I led the team up the back stairs to the third floor and we settled into a classroom that had a perfect view of the shopping mall below. Two of the walls were covered halfway by windows, the outer glass covered in reflective tint to prevent the rooms from heating up and also block outside from looking in. It was also higher up than the stores across the street, so the bikers would really have to be paying attention to spot any movement up here.
Just in case though, we set up our living area in the classroom across the hall, the one that didn’t face the stores, and we only posted two at the windows that faced the bikers.
I needed to clean up and ingest some calories, so I found the bathroom, bringing with me a pack of wet wipes and my small bag of essentials. When I crossed the threshold, I instantly went on alert. The smell of rotten zombie hit my nose. Blood splattered the walls and mirrors. A serious fight had gone on in here. Two zombies, badly torn to bits turned as one and faced me. I drew my blade and went for them. The first one went down quick. Right through the brain, done. The other one wasn’t so easy. He was a big old boy, dressed in a suit, bow-tie and even had a little handkerchief in his breast pocket. He fell forward in attack, tripping over his decomposing counterpart. When he fell, he grabbed for me and his arms got tangled in my body armor. I tried to stay upright but he outweighed me and I lost my balance on the slick linoleum floor.
I had been in this position before, too many times. I felt the hot breath of the zombie on my cheek, the snapping teeth so close to my face. The stench of the rotten breath forcing me to breath out of my mouth as my body’s first reaction was to gag. I managed to get my arm up and my blade was long enough that I pressed it through the bottom of his jaw and hit his brain from the bottom. The blood pooled over my hand and splashed onto my chest, sticky and thick, not like fresh blood, and it dripped down into my shirt.
I heard the door of the bathroom open and a cursed shout as the bulk of the zombie was pulled off of me and pushed to the side of the room. I sat up, but didn’t get to my feet. I could feel the blood leaking into my collar and down my back.
Blake sat down next to me and looked over at the fat, dead fucker next to me.
“That’s a big one,” he said simply.
“It tripped and fell on me.”
“No shit.”
“Didn’t expect to find a zombie teacher in the girl’s room.”
“Do they have men’s rooms in all-girls school?” he asked.
“Fuck if I know. The Catholic school girls didn’t want anything to do with me when I was a teen.”
Blake huffed out a breath, half laugh, half sigh. “Weren’t the charmer you are now?”
“They ran away in droves.”
“Somehow I don’t believe that.” He pulled his knees up to his chest and slipped the knife he had pulled back into his boot.
“I was a skinny kid, had a bit of acne and drove around in an old Toyota. I couldn’t get a date to save my life.”
“Well, now you got all the teens chasing after you.” His smile faded, the joke a bad taste in his mouth. It was a little too dark of a joke, even for us.
“None of this shit matters, unless we get Alexis,” I said to change the subject. “We have to get her out.”
“Damn straight.” He stood and pulled me up, frowning at the blood that I transferred to his hands. “We’re going to get her, if it’s the last thing I do.”
“Don’t talk like that, Blake.” I used a wet wipe from the pack to wipe the blood from my hands. I walked over to the stalls and shone my light into the toilet. There was water. Perfect. I grabbed the towel that I had in my pack and stripped off my soiled shirt. Using the towel and the toilet water, I began to wipe at the blood that was all over my chest.
“No, really, Zach, I have to make this right. I’m the reason Alexis is in this mess. I’m the reason Martinez is dead. It’s all my fucking fault. I knew it was a stupid move to leave. But I left anyway. I knew a mile off the island that I was making a mistake, but I was too stubborn to turn around. I knew I had fucked up. I should have turned around, if I would have turned around Alexis would still be at the compound and Martinez would still be alive.”
“You made a bad decision, Blake. You aren’t the reason this happened. Who’s to say these motherfuckers wouldn’t have grabbed her at some other time if you wouldn’t have left. Or Martinez might have gotten bit in one of his crazy rescue missions. He was always taking chances, risking his life for others. It was what he did. You can’t blame yourself.” I hoped my words had an impact, but my back was to him and I couldn’t tell if my argument was breaking through. We were all morose after today’s events. I didn’t want him doing anything stupid. Which was par for the course with Blake. I loved the guy like a brother, but he was an emotional wrecking ball, always had been. If he was in a bad headspace, there was no telling what he would do.
“Yes, I can.
And I’ll do anything to make it right,” he responded. Guess I didn’t break through to him.
“You’ll make it right by getting her the fuck out of there. And getting us all back to the compound.
All of us.
”
“Yeah,” he said, but he didn’t sound convinced.
BLAKE
I was never one for inactivity, but we needed intel. We took shifts watching the gang, writing down movements and shift changes. The people they let into their inner sanctum and the ones that weren’t allowed. It was all filed away in the big box of biker bullshit that we would hopefully get to use against them.
I never once saw a female.
Never
. They were locked up somewhere and my guess was in the main building, what used to be the grocery store. The civilians weren’t allowed in that area. They were corralled in the gated parking lot and they bunked down in what used to be a thrift store. They spent most of their time in the yard, cooking on pits, chopping wood, and a few times went out of the gates to go on supply runs with bikers as the armed guards. There was also a cheap trailer set up in the far corner of the lot and from the smells coming out of it, this was where the meth was being cooked. Civilians were cooking the meth, they were cooking the food and they were supplying resources to the bikers. What were they getting in return? From what I could tell the civilians weren’t being held against their will. The gates were locked, but weren’t guarded and they were left open during the day.
