Fight 4 Us (Book 10): Ghosts

by Grenda, Brian

  “Over and out,” I reply to Bakari over the satellite radio phone.

  I see a bag sitting next to the sofa as I stand in Bobby G’s living room.

  I grab the bag and put it on the sofa.

  I look down at the bag and say to myself, “Let’s see what Bobby G packed here.”

  I open up Bobby G’s bug out bag and dump out what was in the bag onto the sofa.

  I see a mix of items and a small box on the sofa.

  I pick up the black hat that was in the bag and see the small stitched logo of a pink flamingo in the center of the hat and I laugh.

  “Oh, flamingo Bob,” I joke.

  I see several million dollar chocolate candy bars, packs of cigarettes, and bottles of water.

  I pick up the small wooden box and examine the wood and what is printed on top of the box.

  “Memories,” I say as I read what is printed on the lid of the small wooden box.

  I open the lid of the small wooden box, and I see two pictures and a folded piece of paper.

  I look at the pictures and see that one is of Bobby G and me when I was in kindergarten and the other is of Lauren, Bobby G, and me when Lauren and I got married.

  I start to tear up as I look at the pictures and start to miss my father.

  I place the pictures back into the small wooden box and grab the folded piece of paper.

  I read what is written on the outside of the folded piece of paper and it says, “To My Son.”

  I unfold the piece of paper and start to read what is written on the paper, “To my son. If you are reading this, then I’m most likely gone. Just remember that I’m never truly gone, even when I’m not physically around you. As long as you are alive and making this world a better place, then I will live on. I have accomplished a lot of great things in my life, but you are my greatest accomplishment. Thank you for being such a wonderful son and just remember that I’m very proud of you. Love your father, Bobby G. P.S. I tried not to fill this bag with only candy bars and cigarettes like you said, but I couldn’t help myself.”

  I smile at Bobby G’s note to me, wipe away the tears from my cheeks, and joke, “You always loved those candy bars.”

  “Everything okay Ryan?” asks Phil to me as he stands in the doorway that leads into Bobby G’s living room.

  I turn towards Phil and answer, “Yeah, just reading a note that my dad left for me in his bug out bag.”

  “One last thing he left behind for ya,” says Phil.

  “Yeah, what’s up?” I ask Phil as I put the note Bobby G left for me back into the small wooden box and close the lid.

  “Just checking on what Bakari said,” answers Phil.

  “He said that he will be here tomorrow, and he’ll pick us up and take us to his place tomorrow afternoon,” I say to Phil.

  “Do you think we can trust him?” asks Phil.

  “He hasn’t let us down yet, and he saved Matt, Jon, and Shaun. So I think he’s pretty trustworthy,” I answer Phil.

  “Why do you think TJ was so against working with them though?” asks Phil.

  “That’s a question for TJ. I guess he has his reasons, but we clearly can’t have them together,” I answer Phil.

  I put on Bobby G’s black flamingo hat and put the items back into Bobby G’s bug out bag, except for the small wooden box.

  I walk with Phil out of Bobby G’s house with Bobby G’s bug out bag around my right shoulder and the small wooden box in my left hand.

  “What’s the plan today?” asks Phil.

  “I think we relax and take it easy today. I’m not sure what Bakari has in store for us tomorrow,” I answer Phil.

  I say goodbye to Phil, and I enter my house.

  Lauren is filling up Milo and Callie’s water bowls with fresh water, while Fran is cleaning our kitchen.

  “Nice hat honey,” jokes Lauren.

  “You like it? It was Bobby G’s. I found it in his bug out bag,” I reply to Lauren.

  “I still have to make mine,” says Lauren.

  I walk into the kitchen and see Fran cleaning our kitchen sink.

  Lauren walks into the kitchen and asks, “What should I put in my bug out bag?”

  “Anything that will keep you alive in a pinch. Food, water, can opener, ready to eat meals, and anything else you can think of,” I answer Lauren.

  “I have to make one of those buggy bags also,” says Fran.

  “Yeah, you and Lauren should make them today,” I say as I look at Lauren with a smile on my face.

  “It’s a bug out bag mom. Not a buggy bag,” says Lauren to Fran with a big smile on her face.

