Fight 4 Us (Book 7): Weaponize

by Grenda, Brian

  “Just wanted to say hello and talk with you. I haven’t seen you in some time.”

  “Let’s go into a room and talk privately,” says William.

  Jon, Shaun, and I go with William into a classroom.

  William sits down in a chair, and I do the same.

  Jon and Shaun sit down next to me.

  “How are things at The Haven?”

  “Very well, things are going well here at The Haven. We had some trouble with some teenagers, and then the storm hit us, but we are doing well,” says William.

  “Teenagers?” asks Shaun.

  “Yes, a group of troubled teens were vandalizing our home. We dealt with it and actually got some new additions to our group here,” says William.

  “Good. Any word about Jacob or any problems with the Conquerors?”

  “No problems. We haven’t seen his men around here or around Tampa Bay,” says William.

  “What about someone named DK?”

  William seems shocked at my question.

  “DK? You have met the infamous DK?” asks William.

  “No, we have yet to meet him in person. We saw him protect your men in St. Pete though.”

  “DK is a very complicated man. I have only heard stories about him. He seems to be a very capable fighter against the living and the dead,” says William.

  “I would say so,” says Shaun.

  “What would you say?” jokes William.

  Shaun doesn’t know what to say.

  “Awkward,” jokes Jon.

  We all laugh at Jon’s joke.

  “Seriously though William, my team and I are going into St. Pete. We saw your men from a drone video and would like to team up with them on their next trip into St. Pete.”

  “Very well. I have no conflict with that,” says William.

  “Is Jeremy coming? Is Jeremy allowed to go?”

  “I’m not sure Jeremy is ready for that type of trip. St. Pete sounds to be very dangerous,” replies William.

  “I understand, but we had a conversation with him about going to St. Pete. It sounds like he wants to join Felix, Hector and James.”

  “I will discuss the trip with Jeremy, but don’t expect him to go into St. Pete with you,” says William.

  “I understand. I just wanted to make sure.”

  “Is there anything else?” asks William.

  “We are planning to meet with Jacob about the agreement, another group, and our boundaries. Do you want to be part of that meeting?”

  “Do you need me to be part of that meeting?” asks William.

  “It would be nice to have backup for the meeting,” says Jon.

  William looks at me and asks, “Do you agree Ryan?”

  “Yes, but it’s not totally necessary.”

  “When is the meeting?” asks William.

  “We don’t know yet. We haven’t met with Jacob or even tried to yet. We plan on trying to get a hold of Jacob today or tomorrow.”

  William replies, “Keep me posted of the meeting, and if you need me or my men to accompany you for the meeting.”

  “I will keep you in the know William.”

  Shaun looks at William and asks, “Do you have any more of those pies around here?”

  William laughs and shouts, “Of course! Let’s go get you one!”

  William, Jon, Shaun, and I exit the classroom and walk back into the main courtyard of The Haven.

  Bruce walks over to Jon with his shield and Silencer.

  Lauren points at me and a young woman looks at me.

  The young woman comes running over to me.

  “Hey Ryan!” shouts the woman.

  “Hey Hailee.”

  Hailee gives me a big hug, and I am taken back by the greeting of Hailee.

  “How are you Hailee?”

  “Good. I’m really good, actually. Things are great around here. How are you? How is the Big Club?” asks Hailee.

  “Things are good. How is Donnie?”

  “He’s good. Did you hear about the new name of our home?” asks Hailee.

  “Yeah. The Haven. I like it.”

  “I like it also. It fits this place perfect,” says Hailee.

  Another young woman comes over to Hailee and says, “We need to meet up with Li. I don’t want to be late.”

  Hailee replies, “Okay. We can go. I just wanted to say hi to Ryan.”

  Hailee and the young woman run over to Li, who is conducting a Tai Chi class.

  I walk over to Lauren, Kelly, Lisa, Jon, and Shaun.

  Lauren looks at me and says, “I think Hailee has a little crush on you.”

