by Chesla, Gary
The bikers had to slow down as they turned left on Route 30 to come up Route 711, the street that passed the front gate.
They were bunched up making the turn as the first rocks bounced on the roads surface and rammed into their tight formation. Four bikes were thrown over on their sides, the riders thrown back into the bikes that followed. Another half dozen bikes wrecked as they ran over the other bikes and riders that were tossed into their paths.
The fallen bikes acted like the barricade of the dead yesterday. The other bikes had to stop or slow down to maneuver their way through the wreckage.
The rocks continued to fall and bounce into the bikers. George began to pick off the other riders as the large arrows rained down on the congestion.
Three bikers had managed to get through the pile up and roared up towards the fort.
With only three targets, the archers on the walls sent a storm of arrows at the three bikers as they approached the gate.
Two of the bikers went down and skidded across the pavement. The Molotov cocktails they carried burst into flames, engulfing the bikes and bikers in flames.
One of the bikers was able to launch his bottle at the gate before he went down.
The bottle hit the gate and shattered as flames spread across the gate. Black smoke shot into the air.
Five guys jumped down off the walls and spread out between the gate and the water pump. The first man filled the bucket and handed it to the next man before running back to fill another bucket.
The buckets of water moved down the line until they were handed up on the lookout platform one by one.
They water quickly put out the flames before the fire had a chance to burn through the gas and get a foot hold in the wooden poles.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Twang! Twang! The catapults and cross bows continued to launch against the bikers.
Bear got up off the concrete highway and tried to right his bike. “Where the hell did those sons of a bitches get those damn cannons!”
“Should we keep trying to get up there?” another biker asked.
Bear looked around, keeping an eye out for the big rocks that keep ramming into the bikers.
Half of his group was down, the other half were busy dodging rocks and those dam spears.
Two of his men were lying on the road with large spears sticking in one side of their bodies and protruding two feet out their other sides.
He looked up at the fort. The flames that had engulfed the gate, was now out. The bikers that had made it to the fort were lying dead on the road outside the gate.
He glanced around to see two more of his gang go down. One took a direct hit from another one of those damn spears, the other laid under his bike, crushed by the weight of the bike and a large boulder.
“No, let’s get the hell out of here. This isn’t going to work.” Bear growled. ”We’ll come back tonight when they are all asleep and sneak up on them in the dark and burn this damn place to the ground.”
Bear straddled his bike and was about to restart the engine. A large spear exploded through his gas tank and quickly caught fire.
Bear jumped off the bike and quickly patted out the flames that had spread to his pant legs.
He ran over and jumped onto the back of another bikers ride. “Get us the hell out of here!” He shouted.
The bikers all turned and roared back down the highway and away from the fort.
Shaun saw the bikers leave. They had managed to take out two thirds of them. Not bad, but he was hoping to have taken out more. There were still about eight or ten of them left.
Bill shouted for everyone to save their ammo.
He climbed down from the wall and looked everything over as he walked near where Shaun was sitting.
“You were right.” Bill said.
“Unfortunately I’m afraid I will be right about what they will do next.” Shaun replied as he rubbed his aching arm.
“At least there is a whole lot less of them to worry about.” Bill added.
“Enough are still left to set a bunch of fires.” Shaun replied.
“I wish we would have had enough time to put those gutters up on the outside walls. But we’ll be ready for them. I’ll make sure the inside walls are soaked down real good and get the boys to fill all the buckets to use out here.” Bill said. “I’m going to double the guard on the walls tonight. Can I count on you and Doug to help out?”
“I’m glad to help.” Shaun smiled.
“Get some rest. George will be around about two o’clock to get you and set you up on the wall.” Bill smiled. “Good job today.”
“Thanks!” Shaun replied as he got up off the ground and started to walk back to his cabin.
Megan met him when he was halfway to the cabin.
“Are they all gone?”
“For now, but I think they will be back tonight after dark. Probably sometime in the middle of the night. If I were them that’s when I would come back.” Shaun smiled as he put his arm around her shoulders. “But fortunately there are a lot less of them to come back.”
“I wish all of those bastards had been killed.” Megan shouted.
“So do I!” Shaun replied. “Bill is going to double the number of people on watch tonight. He asked if Doug and I could help out around two o’clock.”
“I think you’ve done enough.” Megan began to protest.
“Hey, we all have to do our share until we get through this.” Shaun scolded her.
“Everyone but me!” Megan shot back.
“You’re helping me by staying out of sight and keeping Lisa calm.” Shaun added.
“I know, but I don’t like it.” Megan continued to protest.
“It’s the best thing you can do for me. You know that.” Shaun smiled.
“I know.” She smiled. “Come on and let’s get you cleaned up so you can get some rest before you have to go on watch.
“I have a few things I need to do at the catapults first.” Shaun said. “Do you want to help?”
