by Sean Kidd
One last, “I love you,” without looking back, and she was in the jeep headed to Atlanta.
Alone.
CHAPTER 57
October 13th 9:00pm
Chevy and I armed up with everything we had, “Are you going to be able to do this?” Chevy asked. “What do you mean?”
“Well, until now, they’ve all been dead. So it’s not like hurting a real person. Those two guys in that building aren’t dead. They’re walkin’ and talkin’, just like us.” I took a swig of soda, “If you’re asking me if I can shoot someone, the answer is yes! Those scum bags kidnapped Sidara, most likely my mom too. I don’t just want to kill them, Chevy. I want to torture them. I don’t care how horrible that sounds. That’s my mom in there, and those fucks are going to pay for it!” Chevy walked over and gave me a one-armed hug, “I just want to let you know buddy. She's my mom too, and I feel the same way. I’ve got your back all the way on this one.” I gave Chevy a hug back and walked toward the rock face.
“Where are you going?”
I looked over my shoulder, “I’m going to grab your fifty-caliber. I’ve got the perfect task for it if those guys show back up in the Humvee.
With the extra weight of the guns, we took almost half an hour to cross the field.
“What’s the plan?” Chevy asked.
I didn’t have an answer this time, “Let’s wait here, until just before dawn. I want to make sure they’re sleeping in there. We’ll play the rest by ear.”
We laid there in the grass for hours. The sun hadn’t broken the horizon yet, but it wouldn’t be long. I gave Chevy a tap on the arm. He didn't take his eye from the fifty-caliber scope for hours. “Are you ready?” I asked.
“Yup, lead the way.” Chevy said while he folded the bi-pod legs on his rifle.
We crawled back to the building, I told Chevy to hang behind while I went for the same window. I inched ahead and looked inside. I didn’t see anyone. Wife Beater was gone, and the guy wasn’t sitting at the desk any longer. I turned back to Chevy and gave him the, I don’t know, shrug. I dropped down to my knees and crawled around to the back of the building. There was a small window covered with bars. I stood up and tried to look in, but the glass was frosted. I listened, but couldn’t hear anything. I kept working my way around the building. Up ahead was the door that the man having the tantrum had come out of. I stood up and jogged over to the door. Light coming out of the key hole caught my attention. I bent over and looked through. The place looked empty. If I hadn’t known any better, I’d swear there was no one inside. I was sick of crawling on my belly so I made a quick jog over to Chevy and hit the deck next to him. “What’d you see?” he asked.
“I didn’t see anything! There’s no one in the office and no one walking around inside. Do you think they might have left when we went back to the truck?” Chevy looked at the distance from the truck to the building, “I suppose it’s possible, but I kept looking back to make sure no one was following us. I think the time is now.” I could hear the fear in Chevy’s voice when he spoke, “Let’s try the back door, if it’s locked I can pop it with your tomahawk.” Chevy pulled the tomahawk out from his belt loop and handed it to me. I guess I was going in first. I inched back toward the door and tried the handle again, hoping someone would have unlocked it since I had last tried. I motioned for Chevy to come over with an arm wave. He crawled up, stopping just behind me. “Okay, here’s the plan. Get your gun out, safety off. I’m going to pry this door open, and I want you to be ready, in case there is someone standing on the other side. Remember everything they’ve done. They may have killed mom and Sidara both. I don’t care if they beg and plead. If there is someone standing there, when the door opens, blast them. Got it?”
Chevy nodded, gripped his pistol with both hands, and held it up to the center of the door. I stuck the awe side of the tomahawk into the door mechanism. I gave the tomahawk a gentle pull. The wooden door casing was old and rotted. It probably should have been replaced years ago.
