Fight 4 Us (Book 10): Ghosts

by Grenda, Brian

  “Nice to meet you Chelsea. I’m Ryan and this is Shaun,” I say to Chelsea.

  “Nice to meet you as well,” replies Chelsea.

  “What are you guys doing today?” asks Sam.

  “We are going to World of Trade to see about getting some of our weapons back,” I answer Sam.

  “Who took them?” asks Chelsea.

  “We aren’t sure, but we are going to hopefully find out,” I answer Chelsea.

  Matt and Jon walk over to Shaun’s driveway and say hello to everyone.

  I introduce Matt and Jon to Chelsea.

  “You part of those snipers that live across the street?” asks Matt to Chelsea.

  “Yeah, I think. I live there with my dad and brother,” answers Chelsea.

  “Nice, how are things looking around here?” asks Jon to Chelsea.

  “Pretty good, we have cleared out a lot of the dead but more and more keep coming from somewhere,” answers Chelsea.

  Jerri-Lynn looks at me and says, “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about Ryan. We started to check out the homes within a couple miles of here and we notice a couple problem areas.”

  “I’d love to check them out with you, but we have to get over to World of Trade. We can talk about what you saw when we get back though,” I reply to Jerri-Lynn.

  Shaun sees that Jerri-Lynn seems concerned and asks her, “Is everything okay Jerri-Lynn?”

  “Not really. I am worried about a couple of neighborhoods that are close to here,” answers Jerri-Lynn.

  “What did you see?” asks Jon to Jerri-Lynn.

  “We saw a pretty big group of zombies, a couple of disgusting pools that need to be treated and covered, and a bunch of these pamphlets,” says Jerri-Lynn as she hands me a white pamphlet that looks exactly like the one Jaws Junior and Darlene had.

  I look down at the pamphlet and say, “A friend of ours found one of these before, and it definitely has me concerned, but I’m not worried about it yet.”

  “Should we go there?” asks Chelsea.

  “I wouldn’t go there. We are planning to check the church out, but we need to get our weapons back first,” I answer Chelsea.

  “I’m sorry to bother you with this so early in the morning Ryan, but we haven’t had the chance to talk with you since your father died,” says Jerri-Lynn.

  “We will have a meeting when we get back from World of Trade about it. I missed my friend Kat yesterday as well... We have a lot going on right now, but we will make time for you tomorrow or the next day,” I reply to Jerri-Lynn.

  “Thank you, Ryan. I understand you got a lot going on right now, but I just thought it was important to tell you,” says Jerri-Lynn.

  “I appreciate it Jerri-Lynn. I really do. Keep up the good work around here. We want to keep clearing out any trouble areas around here. We will help you with everything, I promise, once we get a couple of things under control first,” I say to Sam, Jerri-Lynn, and Chelsea.

  I say goodbye to Sam, Chelsea, and Jerri-Lynn.

  Jerri-Lynn, Sam, and Chelsea start walking back towards the main gate and Brody’s house.

  Jon, Matt, Shaun, and I get into the electric truck that is parked in Shaun’s driveway.

  Shaun starts up the electric truck and drives towards the exit of Citrus Oaks.

  “I really hope that they have Silencer. I have felt lost without her,” says Jon.

  “That’s weird. You feel lost without a sword,” says Matt to Jon.

  “You wouldn’t understand Matt. A good sword is pretty freaking valuable now,” replies Jon.

  “I get it Jon. I totally get it,” I say to Jon.

  “Have you thought of a name for your katana Ry?” asks Jon.

  “No, and I don’t think I ever will,” I answer Jon.

  “Sword bros. I hope you don’t cross your swords,” jokes Shaun.

  “You’re an idiot Shaun,” I jokingly say.

  “But seriously, why would Dutch and Cage have our stuff from the truck?” asks Matt.

  “I don’t know, but I definitely want to find out,” I answer Matt.

  Shaun parks the electric truck at World of Trade, and the guards check our weapons and trade goods.

  “Let’s take two boxes with us and put everything else inside the truck,” I say to Shaun, Matt, and Jon.

