After the Event (11 page)

Alec didn’t feel anything.
He knew there was a large knot on his forehead that should be throbbing with pain, but he also knew what had happened to Joseph. This simple fact somehow kept the pain at bay. The problem was that now Alec didn’t feel anything. He should feel anger. He should want to hunt down and kill every single person that was responsible. He should feel sad. Joseph was the one that Alec always had to look after the most. Not just because of how small he was but because if he took his eye off of him for more than a few minutes Alya would hunt him down and terrorize him. Instead of pain, instead of anger, instead of sadness, Alec felt numb. He felt like he was outside of himself watching from above.

His father had come back for him.
By the time he had arrived Alec had already woken up and been told what had happened from Ben. He remembered his father trying to talk to him, trying to elicit some kind of emotion from him but he had failed. Alec was driven forward by their objective, to save his sister from the people who murdered his brother.

They had parked their car a few miles back on a gravel road and walked the rest of the way. The night was dark and windy; they walked in silence, the only sound were the surrounding trees rustling steadily and melodiously, their limbs creaking slightly in the wind.
Occasionally Freddie would pipe in with information, he knew the area and advised them of what to expect.

They approached the compound from the tall grass.
Ahead Alec could see a small trailer on the west-most edge of the clearing, Freddie said they used the trailer for storing supplies. In the middle of the compound was the main building with a few vehicles scattered about in front of it. While large it was only one floor, and Alec imagined it wouldn’t hold more than the 2 dozen people Freddie had warned them about.

The last structure in the clearing was 50 yards away from the main building.
It was a concrete building that was longer then the main building but considerably less wide, Freddie said this is where the livestock were held.

Grant looked to Whitford.
“You ready?” Whitford merely nodded. “Please be careful and thank you, all of you.”

Nothing else was said as they broke apart.
Alec went with this father towards the livestock building, while Trent, Whitford, and Freddie went towards the trailer. They knew what they had to do.

Alec followed behind his father.
They ran crouched down as close to the ground as humanly possible. Alec felt the pistol in his pocket rub up against his side. He had fired a gun before, he had even fired in the general direction of some of these bandits, but never close enough to actually hit someone. Despite all that he knew he wouldn’t hesitate. When he thought of the people in those buildings Joseph’s face flashed before him. He was ready.

They reached the edge of the clearing,
leaving 50 yards of open space between them and the livestock building, with nothing to hide behind.

Grant looked to Alec.
His eyes said more than his words ever could. Alec saw the sorrow, saw the pain, the regret, the anger, and most of all he saw the determination. “Once we find her you grab here and get back to the car, understand?” Alec nodded. Grant continued staring at him. “Alec-“

“We’ve got this dad.”

For a second a look of shock flashed before his father’s face. Alec wasn’t sure why and would have been alarmed but his father’s gaze never left him. When the realization hit him the overall feeling of numbness nearly evaporated, nearly. He had called Grant dad. A label he didn’t think he had used since he was a child. When his father abandoned them Alec didn’t think the man was worthy of the label. Since then this man had been there every day, every single step of the way. That was why he called him dad without even thinking twice.

Grant looked down at the ground.
“Thank you.”

“Thank you.”

Grant hesitated again and then focused on the livestock building. He held up three fingers and slowly started to count down, when he was at zero they ran. Alec had his hand on his gun and tried to run as fast as he could; even with that those fifty yards where the longest stretch he had ever run. When they finally reached the building they collapsed next to it and tried to listen. They listened for any shouts, for someone chasing them, even for gun shots, but there was nothing outside of the sound of them trying to catch their breath.

Grant crawled over to the nearest window and looked in.
Alec saw the man’s eyes turn to shock for just a second then they hardened with determination once again. Alec moved up next to his father and looked inside. In the small building were several large cages and two of those cages were filled. In the one almost directly in front of them was an older woman, clothing in near tatters, hair in disarray, staring blindly back at them. If the woman saw them she gave no indication, she seemed to be in her own little world.

In the cage next to that one was another woman, this one noticeably younger but her
general condition wasn’t much better. She was sitting in the corner and appeared to be talking to herself. Before Alec could register the fact they were keeping people in cages he saw that the younger woman wasn’t talking to herself she was talking to something lying between her legs. Alec stood up a little more and saw his sister.

Grant pulled him back down quickly just as a man with a rifle casually walked past the window, but the sight of his sister was burned in his retinas.
She looked scared but not as scared as he would have thought given the circumstances. She was staring up at the lady listening intently.

“You ready?”
Grant’s voice was cold.

Alec nodded and Grant let out the bird call whistle that Trent had taught him.
After a few seconds there was a return call from far way then silence. They sat there waiting for it to happen. They saw the edges of it before the people in the building did. One of the trucks near the main building sat there with a fire dancing all over its metal body. Finally after less than a minute there was a scream from the main building and several people came running out. At first the men just stared at it dumbfounded as if their brains were trying to rationalize what they were seeing, during this time several other men came out. That is when the others opened fire on them.

Alec saw two of the men go down instantly never moving again.
A third appeared to get hit but started to crawl away as the bullets whizzed overhead. The remaining men ran for cover, some back to the main building, the others behind the burning truck.

Grant grabbed Alec’s arm and pulled him to the backside of the livestock building.
Grant stood with his back against the building and put his hand on the handle. “If anyone approaches, take them out.”

Alec didn’t, couldn’t say anything.
Grant didn’t wait. In one smooth motion he opened the door and rushed inside.

He had been worried about opening the door and being hit by bullets, instead he was hit by the smell. Almost like a wall it knocked him back. The smell was dirty. He could make out a mixture of unwashed bodies, and feces. While disgusting it only caused a slight delay as he moved forward again towards the cage that housed his daughter.

