by Steven Pajak
During the lull, Matt had the more seriously wounded moved to the barn where Cleona and the children stayed. Ravi refused to go at first, but after some coaxing, Matt convinced her to go with her patients. He promised that if anyone here needed trauma assistance, he’d send a runner.
Matt also used the quiet time to redeploy his teams, condensing their fighting positions and bringing them closer to the main house. He realized by doing this he was giving the enemy more ground, but if he didn’t tighten his lines, there’d be gaping holes into which the enemy could slip anyway and cause more chaos by forcing them to fire into their own.
Inside the main house, Matt made a tour of some of the walking wounded and took a moment to check on Ian. He was sitting on the sofa starring into the fireplace.
“How’s the shoulder?” Matt asked.
“I can hardly move it, but there’s not too much pain. Ravi gave me something that took care of that, bless her,” Ian said.
Hunkering down next to him, Matt said, “Why don’t you head back and check on your mom?”
“I’m still in this fight. I can shoot with one hand if necessary.”
“No doubt, brother.” He waited a beat and then said, “Truth is, I was hoping you’d make sure Wesley and Joshua were there. No one’s seen them since right around when the truck broke through and I’m worried.”
Ian looked at him for a moment, searching his eyes, perhaps to see if he was lying. Finally, he said, “You got it, mate. I really should see what the little buggers got up to. After all, I gave them the guns, didn’t I?”
“Good man,” Matt said. He helped Ian up off the sofa and handed him his rifle. “Let Ravi know we’re still good here. Make sure she don’t try to sneak back up here. You know how she gets.”
“I’ll tie her down if I have to,” Ian said and smiled. “Actually, I think I’d quite enjoy that. She’s a real looker, that one.”
“Take it easy, brother. She’s a feisty lady and right now you’re not up for that challenge.”
“We’ll see,” he said and shouldered his rifle and left out the side door, where Wes and Joshua had set up their fighting station.
In the kitchen, he found Lara and another woman he did not know—he needed to ask Crystal or someone from Providence to give him a list of names so he could start memorizing them. The two were brewing up coffee and fixing quick sandwiches to bring out to the lines.
The sun was just starting to rise to the east, a new dawn on what was probably the longest day in his life. She smiled when she saw him and put down the slices of bread she was holding so that she could embrace him.
“I missed you so much,” Lara whispered against his neck.
“I missed you, too,” he said, hugging her firmly. He did not want to let her go.
They embraced for almost a minute before Lara backed up and then planted a kiss on his lips. She held his face in her hands and gently rubbed the stubble on his cheeks. “You need a shave, Mister Scratchy.”
“How are you holding up?”
“I’m fine,” she said and let his face go.
“Have you seen Kat this morning?”
“Yes. She’s…Kat. She’s good, or at least she’s good at faking it.”
“Do you think you can talk her into taking some time in the rear?”
Lara looked at him like he was being ridiculous. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
He raised his hands and took a couple of steps back. “Sorry.”
“Hey, have you seen Wesley? I’m worried about him.”
“Ian is going to look for him and Joshua. Someone said they saw them heading for the rear last night with Crystal.”
“Poor kids. They must have been horrified. Whose idea was it to let them stay, let alone give them guns?”
“That was Ian’s idea. I had nothing to do with it.”
Just as Lara was about to respond, Sam burst in through the front door. She was winded from running and doubled over to try to catch her breath.
“What is it, Sam? Is Kat hurt?”
She shook her head. “They have…your brother.”
“What? Brian is alive?”
Instead of trying to explain, Sam took Matt’s hand and pulled him out of the house leaving Lara in the kitchen with the unnamed girl from Providence.
* * *
“They showed up a few minutes ago, holding the white flag,” Kat said. “They’ve been standing there waiting. They want to talk to you.”
“Is it him?” Matt asked.
Kat held out the binoculars and Matt took them. “It’s him.”
Using the binoculars, Matt glassed the group of men and women who stood about a quarter mile up the road. There were twelve or so, standing more or less behind the man with a blue parka and cowboy boots. On his knees, Brian’s head hung down, but Matt knew it was his brother. He wore only a black T-shirt and jeans. He must be freezing right now.
As if the man in the parka knew he was looking, he reached down and pulled Brian’s hair back, forcing him to look up. His face was bloody, distended with bruises, almost unrecognizable.
“Mother fucker,” Matt said and dropped the binoculars.
He was quiet for a moment, struggling to compose himself. His first reaction was to charge out there, guns blazing, but knew that would not end well for any of them. Besides, Brian was alive—bruised and battered, but alive—and he wanted to keep him that way.
Turning to Kat, he asked, “Did you see any of the others? Did you see Phil?”
She shook her head.
Matt asked, “What does he want?”
“He wants to talk to you.”
Again, as if he knew exactly what they were up to, the man in the blue parka called out, “I want to talk to whomever is in charge. I have a proposition. I want to parley!”
“Parley?” Sam asks. “History channel much?”
Scooping up the binoculars, Matt glassed the area again. Aside from the twelve, he did not see any other soldiers. The area surrounding the main road was open land, not many places to hide an army. The road was clear behind them all the way to the main entrance.
