Ranger Martin and the Search for Paradise

by Jack Flacco

  In the meantime, Ranger bent to one knee, pulled a rag from his back pocket and wiped Abigail’s face of the green liquid that had sprayed all over her during her relentless attack on the chewers. He dabbed the rag on his tongue and rubbed the crevices between her nose and her cheeks, sliding the rag over her forehead wiping it clean. Her face returned to the way it was before the fight and Ranger held her hand as he stuffed the rag back into his pocket. After freeing his other hand, he gently caressed Abigail’s cheek with it using the back of his fingers. He slipped the loose hair that was flying over her eyes around her ears then gazed at her hoping nothing she had done had lasting effects. It didn’t. She wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed as hard as she could. He held her as long as she needed and didn’t let go until she was ready. He knew with her momma gone, he played the part of her Pa. He didn’t want to disappoint her.

  * * *

  When the guard clicked the cage door open, Matty crunched herself as tight and as hard into the corner of the cage as she could. She held her knees against her chest and set her head on her knees.

  “Leave her alone!” Randy rattled his cage with both hands. He held such a tight grip on the cage’s netting that his fingers had turned blue. His anger flowed through the scowl on his mouth and his darkened eyes. He wasn’t about to let anything happen to his girl.

  As Randy shook the cage, Jon squeezed into his own corner, covering his ears. Reminiscent of what happened to Olivia, he didn’t want to hear what would happen next from within Matty’s cage. He closed his eyes.

  The guard reached into the cage and grabbed Matty by the arm as Randy kept shaking the cage on the other side. The guard’s hand slipped and he ground his teeth in anger. He hopped from Matty, took his nightstick and smacked it against Randy’s cage to quiet him down. Then he poked the stick inside and jabbed Randy several times in the chest.

  While the guard did that, Matty loosened her hands. The sight of Randy tortured by the guard was not something she wanted to see. The poking continued as she continued to stare. Her face became as rock and her fists turned likewise. Her nose flared while hearing Randy’s agonizing cries. She began to shake with hatred of the guard. “No more,” kept going through her mind. “No more.”

  With all her strength, Matty lunged at the guard from inside her cage. He stood twice as tall as she was, but height didn’t matter. Like a wolverine, she launched on top of him, scratching his face, poking his eyes and punching his neck. Confusion set over the guard. He had no idea what was happening. As a final act, Matty bore her teeth and dug into his neck locking her jaw on it. She ripped a section from the soft of his shoulder. He would live, but he had lost consciousness from the brutal attack inflicted by the teen.

  When she rose from the passed-out guard, she spat at him and wiped his blood from her mouth. Next, once her sanity returned, she dove for his keys he left behind in the cage door. The guard began to groan and opened his eyes, but Matty had it covered. She leaped to her feet then kicked him in the face knocking him out for good.

  With the keys safely in her hand, she scrambled to Randy and Jon’s cage. Jon still had his hands over his ears and his eyes shut. He didn’t see what his sister had done. When she unlocked the door, Randy popped from his knees to hug her. Jon spilled from the cage and saw the guard’s blood all over the floor and on his sister’s top. She didn’t have to explain anything.

  “Gee, Matty. Do you think you could have made it any messier?” Jon asked, but the question was more rhetorical.

  After breaking from their embrace, Randy grabbed the gun the guard had holstered on his hip and Matty made the nightstick her own. He searched the body finding a few ammo clips. He didn’t place the clips in his pocket right away. Instead, he turned the gun and clips over to Matty. He took the nightstick. She was much better at shooting than he was and he felt more comfortable beating others senseless than shooting them. If anyone had a reason to shoot anyone, it would’ve been Matty. She had her brother to protect.

  “Jon,” She said, checking the gun, “I want you behind me. If we get into a brawl, run. Do you understand me? Run.”

  “Don’t worry about me. Look after yourself, and everything else will take care of itself.”

