The Death: The Complete Trilogy Read online

“Go, don’t let her get mobbed.”

  “Fine,” Devin said and took off running just behind the men.

  The darkness provided significant cover for Daryl. The rain had subsided, but the torrential downpours had saturated the grounds, making his movements quiet.

  Lights began bouncing all over the inside of the courthouse as whoever was inside was reacting to the battle that was raging outside.

  Daryl had outfitted his AR-15 with a suppressor; this made his stealthy approach lethal. He walked up to a single guard on the lawn and squeezed off a single shot. All he heard was the man fall.

  That one man was all he encountered before reaching an entrance, but he knew his luck would soon run out.

  “Bob, is that you?” a man asked from the shadows near a side door.

  “No,” Daryl answered as he squeezed off several rounds.

  The man grunted and fell to the ground.

  Daryl’s heart was pounding, and his body was aching. He stepped over the man’s dead body and walked inside the building.

  Yelling came from several different locations inside, and the cover the darkness had provided was gone. All the lights were on, and any movements he made now would be seen. Thinking to himself, he asked, If I had prisoners, where would I put them? The answer that came to mind seemed natural; Downstairs. He looked for a stairwell and found one that led to a basement. It just made logical sense to put people there, right?

  He ran for the door but was stopped short when a volley of gunfire came down on him from a hallway ahead. Luckily he wasn’t hit, and he dove for cover behind a metal desk and knew the only way to move and not be seen was to provide some cover. He took a smoke grenade, pulled the pin, and tossed it in the direction the gunfire had originated from.

  The grenade spun and suddenly popped loudly and whished. Smoke filled the hall quickly, providing the cover he needed.

  The gunfire continued towards him, though, as the person was spraying bullets in his direction.

  Daryl calculated the distance to the basement door and crawled towards it. The rounds cracked over him as he made his way to the door. Memories of his time in combat came flooding back to him. Reaching the door, he sat up and grabbed the handle but found it locked.

  Bullets hit the door above him.

  “Fuck this guy,” he said out loud. He took out an HE grenade, pulled the pin, the spoon flew off, and carefully judging where the shooter was, he rolled it down the hall. He tucked his head between his legs and counted, one, two, three, four, five…boom, the grenade detonated. The shooting stopped, and nothing else followed. He stood, shot the door handle, and ripped the door open.

  A long set of old wooden steps lit by a single bulb dangling at the base of the stairs stared at him.

  He put the rifle to his shoulder and began to go into the bowels of the courthouse.

  One by one and in small groups, men poured out of the grocery store only to be met by Tess and her new best friend, the Ma Deuce .50 caliber machine gun.

  Tess wouldn’t have imagined shooting people could bring joy, but these weren’t people, these were monsters, and that made killing them exhilarating. She was enjoying herself so much that when there was a pause, she prayed for more to come.

  She was so engrossed and focused on slaughtering the ones emptying out of the grocery store she didn’t see or hear the pack coming towards her from her blindside, but Devin was in pursuit.

  When she came into view, Devin knew that he had to act, and act he did. He stopped, leveled his rifle, flipped off the safety and took aim at the furthest one out. He steadied his breathing, aimed and began applying a steady pressure to the trigger. To his surprise the first round exited the muzzle and, in what seemed like an instant, hit the man squarely in the back.

  The force of the 5.56mm round took the man to the ground.

  Devin adjusted slightly, took aim on another, and repeated what he had just done. One more round burst from the rifle and hit that man, killing him.

  If not for the bank of lights at the grocery store, which illuminated the front parking, he wouldn’t have had any light to assist him in identifying his targets.

  He took a quick count and saw another eight men racing towards Tess, who apparently was still oblivious to their advance as her focus was still towards the front of the grocery store.

  With her attention elsewhere and no one but him coming to support her, he leveled his rifle again and took a third and fourth down. When the fourth man hit the ground, a prideful expression appeared on his face. Having spent a total of one week ever handling a firearm, he was impressed with his abilities. He immediately gave credit for his ability to his teachers, Tess and Daryl, but he did give himself a pat on the back for being a good student.

