The Regulators - 02 (33 page)

“Hardin,” I said after tapping my earpiece. “Keep the
helicopters at a distance.”

“Understood,” Hardin answered.

I was just about to turn away from the window when I saw the
man in the gray suit that Nick had mentioned earlier. He dropped down from a
nearby rooftop and proceeded to pick up where the other man had left off. I
realized quickly that the slaps on the head were hard enough to kill the
zombies.

“Fuckers are strong,” I pointed out to Nick.

“Got that right,” Nick answered.

I left him at the boarded up windows and went to check on
Georgie. I found him at his post looking through the boards. I was just a
little surprised that he actually went back to his post. Then again, there were
no longer any zombies attacking his area.

“You see anything?” I asked.

“Not a thing,” Georgie answered. “I heard a lot of thumping
and crunching sounds before I made it to the windows, but I never saw a thing.
You think we should go out there and help these guys?”

“Do they look like they need our help?”

“No, but it’s the polite thing to do.”

“I guess that depends on why they’re helping us,” I said
before walking back to the front of the house.

It took about another fifteen or twenty minutes before the
area was completely secure. Our saviors had not once tried to make contact with
those of us inside the house. An eerie silence breathed over us when they were
finished. Nobody said a word. It was almost as if everybody was waiting for the
other shoe to drop. It lasted half an hour. Everyone stayed put and rested
during the all too brief intermission.

Then a body dropped ungracefully from somewhere above and
landed in the front yard.

Nick and I could hear the wet slapping sound it made as it
slammed into the dead grass. Icy fingers began to climb up my spine and the
hairs on the back of my neck began to stand straight up. I wasn’t sure what was
going on, but I knew it wasn’t going to be good.

“Why the hell can’t they just be on our side?” Nick asked.
“Why do they need to go and fuck things up?”

“Why throw a body at us?” I asked. “That doesn’t make much
sense.”

“I knew they were too good to be true. I just knew it.”

I wasn’t really paying attention to Nick at the moment. I
was studying the body. My brain wasn’t giving me much of a clue, but something
about the body seemed awfully familiar. I felt my eyes widen in my skull when I
finally figured it out.

“Nick,” I whispered. “He’s wearing a bite suit. I think its
Kingsley.”

“No way,” Nick replied.

“Yeah,” I said. “I’m going out there.”

“Listen up everyone,” I said after tapping my earpiece. “I
want you all up to the front of the house immediately. I’m going out there and
I want backup.”

“
So they just threw
Kinsley’s body onto the front lawn
?”

That’s exactly what they did.

“
Why would they do
that
?”

I’m not sure. Maybe they wanted to get our attention. Or, maybe
they just wanted to freak us out a bit.

“
Was Kingsley alive
?”

That’s the million dollar question, isn’t it? At the time,
we didn’t have any idea. All we could see was a lump in the grass wearing our
protective gear complete with the tactical vest and the high bite collar. The
lump wasn’t moving.

“I don’t think you should go out there,” Dudley said after
everyone had gotten a look out the window. “This seems like some sort of a
setup.”

“Yeah,” I answered. “But that’s our buddy out there and he
doesn’t look so good. I want everyone to file out behind me but stay next to
the door in case we need to make a hasty retreat back into the house.”

I walked out into the yard slowly. I could hear Merrick
whining behind me as Dudley held her by the collar. I stayed on the concrete
path all the way to the sidewalk. I was scanning the area all around me. I
looked above the houses. I looked in the trees. I looked everywhere.

As far as I could see, the area was clear.

Kingsley was in a heap to the left of the concrete path and
just before the sidewalk. He still wasn’t moving. When I reached him, I feared
the worst. His skin was cold and clammy. His eyes were closed. I unzipped his
bite collar and reached in his vest. I wanted to see if I could feel his pulse.

“Jax,” Kingsley whispered. “Is that you?”

“Yeah buddy,” I whispered back through an ear to ear smile.
“It’s me. Now let’s get you out of here.”

I immediately let my mp7 dangle by its strap and shoved my
hands through the arm holes of his vest in order to haul him to his feet. He
felt lighter than usual. I was wondering when he’d eaten last. His arms went
around me in a hug when he had both his legs underneath him.

