“Everything okay down there?” asks Matt over the radio.

  A setting in my Ghost mask starts flashing, and I select it. The setting is to turn off my Ghost mask microphone when I talk through my radio or when I’m on my satellite phone.

  I change the microphone setting from constant to adaptively quiet and I answer Matt over my Ghost mask radio, “Sal just killed one of Dennison’s people, it was getting out of control, but Sal is quieting things down now.”

  “What was the gunshot?” asks Jaws Junior over the radio.

  “Sal shot a prisoner, but we’re fine,” I answer Jaws Junior over my Ghost mask radio.

  “Um honey, the fencing that I was worried about is about to break. The zombies are about to break free,” says Lauren over the radio.

  “Sal, we need to check a part of the Ybor fencing!” I shout.

  “What’s wrong?” asks Sal.

  I run away from Sal, Phil, Sal’s people, and Dennison’s people and go to the location of the fencing that Lauren told me about.

  “Shit,” I say as I see the fencing isn’t holding up anymore and the zombies from inside Ybor are coming out into the streets of Downtown Tampa.

  I run back to where Sal and everyone are and tell them that the zombies are free now.

  The sounds of screaming, moaning, and groaning zombies are heard as the huge horde of zombies from inside Ybor start to fill the streets and come towards us.

  BANG! BANG! DAKKA!

  Gunshots from rifles, pistols, and automatic weapons go off.

  AHHH! AHHH!

  Two prisoners are swarmed by the huge horde of zombies.

  “Get out of there guys!” shouts Matt over the radio.

  I turn towards Sal and I see Sal directing people to drive their vehicles to block the approaching horde of zombies.

  BOOM! BANG! DAKKA!

  Explosions and gunfire are heard and seen as the approaching zombie horde makes their way towards me, Phil, Jon, Sal, Brad, Dennison, and the rest of the people standing in the streets of Downtown Tampa.

  CHAPTER 10

  WATCH THIS

  “We need to go!” shouts Phil to me as he runs over to Jon and me as we stand in a street of Downtown Tampa.

  I see an open section of the street where Sal’s people drove their cars to try and block the approaching zombies.

  “We need to close that gap off!” I shout as I see a group of five zombies come through the gap between the side of the brick building and the group of three parked cars that Sal’s people used to try and block the zombies.

  BANG! BANG!

  SLICE!

  Zombies are blown away, stabbed, and shot as they try to pass by the three cars that are partially blocking the street.

  Phil sees that Betty is being driven away from us and he gets more and more pissed as Betty gets further and further away from him.

  I see an abandoned car down the street and I run towards it.

  “Where is he going now?” asks Jon to himself as he sees me run down the street.

  Matt, Lauren, and Jaws Junior all repeatedly call for an update over the radio.

  Phil runs into a nearby abandoned building and tells everyone over the radio what’s going on and how the situation is crazy and chaotic as people from Channelside and the prison are fighting off the zombies that broke out of Ybor.

  I break into the abandoned car and jump into the driver’s seat.

  Jon comes over to me and asks what I’m doing.

  I rip down the front panel underneath the steering wheel and try to hotwire the car.

  “Why are you…?” asks Jon and I get the engine to start on the car.

  “I’m going to block the last part of the street with this car,” I say to Jon and then speed down the street.

  BEEP! BEEP!

  I beep the car horn and try to get the attention of everyone that is fighting the zombies.

  BANG! BANG!

  Brad shoots two zombies and their limp bodies fall back into the large horde of zombies.

  “Move! I’m going to fill in the gap!” I shout.

  Prisoners and Sal’s group from Channelside start to move out of the way as I slowly approach the gap that is left in the street.

  CRUNCH!

  I drive my car into the gap and the front of my car hits several zombies as it gets stuck between a car and the exterior brick wall of a shop.

  I look around and see that I’m trapped inside the car now as the doors on either side can’t be opened.

  Zombies are banging on the car hood and reaching for me, but luckily they can’t get close to the front windshield of the car that I’m safely stuck inside.

