Three men. The first, a large forty-something, with close-cropped greying hair and a jaw so angular it might cut glass, had a handful of Ethan’s shirt. His uneven gaze was off putting and even though he had yet to declare his intentions, Ethan knew what the man wanted. And as he pulled him out of the cab with one hand and tossed him to the ground like a wet rag, Ethan was also beginning to think he should have just listened to Cora.
Rolling onto his side and quickly to his knees, Ethan pressed his hands into the ground and started to stand. Two additional men now stood backlit by a dark-colored muscle car. The closer of the two leveled his handgun at Ethan and motioned toward his friend with the shotgun.
“You’re gonna want to stay right there. I believe Maddox is going to need you on your hands and knees for this. And if he has to ask you… well then, it’s just gonna be that much worse.”
Ethan stayed on his knees, but lifting his hands off the ground, turned toward the enormous older man. Leaning back, he rested his hands on his thighs and looked in through the driver’s door. Ben was out of his seat, his eyes darting between the man now known only as Maddox and the two others dressed in black fatigues.
Stepping away from the cab, Maddox stared down at Ethan, although he spoke to Ben. “Son if you want to see your friend walk away from this, I would advise you to leave that pistol right where it is. You don’t and I end your friend’s life right here and now. Do you understand?”
Ben only stared at the back of the man’s head.
The large man stopped two feet from Ethan and raised his shotgun. He rested the barrel on Ethan’s shoulder and lifted his head to the darkened sky. “Listen kid, I get it. You’re scared. But I’m trusting you here. I’m trusting that you won’t pull that weapon out of the console and take a shot at me. I need to know you understand that if you do, I will kill your friend here. So again I’ll ask you—”
“Yes!” Ben shouted. “I understand.”
“Good, right to the point. No more wasting time.” Dropping his head, the man pulled his shotgun away from Ethan and rested it over his shoulder. “Let’s get on with this then, shall we?”
Ethan didn’t speak. He figured there wasn’t anything that he could say that would change his situation, and as a rule of thumb, keeping quiet always brought him less trouble.
“My name is Maddox and I don’t place any value on dishonesty, so let’s start off with one rule… no lying. I’ll be truthful with you and you show me the same exact level of respect. Are we good with that as rule number one?”
Again, Ethan chose to stay quiet.
Maddox looked down at Ethan and smiled. “I’ll take your lack of response to mean that you are okay with rule number one. Or I could just pull your other six friends out here and ask them?”
“No,” Ethan said finally, “I understand.”
“Good, now we’re getting somewhere.”
The behemoth of a man looked back into the armored truck. “My friend back there on the mountain, you met him, his name is Boone. He told me that he gave you very specific instructions regarding what you were to do and where you were supposed to go. He said that he told you to head straight to the gates down there and see Josie.” Turning back, he again rested his shotgun on Ethan’s shoulder. “Was he lying to me?”
Moving only his eyes, he stared into the cold steel barrel three inches from his face. “No, that’s exactly what he said.”
“Well, this is going much better than I imagined. I have to say, that when I threw you out of that cab, I half expected you to stand and try to fight. That would have been a huge mistake, but you just have that look. I don’t know how to explain it, but you just seemed like you’d be trouble and let me tell ya, it’s really good that you aren’t.”
Ethan turned his gaze up to meet Maddox. He spoke so only the two of them could hear. “You don’t know me.”
Maddox laughed. “That’s for sure.” And then leaning in close, he also lowered his voice. “But that there’s a two-way street son. You also don’t have a single clue as to who the hell we are, although that may just be a good thing.”
Pausing for a moment, Maddox stared into Ethan’s eyes. He turned his head to the left and then to the right as if he was looking for something. Looking for an answer that couldn’t be solved with words alone. He pulled the gun off Ethan’s shoulder, stepped back, and turned to his men. “Get the others out here.”
The other men quickly moved past Ethan. The first started toward the driver’s door, his focus resting on Ben. The second turned and headed to the rear door, quickly disappearing as he rounded the edge of the armored vehicle.
The oversized man continued to look down at Ethan as the second man reappeared from the rear of the truck. “Gonna have to bring them through the front, rear door is jammed.”
Ben came out first and started toward Ethan. Next was Cora and Shannon, who followed closely behind Ben. And as Frank stepped up into the cab, Maddox held up his hand.
“Hold up,” he said. “Why don’t you all go ahead and just line up over there. Backs up against the truck. Let’s try and get to know one another before we start shaking hands and trading stories. I’m sure you’re all very nice people, but for now, let’s do it my way.”
Carly exited next as Griffin was the last to step out of the rear cabin. He looked down at the nine millimeter pistol still resting in the console and then toward the man positioned at the driver’s door.
The man at the door smiled and shook his head. “Not today, buddy.”
Pressing his thumbs into the sides of his forehead, Griffin gently stepped out onto the asphalt, looked toward Ethan, and stopped. He avoided eye contact with Maddox and before falling into line with the others asked, “You okay, bud?”
