Apocalyptic Visions Super Boxset (153 page)

***

The rifle still felt awkward for Mary. She wasn’t used to the weight or the feel of it. Kalen had explained as much to her about shooting as she could. She did her best to pay attention, to try and focus on the task at hand, but her mind wandered.

Thoughts of her mother, her father, and her sisters flashed like lightning strikes in her mind. Her imagination ran wild with the horrors the biker gang was committing on her mother.

At night she lay awake, still feeling the rocking of the bed she was on as her mom lay next to her with that biker on top of her. She could still hear his grunts, heavy breaths, the violent commands he barked at her, each syllable sending a tremor through her body.

The longer they walked, the more she questioned what she was doing. She knew it was fear that was fogging her mind. She tried focusing on the thought of protecting her sisters, but it didn’t seem strong enough to keep the fear at bay.

Mary kept a few steps behind Kalen the entire journey through the woods. She watched Kalen, observed how she moved, how she carried herself. The girl she saw the first day she arrived at the cabin was gone.

Mary remembered seeing how out of touch Kalen was. When she took Kalen back to her room where she passed out on the bed, she figured she was on some type of drug. Then when Mary found the bottle of pills in the nightstand, which were almost empty, it confirmed her suspicions.

When Mary told Kalen what happened to her family, she saw something change in Kalen. A switch flipped. Kalen’s resolve hardened. That’s what made Mary follow her. Mary was leaning on Kalen’s strength to help find her own.

“How do you do it?” Mary asked.

“Do what?”

“Act like you’re not afraid.”

“I don’t.”

“Well, you’re doing a good job of hiding it.”

“That’s just it. You can’t hide it. You can’t shove something that big into a corner without it being seen. So you expose it to the light for everyone to see, then instead of you being afraid of the fear, the fear becomes afraid of what you’ve done to unmask it. The fear yields to you.”

“What if you can’t control it?”

“Then it kills you. Either way, your struggle’s over.”

Was that her fate if she accepted her fear? She’d never been in any position like that her entire life. She’d never experienced the type of fear and pain that she’d felt over the past two weeks.

There was a time when the only things she was scared of were the final exams at school and seeing what she got on her report card.

But the lump in her throat wouldn’t give way, and the pit in her stomach wouldn’t fill up. What she was feeling was endless, and she couldn’t see a way out.

***

Frankie dumped the rest of the red fuel cans on the concrete next to the bikes. He managed to pull a total of twelve five-gallon cans from the mechanic’s shop.

“We can try and siphon some gas out of the cars, but aside from that, this is it, Jake,” Frankie said.

Jake counted the bikes in the row. Most of them still had some fuel left in the tank, but the majority of them were low. The ride from Cleveland drained a lot of the gas they had. The old bikes they rode here managed to survive the EMP blast because they didn’t have any microprocessors in them, but they also had terrible gas mileage.

“Any bike that’s below a quarter of a tank, fill it up. I want everyone able to ride,” Jake said.

Frankie grabbed two other members, and the three of them started checking the bikes’ fuel gauges.

Jake pulled out the map with the radius of how far the girls could have traveled. He figured they stayed close. There were a handful of cabins Frankie was able to find in the county office. He wanted to start hitting those first. If they traveled through the woods, it would be a good place to start.

Tank, Jake’s vice president of the club, came up behind him. Tank’s eyes were hidden behind his shades. His long gray beard was greased with grime and clumped together from weeks without a shower. His belly poked through the space between his cut, the buttons barely holding back the weight behind them.

“Jake, we need to talk,” Tank said.

The two men walked out of earshot of the rest of the club.

“I don’t know if this is the best time for us to be doing this,” Tank said.

“One of our brothers is dead. You don’t want to make sure whoever did this pays for that?”

“You really think those girls killed Garrett? C’mon, Jake. They’re long gone and starving somewhere in the woods.”

“Well, if they’re close by just sitting under the trees in the shade, they’ll be easy to find.”

Jake slammed his shoulder into Tank when he moved past him. Tank put his hand on Jake’s shoulder to spin him around, but Jake twisted the old man’s hand. Tank winced.

“We are going to find whoever did this. I don’t care what it costs us, you understand me? Diablos don’t let one of their own die without the bastards who killed them answering for their crime,” Jake said.

Jake let Tank’s hand go. Tank backed away slowly, both hands in the air, surrendering.

“Okay, brother. Okay,” Tank said.

“And you make sure the rest of the club knows that too,” Jake finished.

Keep the club together.
That’s what Jake needed to do. He couldn’t let his club waver now, not with what they had in front of them. He knew his men would need a distraction. If the group wasn’t heading somewhere, anywhere, with a goal in mind, they would fall apart.

Jake passed the pile of burnt bodies on the way to his room. For better or worse, he was their leader, and no matter what hell he brought on them, they’d follow him to the end. That was their brotherhood, a family of death.