It started to open. Just a hair more and the latch would be free. I pushed a little harder on the tomahawk, and the door released a squeak showing its age. I froze! Chevy was staring at me, his eyes were as big as golf balls. I clenched my teeth together and opened my lips. Chevy knew that as my, “Oops,” look. I didn’t move, expecting the door to swing open at any second with Wife Beater standing there with my Glocks pointed at my face. The seconds ticked away, the anticipation of being found out was terrifying. For the next two minutes, I don’t think I even blinked once, fixated on the door. After I was sure, the clamor hadn’t given us away, I resumed my task. A little push and the latch broke free of the casing. I opened the door, ever so slightly and peered inside. I watched and waited. My mind told me that everyone was asleep inside, but making my body move was proving to be a difficult task. My body finally gave way when I was nudged on the arm. Chevy was pointing his chin at the door. His lips moved, and I heard, “It’s gonna be daylight soon, go!” but I don’t think he actually made a sound. I may have just read them. The lighted building was clear all the way to the garage door on the opposite side. I pushed the door open further, praying for well lubricated hinges. It stopped just short of the wall without making a sound. I lifted my HK416 and flipped off the safety. My foot left the grass of the fairgrounds and stepped onto the concrete floor that supported the steel building. We were in! I crept down a short hall and passed a bathroom on my left. Oh, how I had to use that now. As I approached the end of the hall, I could see the office door was open, but the lights were off. Straight ahead was a large open space. There were shelves full of tools, it looked like a service area with a puddle on the floor. That’s where they must have been parking the Humvee. To my right were three doors. The one farthest away was where I had seen Wife Beater yelling at someone. The girls had to be in there. My guess is that one of those two doors was some sort of kitchenette, and the other had to be full of bunks. But which was which? I gave Chevy my version of hand signals, which probably sounded like. There? Or there? Chevy put out his hand and made an opening motion, pointing to the first door with the barrel of his gun. I reached out wrapping my fingers around the knob of the first room. I was met by an unexpected chill from the thought of preparing to kill a man. I turned the handle and gave the door a push. The lights were off! I couldn’t see anything. I reached for the Tac light on my HK and flipped it on, expecting to be met by a hail of gunfire. With the light on, I panned across the room almost shooting the refrigerator. Chevy looked over my shoulder, shook his head and pointed to the next door with his rifle barrel again. Standing in the doorway of the kitchen, I thought of everything my dad had taught me. Standing in the doorway like this gave Chevy and I no tactical advantage. He couldn’t fire without hitting me, and if I jumped out of the way, he’d be hit. I’d bet my life the girls were in the third door. I directed Chevy to move back about ten feet and off to the side. I would swing the door open and move toward the wall. Chevy and I could both fire on our targets without having to worry about each other’s fire. I grabbed the knob and looked back at Chevy. He gave me the go ahead. I twisted the handle and swung the door open. I jumped back and acquired our V formation. The room was dark and I could see bunks on the right side, but they were empty. I glanced over at Chevy, “Do you see anything?” Chevy didn’t have a light on his weapon. He squinted his eyes and took a step to the right. My dad liked to call that slicing the pie! A quick look back at me and a head shake, no. I was about to take a step toward the room, when I heard someone chamber a round in a rifle, followed by the sound of bare feet slapping against cement coming toward us. A man’s silhouette materialized as orange flame spewed from the room. The silence was broken by the banging of an AK-47. I pulled the trigger on my HK again and again until the shadow transformed into a man laying at our feet. It was Wife Beater! He laid on the floor motionless. Blood drained from his chest, and I watched as his sockless toes wiggled before finally stopping. “Are you okay Chevy?” I asked. Just like
in the movies, he looked his body up and down checking for bullet holes. With a big shit-eating grin, he said, “I guess he missed me.” Chevy started to lower his gun, “Keep it up! There’s still another one in there.” I had the Tac light on my rifle, so I inched my way toward the bunk room. I was startled by a loud yelling coming from inside the third door. “Two-gun! We're in here!” It was Sidara, and she said we. That meant my mom was in there too, “Hang on!” Back on the task, I started toward the bunk room again, “If you want to live, say something and come out with your hands up!” There was no response from within the room, “I know you’re in there. I saw you through the window!” There was still no response. I panned the door from each side looking in. I couldn’t see anyone, and it looked as though only one bunk had been disturbed.