“Jaxon,” Kingsley whispered in a voice too low.

“Yeah Kingsley,” I answered. “I’m here. Let’s get you moving.”

“Jaxon,” Kingsley whispered once again. His rank breath was
on my ear. “Stop bossing me around.”

I was about to ask him what he meant, but he didn’t give me
a chance. His arms tightened around me as if they were made out of steel, and
he spun me around so that my back was towards the rest of the team.

I was in shock. I was speechless. I didn’t understand what
was happening. I couldn’t understand what was happening. The punch came, and I
didn’t even see it. He hit me right under the jaw and I went flying back
towards the team. Suddenly, I understood. I understood the violence. I
understood the power.

But I didn’t like it.

I understood it, but I was crushed. I was devastated. All I
could think was that I should have tried harder to find him. I shouldn’t have
killed the vampire. I should have caught her sooner and made her talk. I should
have made her tell me where he was. I failed him.

I failed him, and she turned him.

Kingsley was a vampire.

Thoughts of protecting him raced through my mind. I wouldn’t
let anyone harm him. I wouldn’t let Hardin or anyone else stake him, or burn
him…or…or…try anything to finish him off. He was my friend. I let him down.

I failed him.

I failed him.

“Kingsley,” I said through a mouth filled with blood. “Try
and control it. I’m here for you. All of us are here for you. We can beat this
thing. We can maybe even find a cure.”

None of the team had moved, except for Nick. He had his mp7
up and ready to fire. If Kingsley made the wrong move, Nick wouldn’t hesitate.
I wanted to diffuse the situation before Kingsley got hurt.

“Nick,” I said. “Lower your weapon. “Kingsley’s our friend.
He just needs a moment to get himself together.”

“Is that what I need Jaxon?” Kingsley asked. “You’re telling
me what I need now?”

I couldn’t understand what was happening.

“I’m just trying to help,” I answered. “It’s not your fault
that they did this to you. I want to help you.”

“I don’t want your help, Jaxon,” Kingsley said in that low
voice. “And nobody did anything to me that I didn’t ask for.”

“What?” I asked. It was all I could say. One little word. I
just didn’t understand what I was hearing.

“I asked for this,” Kingsley said. “I wanted it. I was tired
of being weak and afraid. I was tired of being forced to endanger my life time
and time again while you played the hero.”

“Who forced you to endanger yourself?” Dudley asked with an
angry tone.

“HE DID!” Kingsley shouted while he pointed down at me with
a clawed finger. “HE FORCED ME! HE FORCED ALL OF US! ARE YOU TOO BLIND TO SEE
WHAT HE DOES TO PEOPLE?”

“He didn’t force you to do anything,” Dudley said calmly.
“We do what we do with our own free will.”

“Really?” Kingsley asked. “What do you think he would do if
one of us tried to quit? What do you think people would say if I had quit? I
think they’d be calling me a coward right now. I think people would be
ridiculing me. I had no way out.”

“Nobody would have thought anything like that,” Dudley said.
“Why would you…?”

“You’re a liar,” Kingsley interrupted. “Either that or you
just don’t know him like I do. He’s controlling. He forced me to follow him
back into this fucking city. Eventually, he would have gotten me killed. I was
terrified and I was sick of being afraid. Now, I don’t have to be afraid. Now
I’m the king of the mountain.”

“No,” Georgie said. “You’re just a monster that needs put
down.”

“Come and try it Georgie,” Kingsley said. “Try and put me
down. All of you are now expendable. The Master doesn’t care about anyone but
Jaxon. He wants Jaxon all for himself.”

“What are you talking about Kingsley?” Dudley asked. “Your
little Master is dead. Jaxon killed her this morning.”

Kingsley began to laugh. It wasn’t a pretty sound. It was
more like nails on a chalkboard. I wanted to do something. The situation was
rapidly heading towards the point of no return, but for the life of me I didn’t
know what to do.

So I just sat there. Right on the sidewalk, still on my ass
with blood dripping down my chin from the tongue I damn near bit off when he
nailed me with that uppercut.

