Chapter 13

I got ready for a second salvo into the back truck. Suddenly, I saw empty hands raised! I hollered,”If you want to surrender, come out with your hands empty and raised above your head!”

A moment later, doors opened and men came out. I shouted again, “Come toward the back of the trucks!” Four men came toward me. One was holding his shoulder where he was shot. Not as loudly, I said, “Sit at the back with your hands on your head. Interlace your fingers. Help him to sit.” One of the men helped the guy shot to sit. They were seated as I had told them. “There are other members of our group watching you. Don’t try anything. Dying is permanent.”

Alice’s voice roughly said, “I have them covered.”

I moved to the next truck. I shouted, “Do you want to die or surrender?” Shots were fired from within the truck. I shot through a door with my shotgun. I thought these bullet shells were working well. I then unloaded the other barrel into the back window shattering it. I quickly reloaded with two bullet shells this time. I shot through another door and into the back of the truck. I reloaded and did it again picking a different area. It was quiet now. Sarah sprayed bullets into the cab area from her side.

I slowly and warily moved up to the truck. All the men inside were dead. That left the front truck.

I was close enough and shot a shell into that truck. “Surrender or die!” I shouted. I heard nothing. I shot buckshot into the rear window removing it. I reloaded and shot again. It was quiet. I moved closer and waited. After a long wait, I heard movement. I waited some more. The door opened across the truck from my position. Sarah opened fire from that side downing whoever had stepped out. I waited again. This time, there was no activity after a long minute had passed. I moved up to check the truck but no one was still alive.

The battle was over. Now, we had to deal with the prisoners.

We had four men, one of who was injured in his left arm. Stella and Bill had come down with Stella bandaging his wound. He thanked her.

Sarah said quietly, “What do we do with them?”

I responded. “First, let’s talk and determine what we have.” I looked at one guy and said, “Who are you and what’s your story?”

“My name is Ed Samples. Before all this started, I was married with two small children. I had been sick and all three turned. I-I had to shoot all three of them. Then, I had to bury them in our backyard. I had been a hunter before so had guns and knew them. I hid for a long time until I met Joe. His arm is shot.” He motioned with his head. “We hung around together until we met up with Captain Rogers. We had a choice to join or die. We joined. I wish now I had chosen to die. We’ve done some terrible things. If you left and were caught, you were tortured to death. I’ve watched seven people die screaming.” The guy who had been shot nodded in agreement.

Sarah said, “What about women?”

Another man said, “It’s worse for them. No woman with any self-respect lasts more than a day. They won’t do want Captain Rogers wants. They get tortured to death. The man doesn’t like women and, even the ones who tolerate him to live, are treated badly.”

I looked at him. “Who are you?”

“I’m Charlie Mitchell. Captain Rogers sent us out to capture you folks. The guy we captured told us where you are living before he was killed.”

Ed said, “We don’t know much. We were following Sargent Knowles in the lead truck. He was a mean bastard, too. I’m glad he’s dead.”

Charlie asked, “What are you going to do with us? We can’t go back even if we wanted to. He would kill us.”

I said, “If I let you go, what would you do, Charlie?”

“I would head south. I have or had a sister in Savannah. I haven’t heard from her and she’s probably dead but she’s all I would have. I was divorced but my ex got sick and then crazy. She killed my kid and came after me when I went to check on the two of them.”

Sarah and Bill both nodded. I said, “Charlie, do you have a phone?” He nodded. “Give your number to Alice. Get a rifle and start walking that way.” I pointed. He nodded again and rose to his feet slowly. He moved over to Alice and they talked.

As he went to pick up a rifle, the last man in the group said, “I would like to go with him. Pooler is close to Savannah. That’s where I’m from. I was here on business when everything went down. I’m not sure what may still be there but it’s home.”

I said, “Leave your number with Alice also and go with Charlie.” He nodded. He spoke with Alice for a moment, grabbed a rifle and some ammo. He left with Charlie walking away from us.

That left Ed and Joe. Joe looked up and asked, “What about us? Even if we wanted to, we can’t return to the gang at the Kroger. I will not return and don’t think Ed will either.”

Ed said, “I agree. This is the chance to get away from that sickness. I would rather you shoot us than make us return.

“Actually, I would like to talk about staying with you and building something good. The gang at the Kroger is depleted but still exists. I will fight for a group that is doing something worthwhile. I’m from Conyers so don’t have any place to go.”

Joe nodded. “We were neighbors living in the same subdivision off Sigman Road. If you let us go, I’m not sure what to do or where to go. I would also like to be with a good group. It’s tough even when it’s two of us. I joined Captain Rogers’ gang because it was a group and there was no choice.”

Ed said, “We would like to become members of your group. It’s not the best way to join but we don’t want to die or be killed if we tried to return.”

I looked over at Sarah and Alice who both nodded. I said, “Gents, we’ll try it. Let’s leave. Sooner or later, Rogers will send someone to check on what happened to this group. Let’s be out of here before then.”

Ed said, “He will come but probably won’t until tomorrow. Seeing that four of us vanished and aren’t left here dead will worry him. It’s by threat of force that the gang holds together.” He helped Joe up by his good arm. Bill had Alice’s help in extracting ammo and loading such weapons as were worth it for us to take. We left walking back to my truck. I thought to myself that we needed another vehicle. Joe lay in the bed of my truck with Alice watching over him. Ed went back there, too. The rest rode up front with me. We arrived back at the house.

Bill had a scratch from a tree branch and Joe’s arm needed better tending. We all helped with that. Fortunately, Joe’s wound was a graze. I’m not sure any of us would be able to extract a bullet from someone. Stella made coffee. Sarah then helped her cook breakfast which we later ate.