Without it, you had nothing.
“I need to know that I can trust you and you aren’t going to continue to lie to me about this, that or anything else for that matter,” I said calmly.
“That’s a two-way street you know!” He shot back.
That pissed me off, especially considering I had risked so much just coming back, and in perfect timing at that.
How dare you say that, you little snot nosed prick!
“And where exactly are you, right now?” I asked him harshly, but didn’t give him time to respond. “Are you fighting for your life like you were back there or are you here in this truck, safe and very much alive?”
Our continuous argument had dulled our senses and neither of us had seen or heard the possible danger blocking the road ahead. So much anger and the feeling of wanting to be right had blinded us both to the only rule that remained amongst us survivors… situational awareness!
Darren turned away from me, angered even further at my words, when he saw something that hadn’t been there before, but was now. “Watch out!”
My eyes shot forward. I didn’t have to consciously think about the task, it was automatic.
There in the middle of the road were two police cruisers nose to nose. There lights were not flashing and at first I didn’t see anyone around them. How could I have missed something so large directly in front of me? I stopped suddenly, throwing both of us forward?
“What are the cop’s doing out here?” Darren asked, as he grabbed for the seatbelt, and then abruptly gave up the idea, guessing that they already knew he wasn’t wearing one.
A spotlight encircled and crashed through the windshield at us followed by instructions over a bullhorn. “Get out of the vehicle with your hands up!”
Darren grabbed the door handle to comply and I grabbed him. “Don’t,” I said.
“They’re cops!”
“Are you absolutely sure about that, I mean are you willing to bet your life on that assumption?” I asked him. “Because I’m not.”
“Well, I’m not getting shot for not complying with their orders!” He stated and jerked his arm from my grasp.
“You exit this pickup and they
will
shoot you, I promise you that!” I replied quickly.
“Driver, turn the vehicle off and exit with your hands held high!” More instructions came.
“Do what they say before you get us both killed,” Darren told me.
I checked to make sure the mag in my short rifle was full, as Darren eyed me with the fear once again plastered all over his face. But this time, there was something else in his eyes that I couldn’t quite place my finger upon. All I know is that given the situation we found ourselves in, his reaction didn’t fit.
“They’re cops, they can help us… maybe even help you find your kids,” he added, I guess hoping that I would just give up and do what they wanted.
I, on the other hand, had been through too much to just lie down and die. These were not real cops we were dealing with, and if God himself had somehow whispered it into my ear, I was not about to do anything they wanted. I’d kill them before letting them take my weapons and life from me.
Darren grabbed at the door handle once more.
“You even think about opening that door and I’ll shoot you myself. Do you understand me?” My words came like thunder, crashing and respecting full attention.
“Last chance to surrender, driver!”
I turned to Darren. “You ever heard a cop tell someone that just because they were sitting in the middle of the road, because I haven’t,” I asked. “They can be demanding to get their point across and keep control of the situation, but they never willfully threaten deadly force outside of a hostage or high risk felony position. These two are
not
cops!”
As if my words had convinced Darren without a shadow of a doubt, he whispered to me. “Then what do we do?”
“Listen to me and do exactly
what
I saw
when
I say, got it,” I told him before stepping out of the vehicle and slipping the sling over my head in a shallow blind spot. They gave no further instructions, so that told me they hadn’t seen me arm myself. My only concern was what to do, down to the last detail if the shooting started. They could be cops after all, just no longer on the job and seeing that the world had gone to hell, what better way would there be to gather supplies and weapons than to use your badge and take it through abuse of authority.
“Show me you badges!” I yelled to them. “You want me to comply, then I will, but only after I see legitimate badges from the both of you!” My next move teetered on their response to my request. If they didn’t comply, then neither would I and the shooting would begin. However, if they did show me proof that they were real and not like the others I’d met so far… I really didn’t know what I would do.
“Round the vehicle with your hands up and walk toward my voice!” More commands came, but this time was followed by a second spotlight that engulfed and blinded me further. I didn’t like how things were transpiring and could feel the control, what very little of that really existed, begin to spiral like a doomed airliner. I was quickly losing what little hold of the situation remained.
“Not until you kill those lights and show me you two are real cops!” I shouted in defiance. I’m not an expert when it comes to anything, nor had I ever claimed to be, yet I was aware of some police procedures and how they were used, as well as why. This was not one of them! I should have been ordered to either go to my knees, cross my ankles and lock my hands behind my head, or at least, I should have been told to walk in reverse toward the sound of their voices. Maybe I was just making a mountain out of an ant hill? Maybe they were real and just doing what they could to keep looters from doing what they do?
“We will shoot you!” The voice boomed.
I glanced slowly toward Darren and in a light whisper, spoke. “Get down, now.”
The onset of this whole new world had brought with it a new ambience that not even a caveman had ever had the pleasure of experiencing. Most of the animals were extinct, so there were absolutely no sounds we humans had grown used to. There was only a deafening silence, both day and night, that was insatiable. And with that I was partly able to hear the two Imposters talking, although I could not make out what was being said, I braced myself for its negativity.
