The wild ones, p.19
The Wild Ones, page 19
His face came into view and my stomach sank.
“Nick?” I whispered.
The world around me in that moment ceased to exist. Forget tactics. Forget safety. Forget proper handling. Shit. Forget survival. The only thing surging through me was rage; blurring the line between common sense and insanity. I was about to get up when I felt a hand clamp down on my jacket and pull me back. Daniels practically dragged me back around the corner before he tore into me as if I was one of his own kin.
“What did I just say?”
“You didn’t tell me my brother was in there.”
“What?”
“My brother,” I spat. “He’s in there.”
Slowly he released his grip while wearing an expression of bewilderment. Silence stretched between us for a few seconds before I attempted to move. Again he grabbed me, however this time he didn’t see what I did with my free hand, he felt it.
Pressed into his stomach, I jabbed the Glock pulled from my waistband.
“I swear, cop or not. I will drop you now if you don’t let me go.”
I meant it as well. I was not losing my brother. Not tonight, and definitely not at the hands of the living. Tomorrow? Well that was another day. And as for my life. If I lost my life in the process so be it. But I was not walking away from my flesh and blood.
He clenched his jaw. “Okay. Okay, Scott.” He nodded. “But let’s do this right.”
I breathed slowly as I pulled the gun away. I will confess, there were a few seconds when I thought he might knock my lights out but I was grateful he restrained himself. He pulled us all to one side and told Alexa to head back to the truck and get Jamal.
“Make sure you tell him to kill the lights and grab my bag.”
We huddled together to hear what he had to say. I’ve got to admit, it wasn’t what I expected. He didn’t begin until Jamal and Alexa returned. The six of us were waiting for some highly detailed strategy of how we were going to pull this off, what we got instead was some pep talk about Hollywood. I kid you not.
“Forget everything you’ve seen on TV and in films. There is a reason why cops don’t go charging into dangerous situations like this without backup and that’s because our safety matters as much as anyone else’s, and of course there is the fact that it’s not tactically sound. SWAT teams prepare for this kind of thing. They go over every scenario you can imagine, and even then they won’t rush in unless they deem that every other measure has been taken.” He lifted his head towards the pub as if checking to make sure no one was coming. I was eager to go in, eager to get my brother, not to kill, but if it came to that, then so be it. His eyes kept flicking back and forth towards the structure. “SWAT teams end these situations fast. Timing is everything. Right now, timing is everything. That’s why I’m telling you this. You are to listen to what I say. Failure won’t just mean they die in there, we’ll die. You understand?”
We nodded.
“Right. Here’s what we’re going to do.”
Before he laid it out, he went and checked the doors to see if they were unlocked. They were. Unusual? Not really. It wasn’t like they were expecting Zs to make it this far out of town and drop in for a beer. All three of them were armed and dangerous and could easily overwhelm one guy but six from different directions? We listened intently to Daniels, soaking in what he wanted us to do. It was risky but then so had been every step we’d taken since leaving the camp.
If he could have talked us out of it, I was pretty sure he would have.
We moved into position. Jamal and Ryland would enter via the front door on the left, Alexa and I would enter the front door on the right. Daniels made it clear that none of us were to shoot across otherwise we’d end up with friendly fire. Fortunately the bar itself was set back a good distance from the windows and doors which meant all rounds would be targeting the rear of the bar. Eli and Daniels would remain outside.
“Get in, shoot and get out. I will take care of them. You hear me? You pull out immediately after engaging for a couple of seconds.” After he shared everything, I understood why this required timing. We were nothing more than a distraction. The kill shots would come from Daniels. Eli was there to provide additional support, front and center. Staying low to the ground, we shuffled into our spots. From below the center windows, Daniels waited for the right time. He observed the men walking back and forth, setting down their rifles, drinking and taking turns to mock their victims. My pulse sped up, my heart thumped inside my chest. He raised two fingers and I swear in that moment I held my breath. When they dropped, Alexa twisted the door handle quietly and then yanked it open while I rushed in with my rifle upright and finger ready on the trigger.
Looks of surprise, a sudden and furious eruption of gunfire from either side, and a flurry of rounds from the center tore apart the bar and two of the men seated on stools. While I and the other kids didn’t have a bump stock which would turn our semiautomatics into automatic fire, Daniels did. Engaged, it automated the trigger-pull process turning his rifle into a swift, lethal killing machine, capable of increasing the fire rate. Rounds peppered the bar, shattering glasses, drilling holes in the wood and spitting debris in every direction. The third man disappeared behind the counter and I saw a rear door swing wide. I backed out without even glancing at Nick.
