“Well, I’m pretty sure you guys aren’t a part of our sector,” one of them hissed. He was super tall, with jet black silky hair, and smooth golden skin. I could tell that he was of Asian descent. His shoulders were broad, and he carried that bat like it weighed nothing at all. He must be the leader of this group.
“We’re just passing through,” I said. “We don’t want any problems and we don’t want your territory or any of your resources.”
“You hear that boys?” asked another man. I can see by the way that he carried himself that I assumed incorrectly that the first guy who spoke was the leader. This guy was the one in charge of this group. He was at least six foot five, chocolate brown skin, and dark brown eyes. He wore a pair of black jeans and a fitted dark-blue V-neck shirt. He had a look in his eyes that said he had nothing else to lose. A look that said that we will pay for being in his presence. She said that they didn’t want anything that belongs to us! Well, what if we wanted something that belonged to you?” “We don’t have anything,” retorted Derrick. “All we have is the clothes on our backs and a few bottles of water. If you guys want our water bottles, you can have them. Just promise that you’ll leave us alone and let us keep on going with our journey.”
“Promise? I don’t think that you’re in a position to negotiate with us,” sneered the leader.
“So, what the fuck do you want?” Sam angrily asked.
“Oooo boss! This one has some fire in her!” the first guy exclaimed.
“She sure does, Chris, and I like a girl with a little fire in her,” the boss said.
“Excuse me? And who said that I’m going to be your girl?!” Sam yelled.
At this point I noticed that the other two guys have been suspiciously quiet. We’re only outnumbered by one, but Sam is so small and aside from her mouth, she doesn’t really have a weapon on her. I catch Derrick’s eyes and he nods, letting me know that he understands that we have no choice but to fight these guys. My heart is hammering in my chest because I know that we aren’t going to get out of this situation completely unscathed.
“Please just let us go, sir. We don’t want any problems and we don’t want anyone to get hurt,” I tried again.
“Naw, I don’t think that’s going to happen. You see, around here, we like a little pain and suffering; especially when it’s someone else’s,” the boss replied. “You asked what I wanted earlier. Well the short answer is that I want her.” At that comment, he points at Sam.
“Over my dead body!” Derrick roared. He’s lost any semblance of calm and I can see the veins in his forehead and neck poking out. He better calm down before he gives himself a heart attack. The situation is getting out of control fast and I can’t see any way out of it.
“I have no problems with that,” Chris said.
“Fuck this,” I snapped while running at the boss. I guess this is the way I can see us getting out of this situation. Well damn, I guess I was scared stupid.
I got within five feet of landing a punch to his jaw when I was ran over by a freight-train. Listen, I know it wasn’t really a freight train, but tell that to my damn body as it flew against the side of a red-brown, towering brick building.
“Kiani!” Derrick yelled. But before he could come to my aid, I was up and swinging.
You see, Derrick and I made sure to train in fighting growing up. We wanted to always be able to protect each other. When Sam came along, we were too far ahead for her to even have the desire to train with us. We scuffled with her every now and then, but it wasn’t enough for her to actually learn anything substantial.
Just my luck. I happen to be fighting the guy who looked like he was the tackling dummy for the biggest O-lineman in the world. Thankfully, he wasn’t as fast as he was large. He swung at me with the power of a semi-truck, and I ducked under his arm as quick as lightning. Fighting people twice my size doesn’t bother me, I’ve trained specifically to be able to make my size an advantage. That doesn’t mean I have to like it.
I punched him dead in his stomach and I swear I just slammed my hand into a brick wall. Like, was this guy even real? “Do you eat frosted cinder blocks for breakfast?!” I asked. He barely even grunts as he grabbed me by the back of my neck and slammed me against the same wall I was recently acquainted with.
“I’m going to enjoy this,” he breathed.
“Not as much as you should enjoy a toothbrush or some mouthwash. ‘Cause your breath is screaming!” I retorted.
