by Kate L. Mary
“Keep your eyes open,” Pat said.
The men appeared in the clearing, coming out from between two RVs and stopping in front of the fire. Pat had his gun up and his gaze was scanning the area, checking to see if anything was out of place, and I said a silent prayer that he didn’t notice we’d moved the grill.
“No more drinking and I mean it. You need to stay sharp. We’re not out of the woods yet.”
There were grumbles, but the other men nodded in agreement.
“Good,” Pat snapped.
I pulled myself forward until I’d reached the end of the RV. I’d wanted to make it a little further so I was more toward the middle, that way we were spread out and these assholes would feel like they were surrounded, but I needed to make it at least to the next RV if I wanted to achieve that. Could I do it? Were they distracted enough?
I peered out at them and waited. Pat was still there, studying the dark hill in front of him where Marjorie and Hector were now hiding, and his back was to me. The other men hadn’t returned to their drinking or casual conversation, but they seemed a lot less concerned than their boss did. If I was going to make a move, now was the time.
I counted to five, keeping an eye on Pat, and then pulled myself out from under the RV. My back scraped the bottom and I had to bite back a yelp of pain, but it didn’t slow me down, and in seconds I had pulled myself under the next RV.
My heart threatened to burst out of my chest by the time I made it to the center of the RV. Across the settlement, a figure shifted in the darkness, right were I’d left Cliff. It was subtle, so I doubted anyone else would notice, but I was looking for it. Hopefully, the others were ready.
I shifted so I was more comfortable and it was easier to move around. Pat had moved and was now on the other side of the fire, but there were a couple men right in front of me, less than eight feet from my hiding space. Hitting them would be easy.
Taking a deep breath, I took aim. My hands were shaking, so I had to pause and give myself a pep talk. This needed to be done. These were bad men. No, not men. They were zombies. That was all. I’d shot more zombies than I could count and this would be no different. I could do this.
It was harder talking myself into than I’d thought it would be.
Still, I only counted to five before pulling the trigger.
The boom of the gun was amplified by the tight space, and it left a ringing behind in my ears that made it nearly impossible to focus. I shook my head and tapped my hand against my ear, and the ringing eased a little.
That was when I focused on the man I’d shot. He was lying on the ground in front of me, his eyes open and blank as they stared back at me in silent accusation. The flickering fire reflected off the blood pooled beneath him, highlighting the red hue, and for a moment I couldn’t move. Couldn’t look away. Couldn’t think about what was happening in the clearing or about what might be happening to anyone else.
I’d murdered someone.
Another gunshot burst through the air and I snapped out of it. In the clearing, the assholes who’d taken over our camp were scrambling for cover, moving away from me, but the second shot had caught them off guard and they now looked like they didn’t know what to do. Running away from me meant heading toward the other shooter, and a few of the men chose to drop to the ground and cover their heads rather than run.
One man had taken off, running toward the hill like he was trying to get away, but he didn’t make it far before a third gunshot cut through the air. Marjorie was up that way, and even after all these years she was still a good shot. The guy hit the ground, screaming in pain, and in the limited light I could just make out the red splattered across the front of his shirt.
A fourth gunshot rang through the air, but this one came from the clearing, drawing my attention back. The leader fired in the direction of the hill even though he couldn’t possibly know where Marjorie was hiding, and a few of his men followed suit. The rapid fire of the automatic weapons was shockingly loud compared to our own gunshots.
I took aim and fired again, this time getting one of the men in the arm. He went down, dropping the gun he’d been holding, and a second later another man went down as well. After that, I couldn’t keep track of who was firing from where. The men had taken cover in various places, none of which were great hiding spots. Behind a motorcycle or a raised fire pit, and in one case a man even tried to use a bicycle for cover, which did nothing. They were too out in the open and unless they went for one of the RVs, there was nowhere to run.
A few of them did try to make a break for it, running for cover in the RVs, Max included, and while most didn’t make it far, I saw the feet of the weasel of a wife beater disappear as he pulled himself to safety. A gunshot that came from Cliff’s direction took one man down, and another man got a bullet in the back courtesy of Hector. When a shot was fired from the direction Landon was supposed to be hiding in, I almost let out a sigh of relief.
It was short-lived. Pat had taken off, firing in random directions as he ran. A burst of bullets hit the dirt in front of me and I instinctively covered my head even though my arms would do nothing to protect me. I looked up in time to watch him dive under an RV, and I swear my heart skipped a beat at the realization that he had just crawled into Landon’s hiding spot.
I didn’t even have time to hope he hadn’t made it there before the sound of a struggle cut through the sudden silence, followed by swearing. I’d recognize Landon’s voice anywhere.
My people were still firing into the clearing, Dolly especially seemed to be determined to either hit someone or scare the shit out of them, but I couldn’t focus on who was firing or who was still up. All I could think about was Landon.
Chapter 15
Only a few minutes passed before Pat called out, “We’re coming out! If you want your friend to be alive five minutes from now, you’ll hold your fire.”
The night went frighteningly silent.
