State of Panic: A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Thriller (9 page)

“Move out,” Corey said.

Stepping out from behind the vehicle he rushed across the road and took cover while continuing to fire. We covered each other as we tried to close the gap between us and the building. I radioed up.

“Get ready to go,” I shouted.

Murphy got on the line this time. “No, we’re aren’t going yet. We need to get Shaw and the other cops.”

“I admire your heart, Murphy, you get ten for effort but Shaw could be anywhere by now.”

“She’s not. They dragged them inside the church.”

“Yeah, and probably executed them.”

“I have to know.”

“And you expect us to go in there with nothing more than handguns?”

“I don’t expect you to do anything. If you want to run, hide or get out of town, that’s your choice. But I’m not leaving without her.”

“Matt is dead,” I said.

He didn’t even pause. “He knew the risk coming out.”

And that was it, nothing more than a passing comment before he was back to yelling out orders to Luke.

“Are you with us?” he asked.

“You want to define that?” I said while firing off two more rounds at a skinhead who was trying to make his way up to us with an AK45 in his hand. A flurry of bullets came from him, which forced us down on the ground.

I heard Billy screaming something. I turned and saw that he had pissed himself out of fear. I didn’t imagine that was the worst of what was seen by military when they were under attack. I was expecting at least one of us to curl into a ball and cry. This wasn’t a game. Those were real rounds flying at us and we all knew we could die.

W
ar
. I had never been in one but the thought had crossed my mind of signing up for the military. There was something very admirable about those who defended the country. It wasn’t like they got paid a lot. A recruiter had once visited our school and that was one of the questions that somebody asked. It was then followed by another about why would anyone do it if it paid badly? The recruiter just smiled and shook his head. It was as if words could never clearly convey why. Sure, some joined because they had no other goals but that didn’t account for all those eager to get out there on the frontlines. What drove them? What pushed them to want to risk their life? I had heard of soldiers willing to die rather than leave behind one of their own but never understood it. There had to have been some kind of bond forged by battle itself.

More bullets were shot overhead by the lunatic with the AK45. I’ll never forget the look on his face. He truly believed that what he was fighting for was right even if innocent people died in the process. But then again, wasn’t all war like that? Both sides believing that they were defending their own families, beliefs and way of life?

“We are pinned down,” I yelled into the hand-held radio. The bullets continued for several more minutes before they stopped. When I raised my head the guy was on the floor. I glanced up at the roof to see that Murphy had taken him out.

“Go get his weapon.”

What headspace did this guy have to operate in to act the way he did? He must have thought we were fearless. In all honesty I was overcome by fear but it was like being thrown in an icy lake. The initial shock was always the worst. The body and mind soon adjusted to the situation. I rushed forward on all fours trying to keep below the hail of bullets. One of the other skinheads must have had the same idea as I saw him bolting towards the weapon at the same time. He cast me a glance and unloaded several rounds. Fortunately the guy had the accuracy of a blind man. One of my bullets struck him in the side and he collapsed in agony. When I pried loose the AK45 from the dead man’s hands, I turned in time to feel the brunt force of a boot in the side of my head. I was knocked back and startled as a skinhead landed on top of me and began trying to choke me using the very weapon I had tried to get. The hate in his eyes as he pressed down on the gun was palpable. When a round struck him in the side of the head, he became a dead weight on top of me. I glanced to my side to see Corey.

With blood sprayed on my face, I heaved him off and then fished around inside the pockets of the dead guy who originally had the gun. I pulled out a box of bullets, and another magazine. Snagging them and seeking shelter behind a car I radioed over to Murphy who was our eyes in the sky.

“How many are there?”

“Do you really want me to answer that?” he shot back.

“Maybe not.” I snorted as I jammed the next magazine into the AK45. Tucking my Glock behind my back I slung the gun up into position and readied myself. Brett came down from the side of the building while Corey and I took the left side of the street. The back windshield on a car nearby shattered and I returned a flurry of bullets.

The church was approximately two blocks from us. We would fire then hustle ass behind the next car using them as shields against the torrent of fire. We had to have eyes in the back of our heads as those bastards were everywhere and not all of them were wielding bats, chains and machetes. Corey kept his eyes behind me while I focused ahead. We had to hope that Murphy and the others were at least covering those we couldn’t see.

I’m not sure how long we were on that street but it felt like hours and every second of it was as terrifying as the next. What we hadn’t seen was that Murphy and the others had decided to make their way down, and were coming up the rear.

