'Til Death Do Us Part (61 page)

I sat up, there was a malevolent force in that building, and it was staring at me I could feel it
’
s gaze upon me like a phy
sical presence. I brought the M-240 up to rest on the windowsill.
I would light that fucking building up like the Times Square Christmas tree if given half a reason. Azile was young enough that she probably wouldn
’
t have a heart attack when that first round went down range.

“
Show yourself
, fucker,
”
I
whispered.
I was calm, mostly. I was hoping I wasn
’
t making any mind phantoms.
There
were enough demons and monsters running around without the need for me to create mythical ones.

“
Mike?
”
Azile asked.

I jumped.
Thankfully
my finger was not on the trigger
or
I would have certainly blown off fifty or sixty rounds before I knew what I was doing.

“
What
’
s going on?
”
s
he asked as she saw the gun in the ready position.

“
I heard a noise in there,
”
I said pointing. It sounded a lot weaker when it was verbalized
,
and I didn
’
t tell her about my
feeling
.

Now she was listening.
After
a while she spoke.
“
Probably just the wind.
”

“
And wouldn
’
t that be what they wanted us to think?
”
I asked her before I tru
ly thought about my word choice.
Oh
boy
,
my paranoia was on high alert that fine evening.

“
Who
,
Mike? Do you see something?
”
s
he asked as she was peering over my shoulder.

“
I don
’
t
see
anything.
Something
sees us
,
though. I can feel it.
”

***

“
Do you think he sees us
,
Dave?
”
t
he dark haired man asked
nervously
.

“
I don
’
t think so Greg,
”
Dave said
,
putting his night vision scope down.
“
But I swear he keeps looking right at us.
”

“
Why don
’
t you just shoot him?
”
Greg asked.

“
F
irst
,
because Kirk hasn
’
t told me to…second,
because it
’
s not an easy shot
…
and mostly because
of that fucking gun he has.
If
I miss
,
he
’
ll punch holes through this piece
o
f shit b
uilding. A lot of fucking holes,
”
Dave said
,
again picking up his scope and looking at the barrel of the death dealing machine.
“
I can guarantee one thing
,
though, Kirk is going to want that gun.
”

“
You saw the gun
. You should tell him,
”
Greg stated nervously.

Their leader Kirk was a scary
,
solitary
,
psychotic man
,
who ruled more by abject fear than through any true leadership qualities. The last person that had left their group had been hunted down mercilessly
.
W
hen caught
,
Kirk had ordered him to be hung upside down and whipped until foot long strips of skin scraped against the ground as he swung back and forth on the chain that secured his ankles. Dave shuddered as the man had screamed for mercy that wasn
’
t ever going to come. And what had made it worse was the man was Dave
’
s friend
,
and he had done nothing to protect him.

Dave had convinced himself that it wasn
’
t so bad under Kirk
’
s regime.
They
were safe, they ate every day
,
and as long as they did exactly as they were told
,
there was nothing to fear. That wasn
’
t always the truth;
sometimes Kirk forgot what orders he issued
,
or if the outcome wasn
’
t to his design
, someone would pay.
But
for the most part
,
if you did what you were told you were safe. Dave
’
s friend Bill h
ad begged him to leave with him.
Dave had refused
,
not because he didn
’
t want to go but because he was petrified of what Kirk would do.

When Bill had come up missing during morning roll call
,
Dave had
not even hesitated when asked where he was or where he might have gone. In fact
,
it was Dave that had to deal a significant amount of punishment to his
‘
friend.
’

“
We
’
re friends
, Dave.
Don’t do this,
”
Bill had begged.
“
We grew up together for Christ
’
s sake. Dave
,
stop this!
”
Bill had screamed as he was hoisted in the air.

“
Five lashes,
”
Kirk ordered.

“
Five lashes
? T
hat
’
s it?
”
Dave asked, hoping that his friend would someday be able to forgive him.

“
Yes
,
five lashes from you. And hit him like you mean it or I
’
ll make you do it again,
”
Kirk said.

Bill screamed as Dave whipped him across the back.

Kirk said,
“
Z
ero. Hit him harder or I won
’
t count them.
”

Dave reared back and struck again. Bill writhed in agony, screams, tears, and blood coming from his body.

“
Better…one,
”
Kirk
counted
.
“
Continue.
”

Dave d
elivered four more brutal blows.
Angry
wet, oozing welts as thick as breakfast sausages criss-crossed
B
ill
’
s back. His body heaved as he sobbed.

“
It
’
s over
,
buddy
,
it
’
s over.
I
’
m so sorry,
”
Bill said as he headed over to the chain release.

“
What are you doing?
”
Kirk asked.

“
Letting him down,
”
Dave said with a confused look on his face.
“
You said five lashes.
”

“
Yeah and your five lashes are done, I meant five lashes from each of us.
”
Kirk said sweeping his hand across the
twenty-eight-
person populace.

“
You
’
ll kill him,
”
Dave stated.

“
No shit. Hand the whip to Chad,
”
Kirk stated
as
he went back to playing his Nintendo DS, the beeps and whistles the game produced doing little to drown out Bill
’
s whimpers and groans.

By the time the whip made it all the way to Kirk, Bill had come to the last link in his chain of life. Dave was amazed Bill had anything left
,
but when Kirk began to whip his face, he managed three more screams as his eye was torn free from its facial moorings and his lips were flayed off. The affect was grotesque as his face began to slough
away
. More than one person in the group
had to walk away
.
Dave didn
’
t
,
though
,
because Kirk was watching him intently as he finished his friend off.

***

“
Let me see the scope,
”
Kirk said as he came up next to Dave
,
startling him out of his memory.

“
Jumpy?
”
Kirk asked as he grabbed the night vision glasses.

“
Sorry
,
the guy in that truck sort of scares me.
”

“
More than me?
”
Kirk asked smiling.
“
Just busting your balls,
”
Kirk said as he looked through the scope.
“
Holy shit, did you see that gun?
”

“
I did
. T
hat
’
s why I had Greg get you.
”

“
Well go get it then.
”

“
Wait…
the g
un…
by myself? How?
”

“
Relax
, you take shit too seriously,
”
Kirk said smiling.
“
Just busting your balls again.
”

“
Ha ha,
”
Dave laughed insincerely
,
hoping Kirk didn
’
t pick up on it.

“
Hey
,
dipshit!
”
Kirk yelled.

Dave was about to ask
‘
H
im?
’
w
hen Greg called out
‘
Yeah?
’
from behind them.

“
Go release the zombies,
”
Kirk said.

Greg raced away.

Those fucking zombies
,
Dave thought. They gave him the willies just thinking about them and that they housed them in the same building had been one of the reasons
he had a
major loss in sleep.

***

“
Something
’
s going on,
”
Azile said in my ear.

Not sure how she thought I could miss the loud metallic clanging in the otherwise still night.

“
Sounds like a security
door
rolling up,
”
Azile said.
“
They had them at the loading docks where I worked.
”

“
Not good, not good,
”
I said as I charged the weapon. A heavy cloud chose that exact moment to cross over our small source of light. The moon was completely blanketed as we both heard the sounds of metal scraping along pavement. Sparks were shooting up from the ground as
what we later learned were
chains
being
dragged along. We couldn
’
t see what was dragging them
,
but it was clear they were headed in our direction and fast.