  With six men still advancing on Tess and now close, he began to yell out, “Tess, Tess, look to your left.”

  Fortunately for her, there was a pause in the firing at the grocery store, enabling her to hear his cries. She looked around, and when her gaze looked left, she saw the men advancing quickly. With swift precision, she unlocked the hatch and spun the gun to face the advancing marauders. She grasped the plastic handles, placed her thumb on the butterfly trigger and pressed down. The .50 caliber came alive again.

  Rounds hit near Devin, forcing him to jump and run to the right for fear of getting hit. The only thing he could imagine was she couldn’t see he was out there. Not wanting to be riddled with large holes, he ran for cover next to a storefront.

  After hitting a third man, she moved the gun to the fourth, but nothing happened when she pressed down. The machine gun was out of ammunition. Tess had only today learned how to operate the gun, and now with the added pressure of a frontal assault, she had to reload it. She removed and tossed the empty ammo can and went for another, but her time was running out. She hefted up a full can, but it was too late, the remaining three men were on top of her.

  Acting like a pack of wild animals, they jumped on the Humvee.

  Seeing this, Devin raced towards her to help, but he feared by the time he reached her it might be too late.

  Tess managed to pull out her Glock but wasn’t able to get a shot off because one of the men hit her over the head with the rear stock of his old bolt-action rifle. The blow to her head was severe and left her semi-conscious. A heavy feeling of vertigo came over her, and she fell into the Humvee.

  More men emerged from the grocery store; the total number was too hard for Devin to make out, but if he had to guess, it had to be close to a dozen.

  With no time to waste and Tess’s life in his hands, he started firing at the men on top of the Humvee as he ran. This reduced his accuracy, but he was able to hit them although the shots weren’t fatal.

  He reached the Humvee and fired his rifle point blank at one of the men writhing on the ground in pain from a gunshot wound to the leg.

  Tess was crumpled in the rear seat of the Humvee, blood running down her face from a gash on her head. She blinked several times to focus her sight, but the blurry double vision wasn’t clearing up. Outside she heard scuffling and the sound of Devin’s voice. He needed help, and she was his only hope.

  Another man grabbed at Devin, but he smacked him in the head with the butt of his rifle. He raised his rifle to hit the man again to ensure he stayed down when a volley of bullets rained down on him. An intense burning pain shot up his left arm. He’d been shot. The sensation was strange; he’d never felt anything like it before. He still found his arm able to move and not limited, so he put it out of his mind and re-engaged the men. He squeezed the trigger until the bolt locked to the rear, signaling he was out of ammunition.

  The intensity of the fight was beginning to wear on him. He saw his hand shaking terribly when he placed a fresh magazine in the magazine well and missed it twice. The half-dozen men coming from the grocery store were almost on top of him, and he wasn’t sure if the last man he’d shot at the Humvee was still alive. Not knowing Tess’s condition, he found himself alone, scared and uns
ure whether he’d survive the next five minutes.

  With a fresh magazine seated, he slapped the bolt release, raised the rifle, aimed at the first man he saw, and pulled the trigger instead of squeezing. Gone was the steady marksmanship training he’d received. It had been replaced with a hurried sloppy ‘get as many rounds downrange as possible’ attitude.

  By a rough count, the men were thirty feet away, now twenty-five, now twenty. He’d managed to hit two, but he’d also been hit again, this time in the leg, and it wasn’t a graze. The bullet had gone through some flesh in his right thigh. He could feel the hot blood running down his leg and into his boot. His shaking increased, making it harder to aim; his mind began to play tricks on him as he kept telling himself to run away. He fought that natural urge because he wouldn’t leave Tess’s side, no matter what.

  A loud burst of gunfire startled him; he looked up and saw Tess blasting away with her Glock towards the men heading at them.

