The Beginning of the End (26 page)

“I think it’s time
to get out of the city, Hoss. We’ve already got Kane trying to kill
us. We don’t need the added danger of these things too.” I
agreed. I made my way toward Cornelia Street. By the mall I could
catch the I-87 southbound on ramp. Kate’s crying was really
annoying me. It was hard enough trying to keep those guys off our
asses, without all her blubbering. Part of me felt the need to scream
at her, while another part of me want to crawl back there with her
and have a good cry too. At the top of Cornelia Street, I looked
back, and they were right on my tail, “Chevy!” I called out, “I’m
out of options. Any ideas?” Chevy pulled himself forward in the
seat again and looked out the back window, “There're only three of
them. I say we make a stand!” I didn’t see any other option. I
lifted my fist, and Chevy gave it a tap and turned to the girls,
“Everyone check your weapons. We outnumber those guys, more than
two to one. Make sure you’ve got fully loaded magazines. It's time
to fight!”

Chevy slammed a fresh
magazine into his rifle. As he did, I felt a crash from behind, and I
lost control of the vehicle for a second. “They’re ramming us!”
Chevy screamed. The back end of the Humvee slid out as we left the
on-ramp and merged onto Interstate 87. Their Humvee struck us again.
These guys were relentless. The ass end of the Humvee kicked out, and
my tires screeched. They hit us a third time while we were sliding.
The back of the Humvee slid out far enough, I couldn’t gain
control. We went off the side of the road and down into the medium. I
hit the brakes, but it didn’t do any good. At the end of our slide,
one of our tires caught the cement culvert and sent us tumbling. The
Humvee finally came to rest upside down in the middle of the
northbound lane. It felt like minutes had passed. My head throbbed
from hanging upside down. I look over and saw Cowboy hanging upside
down too. His face was covered with blood, and he was unconscious.
Behind me, bodies were piled up. No one had been wearing their
seatbelts, “Is anyone alive back there?”

“I’m okay.”

“Me too.” came from
Sage and Kate.

“Mom!” I yelled. I
felt a hand touch my neck, “I’m okay, Ty. So is Sidara.”

“What about Chevy?
How is he, Mom?”

“Ouch!” Chevy
moaned. “That was worse than being shot.”

Well, I knew he was
okay. I gave Cowboy a slap on the arm, “Yeah, give me a second
there, Hoss.”

Thank God, everyone was
all right. I reached down looking for the seatbelt latch. I pushed it
and dropped on my head, “Ouch!” Now I was upside down and twisted
like a pretzel. I was working on getting myself upright when a
deafening blow struck the side of the Humvee. I must have gotten a
good knock to the brain, because I had completely forgotten about
those guys. Another round struck the side of the Humvee. Everyone in
the back was screaming. “Give us a fucking chance!” I screamed.
Another shot rang out. My ears were ringing, and my head was
throbbing.

“Stop!”

They must have heard
me, because right after I said it, they stopped. One of them came
over their PA system, “Do you want us to stop firing on you?”

“Yes!” I screamed,
loud enough for them to hear through the Humvee’s bullet resistant
glass. “Then follow my instructions, or we’ll throw a grenade
inside.”

“What do what you
want us to do?” I yelled.

“Driver! Open your
door and throw all the weapons out of the vehicle!” I took off my
holster and threw it out the door. Followed by my rifle and swords,
“Everyone pass up your weapons.” I said. I was handed pistols,
rifles, knives, and a grenade. I felt like I was at the end of a
bucket brigade. The man on the PA came on again, “If we see any
weapons on anyone, we will fire our fifty-caliber machine gun at you,
along with a couple of grenades. Do you understand?”

“Yes!” I said
looking over at Cowboy who was still hanging upside down and was
petrified.

“Driver, exit the
vehicle slowly, everyone else follow. Slowly! Any sudden moves and we
will shoot you!”

I climbed out, trying
to keep my hands above my head. I looked at their Humvee. There was a
guy in the turret, and he had the fifty-caliber trained at my chest.
There was also a man standing on each side of me. Each had a rifle.

“Turn around!” one
of them barked. He grabbed my wrists and forced my hands behind my
back. I felt him slip something over my hands, and I heard the zip of
the zip tie tightening. “Ouch!” I yelped. “Shut up and move
over to the center of the road!” The second man grabbed me by the
zip tie and led me to the center of the highway, “Get on your
knees!” I stood tall and stuck my chest out, “Why? What are you
gonna do?”

