Day One (Book 1): Alive (24 page)

“Show yourself!” I demanded, ready to fight.

“There’s a child present and I do not want her to get hurt,” they replied. “So lower your weapon.”

“Show yourself!” The anger was rushing through me, tunneling my view of the situation. My reckless assault propelled me forward without caution. The lights popped on and though I fought a few quick seconds threw the blinding light, my vision cleared and I could see a soldier immediately to my right with an M4 carbine pointed at me. Six more on the opposite side of the couch and a tall man with only a sidearm – hands folded behind his back – looking directly at me. Two more soldiers ushered out of the dining room with Devin and Johnny who were gagged and cuffed. That explained to me why they had never answered any of my calls.

“I’m Captain John Andrews with the United States Army. And you are?”

I was staring down the barrels of a shitload of assault rifles, so at that moment in time my name was ‘fucked.’ There was no going through them and living, no going around them either, and to think that I could easily exit through the window with Kember was a complete and total waste of time.

“Where I come from, when someone tells you who they are, and then asks yours, you give it to them or you’re considered rude. And I’m sure you don’t want me to think you’re rude, do you?” he asked.

“I’m Brandon,” I replied. “Brandon Ellis.”

“There, now that wasn’t so bad was it?” He moved closer to the couch to get a better look at me and I was able to see him better as well. His forearms were toned like polished marble and he had a huge tribal tattoo extending from his wrist all the way up and disappearing under his rolled sleeve, several inches above the elbow. His eyes were fiercely dark, stone colored like wet rocks drying slowly in the sunlight. His uniform was well pressed; everything on it was in immaculate condition, as though he had just put it on moments before walking through my door. His combat boots shined like ebony keys on a high dollar piano and his cover – the hat upon his head – was perfectly squared with his face, centered and hung low almost concealing his eyes brows all together.

“We haven’t done anything to you, we’re just trying to gather as much stuff to survive and make it through another day. So what do you want?”

“Straight to the point I see. No screwing around with you, huh?”

The subtle build up was already boring me and would surely get worse. “Just get to the point.”

He stopped and stared at me for a few seconds. “I can deduce that you having a daughter means the only time you would do anything foolish or irrational, is if someone tried to harm her in any way, correct?”

I simply nodded my head.

“I thought so,” he stated and looked from me to Johnny and then Devin. “Then which one of you killed one of my men in the backyard?”

My blood instantly ran cold. I knew that they would return and seek revenge for their murdered soldier, and even though I had not been the one to shoot him, I still felt my palms begin to bead up with sweat. The nervousness came at me full speed and there was no way to dodge it. The Captain’s eyes quickly met mine and I wanted to look away, yet at the same time if I did, that could easily resonate guilt in this man’s head. And that’s the last thing I wanted him to think.

“Was it you that shot my man?” he asked me.

Without a fraction of hesitation I shook my head, instantly condemning the men that had helped me escape the first time. I could feel their stares burning holes through my body, but when I looked at them; neither man was looking at me. Instead they were both looking at the floor; no doubt they were aware of what would come next.

The Captain motioned for the soldier to my right to take my little girl and as he took a single step, I jerked the SBR up into my shoulder and switched it from semi-auto to full-auto. “Touch my daughter and I’ll kill every last one of you!” I said staring through the micro optic at the frozen soldier. He knew I wasn’t playing and stopped. The full-auto mode had no way of ensuring that I could kill them all, but it did give me a slight advantage, as the other soldier’s carried their weapons barrel down. In order to shoot me they would have to raise them, which gave me more than a few good seconds to pull the trigger and swing the short barrel in their direction.

The Captain smiled and pointed a finger at me. “I knew you weren’t that foolish. You have a child to attend to, and the last thing you want to do is make the wrong choice. Am I right?”

I simply nodded once again and he motioned for the soldier to stand down. I however, kept my weapon up and ready, watching the Captain circle the two men like a predator, trying to figure out which one would make the easiest and quickest meal.

“Which one of you two killed my man?” he asked them.

Both of them shrugged their shoulders and although the Captain had to have been upset to not get the answer he was looking for, he simply smiled and shook his head. “This isn’t the Spanish inquisition. I just need to know which one of you to lock up, because the rules of the land haven’t faded even though the world is falling apart. We still need order even if all there is around us is chaos.”

Johnny looked up with an angered look. “That douche bag was going to shoot a child… he got what he deserved!”

“Is this true?” The Captain asked as he looked my way.

“Yes it’s true, and had I been on my game and had my weapon up, I would have drilled that son of a bitch for even pointing a weapon at her… she’s a child! She did nothing wrong!”

The Captain nodded his head, as though he were agreeing with my comment. “I apologize for that, I sincerely do. Before all of this happened I had a family and I understand the frustration and anger you must be going through, Brandon,” he spun around quickly. “However, you must also realize that I am responsible for each of these men’s’ lives, and if someone takes a life, they must be punished.”

I smarted off. “You mean taken outside, judged by you and then shot?”

He looked at me oddly. “I’m not really sure where that came from; I understand you are all scared. But we aren’t here to dish out vigilantly justice and shoot anyone for the hell of it.”

“That’s funny, because we watched two of your men execute a friend of ours,” I stared coldly at him. “A woman that was just trying to get help… she wasn’t even armed.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, there are things out there running around killing anyone and everywhere that isn’t like them. If someone charges us we don’t have the luxury of giving them warning shot or yelling for them to stop a million times. We have to protect ourselves as well. She was given ample warnings to stop… she chose not to.”