  Devin looked at her in a different way just then. He saw a true beauty, a strong and determined woman fighting till the end if need be. If tonight was his last night, he felt proud and honored to be next to her. He looked at the men advancing, now only ten feet away; he raised his rifle and began to shoot.

  Daryl had found nothing in the basement of the courthouse except dusty old boxes full of files. Not a person or sign that anyone had ever been held down there. When he emerged from the basement, he found the courthouse empty and no sign of Hudson or Mayor Rivers. The only thing he could imagine happened was upon what appeared to be a fierce fight, the mayor had escaped with Hudson, but again, he still didn’t know if his son was actually there. He had searched room by room but found no one. He had found signs that prisoners had been held and had also discovered grisly clues to their eating human flesh, but still nothing to prove Hudson had ever been there.

  The gunfire from Tess’s direction sounded furious, and without Hudson, his mission was a failure, but it wasn’t a matter of just leaving, he had to go help Tess and Devin.

  He sprinted out of the courthouse and towards his friends.

  His radio came to life, “Daryl, this is Brianna, come in.”

  He pressed the button as he ran, “Go ahead.”

  “Several cars and trucks passed by me, heading north out of town,” she informed him.

  “Okay,” he answered. He knew exactly who that was, but it would have to wait. From the intensity of the gunfight at the grocery store, it sounded to him like they had stirred up a hornet’s nest.

  He was operating on pure adrenaline now as his pounding heart pushed his blood through his body. He reached Madison Street and made his last turn. Up ahead was the Humvee, and what he saw scared him. Tess and Devin were firing into a mob of men, but that mob was now within a few feet. With a block to sprint, he hoped they could hold them off until he got there.

  Devin hit the ground hard as three men tackled him. They were punching and kicking, and what strength he had wasn’t a match for them.

  Tess managed to shoot the first man who jumped on the hood with her last bullet. With the slide locked back, she swung the pistol and hit the next man who came at her. She went to reload, but two others were right behind the others. They punched and kicked at her, with one yanking her out of the Humvee by her hair. Like Devin, she tried to resist but she was overwhelmed, injured and weak from her injuries.

  Each punch to his face, Devin saw what could only be described as stars. A quick thought came to him, "Was this it? Was this how he would die? Would he be tomorrow night’s dinner for these guys?"

  Suddenly the men on top of him began to fall, grunting and gasping.

  Devin squirmed out from underneath their dead bodies. He looked around and saw Daryl just feet away, leveling his rifle and squeezing off a few more rounds, these bullets intended for the men attacking Tess. What followed were the sounds of men falling to the ground with thuds.

  Daryl scanned the street and surrounding area for more threats, but none could be seen. What he did see were bodies everywhere, the battle had been fierce, but without a doubt they had won a victory, if that victory was determined by kills. However, for Daryl it was incomplete as their objective, Hudson, had not been found.

  “You came just in time,” Devin groaned, still on his back.

  “Tess, you all right?” Daryl asked, jumping on the Humvee and attending to her.

  “I’m fine, but I think Devin’s been shot,” she said, holding her head.

  “You’re bleeding badly,” Daryl said, pulling out a bandana from his pocket and applying it to the wound on her head.

  “I’m fine. Go check on Dev,” Tess urged.

  “Have you been shot?” Daryl asked.

  “Ahh, is there a plural for shot, because I’ve been hit twice,” Devin said, managing to joke.

  “Where? How bad?” Daryl asked.

  “Arm is nothing, a graze, but my leg, a bullet went through the fleshy part of my inner thigh.”

  Daryl found the bullet hole in his pants, put his finger through, and ripped the pants open. With a small flashlight he examined the wound and saw Devin was right, the bullet had just passed through flesh, no arteries or bone were hit. “Looks fine, but we’ll need to get this cleaned up. Let’s toss you in, go grab Brianna, and get home.”

  Devin grabbed his arm and asked, “Hudson, anything?”