Ethan shifted his weight to the right. “Legs are beginning to cramp, but other than that, I can’t see any reason to complain. How about you, how’s the head?”
Moving in alongside Carly, Griffin finally looked back at the man standing over his friend. “Never been better.”
As the group stood shoulder to shoulder, no one spoke. They waited in silence as the man with the shotgun circled the armored vehicle. He stepped away from the rear and stood five feet from the group. “Any group of individuals that can trash an armored vehicle to this level is a group that I think I damn well better pay some attention to. How on earth—”
Frank stepped forward. “Who are you people, why are you doing this?”
The big man smiled. “I’ll let that one go because it’s a very good question and one that needs to be answered, but do not interrupt me again. That’s your only warning. If you do, I’ll put my boot into side of your friend’s face.”
“Okay,” he said, “here we go… my name is Maddox. The man to my right is Chuck and his buddy over there is Horatio. He’s got a very sweet sounding name I know, but don’t let that fool you—the man is downright devious.”
Maddox moved back and again stood at Ethan’s side. “So, to your question, who are we? That’s very simple. We are the ones that are going to rebuild this city. We cleared the university and most of the surrounding area. Who we were before last week, what we did, none of that matters anymore. The only thing you need to know is that we aren’t going to let some half-cocked band of idiots ruin what we’ve worked hard to fix.”
Maddox looked down to Ethan and then to the group. “You starting to see why your little side trip had us so concerned?”
Figuring the large stranger paused because he wanted an answer and not just for dramatic effect, Ben raised his head. “Yes, we—”
He ignored Ben’s admission and cut him short. “Okay, now that you understand why we can’t just have you running around our city unattended, here’s how this is going to work. We’re going to escort you to the gates and then get you all settled into one of the classrooms or maybe the gym. We’ll give you time to cool off and think about things. Then tomorrow, after a good night’s sleep, you can decide whether you want to help us take back the rest of the city from the dead, or if you’d like to try your luck somewhere else. No hard feelings either way. But if you do decide to stay, I won’t allow another lapse in judgement from any of you. You’ve all been warned, so let’s just get on with it.”
Eyeing the lineup, Maddox dropped his hand onto Ethan’s shoulder. “Okay, we’re going to follow you down to the gates and get you all tucked in. We’ll be back in the morning to finish our discussion.”
No one moved and no one spoke.
Gipping Ethan by the right arm, Maddox helped him up to his feet. “I’m trusting that you won’t try anything. I’m hungry, I need some sleep, and I’m not in the best of moods. And just so I don’t have to worry about you going off script again, Horatio is coming with you. Oh yeah, and as an extended measure, the brunette is riding with me.”
The group of six had started for the driver’s door of the truck, but stopped as Griffin stepped out of line. Squinting through the pain he turned to Maddox. “I don’t think that’s going to happen. She stays with us, or we don’t go.”
Maddox shook his head. “Listen buddy, you’re not the one. Maybe the old guy here, maybe the kid, maybe even Ethan. But not you. It’s nothing personal, but you look like death. If I didn’t already feel so bad for you, I’d show you the back of my hand, give you a nice little lump on the other side of your head, one to match that giant egg you seem to be downplaying. So why don’t you do yourself a favor and get in the truck.”
Griffin didn’t flinch as Maddox approached. “You lay one hand on her—”
“Trust me, your girl’s not my type, but if she were and that was what I had in mind, there wouldn’t be a damn thing you could do about it.”
Ethan stepped between the two men and laid his hand on Griffin shoulder. “Let’s go—this isn’t going to happen now.”
Griffin looked back past Ethan and beyond the man with the shotgun as Cora dropped her head and followed Chuck to the dark-colored muscle car. As she climbed into the rear seat and disappeared, he again addressed the much larger man. “You damage even one hair on her head and my face will be the last thing you see as you’re gasping for your final breath.” Turning and walking away, Griffin climbed into the truck behind Frank and moved to the rear window.
Watching Horatio follow his friends into the truck, Ethan stood with Maddox under the blacked out sky. He sized up the much bigger man and estimated that he fell short by at least thirty pounds and as much as three or four inches.
“Who are you people?” Ethan asked. “Why are you doing this?”
“Look around you—nothing left but death and destruction. You want to know who we are? We are the people in charge now, the ones who are going to fix this world. You and your people just need to stay the hell out of our way.”
Approaching the gates, Ethan had given up on trying to get Horatio to talk. Sitting less than two feet away, the stoic thirty-something still had yet to even turn away from the windshield. He’d taken the nine millimeter, placed it on the floor near his feet, and then focused his determined gaze somewhere out into the night.
Rolling to a stop, the wavy haired stranger began to fidget. His right leg shook and he swallowed hard as he finally looked around the cabin. Stopping at Ethan, he motioned toward the car pulling alongside and spoke under his breath. “Please… just do whatever they tell you.”
Ethan turned to the others and then back to Horatio. “What’s going on here? Why are you people—”
A car door slamming and then Maddox was again at his window. “Get out, only you.”
