The Dark Days Series | Book 2 | Sanctuary

by Cole, Christopher

  I noticed that Ashley had her radio out.

  “What’s up?” I asked.

  “We only heard it briefly, but there was some chatter about a storm coming,” Ashley said.

  “A storm? What storm?”

  “A big thunderstorm coming off the ocean. High winds, lots of rain, and lightning,” Shaun said.

  “Basically, what you were born in,” Ashley said.

  “If that thing hits us, we’re gonna have to wait it out . . . if it doesn’t knock down trees on top of us,” Shaun said.

  I started, “But some of these people don’t have that kind of time. They need a hospital or they’re—”

  “Exactly, and there are still bandits and zombies out there.”

  “Also, we’ve asked around and these two, Danny and Helga, saw where Kate and her group went,” Warren said.

  “Really? Where did they go?” Ellen asked.

  “East. We stayed in touch with them for as long as we could before we both got out of range. The zombies chased all night and probably all morning,” Danny said.

  “East . . . is there any town or any kind of shelter they might use?” Ellen asked.

  I pulled out a map and looked.

  “Well, there’s a small town called McCloud about ten or fifteen miles east of here, and another town past that called Greenwood, but . . . we have no idea if they’re both crawling with zombies or if they’re both empty,” I stated.

  “And for all we know they could still be running further east, or maybe they took their chances in the woods,” Warren added.

  “So, we have no way of knowing where the hell they are? Just their general direction, which is east?” Ellen asked.

  “Pretty much. They would have to stop to rest and to find water. Assuming one of them has their map, their best option is one of those two towns if they’re looking for water or these creeks around here,” Danny said, pointing.

  “However, when it comes to a group of survivors fighting off zombies . . . that leaves a trail – dead bodies,” Helga said.

  “Dead bodies?” Ellen asked.

  “Yes, zombies don’t feed on other zombies, but crows do. So, we find the bodies, we find their trail and we find them.”

  “So, what do we do?” I asked.

  “Well, we know what you’re gonna do,” Ashley sighed.

  “What?”

  “Ellen is gonna go after her friends and disregard orders to wait for backup and because you promised Clara, you’ll take care of her daughter, you’re gonna go with Ellen which will drag the rest of us with you on this incredibly bad and very dangerous journey.”

  Ellen crossed her arms and rolled her eyes and stated, “Well, I didn’t ask for your help.”

  “No, but you’re gonna ask for his help.”

  I turned to look at her and she looked at me.

  I started, “Ellen, I—”

  Ellen sighed, “You have a lot of friends . . . because you’re a good person and you’re likable . . . like Mom. I don’t have a lot of friends . . . because I’m not like Mom. I’m not funny or charming or popular and you know what? I’m okay with that, because not everyone is like Mom or you . . . but having at least one friend, ONE friend that understands me, that makes this whole shitstorm just a little less shitty than it otherwise is. Kate is my friend. Didn’t you do something especially dangerous to save your friend?”

  My eyes slightly widened by that remark.

  “Yeah . . . I know all about the distance you went to save Molly and I know you wouldn’t hesitate to do it again if you had a chance to save her . . . so that any of them could live. So please, don’t tell me I shouldn’t do whatever I can to save my friend.”

  I sighed, “Okay, she does have a point. Plus, when I saved Molly I did it alone. We have numbers and we have guns, so we’ve got a better advantage.” Trying to sound optimistic.

  Ashley rolled her eyes in frustration and spoke, “Fine, but we’re gonna need everyone.”

  “Who’s everyone?” Shaun asked.

  Before anyone could even answer that question, we heard gunfire in the distance followed by a grenade explosion. We were all alerted and instantly had our weapons ready as we rushed to cover by the windows. We looked over and saw both our guys and bandits shooting at each other outside the hotel in the streets.

  “We just can’t buy a goddamn break,” Shaun said.

  “Yep,” Warren said, pulling the charging handle on this rifle.