  Jon and Matt put everything that was left in the back truck bed and put it inside our electric truck.

  Shaun locks the electric truck, and we start walking towards Dutch and Cage’s booth.

  There are a good amount of people in the parking lot and around the level one section of World of Trade today.

  Dutch sees us walking towards his booth, quickly looks at Cage, and says, “Ryan is coming, stick to the story.”

  Cage quickly takes a handgun, a rifle, and another item down from the back of their booth and looks for something to cover the items with.

  “Hey guys!” shouts Dutch to me and the guys as we approach his booth.

  Cage tries to cover the items that he just took down from the back of their booth with a black sheet, but a piece of an item is sticking out from underneath the sheet.

  “What’s up Dutch?” asks Shaun.

  “Nothing much, just living the dream, ya know,” answers Dutch.

  I place a box of trade goods on Dutch’s table.

  Dutch looks at the box and asks, “What do you got?”

  Shaun puts our other box of trade goods on the ground and looks at Dutch.

  “We have heard that you might have a couple of our weapons,” I say to Dutch.

  Cage walks over to Dutch and looks at me.

  “What weapons are you looking for?” asks Cage.

  I look at Shaun.

  Shaun says, “My rifle.”

  I look at Matt.

  Matt says, “My handgun, machete, and shotgun.”

  I look at Jon.

  Jon says, “My sword and my rifle.”

  Dutch and Cage look at us, but don’t say anything.

  I notice Cage has some bad bruising and marks on the left side of his face.

  “What happened to your face Cage?” I ask.

  Cage touches the left side of his face and answers, “Oh, I got into a little bit of a fight, but I’m okay.”

  “What happened?” asks Shaun to Cage.

  “He’ll be okay, but now that you mention it, we did get a bunch of new weapons in from some guy that owed us some payment,” answers Dutch.

  Dutch looks at Cage and says, “See if we still have the lot of weapons that guy brought us the other day.”

  Cage walks to the back of their booth and looks around at several different items.

  Shaun talks with Dutch as Jon, Matt, and I watch Cage.

  I see Cage carefully look around at different items, but he’s not grabbing anything.

  Jon sees a piece of steel sticking out from underneath the black sheet that Cage is standing next to.

  “What’s that underneath the black sheet Cage?” asks Jon.

  Cage looks at Jon and asks, “Where?”

  “Underneath the only black sheet that you have there,” answers Jon.

  Cage looks at Dutch and seems nervous.

  “Show us what you got there,” I say to Cage.

  Dutch nods his head at Cage and says, “Go ahead.”

  Cage slowly removes the black sheet and the item that Jon was asking about is picked up by Cage.

  “What the fuck!” shouts Jon as he sees what Cage is holding.

  Cage walks the item over to us.

  I see the item in Cage’s right hand and feel a great sense of questioning why he has it.

  Cage is holding a sword in his right hand.

  “Is that Silencer Jon?” I ask.

  Jon answers, “I think so, but I need to check the bottom of the pommel, but it looks pretty damn close.”

  Cage keeps the sword in his hand and asks Jon, “What are you looking for?”

  Jon anxiously answers, “My fucking initials. JRC.”
<
br />   Cage looks at the bottom of the sword at the silver pommel and looks for the letters JRC.

  Cage hands the sword to Jon and says, “You are right. JRC.”

  Jon examines the sword and he sees the letters JRC engraved in the silver pommel that is on the base of Silencer’s handle.

  I see that Jon is happy to have found Silencer, but I also feel the need to question Dutch and Cage how they got Jon’s sword in the first place.

  “What else do you have back there? What about our guns?” asks Matt.

  I stare at Cage and Dutch and wait for their answer to Matt’s question.

  I grab my box of trade goods and place it on top of the box that Shaun put on the ground.

  “Get the other items,” says Dutch to Cage.

  Cage walks to the back of their booth and then places a black duffel bag on the table that separates Dutch and me.

  Shaun, Matt, and Jon go through the items in the black duffel bag and they find their weapons.

