Death Has Fallen: Freedom Rock Chronicles: Book 1 (16 page)

Stepping out of the tree line we found our team not being attacked by the dead.  Our shots had brought out the bikers from the station.  Looking through the scopes I saw at least three hiding behind trees and stepping out to pop off a few rounds at the trucks. I pulled the scope over to the truck and saw they had shot the kid in our truck and one of the drivers.  The others were behind the trucks towards us shooting at the attackers.  I heard Aaron let of the first shot and through the scope saw one man fall limp behind a tree.  The others were still attempting to fight.  My eyes were drawn to a fat one with a large revolver.  He seemed to be timing his bounces though I doubt purposefully.  He popped out and I counted.  Three seconds later he popped out firing once again almost blindly towards us.  The third time he popped out I had imagined where his head would be and to my surprise the dumbass stuck his head right in the crosshair.  I could see his grimy teeth and unshaved beard.  I pulled the trigger and saw his head fly back.

There was only one man off, but we were unable to get a shot.  He must have noticed the high power rifle fire and decided to take a more defensive position.  As I looked around trying to find any more bikers throughout the forest I saw movement the trees.  Whatever it was the heading was directly towards the biker still shooting.  Finally it came close enough for me to see Jaime had snuck across the road further up and was now flanking the remaining biker.  She was approaching him with the rifle drawn and three shots echoed throughout the forest.

Continuing to gaze through the scope I saw Jaime slowly walking out with that same smile on her face.  We waved smiling at her success and went to help Max with Nick.  Max was struggling with stopping the blood flow.  I took my belt off and tightened it around his thigh.  The three of us lifted him and placed him in the back of The Dozer.  The kid who was in the Chevy with me took two shots.  The first shot was in the arm and the second in the back.  The driver of The Dozer took a shot to the side of his face.  It was a gruesome mess and we did our best to clean everything up.  The two dead were placed in my truck to be taken back and buried.

Three had lived through the assault, but were now more shook up than they were before leaving the town.  We began heading towards the station at Aaron’s command.  The fear of the drivers was apparent at the fast pace they choose.

Chapter 19

It took a while to reach the gas station, but once we did all was quiet.  It seemed that the gang in Wellston really did not have the men necessary to guard the station heavily.  Aaron, Max, and I walked through the station then down into the bunker.  The supplies in the station seemed a bit drained, but the cover had not been lifted from the bunker.  They must have thought we got everything not realizing there was food underground. I stayed and helped load supplies while the rest of the guards went to watch over the trucks and make sure Nick was doing ok.  It took us a couple hours to get everything out of the bunker and into the trucks.  The barrels of water were the most difficult weighing near four hundred pounds. 

The five gallon buckets of dried food and jerky went easily.  We had nothing to strap the buckets down so the drivers took their time getting back to the quarry.  Getting back without incident gave us a bit of peace allowing us a chance to calm ourselves.  Everyone was shaken up especially Max and myself who had to sit with the fifteen year old kid and the woman who drove The Dozer.  We let our guard down for only a couple minutes and this biker group unloaded killing a woman and child.  I felt that this situation would help the cause and get people willing to help us take the town down once and for all.

When we pulled up to the kitchen to unload the food both Timothy and Earl were there with Ted.  There were now three citizen deaths caused by this biker gang.  Timothy had a few people with them and as we got out the leaders pulled us in the town hall.  The people there to unload first took Nick to lay down then got the only nurse we had at the quarry to tend to him.

They walked in and Earl spoke first saying, “You guys seem a little short what the hell happened?”

Being the senior member Aaron began speaking.  “Earl we sent Nick to go scout.  On his way back he was attacked by a horde so we went to help him.  He took two bullets from friendly fire in the leg.  We were able to kill the zombies, but the biker gang came when they heard the shots and began unloading on the citizens we left.  I know we screwed up leaving the group to fend for themselves while we went to fight the dead, but taking them with us into the trees towards the fighting would have been just as dangerous.”

Ted who I hadn’t seen for some time lit up like fire.  His eyes were pointed at us all as this was unfolding.  “What the fuck has been happening since I have been looking for supplies and other civilizations? We now have an enemy besides these dead who kill us?  How did this get started?  Tell me you at least tried peace before going to war.”

He was looking at Earl as he said this, blatantly placing the blame on him.  It was then Earl began showing some anger and said, “Ted we were on a simple scavenge mission.  Five of them on bikes came and without warning began shooting at the trucks.  There was no option for peace.  The only peace that could be found that day was in death.”

Earl then broke from describing that day and took the approach of calling them monsters and telling him they had to be stopped.  He explained Joseph’s story as if he had always wanted to avenge him.  As the words came out of his mouth my pride began boiling, but it was suppressed.  I knew that if Earl could convince Ted the war would be worthwhile and we would have a chance at freeing everyone they had taken he would give the go.  The thought brought up fire inside me. 

Both Earl and Ted were now arguing about fighting with the town.  Earl continued to bring up all my points of why we should go, now seeing the devastation they enjoyed causing. 

“Ted, they want us dead and the ones who won’t be murdered will be enslaved.  Any inaction on our part dealing with the situation will lead to more of these deaths.  We now have an enemy more dangerous than those hordes.  They will not stop with simply attacking our scavengers.  When they see there is no real consequences for killing us they will come to take what we have.  Everything we know about them tells us they don’t want to talk, but only kill and enslave.  Will you really allow more deaths for fear of violence?  They have started this war and if we don’t fight we die!”  I saw my emotion when giving a speech damn similar to mine.  When he slammed his fist to the table it really drove the point.

Ted began contemplating his response knowing the seriousness of his decision. 