  “Get down!” shouts someone that is standing behind the car that I’m in.

  CRASH!

  CRASH!

  CRASH

  Brad, Eric, and Jon hit the back windshield of the car that I’m stuck in repeatedly with their weapons and they break the back windshield.

  The back windshield is pulled out and Phil shouts, “You okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m good,” I answer Phil and then I carefully exit the car through the broken back windshield.

  “Good job blocking that street, but they’re starting to go down the other streets and come around another side street,” says Matt over the radio.

  “Let’s get that music over here!” I shout.

  Four prisoners bring over the speakers and the device that is playing the music over to where I’m standing.

  “Aim the speakers at these cars, we need to attract all the zombies right here,” I say to the prisoners.

  “Everything okay down there around Ybor?” asks someone over the radio.

  Phil asks who is on the radio and it’s TJ.

  “Should we come down there, or is it too dangerous?” asks TJ over the radio.

  “I’d stay away from here and be on the lookout for a whole shit ton of zombies that just escaped Ybor,” answers Phil over the radio.

  “We’ll stay away and see where these zombies are at now,” replies TJ over the radio.

  Zombies are being contained by the cars we placed in the street, but only a small number of zombies are being attracted to the music.

  I realize that I left my rifle in Phil’s electric truck as I see Phil and Jon shooting zombies.

  “What should we do now?” asks Jon.

  “Come with me back to the truck,” I answer Jon and Phil, Jon, and I run back over to Phil’s electric truck.

  Lauren asks if I’m okay over the radio as I grab my rifle out of the backseat of Phil’s electric truck.

  “I’m okay sweetie, but how we looking around here though?” I ask Lauren through my Ghost mask radio.

  “You’re clear for now, but the horde of zombies are moving all through Downtown now,” says Matt over the radio.

  I see Sal speed away in a vehicle and Phil, Jon, and I are left with Dennison, Alberto, and the prisoners.

  Dennison and Alberto jump up onto the cars that are blocking the zombies and they start spraying bullets from their automatic weapons at all the zombies.

  DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA!

  Phil sees that Betty is parked down the street, but has several prisoners around her.

  “I want Betty back,” says Phil.

  I look down the street and I see Betty, but in my peripheral vision I see an overweight male prisoner coming towards Jon and me.

  The overweight male prisoner swings back a machete that is in his right hand. I notice the male prisoner coming at Jon and me and I tackle Jon out of the way. The prisoner swings down with his machete and just narrowly misses hitting Jon and me with his machete.

  Phil turns towards the overweight male prisoner, that just swung at Jon and me, aims his pistol at the prisoner and without hesitation Phil pulls the trigger on his pistol.

  BANG!

  Phil’s bullet hits the male prisoner directly in his right eye. Blood and pieces of bone and eyeball come flying out of the overweight male prisoner’s eye socket.

  I help Jon up from the ground and I shout to Phil, “Let’s get the fuck out of here!”

  Several prisoners aim their rifles at us as we get into Phil’s electric truck.

  BANG! BANG!

  Shots are fired around Phil’s electric truck as Phil speeds away backwards from the prisoners and chaos that is going on around Ybor and Downtown Tampa.

  BANG! BANG! BANG!

  Three shots are fired from one of Saba’s drones and the three gunmen, that were firing at Phil’s electric truck, are killed by Saba’s drone.

  Phil spins around, puts his electric truck in drive, and continues to speed down the street and away from the mayhem.

  “Is everyone okay?” I ask Phil and Jon.

  “Yeah,” answers Jon as he checks himself for any wounds.

  “I’m okay, but tell TJ and our guys to get out of there,” answers Phil.

  I call for TJ over my Ghost mask radio and tell him to get out of Downtown.

  “Already ahead of ya, it’s a shitshow around here now, where are you guys going now?” asks TJ over the radio.

  I ask Phil where we are going and Phil tells me that we are going home.

  “Home, meet us back at CO,” I answer TJ over my Ghost mask radio.

  Jon tells Jordan and his group, over the radio, to go back home and Jaws Junior tells Jon, over the radio, that they just ran over a bunch of zombies and that they’ll meet us back home.

