Day One (Book 1): Alive (22 page)

Johnny moved to the hallway to see all three doors open, even whispering her name as loudly as he dared. Still there was no response or sight of her. “She’s gone, Lloyd. I don’t know how she got out or where she went, but she’s gone.”

“Dammit!” Lloyd contested.

Dominant commands, issued from outside, captured out attention as gunshots would have. We intently listened as someone was demanding a person, or one of those things, to stop. The commands deepened and continued, but I wondered for how long. The thought had no more registered with me when a volley of gunfire from a machinegun erupted. We all went to the floor, worried that they were shooting at us, yet there were no bullet holes anywhere to be seen.

“What the hell are they shooting at?” Devin asked from the floor.

“Probably a group of those things,” Lloyd responded.

Johnny scurried on his belly up the two steps into the kitchen and rose up to look out the side window. He could see the lead HUMMV sitting at a stop sign with several foot mounted soldiers on high alert. Two soldiers quickly formed in his vision and they stopped ten feet from the window, looking down at something. He brought himself upright to get a better view and saw Ashley lying on the ground with blood all over her chest. The soldiers stood over her; one was watching her while the other one looked back at the convoy.

“We got a live one here!” He shouted and seconds later he nodded, glanced down at the woman and raised his rifle. They executed her on sight.

SHIT!
Johnny pushed away from the window. “They shot her; they executed her out there for no reason.”

“Shut up,” Lloyd stated as he watched through the small half circle in the front door.

Devin ignored the order. “Who?”

“Ashley,” Johnny stated. “She’s dead… they murdered her.”

Lloyd spun around to see Johnny trying his best to keep the tears from running down his dirty checks. He looked directly at me with a coldness that I could feel all the way to my bones. “That’s what would have happened if we had tried to make a break for them,” he said. “They would have shot us down like dogs. We stay here, we stay quiet… we stay alive.”

This couldn’t be happening, it just couldn’t. I had always looked at the military as the great protector of our mighty nation. Their selfless service to us in the time of war had made me more than proud to call myself an American and know that we were the most powerful nation on the face of the earth. That image and proud patriotism melted from my mind and ran out of my ears. I was ashamed of what they had done, but realized that Lloyd was right. If they knew we were in here they would certainly execute us as well, instead of taking the time to see to our needs and protect us, or even save us. We were officially on our own. They viewed us the same way they viewed those things out there, and they’d treat us no different. That was the hardest pill I ever had to swallow. I almost chocked on it.

More gunfire from outside.

“Who are they shooting at now?” I asked from the floor.

Lloyd glanced out the window. “Don’t know, can’t see anything from where I am.”

“We need to get out of here, guys,” Devin stated. You could hear the fear in his voice and see it, not only on his face, but also with the shaking of his hands. He could barely hold the bolt action rifle in his possession.

“I second, Devin’s idea! We go now or we’re dead as well!” Johnny stated with great distress.

Lloyd turned and looked at each of them a single moment before speaking. “Go where? We step out that door, or any damn door for that matter, and they’ll cut loose on us with that damn machinegun like they did Ashley. We stay
here
.”

The side door, which wasn’t but eight feet from me, also an alternate route in which we could escape without detection, suddenly shattered as assault rifle rounds shredded it. I could see a few of the dead drop and realized they weren’t shooting at us, but rather taking out the dead that were slowly coming out of the wood-work. “Our alternate route is out of the question!”

“Jesus, Christ! We need to go, Lloyd! Stop dicking around and get us the hell out of here!” Johnny yelled over the chaotic gunfire.

“There’s no other way out of here!” Lloyd shouted in return.

I was now on the floor trying to get away from the breaking glass, hoping like hell that none of those bullets hit something hard and ricochet into any part of my body. I made it back into my bedroom and was now cut-off from the others. My eyes darted from left to right expecting to see the man from my past mocking me, cursing me for the things I had done and not turning out like he had. Like his pathetic life was any better than mine. At least I had a job that I loved, and even if it didn’t pay the best in the world, my family knew I loved them and I was sure to tell them as well as show them daily.

“Still cowering see… but then again, you’re pretty good at that, aren’t you?” The voice said, although as I scanned the room I could not see him anywhere.

Kember was awake and at the foot of the bed crying. There was nothing I could do to quiet her and I was a little thankful that the gunfire was covering her cries, as it would have been almost impossible to do if there were no other sounds.

“It’s okay, baby. Daddy’s here and I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you… calm down, just calm down,” I said slithered over to her and pulled her into my arms. She put a death grip around my neck, pinning the SBR to my chest and rendering it useless if I needed it.

The window in Kember’s room caught my attention. It was plenty big enough for all of us to sneak out of and with a fence just a few feet away and in utter darkness; it would supply excellent cover, not to mention the fence behind my house with a narrow door in it. Beyond that was a large mouthed ditch in which we could easily hide and flee if the military came after us. Their lights would have a hard time breaking through the throws of bushes that lined and covered parts of the ditch.

The soldiers outside were in a heavy fight with the dead as I ran into the living room and proceeded to tell the others about the window.

“I don’t know,” Lloyd said, chewing over my idea and considering if it was a good or not so good escape. “They’ll be able to see us from the street.”

“No they won’t, it’s completely dark along the side of the house and when we get to the ditch, we can pretty much go whichever direction we want,” I stated.

“But we’ll be on foot,” Lloyd added.

“Stay here and you’ll be in a body bag!” I insisted.

Johnny and Devin looked from me to Lloyd, as if their stares would change his mind. Neither of them wanted to die, especially for nothing and by the ones sworn to protect us all.