The second I was out, I shouted to Daniels. “The rear!”
Daniels took off around the left side while I went right. The rain battered against my face as I hurried, fire catching in my throat as I sprinted. What I didn’t realize was there wasn’t a rear door; the exit from the back was a side door on the right. Daniels wasn’t aware of that either. The door burst open and one of the Alvarez brothers emerged, wild eyed and scared. He flashed me a glance and reared his gun. I squeezed my trigger and fired a round but it missed. His, however, didn’t.
I felt a searing pain as I fell back to the wet earth.
“You fucked-up kid,” I heard him say as his boots pounded the earth.
Okay, look, you already knew I wasn’t the gun-toting type, but that didn’t mean that bastard was getting away. The guy came rushing over and scooped up my rifle, and was about to fire another one into me, when Daniels came around the corner.
That moment of distraction was all it took.
He whipped around firing at Daniels. In that instant, from the ground I reached for the Glock and emptied the magazine into his back. His body dropped, a look of shock on his face.
“Fucked up, did I?” I tossed his own words back in his face as he took his last breath.
Nde
There are many people that say you see a tunnel of light when you die. That angels carry you off into some marvelous world of serene bliss and wonder. Equally there are those who believe it all ends when the lights go out. None of that happened for me. I don’t exactly know at what point I found myself balancing between the here and there, I just remember the final moments; rain hitting my face, gasping for air, searing heat in my shoulder and Daniels dropping down and telling me to stay with him — stay with him? Where the hell was I going to go?
Except I was going somewhere.
There were no cherubs, no winged babies playing harps or religious figures waiting to wrap me in their loving arms, but there was my sister Gemma. It was like I was observing myself from outside my body. I don’t mean the one lying on the ground after biting a bullet; I mean the younger version of myself, before the dead walked the earth, before I was sent to camp hell, and before Gemma died in the car crash.
Call it a near-death experience or just a chemical reaction in my brain but I found myself reliving a moment with my sister hours before she walked out the door never to return.
“Scotty, did you take my dinner off the counter?”
“No,” I replied, lying back on the sofa and channel surfing as a storm outside pelted the window. It was dark, dreary and foreboding. I didn’t know that would contribute to her losing control of the vehicle or the other vehicle T-boning her. If I had, I would have told her not to go out. I wanted to tell her. In this moment I knew. But it didn’t matter. I was like Ebenezer Scrooge viewing my past but unable to intervene.
“Look, I don’t have time for this. Where is it?” she said bursting into the living room.
“Ask Nick, he probably has it.”
“He’s already eaten.”
“Doesn’t mean he wouldn’t have had yours.”
“Stop messing around, where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
She snatched the clicker out of my hand and shut the TV off and tossed it on the sofa. “Oh, come on, Gemma.”
“Where is it?”
“I told you I don’t know.”
I went to get up, and she pushed me back. I remember I really wasn’t in the mood for her hormonal outbursts. Though now I would have endured it daily if it had meant having her back. She shoved me again, and I repeated myself. “Ask Nick!”
“You did this last time.”
“That was a joke.”
“And now?”
“I didn’t take it.” I smirked, and that was the wrong thing to do. She fired back at me with another shove, this time pushing me into the back door. If that wasn’t enough she leaned in and opened it, then shoved me outside into the rain — nothing on my feet, only wearing a pair of shorts and a thin T-shirt.
“Gemma,” I said growing annoyed. I reached for the handle but she’d locked it.
I shook the door. “Open up!”
The door was made up of a grid of opaque glass panels. I yelled at her to open but she just grinned and went to walk away. In that moment I lost my temper and fired a fist at the glass, shattering a panel of glass in a perfect circle. Shards shot all over her back as she walked away. The strange part was I didn’t have one cut on my hand.
“Holy cow,” she exclaimed and opened the door. “I was just joking.”
“Yeah, well…” Before I could say another word. Nick appeared in the doorway chomping away at what remained of Gemma’s dinner, a half-eaten sub.
He started laughing, then looked at me. “Scott. Scott!”
I squinted as the bright light engulfed me.
The past merged with the present as I came to, coughing and spluttering.
“Scott,” Nick said leaning over me. “Holy crap, you scared the hell out of me.”
It took me a few seconds to realize where I was. It was a hospital. There were the others surrounding my bed. “You’re gonna be okay, buddy. A bit busted up but you’ll live.”
“I saw her, Nick.”
“Who?”
“Gemma.”
He frowned and patted me on the side of the face. “Rest up. We’ll talk later.”