When we reached the church, I wanted to go around the back and see if we could find a way inside but when Murphy caught up to us. He said he was going to create a distraction at the front, Billy, Corey and I would take the back. We moved fast. All the while trying to not get shot in the process. At the rear of the church was a large green dumpster and a pair of double doors. Billy tugged on them and they opened.

“Murphy, we’re in.”

We heard gunfire from the front and we assumed that was our cue to move. Billy pulled the door and I stood off to one side. Satisfied that no one was in the back, we slipped in. It was dark inside; there wasn’t even a smidgen of light for a short while. Quietly we shuffled through the corridor and passed several offices that were empty. At the end of the hall, there was another large door. I slung the AK45 under my arm. It hung from the strap loosely behind me as I cracked the door open ever so slowly. Inside the sanctuary it was lit up with candles that flickered and cast shadows on the walls.

Near the rear of the sanctuary a skinhead had an AK45 aimed at the three cops. One of which was Kate Shaw. At the front, were three more.

I pulled back closing the door so it didn’t make a noise. With two fingers I motioned for them to go down to one of the offices. When we got there I told them how many there were inside.

“If we just unload on them, there is a chance the cops will get caught up in the crossfire.”

“Isn’t there usually a door on either side?”

“We are going to have to clear it fast. I’ll take out the guy watching over them, while you two focus on the three up front,” I said.

“Got it.”

“Billy, you go to the other side. We’ll enter through here. The moment I fire that round, you are going to have to shift ass.”

He nodded. I could tell all of us were as nervous as hell. There were three lives hanging in the balance, six if we included ourselves. We moved into position and waited for Billy to crack the door on the other side. Instead of waiting for us he burst through the door and started firing at the three at the front. If I didn’t have the barrel of my gun already aimed at the guy at the rear, Billy would have been dead. The clatter of gunfire echoed loudly around the high ceilings. I wished it could have been over quickly, but it wasn’t. Two of the guys near the front had managed to duck down and they were now returning fire on us. I scrambled across the floor to the police officers who were face down. Sharp slivers of wood shot all over the place as bullets tore through pews destroying what must have cost thousands of dollars.

“Sam?” Kate looked on astonished.

“Oh hey, just thought I would drop in to light a candle.”

I reached over and untied her hands from behind her back and handed her the Glock. By the time she was up it was over. Murphy had come through the front and taken out the other two.

Silence filled the church if only for a few minutes. I cast a glance up at Christ on a cross. I wasn’t religious but I sure as hell was ready to believe in a higher power if it meant getting out of this alive.

Officer Shaw rushed up to Murphy and right then I could tell their relationship wasn’t strictly business. He pulled her tight and kissed her. The other two officers motioned to be let out of their binds.

“Right, hold on,” I said beginning to loosen their ties.

“You fucking idiot,” were the first words I heard. They came from the mouth of Corey.

“Oh crap.” Corey was about to go nuclear on Billy for opening fire before we had got in.

“So what, I shot first. You’re alive.”

“Barely.”

“Get over it,” Billy replied.

“I swear I will put a bullet in you, if you do that again.”

Billy scoffed and backed away.

“We should go,” Murphy said. The others nodded and we exited out the back. As we came out and circled the building, we were about to cross over the parking lot and head towards City Hall when we heard someone’s voice bellowing over a megaphone. Immediately we looked around at our group.

“Where’s Edgar?” Murphy asked.

The voice coming from the megaphone was Edgar’s. The next voice was deeper and huskier.

“Lay down your weapons.”

“Where’s that coming from?” Corey said. Down the alley that went along the side of the church a large group skinheads came into view. We pulled back to get out of the direct line of sight.

“We have your friend. Now unless you want to see his blood spilled, I suggest you do as I say. Lay down your weapons.”

The officers shook their heads. I looked to Murphy, he squeezed his eyes closed. I could see he was still in pain from the gunshot wound.

“Who are you?” Murphy shouted out.

“My name is Eli Pope, I am one of the leaders of the Aryan Brotherhood. And you are?”

We kept our eyes peeled for anyone who might come up from behind us. Billy and Corey went to the corners.

“Come on, I’ve told you my name. Now I’d like to know who has been killing my men.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Murphy shouted out.

“Oh it matters,” the man replied through his echoing microphone.

“You aren’t going to stop, are you?”