Megan’s eyes lit up. “Sure, what do you want me to do?”
“First go put your ball cap on. If there is anyone out there watching us, I want them to think you are just one of the boys.” Shaun smiled.
Chapter 18
Lilly tried to open her eyes. Her body ached all over. She felt a terrible pain in her left hand.
Her heart sank as she remembered what she had seen before all went black.
Remembering the sight of her mother hanging among the other bodies, the other carved up bodies, made her feel scared and alone. The sight of her mother, one moment she had two legs, the next minute only one leg remained.
It was worse than any nightmare she had ever had or could have ever imagined.
But she had to try and wake up from this nightmare before she became part of it, a terrifying dream that would never end.
She knew the nightmare she was living in, that she would only be able to die once. But from what she had seen of the bodies hanging around her, it would be a horrible death.
The smell of death was all around her. She had smelled it when she was first brought to this room and tied up, but she had been so used to the smell of death it had not registered in her mind. She hadn’t smelled that smell very often since coming to the fort, but it had been so ingrained into her mind over the last six months that it didn’t set off any alarms in her mind when she smelled it here.
But now that smell would always force the picture of her mother into her head.
It would make the sight of the dead even that much more unbearable.
Lilly tried to shake these thoughts from her mind. If she couldn’t find a way out of here, these sights would not be bothering her again. Nothing would ever bother her again. At least she hoped not. She wasn’t sure what would bother her after she was dead.
She often wondered what it would be like to be dead. Sometimes she had wished that she would die so she didn’t have to face the nightmares she had to endure every day and every night.
&
nbsp; She often thought about how it would happen.
The two most likely scenarios were that she would starve to death, or she would be ripped to shreds by the dead.
It was these thoughts that had kept her pushing on, willing to accept the horrible things she had to witness and dream.
She had no desire to die by either method.
She thought what would happen to her if she had been captured by one of the disgusting gangs she saw roaming the area, searching for what the dead had left behind.
It wasn’t until she came to the fort with her mother did she start to think about living instead of death.
Living at the fort had been nice, but it apparently had all been a lie. A lie that death hid behind until it decided to come for you. When it was your turn.
What she had seen here at the fort was something she could never had imagined.
What the dead did to you she had come to accept as part of what life had become, but this?
Even the gangs weren’t this bad. They killed you, or they used you and then they killed you when you were no longer of any value to them.
Lilly tried to swallow to ease the pain in her throat. She licked her lips and quickly jerked her head back from the gross taste and smell.
Her eyes opened. ”What the?”
Lilly realized she was lying on the ground. Her face was resting in a puddle of vomit.
She realized it was her vomit.
She realized she could move and painfully sat up. The pain in her wrist almost make her cry out.
When she was unconscious, her wrist must have become dislocated and slipped through the rope. Her other wrist was still bound, the rope hung from her other wrist. It must have slipped through the rope that had her hanging from the ceiling.
She staggered to her feet. She looked at her bed clothes. She was a filthy mess covered in mud and vomit.
The girl that had been in here with her was still hanging by her wrists.
Lilly didn’t want to turn around. She didn’t want to see the bodies she knew would be there. It wouldn’t help her and she couldn’t help them.
Her only goal now was to free the poor girl and get away from here.
She staggered towards the girl. Her body ached and from hanging by that rope for who knows how long, her body refused to follow her desires. But she pushed on.
“Hey. It’s me Lilly.” She whispered. “I’m going to help you.”
Lilly reached out and touched the girl, but there was no response from the girl. She just hung limp in front of Lilly.
She put her hand up to the girls face and touched her cheek. The girl felt cool to the touch.
Lilly began to wonder if the girl was still alive.
She was about to rest her ear against the girls chest to listen for breathing or a heartbeat, when she heard the sounds of voices coming from outside.
She frantically began looking around for a place to hide.
The room or building she was in was only about forty by forty feet square. Only the hanging bodies and ropes would offer her any protection from being seen by anyone that came inside, but it would only hide her for a few minutes before she would be seen.
There was a table against one wall. It was some kind of metal table. The table was stained a dull red color. The floor, the dirt floor, was the same color for about three feet out from the legs of the table. The table wouldn’t provide any protection. She pushed her hand over her mouth to stifle the gasp that tried to escape when she identified various body parts and bits of flesh that clung to the table or laid on the ground under the table.
The voices were getting closer. They were the two voices that had been in the room with her before. The voices that she had heard and then her mother’s leg was gone.
The sound of the key trying to find its way into the keyhole, reminded Lilly she only had seconds left to find a place to hide or only seconds left to live.
When she heard the lock click, Lilly ran for the door.
The only chance she had was to get behind the door when they came in and she prayed they wouldn’t close the door right away and see her.
She was in no condition to put up a fight or out run anyone.
