The Dragons of Men (The Sons of Liberty Book 2) (46 page)

His mother, two sisters, and Alexandra fled south, their shapes intermingled with countless others that ran beside them. Judah tossed the pistol to the ground once the slide locked in place, signaling the end of his ammo supply. Bullets whizzed through the air around him—causing him to duck, dodge, and curse as he ran. He glanced backward momentarily as the frenzied mass of people bolted in all directions. The crowd dispersed like a massive flock of frightened sheep attempting to escape a pack of hungry wolves. Judah caught up with his mother, hoping they’d be able to lose the guards in the ensuing madness.

“Go south!” Judah yelled. “We’ll try to—”

Something hot tugged at Judah’s left leg and he tumbled to the concrete. Pain quickly shot through his thigh, followed by the horrific realization that he had been shot. He glanced down at his leg as Sarah cried out and skidded to a halt beside him.

“Go!” Judah shouted as he tried to rise. He put pressure on his leg and immediately fell back to the ground, a dull heat coursing through him.

“Get the girls!” Sarah shouted toward Alexandra as she reached down and clutched Judah’s arm. Alexandra grabbed Eva and Grace by their hands and tugged them south—their high-pitched wailing mixing with the cries of strangers. The crowd began to thin around them and Judah knew they’d soon be exposed with no one between them and the guards. He was about to plea with his mother to run and save herself when something snapped above him. He flinched impulsively as another crack broke through the night. One of the guards tumbled backwards as another fell to his knees, gasping for air. The others looked at their fallen comrades in surprise, pausing as they scanned the buildings and dove for cover.

Judah, however, didn’t hesitate.

He gritted his teeth and stood, stumbling southward with his mother at his arm and death at his back.

Eric Corsa lay prone next to Trey Webster, ignoring the throb in his back as he pulled the trigger, dropping another man to the ground.

The digital crosshairs on his automatic targeting scope moved as he shifted his aim. Eric watched as Judah and his mother staggered away from the complex—finding Alexandra and the two girls before disappearing behind a maze of vehicles. Trey fired his rifle, his bullet missing the man who raised a gun. Eric cursed, adjusting his aim, and fired—striking Trey’s intended target in the shoulder. Eric continued to send one deadly round after another, laying down covering fire as he quietly prayed for those he had begun to love.

Eric had reawakened earlier that morning, his body aflame with pain and his mind alive with fear. Despite wearing a bullet-proof vest, the initial shock of being shot had caused him to fall forward where he had struck his head on one of the logs, knocking him unconscious. His vest had stopped the other two rounds from piercing his chest, but they had left behind two nasty and tender lumps. Despite his splitting headache and throbbing back, Eric had been ready to go to war as soon as he heard what happened.

He had been running on little food and the last of their adrenaline shots for fifteen hours. After they left the camp that morning, they made their way to a town called Hernando where they had found three bicycles in a half-burnt garage. They had used the bikes and arrived at downtown Memphis two hours earlier. They hadn’t known if Judah had ventured inside the complex, so they had broken into a nearby vacant convention center and climbed to the roof where they located a perfect overlook of the bustling square below.

Half an hour earlier, Trey had almost been certain that he had seen Judah walk into the pyramid with a few other men, though Eric hadn’t seen him and wasn’t so sure. While they waited, they developed a plan to get Judah’s attention should he exit. Despite their clear overlook of the parking lot, hundreds if not thousands more began to fill the space below. As they began to wonder whether or not Trey had actually seen Judah, commotion broke out in the center of the square. When gunfire erupted, Eric quickly located Judah and the girls. They took aim and immediately began providing cover fire as Elizabeth took up her position.

Eric paused momentarily, tapping the radio next to him.

“Elizabeth, are you ready?”

“Say the word,” she replied through static as Eric refocused on the ground below.

“Get ready, Trey.” Eric sent another round at a guard near the brothel’s entrance. “Just like I showed you, and pray they find your light when they see the flare.”

“Ready.” Trey lowered his weapon and grabbing his flashlight. Eric nodded back and picked up his radio.