***

The perimeter of the town was deserted. Kalen couldn’t see anyone on patrol. From what Mary had told her, the biker gang had men on watch around the clock.

When she double-checked the east end of the town, she figured they were either gone or focused on something important. Either way, they had a clear entrance.

When Kalen came back from scouting, Mary looked like she hadn’t breathed since she left.

“You ready?” Kalen asked.

Mary nodded her head quickly, avoiding Kalen’s eyes. Kalen grabbed Mary’s chin and pulled her face toward hers.

“We can’t have any doubts once we cross this line. I need to know now if you’re ready for this,” Kalen said.

“I’m ready.”

“All right then. Stay close behind me. I’ll find you a good spot with cover, and then I’ll position myself. I think they must be gathered together since there aren’t any patrols. Let’s go.”

The two girls left the cover of the tall grass and headed for the first building on the right side. They inched their way up the street, ducking behind cars, doors, anything large enough to hide behind.

Kalen kept glancing back at Mary, still behind her. Every time she checked to see if Mary was there, she expected her to be gone or frozen in the last spot she saw her. Kalen was having second thoughts about bringing her along. She needed someone who was willing to do what it took. She needed to have confidence in her partner.

A team was only as strong as the weakest link, and Mary wasn’t looking very strong. If Kalen’s life came down to Mary’s ability to keep her alive, it wasn’t going to end well. But it was a fate she’d come to terms with.

It was an odd feeling though, thinking about death with such indifference. Kalen never considered it before. It seemed so far away, like a dream you couldn’t remember.

The days of boys, parties, and going to college just weren’t a part of her reality anymore. The only thing that felt real was the rifle in her hands and the extra magazines loaded in her bag, smacking against her back as she pressed forward.

The motel sign was just ahead. Kalen recognized it from Mary’s description. When she saw the group of a dozen bikers starting their bikes, she whipped around to grab Mary’s attention.

“They’re leaving!”

But Mary’s eyes were focused on something in the courtyard of the motel. Kalen followed her line of sight to the pile of black and brown figures stacked around a pole. There was something tied to the pole, but she couldn’t tell what it was.

Mary stood up, oblivious of being seen. Kalen yanked her back down.

“What are you doing?” Kalen asked.

“That’s… a person… on the pole.”

Kalen peered through the scope on her rifle. When the object on the pole came into view, her stomach turned.

It wasn’t a person anymore. It was a charred piece of meat slumped over a pile of another dozen burnt bodies.

“Jesus,” Kalen said.

She wanted to look for a building with a second-story window to give them the advantage of higher ground, but she wasn’t sure if they’d have time now.

A few bikers had already started to weave through the parking lot and onto the street. When three of the bikers disappeared heading toward the west side of town, Kalen checked to see if the others would be joining them, but no one else showed.

“Must be a scout party,” Kalen said.

“What did they do to those people?” Mary asked.

“Mary, listen to me. I’m going to the other side of the motel. I’ll fire a few shots in the air to draw them out. When they do, you open fire, understand? If it gets bad, head back for the tall grass.”

“It was a woman tied up there.”

“Once you open fire, I’ll start taking them out on my side. We’ll bottleneck them. They’ll think there are more than two of us in the beginning, but that’ll only last for a little while.”

“There’s a reason she’s up there. Why is she up there?”

“Mary!”

Kalen shook Mary’s shoulders, trying to bring her back to the moment.

“You want to help that woman on the pole? The one they burned? The one they hurt? Shoot them, and don’t let up. Here,” Kalen said, giving her two of the loaded magazines. “If you need to reload you shove the magazine in like this, and rack the chamber. You’ll only need to do it once.”

Mary nodded.

“Remember, bring the rifle to your eyes, squeeze the trigger, don’t pull it, and be prepared for some recoil. It’ll hurt the first couple times,” Kalen said.

Kalen took off, leaving Mary behind one of the cars. She kept low, sprinting toward the other side. Once she was clear and caught her breath, she closed her eyes.

Focus. This is why you’re here. You can do this. You can do this. Just do it.

She aimed her pistol in the air, poised to fire the opening shots that would draw the bikers out, but just before she squeezed the trigger she stopped herself. She peeked back around the corner of the building she was hiding behind and saw the row of motorcycles that were still parked in the lot. She smiled.

“Might as well make an entrance.”

She brought the Harleys into her cross hairs and squeezed the trigger. The bullets blasted through two of the bikes closest to her, knocking them over.

Shouts from inside the rooms immediately followed. The bikers had their guns drawn, rushing outside. When Kalen heard the shots from Mary’s rifle, she ran for a parked car that had a better vantage point in front of the motel.

One of the bikers must have seen her because as soon as she ducked behind the car’s engine, she could hear the thud of bullets hitting the metal.