  TJ says that he and Janet will meet us back home at Citrus Oaks as well.

  “Stay on Sal, Betty, and any other cars driving around Downtown, and make sure you’re recording everything that you’re seeing,” I tell Matt and Lauren over my Ghost mask radio.

  “I have eyes on Betty right now,” says Matt over the radio.

  “I see several vehicles driving towards Channelside, and a large group of the zombies are going towards Channelside as well,” says Lauren over the radio.

  “Are there any zombies still in Ybor?” I ask into my Ghost mask radio.

  “I’ll check and get back to you, but I’m staying on Betty right now,” answers Matt.

  I get a call from Saba over my Ghost mask satellite phone and Saba asks me what happened and if we are okay.

  “Shit got crazy, the fencing broke at Ybor and the zombies started coming towards us, and the prisoners attacked us,” I say to Saba over my Ghost mask sat phone.

  “Our security cameras, drones, and patrols are seeing more and more zombies now,” says Saba over the satellite phone.

  BANG! BANG!

  I hear some faint gunshots in the distance as Phil drives further and further away from Downtown and Ybor.

  BOOM!

  A large explosion goes off around Downtown.

  “An explosion and gunfire just went off,” I say to Saba.

  “That was us, we’ll take care of as many zombies as we can,” replies Saba.

  “Be careful, the prisoners and people from Channelside could be all over there still,” I say to Saba.

  “We’ll handle them as well,” responds Saba and Saba ends our phone call.

  I see our entrance guards power washing the exterior walls of Citrus Oaks and our barrel gun aiming at us as Phil slows down and stops at our main entrance.

  BEEP! BEEP!

  Phil beeps his electric truck horn and Brody lets us inside Citrus Oaks.

  Phil parks his electric truck in Shaun’s driveway and we all exit from Phil’s electric truck and walk into Shaun’s garage.

  “Thanks for saving me Ry,” says Jon to me as Phil, Jon, and I stand inside Shaun’s garage.

  “Of course, I’m just glad I saw the guy in time,” I reply to Jon as I remove my Ghost mask.

  “Just be glad he didn’t have a gun on him,” says Phil.

  “Those assholes are done, I’m done working with Denni and his people,” I say.

  “We couldn’t trust them anyway, we have to look out for our own best interest,” replies Phil.

  I see Jordan’s electric car enter Citrus Oaks and tell Brody over the radio that TJ should be coming here shortly and to let him in.

  Jordan and Jaws Junior join us in Shaun’s garage and they ask us what happened.

  “Did you and the Haven Warriors make it out okay?” I ask Jordan and Jaws Junior.

  “Yeah, we were fine, they went back to the Haven to tell William what happened,” answers Jordan.

  “Could you see us from your location?” asks Phil to Jordan and Jaws Junior.

  “It was tough to see everything at once through our binoculars, but we did see you before the gunfire, explosions, and the zombies started coming towards you,” answers Jaws Junior.

  “Did you see the prisoner try to kill me?” asks Jon.

  “What? What happened? Are you okay?” asks Jaws Junior.

  “A fat prisoner swung at Jon with a machete and I pushed Jon out of the way,” I answer Jaws Junior.

  “What happened to the guy?” asks Jordan.

  “I shot him,” answers Phil.

  Jordan looks at Phil and gives me a look like yeah that’s about right.

  “Why did they attack us though?” asks Jon.

  “Because they’re assholes and they saw the opportunity to kill us,” answers Phil.

  “What do we do next?” asks Jordan.

  “We regroup, see what our drones picked up and go from there,” I answer Jordan.

  TJ’s jeep enters Citrus Oaks and we all see TJ’s jeep drive down our main street and park behind Jordan’s electric car.

  Janet and TJ exit from TJ’s jeep and Odin jumps down from TJ’s jeep too.

  “What did you guys do now?” jokes TJ as he walks over to us with Janet and Odin.

  Odin comes over to me and I pet him.

  “We’re coming back home now,” says Matt over the radio.

