Apocalypse Empire (Book 1): Apocalypse Origins (28 page)

Greg stood as Byron approached and they exchanged a firm
handshake. "Nice to meet you," Byron said. "I'm Byron Oates and
this is my wife Kelly. I hear you've already met Melissa and Cody."

Greg nodded, "Greg Lyons. This is Carol Reed and James
Ruckley

"Russell said your group might be willing to help us
out."

Greg nodded, "We are but it may not be as much as
you're hoping for. I explained a bit to James earlier. We had a big fight a few
days back, had to leave our place to escape from infected. Asking the men to
defend their families is easy, I'm not sure how they feel about this. 

"I can understand that," Russell replied.

"Having that said, I'm definitely willing to help
myself."

"Thanks," Russell replied, "I appreciate
that. Maybe I can tell you how everything started." At Greg's nod he
began, "We've been getting along pretty well since the outbreak. There
were a few campers that turned that first day but we were able to handle it.
After that, being way out here takes care of the rest." Byron paused while
two young women entered the room carrying platters of food.

They set the platters down and Greg's mouth watered at the
sight of sliced venison, string beans, and potatoes. It was silent for a few
minutes as everyone took the time to load up their plates. Once everyone had
served themselves, Byron resumed his story,

"I imagine we had it easy compared to be people caught
in the cities. We've got plenty of food and I don't have a problem getting
fresh meat," he said with a nod towards the platter of venison.

"When did the bandits show up?" Greg asked.

"About a week now," Kelly replied. "They
showed up and demanded all of our food."

'You can't give in to people like that," Byron said.
"You give in once and they'll keep coming back."

"One of them shows up every day around noon and makes
the same demand. I don't know how long it'll be before they just try to take
what they want," Kelly said worriedly.

Byron nodded, "We're really the only ones that know how
to use a gun. The campers really don't have any idea of how to survive."

"If they attack, we've been thinking of having everyone
come inside and hoping for the best," Kelly said.

Gregg nodded, "I think it's not as bad it seems."
At everyone's look he explained. "Here's what I'm thinking. They've been
here a week and haven't attacked yet. That makes me wonder if they can. I mean why
would they wait otherwise?"

"Maybe they just want an easy victory," Russell
said.

Greg frowned in thought. He wanted to help these people but
the situation reminded him of when he had first met Dawn. Everyone had seemed
friendly at first then too. He felt they were genuine but he didn't want to
find himself in the middle of another civil dispute. It had worked out then, he
now had thirty men under his command. It would probably be best if he could
verify some of what they were saying for himself.

"Do you know where they're operating from?" Greg
asked.

Russell nodded, "I followed their guy back the first
day he showed up asking for our supplies. I followed him again yesterday to
make sure their camp hadn't been moved."

"Alright," Greg said, "I'd like to see the
camp for myself."

"I’ll take you first thing in the morning,"
Russell replied.

***

Morning came and found Russell, Greg, and
James stealthily moving through the forest. "We're nearly
there," Russell said quietly.

The sound of heavy metal music reached their ears and
Russell went prone. The others followed suit and they belly crawled until they
reached the edge of a clearing. Inside they saw a number of men moving about.
They were all dressed in leather attire and Greg assumed that they were
bikers of some sort. This was confirmed a moment later when he saw bikes neatly
arranged on one side of the clearing.

Greg continued looking around and suddenly went still. On
the other side of the clearing there were a number of women in various states
of undress. On their legs he noticed that a chain had been attached to a
bracelet around their ankle. The chain was then staked to the ground with a peg
of some sort. Greg frowned angrily. There was no doubt in Greg's mind about
what they had been force to do.  To make matters worse, Greg saw several
women dressed like the men moving around. He saw several of them go out of
their way to walk past the captives. There were pinches and slaps as the women
walked by and Greg heard raucous laughter in response. 

