Episode 5: Gun Run

Episode 5

"Gun Run"

I was woken by Patrick, he was shaking me. I looked around, shit, I was still on the roof. It was morning, and the birds were chirping.

"Jeff?" he asked.

I rubbed my eyes.

"Yeah?"

"You fell asleep on the roof?"

"Oh yeah," I began, "Must have dozed off up here, I like it up here though."

"Oh well, as long as you don't fall off." he chuckled.

I noticed something, Patrick had absolutely no guilt of what we've done yesterday. It's almost like he had already forgotten. I went inside the house to go get ready, and start out normal day. I will try to forget about all of this like Patrick, but I have a feeling It's going to be harder for me than him. I guess I just have a guilty conscience. I sat down, ready to start my day, but that's when Patrick wanted to make an announcement.

"Alright, can I have everyone's attention?" he asked.

"We are running low on ammo, we need to make a run. We're fine on food, but ammo is not looking so great for us."

"I'll come." Mark volunteered.

"Me too." I said.

"Me three." said Sabrina.

"I guess it is just me and Kayla staying back again." Margaret said.

I grabbed a backpack and packed some things in it we will need. I packed some painkillers and antibiotics incase one of us got injured, bandaids, extra ammo, emergency guns, energy bars, energy drinks. Patrick stopped me there.

"Whoa, we aren't leaving for good you know." he said.

"Sorry, I just want to be prepared, incase anything bad happens. You can never be too careful, after Ian taking stealing from us, I know that now."

"Good, let's go." Patrick said.

We got into the car and headed off, we were headed back into town. Let's hope it's not all cleared by now. It takes a long time to clear out a full town of supplies, I think we'll be good. Chatham had a pretty nice police station, and we were going to head there for weaponry. Let's just hope it hasn't been looted yet.

"So," Mark began, "We should really start teaching more people how to shoot, I mean Margaret hardly knows how to handle a gun and Kayla is a pretty bad shot."

"She's just a kid, give her time." I said.

"I know, that's why I think we should set up shooting ranges." Mark said.

"Not a bad idea," I said, "But won't that attract the stranglers? I mean, guns are loud."

"If they do, we get extra targets."

I smiled, that was a pretty good idea. Shooting bottles or cans, then if stranglers show up, we use them as target practice as well. It would work out good. Patrick slammed on the brakes.

"Oh shit!" he yelled.

I looked out the front window, and saw a bunch of the stranglers. At least fifty of them. They were walking around, clueless. They noticed our car, and ran at it.

"Oh no." Patrick said.

They screamed and jumped onto the car, some trying to open the doors, some trying to smash the windows.

"Step on it!" I cried.

Patrick shrugged, and stomped on the gas pedal. We shot out, running over tons of them. It was a really bumpy ride, stranglers were flying around everywhere. One got stuck on the window and Patrick couldn't see where he was driving. He turned on the windshield wipers and it eventually fell off. Our windows were tainted red, and I'm sure our car had a new paint colour as well. We passed a sign that said, "Chatham." We were now in Chatham, my home town. I missed it already, it was so empty. You would see the occasional strangler trying to chase the car, but that's about it.

We pulled in by the police station, and got out of the cars. The first thing I did was look at the car, which was like I predicted, tainted blood red. Damn. We headed to the doors of the police station, and looked inside. The place had no sign of a break in yet, we were good. This place looked like it hasn't been touched in a week, which it probably hadn't been. I tried to doors, locked like I predicted. I pounded on the glass door, it seemed strong.

"Stand back everyone." Patrick said.

He backed up and ran into the door, he bounced off like it was nothing.

"Shit." he said, getting up and brushing off his pants.

"May I try?" asked an unfamiliar voice.

We turned around to see a complete stranger, we pointed our guns at him. He raised his hands.

"Sorry! Don't shoot! I was just trying to make new friends, I'll go." he said.

"No, you'll do no such thing," Patrick said. "Now listen, we have been through this already. We trusted someone, and that very person stole from us. Now excuse me if I don't trust you right off the bat."

"I'm alone, I'm not dangerous. I don't want to make enemies, I want to make friends. I'm lonely." he said.

"What is your name?" I asked him.

"Damien." he said.

"So you want to join us is what you're saying?" Patrick asked.

"If that would be alright with you, yes." said Damien.

We thought about it for a while, I thought we should trust him. He seemed so harmless, I almost felt bad for him. Patrick was still debating, but everyone else agreed we should let him in.

"Fine." Patrick said, "Do you think you can find a way in here?"

"Yes, my father was a policeman, he worked here. I have the keys." Damien held up the shining keys in his hand.

"I was also on my way here, to go retrieve my fathers gear, for memory. He was killed during the riot when this all started."

"I'm sorry to hear that." I said.

"It's ok, let's just get in here, it's getting chilly out."

Damien walked towards the door and unlocked it with one simple click. We walked in the building and looked around, I wasn't too scared of stranglers being in here, since this place was totally untouched. The lights were still on which was good, I'm glad we still had power. But eventually, if this virus goes on too long, the power will have to eventually shut off. Damien led us to the armoury, we were going to get stacked. That's when Patrick walked really close beside me and started whispering in my ear.