  I walk into my man cave and place the small wooden box on a table inside my man cave and then place Bobby G’s bug out bag on the floor next to my recliner chair.

  I remove Bobby G’s hat from my head and remember when I bought it for him.

  I place the small wooden box and Bobby G’s flamingo hat on a shelf in my man cave.

  Lauren knocks on my open man cave door and walks into my man cave.

  I see Lauren enter my man cave, walk over to her, and give her a big hug.

  “Everything okay honey?” asks Lauren as I have my arms wrapped around her.

  “I just love you is all and wanted to make sure you know that,” I answer Lauren.

  I kiss Lauren.

  Lauren asks me, “How did the call with Bakari go?”

  “Good, he is coming here tomorrow and plans to take us to his place sometime tomorrow afternoon,” I answer Lauren.

  “Who is all going?” asks Lauren.

  “I don’t know really. I don’t know how many people he wants to take with him or any specifics really,” I answer Lauren.

  I exit my man cave, and Lauren closes the man cave door.

  “Do you know what he wants from you guys?” asks Lauren as I walk through our kitchen and into our master bedroom.

  “I don’t know. I’ll find out tomorrow, but I trust Bakari,” I answer Lauren.

  I sense that Lauren is worried about what Bakari wants.

  “I just…” says Lauren.

  I interrupt Lauren and say, “You can come tomorrow. I’ll make sure you’re included if you want to come with us.”

  “Are you sure it will be okay?” asks Lauren.

  “If it’s not, I won’t go,” I answer Lauren.

  Lauren smiles at me.

  “How are our vegetable gardens coming?” I ask Lauren.

  “Pretty good, actually I want to show you what we did,” answers Lauren.

  Lauren takes me out to our backyard and shows me the four raised vegetable gardens and the new covers that she and her mom made.

  “We covered them to prevent the squirrels from getting in, and they are higher up now so the rabbits can’t get in either,” says Lauren.

  I smile and reply to Lauren, “It looks great sweetie. I always wanted to do this, but never had the time.”

  “Yeah, me too, and we have plenty of time now,” replies Lauren.

  The sound of a drone flying in the sky is heard as Lauren and I are standing in our backyard.

  Lauren and I look up into the sky and we see a small drone flying over our house, and it has a small line of black smoke coming from one of the propeller blades.

  The drone goes out of sight, but I hear it hit the large oak tree that is in Bobby G’s front yard.

  Lauren and I run through our white privacy fence gate and over to Bobby G’s front yard.

  I see the damaged drone and recognize it.

  “It’s one of our drones,” I say to Lauren.

  The drone isn’t smoking anymore, but the propellers keep trying to move.

  Shaun exits his house and shouts, “What is it?”

  I look at Shaun and shout, “It’s our drone!”

  Shaun walks over to Lauren and me as we are standing next to the drone.

  Brody walks over to me, Shaun, and Lauren and asks, “What happened?”

  I hear someone running towards us from down the
street.

  I look backwards and see Jon and Matt running towards us.

  “Is it destroyed?” shouts Jon.

  “I don’t know, but it was smoking and crashed here,” I answer Jon.

  Jon and Matt run over to the drone.

  “It was that freaking chick Whitney! She shot it!” shouts Matt.

  Brody smirks.

  Jon sees the smirk on Brody’s face and asks, “What’s so fucking funny?”

  Brody gets nervous and answers, “Nothing, Jon. Sorry.”

  “Seriously why were you smirking there Brody?” I ask Brody.

  Brody doesn’t know how to answer.

  “The propeller is done, and I think this drone is trash now,” says Matt as he examines the drone.

  “It’s okay, I’m sure we have more of them,” says Shaun.

  I’m still interested in Brody’s response to seeing the broken drone.

  I make eye contact with Brody and say, “Answer the question Brody. Why did you smile before about the broken drone?”

  Brody nervously answers, “I…I…”

  Shaun interrupts Brody, “I, I, captain.”

  “Spit it out Brody,” says Jon.

  “I just think it’s funny that Whitney shot it down as she is a pretty good shot,” says Brody.