“She wasn’t the Master,” Kingsley said with a triumphant
smile. “She wasn’t even close, not by a long shot, but the Master is coming.
He’s coming for Jaxon. He wants Jaxon to pay for what he did. Do you remember
what I told you Jaxon?”

I had no idea what he was talking about. I was still numb
and in shock.

“I told you that you were in over your head,” Kingsley
continued. “You were just too stupid to listen. You have no idea how long I’ve
resented you. You have no idea how much hell is coming for you. You have no
idea how much I’m going to enjoy this. I can’t wait to see your little self
important world come crumbling down upon you. When this is all over, you won’t
be anything more than a footnote in history. Nobody will even remember your
name.”

Somewhere in the back of my mind it occurred to me that
Kingsley was rather talkative at that moment. He was normally a quiet guy. It
probably wasn’t the best thing to notice at the time, but it just struck me as
odd.

“I think you’re going to be pretty disappointed, you fucking
traitor,” Dudley snarled.

“Right,” Kingsley said. “I’m a traitor. I’m a traitor
because I don’t want to follow an egotistical man that will eventually get me
killed. I can’t be the only one here who feels that way. I know I’m not. What
about you Javie?”

“What about me?” Javie asked in a quiet voice.

“We’ve always been tight,” Kingsley said. “Join me and we’ll
get away from here. We’ll spend the rest of our lives traveling the world and
living it up. Just me and you, what do you say?”

“
Were Javie and
Kingsley as close as he was implying
?”

Yeah, they were pretty tight. I felt bad for Javie at that
moment. He had been really worried about his buddy and just when he thought
things were going to turn out alright, he finds out that his friend jumped
sides. Even worse than that, Kingsley was asking Javie to bail on the team and
join up with him.

“You can’t live any kind of life,” Javie said. “You’re dead
and you’re a monster just like Georgie said. I won’t go anywhere with you, but
I will do my very best to put you down.”

The shock on Kingsley’s face was almost humorous. He really
truly expected Javie to join him, but the shock didn’t last long. His face
quickly turned to pure fury, and the black drool began to drip from his lips.

He went after Javie.

He was fast, but Nick had been waiting for him to make a
move. The spray of wooden bullets stitched across Kingsley’s chest and he
screamed out an inhuman wail. Then one by one, everyone began to drill him. He
spun and twitched and wailed across the yard before he found his feet and ran
off down the street.

“I always knew that guy was an asshole,” Nick said.

“Everyone back inside the house,” Dudley said.

The team started moving. Well, everybody started moving but
me. I was still sitting on the sidewalk, not even bothering to wipe the blood
off my chin. Dudley noticed that I wasn’t moving and hauled me to my feet by my
vest.

“Are you hurt?”

I didn’t even acknowledge that he was talking to me. I was
just, I don’t know, empty. I was having a very difficult time accepting what
had just happened. I couldn’t believe that Kingsley had turned on me.

“Jax,” Dudley said as he gave me a little shake. “Are you
hurt?”

I shook my head that I wasn’t injured.

“Let’s go,” Dudley said as he dragged me back into the
house.

“
This isn’t the first
time a friend had turned on you. Tito betrayed you as well. I don’t think I’ve
ever asked you personally, but did you feel the same way when Tito committed
his betrayal
?”

I don’t really think Tito betrayed me. I think he more or
less betrayed himself and the people that were following him. It’s not really
the same thing. I don’t think Tito would ever have wished me harm.

I thought about what
he said for a brief moment before I realized that he was right. When I spoke
with Tito, he was filled with regret. He admitted that he did what he did
because he was jealous. He never wished harm on anyone
.

“
What happened next
?”

We were inside the house. Dudley had removed my canteen and
was forcing me to drink. The water would heal up my tongue and he was pretty
worried about the amount of blood. Everybody was staring at me.

“Why are you all shocked?” Nick asked. “It was pretty
obvious that that guy had some sort of problem with you. Hell, I noticed that
he was kinda mental the minute Jax showed up at Georgie’s house.”

I was pretty sure he was looking at me, but I ignored him
and sat down against the wall. To say the least I was defeated. Having a friend
betray me was beyond my comprehension. It’s happened before of course, never to
that degree, but it’s happened. I’m sure it’s something that happens to
everyone at some point in time.