The End (13 page)

“The sun is starting to come up; they should
be getting back now anytime,” Conway said worried.

“You know, they will be furious when they get
there, especially when they see what we did to Roy,” Conway said
stressing.

“Don’t worry about it, he got what he
deserved, they all did,” Jason said with no face expression only
walking and staring at the ground.

“I know they did, especially Roy he won’t
spare anyone,” Conway said.

“Can we just stop talking about this please,
you guys are no different from them, and you are just as ferocious
as them,” Sarah said loudly and angrily.

“Well go back if you believe we are like them
or worse, then you would be safer with them,” Jason said
loudly.

“Go on, what are you waiting for?” Jason
asked furiously.

“That’s not what I meant; look I am just not
used to this!” Sarah said shouting at Jason.

“She is highly Christian, she don’t see
things this evil and never even believed this could happen,” Conway
said with a fake smile.

“Leave my belief’s out of this, do not even
think of mocking me,” Sarah said fast and angrily.

“I wasn’t going to, I was just explaining to
Jason why you don’t like violence,” Conway said confused.

“Stop your pointless arguments and keep
moving, the faster we get there the faster we can part ways,” Jason
said.

“I agree to keep on going,” Sarah said,
angered and annoyed.

The three are a few blocks away but far from
home, Jason wants to get slightly further and then take a truck the
rest of the way, it will be much faster than walking, and it will
also save some ammunition and overall be much safer. Most
importantly he don’t want to make noise with Luke and his dad still
in the area, only a few more blocks, then surely they should’ve
passed them.

Luke get tears in his eyes after stepping
into the building, he just knew something was wrong from the black
smoke stains on top of the windows outside, Luke stares at his
brother, face cut open, now the other side burned almost to the
bone, with a melted tire around him.

Bradley has tears in his eyes too, he didn’t
mean it when he said, he will kill him, it was always just to scare
them and to encourage Roy to do better.

“Help me,” Roy said, stuttering the words due
to pain.

“Luke, can we help him?” Bradley asked, with
an angry yet sad face expression.

“It will be near impossible to cut this tire
off of him and even if I do manage, I will never be able to get all
the melted pieces out, his face is burned nearly to the bone, he
will be scarred for life if I manage to save him, not just that,
but he might simply never be the same,” Luke said almost
crying.

“We have enough medical supplies now,
antiseptics, antibiotics, painkillers, bandages and so much more,
so I suggest you help him,” Bradley said softly.

“I have never done this, but I will try and
do my best,” Luke said, feeling relieved that his dad actually does
care for them.

“You do that, we will wait until we managed
to fix him up, give him proper time to recover, then we can go
hunting for that bastard that did this,” Bradley said with
hatred.

“Don’t worry about that, I will make sure
that Jason pays for this,” Luke said.

As Luke cuts of the tire piece by piece, he
thinks more and more, devoting himself to make Jason pay for this,
make him suffer, make his life hell if Roy survives or not, there
will be no escape from this, not for Jason at least.

By taking the car, we at least, arrived here
much faster, Jason and Conway search through the house they could
tell that someone had food here recently, but that could have been
Roy that prepared the fire in the back and they could tell it was
put out by using water, now why would Roy do that. Jason thinks to
himself as Roy seems to be pretty reckless, this is a sign to Jason
and Conway that everyone is still fine, as they walk back to the
car, Jason sees a small spray painted arrow pointing up the street,
this wasn’t here before and this must be what the girls thought of
as indication, if Jason had to return late from that trip, it’s
smart to have kept it small but noticeable.

“Hey guys wake up,” Jacky said pretty loudly
but far from shouting, just loud enough to wake them.

“Wake up, its light outside and the rain
stopped,” Jacky said.

“Wow you really are up before me, thought
that will never happen,” Maggie said still sleepy, yet
surprised.

“Well, I am hungry and we need to find food,”
Jacky said without knowing there is still corned beef left.