I heard the grunts and yells coming from behind me, so I knew I wouldn’t be receiving any help from my friends. From the sound of it, it seemed like they needed more help than me. As I sat there and inhaled the urine-soaked bricks, I looked around to see if there was anything that could help me out. The brute’s hold on me was so tight that I felt myself slowly getting light headed. He pulled me from the wall just to slam me against it again. And again. I guess he didn’t like me pointing out that his breath smells like ten cans of shark shit.
On the fourth slam, I saw a rusted pipe laying a few feet away from us. My head was ringing and I was sure I had a concussion at this point. Blood was pouring down my face and I knew that I couldn’t take too many more of these slams. I threw my elbow back with all my energy and connected it to his family jewels. He released me with a great scream and fell forward. He wasn’t the only one. I staggered into the wall and struggled to catch my breath. I knew that I only had a few moments before he’s back on me. I dove to the pipe and grabbed it. Thank the Lord, the pipe had a pointed tip to it. As I stood up, I saw Mr. Brute rush towards me. I ran to him and slid down to my knees, once he towered above me, I jammed the rusted pipe up and through his chest.
I rolled out of the way before his body fell on top of me. I took more hits than I could handle for the day, thank you very much.
Mr. Brute was screaming and bleeding on the ground when I turned around to join the other fights. I saw Sam fighting Chris and Derrick was getting his ass handed to him by the boss and the other guy. Everything in me was saying to go help Sam, but Derrick was really looking like he couldn’t take much more. I grabbed the pipe from Mr. Brute’s chest, eliciting another heart wrenching scream, and I raced to where Derrick was battling for his life.
Once I was close enough to the back of the other guy, I saw that lady luck was on my side. He was so busy beating the snot out of Derrick that he didn’t notice me behind him. I raised the pipe and slammed it into his spine with all the energy that I had left. Blood sprayed out and splattered me across my face. Fuck. My mouth was open from my battle yell. He screamed from his soul before he crumpled to the ground. Now that the stakes were more in our favor, I turned around to help Sam out, when my heart drops. Chris was holding Sam in a choke hold with a knife to her stomach.
Sam looked at me with terror and acceptance in her eyes. She knew that the odds of us making it off of this planet alive was very slim. But even though we knew it was a stretch, none of us believed that we would actually die. Sam had scarlet blood cascading down her porcelain face, and the image it had created was so macabre.
“There are more chicks like this walking around, she’s not worth my life,” Chris said before he stabbed Sam in the stomach.
“Nooo!” I yell. “Sam!”
I started running towards her when I heard a gasp and a thump. I turned around to see Derrick in a lump on the ground and bleeding from his head. I screamed and looked back at Sam. I needed to help her. Derrick would want me to help her. I began running towards Sam when I felt a sharp pain crack across the back of my skull. I fell to my knees and then I was struck again. I saw Sam fall to the ground, unconscious and bleeding out of her stomach. I tried to get up before everything went black.
“Kiani?” Christine asks. “Are you ok?”
I shake myself from my thoughts and focus on the here and now. “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just thinking about the first time I ran into a group of Bandits,” I respond. Derrick snaps his head towards me and looks me in the eyes; I can see the same amo
unt of guilt in there that I have. We both blame ourselves for Sam’s death. When we woke up, she was gone. There was a trail of her blood leading into some buildings, but then the trail went dry.There was a note at the end of the trail, a final word from the Boss.
Your friend may be alive, or she may be expired. Do you wish to risk your life for your simple hope and desires? Will you remain on your path to free yourself from this ‘hell’, or will you find me to see if your friend is still well?
It makes my stomach churn to think about what they did to her body. Sweet Sam. I know she’s not alive, I saw her die. I will make sure that no more of my friends will have the same fate as Sam. Even if I must sacrifice myself to save them. All of them… Except maybe Ashlynn.
4
Kiani
We continue our trek down highway 81 until we have to make a life or death decision.
