Whatever It Takes (14 page)

He climbed down the ladder. Morrbid followed him a few moments later.

Percival led the way back among the maze of shelves and boxes. He rounded the corner leading back to the door.

The door itself was mostly gone, as were the boxes in the shelves behind it. There were spent bullet casings scattered where Karl had been crouching and a single shotgun shell where Sarah was. Bullet holes also clustered along the walls around the door.

Roy Joy was lying atop Andrina with his head down.

Percival moved to the door and peeked through. He didn’t see anyone moving, but that didn’t mean there weren’t people out there. He also didn’t see any blood where his friends had crouched. That, too, was a boon and lifted his spirit. He dashed across the entryway and moved up next to Roy Joy and Andrina.

Roy Joy was whimpering softly and Andrina was silent. Percival reached out a softly touched Roy Joy’s shoulder. He couldn’t see any blood, but that didn’t mean there was an injury somewhere else on the man.

“Ahh! Military’s bad!” Roy Joy jerked back away from touch. “Percival, they shot at us.”

“I know, I’m sorry.” Percival looked down to Andrina.

“Is it over?” Andrina asked.

“I don’t know. Where’s Sarah and Karl?” Percival asked.

“Somewhere not here, apparently. Mister Russevelt, get off of me please.” Andrina sat up after Roy Joy moved. “I’ve had his body blocking my vision since the gunfire started.”

Percival hadn’t heard Roy Joy’s last name before. It surprised him slightly to hear Andrina use it. He looked over his shoulder. “It doesn’t look like either of them were injured…”

“They’re probably outside.” Percival stood up. “Stay here.”

Roy Joy nodded. Andrina started to protest and apparently thought better of it.

Percival turned and walked back to the door. He checked the magazine of the rifle, pushing it back into place. Morrbid wasn’t anywhere to be seen and it bothered Percival slightly. He didn’t trust the man enough to have him creeping about.

Percival peered around the edge of the doorframe. The scene was the same as before. Slashing rain splashing down into the yard in the headlights of the Humvee parked just outside the door. He pushed the door and it crumbled to pieces at his touch. The noise was lost to the storm and a crack of thunder overhead.

He lifted the rifle and stepped out into the cold slashing rain once more. He moved forward and around the front door. The men he’d shot were still on the ground, and there was still no sign of Karl and Sarah. Percival moved to the back of the vehicle and found Morrbid crouched over another fallen soldier.

“He’s dead, Jim.” Morrbid looked up at Percival. “The last one’s probably hiding somewhere else.”

“Last one?” Percival looked around the back of the Humvee. Another soldier was laying face down in the yard only a handful of feet from the Humvee. It looked as though he had tried to run from the battle and been shot in the process.

“Have you seen my friends?” Percival asked.

“They’re here somewhere. I know. Rain hides tracks, so I can’t say where.” Morrbid brought his bat up and used it to point. “Somewhere, over there. I’d guess.”

“How do you know?”

“The other ‘soldier’ was running in that direction and that building is the armory.” Morrbid pointed to a hazy building outline in the rain. He started walking in that direction.

Percival looked at the dead man next to the rear of the Humvee for a moment longer before taking off at a jog to catch up with Morrbid. The Humvee behind him faded in the haze caused by the rain as the building ahead came into sharper focus.

“You don’t seem very concerned that he might be waiting in ambush in there.” Percival lifted his motorcycle visor to see if he could see any better. He decided after a moment that it was better off down.

“That’s because I know something you don’t.” Morrbid casually walked up to the door to the building. It hung open.

Percival followed the man into the building. Morrbid didn’t seem to be worried at all.

Inside was a room with a locked gate and a counter with a wire screen that separated the entry from the rest of the building. The gate stood open, the locking mechanism shot out. There weren’t any shell casings lying about, so Percival assumed the gate had been shot open sometime before tonight.

It helped to levy credence to the theory that the men stationed here weren’t military at all. Percival followed Morrbid through the gate.

“What do you know that I don’t?” Percival asked.

“Slayer’s in here somewhere,” Morrbid answered. “I’m guessing that your friends are in here somewhere as well.”

“Good to know.” Percival followed Morrbid around a corner.

They found the last military man. He was toppled on his side near an intersection. The majority of his head was blown away, splattered across weapon racks and ammunition containers.

Percival felt slightly sick at the sight.

“Well, this solves this problem. Now just to find the others and hole up in the barracks until the storm passes.” Morrbid turned around.

“Right.” Percival turned away from the destroyed man and started walking back toward the front of the building.

“So we can tag ‘long with y’all?” Morrbid asked.

“You’re a little violent for our tastes,” Percival said.

“We’ve been stuck here for three weeks now.” Morrbid stopped at the front entry. “There’s two reasons they didn’t off us both. One, they thought they could wear Slayer down, and two they’re worried the rest of my ‘flock’ is out there looking for ways to get us out and that shooting us would incite some sort of attack.”

“Are they?” Percival stepped out into the slashing rain. Two figures were approaching the building.

“No. All that’s left of the group from Alabama, nearly twenty folks, is me and Slayer.” Morrbid lifted a hand to shield his eyes from the rain. “Your friends I think.”

Karl and Sarah emerged from the slashing rain.

“We’ll talk about whether or not to let you come with us later.” Percival looked away from Morrbid and to Karl and Sarah.

“We can’t find the last guy,” Karl said.

“He was in there.” Percival jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “Jessica got to him.”

“How do you know?” Sarah asked.

“He was dead when we got here,” Percival answered.

“She was waiting for anyone who might come here to get bigger guns,” Morrbid added. “Might I suggest we get out of the rain?”

“Good idea.” Percival nodded. He led the small group back to the storehouse. He stopped long enough at the Humvee to turn off the headlights and collect the keys. He led them inside.

