Tyler had had enough of Dan's antics. He respected Dan and his ability to come through in a pinch, but wasn't willing to put up with his lip or his temper. And he definitely wasn't going to put up with him taking swings at a woman, least of all the woman who'd saved them both.
He raised the rifle and aimed the muzzle in the center of Dan's chest. "You can do things our way or walk your happy ass across the parking lot and turn yourself in."
Dan stepped into the steel, staring Tyler in the eyes as he did. "And if I don't?"
"Take another step and find out."
Marcy stood up and pressed the two men apart. "Enough. If we're leaving, we need to go now."
Dan smiled, took a few steps back, and held his arms to the side. "The lady's right. We can discuss this when we're long gone."
Tyler nodded, though he had no desire to discuss anything with Dan. As far as he was concerned, Dan could go his own way once they were far enough away from the hospital to split up. Until then, he wanted to keep him close, if only to keep him from doing anything to give him and Marcy away. "So like I asked before, what's the plan?"
Chapter Four
Before Tyler spoke, the man in white leapt on top of a nearby sandbag barrier, drawing the attention of everyone nearby, including the guardsmen still attending the wounded out front. "Son of man, I was sent here to deliver a message. One I hoped to give well before the enemy made their first move." His voice was grand and majestic, almost soothing to Tyler's still ringing ears. He held a tone of confidence; almost like a politician making a speech but without leaving Tyler feeling duped.
"From this day forth, mankind is no longer your enemy. We face a threat more dangerous than anything you have done, created, or can even conceive. The only way your kind can survive the coming times is to band together. Your communities remain intact. Public services are still operational though in need of supervision. In short, everything you rely on for life is still here, waiting to be turned back on. Now is not the time for forced containment, or to turn your fellow man away. Now is the time to unify under one banner, one cause, to drive the darkness back for good."
A woman rushed out through the opened front doors. Her hair was dirty and knotted, as if she hadn't taken a shower in days, with bags under her eyes that suggested she hadn't slept in many either. She wore a stained gray shirt over a pair of blue jeans with tears cut up and down on each leg. Tyler guessed her to be in her twenties though he wouldn't be surprised to find out she was younger.
"What about my family?" she shouted, sounding to the point of tears. "My baby? Where did they take her?"
"Your daughter has been taken from the chaos that has been unleashed on the world. The innocent and pure were not to be spoiled by the dangers humanity will face in the coming years. Rest assured, she is in safe, caring hands."
She let out a heartbreaking scream and dropped to her knees. The man in white held his position as two men from the hospital walked across the parking lot to help her to her feet. A man wearing dark blue jeans and a Crimson Tide tee shirt embraced her and allowed her to sob on her shoulder.
The other man, older by over thirty years, ran his fingers through his long graying beard, as if contemplating what to say. Tyler watched the older man's hands and arms trembled and started to worry. Is he going to attack the man in white? Or is he shaking because of fear? Tyler had to admit, seeing the man in white standing unharmed in front of him was somewhat intimidating. He'd been deep in the middle of things, taking on two or three attackers at once, yet the only blood on him was that of the ones that died at his feet.
As he watched the family in front, Tyler couldn't imagine how the woman felt. Hearing the man in white say the words had him wondering about his own family. Worried that they might also be among the missing, or rather amongst those taken away. If things had been different, he could see himself standing there like any of them, wondering what to do next.
Tyler shifted his gaze between the two sides, each remaining silent while watching the other. He noticed the old man looking down a few feet in front of him, at a handgun inches away from the outstretched fingers of a fallen attacker.
He doesn't think he can kill him, does he?
Tyler worried about what would happen if the man was foolish enough to attack. He'd watched the man in white rip through people without breaking a sweat. If the old man even tried for the gun, he'd be sliced in half before he got close.
Before Tyler's eyes, he watched his worry come true when the old man broke into a sprint. Tyler turned his head away from him, not wanting to watch another man get cut in two. Not when he was doing it to protect the interests of his family.
As he held his head away, he noticed a bright flash of white light engulf the sky, erasing every ounce of shadows that were cast by the late summer sky. When the flash faded, Tyler turned his head back to the old man, half-expecting to find him cut in half or even burnt to a crisp. Instead, he found the man in white standing a few feet in front of the old man, arms outstretched with a hand on the old man's shoulders. Tears filled the old man's eyes as he held the gun to the ground. He clinched his teeth as he gripped the handle of the weapon, his knuckles going white with the effort.
"What is he doing?" Marcy asked through her fingers.
"Think he blinded the old fuck," Dan said. "Isn't that what you saw?" He looked over at Tyler.
"Didn't see it, but he doesn't look blind. He looks..." Tyler hesitated for a moment while he searched for the right word.
"Pacified," Marcy finished the line for him. "It's like he lost the will to fight."
Tyler agreed. Whatever the man in white did to the old man, it didn't seem to hurt him. He thought, perhaps he had an ability to keep others from harming him or more likely keep him from having to hurt anyone who didn't deserve it. Tyler still feared what the man in white was capable of, but believed he was actually here to help.
"So what are we to do?" the woman said through her sobs. "Connie was everything to me. I can't go on without her."