“And then you executed her while she lay dying on the ground!” I shot back.

“We aren’t setup to save lives. Like you, we are limited in the supplies we carry and have to think of ourselves in this situation. I’m sorry about your friend.”

“What about our other friend lying just feet behind you?” I asked. “His mistake was accidently turning a porch light on and was shot down by your trigger happy nazi storm troopers… so if anything, I’d say we’re even when it comes to your man. You killed two of ours, we got one of yours!” I knew that somehow the Captain would relate things differently, seeing that his men were more important than all of us put together. I felt the exact same way, as all of those with me were far more important than any soldiers coming to offer assistance a week late.

“If that’s the case, then we are at an impasse. Neither able to back up or move forward,” he stated.

“Horseshit!” I answered. “There is no impasse. You simply get the hell out of my house and go on about your marry way.” My anger was building and my trigger finger was starting to get a mind of its own. This Captain, or whoever the hell he thought he was, had nothing but dual standards on the brain and that wasn’t going to fly with me. Kember and I had survived a full week without their help, yet now they wanted to show up, flex a little muscle and try and condemn our actions, that in any court of law would easily have been deemed justifiable.

“You look like a smart man, and you’ve survived this long without any real help. So you have to know that we can’t just load up and leave or look the other way,” he said. “One of my troopers is dead and someone has to answer for that.”

“And one of our group is dead, so which one of you bastards want’s to answer for her?” I swung the barrel from the closest soldier to the next and so on until every one of them had had a turn. “I don’t care much for dying tonight, but I swear as God is my witness that if you want a fight, then I’ll give you one. Starting with you,” I explained and stopped the barrel on Captain Andrews.

“And now the foolishness surfaces,” he said.

“We needed you a week ago and where were you then?” I shouted. “Everyone in this town is dead now; because you were too busy thinking of yourselves to help the little people! So let me am the first to tell you that your services here are no longer warranted or needed!”

“It doesn’t have to happen like this,” Andrews said calmly. “There’s been far too much bloodshed already tonight. The last thing we need is anymore.”

“Then leave,” I added harshly with hate filled eyes.

“I’m not going anywhere until I find out who killed my man,” Andrews said, calling my bluff. Now we were at an impasse, there was no doubt about that. My scare tactics hadn’t worked, as I’d hoped they would, which meant that only one thing remained and that was to prove to them that I was not playing around and what I had said would be backed up. However, I still could not bring myself to shoot anyone. I had killed two of those things because I had been forced. The people before me were human – assholes at best, but still human.

“I did!” A voice escaped into the utter silence. Everyone looked to see Devin looking at Andrews and he repeated himself even louder. “I did it, okay! He was going to shoot a kid. I stopped him!”

“Shut up,” Johnny whispered.

“No, I will not shut up,” he replied and looked to the Captain. “I did it, not them. Do whatever you need to do with me, but leave them alone!”

The Captain moved around in front and lowered himself to the young man’s level, looking deep into his eyes. “You have courage, I will give you that. Giving yourself up to save your friends is a selfless act. I admire that.” He looked to the nearest soldier and nodded. Instantly they stood Devin and lead him away. The Captain stood and faced me. “I’m glad this could be resolved without any more bloodshed.”

“You got what you came for! Now get out!” I said.

Johnny piped in. “So that’s it, you’re just going to let them take him away and do nothing about it?” The anger in the man’s voice drew the coward that I had managed to repress so far. “He saved your kid and this is how you thank him?”

I was speechless.

Andrews looked at Johnny. “His confession saved all of you, so I’d be a little more thankful if I were you. He gave himself up… no one turned on him.”

Johnny eyed Andrews with a menacing glare. “And these cuffs saved you.”

“You are more than welcome to come with us, if you so choose. There is plenty of room we have a full medical staff, hot food, hot showers and relative safety,” Andrews offered.

“As prisoners… I don’t think so,” Johnny replied.

Andrews shook his head. “How many different ways do I have to say it? You are not prisoners, we are not here to eliminate you or put you in some work camp,” he said.

“Whatever this is, you couldn’t stop it… even with all your fancy machinery and armed men, the world still fell apart and now you want to try and make up for your mistakes?” Johnny spouted. “How about you go to hell and take them gun totting nazi’s with you.”

Andrews turned his attention to me, seeing that Johnny was too far gone to understand or at least try and hear things out. “This is no place for your daughter to be. It’s dangerous out here and very unpredictable; you have to realize that by now, and all I’m offering is a chance for her. As a father you should take that offer.”

There was no way I could be sure that he had children at one time or another. There was no look upon his face that one father could detect in another father, no sign that his sorrow was weighing him down, breaking him. All I could see was a high ranking officer trying to guilt me into giving up what little freedom I had left and willingly incarcerate my daughter and myself.

“You’re right about it being dangerous and unpredictable, alright,” I said. “But don’t use my daughter as a guilt trip to get me to do what
you
want me to do. You got what you came for, which means you can leave now.”

The Captain could not contain the laughter and held a hand out to me as if to tell me that he wasn’t necessarily laughing at me, but rather with me. I wasn’t laughing though.

“What’s so damn funny?” I asked, even angrier that I had been.

He went to answer me when gunfire erupted from outside. It was rapid and came from many different weapons. His small radio crackled to life and I could hear the person on the other end scream into it, telling him that a large group of infected had come out of nowhere and they were in danger of being surrounded. “Hold the line, we are coming out.” He looked at me. “This is your last chance,” he told me. “When we drive away, that’s it. There’s no coming back, no begging for us to return and take you with us. We are gone for good.”