  “Well, moron, that girlfriend of yours just ruined a perfectly good drone,” says Jon to Brody.

  The main entrance of Citrus Oaks opens, and four people enter our neighborhood on foot.

  I look at the four people walking down the street and towards our direction.

  I smirk and say, “Guess your other girlfriend didn’t like seeing that drone coming back here like this.”

  Brody looks at the people walking our direction and he sees Kiersten walking with Jerri-Lynn, Sam, and Chelsea.

  Jon, Matt, Lauren, and Shaun all laugh at the sight of Kiersten walking towards Brody.

  “Everything okay?” asks Jerri-Lynn to us.

  “Yeah, we just got our drone shot down by Whitney,” I answer Jerri-Lynn.

  Kiersten hears me mention Whitney’s name and glares at Brody.

  “Why did she do that?” asks Sam.

  “I don’t know. Why did she do that Brody?” jokes Jon.

  Brody doesn’t answer and just nervously looks at Kiersten.

  “I think we go find out,” says Shaun.

  “What did you guys find out with the drone?” asks Jerri-Lynn.

  “We saw some trouble areas with zombies, some downed trees that are blocking a couple streets, and a lot of areas and neighborhoods that we still need to clear out,” answers Jon.

  “What should we do now?” asks Jerri-Lynn.

  I look at Jon and Matt and ask, “What do you think guys? What do you think we should do after seeing what you saw on the drone?”

  Matt and Jon look at each other.

  “What did Bakari and the Ghosts say?” asks Shaun to me.

  “We are good to go for tomorrow. Bakari is picking us up tomorrow afternoon,” I answer Shaun.

  “Ghosts? What the hell is that all about?” asks Chelsea.

  I look at Chelsea and Chelsea sees the annoyed look I’m giving her.

  “Sorry. I have a problem with asking anything that pops into my head,” says Chelsea.

  “The Ghosts are another group that we are working with,” I say to Chelsea.

  “That’s cool. I was just confused about their name,” replies Chelsea.

  “Anyway, what did we decide on guys?” I ask Matt and Jon.

  “We think we should check out a couple nearby neighborhoods and talk with Whitney,” answers Jon.

  “We can go talk with Whitney,” says Kiersten as she glares at Brody.

  “I’m not sure that’s a good idea Kiersten, but I do think someone should talk with Whitney,” I say to Kiersten and everyone.

  “We can go check out a couple nearby neighborhoods, and we can draw any zombies out with Andre’s speakers,” says Jerri-Lynn.

  “Sounds good, and we’ll go talk with Whitney,” I reply to Jerri-Lynn.

  “Okay, we just wanted to see if everyone was okay and if you found out anything,” says Jerri-Lynn.

  “Thank you, and we’ll be in touch for sure,” I reply to Jerri-Lynn.

  Jerri-Lynn, Sam, Chelsea, and Kiersten say goodbye to us, and Brody goes to talk with Kiersten as they walk towards our main entrance.

  “Are we really going to talk with Whitney today?” asks Shaun.

  “Why? You got plans today?” asks Jon to Shaun.

  “You don’t have to come, but I know Jon and I are,” answers Matt.

  Shaun looks at Matt and asks, “You really going out there alone?”

  “Well, no, but I think we need to see what Whitney is all about,” answers Matt.

  I ask Jon, “What do you think about Whitney and checking out the neighborhoods around here?”

  “I think she is up to something. We saw her go into the orange house, and she didn’t like that we were flying so close to that house,” answers Jon.

  “Well, I’m not going today, but you can. Get a team of three or four, if you go out,” I say to Jon.

  “Okay Ry. We will. I think we should see what Whitney is up to and get eyes on that orange house,” says Jon.

  Jon looks at Matt and Shaun.

  “What do you say?” asks Jon to Matt and Shaun.

  “I’m down, but I think we need more people for this,” answers Matt.

  I walk with Lauren away from Matt, Shaun, and Jon, and shout, “Don’t do anything risky!”

  “It should be good Ry, the area from here to Whitney’s neighborhood looks to be safe and has minimal zombies!” shouts Jon.

  I stop walking, turn around, and say, “Just be careful with this. I need you with me tomorrow for our trip with Bakari.”