"But you must." The man in white removed his hand from the old man and placed it on top of the woman's head. "Your daughter's spirit will be with you until the end. She wishes to see you again, but needs you to be strong until that time comes. Can you do that for me?" he asked. "For Connie?"
She nodded then wiped her nose on her sleeve.
He urged the family to return inside, to the safety of the hospital walls while he moved to address the others.
"Members of the Alabama National Guard. I appreciate your valor on the field of battle this day, but rest assured, this battle was pointless. It is not your place to keep these innocent people barred inside, or barricaded out. Your place is to protect as many of these people from harm as you can."
One of the guardsman who Tyler saw directing the others stepped forward. Blood soaked through his camouflage suit made it difficult to tell if he was wounded, or if it was the blood of someone else. Tyler guessed it was the later as he hadn't went inside for treatment since the end.
"We don't have the numbers to deal with..." he pointed to the edge of the parking lot. "That."
"That is why you must avoid pointless skirmishes. The battle today could've been avoided by letting those looking for shelter a roof to cover their heads. Your actions put them in position to become inflicted."
"Our orders were to..."
"Your new orders are to allow any who need shelter and protection inside."
"Until I hear from my commanding officer..."
"Your commanding officer is dead. Lost to a similar incident at Baypointe Hospital as were all three thousand souls inside. If you wish to avoid this fate for this hospital, you must embrace my command. I will not give it again."
"My God," Dan said with a gasp. "Three thousand people. Dead."
"You think it's true?" Marcy asked.
Tyler wasn't sure what he could believe. Sure, the man had come in and saved their asses, but he wasn't sure what kind of power he really held. Tyler d
idn't expect the National Guard to listen to his man. The idea that he could come here and try to command them was absurd. How did he expect to wipe out two hundred years of military traditions with only his words?
"We should leave," Tyler said. "Before they realize we're out here."
"But the man told them..." Marcy started.
"He's right. They won't listen to him. The second he's gone this place will be locked down even worse than before." Dan bent down and picked the M-16 Marcy dropped during the fight and handed it to Tyler.
Tyler checked the magazine before taking one final look around to the front of the building. The guardsmen were speaking amongst each other, looking like they were considering listening to the man. But the one in charge looked like he had other plans. He was looking between the men, wagging his finger at most while speaking with a look that Tyler knew could kill. He'd seen the look during his time with the Army plenty of times. It was the look of command, with a man hell bent on keeping his men in line.
"Let's go." Tyler got to his feet, helped Marcy to hers and started across the parking lot. Not looking back until they were well past the barrier and away from the hospital.
Chapter Five
Tyler didn't stop walking until he reached an abandoned gas station nearly four miles away from the hospital. Marcy begged him to stop two miles back, but he insisted they get as far away from the hospital as they could. He didn't want to risk being there for another attack.
Not to mention, he didn't want to be caught walking away with the M-16s. He still had four full magazines of ammunition for the guns, not counting the bullets still in the guns. After his mishap near the end of the battle, he hoped he didn't have to use the guns again, but was still glad to have them just in case.
Other than a handful of abandoned cars, the parking lot was empty. Each of the gas pumps had a plastic bag over the handles as a symbol that the pump was down or the tank was out of gas. Tyler wondered which was the case. Did the power go out before all the gas was gone, or did people buy up all the gas before that happened. He checked the price on the signboard at the corner and noticed all the numbers gone, minus the final little number nine he always hated to see.
Unlike some of the other buildings in the area, the gas station's windows were still in one piece. As they got closer to the store, Tyler saw why. Other than a few newspapers, loads of scattered trash, and the store fixtures, the place was empty. He doubted there was a single thing left on the shelves inside.
"I wonder if someone robbed this store too," Marcy said, referencing the CVS she worked at on the day of the attack. Her store was being rummaged when Tyler and her made their escape, likely taking anything of use from inside.
"I bet most the town's like this," Dan said, cupping his hands to the window to take a look inside. "Think they left a bag of chips?"
Tyler wondered the same thing. It had been close to twenty hours since their last meal the night before though he could hardly call it a meal. Dinner consisted of a single slice of bread and a small coffee cup half full of chicken broth. It did a better job at making him more hungry than it did of filling him up.
"Check the door and see." Tyler left Dan to the building while he checked the cars in the parking lot for anything of use. Food and water were only some of the concerns he had for the following days. At some point he needed to make the trip back home, and that meant finding items to make an extended trip. At the least he needed a sleeping bag or two, a backpack, a knife, enough food and water to make it a couple of days, and ideally some form of transportation.
Deep down he also felt like he needed to have a phone though it seemed to be a relic of days long past. Now away from the cramped confines of the hospital, he wanted nothing more than to talk to his family. He'd spent days listening to countless others worrying about the fates of their loved ones. Some had gone missing in the early hours of the 12th, others gone in the following days. In a way, Tyler envied these people. Sure, he felt bad for their loss, but they had a sense of closure. They, at least, had an idea what happened to their loved ones at first, whether they were amongst the missing or injured. Tyler's family was still half the country away and he was stuck without a way to even call and talk to them.