  Matt finds his handgun, machete, and shotgun.

  Shaun and Jon both find their rifles.

  “Why do you have their guns?” I ask Dutch and Cage.

  Dutch and Cage aggressively stare at me.

  “How did you get these again Dutch?” asks Shaun.

  Dutch hesitates for a second and then answers Shaun, “We told you. A person gave them to us for payment. We don’t know how he got them.”

  I feel that Dutch and Cage are hiding something, but I don’t know how we can prove it.

  “Well, thanks for finding them,” I say to Dutch and Cage.

  Shaun looks down at his rifle and says to Dutch, “Thanks for finding my rifle. I still love the mods that you did to her.”

  Dutch nods at Shaun, but doesn’t say anything.

  “Well, thanks again for finding our weapons. We appreciate it,” I say to Dutch and Cage.

  “You are welcome,” replies Dutch.

  I look at Shaun, Matt, and Jon and say, “Okay guys. Let’s get out of here.”

  Jon, Shaun, and Matt follow me as I walk away from Dutch and Cage and towards the level two entrance at World of Trade.

  “Damn, I’m glad Bakari was right,” says Jon as he looks down at Silencer.

  “I’m glad we got your stuff back, but I don’t buy how Dutch and Cage got them,” I say.

  We approach the level two entrance and I see DeMarcus.

  I greet DeMarcus as we walk over to him.

  “How’s it going Ryan?” asks DeMarcus.

  “Pretty good. Any chance we can get inside here today?” I answer DeMarcus.

  DeMarcus looks down at the ground and hesitates to answer.

  As I impatiently wait for DeMarcus to answer, I feel that he will give us another reason why we can’t get in there, and I think that we won’t ever get inside this place.

  “I’m sorry guys,” says DeMarcus to us.

  “That’s okay big man. Maybe another time,” I respond to DeMarcus.

  DeMarcus looks at me, smiles, and says, “I’m sorry I couldn’t let you guys in before, but today is your lucky day.”

  DeMarcus hands each of us a plastic card that has Level 2 Access Preferred Member written on it with a QR code in the center of the plastic card.

  “You serious DeMarcus?” asks Shaun.

  “Yes sir. Enjoy. With those cards you can get inside from now on,” answers DeMarcus.

  “Great, thank you,” I say to DeMarcus.

  DeMarcus scans the cards he just gave us, and he opens the level two access door.

  BOOM!

  A loud explosion is heard around the main entrance and gate of World of Trade.

  Before we can walk into level two, the door quickly closes due to the big explosion that went off near the main entrance of the World of Trade property.

  “What the hell!” shouts Shaun.

  “It’s the security protocol. With any sort of disturbance, explosion, or attack, level two is locked down,” says DeMarcus.

  BANG!

  BANG!

  Gunfire is heard near the main entrance of World of Trade.

  “We need to get out of here,” I say to Shaun and the guys.

  “I’m sorry about level two Ryan, but you have full access now with those cards, even if I’m not here,” says DeMarcus.

  “Thank you. Stay safe,” I reply to DeMarcus.

  Shaun, Matt, Jon, and I run away from DeMarcus and the level two entrance.

  BOOM!

  Another explosion goes off around the main entrance of World of Trade.

  I hear people scream in fear and pain as I try to make my way back towards the parking lot and our electric truck.

  Shaun, Matt, and Jon weave their way through the panicking crowd of people at World of Trade, and I lose sight of them.

  I look at the main entrance of World of Trade and see a large group of World of Trade guards exchanging gunfire with several people and vehicles that are outside the fence of World of Trade.

  A truck that is outside the fence of World of Trade speeds towards part of the border fence that is near the main entrance of the World of Trade property.

  The sound of a helicopter is heard flying away from the level two building at World of Trade and towards the buildings of downtown Tampa.

  I feel that I have lost Shaun, Matt, and Jon and run back towards the parking lot and our electric truck.

  People are crying, shouting, and fighting all around the level one booths and parking lot.

  I make it back to our electric truck, but I don’t see Matt, Shaun, or Jon.