Be patient. Wait for your shot. Draw them out.

There was a break in the firing. Kalen jumped up from her cover. There were five of them she could see. The closest was out in the open, exposed. He tried to make a run for it, but Kalen had a bead on him.

Squeeze it.

The sound of the bullet leaving the barrel and the spray of blood from the biker’s chest was simultaneous. When he hit the ground she moved on to the next.

One of the bikers ducked behind the fountain in the courtyard. He was crouched low, but the top of his head was still exposed. She squeezed the trigger and a bullet nicked the concrete fountain. She missed.

Kalen ducked behind the car again. Another round of bullets volleyed back at her. She could hear Mary’s shots coming from her right.

Kalen jumped back up on the hood, hoping the biker behind the fountain would give her a better shot.

“Gotcha.”

The bullet sliced the biker’s head in two. Kalen swung the rifle up to the second floor where some of the bikers were coming out of their rooms.

Bullets ricocheted off the iron posts from the guardrail on the second floor. She hit one of the bikers in the leg, and he crumpled to the ground. Kalen sent several rounds of bullets into him to finish the job.

More bikers were filling the courtyard now, each of them with pistols, rifles, and shotguns. The cars Kalen and Mary were hiding behind were starting to look like Swiss cheese. The time frame between the bikers reloading was getting smaller.

The side mirror exploded over Mary, sending a rain of glass on top of her. She ducked lower, shielding herself from the endless firing of gunshots.

“Mary! Head to the other side of the street! I’ll cover you!” Kalen said.

Mary nodded. Kalen inched toward the trunk of the car, keeping herself low so the bikers couldn’t see her. When she made it to the rear of the car, the tires exploded, dropping the car lower.

Kalen ducked with it, keeping her head down as more bullets rained upon on her. She jumped up and gave Mary the cover fire she needed to sprint across the street.

A few of the bikers had grown bold and left themselves exposed. Kalen killed three more before they could find cover.

As Kalen dropped back behind the car, she could hear the shouts of one of the bikers.

“Send some around back. We’ll cut them off.”

“Jake wants them alive!”

Kalen sprinted back toward the corner of the building where she was earlier. Her feet smacked against the pavement as she fired a few more shots into the biker’s direction, then heard the click of the firing pen.

Empty.

Once she made it to the building’s corner, clear from the exposed road, the empty magazine hit the sidewalk. She loaded a new magazine in and racked the chamber.

She wanted to cut the bikers off before they made it to the other side of town. If the bikers sandwiched them in one of the buildings, they’d be goners.

Kalen ran past the storefronts toward the west side of town, trying to beat the bikers there. She skidded to a stop just before the buildings ended.

Four of the bikers pursued her. They inched their way toward her, moving from car to car up the side of the street and using some of the doors to the shops for cover.

“Shit,” Kalen said.

She looked around, trying to think of a way out. When the bikers came around from the back, she’d be cornered.

It was a good thirty yards from her location to safety on the other side of the street, thirty yards without any cover. She could make a run for it, but it would expose her.

The bikers were getting closer. Kalen could feel her heart pounding in her chest. Her hands gripped the rifle harder. Was this it? Was this how it was going to end
?
No.

She still had more left. The dirt flew up from the ground as she dug her heels and dashed for the other side of Main Street. She aimed the rifle back blindly, shooting at random, trying to provide her own cover for the run.

When she made it to the other side, she kept running. She didn’t stop until she made it to the back of the building.

Kalen couldn’t remember how many stores down Mary was or which one she ran inside. The first store she ran inside was the old gun shop. Most of it was cleaned out, but there were still some cases and a few rifles and pistols lying around.

Kalen found two 9mm pistols and a box of ammo. She shoved them both in her bag and did one last scan for any .223 shells for her rifle.

She scanned the barren shelves, desperately searching for more bullets. She shoved a few cases of shotgun shells out of the way and found an entire case of .223 ammo.

She stuffed five boxes into her bag, with the pistols and other ammo she had remaining, and hurried out the back door.

The gunshots coming from the front of the store were becoming more frequent, which was a good thing in Kalen’s mind. As long as the guns kept firing, then Mary was still alive.

Kalen checked a few more back doors before she finally found Mary in what was left of the hardware store. She was still by the front holding her ground. Two empty magazines were at her feet.

“Mary!” Kalen shouted.

When Mary turned around a hail of bullets came down on them, sending both of them to the floor.

Kalen crawled forward, dragging the bag with her, shelves of hardware supplies exploding above her from the gunshots.

A box of nails exploded from a gunshot and sent one of the four-inch nails flying into Kalen’s leg. She screamed in pain. Half the nail dug into her flesh. She reached her hand down, her body shaking, and when she yanked it out, a spurt of blood followed.