  “Both of you?” I ask into a radio that was charging in Shaun’s garage.

  “Yeah, we have some good video to show you guys,” answers Lauren over the radio.

  TJ tells us that he was coming towards Ybor when he heard the explosions and gunfire so he stopped.

  Janet tells us that zombies were all over Downtown now and that she’s worried they could start taking over Tampa Bay.

  “The Ghosts are taking out as many as they can and they should be able to handle them,” I say to TJ and everyone in Shaun’s garage.

  “It’s a good thing you didn’t make it to where we were. The prisoners started to attack us and they probably would have attacked you guys and Odin too,” says Phil to TJ and Janet.

  “No doubt, it was pretty risky of you guys to be working with Dennison and Sal,” says TJ.

  “Yeah, I know that now. I’m done with Dennison and his people,” I reply to TJ.

  “What about Sal?” asks Jaws Junior.

  I think about Sal and if he had anything to do with the prisoners attacking us.

  “I’m sure he had to know something would happen with Dennison and us,” says Phil.

  “We’ll see what he says, but I’m not planning on working with Sal either,” I say.

  I see Matt’s drone fly over to Matt’s driveway and Lauren’s drone land in our backyard.

  “Let’s go inside. I want to see what Matt and Lauren were able to get on their drones,” I tell everyone in the garage.

  Phil, Jordan, Jaws Junior, Jon, TJ, Janet, and Odin go into Shaun’s house as I wait for Lauren and Matt in Shaun’s garage.

  Matt walks over to Shaun’s garage and I tell him that everyone is inside Shaun’s house.

  Matt goes into Shaun’s house and I wonder what’s taking Lauren so long in our backyard.

  I wait another minute and there is no sign of Lauren, so I walk across the street and go into my backyard.

  I find Lauren messing with her drone and she’s struggling.

  “I can’t get the damn video card out,” says Lauren.

  I help Lauren remove the video card and Lauren asks me if I’m okay.

  Lauren and I walk around to the front of our house and I tell her what happened and she tells me that she saw the prisoners coming at us and firing at Phil’s truck.

  “We’re okay, but the trust factor with Dennison and his group is gone,” I say to Lauren as we walk towards Shaun’s house.

  Lauren and I enter Shaun’s house and we see that Matt has his drone video in the DVD player and he’s ready to play it.

  “Ready to go now?” asks Matt.

  “Yeah, play it,” I answer Matt.

  We watch the drone video and it starts off with the drone flying from CO towards Ybor. There isn’t much to see until Matt gets to Ybor and we see the zombies inside Ybor, the fencing, barricades, and then we see Dennison and his group show up.

  Phil sees someone drive into frame with Betty and he instantly gets pissed off.

  Four prisoners get out of Betty and walk over to Dennison.

  “Did you see where they took Betty?” asks Phil to Matt.

  “It’s on the video, at the end,” answers Matt.

  Matt’s drone camera video goes away from Dennison and we see all the zombies inside Ybor.

  “I wish we could hear them better,” says Phil.

  “I stayed away from you guys, as I didn’t want to get spotted,” replies Matt.

  We see, on the drone video, Dennison giving Alberto and his men orders.

  “Looks like he’s giving directions to his men and telling them where to go and what to do,” says TJ as we watch Dennison talking with a large group of his men.

  Three other vehicles arrive and we see that they are Humvees.

  Sal, Brad, Eric, and Sal’s goons exit from the Humvees.

  “Is that the infamous Sal?” asks Janet.

  “Yeah, the old guy in the military fatigues,” answers TJ.

  “He was in the military? I thought you said he was in the mafia?” asks Janet.

  “He was in both, he was in the Army before joining the mafia,” answers TJ as TJ intently watches Sal on the television.

  Matt’s drone video is very good quality and he did a good job in highlighting Downtown, Ybor, Sal, Dennison, and everything that happened there today.

  “I saw the zombies walking all around and some went into the Convention Center. A lot of them went into the Convention Center actually,” says Lauren to me as we both watch Matt’s drone video.

 

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