“If we keep down south like we are now, we’re going to be closer to Oklahoma than to Missouri. We have to get off the highway and start cutting through towns,” Derrick says as he studies the map we got from the truck stop.
“We need to get off of the highway anyways,” remarked Brian. “If we stay here any longer, we’re going to be sitting ducks for the drones.”
“I still can’t understand how the Bandits got their hands on them,” I said.
“Really? You can’t figure it out?” Ashlynn says snidely. “There’s no government. No one to stop them from killing and stealing and literally becoming animals. And you can’t figure out how they got their hands on some high-tech drones? Are you dense?”
I take several deep breaths and realize that if I were to respond to her, I’d have to pop her in her mouth, so I just keep quiet.
“Cool it, Ash,” I hear Ashton murmur to his sister. “Your attitude won’t help anyone out right now.”
“Brian is right,” Derrick says, cutting off anything that Ashlynn may have said. “We do need to get off of this highway. It’s only a miracle that they haven’t spotted us yet. We also have to find somewhere to stay. Do you see those clouds? We have some acid rain coming our way.”
We all sigh as we look up at the sky and notice the greyish-teal clouds in the distance. Nothing screams “The World Has Gone to Shit” more than a teal thundercloud. Christine points at an upcoming exit and we all begin to make our way over to it. The highway is littered with cars; but not due to mass panic, no, the cars are sporadically littered around because people tried to drive as far as they could before their car ran out of gas. I’m sure there’s gas out there somewhere.
I grasp Isaiah’s hand in mine before letting it go. He won’t get stronger if I continue to treat him like a baby. I’ll give him enough space so that he can grow, but not too much so that he won’t end up like Sam. No one deserves to end up like Sam…
I clear my throat before pointing out a huge error in our plans. “This town won’t be as empty as the one we just left. We’re too close to Wichita and I’m sure whoever is in charge of that territory has people staying on the outskirts.”
“Dammit, I didn’t think of that,” cursed Derrick. “What would you have us do?”
“There’s not really much we can do. You were right about the rain, we have to find shelter for the night. It would really slow us down if we all had to deal with major skin irritation.”
“We’ll just have to be extra careful,” he sighs. “We can’t let our guard down, not even for a second.”
I can tell that his mind is on Sam and what happened with her. We were so naive in thinking that we could just freely walk through a Bandit’s territory and not pay the consequences of that trespassing. Now we all have weapons, and I’ll be sure to kill before I am killed. Despite my earlier thoughts of forcing Isaiah to grow up, I reach out and grab his hand again. We’ll have to work on his maturity when it isn’t life or death.
“I say we find an old farmhouse or something,” suggests Christine. “Something that isn't near any populated areas. That way we can minimize the chances of us running into any Bandits.”
“That makes sense, but won’t we also be taking the risks that the Bandits had that same thought, and so they have people stationed out in those farmhouses, or at least the surrounding areas?” rationalizes Brian.
“So, our choices are to either take a risk and stay in town; or potentially play into the Bandit’s hands and go and look for a farmhouse to stay in,” huffs Ashlynn.
“Do you have a better plan?” I retort. “Please, let us know what fail-proof plan you’ve conjured up and I’ll be more than happy to go along with it.”
Ashlynn silently glares daggers at me, but it doesn’t faze me because I got her to shut up. I see Derrick take a deep breath and roll his eyes. I know the constant bickering between Ashlynn and I are getting on his nerves, but hell, it’s not as if I like always arguing with the girl. Hey, I'd be happy if she wasn’t part of this group to start with.
“What do you guys want to do?” I ask. “Our only choices are a farmhouse or an abandoned house or building in town. We have to decide pretty quick cause right now we’re prime for the picking.” At this point we are almost off of the exit. We have a choice to keep walking straight and get back on the highway or go left or right to get into the town. We don’t have any cover right now, and if someone was watching for any incomers from this exit, they definitely already saw us. My skin is crawling just at the thought of being watched and hunted like an animal.
