He smiled again, that same devilish smile. “Now do you understand, James?”
I ignored his insanity, nodded and continued to think – hoping he would ramble on. I was at a loss for ideas on how to get us all out of this alive. The only option I saw was to hit the guy standing outside my door and try to get his gun, then hope the others follow my lead and none of us get killed…
It could work, or it could be a total disaster.
He continued to carry on about the importance of repopulating the earth to fight off all “the demons” and it gave me plenty of time to think. The longer I did, the more I realized that I only had two options – let them take Melanie, Jenny and Clara, or fight back.
They’re going to take our weapons and we’ll never see them again unless we comply and join… But that won’t change anything for them. They’ll basically just be sex slaves for these assholes, and have to go through the pain of childbirth over and over again… I know Brian would want us to fight instead of allow that to happen… Or at least I think he would…
In between thoughts, I kept hearing Darren mention the war against “the demons”…
I know exactly how to keep this conversation going, and maybe even talk some sense into him… If that’s possible.
“There won’t be any war, Darren. These things have a short shelf-life.”
He began to laugh and said “Why would you even tell me such a ridiculous lie? They haven’t been around long enough for you to know things like that.”
“The government knew about this… It’s a genetic mutation that’s been in our DNA since the very beginning. Overpopulation is what activated it.”
He began to laugh even harder as he choked out “Just when I thought you couldn’t be any more ridiculous!.. So, tell me, how do you know all this? Did your new friends tell you?”
I slowly nodded. “There’s good news, Darren.”
He tilted his head. “Good news?”
“Yes… I’ll explain it the best I can… The mutation makes the body work a lot harder and produce all kinds of minerals and adrenaline to give these things their strength and speed. But it also strains all of their internal organs and eventually causes them to shut down… They have a life-span of no more than two years.”
He started to cut in and I stopped him. “That’s not all. They can also starve to death, and
will
begin to eat each other to prevent it if we just stay away from them. This isn’t going to last long because nature actually designed it that way – they’re supposed to die off so we can start again… You don’t have to hurt people and kidnap them.”
I could tell he understood exactly what I said, but it went against his “big plans” so he simply shifted his reasoning to get past it.
“Let’s say you’re right – that your new friends are telling the truth.” He placed his hands in his lap and intertwined his fingers. “Let’s
pretend
they all die off in two years… There are others doing exactly what we’re doing and they’ll try to take what we have.”
His brow was moving further down as the seconds passed. “There are many reasons why we need all of you – you’re just selfish and wanting to avoid your duties to humanity because it doesn’t fit your personal agenda.”
He began shaking his finger at me. “My guys and I really don’t like people who would do something like that… In fact, we feel the world is just better off without them – know what I mean?”
Fuck you…
“I know exactly what you’re saying.”
He stared at the glass skull for a few moments and then proceeded to take several long and uninterrupted gulps. “Are you wondering whether or not some of your blood is going to end up in this car, James?”
“Yeah.”
He laughed. “It’s funny, really… I just have to ask – do I have a twin brother I don’t know about?”
What the hell is he talking about now?
“What?”
Darren began laughing harder. He put his hand up and turned away as he tried to stop himself. “I’m sorry James, it’s just so funny.” He finally gained control of himself and said “You see, to show people we’re really serious… Generally, whichever person from the group who takes part in this little meeting leaves lacking something.”
He raised his brow and tilted his head, suggesting that he was waiting for me to answer the question. When I stayed silent, he said “A single eye!” and theatrically threw his hands up.
He leaned forward as if he genuinely expected me to laugh. When I didn’t, his smile faded and he said “Hmm… No sense of humor? Maybe I will take your other eye after all.”
This time there was no smile and no laughter, just a stone cold stare that let me know it was either time to comply, fight, or die.
As I was about to speak, he stopped me and said “Look, James. I’m not a monster… I’m going to go ahead and let you out – eye and all… I’ll let all of you have a few hours to think it over so you can come to your senses and no one has to get hurt. How does that sound?”
Good. Now get me the fuck out of here so I can try to take that asshole’s gun and kill you
… “I appreciate that, Darren – very much. It’s just a lot to take in.”
“Oh, I completely understand… Hopefully, I’ll be seeing you soon, James.”
Darren reached up, banged on the roof and the door opened. When I began making my way out of the car, he said “Did you see he’s already missing an eye?” The balding man replied “Funny, huh?” and then began to laugh.
Darren slapped his leg and yelled out “I asked him if I had a twin somewhere that I didn’t know about! You get it!?”
These men need to die…
As I got out and stood up, the balding man was laughing so hard that he slightly leaned over and closed his eyes – just for a second.
Without even really thinking about it, I grabbed him by the neck and head, and slammed him against the roof of the car with every bit of strength I had. I heard a dull crunch and he fell to the ground in front of me. I yelled out “We have to kill them, NOW!”
I took too long to remove the rifle strap from around his body, and before I knew it, the car was almost at the end of the street. I heard gunshots coming from behind me and saw the windows shattering, but the car just kept going.
I looked back to the others, expecting a barrage of questioning – then I heard the low boom of metal striking metal.
I whipped around to see that they’d crashed into the lone car in the driveway near the end of the street…
One of them must have hit the driver…
As the smoke started to rise up from the front end, the others went running past me. I yelled out “They’re going to kill us! Make sure they don’t get away!”
