Emperor of a Dead World (24 page)

When this man stepped aside, a woman kissed Brad then a man shook his hand. After this, several people came forward and hugged or kissed him without saying a word. Once everyone had shown their appreciation, they gathered around and told their tales of woe. Brad listened to their stories with deep sympathy. Though he had been through many harrowing experiences, nothing he had suffered compared to losing a loved one as many of these people had right before their very eyes in such a vicious way.

One man, after telling of how he had lost his wife, became so distraught that he picked up a gun and put it to his head. Tom quickly took the weapon then led the man aside as his wife helped him comfort the man.

For the next three hours, Brad listened to these stories until Tom told everyone it was time to let him get some rest. After everyone dispersed, Brad and Lisa headed to Tyrone’s house and he gave her a room of her own.

The next morning after breakfast Lisa and Brad headed for the racetrack. He felt a little foolish because he had an escort of three trucks with him, one in front and two behind. Now that they had their founder back, they were not going to lose him again. As they traveled, Brad was very impressed. The streets were clear of all cars and they took a direct route to the racetrack. These people had obviously been very busy.

When they arrived at the track, two armed men greeted them and opened the gate. They passed straight through and when they stopped, Rudy walked up to the lead vehicle. He spoke with the driver then turned and rushed over to Brad.

“My friend, I cannot believe you are back.” He gave Brad a hug then turned and yelled, “Someone get Tyrone right away. And bring a bottle of Petron.”

At this point Lisa walked around the front of the truck.

“Who is this? You have a wife?”

“Hi, I’m Lisa. You must be Rudy.”

“Smart and pretty too,” he smiled as he gave her a hug. “Yes, I am Rudy, head of security.”

“Head of security,” Brad laughed.

“Take it easy man. I am very important now,” he whispered.

“Okay, you are in charge.”

“Only of security, Tyrone is really in charge. But you,” he said in a raised voice. “You are the man.”

Brad laughed again then looked around and noticed several men had gathered. “How many are living here now?”

“We have over one hundred able-bodied fighting men,” Rudy stated proudly. “If you include women and children we have about one hundred and sixty citizens here.”

“Wow,” Brad exclaimed.

The crowd parted and Tyrone stepped forward. “I don’t believe it. The emperor has returned.”

Brad shook his head as Lisa grabbed his arm. “He really does call you emperor.”

“Seriously, it is good to see you man,” Tyrone said as he shook Brad’s hand. He then looked at Lisa. “Who the hell is this? You have been hiding out playing house somewhere while we have been busy saving the world?”

“I will tell you the whole amazing story but first I want to hear yours. How did you get this place back?”

“It was crazy man, really crazy but it is a long story so let me show you around and introduce you to everyone before I tell it.” He put his arm around Brad and led him to the Vessels Club.

On the way, the Horseman walked up. “Brad, it is good to see you again. You remember me, right? Mickey.”

“Yes of course I do.” He shook his hand then followed Tyrone into the dining room.

When they walked in, an extremely beautiful black woman came over and kissed Tyrone. After this, a cute Hispanic girl cuddled up to Rudy.

“Alright,” Tyrone said. “Let’s hear your story.”

“You first,” Brad insisted as he gawked at the girls. “It looks like you have a lot more to tell than I thought.”

The girls laughed then Tyrone introduced them and told of how the runners had found them in an apartment building along with several others. When he finished he said, “Your turn.”

“I got caught, escaped and came back. Your turn,” Brad smiled.

“Come on man. You are the guest of honor. Tell your story.”

“I have been waiting a long time to hear your story,” Brad protested.

“At least tell us how you met this pretty girl,” Rudy pressed.

Brad really wanted to hear Tyrone’s story but he could see he had no choice but to go first. He briefly told of how the men had trapped him at the fort and killed the others. He then related how they caught him at the racetrack and put him in the trunk of the Eldorado. When he got to the part of how the men had tried to kill him only to succumb to their own horrid fate everyone listened in fear. He then told of finding Lisa and the perils she had faced. Finally, he told of his new friends and the drone and everyone was anxious to see it fly.

“That is quite a story but it sounds abridged to me,” Tyrone objected.

“I told all the high points,” Brad assured him. “I promise I did not leave out anything important.”

“You did not tell us about the nights you spent alone with this pretty girl,” Rudy smiled.

“He was a perfect gentleman,” she insisted.

“I’ll bet,” Rudy smirked under his breath.

“Now it is your turn,” Brad said to Tyrone. “No more stalling.”

Tyrone turned to a girl standing nearby, “Get me two pitchers of beer and a few glasses. I need to wet my whistle.”

“Do you drink,” Rudy asked Lisa as one of the men handed him a bottle of tequila.

“No, but I will try a little beer.”

“She is under age,” Brad protested.

“Under age for what,” Rudy laughed as he handed Brad the Petron. “Here, take a hit of this and lighten up. I am in charge of the law and I say she is old enough.”

“You are in charge of security. Brad is in charge of the law,” Tyrone corrected him.

Brad took a drink from the bottle and made a face as Rudy slumped back in his seat.

After glancing at Rudy, Tyrone patted him on the back. He felt bad for correcting him in front of his girlfriend and all the men. “That still makes you the number three man in the world,” he smiled.

Rudy glowed with pride.

“Let’s hear your story,” Brad said to Tyrone as the girl set down the beer and glasses.