The only areas that were actively guarded were the main building, the meth lab and a storefront that used to be a gym. We all deduced that the women were in the main area and the children were being held in the gym. The men were allowed in the gym, but not the main building. They were keeping everyone separate to control the men and the women.
By the end of the day we decided that we could get away with sending in a team to scout the inner sanctum. Romeo and Alphonso volunteered and Zach and I agreed that they would be the best approach. Romeo’s hair was long and shaggy now and he was too pretty to scream soldier, he was also used to undercover work. Alphonso was a bit rigid, but with a little dirt smudged on his face, we could get rid of his soldier-boy look.
“We’ll have to procure a vehicle, a truck would be best.
Y’all should get it from somewhere in the neighborhood,” Zach was saying as we sat around planning our next move.
“You should leave from the side of the school along Milne Avenue, stay close to the bushes and go out the back toward the city. Grab a truck from the neighborhood, but not until you pass Harrison. I don’t know if they have bikers watching the main streets, so make it look like you’re coming in from the Interstate at West End. Go tonight and hunker down until afternoon. It looks like most of their trade happens in the early evening. This is when the two of you should make your move.”
It was a good plan, if they believed Romeo and Alphonso were just passing through. They could access the base for a short time period and get a look around. We had a few bottles of liquor we brought with us for trading purposes and extra handguns just in case. Once Romeo got in, he could request a trade and hopefully get a visual on Alexis. If we knew she was in there and where she was being held, we could go in and kick some ass.
Now, all we had to do was wait.
Romeo and Alphonso headed out into the night and the rest of us hunkered down, keeping the biker camp in our sights. Nothing changed. Nothing happened. But soon. Soon, something would happen.
ALEXIS
Day slipped into night, night slipped into day and nothing changed–the same thing over and over and over again. Drug use, excessive alcohol consumption to bring them down from the high, then more drug use, paired with pills. A break for a little fornication and then back to the drugs. This gang had created their own little base of debauchery and it was a carnival freak show. From outlaw, subculture parasites to rulers of their own Caligula-esque domain, the atmosphere was surreal. One thing I couldn’t deny, life was good for the Southern Clan. Really good, just not good for their entertainment, and I was their entertainment.
The women, myself included, were there just as a backdrop, the fill-in for the defunct television. They were users and we were to be used. I was willing to play their game though, because they never picked up on the fact that I watched everything. I took it all in. I even managed to peek from behind the curtains at night and watch as the night guards would leave their post if tempted, leaving the door unguarded. Escape would happen and it would happen soon. I knew it was possible.
I could do this.
I was never allowed outside. Never once did I step foot out of the grocery store. My world was relegated to the glass office and the back store room.
On the third morning, I was being escorted out of the glass room with the old mean lady at my side as usual, when everything clicked into place. The door to the store room was a normal swinging industrial door. The hinges could easily be taken down using only minimal tools. I could find a piece of metal and take them down and allow the women to get free. Why pick a padlock when you could just unscrew a hinge?
Melinda met me, per our usual routine, at the tub. Her smile was bigger this morning.
“How’s Emma?” I asked.
“She’s actually more stable, her pulse is steady, but she hasn’t regained consciousness. I’m hoping she’ll come out of it soon. We’ve only been able to dribble a bit of water down her throat. But I actually think she has a chance. Her sister hasn’t left her side, even when one of the men came for her…he must be one of the ones with a heart because he left her be.”
“That’s a first.” I rolled my eyes. From what I could tell there was no compassion to be found in any of these men.
“She didn’t even leave when it was her turn to visit with the children.” Melinda shook her head, wringing out the wash rag in the dirty bath water.
Speaking of kids, I hadn’t seen any of them the entire time I was here. Lani had mentioned children, but there was no whisper of them among the women, at least not in front of me.
“Where are the kids, Melinda?”
“There aren’t many, from what I hear. The mothers are allowed to visit with them a few days a week, but most of them are cared for by the men. There’s a gym that had a childcare service. They’re kept there. Their mothers know if they step out of line, the children will be held responsible. It’s one of the main reasons why I can’t get anyone to agree to help. I can’t say I blame them, I don’t have any children, but I can imagine.”
“These men need to pay for what they’re doing here,” I whispered.
“How, Alexis, we would need an army to take them out? Do you have an army?”
“You’d be surprised.”
ZACH
“They’re keeping the children in the gym, the women are being held in the big front building,” Baby was saying, pointing to the buildings.
“How did you figure this out?” I asked her. She was saying out loud what I had assumed, but I wanted to know what proof she had.
“About an hour ago, they led two women out of that alley. I’m assuming there is a back entrance, since I didn’t see any movement on the other side of the building. They were escorted to the gym and I caught a glimpse of a few children when the women walked in. They keep them separated, probably to control them better. The women, the men, and the children aren’t allowed to come together. I’m betting a few of the men in the yard have children in that room or wives in the building.”
“Sick fucks,” I cursed and Baby nodded in agreement.
“The good news, since we’ve been here, they’ve let in three men that aren’t from the camp. They went in with goods and left with nothing. I’m betting they are trading for sex and they are not living at the camp. This means we can get someone in.”