An unexpected gunshot pierced the night and hit the windshield of the pickup, blasting a hole where my head might have been had I not gotten out. Instinctively I flinched at the shot, realizing seconds later that I had not been hit and they were trying to impose dominance and a show of force to achieve their overall goal. They were still unaware that I was armed.
This gave me the element of surprise, as long as I didn’t screw it up.
“Walk towards my voice, now!” This time the voice was yelling and I could feel the anger within it as vibrations that would easily compare to those of any massive earthquake.
“We’re gonna die,” Darren stated with an ever growing look of fear contorting his face.
In sheer seconds I surveyed my surroundings to find deep ditches on both side of the road, a few large trees that could not be avoided if I decided to try and drive away, front yards, and residential homes. I was blocked from any direction except to retreat and that wasn’t something to even humor at the moment. Even the worst of shots could hit a target moving away, but in a straight line.
Lightning flashed above and loud thunder echoed.
“Get down and get out here quickly,” I told Darren, who at first looked at me as if I were completely stupid and was doing my best to get him killed.
He shook his head.
“If you don’t move, you’re as good as dead. Those doors aren’t going to stop their bullets,” I explained to which he found the motivation to crawl across the console and heave himself out into the open. I looked at him, still hoping that where I stood shielded me from the prying eyes of the Imposters, and pulled my Beretta. “You’ve got two choices.”
“Which are?” Darren asked in a condescending tone, yet still visibly shaking from the fear surging through him. That other emotion I had spotted was just as clear to me now as it had been then and it worried me.
“You can take this and shoot me with it, where you’ll die at their hands seconds later. Or we can put aside our petty differences and keep them from killing anyone – us included,” I explained and offered the .9mm to him, grip first. “So what’s it gonna be?”
There was hesitation, as he was clearly trying to run both scenarios through his head to verify if I was correct or filling him full of bullshit.
“We don’t have all night, ya know,” I reminded him.
“If trouble is what you want, then that’s exactly what you’ll get!” The voice pumped over the bullhorn.
Darren slowly reached out and took the pistol from me and held it firmly with both hands.
“Stay low, watch the rear of the pickup, and keep your feet behind the tires. They can’t shoot what they can’t see.” I said. “And trust me on this; you don’t want to get shot in the foot.”
He nodded quietly to me, although I had reservations about him being any real help when the bullets started flying. He’d freeze up and make my job a million times harder or he’d try and make a break for it, to which they would shoot him down instantly. The ditches would provide minimal cover, however, you had to cross several feet of open space to reach it, and in the event he did make it that far, any attempts at gaining more distance would certainly mean death.
“I really hope, for your sake, that you are right about these guys,” Darren stated.
The bullet through the windshield concreted my belief they were nothing more than advantage taking Imposters. Real cops would have already called and received backup, never firing a warning shot. But these two clowns were trying to use brute force and sheer intimidation to get what they wanted.
Unfortunately, they had picked the wrong person this time.
The gunfire, initiated by them, started abruptly and quickly telling me that they could not shoot, as I had unwittingly given them a perfect stationary target and they still missed. I ducked as more bullets ate the right side of the truck up, a few piercing all the way through and whizzing past into the darkness behind us.
Their handguns had limited range and lacked any real power to penetrate very much before being stopped or simply bouncing harmlessly in a different direction. My weapon on the other hand was more than capable of slipping all the way through their cruisers and into their bodies if I scored at hit. The noise was seriously loud and any undead within half a mile was surely on their way to investigate the origin of the shots, so our time was limited.
“Let them stop to reload and when they do, hammer the shit out of them!” My suggestions were barely audible above the gunfire. “Try to hit those damn spotlights and we’ll use the darkness to our advantage!”
Darren reluctantly made his way toward the rear of the truck, expecting to get his feet shot out from under him at any second while I hunkered down and moved toward the front. Glass shattering halted me and I chewed over the idea of thrusting my head out to steal a quick view of the direction of fire and a hope that the blinding lights did not encompass the hood. I could see the light on the pavement just feet ahead of me and figured any target, no matter how small, I presented to them was foolish.
The first of the handguns went dry, I could tell by the reduction of noise and the stacking of each round, which was simple to work out as a gun could only fire so fast, depending upon the strength of the trigger finger pulling it. Yet there was still one remaining gun operating and I wasn’t about to make it easy for them to kill me, by no means. “Damnit!”
I looked to see Darren near the rear of the truck just hunched over watching the chaos with no intent of joining the gunfight. That angered me, although there was nothing I could do about it at the moment, but if we got away from this, you can bet your ass we were going to have a
very
long discussion on the subject.
You should have left him at that gas station to fend for himself.
My mind told me and I was beginning to agree with it. All he was doing was hindering my advance. Hell, he wouldn’t even point the pistol at them and at least fire off a few blind shots.
You really do pick the winners, don’t you?
Chapter Four.