He pushed the barrel
against my throat and said, “Give me a reason!” I was defeated. I
dropped to my knees and watched as the rest of my crew was zip tied
and led over. We were all forced down to our knees and lined along
the center of the highway. The man in the turret came over and stood
in front of us. The one who had put his barrel in my throat tossed
his rifle to the man from the turret, “Tommy, take this.” Tommy
caught the rifle, “Thanks, Boss!” After tossing the rifle to
Tommy the man reached in his belt and pulled out the .44 Magnum. He
walked up and down the row, checking each one of us out. He stopped
at Sidara, “This is yours, isn’t it?” He waved the .44 Magnum
in Sidara’s face, “I’ve still got a score to settle with you.”

He turned and continued
his inspection of us. He stopped at Cowboy. He stood there staring
and shaking his head, “After everything I’ve done for you. You
double crossed me!” He looked at Tommy and Luther, “I’ll show
you what happens to my crew when they go against me.” He squatted
down next to Cowboy, “The good news is, I’m going to kill you
last.” Kane got up and started walking back toward me. Cowboy
called out, “What’s the bad news?” Kane snapped a glare at
Cowboy, “I am going to kill you by chopping you up into little
pieces on my cutting table!”

“Fuck you, Kane!”
Cowboy screamed.

A smile broadened
across Kane’s face.

Kate was screaming and
crying uncontrollably. Kane calmly asked her, “Please be quiet,
honey. You’re getting very annoying.” He moved on, stopping at
each one of us, “My name is Kane. This is my outfit.” He looked
back at Cowboy, “Minus one. Now as you may know, my men and I don’t
appreciate people stealing our property.” Sidara blurted out, “We
didn’t steal your property. You kidnapped us and stole our
weapons.” Kane waved a hand at her, implying she should shut up, “I
stole you and your weapons fair and square. That makes you and
everything that belonged to you, mine!” Tommy charged over to Kate,
who was still screaming and crying. “Shut up!” he shouted as he
kicked her in the gut. Kate fell over and curled up into a ball.
“Thank you, Tommy. She’s really starting to get annoying.” Kane
said as he strolled over to Chevy and I, “Now I’m assuming that
one of you two is in charge. So, which one is it?”

“Neither of us.” I
groaned.

“You took my mom and
our friend. We just wanted to get them back!”

“I’m afraid they
weren’t yours to take back. You need to understand that I am part
of something bigger than-” He stopped in mid-sentence. He had been
continually speaking louder, so I could hear him over Kate’s
crying.

“Excuse me.” Kane
said.

He walked over to Kate,
put his .44 against her forehead and pulled the trigger. She went
silent in mid scream and flipped over backwards. He walked back over
to me, “You’ll have to excuse me. She was really getting on my
nerves. Now where were we? Oh yes, who is in command here?”

“You sick fuck!” I
coaxed. He lifted the gun to my head. I closed my eyes. Oh my god,
why did I say that? I couldn’t breathe. It felt like someone was
sitting on my chest. Time seemed to slow down around me. Seconds felt
like minutes. I couldn’t believe he was going to kill me. I
couldn’t even fight back. I was waiting for the sound of the gun
when I heard someone yell to my left. I opened my eyes in time to see
Cowboy jump to his feet and charge at Luther.

Luther was hit so hard
he went down like a rag man. Kane ran over to help, “Tommy pull
Cowboy off Luther!” On the way to the ground, Luther’s head
caught the corner of the Humvee slicing his head open and knocking
him out cold. We watched helpless, as they beat on Cowboy until he
was unconscious. Kane, out of breath came back to finish his
business, “Now, where were we? Oh yes, that’s right!” He lifted
the .44 Magnum and pressed it against my forehead. This was it. I
didn’t want to die. I felt tears coming out of my eyes. I wanted to
plead for him to stop, but nothing came out. Chevy tried to jump to
his feet and tackle Kane, but this time they were expecting it. Tommy
swung the butt of his rifle striking Chevy on the jaw. He fell to the
ground at Kane’s feet. “Don’t worry. Your face won’t hurt for
long. You’re next after your buddy!” I heard my mom screaming and
pleading with Kane, “Please! He’s my son! He’s all I have in
the world! Please don’t do it, I’ll do anything!”