“Elizabeth, the flare!” Eric shouted, firing one more round. “Now!”

Judah hobbled to a stop behind cover, praying that his asthma would continue to slumber. Sarah bent down beside him and gripped the hole on the side of his pant leg tightly, ripping it open. As she did so, her Bible tumbled out of Judah’s pocket, the white pages dotted red with his blood.

“I’m sorry,” Judah said as he quickly picked it up. “I didn’t—”

“Don’t worry about that,” Sarah replied as she tore a swath of fabric from her dress and wrapped it around his leg, pulling tightly. “It only grazed you. With some stitches, you’ll be fine.”

He winced as she tugged tighter. He glanced over at Alexandra as he attempted to breathe deeply. His eyes met her fearful gaze before slowly falling on the trail of blood that trickled down her pale leg.

“Alexandra!” he whispered, “You’re hit!”

“What?” Alexandra whispered back, looking at him confused.

“Your leg,” he replied as they ducked behind a row of parked cars. “You’re bleeding. Mom, she needs—”

“Just keep going,” Sarah cut in quickly, peering over the hood of the vehicle at the complex behind them.

“But she’s bleeding!” Judah shouted. “We can’t….”

He trailed off as a red flare shot up behind the overpass to the left of him. As his eyes followed the red flare, he noticed a blinking light on the top of a dark building behind the interstate. He watched the light intently, his eyes narrowing as he studied its steady rhythms. After a brief pause, he stood up—gritting his teeth as he pointed to the light.

“It’s Morse code!” he shouted. “Come on!”

Sarah protested as he stood, doing his best to rely on his uninjured leg as he fought through the pain and helped Alexandra to her feet. Sarah picked up her Bible and rose—supporting him as they began to slowly make their way under the crisscrossing overpasses toward the darkened building with the flashing light.

“What does it say?” Sarah asked.

“They’re spelling Reinhart over and over,” Judah said. “It’s got to be Eric.”

Within a few minutes, they had made their way to the building and located a shattered door at the entrance with Elizabeth’s white scarf dangling on the cross handle. He threw the door open and took three steps inside before Elizabeth’s voice called out from a half-opened door to his right.

“Judah!” Elizabeth said, crouching next to a hallway. They hobbled over to her, entering a narrow stairwell. “Sarah! Oh God, you’re alive!”

Judah and the girls ran over as Elizabeth threw her arms around the girls, weeping with joy.

“Thank God you’re alright!” Elizabeth said before pulling back. She lit up a flashlight and closed the door, quickly guiding them up the stairs to the roof. After a few moments of everyone catching their breath, Elizabeth turned to Sarah. “Was anyone hurt?”

“Judah was hit,” Sarah said. “It looks like a graze wound, but—”

“I’ll be fine,” Judah said. “Alexandra is wounded. See to her first.”

“Where is Eric?” Sarah asked, changing the subject as her eyes darted over to Judah with a cautious and confusing gaze that was clearly visible in the dim light.

“On the roof with Trey,” Elizabeth said as they neared the top floor. “They have an idea for getting us out of the city.” Elizabeth turned to Alexandra, concern filling her eyes as Alexandra began to weep. “Alexandra, where are you wounded? Did you…oh no. Oh honey, no.”

As they mounted the final floor, Alexandra fell to the ground, her eyes shut tight and mouth open wide as she wept. Sarah lowered beside her, clutching her head in her arms as she rocked back and forth. “It’s okay, Alexandra; it’s all over.” Sarah looked up at Elizabeth, tears running down her cheeks. “We need gauze and antibiotics. I took a look and cleaned her up best I could when Judah was out of the room, but I couldn’t do much. I don’t think there will be any permanent damage, but we’ll need to stop the bleeding and—”

“What do you mean permanent damage?” Judah asked, his eyes darting to Alexandra. “Were you shot? What….” Judah’s words trailed off as his body fell into a state of numb shock. He glanced down at the small trickle of blood running down her leg, knowing that the wounds she had suffered were far greater than he had originally thought. Judah had believed he had reached the complex in time and saved the girl he loved. In reality, he now stood next to her quietly, looking down at her with tears in his eyes as he realized that life was no fairy tale.

