Wormwood Dawn (Episode IX) (9 page)

He only had one choice.

“Max,” he called out.

Max turned and made his way back up to him.

“Max, I need some weapons. Are there any grenades in there?”

“Why,” Max asked. “What are you planning on doing?”

“I have to take care of that big bastard,” Cliff said. “There’s no way that RV is getting away as long as he’s after us.”

Max stared at him sadly, but then bit his lip and clenched his jaw with determination. “I’m not leaving you behind,” he said. “I’m only alive because of you. If I hadn’t have met up with you, I’d be dead. I’m sure as hell not leaving without you.”

“I didn’t say I was staying behind,” Cliff insisted. “I’ll keep him occupied while everyone else gets to safety. I’ll meet up with you later.”

“No fuckin’ way,” Max said, reaching into his pack. He pulled out his MP5 and set the pack down. “I’m with you.”

Cliff shook his head. Travis and Toby came back to see what was going on.

“What are you waiting for?” Travis asked.

“Look,” Cliff said. “You can drive the RV. This asshole needs to die or nobody’s getting away. Understand?”

Toby flicked the safety of his rifle off. Travis did the same with his shotgun. “Yeah, I understand,” Travis said. “We stay and fight, man.”

Grace stopped and turned back, seeing that Travis and Toby had returned to Cliff’s position. Bill and Linda began to go back up, but stopped as the copse of trees where the RV was hidden began to churn, and several hissing sounds echoed from the shadows.

“What the hell was that?” Grace said, backing away to stand by Bill.

Bill and Linda raised their rifles, and Linda handed Grace her revolver. “We’ve got company,” Bill said. “Get ready to start shooting.”

Before Grace could even respond, two pale and spindly stalkers burst through the underbrush. Bill and Linda immediately opened fire, and Grace ducked, cocking back the revolver’s hammer.

“Shoot!”
Linda shouted.

Grace raised the revolver to eye level, pointing it toward the stalker that barreled down on her. She gritted her teeth, closed her eyes, and pulled the trigger. The concussion was jarring. The revolver was nearly thrown from her hand, and pain shot up her wrist. But she heard the painful squealing of her target, and opened her eyes to see that it had changed direction.

Bill fired several shots into it, and it rolled end over end as each high-caliber round pierced its strange flesh. Linda’s target howled and thrashed as she filled it full of lead. Grace crouched to the ground, cocking the hammer back once again and aiming at Bill’s wounded and bloody victim.

With a grin, she fired again, knocking the creature back. It landed on its side, writhing and gurgling. Now, the two creatures were helpless. Linda finished hers off with a shot to the head, and Bill motioned for Grace to do the honors. She stood, going to the disgusting and frightening thing. She watched it for a moment as it attempted to regain its composure. It failed, flopping back down helplessly. Grace leveled the revolver, aiming right for its head, and blasted it into oblivion.

A small group of shufflers appeared from either side of the trail, stumbling through the weeds. Grace raised the revolver, but Bill stopped her short.

“Hold on,” he said, shouldering his rifle and pulling out a knife. “No need to waste bullets on them.”

He and Linda approached the group. The shufflers held out their arms as they began to charge. Bill and Linda dodged their swipes, driving their knives into the creatures’ heads almost casually. All eight of them collapsed harmlessly to the ground.

“Those are easy,” Linda said, smiling.

“He sees us,” Cliff said, slapping another mag into his rifle with some difficulty.

Max, Travis, and Toby all readied their weapons as the large leader howled at his troops to get their attention. Like a barbarian chieftain he jabbed his blade into the air toward the group, motioning for his soldiers to attack. The scavengers charged, howling and growling as they bore down on them.

The four of them fired into their ranks, dropping them like flies. At least a dozen fell within the first few seconds, but still they came. Cliff had to crouch to fire, resting the barrel of his rifle on the stump of his left arm. But he was still accurate; even more so than his companions. Toby emptied his magazine, having felled at least ten of the creatures with carefully placed rounds to the head. The smell of gun powder filled the air, and the sound of gunshots was deafening.

