I thought I would post something that I work on, off and on. No name yet. If there's enough interest, I'll post more later.


“Well, shit,” John looked down at his watch. The hands were barely visible in the dark gloom. It was half past five and he realized that he had spent over 3 hours exploring this old factory. He needed to regroup with the others before it gets too dark outside. As he roamed the dusty offices and storage rooms, his thoughts wondered back to days when life was easy. Back when there was electricity, fuel, and food readily available. He thought back to the failed social policies of the last government, and how its policies drove people into segregated groups. With the country divided, total breakdown was imminent, yet most couldn’t, or wouldn’t see what was happening. He himself was guilty of that. Anarchy, countrywide looting, and complete breakdown of the government sounded so farfetched, like something from a movie. Yet it happened, and millions of people died. After the first few months there were rumors of UN humanitarian missions, but John couldn’t confirm it though. He just assumed what happened here eventually spread around the globe. Over time, the constant sounds of screaming and gunfire became sporadic, and as the survivors banded together into groups, new territory lines were drawn and new leaders emerged. Most were small tribal gangs, others entire towns. The country and each individual state had changed forever.

“John!” called his old friend Carter in a loud raspy whisper. “John, we gotta go, man.” Carter looked through a dirty factory window out into the street beyond, his pale blue eyes darting side to side. “Look” he pointed out the window with the muzzle of his rifle.

As he carefully peered out the cracked window pane John could see several men and women nearing the factory. All were armed in some way, and had shaved heads, even the females. “What are they? Nazis, or something?” His voice was also in a whisper. They did not look very friendly. In fact, he thought he could see human scalps hanging from one guy’s belt.

Carter shook his head. “I don’t know man, some of them are black. Were there black Nazis?”

“Fuck if I know. There’s a lot more of them than us. Where’s Lee?” John quickly stepped to the right of the window, not wanting to be spotted by the violent-looking guests.

Wordlessly, Carter again gestured with his rifle, this time toward the stairwell leading to the rear fire exit. The two men ran through the dusty maze of unidentifiable machinery and cardboard boxes toward the back door. As they ran he could hear some voices from outside. Whoever they were, they sure didn’t seem to care if they were noticed. As the door came into view, they could see their friend Lee, waiting for them.

“Bout time” Lee grinned, his gloved hand reaching for the door knob. “I was about to leave you fuckers here.” He slowly opened the windowless steel door. At first glance, the door looked to be rusted shut.  As he inched it open it made a creaking sound that seemed as loud as thunder in the quiet confines of the building. He grinned again. “Oops.”

John winced at the sound. “Well if they’re already inside, one of them likely heard that.”

Once the rusty door was halfway open, Carter stuck his head out to determine if any of the bald crowd out front had ventured around back. Not seeing anyone, he quickly darted through the opening and ran across the loading dock, taking cover beside an old forklift that had been burned. Crouching down beside it, he raised his Savage .22 bolt action rifle and scanned for any threats. Without detecting any, he motioned for Lee to follow. Once Lee had left the doorway it was John’s turn. The three men quietly made their way through what at one time was the loading docks and employee parking lot. The perimeter of the lot was surrounded by a tall chain link fence with barbed wire on top. They carefully worked their way along the fence until an opening came into view. They had entered earlier through the front, so they did not know where this new direction would take them. John was the last of his group to exit. Lee and Carter waited ahead in a trash filled alley. He took a peek over his shoulder as he cleared the chain link to see two of the shaved men searching the lot he had just left. Unsure if they had spotted him, John took cover behind the fender of an old Mazda sedan. The car had been stripped but most of the engine was intact, and hopefully that would help deflect a bullet. He flipped his AR15 selector to “fire” and watched as the two men walked around the lot. There were 26 rounds in the magazine, plus one in the chamber. He wouldn’t fire unless it was absolutely unavoidable. Ammo was hard to come by these days.

“Come on, John.” It was Carter motioning for him to follow himself and Lee.

John held up two fingers and pointed in the direction of the gang members, who were looking inside of a dumpster. “Hold on,” he whispered as his sights tracked them. “Just want to make sure these guys didn’t see us.” As he crouched there, watching them dig through some trash, two more men appeared from the same creaky door that he and his friends had used. One of them was gesturing in the general direction of John and his companions. They had been as quiet as possible while they made their escape, however they were somehow still detected. The bald gang bangers were walking in his direction, one holding some sort of wood stocked rifle, the other an aluminum baseball bat.

Carter crawled on his hands and knees until he was beside John. “Did they see us?”

Still keeping them in his sights, he quietly answered his friend. “Yeah I think they did. Shoot that one in his fuckin’ eye,” John pointed to the one on the right, holding the rifle.

Carter eased the bull barreled Savage onto the cowl of the Mazda and took aim. He flipped off the safety and squeezed the trigger. The little .22 bullet hit right where John had asked him to put it. The thug collapsed, his rifle clattering on the faded pavement. The other man, wild eyed, ran toward the safety of the factory. Before he could reach it Carter had chambered a new round, fired, and hit the man somewhere in the abdomen. He stumbled around clutching his side, screaming for help and pointing toward the Mazda. Unfortunately for him, the two dumpster divers abandoned him and ran for safety inside the building.

John, impressed, clapped a hand on Carter’s shoulder. “Let’s go before they bring the whole bald headed posse out here.”