Kane responded to her,
“Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll take care of you third. You won’t
even have time to cry after I shoot him!” I felt him drive the gun
against my head even harder. I could hear the seconds ticking by. I
felt the gun move against my forehead as Kane pulled back the gun’s
hammer. It stopped with a metal click. I took a deep breath and
waited for the shot. I hoped it wouldn’t hurt.

I felt a gentle breeze
across my face. The fetid smell was gone here. I heard nothing but
silence, even the screams seemed to disappear. My racing heart
slowed, I knew I’d miss my mom and Chevy, my brother.

A warm mist of blood,
sprayed over my face. There was no pain. In fact the only sensation I
felt was that of a tear rolling down my cheek. I fell over backward
or rather, I was pushed. The screams were coming back now, but had
transformed into cheers.

The weight of someone
against my body. I opened my eyes, Kane was laying on top of me.
There was a small hole just under his eye with a single drop of blood
running down. I looked down the line, and everybody was still on
their knees except Chevy, who was now under Kane.

Tommy ran over and
looked at Kane to see what had happened. He glanced above me as a
shot rang out. He fell over backwards. The bullet caught him in the
throat. He was fighting to live, every breath he took sounded like he
was breathing through a snorkel that had filled partially with water.
I looked back and saw a blonde woman standing by a jeep on the
southbound side of the highway. She was lowering her rifle and
walking towards us.

I watched as the blonde
woman crossed over the grassy median and tactically brought the rifle
back up to her shoulder, “Are there anymore!” she yelled. Still
on my knees with my hands fastened behind my back, I answered, “No,
you got them! We’re friendly.”

Friendly? That sure
sounded corny, “My name is, Ty. Those guys you shot, kidnapped my
mom and friends! They were going to kill us!” By now, the blonde
was almost next to me. She still had her rifle raised and pointed,
“Yeah, I could see that. How do I know you’re not going to try to
kill me if I cut you free?

“You have my word.”
The blonde gave Kane a kick in the arm to make sure he was dead. She
reached down and took the cane knife off his belt, then came over to
free my wrists. She threw the knife on the ground in front of me,
“Cut your friends loose.” she said.

I grabbed the knife and
made quick work of freeing my friends and mom. I paused to look at
Kate’s body. It made me sick to my stomach thinking of how Kane had
just snuffed her out like that. I wanted to kill him, but our new
friend had already taken care of that. I cut Cowboy loose as he was
waking up, “Hey are you okay?”

“Nothing a few day's
rest couldn’t fix.” he said as he moved his jaw from side to side
with his hand. “What do you want to do with him?” motioning to
Luther, who was knocked out from hitting his head on the Humvee, “Tie
him up!”

I made my way back to
the blonde woman with my hand extended, “Thank you. You saved my
life. One second later and I would have been dead. I guess I owe you
my life. And again, my name is, Ty.” With her AR-15 now hanging
from the sling, she extended an open hand, “I’m Dr. Sophie
Simone.” The others gathered around, they had all extended their
hands in friendship. After having saved my life, I figured the least
I could do was offer Sophie a safe haven, “Sophie, over the last
couple of days, we have all sort of found each other. We’re going
to try to make a run at this new world together, if you’d like to
join us. I mean, you just saved all of our lives. It's the least we
could do.” Sophie looked at our group, “I appreciate the offer,
but I have to get to the CDC in Atlanta. I have the cure for this
epidemic.”

“There’s a cure?”
I mumbled.

“Yes!” Sophie said.
“There are still millions of people out there like us. They are
still at risk from turning into one of those dead if they are bitten
or get sick and drink the water.”

“Why Atlanta?” I
asked.

“Because I have the
blueprint for the cure on a hard drive in my jeep and the facility
there is still under military control and safe.” Sophie paused,
“You’re welcome to come to Atlanta with me. I’d sure like
someone to watch my back. You could help me save the world!” I
thought about her offer. I looked at my mom and thought of the chance
of a new world, being able to walk the streets again, “Yes! I’ll
help you get to Atlanta.” I looked back at my new family. One by
one, they each said yes. Sidara was the last to answer. She was
staring at the ground in front of her, “I’m in, but can we stop
in Virginia on the way? I need to know if my family is alive!” I
turned to Sophie as she spoke, “Yes, we can go through Virginia.”
Sophie looked around at everyone in the group, “I just want to
thank each of you for doing this. A chance of a new world lies in our
hands.” Sophie stopped talking in the middle of her speech and
looked at me, “You’re buzzing.”