Cliff centered his sights on the leader, who was slower than the rest. As the others dropped the scavengers around him, the leader walked almost leisurely toward them. Cliff put a round in his chest, slowing but not stopping the beastly man. He shrugged it off and kept coming, even angrier than before. Soon, the entire horde of them would reach them, and the fight would have to happen in close quarters.

“The big guy ain’t goin’ down,” Cliff said. “I have to fight him face to face.”

He set down his rifle, grabbing a machete from his pack.

“Are you fuckin’ nuts, man?” Travis said.

“Let’s do it,” Max said, arming himself with another machete.

With a heroic shout, the four of them, Toby included, charged the ragged horde.

“You must be Dan,” the dark man with the dreadlocks said. “It’s good to meet you, brother. Mike has told me a lot about you.”

Dan glared at Mike, who stood smug and rednecky with his arms folded across his chest. He wanted to jab a dagger in Mike’s eye and twist around until his fuckface eyeball popped out.

“I’m Seth, by the way,” Seth continued. “In case you haven’t figured that out.”

Dan looked over to his companions, who were both tied up and on their knees like him. They were lined up like prisoners of war, prostrate and submissive, waiting for their executions. Dan had never felt so vulnerable as he did now. Nor had he ever felt so guilty. Gena and Toni’s lives were in his hands, and it was likely they were all about to die.

“I was just talking to your friends,” Seth continued. “But then I was interrupted. I guess one of the guys you thought you killed back there wasn’t dead after all. That’s very disappointing, you know that? What kind of assassin doesn’t make sure his target is dead?”

“We’re not assassins,” Dan said. “We just came to get our friends back.”

Seth laughed hard. His voice was deep and booming. “Good one,” he said. “That’s not gonna happen, Dan. I promise you that. You already pissed me off by killing Russ. Not that Russ was anything special. In fact, I didn’t really even like him. No more than your redneck friend Mike here.”

Mike shot Seth a strange look that made Dan grin. “But that’s not what’s important. You killed an employee of ours, and that will not go unpunished.”

“He wasn’t much of an employee,” Dan said. “He walked right up to my .357 like he was a happy little girl.”

Seth chuckled. “Yeah, yeah. He wasn’t too bright. I’ll give you that. But he was our brother, so to speak. One of us. We don’t take kindly to strangers killing our brothers, no matter who they are. Everyone here has a place and a purpose. Russ had a purpose, and now we have to find someone to replace him.”

“That shouldn’t be too hard,” Dan said. “From the looks of it, a monkey could do his job.”

Seth grinned. His teeth were strangely white and perfect. “Maybe,” he said. “But that’s not really the point.”

Seth turned around and folded his arms across his chest, letting his head hang low. Dan could see a semi-auto handgun stuffed into his belt at the small of his back. He guessed it was a .50 caliber, maybe a Desert Eagle. He couldn’t take his eyes off of it.

“Dan, Dan, Dan,” Seth continued. “It really pains me to have to do this, as I don’t really know any of you. You could all be really cool for all I know. But rules are rules.”

He reached back to retrieve the handgun, then turned to face them again. He held the gun up and stared at Dan. Dan’s heart raced, and the hot flood of adrenaline pulsed in his veins.

“You killed one of us,” Seth said, sadly. “And now, I’m gonna kill one of yours. Get it?”

Drew found a doorway that led into a decrepit stairwell. He noticed two armed men standing there, seeming to guard the darkened stairway for some reason. He crouched, motioning to the others that there was danger ahead. Jake came creeping up.

“’sup?” the big man asked.

“Two guards,” Drew whispered. “We’ll have to take them out quietly.”

Jake nodded, grinning. “Alright, how we doing this?”

Dan looked back, seeing that the two men were quiet, oblivious, and facing away from them. They could probably sneak around them and take them from behind, but then what? Sure, Jake could choke the life out of either one of them, but Drew wasn’t so big. Both of the men were larger than he was, and a sneak attack from a small guy like Drew could end badly.

“Eric,” Drew said. “Can you take out the other guy? They’re both too big for me.”

Eric pondered the thought for a moment, hanging his head in shame. Drew felt sorry for him having to take another man’s life. He had come this far without ever doing so, up until the three men he killed getting them out.

“Yeah,” Eric said finally. “Yeah, I guess it doesn’t matter now.”