Chapter 20

“The night you and Tom were discussing the value of the racetrack,” Tyrone began, “I was busy making plans of my own. I made eye contact with a couple of men then headed out of the room. They followed a few minutes later and I explained that I was not going to let this rest. We needed to put these guys down or we would never be safe. About midnight I, Rudy, Mickey and Hank,” he pointed to the men, “set out. When we got to the racetrack, we could see they had taken it over and this really pissed me off. We watched for a while then we went to collect bottles, rags, gasoline and some chain. I intended on tearing down the fence so the creatures could get in. If I could not have the track, nobody was going to have it. After collecting the supplies I needed, I tied some cans to the back of the Expedition in order to make noise so I could attract the creatures. I did not want to alert my enemies so I started collecting my savage killers a couple of miles away. After I gathered a few hundred, I led them into a parking lot to store them then took off down the street to get something to eat. Fool that I was I did not take the cans off the truck and some others that were nearby followed us to lunch. When we finished eating, we went outside and there were so many that we could not get to the truck. As soon as they saw us, they came at us. We ran back inside but they crashed through the windows and forced us up to the roof. Man I thought he were goners, four of us stranded on the roof like idiots. All we had were a couple of handguns and a club. We had not expected any trouble so we did not bring anything with us. Anyway, now that we were on the roof, the creatures could not get us so we moved back out of sight and hoped they would leave. When the sun finally came up I looked over the edge of the roof and about a hundred were just wandering around. I looked down the street hoping to find a way out and I saw a couple hundred more coming toward us. They must have been the ones I gathered earlier. They just happened to be walking in our direction. I figured in about half an hour they would arrive. Once they joined the others, they would never leave. At last, I decided to take the club and fight my way to the truck. It was the only option left. In order to draw them away from the truck, I walked over to the other side of the roof and shot a few then waited until the others followed the noise. When it was mostly clear, I started down the ladder. About half way down I heard a roaring sound. I got back on the roof and you will never believe it. A big red monster truck was coming down the street. I have never been so happy in my life. That crazy-ass hillbilly Bubba was coming to the rescue. He charged in and ran them suckers down, yipping and howling all the while. After he cleared the way, we got down and ran to the Expedition. The other two hundred or so were making a beeline for us because of all the noise Bubba was making. We just barely got out of there before the place was over-run. After this, we followed Bubba and it turns out he was just up the street with friends. Get this - they were at Knott’s Berry Farm. After we drove in, he could not stop laughing. He had saved us the same way we had saved him. When he finally calmed down, he told me he was out looking for supplies when he heard my shots. While he was telling me this, a few people came out and he introduced me to his little brother. Little brother, man, this kid was almost as big as I am. He calls him little just because he is two years younger. Anyway, he breaks into this long story about how he found the kid. Turns out his little brother met a girl and on the first date, he took her to the amusement park. They liked it so much that when things got bad they went there to hide. These two had a lot of friends and she had a big family so by the time we arrived they must have had sixty people living there. I’m getting off track. After Bubba left us, he drove around for a couple of weeks looking for clues as to where his brother could have gone. He was a regular McCloud I tell you. He went to his brother’s place, the last address he had anyway, and snooped around until he found a letter that led him to the next place. Everywhere he went, he would find a letter or an address on a piece of paper. Even though he was alone and had to fight and kill creatures all by himself, he never gave up looking. Finally, after searching everywhere, he found a ticket to Knott’s Berry Farm in a pair of jeans his brother had left in one of the apartments and he went there. Do you believe it? Would you have gone? I wouldn’t have gone. Anyway, this crazy fool heads off on a wild goose chase and it pays off. As soon as he drives up to Knott’s his brother sees the truck and he knows it is Bubba. He runs out and they have a tear-filled reunion. Now here is the part that I like. He wants to tell us that he found his brother but he can’t because he doesn’t remember how to find the estate. Do you believe it? He finds his brother with nothing but a ticket from an amusement park, a place he has never been, but he cannot find us at a place he has been. Oh man, that is hilarious. Anyway, after Bubba finishes his story, I tell him about the racetrack. He says don’t worry about a thing. Bubba will fix this. He gets the guys all riled up, about forty of them, and we decide to hit the racetrack just after dark. These guys are all as crazy as Bubba and his little brother is the craziest. He climbs a telephone pole with binoculars and scopes the place out. Turns out, there are only about fifteen or twenty of the assholes inside. Right away, Bubba wants to crash the fence with his truck. The thing is, by now I have decided I want the place so I won’t let him destroy it. Anyway, the four of us,” Tyrone pointed at the others again, “all have silencers on our guns. Hank,” he pointed at the man, “is the machinist from Boeing and he set us up.”

Brad looked at the man and he now recognized him.

“The first place we go is the back fence to take out the guard and get his weapon,” Tyrone continued. “Then we go around to the other side and get another man and his rifle. By the time we are ready to hit them, they are all looking the other way distracted by something over toward Walker Street.” He winked at Brad. “Taking advantage of the situation we charge in over the fence and get six more. Before they even had a clue, we had killed everyone except a couple that was outside. Those bastards escaped in an Eldorado and thought they got off easy.” He sat back and smiled deviously. “Believe me Brad,” Tyrone insisted, “Had I known you were in the trunk of that car they would never have gotten away.”

“I know that Tyrone but it is a good thing you didn’t save me. If you had I would not have been able to save Lisa.”

She smiled but her eyes filled with tears.

“In that case I am glad they got away,” Tyrone said as he glanced at Lisa. “Anyway, after we recovered this place some of the people from Knott’s Berry Farm moved here and some went to the Estate. Bubba and his brother stayed about a month then headed home with his brother’s girlfriend and a few of her family.”

“It looks like you have done a lot of work fixing the place up and you have obviously rescued a lot of people.”

“Yes we have,” Tyrone replied, “but one thing troubles me.”

“Just one thing,” Brad smiled.

“You said those guys took you to Santa Barbara.”