“Roy Joy, Andrina, we’re heading back to the barracks,” Percival called out to them. As requested, the pair hadn’t moved.

“Is it all over with?” Roy Joy asked. He sounded uncertain as he approached Percival.

“Yeah. It’s all done and over with. We’re the only ones here.” Percival turned to leave.

“Only ones here?” Andrina asked.

“There was a firefight, as you heard. All the military guys are gone.” Percival stepped out into the rain again. He didn’t hear whatever response Andrina gave to his statement. He didn’t entirely care. He walked past Karl, Sarah, and Morrbid, orienting himself on the barracks building.

It didn’t take long to cross the yard and enter the building once more. Inside, Percival found the guard he’d knocked out bound to a chair and gagged. Jessica was sitting on the cot closest to the man.

“Took you long ‘nough,” Jessica said.

“Didn’t want to leave anyone out in the rain,” Morrbid said from behind Percival.

“We have some private matters to discuss,” Percival said.

“Discuss away. We’ve got business to attend to anyways.” Morrbid crossed the space to Jessica and drew her into a kiss.

Percival looked away. He tugged his motorcycle helmet off and walked to the other side of the barracks. The rest of his group followed him after a few moments.

“Morrbid would like to join us with Jessica,” Percival said after a few moments of silence. He looked around at the group assembled around him.

“They’re violent, but this is a violent world. Violent people have uses,” Andrina said.

Karl nodded. “Several of the Watchmen on campus are former ROTC and football players. People prone to violence. Properly channeled…”

“Jessica’s alright,” Sarah said. “I don’t know about Morrbid though. Something about him gives me the creeps.”

“Helping people that aren’t the military’s good.” Roy Joy dropped wetly onto a cot.

To Percival, it seemed as though it were already decided. The majority of his group wanted to add the other pair to their party.

“We also agreed to pick up anyone who needed us,” Andrina said.

“I’m not sure they need us. Or we need them.” Percival looked past Sarah and Andrina to Morrbid and Jessica. The pair was engaged in a heavy-handed make out session. He brought his gaze back to the group around him.

“Seven together is stronger than five and two.” Andrina sat down on the edge of a cot.

Percival nodded. “What about the only guy left alive from the military compound?”

His four companions turned, almost in unison, and looked at the man bound to the chair. His head still hung down in unconsciousness.

“When he comes to, we ask if he wants to be left here or come along.” Karl looked back to Percival.

“Unless there’s some disagreement with that statement, I’m willing to go with it as the course of action we should take.” Percival looked around the group of people gathered around him. “We’ll ask him what he wants when he comes to.”

He started walking toward the couple at the opposite end of the barracks. Sarah reached out a put a hand on his shoulder.

He looked over at her.

“It can wait. They’re busy and I want to talk with you.”

Percival looked from Sarah to the rest of his team.

The others nodded and silently dispersed. Andrina and Roy Joy walked away, quietly talking, while Karl walked a short distance away and started to break down the pistol he’d gotten from the guard.

After they had dispersed, Sarah moved to the very back of the barracks. Percival followed her.

“What, exactly, did you do up on the roof?” Sarah asked quietly.

“What needed to be done.” Percival suddenly felt sick to his stomach. He’d pushed the last half an hour out of his mind until she asked.

“I won’t press. If you need someone to talk to, you know I’m here. Right?” Sarah wrapped her arms around his midsection and dropped her forehead to his chest. “I couldn’t even pull the trigger more than once, and that was when I wasn’t looking.”

Percival was quiet. He slipped his arms around her shoulders and held her tight.

“Karl said I didn’t hit anyone,” Sarah murmured quietly. “I couldn’t…”

“I don’t think Karl’d lie about it.”

“It was buckshot I was shooting,” Sarah said quietly. “Buckshot and I wasn’t aiming into the air.”

“There was a lot of metal down there to stop it, you know.” Percival had seen the positions of the men. Most of them had been well behind cover.

Sarah was silent. She didn’t even look up at him.

Percival brought his lips down to her forehead. “Everything’s okay.”

“You shot them, didn’t you? That’s why they started falling down.”

It was Percival’s turn to be silent. His stomach churned. He had shot them. He had methodically and purposefully shot them. It wasn’t like when he’d shot Evan either. That had made him feel sick, but not in the same fashion that he was feeling sick now. With Evan, it had been guilt and grief.

Here he felt different. He didn’t feel the grief, or even guilty, for what he’d done. He just felt sick to his stomach for snuffing out life when he should have been helping to preserve it. The world needed every living warm body possible, and tonight he’d snuffed three lives out.

He let go of Sarah. “I have to go. I’m going to be sick.”

Sarah loosened her arms from his waist and he pulled away. He walked quickly down the rows of cots, passing Roy Joy, Andrina, and Karl. He ignored the vulgar displays of affection between Jessica and Morrbid.

He walked past the bound guard and straight to the door. He pushed the latch down and stepped out into the cold slashing rain. The cold water splashing down onto his face helped calm the raging emotions in his core. He stared up at the light hanging over the door. He pushed away from the wall and got three steps before nausea wracked him.

Percival doubled over and vomited yellow bile out onto the ground. It was quickly washed away in the rain. He remained bent over, his hands on his knees as he wretched a couple times. He stood still, letting cold rain splash down the back of his neck. After what felt like a lifetime, he stood up and walked away from the barracks building. He didn’t look back, he didn’t want to. He walked past the broken lock and pulled open the door to the inspection building.

The hum of the fluorescent lights overhead greeted him. He closed the door behind him and closed his eyes. He listened to the drone of the lights and the rain beyond. It was calming. He walked away from the door and to the men’s inspection room.