  We crawled to a balcony with a small wooden wall to act as a railing and started shooting at the bandits. The 300 Blackout wasn’t great for long-distance but still very effective at a certain distance, because it was doing more damage than the 556. The bandits got the jump on us. Several Black Shadows took cover to fire back, but they didn’t see bandits flanking them from the side and gunning them down. For each kill, the bandits stripped any weapons and gear on Shadows and Soldiers they murdered. Some were howling like they made a big find and even laughing.

  Seeing this made my blood boil and my fists clench. From the looks on my friends’ faces, they were feeling the same with their gritted teeth and murder in their glaring eyes. We wanted to get down there and paint the streets with these bastards’ blood. However, we saw that to the left, behind some houses, Carrie and Jess and some other Shadows were pinned down!

  “Ashley! The bandits got Carrie and Jess pinned down! Left flank, ten o’clock!” I called.

  “Let’s get down and flank them from the right!” Ashley said.

  We went downstairs and as we got outside, Captain Noir was shooting at bandits with his shotgun and scoring some hits. One bandit came through a door of a house to the right and I put three bullets in him before Captain Noir could shoot him. The bandit’s blood sprayed on the walls and he fell dead. Captain Noir turned to us as we ducked in cover with him.

  “Captain! Carrie and Jess are pinned down that way, past those houses near the RV park! We gotta help them!” I said.

  Captain looked where I was pointing and said, “Alright, we’re gonna flank them through those houses. Try to keep up. Let’s go!”

  We ran across the street to some houses and hopped the fences to get closer to our friends. Then some bandits crossed our paths and took cover behind some old cars – they’re coordinating where to attack us. They didn’t see us and Captain Noir quietly pulled out a frag grenade, pulled the pin and rolled it under one of the cars. About two seconds after they stopped talking and saw it, the grenade blew up. Most of the bandits were dead while the others were disorientated from the blast and Captain Noir put two of them down with his shotgun – the buckshot blew their skulls open. One bandit was still alive and I put a bullet in his head – it wasn’t as big of a mess as Captain Noir’s shotgun, but there was plenty of blood. We made our way through the houses, but there were more bandits coming in from the right. Sometimes we had to stop to lay down some suppressing fire to keep them back.

  Then a bandit charged and tackled Captain Noir from the backyard and they both were wrestling in the front yard. Before we could help, more bandits came rushing in. One bandit in his late teens came at me with a pistol. I grabbed his pistol hand with my right, but he grabbed my left and had me pinned to the wall. My friends were fighting and wrestling with other bandits. The bandit tried to shoot me, but was only shooting above my head as pieces of the wall fell on top of my hat. Finally, I kneed him in the nuts, then grabbed his shoulders and pulled hard making his head hit the wall before kicking him in the chest.

  I heard Grim’s voice in my head, “The world is your weapon. Use it.”

  I grabbed him and slammed him against the wall, grabbed a glass and hit him in the face with it. The vase shattered leaving some shards in his face and then I pulled out my knife and stabbed him in the side several times and then stabbed him in the throat. Ellen was dealing with one teen bandit in the kitchen that had her pinned to the floor with a crowbar. She pulled out her Glock 19 and shot him in the hip, before shooting him in the face. Ash
ley was pinned against another wall, but she kneed her teen bandit in the nuts, grabbed a bottle, smashed it on his face, then grabbed his head and slammed it on the corner of a bookshelf. Ashley then grabbed the pistol out of his hand and shot him in the head, but when she turned to shoot the big bandit Warren and Shaun were dealing with, it only had one bullet left. She shot him in the upper right arm.

  I raised my rifle, but with all three of them wrestling I couldn’t get a clear shot and neither could Ashley. Shaun was choking the bandit from behind with a chokehold or at least the best he could do around that big thick neck of that big bastard. As Shaun was choking him, Warren pulled out his knife and was stabbing the bandit repeatedly in the torso, specifically the gut, and then when the bandit fell to one knee, Shaun pulled out his knife and stabbed the bandit in the eye. The bandit made one last cry of pain before he died. Another bandit flew at us from nowhere and Ellen was the first to gun him down – she put five bullets in his face before kicking him in the ribs.

  “Ellen!” I called.