“You can’t stop change,” Eli said.

“This isn’t change. What you are doing is genocide.”

“Genocide, cleaning the slate. It was eventually going to happen. We just sped up the process.”

“What do you want?”

“This country. This town. Isn’t that obvious?”

“You are killing innocent people.”

There was a hesitation before Eli replied. “No one is innocent. Every single person in this country has blood on his or her hands. Whether they choose to take up a weapon or not, their actions have drawn a line in the sand. Us and them. You and I.”

“Look… just let him go and we’ll move out of here.”

He laughed over the megaphone. “You’ll move out. Move out where? We are wherever you think you are going. Do I need to explain the rest?”

“We’re not laying down our weapons.”

“Fair enough. Kill him.”

“No!” Murphy shouted but his cry fell on deaf ears. As we stepped out, they took a machete to Edgar and sliced his throat, kicked him to the floor and then drove it down through the back of his head.

“Bastard.” Murphy unleashed a flurry of rounds.

Shaw motioned for us to move. Right there in that moment the image of Edgar being murdered was burned inside my mind.

Whatever hope there was of seeing this turned around was gone.

I
t’s
easy to say what a person would do in our situation but it was like being in a car wreck. This whole thing had blindsided us. War could do that to anyone. It was one thing to see it in films, read about it in books and hear from the mouths of veterans. It was another to be thrown into the fire and pitted against vile individuals.

Truth be told, I didn’t think for one second that those who followed Eli Pope were one hundred percent loyal to his demented views. It was the same with any group. There would always be those that would question.

I had to wonder how many of our group had doubts about me. On the surface I was a skinhead. Sure, my hair had grown out a little but not enough to make a person not question my allegiance. I was a wild card, of that I was certain.

I couldn’t believe that I had spent a year and a half with some of these people. Drank beers, partied and given my time to help them, only to witness them tear down the town around us.

Retreating from the church to City Hall wasn’t an easy task. After they killed Edgar in front of us, a large group began to chase us through the streets. The noise of gunfire robbed what little peace remained.

The only way we were going to get out of this situation was together.

Fighting these people wasn’t something I wanted to do. We barely had time to think clearly since this had kicked off. If this had been any other disaster, most would have focused on finding food, shelter and perhaps some protection from the fallout. Not us. It had been non-stop fighting.

How many other towns had been taken by neo-Nazi skinheads?

How many people had died while fighting to protect their loved ones?

How many were still alive in the country?

After holding off the group, those who were injured made it back to City Hall. We joined them ten minutes later. My eyes widened as we came running and saw the doors at the rear were open. Tables and chairs were scattered outside as though the occupants inside had been in a rush to get out.

“Sara?” Murphy called out. He and the two male officers ventured inside while the rest of us kept an eye on the entrance points. Billy and Corey took a place at either corner of the building to make sure that we weren’t caught by surprise.

When Murphy reappeared, he shrugged.

“They were here when we left,” I said.

“Let’s fan out. They couldn’t have gone far. The front was smashed in. They must have come under attack or someone saw you guys come out.”

It was possible. It was dark and anyone could have been lurking in the shadows. My immediate thoughts went to Bryan Catz. Had he followed me back from the auto dealership? For a brief moment I thought we might have been able to hunker down and get some relief from the fight. I was wrong. One thing for sure, the skinheads would eventually grow tired and hungry unless they were drugged up. I had seen a number of them go on three-day binges after taking meth. In those times they partied hard and looked for trouble.

“What if they tried to hike out?” I asked.

“Sara wouldn’t leave. Not without Matt.”

More gunfire erupted from Corey and Billy.

“Guys, whatever you are deciding to do, we should do it now,” Corey yelled.

“We should get the rest of the weapons from the lockup,” Shaw said.

Murphy nodded.

“We have a first-aid kit in there, we need to get that wound looked at.”

Murphy shook his head. “There’s no time. I need to find them.”

“You aren’t going to be much use to them dead. Let a few of the others go out and search while we deal with that wound.”

Murphy was reluctant at first but Shaw became quite adamant that he wasn’t going anywhere. It was interesting to watch him agree. Perhaps she was good for him. I’d always imagined when a person found the right woman or guy, they would be the type of person that could break through any wall of stubbornness.