“Ok, ok, we can go now, start packing so
long,” Ashley said still sleepy and lazy.

“One step ahead of you, I already did, I just
need to pack the blanket,” Jacky said all impressed with
herself.

“Fine,” Maggie and Ashley said nearly at the
same time.

A few minutes later all three was standing
outside taking in the fresh air, ready to continue their journey to
the fort, it’s still a very far way to go but Maggie is convinced
it will be smooth sailing if they get enough rest and have enough
time to secure their living area for the night, before it’s too
dark, if they play it safe everything will be ok.

Chapter 5: Paradise

Everything is looking good here at Fort Jefferson and even at Key
west, both Forts is well supplied not only with food and medicine
but some weaponry too, we already have a group of people staying at
Key west with only Danny, Emma, Sally, Susan and myself staying
here at Jefferson, not to be selfish or anything but I figured I
will need to make sure they are good people and thus will have to
see how they treat each other when they are alone and on their own,
once they have proven they can handle each other with respect only
then can they come over to stay here.

It’s much safer here with much more supplies
even though so, at Key West the supplies is slightly limited but
they get more weekly with only Markus Gray and Martin Pass allowed
with a gun, the rest can get anything else as a weapon if they feel
something is needed.

“Hey William I think it’s time that we let
Samuel Mocome over, he has experience in cooking as he was a chef,
oh and Debra Hills she is very cocky and yes lazy but she can’t
stop bugging the people over there to the point where they will
treat her” Emma said in a wondering state.

“Morning, Emma,” William said, followed with
silence.

“Well, can they?” Emma asked curiously.

“You can’t let them stay there forever, they
will think you are selfish and, in general, a leader that doesn’t
care,” Emma said, out of concern.

“Samuel, can come over, Taylor Duncan, he
seem pretty chilled when it comes to people and minds his own
business, every time I go for a visit with Danny,” William said
smiling.

“Debra, seems fine but she has nothing to do
mostly because she doesn’t want to which is ok, it’s safe to say
that those, that really wants to put in the effort in doing
something and helping us as a group then they deserve to be here,”
William said calmly.

“I bet you are right, even though I won’t
judge them in any way, they all deserve to be safe,” Emma said
walking away.

William thinks of what she said and her
perspective might be right, either way if they don’t come over I
will be a terrible leader or even if I select the ones that are
healthy and well behaved then I will still be a bad leader to the
ones that have to wait before they can come over. It’s a losing
situation for both options unless I let them come over all at once
and let the men do shifts at Key West in small teams of twos that
way Key West can still be safe and everyone can be happy.

There is a lot to think about, one character
stands out from the group Bobby Pass, Martin’s brother, I can’t put
my finger on it but the way he looks at everyone just make him seem
like he has bad intentions maybe not now but further down the road,
telling this to Emma would be useless as she will just say “Don’t
judge a book by its cover,” she can be very annoying with a lot of
things and on many topics.

“Hey Danny when will you guys take more food
to Key West,” Emma asked curiously.

“Tomorrow or the next day not sure you know
William can change his mind at a moment’s notice,” Danny said with
confidence, laughing.

“Jip he sure could, he concerns himself too
much over plans and ideas working out,” Emma said smiling in a very
friendly mood today.

“I will ask him tonight, why do you want to
know anyways?” Danny asked with half a smile.

“I know it hasn’t been long, but I think it’s
only fair for some of them to come over if not all of them, at
least, the ones already showing proper behavior I mean they aren’t
children,” Emma said being very concern.

“Your right but let William sort out that
problem after I talk to him,” Danny said knowing his suggestions
don’t matter anymore.

“Well good luck with that, I need to go
prepare something to eat for Sally and my mother otherwise both
will be grumpy until they do get food,” Emma said smiling.

“Sure thing you go on ahead, I still have a
few things to do myself for starters go and talk to William,” Danny
said while he continues dividing painkillers.