Anger filled Greg's heart. These things, he wouldn't dignify
them with anything more, were worse than Dawn. She at least had reason for her
madness. These animals were being purposely cruel for no reason. Who would have
thought he'd find something worse than the infected? Greg had seen enough. He'd
gather the men and they'd strike this place in force. He'd save the women too
if he could. Hopefully they'd be able to recover from what they'd been through.
He reached out to tap Russell on the shoulder and indicated that he wanted to
leave.

They stopped once they were a safe distance away. Greg
looked at each of them and saw the same fire in their eyes that was no doubt in
his own. "We're coming back," he said.

Russell and James nodded in unison. "I'm glad you're on
board," Russell said.

"No way we couldn't be after seeing that," James
said.

"I'd like a plan so we can try and save the women but
I'm putting those bandits down. They're worse than infected."

Russell nodded his agreement. "I'm glad you feel that
way. There's no way we could do anything about them without your help."

Back at the inn Greg gathered his inner circle and met with
the rangers and the Oates. They tried to come up with a plan that would give
the captives the best chance of surviving.

"How do we know they won't just hurt the captives as
soon as they see us?" Jackson asked.

"Let's not give them the chance," Russell said.

"Yeah," Melissa chimed in, "let's him them so
hard that they'll be too busy trying to save their own skin."

"That seems a good way to get those women hurt,"
Laura said.

The group went back and forth for a while, each of them
pushing a plan that they thought would guarantee the captives' safety. Greg
waited for a lull in the conversation before speaking.

"There are things worse than death," Greg said.
Everyone looked at him and he smiled sadly. "Getting bit by the infected
and then turning on your loves one," he said as he looked towards James
who nodded in response. He was no doubt thinking of the ordeal he had faced in
the hospital. "Getting captured by animals and being forced to endure God
knows what. There are things worse than death."

They all sat quietly as they thought about what Greg had
said. "We'll go with this," he said. "I'd like to save all the
captives but I'm not going to let these animals get away. They're not gonna
hurt anyone else. We'll task a few men to go for the captives once the fighting
starts. If we get lucky they'll be able to get everyone. If not, we'll still
have saved some."

Greg looked around the table and he could tell from their
facial expressions that they weren't happy with his proposal. He didn't see any
other options though. There was no way to guarantee the captives safety. They
couldn't call a hostage negotiator and bargain for their release. Greg was sure
these animals wouldn't be satisfied unless they got all of their food and maybe
not even then. He was surprised that they hadn't already attacked the inn.
Bargaining with your survival was a dead end. If Byron gave up all his food,
how we these people survive?

"Let's move," Greg said putting an end to the
discussion. Everyone quickly filed out of the room and he quickly found himself
alone with Byron.

"Thanks for that," Byron said. "We'd still be
arguing if you hadn't taken charge."

Greg shrugged, "Just doing what needs to be done."

"I mean it," Byron said, "I don't know what
we would've done if you hadn't shown up."

"Good thing we showed up then," Greg said as he
stood. "You coming?"

"Wouldn't miss it," Byron replied with a deadly
smile.

A few hours later, Greg and his forces were arrayed just
outside the bandit camp. The strains of heavy metal music still filed the air
so the entire group had been able to get into position unseen. For this fight,
Greg had a rifle in addition to his usual machete and pistol. Greg raised his
rifle and zeroed in on one of the bandits. They were all waiting for his
signal. He squeezed the trigger and the bandit fell to the ground motionless a
moment later. All around the clearing, his men opened fire and more bandits fell.
Several seconds passed before the bandits realized they were under attack and
went for cover.

***

Marcus Sands knelt behind the tree stump as shots flew
overhead. "What is this?" he demanded. "Who's attacking
us?"

"It's gotta be those guys from the inn," one of
his men replied.

"You've been going out there every day. I thought you
said there were only five of them to worry about!"

"That's all there was, I swear!" the man replied
fearfully. 