Ethan unlocked the door, climbed out, and stared up at the massive iron gates. Twenty-four feet wide and split down the center, they were reinforced with plywood that was painted black and bolted to the backside. Nothing beyond was visible, only the three individuals that appeared to float atop the edges of the enormous wall.
Two men appeared off to the right, assault rifles dangling from their leather clad shoulders. They leaned in close to one another and shared something they found humorous before turning and conceding to the woman opposite them.
Maddox also turned to the woman and grabbed a handful of Ethan’s left arm. “We got ‘em. This one here is Runner. Two birds, one stone I guess.”
Ethan pulled free and stepped forward, looking to address the woman, who by all indications was the one he should have been speaking to in the first place. “Hello.”
His greeting appeared to fall away without notice.
She hadn’t yet fully looked down from the gate. Her line of sight was maybe two blocks away, near where they exited the residential neighborhood.
Again tempting fate, Ethan began. “My name is—”
The woman standing twelve feet above let her eyes drift from the street, up over the armored vehicle, and then from Maddox to Ethan. She was different. However, it wasn’t her height or weight. Those were both of average proportion. It also wasn’t her facial features. She was attractive enough, although nothing that would warrant too much attention. And although she wore her jet black hair shaved close to her head, that wasn’t exactly it either.
There was something about the way she stood alone under the darkened night sky, protecting her home from the far side of the gate. It was the straight line from her feet to her head and the tilt of her jaw that said as much about her as he needed to know. She was obviously the person in charge even without having to say so. Maddox may have made him nervous, but she actually scared him.
Finally looking at him, she slowly nodded, held out her index finger and pointed at him. “Your name is Ethan Runner. We know who you are, but we aren’t happy that you made us come looking for you. My men gave you specific instructions and you decided that they weren’t worth listening to. You decided that you knew what was best for you and your people. You’ve also probably made a few assumptions about who we are and what we’re doing here. All I can tell you is that whatever or whoever you think we are, you’re one hundred percent wrong. We’re much, much worse.”
She paused and Ethan wasn’t sure if she was expecting him to respond or if she was simply leaving her last statement out there as an assertion of dominance. Maybe she got off on it. Maybe that was her thing. Maybe she just wanted him to blink first.
Turning toward Maddox, Ethan shrugged.
Maddox shook his head, turned, and walked back to his car. He looked up toward the woman and said, “Josie, can we just get this over with, my guys are starving and we still need to get back out there. We have one more round of supply runs before we’re calling it a night.”
She didn’t respond directly to Maddox; she instead continued with Ethan. “Generally we deal with deviants much more severely. The fact that you’re still alive is a testament to the fact that you have something we need. The vehicle you’re driving will help this community do a few things that we weren’t able to do before tonight.”
“And let me guess,” Ethan said. “You want us to hand it over?”
“Not exactly. We’d like to offer you a trade.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Your vehicle for your lives.”
“That doesn’t sound like you’re leaving us any other option.”
“We aren’t… well that isn’t exactly true, but you have already shown enough disrespect that we could just take the truck, let you and your friends die out there, and still go to bed tonight with a clear conscience.”
“So?”
“So, come on in. Give us the keys and let’s get to know one another. We’ll feed you and give you somewhere warm to sleep. And as long as you don’t cause us any trouble, you’ll be allowed to stay.”
Ethan rubbed his hands together and blew into them. “How about we—”
She cut him short. “Oh yeah, those weapons you have in the back, we’ll be taking those too. We’ll call it a goodwill offering, and if you stick to the rules around here, we won’t kill you with your own guns.”
“So,” Ethan said, “you’re Josie.”
Without answering, she motioned toward the men on the opposite side of the gate. “Open it up.”
The man nearest the corner turned and moved away. He disappeared behind the mountain of pallets and before Ethan could start back toward the armored truck, the massive gate began to part.
“Yes,” she said, “my name is Josie Philips. I run this place. And I do not allow any conflict behind these fences, so once you’ve driven through, you’ll need to be prepared to cooperate with my people. I’ve already broken my own rule by allowing you in, so don’t make me regret it.”
Ethan walked the short distance to the truck. Before opening the door and climbing in, he turned. “You don’t have to worry about that. We won’t be staying.”
Behind the wheel, he turned back to Horatio. “Boy, what I wouldn’t do to get a date with that one. She must be pretty popular with the men around here.” Ethan smiled as they rolled through the gates. “Maybe if I behave, she’ll let me guard the gate with her sometime.”
The rear of the truck grew deadly silent and turning to Horatio, Ethan could see the dark-haired man wasn’t amused. In fact, he looked down right sick.
“Come on,” Ethan said. “It’s not that bad.”
Horatio leaned forward and grabbed the weapon from between his legs. “Here take this.”
“Wait,” Ethan said. “What are you doing?”
“She’s going to take this truck.” He paused and breathed out heavily. “And then she’s going to kill you.”