I tried my hardest to keep up with them, but I didn’t even come close. Walt slowed down and stayed by me. I could tell he wanted to leave me behind and go help them, but he didn’t… I should have told him to go help them, but I selfishly held back.
Jessie didn’t take any chances. He started veering left as he sprinted toward the Town Car, and Jenny copied his movements, simply in the opposite direction. There was still no activity coming from the car, but once they were both in a position to get clear shots through the doors and windows, Jessie yelled out “Fill it full of holes, Jenny!”
They both proceeded to fire at least ten rounds into the car. The gunshots seemed to carry forever. Suddenly, I remembered something... There was no doubt that they’ve had people watching us since the very beginning, so there was no reason to think we weren’t being watched from afar right now.
I took a deep breath and yelled out “Snipers!”
Jessie and Jenny both started running toward the wrecked cars for cover, and I heard a shot come from my right. My head automatically jerked in the direction of the sound. When I looked back, Jessie was on the ground and Jenny was no more than ten feet away – hiding behind the car.
Jenny got down on her stomach and began crawling to Jessie so she could pull him behind the car with her. I was relieved to see that his right knee was up in the air and moving around, but at the same time, I knew his chances of surviving a shot from a high-powered rifle were very low. He was most likely already close to losing too much blood.
Suddenly, Walt grabbed me by the arm and started pulling me back to the house. “What are you doing!? Do you wanna get shot too!? Come on, we gotta get to cover so we can try and spot these guys and fire back!”
Walt had to continue pulling me away because I kept turning back to watch as Jenny inched closer to Jessie. I wasn’t afraid. The shots were coming from the far right, so I knew the house was blocking us from their sights.
Jenny reached out, grabbed onto his ankle and started dragging him behind the car. The grass was rather tall and helping to block the shooter’s view of Jessie, but every time a shot went off I could see the dirt kicking up from each bullet as they got closer and closer.
I yanked my arm away from Walt. “We’re blocked by the house! We need to start shooting back now or they’re gonna hit Jessie again! Get up to the second floor and I’ll use the front of the house as cover.”
When Walt didn’t move and I saw the panic strewn across his face, I knew it was only because he worried the state of my leg would get me killed. “GO!”
The loud and lasting crack of a single rifle came from the distance and brought our eyes back to Jessie. This time, the dirt didn’t kick up and I watched as his leg went limp and fell to the side… When Jenny let go of him and just stared – I knew he was gone.
Another shot rang out. Jenny was behind the car, but her head was just barely above the back end as she sat there, still staring at Jessie in disbelief. Her body jerked forward from the impact of the bullet, and a streak of blood shot out from the side of her head before she collapsed.
Walt and I were frozen, both waiting to see if either one of them would start moving again. When Walt started yelling for me to take cover, I just blocked him out. I wanted to wait a few more seconds – I had to be sure.
“They could be moving to another spot where they can get a shot at us! Come on, James, they’re dead and there’s nothing we can do except keep fighting back! We still have Melanie and Clara to protect!”
I softly replied “Just get to one of the second floor windows and wait… I’m going to lean around the side of house and start shooting, even if it’s at nothing. You’ll have the best vantage point, so I’m the distraction. Hopefully it’ll make it so you can spot them.”
As I took one final glance back at their bodies, I began to doubt my decision…
But he gave me no choice… He was going to take them and he threatened to kill the rest of us. What else could I have done? What would Jessie, Brian or Jenny have done?
I looked up and noticed that Melanie was standing in the window, but she wasn’t looking at us. Her eyes were fixed on their bodies and her hand was cupped over her face, just below her nose. She was still waiting to see if one of them might begin to move around.
I knew I needed to hurry and get to cover, but seeing the consequences of my decision had sapped all of my strength. They could be changing positions, or even on their way to us… but all I could do was slowly drag my right leg over to the edge of the house.
For the shooter to have been able to hit Jenny in such a way, meant he was deadly – not just some guy with a gun. I could only hope I’d be able to get his attention and allow Walt to make the shot…
But then what? We don’t even know how many of them there really are…
There were two windows converging at the corner of the house, giving me a narrow view of the area the shots seemed to be coming from. I could see close to a dozen houses, so I took the time to check every single one.
When I still couldn’t see the shooter, I suspected it was because my view was mainly obstructed…
You have to lean out…
Even though I was fearful of their deadly accuracy, I inched toward the edge of the wall and got into a position that would allow to me lean out and not strain my leg. I took a knee so I would be a smaller target and stuck my head out, just enough to expose my right eye.
I quickly scanned all the houses that were previously blocked from my sight, but still saw nothing. I drew in a deep breath of the thick, hot air around me until my lungs couldn’t take any more. As I slowly let it out, I brought my rifle up, randomly aimed at one of the windows about a hundred yards away and pulled back the trigger.
I rapidly moved the cross hairs around the front of the homes, searching for even the slightest sign of movement – there was still nothing. I waited to hear Walt fire from upstairs, hoping he had a much better view of the area than I did, but there was only silence…
Did they leave, or are we just not able to see them?
A faint banging brought me back behind the wall to investigate. I soon realized it was Melanie banging on the window – I couldn’t see her, but I recognized the unmistakable sounds of a person’s hand hitting glass.
Did one of them get up?
I headed to the road so I could see the other side of the car. When I got far enough away from the house, I glanced up at the window. Melanie saw me and started rapidly nodding and pointing towards the car, so I picked up the pace.