“I say we take our chances in town. It’s getting darker, so it should be easier to sneak around,” Christine said.
“I agree,” Brian said.
“I think we should try a farmhouse. What are the chances that they’re watching every house,” chimed in Ashton while Ashlynn nods her head in agreeance.
“Can I vote?” asked Isaiah.
“Of course!” we all answered, except Ashlynn.
“I think we should stay in town. The more we travel the longer we’re leaving ourselves vulnerable to be found.”
Derrick and I look at Isaiah and then we share a look with each other. That was such a reasonable response and it makes so much sense. We don’t know how many drones this town has and if they’re stationed throughout the streets. But that could also be our downfall. If we walk the streets, that leaves us open to the drones. Day or night they can pick up our heat signatures and track our movements. But we’d be out in the open less if we stay in town. I see Derrick come to the same conclusion as myself. Before I can open my mouth, Ashlynn butted in.
“You guys can’t seriously consider a suggestion made by a ten-year-old?!”
“And why can’t we?” I asked.
“Because this is life or death! We can’t let a little kid decide if we live or die.”
I can see Isaiah getting mad while Ashlynn talked about him like he isn’t there. We’re all getting mad, to be honest with you. We all work so hard to make sure Isaiah feels as much a part of this group and its decisions as anyone else, and here comes Ashlynn, destroying all of our progress.
“You’re hardly an adult at fifteen, Ashlynn,” stated Christine. I can see that Ashlynn got her riled up and ready to go. Her shoulders are squared up and her hands are fisted at her hips.
“And you’re hardly one at seventeen!”
“Precisely, which is why I’m taking Isaiah’s vote into strong consideration,” Christine says with a smug smile on her face.
“Fine, don’t expect me to cry when one of you dies,” she sneers.
We all stare at her with open mouths. That was harsh, even for Ashlynn. Ashton was slowly shaking his head behind her, looking so ashamed of his sister’s behavior. No one blames him though, even though he took responsibility for the she-devil.
“I guess that’s decided then. Let’s find a place in this town and bunker down for the night. Let’s hope that if and when that storm hits, it doesn’t last beyond the night. I don’t want to stay in this area any longer,” stated Derrick.
I’m glad that he took control of the sit
uation, because I was battling with myself on whether or not I should karate chop Ashlynn in her throat. One of these days, I’m going to lose my composure and it’s going to be on and popping. There’s only so much restraint one person can possess, and I’m at the end of mine.
We decided to go right, because we noticed there were a lot of gas stations and restaurants to the left; we’re trying to avoid areas that might entice other travelers to go there. We’ve been walking for about a mile when we come upon a residential road. So far, we’ve all been really quiet and on alert. Now that we’re nearing homes so close to the exit, there’s a good chance that some of them are occupied.
“I say we keep walking a little further before we start really looking for a place to crash,” I whisper. No one responds, but they keep on walking. No one wants to risk the chance that someone is around and may hear us talking. We’re kind of banking on the fact that most people go inside before the sun fully sets. Even a Bandit can get murdered.
After three miles of walking, we come upon a neighborhood that looks like it hasn’t been touched in years. I look at the group and everyone nods their head. I guess this will be the neighborhood that we look for somewhere to sleep. I wish we could sleep outside, but the acid rain would finish us off. The rain isn’t strong enough to peel the skin from our bones, but it’s strong enough to cause extreme discomfort. Just as my feet start complaining about all the walking, we see a house with lights on.
“Find cover!” Derrick whisper shouts.
We all run and dive behind a minivan that’s parked on the side of the street. The neighborhood looks like it once was clean and expensive, but not anymore. The roads are littered with trash and the lawns are wild and overgrown. Still, we should keep moving. Those lights mean that this entire neighborhood could be under surveillance. We all begin to back pedal out of the neighborhood. I’m sure we’ll find something before the night is over.
Kiani’s Journey- Mayhem Page 3