  “I just think she is being nice.”

  Lauren says, “I think it’s cute. She sees you as a friend and someone she can trust.”

  I joke with Lauren, “What can I say? I’m a likeable trustworthy type of guy.”

  “You sure are. You are my husband, and I love you very much,” says Lauren before she kisses me.

  CHAPTER 8

  SET A MEETING

  “The blue house?” I ask Shaun.

  “Yeah, there is an all blue house. The house, the fence, the driveway, and even the mailbox is blue,” says Shaun.

  “Like the song,” says Phil.

  “I have to see this house.”

  “Yeah, I think we have to try and scavenge it also. I have a feeling that the owner could have been a doomsday prepper or something and there is some good stuff in that house,” says Shaun.

  “I think we check out the blue house and a couple other homes around the area. Then go into Conqueror territory to set a meeting with Jacob.”

  “Sounds good. Who do you want to come?” asks Phil.

  “Anyone and everyone. I don’t like going to meet the Conquerors with limited people.”

  “Okay, I’ll get Jon and Matt,” says Phil.

  “Any word or communication with TJ?” asks Shaun.

  “Nothing yet, I hope he’s okay.”

  “Me too. I miss my boy, Odin,” says Shaun as he puts a bag into the electric truck we are using for this trip.

  “I think we need a car and truck for this trip.”

  “I agree,” says Shaun.

  “I’m going to walk down to Jon’s house and check out the medical house before we leave.”

  “Okay, I’ll be ready to go when you get back,” says Shaun.

  I slowly walk down the street and make my way towards the medical house that is near the West entrance.

  I hear a loud noise come from a vehicle exhaust as it drives by the West entrance gate and down the street.

  Lauren walks into the garage of the medical house as I am walking up the driveway.

  “How we looking?”

  “Good, we are decent on medical supplies for now, but we could use more. Can’t you just go down to the local drugstore and pick up a few things?” jokes Lauren.

  “I wish it was that simple.”

  I walk into the medical house with Lauren and find Kelly in the house.

  “Hey Kelly.”

  “Hey Ryan, how are you?” asks Kelly.

  “Good, what’s our inventory looking like?”

  “We are definitely good on food and water and weapons. We are very low on books, records, and CDs. We are okay on automotive supplies, and decent on medical supplies. We could use more meds, bandages, rubbing alcohol, and really anything medical,” says Kelly as she looks at her list of supplies.

  “Anything in particular that we really need?”

  “I believe Jon has a list,” says Kelly.

  I smirk at hearing that Jon has a list.

  “Thank you for doing this, both of you.”

  “You are welcome, I enjoy it,” says Kelly.

  Lauren says, “I’d rather be out on some runs every now and again though.”

  I look at Lauren and say, “You will be but not this one. We are going into a Conqueror area to set up a meeting with Jacob.”

  “You can’t just call him?” asks Lauren.

  “
I’ll have to work on our radio contact or another way to message him, but right now, I don’t have any other way to contact him.”

  “Well, be careful with Jacob. I don’t like that little prick,” says Lauren.

  “I will. I just wanted to say goodbye before I left. We are leaving in a little bit.”

  I say goodbye to Kelly and walk with Lauren out of the medical house.

  I walk with Lauren over to where Phil and I executed the two men that were in this house.

  Lauren sees me looking at the two spots in the grass.

  “You want someone to treat these patches of grass?” asks Lauren.

  “You don’t have too. I will always remember that day when Phil and I killed those men. It doesn’t matter if the grass is new and improved or not.”

  Phil and Jon come speeding down the road in an electric car.

  “What’s up Ry? We leaving now or what?” shouts Jon.

  “Yeah. I just wanted to say goodbye to Lauren.”

  I kiss Lauren goodbye.

  “Be careful,” says Lauren.

  “I will.”

  I get into the backseat of the electric car, and Jon drives down to my house.

  “I’ll be right back out. I have to get my gear.”

  I walk into my house and into my man cave.