  “You got it Ry. I’ll look after these two,” says Shaun.

  Lauren and I enter our house.

  “Look after us? What are we five?” jokes Jon to Shaun.

  “Well, you are like twelve and this guy is like ten,” jokes Shaun to Matt and Jon.

  “Let’s gear up and be ready to go in like thirty minutes,” says Shaun to Matt and Jon.

  Shaun, Matt, and Jon go to their homes and get ready for their trip over to Whitney’s neighborhood.

  Thirty minutes go by and Jon and Shaun are sitting in Shaun’s garage.

  “This guy is always late. I wonder why he always has to be late like this,” says Shaun to Jon.

  “I think he’s doing his hair and making sure he has a freshly ironed shirt on,” jokes Jon.

  Shaun runs his left hand along his beard and says, “I kind of like having a beard now. You should grow one Jon.”

  “Kelly likes my face baby soft,” replies Jon.

  “Lisa did too, but she actually likes my beard now,” replies Shaun.

  Matt exits from his house and walks over to meet Jon and Shaun.

  “Ready their fashionista?” jokes Shaun.

  “Yeah, yeah. I had to check my guns and vest out,” replies Matt.

  “Everything okay?” asks Jon to Matt.

  “Yeah, I just still can’t get over why Dutch and Cage had our weapons from the truck,” answers Matt.

  Jon says, “Yeah, I don’t like to think that they were the ones shooting at us at the shopping center, but it would make sense.”

  “Cage’s face looked like he did get into a fight recently. He could have been the shooter,” says Matt.

  Jon and Matt get into the electric truck and Shaun looks down at his rifle.

  Shaun shakes his head and doesn’t know what to think about Dutch and Cage and how they got his rifle.

  Shaun gets into the electric truck, starts it up, and exits Citrus Oaks.

  Loud music is heard as Shaun exits Citrus Oaks.

  Shaun looks out his electric truck front windshield and he sees Andre’s truck parked next to a neighborhood that is close to Citrus Oaks.

  Shaun drives down the street and
he sees Andre’s truck speakers facing the entrance of the nearby neighborhood.

  BEEP! BEEP!

  Shaun beeps his electric truck horn and waves to Andre, Jerri-Lynn, and Sam.

  Two zombies come staggering out of the entrance of the neighborhood and towards Andre’s truck.

  BANG!

  BANG!

  Two shots are heard, and the two zombies fall backwards onto the street after being struck in the head by two bullets.

  Jon looks out his front passenger side electric truck door window and sees Chelsea and another person sitting on top of a roof across the street from Andre’s truck.

  “They got two snipers up there to take out the approaching zombies. Pretty smart,” says Jon.

  Shaun makes a right hand turn and approaches Whitney’s neighborhood.

  “How are we going to do this?” asks Shaun to Matt and Jon.

  “What do you mean?” asks Matt.

  “I mean are we going to be tough, nice, or what with Whitney?” answers Shaun.

  Shaun pulls into Whitney’s neighborhood and stops his electric truck a couple feet inside the entrance of the neighborhood.

  “I don’t know. What do you think?” asks Matt.

  “I think we park somewhere and observe things first. Stay in the shadows,” answers Jon.

  “I like that. Stay hidden and see what she does without knowing we are there,” replies Matt.

  “Okay, so we hide like wimps,” jokes Shaun.

  “No, we stay hidden and gain intel,” replies Matt.

  “What did you find out about this orange house and Whitney with the drone?” asks Shaun.

  A car comes driving down the street inside the neighborhood and towards Shaun’s electric truck.

  Shaun sees the approaching car and sees that it’s Whitney driving.

  BEEP! BEEP!

  Shaun beeps his electric truck horn at Whitney.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” frantically asks Matt.

  Whitney stops her car a couple feet away from Shaun’s electric truck.

  “What are you doing Shaun?” asks Jon.

  “I’m talking with her. She is driving towards us,” answers Shaun.

  Shaun rolls his driver side electric truck window down and shouts, “Whitney! It’s us the people you met the other day!”

  “Who?” shouts Whitney from inside her car.

  “The group that was with Brody! You had the deer the other day!” shouts Shaun.