"You trust this guy?" he asked me.

"Yeah? Why?" I replied.

"I mean, he shows up right when we need him, which is a little odd. He knows this place inside out, like he's planned this. And he is leading into an armoury, filled with guns. You think he's dangerous?"

"No, if he is, we can protect ourselves with guns." I reminded Patrick he still has his gun if he ever needs to use it.

Damien walked to some big metal, locked doors and stopped there. He turned around and looked at us.

"Well, this is it, this is the armoury."

"You can get us in right?" I asked.

"Hell yeah." he said.

Damien used the keys on the door again, I put my hand near my holster if anything happens. He headed in and we followed him. I looked around, nothing. I guess this place was safe, Damien is a good guy.

"Well, let's get stacked!" Damien cheered.

We all ran to different sides, grabbing tons of stuff. We were really only here for ammo, but why pass up the chance for brand new guns? There were tons of duffel bags, I picked on up and packed a bunch of guns inside. Handguns, shotguns, I even found one assault rifle tucked way behind the shotguns. I finished the bag off by throwing dozens of containers of ammo inside. We were set. I pulled the duffle bag over my shoulder and waited for everyone to finish.

"We are loaded my friends." Damien said.

"Sure are, I guess since you helped us, you can join us." I said.

"Hell yeah he can." Patrick said, pulling his duffle bag over his shoulder as well.

Once we were done, we headed out of the armoury, there was one problem. We left the station doors open, there were a few stranglers inside. They noticed us and screamed. They chased us.

"Go back!" I yelled.

We ran back in the armoury and slammed the doors shut.

"We can't risk them getting too close to us, they'll kill you." I cried.

"I know, that's how my whole family pretty much died. All within a week." Damien said.

The stranglers kept pounding on the door, it was locked. They were not going to break through steel. I was thinking, and this place was actually pretty safe to hold out in. But I like the freedom we get in Patrick's house, in town there are a lot more stranglers, and a lot more of a chance to get the virus.

"Alright," I began, "Back away from the door, we are going to load up the new guns we got. I'll open the door and we mow em down. I have an assault rifle I found."

I handed the assault rifle to Patrick, he looked at it for a while, but couldn't figure out how to work it.

"Let me." Damien said.

He took the gun and did a few weird tricks with it, then it clicked.

"It's loaded," he said, "Get ready."

Everyone else got their guns ready with the help of Damien. Since his father was a cop, I guess he knows a hell of a lot about guns. I stood by the door, then opened it. I stayed back, the stranglers didn't see me. They flew in and went straight for Sabrina, Mark, Damien, and Patrick. Since they were the first ones they saw. There was a bunch of gunshots, one after the other. Patrick mowed down a ton of them with the assault rifle. Damien blew some apart with his shotgun, Sabrina put a ton of holes in them with her handgun, as well as Mark. After a complete bloodbath, the stranglers were dead, lying on the ground.

"Did any of them get too close to you guys?" Damien asked.

"No, these guns work really well." Patrick said, checking out his new assault rifle.

"You're good with that thing, that should be your gun." Damien said.

"Yeah."

"Well," I said, "We got way more than we came for, which is good. Let's head back before more come, we probably made a ton of noise."

"Jeff's right," said Patrick, "Let's get the hell out of here."

We headed out of the building, and straight for the car. Patrick popped the trunk open and we quickly through the duffel bags inside. I kept a handgun with me just incase, as well as my hunting knife. I could hear the stranglers screaming in the distance, it was echoing all over town. We needed to hurry up. I jumped in the passenger seat, Patrick drove, Sabrina, Mark, and Damien sat in the back. We sped off out of town, and headed back home.

"Now Damien," Patrick said, "You helped us, and we appreciate that, but we need to go over some ground rules."

"Sounds fair." answered Damien.

"No trying anything, you're new so we will keep a good eye on you. We were just robbed by some stupid hippy not too long ago, we are stepping up our forces. You do anything we don't like, you're kicked out."

"Got it boss."

Patrick smiled, I think he really liked this guy. I did too, Damien was very respective, and listening. He helped us get so many weapons, we wouldn't be here without him.

We pulled into Patrick's house, and Margaret was standing by the fence, she opened it for us. That's the good thing out here, it's so quiet. Since it's so quiet, you will hear every little noise. Margaret probably heard us coming from a mile away. We pulled inside the fences and parked the car, Margaret shut the fence. I got out and helped unload all of our things, Margaret looked inside the trunk. Her eyes widened.

"Wow! Are all those duffel bags filled with guns?" she asked.

"Yes they are." Damien said, all proud like.

She looked at him and a confused look went across her face.

"Who are you?" she asked him.

"I'm Damien, pleasure to meet you. I met your group while they were on a supply run. I helped them get all those guns."

"Wow, you'll be a big help around here."

Kayla ran out from the house and into my arms.

"Dad! I'm glad you're back! Did you get some good stuff?"

She turned to look in the trunk, that's when Damien caught her eye.

"Who the hell are you?" she asked.

Everyone gasped, but then followed by laughing.

"Kayla, where did you learn that from?" I asked.

"Margaret! She taught me all sorts of new words! Like Fu-"

"Ok that's enough, let's go inside." I said.