A few minutes passed, Danny deciding that he
better go talk to William, now is as good as any other time,
finding William sitting on the beach Danny joins him and informs
him over the right thing to do, both smiling and laughing in
between the conversation with a few other topics.

“Well I have been thinking about them and all
of them can come over,” William said.

“It’s the right thing to do, it will show
them how much you care,” Danny said.

“Well I am only doing this as they will think
badly with either decision I make unless it’s all of them at once,”
William said.

“When will we go over to fetch them?” Danny
asked.

“Later today, we will be back before dark, in
order for them to set up their sleeping quarters and prepare food,”
William said.

“Sounds good to me, I need to go and tell
Emma, this really has been bothering her,” Danny said smiling.

“Wait before you go, just write their names
down now, I need it so that I can prepare a task for each one,
since we are growing as a group and packing work on only one person
isn’t a wise idea,” William said.

“My pen is always ready,” Danny said
laughing.

“Martin Pass, Bobby Pass, Samuel Mo, Markus
gray and Taylor Duncan, with the two girls Debra Hills and Samantha
green,” William said followed with silence as he waits for Danny to
finish writing.

“Jip that’s all of them, I never was good to
remember a stranger's name, too bad we lost so many that day at the
church,” Danny said while he gets up, handing over the note with
their names on it to William.

“Thank you, you can go so long and tell Emma
to remove enough food for tonight and you can prepare our gear,”
William said.

“What about the supplies there?” Danny
asked.

“We lock it up and leave it there, we might
need it to clear the area out again or defend against many,”
William said.

“That makes sense ok I better go now,” Danny
said

Giving Emma the good news, it’s hard for her
to believe that William agreed to it, she rushes to get everything
prepared, she grabs multiple cans of food, both canned meat and
veggies, preparing the pot. Before even starting Danny stops her,
explaining that she doesn’t have to do all of that, they will be
arriving early to prepare their own beds and make their own food,
all she needs to do is get enough food out of the locker with maybe
some pillows and extra blankets if they are to be needed.

Emma is very happy that they won’t be treated
like animals and that they are finally coming over, thinking to
herself that everything’s really starting to work out good for
them. There haven’t been any serious attacks at Key West and with
nothing here at all, making it the safest place to be right now,
they can now finally stop worrying about other people, if they know
what a good hold up is then they will know to head to Key West and
take refuge in the Fort. Emma figures that the best focus point now
will have to be more supplies, not just medicine and food but the
general stuff to like blankets, pillows and even a few tents that
has good resistance to the weather here.

There can still be many things added to the
list like pots and other wanted goods; all this will make living
here much easier.

“Don’t you think so Danny?” Emma asked.

“I guess so, it would be nice to have forks
and clean knives, however-” Danny answered before Emma interrupts
his sentence.

“What’s wrong? What else can be more
important than making people feel more comfortable here?” Emma
asks, being very moody about it.

“Like I was saying all that is really nice,
yet we should also think of getting more weapons,” Danny said.

“Don’t we have enough? Didn’t we see enough
violence, I know there is guns here besides the one William has,”
Emma said angrily.

“Yes we do, when we found the church they had
weaponry, also not much just a rifle and two pistols, the rifle
with the scope belongs to a guy called Martin, the two pistols
belonging to Bobby and Markus,” Danny said fast.

“I think that’s more than enough firepower to
take down these things if you haven’t realized they are pretty easy
to kill,” Emma said with an angry grin on her face.

“Look don’t get angry at me for trying to be
safe! If you want people to feel comfortable then they want to,
feel safe, not with a stupid knife but real weapons,” Daniel said,
trying hard to keep calm.

“He is right you know, they will feel better,
Emma, I ensure you not all of them will get one, we just need more
for emergencies, if we ever had to get overrun out there while
scouting then this pistol is way too slow and even if we aim and
shoot, putting them down where they stand then that too will mean
death as there won’t be any time to aim and shoot,” William said,
after he heard the entire debate.