The End (19 page)

“They will clear out right?” Markus
asked.

“You saw how many there were, Key West is
small, they will most likely just get more than less,” William
said.

“Unless we distract them, once they move away
then we can make a run for it,” Martin said.

“Whoa, hold on a second, I really don’t do
all that well when it comes to running,” William said.

“You said it yourself, either we run or we
wait and might never get down this roof again,” Martin said.

“Ok, so how do you want to distract them?”
Markus asked.

“I found these fire crackers,” Martin said
laughing softly.

“Not funny,” William said.

“So the plan, I wrap this around a can of
food for some weight and throw it as far as I can,” Martin
said.

“Then we just run? Markus asked.

“That doesn’t seem like much of a plan,”
William said sarcastically.

“Well, I’m not going to stay here and then in
the end have no way to escape,” Martin said.

“Let’s make one thing clear, it will be each
man on his own, so just run when they start moving away,” Martin
said.

Before William could even start complaining
that he can’t run fast or even last a little jog, the flint went up
in bright sparkles. Martin throws the can of food pretty far; far
enough, at least, William didn’t even get the opportunity to say
anything before the crackers went off, leaving white smoke with
each blast.

Its working perfectly, Martin made the first
run, with Markus and William following, it’s hard on William’s
lungs as he falls behind slowly. The crackers already stopped
firing, they are spreading out again but it doesn’t seem like they
are following.

Seems like the sudden loud continues bangs
made them a little confused, William is breathing like a dying ox,
managing to at least reach the second block where Martin and Markus
took a short breather, they agree to go silently from there on
out.

To Williams surprise after arriving at Fort
Zachary, believing that the worse is behind them, he sees that even
more survivors have shown up, most likely the ones that fled from
the horde, no one will know, it’s not many, William could count 12
survivors.

This makes it very complicated for William,
knowing that he will have to protect these people, with little
explanation, he warns everyone about the horde heading straight
this way, in a few hours this entire area will be a war zone.

William can see that the people are
frightened at the same time he can see that these people are all
willing to help; the only thing left now is to warn the others and
call for immediate supplies, that’s the only reason why a flare gun
is kept, no idea if they would even see the flare signal.

William fires 3 flares and to be safe he
sends Martin to take the boat and head back straight away, to tell
them what’s about to happen, the main reason for sending Martin, is
to get all the weapons possible including anything that could make
a distraction with all the cable a fencing they can carry with one
trip.

Martin arrives at Fort Jefferson, rushing
over trying to find Emma, he notices the pool of blood in her tent
even though she wasn’t there, rushing back to his tent he finds
Emma with Bobby tied up and bleeding slightly.

“What the hell happened?” Martin asked
angrily.

“Your brother over here, tortured one of our
people,” Emma said furiously.

“Who, who did he torture?” Martin asked.

“Danny, one that was already sick and
injured,” Emma said crying.

“Look, I will deal with my brother personally
we are in serious trouble,” Martin said fast before Emma could
continue blabbing.

“What trouble?” Emma asked.

“The Fort at Key West, there is more
survivors but there is entire horde approaching them and we don’t
have enough time to bring them here, I need all the weapons,
fencing and anything that can make noise,” Martin said as he
catches his breath.

“How do I know you’re not trying to trick
me,” Emma asked suspiciously.

“You don’t, but if you don’t give the
weapons, then the death of all those people will be on your hands
not mine,” Martin said.

“Fine, I will get people to load them, you
should go and find Taylor he is the only one I know that can fire a
weapon,” Emma said.

“Yes, he can and so can Samantha,” Martin
said.

“Sure, take her as well then, beside you know
her better than I do, just go now,” Emma said.

Martin rushes over sending both Taylor and
Samantha to go grab weapons and help loading, while he searches for
anything that can make noise. Searching for several minutes Martin
found nothing just pots and pans, Martin figures if they can hook
them up to some type of rope and hang them it should really confuse
those bastards.

William tries hard to wait patiently, trying
hard not to freak out as his heart is pounding fast and hard in his
chest, with no doubt this will be his first real fight against
these things. Stressing that the fact is there is so many of them,
so many, William highly doubt they will be able to defend the Fort
and if Martin doesn’t hurry up they won’t be defending or
retreating at all.

Its pitch dark, small drum fires is the only
source of light, starting up the generator unprepared will only be
for the one that has a death wish, the group of survivors try hard
to secure the barricades as silently as possible. William starts
stressing all over again with the slightest noise, might it be a
can that drop or someone whispering too loudly. William knows that
this is the time to man up and face this until there is absolutely
no other option to retreat if they arrive here on time; it’s been
at least 20 minutes now.

It’s disturbing how loud their moaning is,
it’s scary as hell especially in such large numbers, according to
the small scout group William put together on the last second,
those things are still far away, still it’s so loud it’s hard to
believe that they are still distant. William is starting to lose
hope, for all he knows Martin could be chilling in his tent, nicely
tucked in his warm, cozy little bed.

William gets ready to pray, before he could
start he hears the boats approaching, he walks fast and hastily
towards the docking areas, excited and happy, with a lot of relieve
that they made it in time.

“Emma, what are you doing here, you have a
daughter to take care of,” William said angrily.

“How can you let her come,” William said
staring angrily at Martin.

“There were some complications while we were
gone,” Martin said.

“What complications? Is it Danny, is he
worse? William asked concerned.

“He is a lot worse,” Emma said with
tears.

“I see, if you did everything you could, then
no one can blame you,” William said in a very upsetting voice.