  “There is my baby,” I say to my katana as I pick her up from her horizontal stand.

  I put on the lower half of my samurai armor and grab the top half of my samurai armor.

  Milo tries to walk into my man cave, but I shut the man cave door as I exit the room.

  Milo runs into the kitchen.

  I say goodbye to Callie and Milo, grab my handgun that is in my right thigh holster, and I exit my house.

  I lock my front door and walk down my driveway.

  “Nice outfit!” jokes Matt.

  “Yeah, yeah. I like it. I feel safe in this thing.”

  I do a little twirl and the guys laugh.

  “We all set?”

  “Yeah. Phil and Matt are with me,” says Jon.

  “Okay, good. I can’t fit in your car with this on.”

  I put the top half of my samurai armor in the back of the electric truck and hop into the electric truck passenger seat.

  Shaun gets in the electric truck driver seat.

  I pick up a walkie-talkie and say, “Check, check.”

  Phil picks up his walkie-talkie and says, “Check this.”

  “Yeah, yeah. It’s too small to check. You know the plan, right?”

  “Yeah, we are going to drive into the Conqueror boundary off Starkey Road. We going to any building in particular?” asks Phil.

  Shaun looks at me and says, “I think there is an outdoor mall that we should check out.”

  I say into the walkie-talkie, “Shaun says to try the outdoor mall on Starkey Road.”

  “Roger that. I think I know where we are going,” says Phil over the walkie-talkie.

  Shaun and Jon start up their vehicles, and we exit out of Citrus Oaks.

  Jon leads the way in the electric car.

  “I can’t believe I never saw this blue house before.”

  “It’s right before Starkey Road,” says Shaun.

  I pick up my walkie-talkie and ask, “Do you have an updated map. I need to update my map with the local areas that are clear now.”

  “Yeah, our map is updated. The Starkey Road area is unknown to us. We don’t have any of those areas cleared out yet,” says Phil over the walkie-talkie.

  “The house is coming up on the left,” says Shaun.

  I look to my left and see a house that is painted light blue. The garage door, house, driveway, trim, wooden fence and mailbox are all blue.

  Shaun drives by the blue house.

  “You weren’t lying. That’s pretty funny. I wonder who lives there and who thought it was a good idea to paint their entire house light blue?”

  “I don’t know, but we are going to find out,” says Shaun.

  “Okay guys. We are turning onto Starkey Road now. Keep your eyes peeled,” says Phil over his walkie-talkie.

  As Shaun turns onto Starkey Road, I feel like we are going somewhere we aren’t supposed to go. There is no visible Conqueror border on the road, but I feel like there is one.

  I see a red Conqueror circle with a cross in the middle of it.

  “What’s up with that Conqueror symbol?” asks Shaun.

  “I’m not sure. I know Joseph had a tattoo like that on his arm.”

  Jon pulls into an outdoor mall shopping center and parks in a parking spot in front of a pet store.

  Shaun parks next to Jon’s car.

  “They would have a pet store here,” says Shaun.

  I look out my window and don’t see any danger.

  “How we looking Phil?” I ask over the walkie-talkie.

  “Looks to be all clear,” replies Phil over the walkie-talkie.

  I open my passenger side door and exit from the truck.

  Shaun, Jon, Phil, and Matt exit from their vehicles.

  I reach into the back of Shaun’s truck and grab the top half of my samurai armor.

  “Who are you?” shouts someone from the pet store roof into a megaphone.

  We all look up at the roof.

  Phil and Shaun point their handguns at the person standing on top of the pet store roof.

  “We want you to deliver a message to Jacob for us. I am Ryan. He knows who I am.”

  Six more people come from behind the person standing on top of the pet store roof and point their guns at us.

  I put my hands up and shout, “We mean no harm! We only want to deliver a message to Jacob! I know we entered your area and that’s not part of the agreement, but we need to talk with Jacob. We didn’t know what else to do!”

  The person on top of the roof takes a step towards me, and I see that the person is a woman.