I worked my way into the room and flipped on the light, ready to fire, “It’s empty!” I said.
From behind Chevy, I saw someone dart out of the office. He had something in his hand. Without even looking, he lifted and pointed in Chevy’s direction. “Look out!” I screamed. Chevy turned in time to see a hail of gunfire coming toward him. Chevy pulled his trigger, firing back. I lifted my HK but couldn’t take a shot without hitting Chevy. I ran forward and felt a red mist hit my face. Chevy spun around and fell to the floor clutching his chest. The second shooter slowed for a second to open the door to his escape. When he did, I could see he had shot Chevy with his own MP9. The man disappeared out the door as it slammed closed behind him. I dropped to my knees holding Chevy. “He got me!” Chevy screamed.
“Oh my god! Ty, I don’t want to die!” I put my hand on Chevy’s face, “You’re not gonna die brother!” I pulled one of Chevy’s throwing knives out of his boot and cut away his shirt. There was blood, but not as much blood as I had expected. I was expecting Chevy to pass out any second.
I ran into the bunk room and grabbed some sheets off a bed. I ran back out to Chevy and packed them against the wound. I put pressure on it and yelled at him, “Stay awake! Don’t go to sleep!” I wiped blood away from the wound and found another section of clean sheet and wiped more. I stopped the bleeding! I inspected the gunshot wound, “Are you kidding me?”
“What?” Chevy moaned.
“It barely broke the skin!” The bullet went between his arm and rib cage taking off a few layers of skin about nipple height. Chevy looked down at the wound, “Ty, it's bad. Oh it’s bad!” he prattled. He sat up, still smiling, and playing with the cut, “Oh, that’s gonna leave a mark.”
I stood up and chucked the bloody sheet at Chevy’s face, “I hope it gets infected!” He gave me a pouty face, “I’m sorry, Ty. If it makes you feel any better. It really stings a lot!”
I walked away and over to the third door. I gave the door a knock, “Hey, who’s in there?”
“It’s me, Sidara and your mom’s here too.”
“Stand back!” I yelled as I kicked the door open. I stepped in and was embraced by my mom. Sidara joined in. There were two other girls in the room, and they hugged me too. I felt like a hero, “Is everyone okay?” I asked. “We’re fine, Two-gun, but that Kane guy, who shot Chevy is a maniac. There’s three more guys in their crew, and they’re out in the Humvee looking for you! We need to get out of here.” I looked over and saw my mom checking on Chevy. “Hi Mom!” he said. “I was shot!” Jen looked at the superficial would, not falling into Chevy’s trap, “So I heard. Would you like a band-aid for that?”
“Yes, please.” Chevy said with a huge smile on his face.
It was time for us to leave before the others came back, “Hey, if you two are done fooling around, we need to get moving!” Chevy looked at me and back at my mom, “He does know I’ve been shot. Right?”
CHAPTER 58
October 14th 6:15am
“If we’re going to switch this Humvee out, we need to drive a little faster. That fuel gauge is reading empty, and we’re still a ways away.” No matter how hard they tried, Luther and Tommy couldn’t seem to do anything right, when it came to Cowboy. Between Kane losing his mind and the incompetence of his partners, Cowboy was believing his days with this outfit were numbered. “We’re just a couple of miles away from the fairgrounds.” Luther informed Cowboy who responded by saying nothing. Tommy spent most of his time hiding from Cowboy in the turret, where he would occasionally drop a few rounds in a dead as they passed by. Luther turned into the all too familiar fairgrounds. Cowboy finally spoke as he did, “Take the far road to the vehicle impound so Kane doesn’t see us back here. He said he’s got plans for all the extra Humvees, seeing us take one would piss him off.”