As the police and fire department was attached to City Hall and Shaw had access to it, It wasn’t long before we were inside. It was quiet for a short while. The walls muffled the noise of gunfire. We knew weren’t the only ones fighting this battle. In some ways that was reassuring. It wasn’t like the entire town would have rolled over and let them take whatever they wanted. There were some nutcases in our town, and those who were ex-military. They were the kind of folks that would have put up a fight, even if it meant losing their lives in the process. My hope was that we would find them and eventually work together to take back the town.

One of the cops rushed down the hall and into an office. When he came out he was jangling some keys. He led us down into the basement to a locked room. After trying several keys he finally unlocked it. Inside the armory on one side of the wall were several Glocks, tactical shotguns, two MP5/10 submachine guns and three Colt AR-15s.

“Were you thinking of starting a war?”

“It’s what SWAT used. We rarely used them.”

I nodded and carried them out. As I watched these two officers go about loading the weapons and slipping into SWAT clothing, I couldn’t help feel a wave of guilt about not pulling that trigger sooner. If I had maybe their two friends would have been here too.

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

“What?”

“The two officers.”

Officer McCabe responded with a sideways glance.

“Nothing you could have done, kid.”

I wasn’t sure if should have told them. Who knew how they would respond. Everyone was walking a thin line. Stress levels were high and well, I figured it wasn’t the best time. Police officers were a tight-knit community. In many ways they were family. They spent hours in their cruisers together, and often spent more time with each other than their own spouse or kids. It wasn’t a job as much as it was a career that didn’t end even when they came home.

“Anything I can do to help?”

“Yeah, you know how to load a gun?”

I nodded. He then glanced down at the Glock in my hand.

“Load these up.”

He went back into the room and came out holding a few canisters that I assumed were flashbangs. He filled a duffel bag with various boxes of ammo and then tossed the strap over his shoulder. The other officer glanced at me while he was checking a shotgun.

“You’re that Frost kid. The one that’s always getting in trouble. How come you aren’t out with them?”

“I’m not one of them.”

“You might want to dress differently then. You are liable to get yourself shot.”

“Point taken.” I pressed bullets against the spring inside the magazine.

“By the way, I’m Hauser and that’s McCabe.”

“Yeah, I remember you.”

They continued filling up two bags with as much as they could. I helped lug one upstairs. In the main office, Murphy was sitting on a desk with his shirt off. Shaw was bandaging him up. On the counter was a pile of bloodied cloths and a bowl of water. Murphy glanced at me.

“Sam,” he motioned with his head.

I dropped the bag and went over. “Wanted to thank you for what you did back there. Took a lot of courage. I know it wasn’t easy.”

I shrugged. What was I meant to say to that?

“You said the second month would be hard.”

He smirked. “That I did.”

Across the room Billy, Luke and Corey were looking out the window. Luke had a cigarette in his mouth. I walked across to check out what they were staring at.

“Those little bastards are out there. I just saw two of them go up the side of that building,” Luke said.

“It’s like an infestation of rats.”

“How’s your back, Frost?” Luke asked with a smug grin.

Billy frowned. “Did we miss something? What happened?”

“I only saved his ass from two baldies. Didn’t I?” He slung his arm around my neck and pulled me in as though everything we had just been through was some realistic video game.

“The look on that guy’s face when I put a bullet through his skull. Priceless.”

He took a deep drag on his cigarette and returned to looking out the window.

“What was it like?” Billy asked.

“What, killing?”

“Yeah.”

“Didn’t you kill anyone out there?”

Corey laughed. “He was too busy pissing his pants.”

“Fuck you, fat boy,” Billy replied.

There was a pause.

“I’ll tell you what it was like. It was like that feeling you get after you’ve ejaculated. You know that initial head rush, and then a deep sense of satisfaction. Yeah, that’s what it was like,” Luke said.

“That was someone’s kid,” I said.

All three of them turned and looked at me. “What? Don’t tell me you give a shit about that scumbag’s life? You were a hairline away from him putting a cap in your ass. Hell, if I hadn’t shown up there, who knows what they would have done to you.”

“I’m just saying. Killing them isn’t something to revel in.”

“Oh grow a pair, Frost. Do you think they would have spent even a second thinking about your sorry ass if they had killed you?” He let out a laugh and shook his head.

“It doesn’t matter. I’m just saying.”

“Screw you and your self-righteous attitude. We are in a war.”