"Well, I don't care who they are," Marcus said
angrily. "Who do they think they are coming up into my camp like
this?" Marcus leaned out for a moment and squeezed off a few shots,
smiling in satisfaction when one of his enemies hit the ground.

"We can do this!" he yelled to encourage his
men. 

Taking heart at his words, several of his men returned fire.
The shots coming from the other side died off as they were forced into cover.
"Keep it up men! Look at 'em. They're hiding like little girls." He
leaned out to fire more shots then cursed when his pistol went empty.

"They're taking the women!" someone yelled.

Marcus peeked out to see several figures pulling up the
stakes that were keeping the women immobile. He had half a mind to open fire on
them, just on principle mind you but he figured he should save his bullets for
the idiots shooting at him.

"Forget them," he called as he reloaded.
"We'll get them back after we take care of these idiots." He let off
another shot and smiled again when it hit home. He suddenly realized that he
didn't hear a lot of gunfire from his side. He looked around as best he could
and saw that a good number of his men were on the ground. The ones that were
left were cowering, no doubt in hopes of not being shot. What did had he done
to get stuck with a bunch of cowards?

"Come on, men. We can do this!" he looked around
but got no response. 

"Throw down your weapons," a voice called.
"Or we can finish you off. Makes no difference to us."

The nerve! Who did they think they were to talk to him like
that? They wanted him to surrender? He'd take as many of them with him as he
could. 

"We surrender," one of his men called out.
"Stop shooting."

Marcus yelled. "We're not giving it up."

"It's over," one of them said. "Most of us
are down and we’re all out of ammo. I'm not getting shot for no reason."

"We fight to the death," Marcus replied. He looked
up in shock as two of his men charged towards him and tackled him to the
ground. They wrestled his pistol away from here and held him there like he was
some kind of animal. How dare they? After all he had done to take care of them,
they treated him like this?

Moments later he heard the approach of a large number of
footsteps. His men got off of him and he looked up to see himself surrounded by
a number of hard looking men. One of them stepped forward and looked down at
him. He had a rifle slung over his back and Marcus noticed a pistol
and a machete on either hip. "You the leader of this group?" he
asked.

"Yea that's right," Marcus said as he stood to his
feet. "That was a raw thing you did, coming at us like that."

Anger flashed across the man's eyes. "Should I have
sent a herald? Announced my intent? You are filth. You're lucky I'm talking to
you at all. The only reason I'm talking to you is that one of my men pointed
out that some of you may have been coerced."

A few of the bandits looked up at this, hope evident in
their eyes. They were kneeling off to the side, bound by twine. Several of the
guards were keeping watch over them. Seeing the look on their faces, Marcus
cursed.

"Wasn't no coercion. They all wanted to do it," he
said angrily.

"I will determine their guilt," Greg
replied. 

"We're all guilty then," Marcus insisted.
"You really gonna trust them?"

Greg looked at the bandits as they tried to bargain for their
lives. He could let them go but he had no doubt they would rally and go right
back to preying on anyone weaker than themselves. He felt it was his duty to
stop them. Who else would do it? The government was fallen and the police were
nowhere to be found. Who would protect the weak? He couldn't save everyone but
he could protect the people in the park right here, right now.

"Enough," he said quietly. The bandits fell silent
and he looked at each of them in turn. Ten had survived the firefight and they all
looked terrified with the exception of Marcus. They likely understood that
their lives hung in the balance.

"No more pleading. I'll show you the same mercy you've
showed."

"We don't always hurt people," one of them said
desperately.

"Of course," Greg replied, "you just take
their food and leave them to die slowly instead."

Greg shook his head, "No, this ends here." He
moved to stand in front of Marcus and two guards came forward and forced him to
his knees.

"Let me go!" Marcus yelled defiantly. "What
gives you the right?"

"I suppose we give ourselves the right," Greg
replied. "We're trying to rebuild. I won't stand by while people like you
tear down what's left."