My body was shaking before the two men came into view, and when I saw Landon in the other man’s grasp, his body being used as a human shield while a gun was pressed against his temple, I wanted to scream.
“Stop!”
The word echoed through the night before I realized it had come from me, but it was too late to take it back.
“I’ll stop when you do,” Pat called. “Enough people have died tonight.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Landon growled. “You know what men like this do. Don’t give him a chance. Shoot.”
I had a sudden flashback to Landon and me in our young teens, thirteen, maybe fourteen, sitting side by side at my house watching a movie. Speed. We’d been too young to see it in the theaters, only seven at the time, but we’d found it in a bargain movie bin at Wal-Mart and had bought it because Sandra Bullock was in it—she was fresh off filming Miss Congeniality and Landon had a huge crush on her at the time. I’d actually enjoyed Speed, as far-fetched as some of the scenes had been, and I remembered with perfect clarity how Keanu Reeves had gotten the bad guy in the end.
Shoot the hostage.
He’d shot his partner in the leg.
“Come out,” Pat yelled, “and we’ll go easy on you.”
“Shoot,” Landon said again, this time practically screaming the word. “Do it, April!”
Could he be thinking the same thing I was?
Could I shoot Landon in the leg if it meant saving everyone?
Would it save us or would Pat fire the second he heard a gunshot?
I knew nothing about him, had no clue how he reacted in a stressful situation, but one thing was certain: he would kill Landon even if I came out. This man, these men, were not here to take prisoners long term. They were here to see who was useful and who was expendable, and they wouldn’t keep anyone who was a threat around. The end.
I had to do something, and it had to be extreme.
“I’m coming out!” I turned toward the sound just as Cliff stepped into view, his hands up. “Don’t shoot him.”
&n
bsp; The leader let out a low chuckle. “So we underestimated the old geezer. Not the first time.”
“I may be an old geezer,” Cliff said in a low growl, “but at least I’m not a coward.”
Faster than I thought he could move, he whipped his gun down and took aim. What happened next seemed to be over in a millisecond and stretch out for years at the same time. Cliff took aim and Pat turned toward him. His gun was no longer pressed against Landon’s head, but Pat still had a grip on him, still had him in a position where I couldn’t get a clear shot. Landon twisted like he was trying to get free, but his face contorted, telling me he was hurt, and Pat still had the advantage. If I decided to take the shot, I would have to be fast. There was no room for error.
I scrambled out from under the RV just as a gunshot rang through the air and Cliff went down, grunting. A cry echoed across the settlement, not coming from Cliff, but from Marjorie who was still hidden in the darkness of the hill. Landon was struggling with Pat, but didn’t seem to be making much progress. I had my gun up and ready, but my window of opportunity was closing quickly. Pat had shot Cliff and he was now free to turn his gun back on Landon. I had to fire. I had to take the shot, but I still didn’t have a good opportunity. Landon was blocking the other man from view.
I did the only think I could think to do. I aimed for Landon’s leg and pulled the trigger.
He cried out and a burst of red sprayed across his leg. A second later he had slumped forward, and the sudden shift of his body weight combined with the realization that his captive had been shot threw Pat off guard.
He let go.
Landon slumped to the ground while the man above him turned his gun on me, ready to take aim. He was too late, though. I already had his head in my sights and this time I didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger.
Pat’s head whipped back when the bullet tore through his skull, and the gun fell from his hand. Landon had it in a second, and before Pat’s body had even dropped to the ground he’d turned and fired at another man standing nearby, catching him off guard.
More shots followed, from Dolly’s direction and from where Hector and Marjorie were hiding, and even, to my shock, from Cliff. In less than a minute, the rest of the men were down.
I rushed to Landon’s side the second the gunshots had died away, dropping to my knees next to him. “Oh my God, oh my God, tell me you’re okay!”
“You shot me,” he said, shaking his head.
“I thought that’s what you were telling me to do it.”
His jeans were saturated with blood and his face was contorted into a grimace, but he still managed to force out a smile. “I was. Shoot the hostage, right?”
I laughed, but it was choked with tears. “I didn’t know what else to do.”
“You did the right thing,” he assured me.
“The right thing, look at you! You’re bleeding and Cliff was shot. I don’t know if we’re going to have anyone to patch you up. You could die because of what I did. What was I thinking?”
“Don’t count me out yet.”
I turned at the sound of Cliff’s voice and found him heading our way, holding his side where there was surprisingly not a even a drop of blood on his shirt.
“Good thing you decided you didn’t need that Kevlar vest. I’m going to be bruised for a while, but otherwise I’m good.” Cliff knelt beside Landon. “Let’s get a look at this leg.”
“There are people,” Landon huffed out as Cliff probed his wound. “You know some of the men took cover in the RV.”
Hector and Marjorie came running up, and behind Cliff I saw Dolly pulling herself from her hiding place.
“Keep an eye on that RV for movement,” I told Hector, nodding to where the men had retreated. “I’m getting us some backup.” As I jogged for the RV in the center, the one where our most able-bodied women were being held, I called over my shoulder, “Dolly, tell the kids everything is okay. Marjorie, go for the other RV. Let’s get everyone free!”