He stepped back and Jamal came into view. I looked over to my right and Tobias was in a bed beside me. The steady sound of beeping beat out the rhythm of my heart on the vital signs monitor beside me.
Jamal piped up. “Let’s get this out of the way right now. I was wrong about the hospital but not about everything. It still took a lot of convincing for them to let you in. The place is torn up pretty bad but a small portion is still in operation, sealed off of course. All this,” he gazed at the monitor, “is working off generators right now. For how long? No idea. There is a skeleton crew of doctors and nurses helping out, and some surviving military personnel. That’s about all I can tell you. It’s all they’ve told us. Oh, and the food hasn’t changed. It still sucks.” He sighed. “Good to have you back, Scott.” He squeezed my arm and stepped back letting Daniels through.
“Hey kid, it was sloppy but effective, I’ll give you that.” He smiled. “Remind me to give you a few lessons once we get you out of here.”
“Come on, hurry up, out of the way!” Ryland said in a thick British accent. He appeared by my side shaking his head and grinning. “Mate. You wanker. I knew you would steal my fire. Now to be honest I was tempted on shooting myself, you know, to lay it on thick and all but after seeing your wound,” he sucked air between his teeth and winced, “I’m kind of glad I didn’t.”
I let out a faint laugh and then groaned.
Off to my left Lola and Alexa chatted with Eli. They shot me a glance and welcomed me back. Back? I hadn’t gone anywhere, had I? It was hard to tell if that was a near-death experience, a message from the other side or my brain’s way of shutting out the pain but either way I was grateful. I didn’t want to forget my sister, my past or the ones that remained.
* * *
An hour later, the room cleared. Nick stayed. I soon learned that not everyone from the group that had gone with Nick and Tom survived. Nick recounted how he’d crossed paths with the Alvarez brothers, and how he fully expected to die if not by their hands then by the dead that still roamed.
“Nick, do you know about Brooke?”
“Yeah, Alexa brought me up to speed.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry, we’re heading back there.”
“We are?”
“Well we can’t stay here. This is one of a few satellite hospitals that are being used to treat the living while they try to find a cure for whatever this is.”
“Have they told you how it started?”
“Do you mean has the government told us the truth?” He cracked a smile and shook his head. “Look, don’t you worry about that. Rest up. In a day or two we’ll head out of here.”
“That soon?”
“They won’t let us stay any longer. They need the beds.” He paused and looked off towards a window where the curtains were drawn. “It’s getting pretty bad out there, Scotty.”
“I know.”
He went to leave.
“Nick.”
“Yeah?”
“You think mom and dad are alive?”
He took a moment to contemplate.
“I hope so.”
He squeezed my hand before straightening up. “I’ll check back later.”
I breathed a sigh of relief and looked over to my right where Tobias lay. Tom sat at his bedside holding his son’s hand while he slept. He offered a warm smile before I reached for a glass of water. “Did I graduate?” I asked thinking about what they’d told us on the night we’d arrived in the wild Adirondacks.
“What?” he asked.
“Survival camp.”
He chuckled and glanced at his son for a second. “For now.”
His words sank in and I dwelled on them. The truth was, he was right, it wasn’t over, the perimeter of the camp had only been widened to include towns, cities, the state and the country of the USA. There were many challenges ahead of us along with many unknowns. Beyond the safety of the walls lay a wild and unforgiving world full of the dangerous and the desperate — hordes of the dead, violent men, hunger, thirst and betrayal were just some of the obstacles. Faced alone, the risk was too great but together, after all we’d been through, I began to believe there was a chance we could survive.
THANK YOU FOR READING
The Wild Ones: (Book 1)
The Wild Ones 2: Coming December 2017
A Plea
Thank you for reading The Wild Ones. If you enjoyed the book, I would really appreciate it if you would consider leaving a review. Without reviews, an author’s books are virtually invisible on the retail sites. It also lets me know what you liked. It also motivates me to write more books. You can leave a review by visiting the book’s page. I would greatly appreciate it. It only takes a couple of seconds.
Thank you — Jack Hunt
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About the Author
Jack Hunt is the best-selling author of horror, sci-fi and post-apocalyptic novels. He currently has three books out in the War Buds series, three books in the Camp Zero series, three books out in the Agora Virus series, five books out in the Renegades series, one book out in the The Armada series, a time travel book called Killing Time, a science fiction book called Blackout, another called Darkest Hour, another called Final Impact and another called Mavericks: Hunters Moon. Jack lives on the East coast of North America.
www.jackhuntbooks.com
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Jack Hunt, The Wild Ones