  Randy had scanned the area before the guard met his untimely nap. Without waiting, he hopped on top of his cage and unlatched the window above. He said, “I know only one thing. If they come through the doors, we should go out through the windows.”

  “Makes sense to me.” Jon said.

  Matty nodded.

  He hooked his fingers to the edge of the window and pulled himself up. From the top of the cage to the edge was five feet. Randy didn’t have a problem lifting himself. He held his weight on his elbows and peeked through the window to see if he could come up with anything.

  * * *

  After having packed the guns and the ammo into the Humvee, Ranger asked Lenny if he could drive. Lenny said he could. Ranger found the keys under the mat on the driver’s side and passed them to him. He had only one thing on his mind now. Rescue the kids. Remembering the stories Lenny and Russell had told, it would have been in their best interest to not waste any more time.

  Ranger decided he’d drive the pickup with the back filled with gas canisters and Lenny would drive the Humvee with Silver riding shotgun. Abigail would sit in the passenger seat with Ranger.

  Before leaving, Ranger had one more thing he had to do.

  He opened the door to Abigail and let her into the cab of the pickup. He closed the door shut and went back to the Humvee, checked Silver and Lenny to make sure they were okay. He saw they had their seat belts securely fastened, which satisfied him. Then, without worrying what anyone thought, he walked toward Russell’s body Lenny had covered with one of the chewers’ shirts. He bent to one knee, bowed his head and said a prayer. When he opened his eyes, he pulled the shirt from Russell’s body and stared at his pale face for a long time. Silver and Abigail watched him as he did this. They couldn’t understand what he was doing, but to Ranger it was a simple thing. He needed to see the face of death to know why he was fighting the chewers. If it weren’t for anything else, he’d have Russell’s face in his mind and the memory of a man he once knew. He had to remember all of it in order to remind him of how fragile life was and that he should never take it for granted.

  * * *

  When their feet landed on the ground outside, the first thing they did was look for cover. Lights that flashed on the warehouse wall could have easily given away the kids’ position. They weren’t ready to give up just yet. They had other things they needed to do. The biggest thing was to find a way out of the fortress. They realized what a mistake it was to have thought others had a semblance of humanity left in them. Never would they allow that mistake to overtake their reasoning again.

  A fence surrounded the warehouse’s perimeter. Beyond that, a series of back alleys all led to the front of the city’s wall. The other way led to the water. Randy wanted to hop the fence and head for the water. He wasn’t sure if the fence was the same type that had protected the silo back in Arizona. So far, they hadn’t encountered anyone else stopping them and the fence was the only barrier to keep them in close proximity to their jail. They wanted out.

  From the far wall of the warehouse, Randy led Matty and Jon across a path to a darkened section of the barrier. Randy scanned the area making sure they were safe.

  “What are we waiting for? Let’s go.” Jon jumped to his feet and was about to scale the fence when Randy grabbed him by the waist and pulled him away.

  “Be patient.” Randy said.

  “What’s the deal?” Matty asked.

  “I have money on this. If we touch that fence, we’ll light up this whole area.” Randy said, panning his sights from one end to the other.

  “Electrified?”

  “I’m pretty sure it is. No guards, No dogs. Just this to keep us in.”

  “We can’t just sit here and do nothing. We’ve got to take a ch
ance.”

  “That’s what we did when we were in the woods. Now look at us.”

  Matty kept her mouth shut. Randy was right and she couldn’t argue with him.

  “Let’s head over to that section there. There’s a dip in the ground. Maybe we can fit under and crawl to the other side.” Randy pointed to the wall.

  “I don’t like this.” Matty said. “If we get caught there’s more of a likelihood guards will catch us on the other side.”

  “Do you have another suggestion?”

  She didn’t. She sat crouched on one knee staring behind them toward the water.

  “At times you guys are so illogical.” Jon said. Without waiting for anyone, he slapped his hand on the fence quickly and pulled it away. Then he patted it again once he found it safe.