“Listen to him, Lloyd. It’s only a matter of time before they break that door down and come flying in here guns blazing,” Johnny insisted. “We won’t stand a damn chance and you know that!”

“On foot we’ll have a better chance at hiding if they come after us or we run into some sort of checkpoint. In a car or truck we don’t have that level of protection,” Devin added, hoping that all of this suggesting would change his mind.

Lloyd leaned away from the door. I saw what he was about to hit and cried out for him to stop before he got any closer.

“Lloyd, no!”

Too late. His shoulder brushed against and activated two switches, one of which controlled the fan in the living room and the other controlled the porch and carport lights. The fan began to spin slowly, picking up speed as the lights outside shot on suddenly, startling three nearby soldiers who quickly turned and fired at the front porch and door. The small M4 rounds penetrated the door with ease, ripping through Lloyd’s shoulder before traveling further and hitting the wall just feet from where I was standing. I dropped to the floor again to save my daughter as Johnny and Devin hunkered down also. Lloyd screamed in pain and tried to move away from the door. Instead of getting out of the way, he walked directly into the line of fire. Several rounds exited through his chest in a bloody mist, which sprayed everywhere. Horror lit in his eyes and two more rounds entered through the back of his head and blew the entire left side of his face away. He fell to the floor.

“Holy shit!” Johnny shouted.

From the floor I motioned for them to come to me. “Come on, we gotta get out of here!” They scrambled across the hardwood floor, crossed the area rug and reached the safety of the bedroom door as more rounds entered the house, and then suddenly stopped. At the threshold they got to their feet and I slammed the door shut.

“Know what?” Devin asked, looking around the bedroom, seeing the windows above the bed which were too narrow for him to squeeze through.

I handed Kember to Johnny, hurried to the window and quickly opened it. Sticking my head out into the open was not the smartest thing to do, but I did it anyway to find the coast was clear and and crawled out, brought the SBR up and shifted right to see no possible threats, and then left to see what I knew was there. I looked into the window and reached for Kember. “It’s safe, but we have to move fast. They make try coming around the sides to surround us.”

Johnny handed me Kember through the window, as Devin went back toward the door to make sure that no one was coming in behind us. He cracked the bedroom door open enough to stick the rifle through and see clearly. If anyone came in, he’d shoot them.

Even outside with the thunder rumbling overhead, I could hear the military trying to knock down the door, so time was of the essence. The door was made of nothing special and wouldn’t take much to falter under their attempts.

“Hurry up, get going… they’re coming in!” Devin shouted and raised the bolt action rifle to his shoulder.

“Come on, Johnny! Get out here before they break the door down!” I shouted, situating the SBR around my daughter so that I could shoot if anyone got in my way, which I hoped would not happen. But in the unlikely event that it did, I’d smoke
anyone
that tried to harm her.

“Not without, Devin,” he stated.

“Then get him and both of you get your asses out here,” I announced. Kember had calmed a bit, although she was still crying and I pushed her head into my shoulder to which she stopped.

“Devin, let’s go, man. Hustle up,” Johnny commanded.

Devin turned and raced toward the window like a mad-man was chasing him, seconds before another volley of bullets littered the wall near the two steps, where just moments ago he had been standing. It was a close call for Devin, although he didn’t see them strike the wall as I had.

With everyone outside they looked to me for guidance, a role in which I wasn’t very suited to play.

Chapter Nine.

“You lead and we’ll follow,” Johnny said. I spun and ran for the fence door, thinking only of the safety of the deep ditch that lay beyond. I had to keep my mind on the positive, as other thoughts roamed through my head that were anything but that. I was concerned that at any moment, long before I could reach the fence door, a thousand rounds would streak down the narrow passage between my house and cut us all to pieces. To die within feet of safety was my greatest fear… even above possible dead ones waiting for us in the ditch.

“Keep up!” I shouted, not looking back to see if they were both right behind me or still standing at the open window. Although I hope they were right on my heels, as the door would take both hands to open and I needed mine to hold my daughter and the SBR. The fence door had never been used, other than once when I had opened it to see if I could squeeze through, and then it took several tries for me to pry it open, and that was with two free hands and no stress boiling over in my head or military trying to kill me.

A small shed lay only ten feet from the rear of my house. I used it to store Christmas lights and other decorations through the year, as well as a place to store all of the extra stuff my wife and I had accumulated through the years before we met. So there was an opening that I had overlooked in my rash decision to hurriedly leave the house and as I crossed into the openness I caught something out of the corner of my eye, spun my head to see what it was and wished I hadn’t.

A soldier saw me shined the powerful light on his weapon my direction and shouted. “Stop where you are and put your hands up!”

“I have my daughter with me, don’t shoot!” I shouted. His light crossed her and she buried her head into my shoulder to hide from it. Johnny emerged next, saw what was about to happen and spun the revolver in the direction of the threat and without a single thought, fired three quick rounds. The soldier was lifted off his feet and slammed to the ground. The rounds, as they entered his chest, forced so much pain to flourish that he inadvertently pulled the trigger and his M4 carbine fired wildly into the night sky.

A monstrous rumble of thunder bounded from west and shot eastward in less than a second, shaking the ground like an earthquake, as in response to the rounds sweeping swiftly upward.

I watched the soldier go down, feeling neither happy nor guilty about it. He was trying to stop us and had it not been for Johnny and his trigger finger, he’d of gunned us all down for sure. My daughter was in my arms and he could clearly see her, as he had no gas mask on, nothing to cover his eyes and therefore nothing to obstruct his view of us. He saw her and didn’t care one bit.