“Alright. You guys take them out and I’ll cover you.”

Eric and Jake set their weapons down and moved up near the door. Drew readied the rifle and kept it trained on the larger of the two men. Jake went through first, hugging the wall, and Eric followed. They crept around moving up behind their targets, and gave each other a nod.

They went down easily. Drew could hear the disturbing crunch of tissue and cartilage as their necks were broken roughly. Then, Jake and Eric dragged them into the corner, piling them up. Drew entered the room and peered down the stairway.

“Looks like this is our escape,” he said. “Good job guys.”

“Thanks Dad,” Jake said. “C’mon Wally.”

Dan’s heart jumped as Seth straightened his arm and held the revolver to the side. Seth grinned, and the world seemed to slow down in Dan’s eyes. He felt the rush of adrenaline flow through him, and the sensation of his heart pounding painfully in his chest. Without taking his eyes off of Dan, Seth pointed his gun and fired.

Dan’s eyes immediately went to his right. Toni fell over toward him, and Dan felt the spray of blood bounce off of her face and onto him. Gena fell straight back, her head spraying blood as she landed on the rocks behind her. He heard Toni curse, and felt the fire within him explode outward. With a growl, he leaped up, charging toward Seth, who slowly pointed his handgun right at Dan’s face.

Dan screamed as he pushed off, his hands still tied, impacting Seth right in the mid-section. He heard Seth grunt, and felt the two of them go flying into the ground. Then, the sound of gunfire filled the air, and Dan heard the slow-motion bullets whizzing around him. He closed his eyes as he rolled off of Seth. He felt the man struggle to get up, but he was unable to restrain him.

Hands reached down and pulled Seth to his feet, and Dan felt a hard boot kick him in the ribs. He grunted with the pain, just as the world sped up again. Toni rushed over to his side, reaching past him and retrieving her revolvers. She cocked the hammers back and began firing until she was empty.

Someone grabbed him and pulled him to his feet, and he saw a large man, Jake, stare at him through his haze.

“You alright, man?” Jake asked.

“Yeah,” Dan said. “Where did that fucker go?”

“He got away,” Drew replied, changing mags. “That fucker.”

Toni cut Dan’s hands loose from behind, her heavy breathing interrupted by sobs. “He killed Gena,” she said.

Dan looked over to Gena’s body. Eric was there, kneeling over her shaking his head. Drew stood by, his foot on Mike’s back. Dan glared at Mike, who appeared to have taken a bullet in the thigh. Evidently the three of them showed up just in time to see Gena murdered before their very eyes. One second sooner, and maybe she would still be alive.

“Damn it,” Dan said, kneeling down by Gena.

“I liked her,” Eric said, sadly.

“Me too,” Dan replied. “She was one of us.”

He really meant that. Gena had been valuable to the group. She had military skills, was tough as nails, and was very protective of Grace. She was a good soldier, and now she was gone. He shouldn’t have brought her.

“What do we do with this douche?” Drew asked, leaning down and punching Mike in the side of the head.

Mike groaned, squirming to escape. He had a desperate look on his face, like a rabbit caught in a trap. Little did he know, that was the best analogy ever.

“Well,” Dan said, picking up his Blackout. “It looks like your friends left you behind. You must not be that important.”

“Fuck you,” Mike growled. Drew ground his boot into Mike’s face.

“If they had one of ours, we could trade them,” Dan said. “But they don’t, so…”

Dan rested the muzzle of his rifle against Mike’s forehead. Mike froze, his mouth stuck in a grimace.

“Where is Enoch’s compound?” Dan asked him. Mike was silent.

Dan looked at everyone else. They seemed to be on board with the question.

“I said, where is Enoch’s compound?” he ground the muzzle of his rifle into Mike’s head, pressing it down with all of his strength.

“Fuck you,” Mike said. “Shoot me.”

Dan stood up straight, looking Drew in the eye. Drew grinned. He finished Mike with a round to the head. Drew stepped off of him, looking at Mike’s body. “Fuck, man,” he said.

“Where were you guys when these assholes showed up?”

“At the shopping center in Columbus,” Jake said. “But Eric parked at the car lot.”