Other than a half empty carton of cigarettes, the first car he searched came up empty. The second, and its supply of tools and gadgets in the back wasn't much better. He was starting to wonder if the cars had already been picked through, just like the store, when he came upon a locked SUV.
Tyler tried to peer inside, but the Escalade's tinted windows stopped him from looking inside. He tried the other windows, one at a time, each with a similar story. After making a full pass he saw there was no way to see what was inside without getting in, and without a key that would prove impossible. Unless...
Tyler rushed to the last car he searched, the one with a trunk full of tools. He opened the hatchback and then the toolbox and started to go through everything inside. What he needed was a hammer or a crowbar, but anything solid would do. He settled on a three-quarter inch drive ratchet with a three-quarter inch socket as his tool of choice. It wasn't a hammer, but it would work just the same.
He went back to the Escalade, stopping near the rear passenger side window. His heart rate shot through the roof as he prepared himself for what he was about to do. In his life he had to do many things he regretted. Most of them in his four years in the Army. Yet, never once had he even considered damaging someone else's property on purpose, let alone do it to get at the things inside. The whole thing felt wrong, like he was allowing an unblemished part of him to be tarnished forever, leaving yet another stain on his soul. Thinking about it made him feel silly as if he hadn't gunned down people just a few hours ago.
Tyler scanned the area one last time, wanting to see if anyone was watching what he was about to do. When he found nobody he reared back and slammed the socket through the rear window, shattering into thousands of tiny pieces. A few shards of glass caught him on the top of his hand as they crashed to the ground, creating dozens of tiny cuts. None of them would be fatal or require immediate treatment, but he knew washing it would be painful later.
He used the ratchet to clear the rest of the remaining glass from the window before reaching inside and unlocking the door.
"Find anything worthwhile?" Dan asked as he shoved a handful of chips into his mouth.
Tyler ignored the man, even as his stomach begged for a handful of the chips. He wanted to know if he'd wasted his time breaking the window before making a pass inside for himself.
The backseat of the car was empty, the only thing around was the shattered glass from the window. Not wanting to cut up his legs and knees too, he reached to the front and unlocked the passenger side door then went around to the front. Inside, on the dashboard was Garmin unit that looked fresh out of the box. He wasn't sure if it would still work now that the power had gone out, but took the unit anyways to play it safe. The trip back to Flagstaff was fairly straightforward in the past, but now, with the abandoned vehicles and potential ambush points, he wasn't sure about taking the fast way. That meant circling around major cities, often for miles, to avoid as many people as he could. The GPS could come in handy for that, saying he could find a car or a way to charge it.
Now that he'd found the GPS he was hopeful the truck had more, so he opened the glove boxes and rifled inside. He ripped out stacks and stacks of paper and threw them on the floorboard. They were mainly old receipts, some for gas, others for food, there were even a couple receipts from the dealer the last few times it had been serviced. The only other thing of note were the owners manuals, still in their protective sleeves.
Tyler closed the glove box and tried the center console. Knowing how his wife and half the guys at work treated their vehicles, he expected the console to be full of junk as well. His wife, a clean freak at home, often liked to leave half-eaten sandwiches tucked inside or the occasional McDonald's apple pie. Surely things she'd picked up while running erran
ds. Tyler knew it wasn't because she didn't want to buy food for anyone else. She was more likely to think about everyone else other than herself. Most the time she'd pick up a bite to eat, only get around to part of it before getting home. Then instead of throwing it in the trash for everyone to see, she'd let it rot in the car promising to throw it away next time she was out.
Days then turned into weeks, weeks into months, until one day she'd come to Tyler complaining about a horrible smell in her car. It never took him long to find the problem though he never would tell her he knew. He figured it could always be their little secret.
But instead of finding mounds of discarded food or unnecessary receipts, he found something much more valuable. Poking out from underneath a CD case was the handle of a handgun. He threw the CDs onto the driver's seat and grabbed the gun, noticing the knife below it. Tyler wasn't sure who owned the car before now, but he knew they were ready for trouble. He popped out the magazine and noticed it was fully loaded. He lifted his shirt and tucked the gun into his waistband, figuring it might come in handy later. As for the knife, he inspected it as he stepped out of the car.
The blade of the knife was three inches long and nearly one inch wide and didn't flex when he bent it with his thumbs. It folded into a red stainless steel handle with a metal clip on one side. The knife wouldn't be great to have in a fight, but with the M-16 and the handgun, he was more concerned with having it for survival reasons.
Sure he had everything from the front, he reached onto the driver's side and hit the latch to the trunk, that clicked as he flipped the lever. Tyler got out of the Escalade, clipped the knife to his belt, and walked to the back.
"Wow, pretty blade you got there," Dan said, offering the bag.
"Hopefully they have something else in back." Tyler grabbed a handful of chips and shoved them in his mouth. He scarfed them down before opening the back, almost wishing he'd taken his time. There would be more food, but only one chance to search the car, he didn't want to risk losing whatever goods were in back to a grumbling stomach. Who knew when they find something else?
Echoes of Tomorrow Season One: Episode Four (Echoes of Tomorrow: Season One Book 4) Page 3