“You’re not really thinking about going out there, are you?”
Handing the binoculars to Kat this time, Matt looked around at his own group. He had nearly forty men and women still dug in and able to fight. If this was some kind of trap and he was ambushed, they still had enough muscle to fend off an attack. In daylight, it would be even harder for the enemy to sneak up on them.
“Justin! Get me a team of five. We’re going out there.”
Sam started to protest, but Kat quickly put an arm around her shoulders and whispered something in her ear. Sam looked at Matt, but said nothing. He had no idea what the other woman said, but whatever it was, it worked.
In a few minutes, Justin returned with a group of men and women, a mix of their own and a few from Providence. “Make sure your weapons are locked and loaded, but no one fires unless I say. This is a negotiation, not an opportunity for revenge. If anyone does not understand that, step away right now. If you do something stupid that gets my brother killed, you will find yourself following right behind him. Do I make myself clear?”
Everyone nodded their understanding.
“All right, let’s go. Keep your eyes open and look alive.”
* * *
Matt stood just five feet in front of a madman. He was in his thirties, medium build. Tufts of thick brown hair poked out from beneath the hood of his parka. He wore blue jeans tucked in a pair of dark brown cowboy boots. Across his chest, he wore a leather holster with what looked like a pretty massive revolver. By all appearances, this was not the sort of man anyone would consider a threat. But one look at the man’s eyes told you all you needed to know. Tammy had been right, the man was bat shit crazy.
“My name is Alvin, I presume you are in charge here?”
“I am,” Matt said.
Brian looked up then and Matt cringed at the sight of him. “Why did you come?”
“That’s far enough. “May I know your name please?”
“Matt.”
“Very good, Matt. I must congratulate you thus far on very well fought battle. You have some military experience, I presume?”
When Matt did not respond, Alvin continued. “Yes, of course you do. I have some men, too, with experience. They tell me you’ve responded in textbook format to our attacks thus far. You’ve been quite a challenge, I must admit. And I do enjoy a challenge.”
Brian laughed and spit a clump of blood onto the ground. Alvin looked down at him, eye blazing. “He still has some fight in him. Perhaps we should do something about that.”
“No,” Matt said. “I’m only here because of him. You hurt him anymore and this conversation is over.”
“Parley,” Alvin corrected. “Negotiation during time of war is called a parley.”
“Whatever, I swear it ends now if you hurt him anymore.”
Alvin took a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh. “Very well. So much for the pleasantries. Let’s talk terms.”
“Give him nothing,” Brian mumbled. It was hard for him to look up or to speak. His lips were swollen twice their size.
Ignoring him, Alvin said, “What I propose is a simple trade. Your brother for Tammy.”
“Tammy?” Matt asked, confused. The last time he saw Tammy she was with Brian. She insisted on staying with him at Randall Oaks.
“Yes, she was my brother’s…play thing.”
“Don’t,” Brian said. He tried to look up again, but could only manage to roll his eyes up in an attempt to stare at his brother.
“Quiet!” Alvin yelled. He took another deep breath in an attempt to quell his temper. “Please remain silent. We are negotiating and you having nothing to contribute to the matter. Now where were we? Oh, yes, I want my brother’s traitorous slut in exchange for your brother.”
“If I give you Tammy, you’ll return my brother. Is that correct?”
“You have my word,” Alvin said.
“And then what?” Matt asked. “You just walk away from here?”
Alvin laughed now. “Of course not. We’re just getting started here.”
Matt took another step forward now and said, “Why don’t you just tell me what you want and stop wasting our time here.”
“Now what’s the fun in that?” Alvin asked.
“I’m not having fun, you sick bastard. You called me out here, you wanted parley, so tell me your damn terms.”
“So fiery. I like that, Matt. I really do.” Alvin said. “Okay, right to brass tacks. What do I want? I want everything.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” Matt asked.
Alvin smiled again and Matt thought he looked like a serial killer. “I want Tammy. Then I want the piece of shit that killed my brother. After that, I want this farm and everyone on it. How’s that for terms?”
“You’re crazy,” Matt said.
“Far from it,” Alvin said. “I’ve never been saner. I’ve never seen things so clearly. I’ve never understood the world in the way I do now.”
“You said you want to parley, to negotiate, yet you tell me you want everything, but offer me nothing.”
“Okay, I see your point.”
“I think we’re done here,” Matt said. “When you’re serious about ending this, I’ll be back.”
Matt turned to go, but halted when Alvin said, “Don’t you dare walk away from me.”
Matt turned again to face the mad man.
“If you walk away now, I will kill every last one of you,” Alvin said. “Don’t mistake my compliments for weakness, Matt. You’ve put up a good defense, and you might just have what it takes to hold out a little longer.”
He paused for a moment, collecting his thoughts. Finally, he said, “Do you know what I have just up the road, Matt? I have more than one hundred men and women still sitting in reserve. You think you’ve held your own against us? Well, news flash, son, I’ve just been toying with you!”