  She stopped and gave me a wild look.

  “He’s dead . . . you don’t have to shoot each son of bitch ten times. Bullets aren’t easy to come by nowadays.”

  “I’d rather make sure they’re dead as a doornail than be dead myself.”

  “Yeah, but all you need is just one in the head or three in the chest. That’s all it takes.”

  We looked outside at the bandit fighting Captain Noir with a knife. The bandit tried to stab Captain Noir, but he grabbed the knife hand and did a shoulder throw on him. The bandit sliced the captain’s arm and then kicked his legs making him trip. Captain Noir rolled over and pulled out his sidearm and shot the bandit several times in the chest as he was coming at him. Captain Noir got up, grabbed his shotgun, and we continued our way to Carrie and Jess.

  When we got there, Carrie and Jess were shooting at bandits at a different location from behind a wrecked truck. The bandits didn’t see us and we picked our targets before shooting them – it worked like clockwork. We waved to Carrie and Jess giving the all-clear and then regrouped.

  “You okay?” Ashley asked.

  “We’re fine,” Carrie answered.

  “There’s more coming in from the main road,” Jess added.

  I looked around at the houses, the rooftops. Grim’s voice came again, “Take the high grounds. Stay above your enemy if you can.”

  “Guys! Take the high ground! Use the rooftops!” I said.

  Danny and Helga’s eyes widened with realization.

  “Get a good vantage point!” Helga said.

  “Yeah! Pick them off with the rifles!” Danny said, before running off.

  “Do what Nate says! Get to the other side and lay down some suppressive fire!” Captain Noir ordered, before running.

  “Come on!” I said.

  We went to where the bandits were coming from. I had the others follow me to a house by the edge of the main road. I got to the back porch, so we could climb up and use the roof as cover.

  “Here! Climb up and shoot the assholes from up there!” I said, moving a table.

  “Alright, take that house down the block to cover the left flank!” Carrie replied.

  Ashley climbed on the table and before climbing to the roof she said, “Christ, I fucking hate climbing shit.”

  “Me, too,” Carrie grunted, while climbing.

  Part of the gutter broke, causing Ellen to slip on the roof. She growled angrily before regaining her balance.

  I ran down the street with Warren and Shaun to another house with a back porch and climbed to the roof. I looked over and saw Danny with Helga on the roof of another house.

  “Nate. Let’s go Silverado and Outlaw Josey Wales on these dicks,” Ashley said, on the radio.

  I looked over and saw she had her Marlin rifle out and ready.

  “I couldn’t agree more,” I replied back on the radio.

  I pulled out my Marlin rifle.

  “Here’s hoping 45-70 doesn’t kick too hard,” I said, before racking the lever.

  “Here’s hoping you’re a good shot with that,” Shaun said.

  “We’ll cover you. Don’t miss,” Warren said, reloading his rifle.

  The bandits were closing in on foot from all sides taking cover behind houses, cars, or trees. Our guys were already shooting at them and the bandits were firing back. I aimed my rifle at one bandit leaning on the hood of a car shooting. My aim was steady before squeezing off the first shot. The Marlin kicked a hell of a lot more than any AR-15, but I was able to take it. The shot hit directly in the bandit’s torso in the center and a spray of blood came out both ends of his body before he fell dead. I racked the lever to get another round in the chamber before aiming at my next target, taking cover by a house. I aimed and hit him in the heart. There was a bandit running, but was hit in the left side of his ribs and I looked over to see that it was Ashley who shot him. After killing six, which the rifle only had a capacity of six rounds, I carefully reloaded while trying not to slip and fall off the damn roof – it’s actually a little annoying to reload one bullet at a time. Every now and then, I had to switch over to my AR rifle to kill any bandits that got too close. Two bandits ran around the house to try and flank us, but Warren saw them coming and killed them both. The same happened to the girls, but Carrie pulled her sidearm out and shot both bandits, then reloaded her rifle and shot some more bandits continuing their approach. Danny was scoring hits with his rifle, and I saw Ashley scored a headshot – his blood sprayed a car door. Together, we were picking the enemies off before whoever remained ran off – I heard Grim again, “Once they’re engaged, they’ve forfeited the right to retreat” – I took aim at one bandit running away and hit him in the center of his back, dropping him.