“It’s not that, Emma go ahead, explain to him
what happened,” Martin said.

“Martin’s brother he thought he was infected,
he took actions into his own hands, the people voted me aside so
that Bobby can murder him, I was held back by everyone,” Emma
said.

“So he is dead?” William asked with tears,
trying hard to hold it back.

“No, Bobby didn’t kill him, instead he
tortured him, I set him free but the damage was already done, I
gave him a few stitches to stop the mass bleeding and then I let
him escape, if he made it or not, I don’t know” Emma said crying
softly.

“William, we will find Danny he must be here
somewhere and once this is all over then I will personally treat my
brother the same way he treated Danny,” Martin said
disappointed.

“No Martin, I am sorry but I will be talking
to Bobby personally,” William said angrily

“Go find the best capable men here to search
for him ask around and send them to search the area in front of the
horde,” William said.

“I will do that immediately and I will get a
few to help unload everything,” Martin said

“Just go, go now,” William said angrily.

Martin is furious over his brother’s actions,
everything was going good, no everything was better than good;
William has proven himself as a caring person and well, worth
sticking to his side and maybe have a new start. A new start that’s
all Martin ever wanted but could never have life is always forcing
his hand to do something he isn’t supposed to do.

Martin found 4 of the survivors that seem to
have some skill, he explains to them not to wonder of too far and
not to close to the horde approaching, they are not ready to defend
just yet. Martin can only hope that these people have the brains
like they are claiming to have.

Martin thinks hard on what he can possible do
to fix this mess Bobby made, knowing that the only way is to take
this riffle, point and shoot, one shot is all he would ever need.
Martin continues planning and figure it’s for the best to simply
wait; taking the shot now will surely make him guilty however once
those things reach the Fort then it can easily be anyone that shot
William by accident.

Martin praise his brilliant idea as this will
give him the opportunity to take over the group while clearing his
brother’s name. Martin swear to himself that he will change after
this very last sin, after William has been removed from the
picture, he can then lead the people like a good leader and prove
to himself that anyone can change, now all that can be done, is to
wait patiently for the right moment.

Chapter 9: Survival

A large
group of people unload some of the material agreeing that it might
not be the best idea to unload all the weaponry, they can rest easy
knowing not all weapons will be lost if they had to fail. Least
they will be able to retreat easier, three more survivors joins up
with the group, William finds it hard to believe that in a time
like this there will be more showing up, the more that is capable
of wielding a gun the better.

“Are you William?” Jason asked.

“Yes what do you want, if you haven’t
realized we don’t have time to chit chat,” William said.

“I agree we don’t but have you seen three
girls that might have arrived here earlier?” Jason asked.

“Go look through the people and you tell me,
the people you see here is all the new survivors that joined us
here recently,” William said.

“When I say recent I mean they joined today,”
William said.

“I see, damn it,” Jason said worried.

“Why ask?” William asked.

“It’s my two daughters and his girlfriend,”
Jason said.

“They have to be here, they would’ve come
here in hopes of safe refuge, if not here then at Fort Jefferson,”
Jason said.

“I know it’s much to ask, but we need to look
for them, before those things get to close,” Jason said.

“Hey look mister, I am running the shots
here, as far as I am concerned they might be dead, the people here
and now need to stick together,” William said.

“Look I to lost some one recently, knowing
that he is not dead makes everything just worse, he is between us
and that horde approaching, I have people searching for him, if
they find anyone they will bring them back, trust me,” William said
confidently.

“I have a good idea, since you are armed with
weapons I take it you are capable of firing them, we need all the
help we can get so get your people armed, in the boat over there we
should still have some to spare,” William said, being very
serious.

“In return for your help, if we survive then
I will give you an entire group to go search for your daughters, I
will even go with you myself,” William said.

“Sorry no deal, I will be searching for them
right now,” Jason said.

“Please stay, you know you can’t go back or
through them for a proper search, you will be dead before you even
find them,” William said.

“He has a point you know,” Conway said.

“Who are you again?” William asked.

“My name is Conway, and that’s Sarah over
there she can’t handle a gun, just putting that out there,” Conway
said.

“Fine, I will help but as soon as this is
finished then we are searching for them together,” Jason said.

“Deal, we will need to start preparing the
fence, all of you can start there,” William said.

“No, there is no way that will help you,
rather keep it for something else,” Jason said.

“Then what do you suggest we do, to slow them
down?” William asked.

“Do you have fuel?” Jason asked.

“Yes we do, we have some diamond fence, we
even have a few lights but can’t run the generator due to noise, as
distraction we only have pots and pans,” William said.

“We need the fuel the most, we won’t need the
lights, just cars, I have done a blockade like this before, and
these things are stupid, now I know we will be overrun but
apparently fire works great, they die pretty fast,” Jason said
explaining.

“So what’s the plan exactly?” Conway
asked.

“If we hurry, we can block the entrance with
vehicles and use the fuel to light them on fire, and this will
injure a lot of them at the same time keep them at bay, giving us
less stress and the opportunity to kill any that gets too close to
breaking through,” Jason said.

“How long do you think that will last until
they break through with mass numbers?” William said.

“With one row not long, maybe an hour if
lucky two hours, that is if the people here can fire accurately,”
Conway said.

“That’s the thing we need a small group, to
help us out with a second mission, once we start firing they will
come and by the masses,” Jason said.

“Do explain more,” William said.

“On our way here, we saw a fuel tanker, we
will use that to blow the bridge, it might be enough or it might
not be, I don’t know but as long as that bridge stays intact, the
more will come,” Jason said.