Grant tried to control his breathing but was failing.
The barrel of the gun moved up and down as he fought through the nerves, the anger, and the fear of the situation. He knew there was a man somewhere inside of here. He heard a loud bang then the wall near his head sparked in the dim light as a bullet shot past his head. Grant threw himself to the side behind some containers as several more bullets flew past. The shots hit all around him, the man wasn’t entirely sure where he was. Grant glanced in between the containers and saw the man backing slowly towards the front door firing blindly. Grant took a deep breath and swung out. He aimed down the barrel of the rifle and did his best to point it in the general direction of the man. His first shot hit wide right, the second wide left, but the third hit its mark.

The man let out a scream of pain and fell on his back.
Grant approached him carefully.

“Daddy!”
Alya screamed from the nearby pen.

Grant wanted to turn and look but he knew it wasn’t safe.
He made a wise choice as the wounded man reached for his dropped rifle. Two more shots connected and the man’s struggle was over.

He ran to the pen containing Alya and she grabbed him from the other side.

“Daddy, you found me.”

He pulled her to him with only the chain link bars in between them.
“Of course I found you honey, I’m going to get you out of here.”

Tears streaked down her face but her smile brightened the room.
The woman in the same cage as her approached. “That man has the padlock key.” She pointed at the man he shot.

Grant ignored the bullet riddled body as he rummaged through the man’s pocket and soon found the keys.
Just as he turned to head towards Alya he heard gun shots right outside the building.

Bullets pounded into the side of the building all around Alec sending sparks flying through the air.
The boy dove behind the side of the building. He had no idea where the shots were coming from but as soon as he was behind the livestock building they stopped. Alec had to give his father more time to get to Alya.

On the other side of the compound he heard more shots being fired and his thoughts turned briefly to the others.
He hoped they were ok. They were supposed to create a diversion so Grant and Alec could find and free Alya, but things didn’t turn out to be that easy. His father was firing at someone inside and now the back of the building wasn’t even safe.

Another shot rang out, this time striking the ground a few feet from him.
This time Alec saw where it had originated. There was a broken down car on the far side of the clearing and behind it was the shooter. His pistol wasn’t accurate enough to hit the man from that distance so Alec did the only thing he could do, he ran. Not towards the safety of the building but away from it. His legs carried him towards the tall grass of the open field and he heard the shots raining down all around him. He dove into the tall grass and then there was silence. The only thing he could hear was his own ragged breathing and the rapid beating of his own heart. That was when he realized he may not have led the man away from his father but left his father completely exposed. Before he could give that idea much thought a bullet shot past him as the man hidden behind the broken down car gave chase. Alec gave the opening of the livestock building one last look before he ran further into the tall grass.

Grant saw the man run into the tall grass after his son and he couldn’t move.
He had two choices, run after the man to protect his son or free his daughter. His heart broke knowing there wasn’t a right answer. If he went after Alec he could potentially lose his daughter, if he stayed with his daughter he could lose his son. Grant knew exactly what Alec would want him to do but that didn’t make the choice any easier. Grant took a deep breath and let his son go.

“Please hurry.”
The woman said her name was Jessica. Grant didn’t ask how long she had been there and didn’t want to know why.

He unlocked the pen housing Jessica and
his daughter then unlocked the pen with the other woman in it. The entire time he had been there, from the gun battle to now, the woman hadn’t moved a muscle. He motioned towards her. “We’ve got to go.” The woman didn’t move.

Jessica rushed into the pen and shook the woman but she still didn’t budge.
“Dammit Julie you’ve got to come back to me.” She slapped the woman across the face to no avail. “You’ve got to be stronger then this baby, come on.”

Grant looked down at his daughter and saw the tears in her eyes.
Those eyes had seen more in the last 24 hours than anyone should see in a lifetime. He bent down and gave her a hug. “I love you honey.”

“I love you t--. Watch out daddy!”

He registered her scream just moments
before someone slammed into him from behind. His daughter flew to the side and he was smashed face first into the ground. He heard Jessica let out another scream just as a fist slammed into the back of his head. Grant pushed back and managed to find enough room to put the floor to his back and that was when he saw V standing over him. The man jumped on top of Grant and let loose a torrent of punches into him. Grant managed to block a few but the majority struck his face causing his head to slam back against the concrete ground.

“You bastard!” Jessica screamed as she smashed a shovel into V’s head.
V fell back against the side of the building dazed.

Bloodied and beaten Grant turned to Jessica.
“Please, take my daughter and get her away from this. Please protect her.”

Jessica started to say something but stopped.
She scooped up Alya and ran towards the door. Alya reached out for him and let out a scream. Grant watched as his daughter was carried out of the building and prayed it was to safety.

V let out a curse and staggered to his feet.
Grant tried to follow but the world seemed to spin all around him. Before he could get back to his feet V rushed him again. The massive bulk of a man slammed him into the pen causing pain to shoot through Grant’s body.

His head spun, his back screamed in pain but then the realization struck him.
The man pushing up against him was the same one that stared Joseph right in the eyes and shot him in cold blood. The pain belonged to someone else, there was not any room left in his body for it. The only thing left in his body was anger, it fed him, it rejuvenated him.

Grant let out a scream of pure hatred as he began pummeling his fists into the back of V’s head.
The man let out a couple of grunts then fell back. Grant’s body needed oxygen, being slammed against the pen must have knocked the wind out of him, but he didn’t care. He pushed off of the pen and tackled V, smashing him into the ground. Grant heard the air escape the man’s lungs but he didn’t hesitate for a second. With all his might he began to punch the man in the face, over, and over again. With each blow Joseph’s face flashed before him. He saw his son’s smile being cut short by a man who felt the best way to get what he wanted was to forcibly take it from everyone else. Grant had every intention of beating this man to death and probably would have until he was shot.