“There is no safe way to wage war.  Look out in those trucks and see the dead bodies.  That will be nothing compared to the losses we face if an all-out war erupts.”  Earl began responding, but was cut short. “Earl let me finish please, we have seven hundred lives to think of with our decisions.  These bikers have put our people in the ground without showing restraint or mercy.  For our safety we will remove this threat by any means necessary.”

Our group roared with this.  The gears of war had finally been set into motion.  Ted and Earl sent the rest of us away to get every guard who was not on patrol or watching the gate.  This had been the first time I was required to walk around the entire city.  My house was at the end of the main road which also housed the kitchen, security office, and town hall.  There was much more to this quarry than I had originally thought.  The main road had two smaller roads that branched off.  They were closer to the front signifying they had been their longer than us.

Walking through the streets I got to witness the ingenuity of people. They had made windows of plastic liter bottles.  In the windows they had wild flowers in pots made from tin cans. The doors all seemed to be different.  One house in particular struck me as a work of genius.  The roof was made of metal cut down to the size of shingles.  The door was created from what looked like a large fridge door.  The walls were not nearly as simple as mine.  They had taken the time to weld every hole shut.  This was also the only house that stood two stories and each story large enough for a man to stand.

An older gentleman walked by carrying a load of water up and down ensuring everyone had enough.  Seeing me stopped in front of this house he stopped saying, “Timothy is a hell of a builder huh?”

“This is where he lives?” I asked.

“Yes sir.  He built this himself with nothing more than a couple tools scavenged from different towns.”

“Simply amazing.  This house is the absolute closest I have seen any to a house built before the disease.”  The house was built so well one would not think it was of spare parts unless taking a very close look.

As I continued walking down the first road that branched off the main, I had no idea how to find all the guards.  I began screaming, “Guards” which at the second seemed to be a great idea, but as I saw them all rushing out of their houses with guns out I realized it may have been to misleading. 

They were all staring at me as if I was some idiot.  “All of you report to Town Hall, we got a war brewing and need every guard to get briefed.  Make sure you tell everyone who is with security to get to the hall.”

With that, the irritation of my false alarm left their face and fear of an upcoming war began overcoming them.  If they had not been battling undead, panic may have erupted, but these men have seen death and danger at its worst. 

They all walked with concern to find out what had happened and what type of war had begun. As I began walking back towards the main road all the guards I had sent to the town hall began running towards the gate. I joined them and as we got closer the sounds of bikes roaring became deafening.  Everyone had their arms ready and the gate began to rise. 

What we saw was the two guards lying on their backs and tied to bikes still struggling.  We came out furiously and began firing at them, but before anyone could land a shot they hit the gas and began dragging the men behind them.  The screams of pain and torment remained in our ears even after they had disappeared down the road. 

It seemed as if the little group in Wellston had finally had enough of losing every battle and decided an attack would be favorable. We all walked back into the town not leaving anyone outside since it was no longer safe.  Reaching the town hall citizens were nearly in a riot over the danger which came so close.  Ted came out standing in front of the frenzied crowd.

He held his arms up trying to quiet everyone.  It took a while, but they finally started to quiet enough for him to speak.  He himself seemed a bit furious when he spoke.

“Ladies and gentlemen of Freedom Rock we have just been assaulted by another town.  They took the guards out front and drug them to their death.  Any attack of a citizen of this town is an attack on the town itself and will be avenged.  War is approaching and I need every man, woman, and child who can hold a gun to come in to the security office tomorrow while we figure out a plan.” 

The majority of normal citizens were ok with this, but being vulnerable put the guards on edge.   There were nearly a hundred guards total who stood in front of the town hall asking for orders and telling Ted they would not walk outside unless protected.  Ted was increasingly frustrated with the refusals to step foot outside.  After twenty minutes of fighting Timothy finally stepped forward and addressed Ted.

“What if I could construct gunner towers above the wall, and keep it inside the wall.  Guards will be able to see anything and everything approaching.  They will be high enough to fire at any threats, but will also be protected from being picked off by our enemies.  Would this be suitable?”  As he spoke Ted’s eyes seemed to light up.

“Well guards will this be a reasonable compromise?” He asked sure that they would respond positively. 

They all shook their heads in the affirmative.  Timothy addressed them again asking them to follow him to the scrap to grab material to build the towers.  With caution and guns drawn around eighty followed him out and carried everything he needed for the first tower which would be constructed that night and offer the town and the guards protection from possible ambushes.

Nearly the entire town helped with the construction of the tower.  Those who were not directly helping were bringing the builders food and water.  Even with so many people the construction process was slow since Timothy was the only one with the knowledge to construct a guard tower our construction took us deep into the night.  Once finally complete the tower made from pipe, sheet metal, boards, and other scrap looked like an old castle tower.  Not only was the tower constructed with durability in mind Timothy also placed a thick metal wall around the top making it possible for the guards to stay protected.  If they were being fired at, they could simply duck down behind the wall.

Walking back to the security office I grabbed my 300 with about 50 rounds and a pair of binoculars to place in the top of the tower.  Guards were actually requesting to be the first for tower duty.  The first two were a couple guards I had only seen in the streets and never was introduced to.  They saw what I was bringing up and both smiled.  The younger one pulled the three hundred out of my hands then stood so he could use the scope to spot. 

With a guard tower now looking down others felt safe enough to go outside the gate.  The rest of us headed back into town and went to bed getting ready for tomorrow. 

Chapter 20

Jaime had once again shared my room, we woke together and headed out to see what they had made for breakfast.  On the way to the kitchen a mob had formed both in front of the security office and town hall.  The people in front of the security office were old men, women, and children who wanted to sign up for guard duty.  The majority of them had to be turned away because of health or size concerns, but Earl was able to increase our force substantially.  The town hall had the guards who were awaiting orders to move out.  We got behind the crowd to see what the new orders would be.