  “Yeah, you better fucking run,” I said, racking the lever on my rifle.

  “Goddamn cowards,” Warren added.

  We jumped down from the roof and met up. I hugged Ashley and Carrie and they hugged back.

  “This may be an awkward time to tell you two how proud I am of you both, but I’m gonna say it anyway, you two are something else,” I said.

  “I’m proud of you, honey. Both of you,” Ashley said.

  “Same here. I love you guys,” Carrie said.

  “So, is everyone good?” Jess asked.

  “Yeah, we kicked their asses!” Helga said confidently.

  “How many did you get with that rifle?” I asked, pointing at Ashley’s Marlin rifle.

  “Eighteen kills, it kicks. You?” Ashley asked.

  “Fifteen, makes AR-15s look like training wheels.”

  “Guys?” Warren called, looking at some dead bandits.

  We turned to him.

  “Is it me or are a lot of these bandits like in their teens?” Warren asked.

  We looked closely at some of the dead bandits and saw that Warren was right. Most of the bandits were in their late teens. There were a handful of adults, but not a lot.

  “What the hell? You’re right. What’s up with tha—? What a minute,” I said, as I spotted something.

  A piece of paper hanging out of the jacket pocket in one of the dead bandits. I crouched down and pulled it out to find it was a notepad. Some of the dead guy’s blood was on it, but it was still readable. One page was a list of things they needed from food, ammo, shoes, etc. Other pages were doodles, but one page had a ‘Kill Score’ with tally marks on it with names next to the marks – Greg had the most tally marks. My friends gathered around looking at the notepad.

  “What the fuck? They’re keeping score?!” Ashley asked.

  “What the fuck do these assholes think this is? A fucking game?!” Molly asked.

  “Who knows and who cares? We’re alive because they’re dead and that’s all we need to worry about,” Danny said putting an arm around my shoulder.

  I tossed the notepad, “He’s right. Fuck these guys. If they want to sink further in the gutters of low-lives and scumbag murderers, let ‘em. Let’s worry
about our people.”

  “Agreed. Now, we need to destroy the brains before they turn,” Helga warned.

  “Right, right, right,” Danny said, pulling out his machete.

  “Don’t waste any bullets unless you have to,” Ashley said.

  “And let’s loot all the bandits for their ammo and weapons before burning them. Every bullet counts,” Warren stated.

  “Ashley!” Sarah came running.

  “Sarah!” Ashley ran to Sarah.

  They hugged each other tight and fervently.

  “Are you okay?!” Sarah asked.

  “We’re fine, you okay?” Ashley asked.

  “Yeah I’m okay. Molly, Patch and I defended the hotel, but some of the wounded started hemorrhaging blood and we were trying to help the medics but . . . we lost three guys.”

  “Damn it!” Shaun shouted.

  One of the dead bandits turned into a zombie and started running towards us but was shot in the head by Ellen.

  We turned to her and she looked at me and said, “One bullet to the head, I know.”

  “Good shot. Let’s check on the others,” I said.

  All the dead bandits were creating puddles of blood and it began to fill the air with an iron tang.

  As we walked back, Ashley said, “We still need to talk about how to rescue Kate.”

  “Wait, so you guys are gonna help me?” Ellen asked.

  “Well, we can’t stop you and we can’t let you go by yourself, but if we’re gonna do this we need to be smart about it. We don’t know where they are, how many bandits are left, or how many zombies we’re dealing with,” I stated.

  “So, we’re gonna need a team?” Ellen asked.

  “Yep, and I know who to ask.”

  Chapter 15

  Nathan/Sonny

  It was dark by the time everyone was done looting the bandits and dragging their corpses to a flame pit. As they were burning bandits, another group of Black Shadows were burying our dead – we had lost fourteen Black Shadows and three soldiers. My friends and I brought Captain Noir upstairs to talk in private.