  Randy and Matty exchanged a defeated look then followed Jon as he scaled the fence to the top. The trio kept the noise to a minimum and followed through every step with silence. They didn’t have an idea where they were going, but they knew anywhere away from the warehouse was a good direction to go.

  Once Jon reached the top, he waited for the others to catch up. When he could see his sister nearing the top, he snickered. Then he whispered, “Keep up, will ya. I don’t have all night.”

  “Mr. Genius here is feeling pretty good about himself. What are we going to do?” Matty asked.

  “I think we should play king of the hill and knock him from the top.” Randy sped his pace. “That’ll teach him to be right.”

  Before Matty and Randy could act on their teasing, the alarms attached to the top of the outer walls of the warehouse went off. They rang and screamed an alert for everyone to wake up and get to their stations. The prisoners had escaped.

  “Keep climbing.” Matty said. “Jon, don’t wait for us. Head toward to the water, we’ll soon catch up.”

  “Not a chance. I’m waiting for you. There’s no way I’m leaving you behind.” Jon said.

  Randy flew over the other side of the fence. He then extended his hand to Matty, who grabbed it, and pulled to the top. The three then began their descent to the other side. As they drifted down, the sound of dogs, barking and trotting toward them, caused them to speed their pace. Matty looked around wondering where the dogs were coming from. If they made it to the other side in one piece, they’d have been lucky to have enough time to run for cover.

  At the same time, the kids dropped on the other side of the fence. The dogs that had terrorized them appeared from around the corner of the warehouse, barking. Before the kids knew what was happening, the dogs charged and lunged at the fence. The relief on their faces said it all. They were happy to know they were on the other side.

  Their troubles didn’t end there. A whistle blew as guards spotted them.

  They had no other choice. They ran.

  The guards motioned to the others as they charged toward the teens with guns in their hands. The whistle blared throughout the complex as more and more guards scampered to the area. It wasn’t long before they arrived at the spot where the kids had hopped over the fence. The dogs wouldn’t relent from their barking. They wanted out in order to pursue their quarry. One of the guards who braked on the spot of the escape noticed something unusual. His glance first fell on the fence, then on the ground.

  He spotted blood. One of the kids had cut themselves at the top of the fence and was bleeding.

  “Release the dogs!” One of the others called to their friends on the other side of the fence.

  Meanwhile, the kids ran through a section of broken houses, streets and cars. They thought they had entered a war zone. The derelict housing was very different from the immaculate condition the other parts of the city had revealed. They thought they had drifted outside the wall.

  It didn’t stop Randy from pointing to a set of burned houses. “Over there.”

  In a way, he was right heading there. The guards wouldn’t have thought to find them in the worst place in the neighborhood.

  “Wait.” Jon said, holding his side. “I can’t go on.”

  Matty seized him by the hand and pulled him forward, but he bent to his knees and breathed heavily. Randy took the initiative turning back and picking him up. The boy wrapped his hands around his neck and carried him the rest of the way.

  As the whistle came closer, fear shrouded Matty’s face. If they were to catch her again, the guard who wanted to become friendly with her would have wanted to carry further through with his demands. She couldn’t allow herself captured again. It wasn’t something that she was willing to do.

  It was the same time Randy had noticed her hand was bleeding, but she was smart. He watched her wrap the bottom of her shirt around the wound and carried forward.

  Once the guards banked the corner to the derelict area, a whistle caught the kids’ attention. An old man waved to them from the right of the buildings and called them over. “Hurry. This way.”

  Randy didn’t know what to make of it. He could hear the guards behind them and an old man wanted them to follow him. For all he knew it was a trap and there was nowhere to escape except for the water at the docks, which he could smell, but was too far away to reach. He needed to make a decision fast.

  “C’mon. Don’t waste time. This way.” The old man waved to them again.

  Letting out a breath of exasperation, Randy led Matty to the old man.

  By the time the guards came to the dead end, the kids had disappeared in the mist of the broken houses and burnt furniture.