  BOOM!

  Another loud explosion is heard near the main entrance gate and border fence of World of Trade

  I scan the area and see people that I don’t know.

  I see two men get into a fight, and then I see Jon, Matt, and Shaun come running around the two men that are fighting and towards me.

  “Here you fucking are!” shouts Shaun.

  “We were looking all over for you!” shouts Matt.

  Shaun and Jon put the boxes of trade goods that we brought with us and their weapons into the back truck bed of our electric truck.

  Shaun unlocks the electric truck.

  Matt and Jon put the two boxes of trade goods, that we brought with us but left in the back of the electric truck, into the back truck bed of the electric truck.

  Shaun, Matt, and Jon get into the electric truck.

  As I approach the passenger side door of the electric truck, I hear two men trying to get into the back truck bed of our electric truck and take our boxes of trade goods.

  Shaun starts up the electric truck.

  One of the men jumps into the back truck bed of our electric truck.

  As I stand outside of our electric truck passenger side door, I see the man standing in the back truck bed of our electric truck and shout, “What the fuck are you doing!”

  “Fuck off!” shouts the man who is standing in the back truck bed of our electric truck.

  I step towards the man and he tries to kick me.

  I block his kick, grab his dirty shoe, and push the man towards the back of our electric truck.

  The man I just pushed falls out the back of our truck and onto the parking lot street.

  The other man that is standing outside of our truck takes out a small knife and points it at me.

  I see the man’s small knife and I raise my hands towards the man.

  The man with the small knife in his hand says to me, “Come on you little bitch.”

  BANG!

  I feel a spray of liquid hit my face and hands.

  CRASH!

  The vehicle window of the car that is behind me shatters.

  The man that had the small knife in his hand falls face first onto the parking lot street.

  I look down at the dead man’s body and see a large pool of blood coming out from his head.

  The man that tried to kick me before runs away from our truck.

  I look down the street of the World of Trade par
king lot and see Cage with a handgun in his right hand.

  “Thank you!” I shout to Cage.

  Cage nods his head at me.

  I get into our electric truck and Shaun drives towards the exit of the World of Trade parking lot.

  “What the fuck happened?” asks Jon.

  “Cage killed the guy that was trying to steal our stuff,” I answer Jon.

  Matt hands me a towel, and I wipe off the blood that is on my face and hands.

  “Why would he help us?” asks Matt.

  “Maybe he felt like he owed us,” answers Jon.

  Shaun exits World of Trade.

  I clean off all the blood on my face and hands with the towel that Matt gave me and say, “I don’t know what to make of what just happened, but I’m glad you got your weapons back and that we are all in one piece.”

  Shaun makes a right hand turn and is slowly approaching the main entrance of World of Trade and where the gunfire and explosions happened.

  “Are we ever going to get into level two?” asks Shaun as he drives down the street.

  “Make a left, stay away from that gunfire!” I shout.

  Shaun makes a quick left, and I see a group of vehicles outside of the fence and main entrance of World of Trade.

  The vehicles that are outside World of Trade are on fire and there are several groups of dead bodies around the vehicles and around the main entrance of World of Trade.

  I look closer at the dead bodies, that are in the street outside World of Trade, and notice that the people are wearing either all red or all white.

  Jon also sees the groups of dead bodies in the street and asks, “I wonder what that’s all about?”

  “I don’t know, but I’m sure it isn’t good,” I answer Jon as Shaun speeds away from World of Trade.

  CHAPTER 15

  WHY

  “You were right Bakari. They had our weapons,” I say into the satellite radio phone that Bakari gave me.

  “I’m glad you got them back,” replies Bakari over the satellite radio phone.

  “When and where do you want to meet?” I ask Bakari into the satellite radio phone as I stand in Bobby G’s living room.

  “Let’s plan for tomorrow. We will pick you up and bring you here,” answers Bakari over the satellite radio phone.

  “What time?” I ask Bakari into the satellite radio phone.

  “Sometime early afternoon. I’ll see you tomorrow. Over and out,” answers Bakari over the satellite radio phone.