
“Leave both your pistols and approach, slowly now,” Luke said as he draw his knife to Jacky’s neck.
“Please stop, you took enough already,” Jason said as he approach Luke slowly.
“That’s where you are wrong,” Luke said loudly.
“She is all I have left,” Jason said with tears.
“Roy was my brother, he suffered, he got stabbed, you nearly burned him alive, you let him suffer you didn’t even think to kill him,” Luke said angrily.
“I didn’t mean for that to happen,” Jason said worried.
“Well he survived, in pain, to make matters even worse he changed into something much more horrible,” Luke said.
“You can’t possibly blame that on us, anyone can get infected at any time,” Jason said loudly.
“I can, I can blame you, you could have simply put a bullet in his head that would have been fast and easy on him, why set him on fire, to give a message to my father? Besides from what I understand you guys are rivals after all, that’s it isn’t it?” Luke asked.
“It’s not like that,” Jason said.
“Shut up, that’s exactly what it is, you and he are exactly the same, can’t wait for a reason to make other people suffer, did you know if my brother had to come home empty handed, my dad would have beaten him, maybe even killed him on the spot,” Luke said.
“That’s not all of it, I was planning to kill my father myself, he was evil, my plan was going well, I would have done it, and then set all prisoners free, making matters worse, this is what Roy was helping me with until you and your daughters came along!” Luke said shouting out of anger and heart break.
“If you were in our shoes, you would have found a way to defend yourself as well, so he got stabbed!” Jason said loudly, shouting back.
“Ok, then still explain to me why you had to set him on fire, you clearly had enough time to shoot him since you had the time to tie him down and put a tire around him,” Luke said crying softly.
“How was I supposed to know Bradley was the only one behind this?” Jason asked.
“No you didn’t, that still gave you no right to do what you did,” Luke said angrily.
There was no time for Jason to explain, knowing he might have messed up somewhere, also knowing that Roy and Bradley is freaking psychopaths, judging Luke he clearly have some problems as well, even if he had some valid points.
Jason moves in closer feeling bad for Luke, beside that’s exactly what he wanted, to make Roy suffer for all the killings, raping and other crimes, still what Jason wanted the most was for Bradley to pay, now it seems like he is only torturing himself.
“Don’t come any closer,” Luke said.
“You know how me and your dad settled things if we had a problem?” Jason asked.
“We drop our weapons and go head to head,” Jason said
“Not interested,” Luke said angrily.
“Sissy, just like your brother, he couldn’t even put up a good fight,”
Luke pushes Jacky to the side hard, smiling as he toss his very own knife towards Jason’s feet, insuring Jason he will need it. Jason figures that this will be just as easy, as Bradley couldn’t fight just like his one son Roy, one or two good shot and they go down; this is where Jason made his big mistake, never get to confident.
Jason picks up the knife and started swinging it towards Luke, missing each time, unaware that Luke has taken classes in various fighting arts, though he had never completed any of them but it was enough to get him educated, fit and well trained in self-defense.
Jason jabs the knife straight, with a single dodge, in a second Luke was standing right next to him elbowing Jason behind the head, moving forward Luke turns around with two kicks to the knee dropping Jason to his knees in pain.
It was so fast and painful, Jason finds it hard to believe that he is losing the fight so fast, Jason tries to stand up straight but his leg feels crushed, it’s the worse pain ever. Crippling to continue the fight further, swinging the knife around with a few straight jabs, Jason finds it impossible to cut Luke.
Luke waits for his move patiently, knowing that Jason is only fighting out of rage, at a split second after Jason swings the knife Luke unleashes multiple straight jabs not missing once.
With each jab, Jason go
es blank for a second, rendering him useless, the jabs stopped but before Jason could see clearly he feels one final blow as Luke swings twice left followed with a right. Jason is entirely blank as he falls to ground his face all bloody, his nose broken, to weak and confused to get up, with a deep cut in the back of his head with that elbow that connected.
Luke stares at him struggling and without any remorse kicks Jason hard, as hard as he could manage, so hard that the bridge of his foot felt a slight sting of pain.
Luke doesn’t stop there and as soon as the kick lands, Luke grabs the knife from Jason and quickly stabs him twice, once in the leg and again straight through his hand. Jason pulls his face in agony, Jason lays down as the pain resides slightly the moment he notices Luke walking over to Jacky, he tries to get up just to fall back down, he crawls slowly, crying, begging not to harm her.
Jason shouts out continuously to leave her alone he can rather kill him, Luke ignores him entirely, he sits down on his knees right next to Jacky, crying as she to begs for her life.
“It will be over soon I promise,” Luke said holding the knife on the right side of her neck with only the tip piercing her skin.
“Please!” Jason shouts begging.
“Take this as a life lesson, the very actions you take every day, will lead to certain consequences, this is just one of them,” Luke said as he applies pressure, letting the knife pierce through her neck slowly.
Jason cries and crawls faster with the last attempt to stop Luke, already knowing that it’s too late no one here will be able to stop a bleeding like that, he could only stare at her and hear her scream as her throat fills up with blood.
Luke made sure to drive the knife only deep enough to reach and pierce into the internal jugular vein, enough of a wound, for her to bleed out slowly, yet big enough for no one to stop the bleeding; it will insure Jason suffers a few seconds longer.
Without time to waste Luke walks over to Jason and grabs him by the arm, dragging him over to Jacky’s side, Jason just laid there and cried, there was no point to even try. It’s a fatal wound, he could only stare at her dying slowly, and even if it was a matter of seconds it felt like an eternal life time.
The End Page 16