I could tell he was enjoying it. Were some military personnel like that? I figured it took all kinds. There would always be the ones that signed up for the military just so they could kill people. Even though I imagined they were far and few between, there was bound to be a couple in every intake. I could see Luke being one of them. He would have been the kind of guy that would have killed an entire family and not missed a second of sleep, while others would have been tortured by the horror of what they had done.

“In fact, if I make it out of this, I’m thinking of signing up. I think I’ve found my calling.”

All three of us looked at him like he was insane. Here he was dressed in black, looking like an emo and now he was ready to join the military? I shook my head and walked away.

Murphy hopped down off the table, rolled his shoulder a few times and grimaced.

“Don’t you go pushing yourself, you hear me?” Shaw said as she picked up the rest of the bloodied rags and took them out into another room. I kind of figured that getting shot wasn’t something that he was too bothered by. The guy was as tough as nails. If that had been any one of us, we would have laid out waiting for death to take us.

Officer Hauser came up the stairs carrying one of the duffel bags. He was in the middle of telling Murphy what they had gathered together when a bullet struck him in the neck, and he collapsed into Murphy’s arms.

“Get down!”

What followed next was a series of rounds that shattered all the windows and peppered the walls. I watched as shards of glass rained down covering Luke, Corey and Billy. Brett had gone to the washroom when it happened. Each of us didn’t dare move as the torrent of bullets continued for several minutes. By the time it stopped the station walls were like Swiss cheese. The first to move was McCabe who came up the stairs and slid an AR-15 over to Shaw, he then did the same with me. I looked down at the weapon like it was hot molten metal. I’d never used one before. Another series of rounds erupted and tore through the station. I slid across the ground behind a large desk and backed up against it.

Murphy moved over and in a matter of ten seconds told me how to operate it. I kind of figured they didn’t give it to me because they wanted to, they did it out of necessity. I mean, how hard could it be? I had fired an AK45. Shaw slid over to check on Hauser but he had stopped breathing. Beside him a pool of blood eased out. Only minutes ago I had been talking to him, and now he was dead. The thought that it could have been any one of us laying there made my pulse speed up.

“You guys okay?” Murphy asked.

Luke gave the thumbs-up. The next few minutes were spent arming the other three with semi-automatics. The look on Luke’s face was as if he’d been given a car for his eighteenth. I was starting to wonder if such firepower should have been in any of our hands.

Silence followed the next wave of attack. Up until that point we hadn’t returned fire. I figured Murphy knew what he was doing. He and McCabe moved into different spots around the office area. A glass window that had separated the police office from the general public waiting room was shattered, along with the windows in the front doors. From my position below the desk I could see movement near the doorway. A skinhead approached fast and then tossed in a Molotov cocktail. A sudden burst of flames erupted as the liquid coated the waiting room floor.

“They are trying to smoke us out,” Corey shouted.

“You think?” Billy said getting up from his position and racing across the room even though Murphy was yelling for him to get down. Billy fired towards the front door and then dived into the corridor.

“Cover me.” Officer McCabe rushed over to a fire extinguisher on the wall and ripped it off. He went outside the doors that separated the main office from the waiting room. A series of shots rang out. A few blasts from the extinguishers, white dust filled the room and the floor fire was soon dying down.

“Murphy.”

He crouched down behind a wall and waited for Murphy to arrive. They then tried to heave a large cabinet full of awards and pieces of police history into position by the door to block any further attempts to burn us out. Seeing they were having trouble, I got up and scrambled over there. Brett followed suit while the others provided cover. Once all four of us got our backs into it, we shifted the steel and glass cabinet across the vinyl floor and covered the main entrance. We could hear bullets pinging off the back of it as we collapsed on the floor, exhausted. Shaw came down with another fire extinguisher and finished off what remained of the fire. The vinyl floor was bubbling black and letting off a foul smoke that was beginning to make us choke.

I coughed hard and McCabe led us out back to what was used as a garage for both the police and fire service. It was a fair size. The garage doors were made of steel. With all of us inside, he locked the door and we settled in for the night.

All of us were coughing and spluttering. Corey was snorting snot out of his nose to the disgust of Billy. Luke was fondling the M4 as though it was some new kind of sex toy. Shaw and Murphy sat off to one side with McCabe discussing how we were going to get out of this. Brett looked worried. No doubt he was thinking about Jodi. We had no idea where the others were or if they were even alive. I got up to go look for some water, my throat was parched and I had this hacking cough that made me feel like I was about to chuck up a lung.