Luther did as he was told and took the long winding dirt path that led along the old abandoned airstrip. “Tommy!” Cowboy called out as he pulled something from his pocket, “Here’s the key to the impound gate. Go open it.” Luther stopped at the gate's edge, and Tommy hopped out to unlock it. Luther pulled in and headed toward the other parked Humvees. As he pulled into an open spot, the vehicle died, running out of gas. He looked over at Cowboy, “That was lucky!” Cowboy glared back at Luther, “Lucky for you!”
Cowboy got out of the vehicle and walked over to the next Humvee, where he was met by Tommy, “Let’s try this one.” Tommy jumped in and grabbed the starter switch on the left side of the steering wheel. A turn to the left and the vehicle started right up. “You’ve gotta love these things.” Cowboy said.
“Let’s grab everything out of the other one and load it in here. Tommy, you grab the fifty-caliber off the turret.” Luther climbed into the turret of the new vehicle and waited for Tommy to hand up the fifty. Cowboy watched the slow progress and made a comment when he saw Luther staring into the woods. Cowboy scanned the tree line, but couldn’t see anything, “What are you looking at?” Without breaking sight of the object, Luther said, “There’s something in the trees over there.” Cowboy looked again, “I don’t see anything. What is it? A dead?” Luther pointed to the tree line, “It’s getting light out, and I can see something reflecting in the woods over there.” Cowboy climbed up on the Humvee to get a better view. He scanned the tree line and caught a reflection near the stone outcrops, “I see it. Let’s check it out! Grab your rifles and we’ll head over. Tommy, you swing wide out into the field and stay low. Luther, you wrap around to the back of the stone outcrop, and I will head straight in.” Cowboy had given himself the worst approach. If there was someone nearby, or in whatever was reflecting, they would have the drop on him. He made it a point to take it slow. About ten yards out, the cresting sun was revealing the object. “Is that a vehicle?” Cowboy thought to himself. He worked his way in closer, waiting for a gunshot to kill him.
“Hey!” Cowboy looked over. It was Luther calling him from behind a tree, “It’s all clear! It looks empty!” Cowboy made his way over to Luther and took up position with him behind a tree, “Get a light on it!” Luther hit the truck with his flashlight. It was definitely empty. Cowboy walked over with Luther right on his heels. They circled the truck, and they were met by Tommy. “Who the hell parked this here?” Tommy asked. Cowboy opened the truck door and looked inside, “It’s them!”
“Who’s them?” Tommy asked.
Cowboy slammed the truck door, “It’s the guys we’ve been looking for all night.”
“Why would they park here?” Cowboy looked across the open field and pointed his finger at their building, “That’s why.”
Tommy ran around to the front of the truck looking across the field, “Why would they come after us? They must know we’re trying to kill them?” Cowboy took off his hat and wiped his forehead with his arm. He put it back on and reached in his back pocket pulling out a can of chew. He opened it up, and put and oversized pinch in his lip. He spat the excess in his lip at the ground before answering, “We stole their girlfriend so Kane could rape and kill her. What do you think they came here for?” Luther joined in the conversation, “I’ll tell you what I would do. I would come after us, and I wouldn’t stop until we were all dead!” Cowboy and Tommy di
dn’t respond, but they knew he was right. Cowboy took a deep breath, debating if he should take a chance and tell them what he was really thinking. He decided to take that chance. “This is how I see it boys. We can hop in the Humvee over there, get out of town, and leave this place right now. We’ll find someplace new, and get away from Kane, and all his bullshit. We all know he’s lost it. We’ll leave now and never look back. A new place and a fresh start!” Cowboy paused for a few seconds, “Or we can head over there, find those guys, kill’em, and get back to business.” Luther kicked at a stone on the ground. It bounced off Chevy’s truck tire. “Those are our friends in there, I agree,” Luther admitted, “Kane has been going through some fucked-up shit, but I’ve known him my whole life. He just needs some time. He lost his whole family last week. That’s enough to drive anyone crazy, but I know he’ll get through it! I can’t leave him.” Cowboy took another deep breath and released it through his nose, “I figured you’d say that. So I guess the plan is to go back and warn them?”