“Bullshit,” Matt said. “You’ve thrown your best at us and you’ve failed.”
“You’re a cocky little shit, aren’t you? Well, let me tell you what’s going to happen next. First, I’m going to send in two trucks filled with my pets. Let them have a little fun with you, chew off some faces, gnaw on some bones. Then, after they’re finished with you, I’m going to send my full reserve right down this road, right into the heart of your little farm and they’re going to butcher every last man, woman and child.
“But not you,” Alvin said. “I’m going to save you for last. I’m going to have fun with you. I’m going to kill you slowly. I’m going to make you suffer, do you hear me mother fucker! Do you hear me you little shit?”
“I killed him,” Brian said.
For a moment, both Matt and Alvin looked at Brian, confused. Then Alvin asked, “What in the hell are you blabbering?”
“I killed your brother” Brian mumbled.
His hand snatched out cat-quick and grabbed Brian’s chin and forced him to look at him. “What did you say?”
“Leave him alone,” Matt said and stepped forward.
Quick as a professional gunslinger, Alvin drew the Dirty Harry-sized revolver from the holster, and in one fluid movement, pressed the barrel against Brian’s head.
To Matt he said, “Back off.” He did not wait to see if Matt would comply. Instead, he knelt down beside Brian, the gun still trained on his head. “You killed my brother?”
Brian nodded. “I beat him like a bitch.”
Alvin was silent, listening.
“I stomped his fucking face…until it looked like jelly.”
Alvin continued to stare at him in silence, taking in every word.
“He cried like a girl and pissed himself—”
Before Brian could finish the sentence, Alvin stood suddenly and pulled the trigger. The report from the handgun was massive; everyone held riveted by shock or fear of what they knew would come next. The force of the round was so severe that the entire right side of Brian’s face exploded, a gaping maw of burned, mushed flesh was all that remained.
For a moment, Alvin looked down at Brian, taking in every detail, then he looked back at Matt. Matt tried to speak, but no words came; he was in shock, stunned. He simply shook his head in denial.
Almost a full minute ticked away and finally Alvin said, “I think we have a problem.”
Matt was the first to react. He screamed, “No!” and raised his weapon, firing rapidly and blindly into the group of men. His first shot took Alvin in the neck, and the second slammed into his chest, knocking him back, although he managed to keep his feet beneath him.
As his third and fourth rounds hit other targets beyond Alvin, Matt turned and started to run toward cover. He took no more than three or four running steps before return fire struck him, taking him to the ground.
* * *
“Fall back!” Justin shouted. He fired the AR-15 with one hand while dragging Matt with the other. He managed to get about ten feet before taking a round to the leg. Dropping to his knees, he fired the last of his rounds and awkwardly fumbled through a reload.
Around him, the others were returning fire. One of the women from Providence—a dark hair woman in her forties—knelt beside him. “Go, I’ll cover you!”
Slamming his mag into the AR, he nodded and shouldered the rifle. He stood, almost falling at first. The pain in his thigh was excruciating, but he was able to support his own weight. He grabbed Matt under his arms and started to drag him again, toward the burned vehicle about ten yards away. Bullets whizzed past, voices we shouting while others screamed in pain.
Nearly ten feet from the vehicle, the woman who provided covering fire took one of Matt’s arms and helped Justin drag him behind the husk of metal where they both collapsed to the ground just as a barrage of bullets kicked
up dust where they stood just moments ago.
“It’s just us!” the woman shouted.
“What?”
“The rest of them are gone!” she shouted. “They’re dead!”
Justin nodded and shrugged the AR off his shoulder. He handed to the woman and said, “Keep them off us as long as you can!”
The woman nodded, taking the gun. “Jessica!” she shouted.
“Justin!” he shouted back.
At least they would know each other’s names before they died.
He scooted on his butt so he could take a look at Matt. He knew Matt was hit, but he did not know how badly until he saw the chest wound. The entire front of Matt’s coat was soaked in blood. Shifting to his knees, Justin leaned over and unzipped the coat, spreading back the flaps to get a better look. What he found was a second wound, lower left abdomen.
Jessica was firing the AR now. From their rear, he heard the sounds of other guns. Help was coming, but Justin knew it was too late.
Lara fell to the ground beside him and Justin watched with tears in his eyes as she lifted Matt’s head into her lap. “He’s not breathing!” she sobbed. “Justin he’s not breathing!”
Justin put a hand on her shoulder, knowing there was nothing more he could do to comfort her. Leaving her with Matt, Justin picked up her rifle and joined the fight. Sam and Kat were there, so was Crystal, Randy, others Justin didn’t recognize, firing, knowing full well that they were probably making their last stand.
A small group of reinforcements was enroot down the main road. Alvin said he had a hundred men out there. Maybe he wasn’t bluffing. If only they could hold them off here, they might still have a chance.
In the distance, someone was calling for a ceasefire. Slowly, the sound of gunshots came to a stop on both sides, a welcome silence after the abrupt chaos. “Alvin is dead! We don’t want what he wanted. We just want some supplies. We don’t care about the farm!”