  With a somber look he answered, “Nothing, no sign.”

  Daryl pulled Devin up and placed him in the back of the Humvee.

  Tess was sitting in the passenger seat, still holding the bandana to her head.

  Daryl looked at her and said, “I always thought women would be a liability in combat. You are definitely not a liability, you’re an—”

  “Asset,” she said, interrupting him.

  “No, you’re an efficient and ruthless killer. I’m glad you’re on my side,” Daryl answered, then sped off.

  Day 195

  April 14, 2021

  Jenks Residence, Reed, Illinois

  Devin dug out his spiral-bound notepad, found a comfortable spot, and began to jot down his thoughts. It had been a while since he’d made an entry, and he needed to catch up. He laughed to himself when he thought that experiencing life left little time to write about it.

  He, Daryl and Tess were all feeling a bit haggard but hadn’t let their wounds stop them from the continued search for Hudson.

  To maximize their searches, they expanded the area and created two teams. He and Tess were one, and Daryl and Brianna were the other. This way they could look twenty-four hours per day and protect the property.

  Protection of the property became a priority when they returned after the battle with Rivers’ men to find two dead in the front yard. They weren’t sure but assumed a couple of Rivers’ men were going to ransack the house; however, a carefully placed Claymore had prevented that.

  Needless to say, it was a surprise to find the mangled corpses, but a pleasant one for Daryl, who was happy to see his demolition skills were still intact.

  Tess walked into the living room and sat down in the high-back fabric chair across from him.

  Due to his leg wound, he was stretched out on the floral-patterned couch, the notepad on his lap.

  “Did you have a good nap?” he asked, looking up from his writing.

  “I did, thank you. I have to say, though, my head is still ringing.”

  “Nothing that a few painkillers won’t help, maybe a bit of morphine,” Devin joked, referencing the drug comments she had made to Daryl days ago.

  “Who keeps meth lying around ‘just in case’?”

  “Apparently, Daryl does and I can see why, can't you?”

  “Don’t tell me you’re a druggie too?”

  “Where’s all this judgment coming from?”

  “You don’t see anything wrong with it?”

  “Actually, no, I don’t.”

  “Figures.”

  “What does that mean?” he asked, challenging her last comment.
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  “It’s nothing,” she said as she stood up and walked into the kitchen. Pouring herself a glass of water, she looked out to the barn and asked, “What do you suppose he has out there?”

  “Porno mags, booze, posters of scantily clad women next to professionally framed signed jerseys from his favorite athletes.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” she asked.

  “Just going through a mental list of items typically found in a man cave.”

  “Awful big for a man cave, don’t you think?”

  Devin was now limping into the kitchen, he answered, “Why do women always think of men in terms of size?”

  “Women? I think you got the wrong gender.”

  “Should we go check it out?” Devin asked, now looking through the window towards the large structure.

  “No, remember, we’re still guests here.”

  “You think he’s got a meth lab in there?” Devin joked.

  “Aren’t you the punchy one today.”

  “I think it’s the pain meds or maybe the lack of good sleep.”

  The rumble of vehicles out front hit their ears. They turned and stared at each other, a look of dread came over them.

  Brando got up and hopped over to the front door and began to bark.

  “Looks like we have visitors,” Tess said just as she ran out of the kitchen, grabbing her rifle along the way.

  Devin was right behind her, his movements not showing the pain and difficulty he had before, as his adrenaline provided him pain relief.

  “Tess, you stay inside, get a good spot to take shots. I’ll see who they are,” Devin ordered. He picked up his AR, checked the magazine to ensure it was fully loaded, and pulled the charging handle back slightly to make sure there was a round in the chamber.

  “I can go, your leg,” Tess complained.

  “No, stay inside and try to contact Daryl,” Devin ordered. Stepping onto the front deck, he saw three trucks parked in the road.

  A door opened on a black SUV, and out stepped Mayor Rivers.