  “You aren’t supposed to be here!” shouts the woman into her megaphone.

  “I know! But can you deliver the message or not? We aren’t trying to stay here any longer than we have to!”

  “Hold on!” shouts the woman.

  I look back at Phil and Shaun and say, “Take cover slowly. No sudden moves.”

  I step back towards the electric truck.

  “You don’t have to hide, we aren’t going to kill you!” shouts the woman into her megaphone.

  “Okay!”

  “What do you want me to tell Jacob?” shouts the woman into her megaphone.

  “Can you come down here? I can’t keep shouting!”

  The woman replies, “No! What do you want me to ask Jacob?”

  Ten zombies start walking towards us. They are a good distance away from us, but they’re coming right at us.

  “Ryan, we need to deliver the message now!” shouts Matt.

  I walk closer to the store and shout, “Tell him I want to meet with him in a couple days! We need to set up new boundaries and talk about a couple things!”

  “Hold on!” shouts the woman.

  Jon looks at Phil and Shaun and says, “We need to take these zombies out. I’m not worrying about them and these morons.”

  Jon grabs Silencer and his shield.

  Shaun grabs his upgraded assault rifle and Phil grabs his shotgun.

  Matt stays back by the electric car.

  I walk back to the truck and grab my katana.

  “Jacob says he can meet in two days!” shouts the woman.

  “Can he make it three or four? I have something to do in two days!”

  Jon cuts four zombies heads off with his new and improved lighter Silencer.

  Shaun shoots at a zombie and kills three zombies with the one shot.

  Phil fires his shotgun and takes down two zombies.

  A lone zombie comes around the corner of the pet store and walks towards me.

  I easily stab my katana into the zombies’ head and the zombie falls to the ground.

  “Jacob can do that! Where are you wanting to meet?�
� shouts the woman.

  “How about his house?”

  “I know that ain’t happening, but I’ll ask!” shouts the woman.

  Jon, Phil and Shaun walk over to me.

  “All clear,” says Phil.

  Shaun walks into the pet store entrance.

  “Where are you going Shaun?” asks Jon.

  Shaun doesn’t answer and continues walking.

  Jon walks into the pet store after Shaun.

  “Go make sure Shaun doesn’t do something dumb,” I say to Phil.

  Phil goes into the pet store.

  “How about the Clearwater Sand Beach Resort? You know where that is?” asks the woman.

  “That’s fine! I know where it is! What time and when?”

  “Where did your friends go?” asks the woman.

  “They went into your store. The zombies drove them inside.”

  A man behind the woman shouts, “They better come out, or we will make them come out!”

  I look at the man and shout, “They’ll come out!”

  The woman replies, “You are all set for the resort at two p.m. in three days.”

  “Okay great! Thank you! What’s your name?”

  “You’re welcome! Now get the fuck out of here!” shouts the woman.

  “Nice to meet you! Hope I don’t see you again now get the fuck out of here! Is that German?”

  Shaun, Phil, and Jon come running out of the pet store.

  Shaun has a big bag of dog food in his hands.

  “What are you doing?”

  “It’s for Odin. I got him a toy also,” says Shaun.

  Jon gets into the electric car.

  Phil looks at Matt and asks, “Why didn’t you help?”

  Matt replies, “I kept an eye on the people on the roof from back here. You guys had it under control.”

  Shaun puts the dog food in the back of the truck.

  Matt and Phil get back into the electric car.

  Shaun and I get back into the electric truck.

  Jon speeds away in the electric car and exits the pet store parking lot.

  “You can keep the dog food! It will be our gift to you! Don’t come back here, or we will shoot you next time!” shouts the woman from the roof.

  Shaun exits the pet store parking lot, and we drive out of the outdoor shopping mall complex.

  “Stop at the blue house Jon,” I say to Phil over the walkie-talkie.

  “Okay,” replies Phil over the walkie-talkie.

  Jon turns off Starkey Road and approaches the blue house.