Just in case everyone inside was freaked out and decided to attack, I paused outside the door of the RV and rapped my knuckles against it. “It’s me, April. Everything is okay.” I paused, waiting, but no one responded. “I’m opening the door.”
I pulled it open slowly even though I’d warned everyone, and when the sliver of light from the fire and moon penetrated the darkness, the women closest to the door shrank away from it.
“It’s okay,” I said soothingly.
“Who was firing?” Deb called out from the back.
I pulled myself inside. “We were. We stopped them, Landon and me.” I paused and smiled. “With a little help from Hector, Marjorie, Cliff, and Dolly.”
“Dolly?” Trish said, looking up at me with red-rimmed eyes.
“You heard me right, but don’t worry. We’re all okay.”
“Not everyone,” Trish said.
“I know they killed Devon and Bill at the gate. Landon and I saw it. We were hiding across the street.”
I knelt in front of her since she was closest, and pulled out a knife. “Let me take care of those ropes.”
I’d just reached for her hands when Trish said, “They weren’t the only ones. They killed all the men.”
So Landon and I had been right.
I let out a deep, shaky breath while I worked to saw through the ropes binding her wrists. “I was afraid that’s what happened. I’m sorry, Trish.” I looked around the room. “I’m sorry, everyone. We did everything we could.”
Deb, whose hands were still bound, took the knife from me, giving me a sad smile in the process. “There was nothing you could have done to stop it. There was nothing anyone could have done.”
Behind her, Jessie said, “At least you stopped them from killing more people.”
Once everyone was free, we filed out of the RV in a silent line. Dolly and the kids were on the far end of the settlement, outside but still looking shell-shocked, and Marjorie had successfully liberated our other group from the third RV. Cliff had Landon bandaged, and even though I wanted to make sure he was going to be okay, I instead turned to Hector, who was guarding the RV where Max and the other men were hiding like the cowards they were.
The triumph I’d originally felt at killing Pat had waned with the knowledge that a good number of our people had been murdered. And for what? Because these men had been lazy. Because we’d stood up to a wife beater. What if we hadn’t made the decision to banish Max and his wife last October? Would these men have found us anyway, or would our people still be alive?
There was one way to find out. Max.
“Everyone arm yourself,” I called, as I moved toward the RV where Max and the few remaining raiders had taken cover. “We need to end this.”
Others followed me, but I hadn’t made it far before Marjorie had run up behind me. “April, take this. In case.”
I turned to find her holding out one of the Kevlar vests and took it gratefully. I wouldn’t wear the dreaded thing, but I’d hold it in front of me just in case they decided to open fire.
When I stopped in front of the door, I used the barrel of my gun to tap on it three times.
“It’s over, Max. You and your men need to come out. You’re outnumbered. You don’t have a shot in hell of getting out of here. Make this easy on everyone.”
“You’ll go easy on us if we do?” Max called back.
“No way, man,” someone else said. “We go out there and we’re dead.”
“They’re not the killing kind,” Max said. “They’ll banish us. That’s it.”
He was wrong, but I wasn’t about to contradict him right now.
“You get thirty seconds to make a decision and then we’re opening fire on the RV.” I looked at the group gathered behind me, armed and ready. “There are at least thirty of us out here with guns. How well do you think the walls of this RV will protect you?”
“We’re coming out!” Max called less than five seconds later.
“I’m not going out there,” the other
guy said.
“You do what you want.” Max’s growl was followed by a scuffle. “I’m saving my ass while I can.”
Footsteps followed and he called, “I’m opening the door. I’m unarmed.”
He shoved the door open and I aimed my gun at his forehead. “Get those hands in the air, asshole.”
They shot up.
Behind him, two other men stood with their hands in the air, just as eager to surrender as Max was now that they could see what they were up against. Good. It was over, but we weren’t finished. Not yet.
Chapter 16
“We’re not exactly a complete council,” Deb said, looking around the RV. “We lost people.”
We’d lost three, to be exact, but I didn’t need to remind anyone else of that.
“Which is something to keep in mind as we’re deciding the fate of these men,” I said. “They came in here and killed our people in cold blood. They planned on doing more. If we let them go, they will come back just like Max did.”
“So you’re calling for the death penalty?” Hector asked.
“An eye for an eye,” I said.
“I can’t disagree with your logic,” Jessie said, “but this is something we’ve never had to do before. A choice we’ve never had to make. Who does it?”
I let out a deep breath and said, “I will this time, but in the future we’re going to have to create a new position. A marshal or something. Someone who sees to law and order.”
“Are you sure you can do this?” Hector asked.
“I’m sure.”
I wasn’t sure where my willingness to take on this burden came from. Vengeance? Maybe. Guilt over the fact that I hadn’t been able to do more? Possibly. The desire to spare everyone else the responsibly of having to pull the trigger? It was possible. Whatever the reason, I’d volunteered, and there was no going back now.