Dan nodded. “That’s not too far,” he said. “Let’s get back to our vehicle and then we’ll pick up the Jeep. Do you have any explosives in it?”

“The rocket launcher is in there,” Jake said. “And Drew’s got a couple grenades left.”

“Good,” Dan said. “Eric, grab Gena. Nobody gets left behind. Before we go home, we’ll level this fucking place. We’ll send a message to this Enoch. Nobody fucks with us.”

The Jeep was right where they had left it. Eric laid Gena’s body down in the cargo area, covering her with a travel blanket. Everyone felt the same sadness at her passing, but Dan decided not to let his guilt cloud his judgment. He would never let that happen again. Besides, they had a mission to perform, and any grieving could be done at home when Gena was laid to rest.

Jake made sure the rocket launcher was ready to go, and Drew loaded up his M204, attaching it his rifle as usual. When everyone was ready, they split up. Dan and Toni would ride together with Toni in the driver’s seat, and the rest of them would ride in the Jeep. They would be a motorcade of death.

They slowly made their way back to the area, using their IR scopes to scout out the neighborhood. It seemed that the small compound was on alert, and everyone was gathered there. If Seth was among them, it was hard to tell. All heat signatures pretty much looked the same. They would just have to eliminate them all.

“Alright,” Dan said into the walkie-talkie. “We’ll turn at the intersection ahead and go by with the compound on our left. When I give the word, start firing rockets into the front corners of the building. Drew, hit the windows with the grenades. Everyone else, just start picking them off when they run out.”

“Roger that,”
Jake replied.

“Okay, go,” Dan told Toni.

They rolled forward with the lights off, going by the moonlight. Dan kept his eyes on the Jeep behind him, watching as Jake and Drew poked up through the sunroof. Dan’s heart pounded with excitement, or fear, he wasn’t sure. They were about to devastate an entire compound of Enoch’s men, likely incurring even more of his wrath. But they had no choice. Enoch’s people had started it all, and Dan’s group was about to finish it.

At least these assholes.

Toni turned right, proceeding forward one block and turning right again. Now the tension was mounting, and even she began breathing heavily.

“You still have that rifle you found?” Dan asked.

“All strapped up and ready to go,” she replied.

“Alright, stop right at the front gate.”

They rolled forward until the gate came into view. The building was at least fifty yards behind it, tucked back into the property with a large parking lot between it and the gate. Dan held up his hand, and the Jeep stopped behind them. He raised his Blackout and looked through the IR, seeing several heat signatures walking around the outside.

There were others around, rushing to get into their vehicles. Evidently they were planning on getting some retribution. Dan spoke into the walkie, “Change of plans,” he said. “Drew, you take out those vehicles, then use the rest on the buildings.”

“Right.”

“Get ready, Jake,” Dan said. “And… now!”

There was a boom as Jake fired a rocket. Dan watched it streak across the lot like a comet, striking the front corner of the building and exploding into a hellish, deafening fireball. Drew fired several grenades at the vehicles, flipping them over and spilling their occupants onto the parking lot.

And then, all of the rifles went into action.

“Kill ‘em all,” Dan said.

All around him, the suppressed bullets flew. He watched and fired through his scope, dropping the scrambling men like flies. He fired until his mag ran dry, then slapped another one in as he watched Jake take aim again. This time Jake’s shot hit a support wall, toppling the entire front half of the building. He could hear the big man’s shouts of triumph.

Toni fired like a madwoman, sending a steady stream of leaded death into the fleeing assholes. Drew’s grenades flipped every vehicle on the lot, and Eric burst every propane tank he could see. Soon, the entire complex was in flames, and there seemed to be no way for anyone to escape.

Then, a large pickup burst through a flaming wall, weaving its way across the parking lot. It tore through the fence near the gate and skidded onto the street, a stream of automatic fire erupting from its passenger window.

“After it!” Dan shouted, ducking the whizzing bullets.

Toni dropped down into the driver’s seat again, slapping the car into gear. She floored it, and Dan hung out the window and fired at the truck as it barreled down the road. Behind them, he could hear Jake and Drew fire, and sparks flew off the truck’s body. Gunfire shattered the windshield, and Toni swerved slightly to avoid the rest of the bullet burst.