The sound I had been waiting for engaged as quickly as it had started and without any thoughts of what I was about to do, I popped up and squeezed the trigger on my short rifle. It responded instantly and a massive wall of lead was sent in their direction. The spot light on one of the cruisers was extinguished, giving me a better view of my targets. I saw both of them go for cover behind their respective units, but there was no hiding from my rounds, which had more than enough power to penetrate one side of the vehicle and exit the other with ample power remaining to punch through any body armor they may have been wearing.
A horrendous scream perpetuated from somewhere ahead of me and I knew I had at least hit one of them.
One down, one to go
. I thought as I took a knee to reload, realizing that Darren had kept his word and was shooting at the cruisers, giving me the opportunity to get back into the fight before every undead in the town descended upon us. I visually spun my head to ensure none of them were coming at me from any angle, slammed a fresh mag into the weapon and let the bolt close. That sound was like music to my ears… it was the sound of a problem being taken care of, written in a universal language that anyone, anywhere could easily understand. Lead.
Darren’s pistol went dry and he lurched behind the rear wheels for cover. “I’m empty!” He shouted as the mag hit the pavement and he looked at me.
“Here,” I responded and retrieved a full one and tossed it to him. “Keep it up.”
The lull in our gunfire had opened the door for the two Imposters to return fire, yet I heard none and began to worry that maybe we were being flanked. I had never seen the Imposter who screamed actually get hit and go down, and given the fact they knew they were immediately outgunned, it could all have been a sham to give us a sense of false hope while they made attempts to surround and kill us.
“Watch your corner,” I said in a loud whisper. I instantly peeked around the front of the pickup, but didn’t see them coming straight at us, but then again why would they? The whole point in flanking your opponent was not to let them see you doing it until it was too late.
“I don’t see anything,” he responded as his slide closed with a loud metal on metal
clack
that traveled much further into the darkness than I wanted.
The release of pent up worry poured from me as they started shooting once more. I’m not saying I liked the idea of being shot at, but when I could tell it was concentrated on a single area and the sound level never changed, it told me they were not advancing on us. They were remaining stationary and using cover, because they were scared to move. It was hard to tell though if both of them were shooting or only one, as the high pitched screams were drowned out by the explosion of each new round.
Like so many times before, without real thought, I yelled for Darren to cover me and as their fire lagged to a halt, I emerged from the front of the pickup, flipped the switch to semi-auto, targeted the cruiser with the spotlight and began firing while I approached – allowing several seconds between each shot, as not to run out of ammo before reaching my destination and to keep them pinned down as well.
The Imposter saw me coming and dropped from sight with an empty pistol, no doubt going for another mag as I neared him. “I’m going to kill you!” He shouted. “Do you hear me you son of a bitch – you’re dead!” He swiftly loaded his Glock 19 and looked to see his partner in crime, who had been wailing and withering in pain, now motionless. He knew the guy was dead and even though he could not visibly make out all the blood surrounding the body, he knew it was there somewhere.
“I gotta get some backup,” he said to himself and instead of giving in to the rage that flooded him, he regained control of his emotions and opened the passenger door to get at the police radio. His friends would be there quickly and then they would exact their revenge in the most evil ways known to man. He leaned into the cruiser, resting against the passenger seat and listened at the gunfire and the debris kicked up by each bullet. A single bullet ripped through the door, hitting the seat he was leaning over. “I got you now… I got your ass,” he stated to himself and grabbed the radio.
“I wouldn’t do that if I was you,” I told him, looking through the shattered driver window at him through my optic. He had managed to key the mic, so whoever was on the other end would hear everything that was about to take place.
“You’d be wise to drop that thing and just walk away. It’s the only chance you have now, buddy,” he said, although the arrogance in his voice didn’t match the look upon his face...
“You can live or die, that’s entirely up to you. But there’s no way I’m putting this down and walking away so you can shoot me in the back.” I replied.
“Who is this?” The voice over the radio shot outward. “What’s going on out there?”
“You hear that, asshole? That’s the cavalry coming to kill you!”
“Bernard, is that you? What’s going on out there and who’s that talking to you?” The voice asked.
“Fifth and cedar…” His words cut short when a bullet blasted through the driver door and missed me by mere inches. I traversed sideways and began firing through the windshield toward the passenger door, as he continued to fire blindly back at me. How neither of us, at such close range, was hit by a single round is beyond me. With slanted glass, plastics in the dashboard and unknown components within, the metal door frame, and the laptop and its mount all in the direct line of fire. It was a miracle there was no ricochets.
His gun went dry and mine shortly followed. I hunkered down near the front tire and quickly dropped the mag, catching it so he would not hear my trying to reload. The last thing I needed was for him to rush around the cruiser and find me with my pants down. Darren had my pistol, so there was nothing left to defend myself with but a knife. And that meant I would have to get closer to him in order to use it. Bad idea to bring a knife to a gunfight…
really
bad idea.
I pulled the new mag from my chest rig and lightly inserted it into my weapon.