  Chapter 23

  Dawn broke that morning bringing with it beautiful sunlight over the horizon. Not having slept all night, Ranger drove the pickup while Lenny followed with the Humvee. Silver sat in the passenger seat of the Humvee with his eyes closed as the scenery passed him by. Ranger headed north of Paradise near the coast. Abigail held the map giving him directions. She yawned, but she was fine. She didn’t need much sleep, as didn’t Ranger. There was too much to do to think about sleep. Before leaving the neighborhood, Ranger said that their only plan was to rescue Randy, Matty and Jon. They couldn’t waste time sleeping. Evil didn’t sleep, why should they?

  Abigail motioned to make a right turn at the next intersection. At the outskirts of the city, Ranger pulled the pickup to the right then followed the road, which led directly to the coast. It was his plan all along to hit the coast. When they reached Emery’s Dock, he parked the truck. The Humvee pulled several feet behind while the brakes squealed to a stop.

  Stepping from his truck, Ranger saw the boats lining the shore. He thought for a moment and came to realize the boats had been there a long time. He noticed the seaweed that had accumulated along the sides of the vessels and the ropes holding the smaller boats in place had worn thin.

  As Lenny and Silver joined Ranger and Abigail overlooking the dock, the bay’s breeze hit all of them in the face. Abigail closed her eyes enjoying the bay’s wind. If only she could be as the wind, she thought. She wouldn’t have to worry about anything other than to drift in freedom. She would consider that the best life ever. If only it would have come true.

  Waving his hand at Abigail, Ranger wanted the map. When she passed it to him, he spread it on the hood of the pickup, fanning it out so everyone could see. They all surrounded the pickup with Ranger leading them. He placed a rock on the left corner of the map so it wouldn’t blow away. Once satisfied that he had everyone’s attention, he began to explain his plan.

  First, his finger landed on the spot on the map of their current location. He said how they needed a boat and how they were going to use that boat to get into the fortified city. The plan wasn’t any different from the observations on the hill the day before when the idea seemed to show it was the only way into the place. Second, to get into the city, they needed a distraction. That’s where Silver came in. He didn’t reveal what Silver would do, but he briefly mentioned how his actions would precipitate the conquest of Paradise. He would explain all the details later. He promised. Lastly, the Humvee would be the getawa
y vehicle. They’d park it away from view and leave it as the only way of escape. That would mean traveling to the fortress, doing what they had to do and leaving the same way they came in.

  When Lenny had a chance to say something, he cleared his throat and asked about weapons. They had a lot and it would be a reasonable thing to ask if they were going to use them. Ranger nodded, but his plan consisted of taking half the ammo and using it for the distraction.

  With no one other than Ranger knowing what the distraction was, they spoke among themselves trying to guess what was on the zombie slayer’s mind. Other than Silver, Abigail and Lenny didn’t know Ranger well. He had a plan and he was going to carry it out no matter what anyone thought. It was in his nature to lead, and no one would want it any other way.

  * * *

  Jon woke up first, still dazed by all that had happened the night before. He had heard the voices outside and the footsteps running back and forth from one side of the building to the other. The old man had said for everyone to keep quiet. If they made a noise, they would have surely died right there on the spot. They fell asleep while the commotion outside peaked.

  The old man was kind enough to bandage Matty’s hand from the cut she had sustained the night before on the fence as she and the others made their escape. She hadn’t woken up yet and to Jon, that was a good thing. He didn’t want to have her worried about anything, as was her routine.

  Studying his surroundings, Jon noticed the trap door from where they came. He saw the wall that looked as if it was solid but actually led outside. He liked how the room, no larger than twelve feet by twelve feet, had a bookshelf by a picture of an island. He wished they were on an island so that they wouldn’t have to fight the chewers anymore. He crawled over Matty who rested comfortably on her back and grabbed a book from the shelf. Wrong choice. A zombie novel. He slipped it back where it belonged and pulled an adventure story complete with a cover of a boat on the raging sea. He thought anything was better than reading about zombies.