Not every prince rescues the damsel in distress before evil has its way.

As a tear broke from his eyes, a primeval rage shook his clenched fists. He turned and threw open the door to the roof. Judah hated the world. He hated what it demanded of them. He had met Alexandra a few months earlier and traveled hundreds of miles at her side. He had watched her and grown to love her, wanting to tell her and unable to work up the courage. Now, she had lost so much at the hands of sick men. Just like her, Judah had lost his innocence that night as he killed his first men. As he stormed onto the roof, he hobbled over to Eric, knowing he wasn’t finished yet with those who had stolen an innocence they had no right to.

“Judah,” Eric said as he slowly stood up. “What happened? Are they—”

Judah ripped Eric’s rifle from his hand, lowering himself to the edge of the sprawling roof as he mumbled curses under his breath. He wiped the tears from his eyes before glancing through the scope. He quickly found the parking lot and the handful of bodies strewn upon the pavement. The digital crosshairs moved with his aim and he located a group of two men pulling a wounded man across the ground. Judah took a deep breath and paused, conscious of the hateful wrath that had awakened within him.

He pulled the trigger.

The silenced barrel hissed and the round struck the wounded man in the torso. The men pulling him fell back, firing blindly into the night. Judah quickly fired again, striking one man in the leg. Judah moved his aim, muttering every curse under the sun as he fired again at a running guard. The round flew wide and the man ducked behind a car.

Judah scanned the parking lot, firing bullet after bullet at every man he located. He wanted them to pay for what they had taken from Alexandra. He wanted the revolting men that had infested the ruins of America to know the fear they had instilled in others. And so Judah Reinhart—a boy who had now, sadly, become his own lost man—unleashed his hatred on the frightened men below.

When Judah’s aim passed back over a man he had wounded in the leg, watching him as he crawled across the pavement, he growled as he lined the sights up with the man’s back and pulled the trigger.

Click.

Judah pulled the trigger again and nothing. He cursed before turning his head to the side and shouting.

“I need more ammo.”

“We need to go, Judah,” Eric replied quietly.

“I said get me more ammo!” Judah barked back.

“Judah, put the gun down,” Eric replied.

“I’m not finished!” Judah roared as he stood and turned around. As he did, he paused, looking at his sisters as they held each other and quietly cried. Elizabeth embraced Alexandra, staring back at him as she too cried softly. Sarah was next to Eric, tears running down her cheek as she watched her boy become a vengeful man of death.

Judah’s eyes glanced back and forth between them—his lower lip quivering as rage, sorrow, fear, and pain struck him—turning him into a prism that fashioned a rainbow of dark emotions.

“What?” Judah said, challenging them as the gazed back at him. “What the hell are you looking at?”

“Honey,” Sarah began, as she slowly approached. “Don’t do this.”

“Do what?” Judah asked. “They took everything, Mom. Everything!”

“Not this.” Sarah approached with her arms held out. “Don’t let them take this part of you. Don’t let them win.”

As she placed her hands on the gun, slowly pulling it from his hands and handing it to Eric, Judah collapsed to the ground, a deluge of grief and agony bursting forth. Sarah grabbed him and tried to comfort him, but he cried harder. It was almost as though everything he had bottled up since losing his father months ago had exploded in one violent and unforgettable moment.

Judah Reinhart had passed through an unfamiliar void, never to be the same again.

“I’m sorry,” Judah mumbled under his breath, looking up at Alexandra. Eric lowered himself and began silently tending the graze on his thigh. Judah was too numb to notice the pain as Eric began stitching the wound. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have left you at the camp. I tried to come sooner…I tried….” He looked back at her, hoping she would somehow forgive him. Instead, she simply lowered her eyes and looked away.

“What happened was no one’s fault but those men down there,” Eric said, pointing to the complex. “I hate to do this, but we can’t stay here. We have to move now and get out of this city.”