She just made it to the wall behind the door when she saw the door beginning to swing open.
The door slammed into Lilly. She gritted her teeth, holding back the cry of pain she felt as the door vibrated after bouncing her head against the wall.
Lilly listened and nervously waited, ready to run. Where was she going to run? She had no idea, but she had to try.
“How many pounds does Ed need today?” The familiar sounding voice asked.
“He wants forty pounds today. He wants to make a meaty stew. After what everyone went through today fighting off those bikers, Ed says he wants to serve up a lot of protein.”
The other voice laughed. “Ed loves his protein.”
“He doesn’t need one large cut today. You can put together a lot of smaller pieces. Ed is just going to cut it all into chunks for stew. Save that other leg in here for later. Ed says he is planning on making a large roast in a few days.” The first voice said.
Lilly almost fainted. She now realized why those people were hanging in the room. She had to control the urge to heave as she realized what had happened to the missing parts of the people hanging in that room. When she realized what she had been eating.
The voices passed the doorway and walked into the room.
Before she would start gagging, Lilly forced herself to peek around the edge of the door. When she saw them standing with their back to her, each holding a large knife in their right hands, as they looked over at the hanging bodies, Lilly slipped out from behind the door and around the door way.
The bright light hurt her eyes and she held her arm across her forehead, trying to see where she was. She forced herself to swallow the bile that was rising into her throat.
She had to concentrate.
She saw she was in the upper fort as she had thought. Behind the building she had just come out of was a twelve foot post wall. This had to be the back part of the main fort.
If she went to the left, she would eventually come to the gates, which would lead into the outer fort.
“If she wasn’t in mud and vomit covered bed clothes, she could try to walk slowly towards and out the gate and hope no one would notice her.
But the way she looked and smelled, she would attract attention even if everyone was blind.
Where ever she went, she had to do it fast.
She spotted the platform next to the walls. The platform where the look outs would stand watch. The sun was low in the sky, it would be dark soon. The look outs only watched from the inner fort walls at night, never during the day.
Lilly decided she could climb up on the platform and lower herself down the other side. She would have to drop down on the ground the last few feet, but she didn’t have time to look for any rope.
She struggled to climb up on the platform. She listened to the conversation coming from the open door in the room she had just escaped.
When she heard one of the voices cry out in alarm, she knew she now only had seconds. They had finally noticed she was no longer hanging in the room.
She quickly pushed herself over the top of the wall intending to hang by her hands for a second before dropping to the ground. Her hands were weak from hanging in the room. Her left wrist screamed in pain. When she jumped over the top of the posts, her next stop was on the ground. She landed hard on her side. The air was knocked out of her lungs. She gasped, trying to breathe. She couldn’t wait to recover, and rose up on her hands and knees and started to crawl.
She was behind the inner fort, fortunately there was no one back here today. There was, however, a small cottage near the outer wall. She crawled until she was finally behind the cottage, in the three foot space that separated the wall from the little cabin.
She drug herself back into the shadows and dropped onto her back. She struggled to breathe
between the shooting pain in her lungs.
She stared up at the narrow slice of the darkening sky that she could see between the wall and the back of the cottage. “Now What?”
Ed walked in to speak with Bill.
“Bill, Charlie just told me that Wilpen girl is missing.”
“When?” Bill looked upset.
“I don’t know?” Ed also sounded disgusted.
“When did Charlie last see her?” Bill asked.
“Yesterday morning before the dead attacked. Ever since the dead attacked yesterday, he has been working with George. He didn’t go back to his shop until just now and noticed she was gone.” Ed replied.
“So she could have been gone since yesterday?” Bill sighed. “Any idea how she got away?”
“None. The rope hanging from the rafters was still there. There is only one small window and it’s up high. It wasn’t busted or anything. The only way out would be through the door. The only thing I can think of is someone let her out.” Ed stated.
“Do you know if any of the guys was interested in her?” Bill asked. “Maybe some guy has her hid somewhere in the fort.”
“Not that I know about, but you can’t always spot those things.” Ed answered. “You want me to get a group to search for her?”
“No. not tonight. With all the shit going on and Bear will probably try something tonight, let’s let them have a happy night together. We need to keep all our guys happy until we wrap up our other problems. I don’t think we have to worry about her running to tell anyone what she saw.” Bill laughed. “We’ll worry about her in a few days.”
“OK. I’ll tell Charlie to just keep an eye out for her and let me know if he sees anything.” Ed smiled.
“Oh, by the way Ed.” Bill interrupted. “Tell Charlie to be ready for two new arrivals to his shop tonight.”
“What’s up?’ Ed looked at Bill.
“I’ve decided it’s time for our two friends, Shaun and Doug, to disappear tonight.” Bill said sounding pleased with himself.
“I thought we were going to wait until our problem with Bear was settled?” Ed looked puzzled.