It was getting dark, and cold. John would still wind his watch on a daily basis, but he didn’t keep track of days and months. He assumed it was October. If that were true then that made it a little over three years since the country collapsed. At 36 years of age, he was glad he was still young enough to survive this harsh new world, yet saddened because he was old enough to remember better times so vividly. He was lucky to have Carter, his childhood friend. They had grown up together hunting and fishing with their fathers, who themselves were best friends. He also knew Lee from before, but they were not exactly friends. Back then Lee was Deputy Lee Durbin, and he wasn’t John’s biggest fan. John had an on again, off again fling with Lee’s sister...who happened to have a husband. Eventually, their paths crossed after the collapse and they set aside their differences for the sake of survival. Most days were like this one. They would wonder around looking for anything of value, whether it’s food, ammo, or even something as simple as a new pair of socks. Some days, they met other survivors, some were good, others bad. Often times they will meet a hostile gang. Sometimes it will be a lone individual just trying to survive. They spent the second winter after in a small town that had been barricaded with junk cars. It was inhabited by a religious cult. They were friendly enough, but had far too many rules.

After they had put some distance between themselves and the factory, it had gotten dark. Lee had taken the lead on their escape and had navigated them to an old stone silo just outside of town. The rest of the farm had burned down, only the silo remained. It was no longer full of grain, but it got them out of the wind. “It’s a little cold tonight, boys. We can probably build a fire in here and nobody will be able to see it.” He entered the silo first. It was small, but it would work.

Once they had gathered enough sticks and dead branches to burn, they set about inspecting their scavenged loot. John found a candy bar in a desk drawer, but nothing else of use. Between Carter and Lee, they had found a 12 pack of Pepsi (that was flat) a roll of wire, and some first aid supplies. That old factory had been picked over previously.

John sighed as he removed his frayed Mechanix gloves. “I still say we would have better luck going back to the hills and trying our luck at farming.” He had been against Lee’s plan of entering urban areas. John felt that staying in the rural countryside was not only safer, but it afforded them the opportunity to plant some crops.

“We’ve been over this before.” Lee stood up to stretch, adjusting his kydex holster as he did so. “We hit the urban areas. There has to be something out here.”

Carter shook his head and looked at Lee. “Everything in this town has been hit long ago. All we find are gangs and dead bodies.” He finally remembered to top off the magazine in his Savage. “Speaking of…what’s everyone’s round count? I have 42 rounds of .22lr, and two full mags for my Glock 23.”

John didn’t have to count. He already knew. “I’ve got 27 rounds of 5.56, and three full 1911 magazines.”

Lee purposefully counted slowly to draw out the suspense. When he was finished he frowned. “Well guys, I have 36 rounds of 7.62x39 and one full G23 mag, plus five rounds to spare. Unfortunately I lost an AK mag somewhere. I hope it was empty.”

Carter glared at him. “Remember how you said we could get more weapons and ammo in the city?”

“We will someday,” Lee added cheerfully.

So far s good. More?

Good start!

The next morning the three men were sore from sleeping slumped against the stone silo wall, but they had to keep moving. Once again, Lee took the lead. They were dirty, hungry, and low on ammunition. Lee secretly loved the life he was living. To him, it was like a video game. He hated being a deputy. He detested the long hours, the shit pay, and being a babysitter to society’s idiots. He now looked forward to what was over the next horizon. Would it be a gunfight, or a new place to scavenge? Who cares? Either one sounded like fun. There was nothing better than saving a damsel in distress. Lee loved it when he could ride in like John Wayne and shoot the bad guy and then fuck the girl. Those moments were rare. Well, actually it only happened once, but he was ready for the next time, nonetheless.

John knew that Lee had good intentions. He also knew that Lee liked adventure, and that being a farmer did not appeal to him in the slightest. Carter was easy to sway. These days he was tired and depressed. Setting up a homestead and growing food would keep his mind occupied.

After a full day of walking along the shoulder of a four lane highway, the weary trio had amassed quite a bit of random items from abandoned vehicles. Unfortunately, none of their haul included ammunition. At least the day wasn’t a total waste, nor did it involve exchanging gunfire, as did so many other days. As Lee pulled a prescription bottle from the glove box of a Ford Fusion he had a thought. “I bet if we keep following this road we’ll find something good eventually.” He knew the others did not share his level of optimism, but he did what he could to keep them assured.

A day spent recovering random snack foods and the occasional cigarette lighter from stalled vehicles had improved morale only slightly. John still did not believe that they were on the right track however. “You keep saying that, Lee. Maybe one day it’ll be true.”

Lee smiled up at John as he held a quart of motor oil. “Ha! Now we have some clean gun oil. I tell ya, I was getting tired of using…” The sound of voices interrupted his thought process. They were coming from up the road a little ways, to the east. It was not unusual to run into other people, especially when traveling a major road. Still though, caution had to be exercised when meeting strangers. “You hear that?”

By now, Carter was standing beside them. “Yeah, I heard it.” He turned his head to the side and cupped his ear, his shaggy gray streaked hair blowing in the cold breeze. “Sounds like a woman and two or three men.”

“You think she might be hot?” Lee made a circle with his left thumb and index finger, and poked his right index finger back a forth in the circle, making the universal symbol for intercourse.

“Dude, seriously?” John smiled and shook his head. “You know she’s probably just as hairy and dirty as we are, right?”

Lee shrugged. “Don’t matter.” He unslung his AK and checked the chamber. “Let’s go find out.”

Ahead was a gentle curve where the four lane highway narrows into two lanes, which had no doubt caused the three year old traffic jam the men had been scavenging. They gingerly worked their way through the maze of stalled cars, SUVs, and tractor-trailers. As they neared the curve, some of the vehicles showed obvious signs of a collision. The voices previously heard did not get any louder, indicating that whomever they were following was on the move. Yet again, Lee took the lead, his rifle at the ready. As a young deputy, he carried a Remington 870 in his patrol car, though he always felt he needed more firepower. A few months before the shit hit the fan, he bought a cheap AK and a case of ammo. More times than he can count, that decision has saved his life. He was 28 when it all went down. His life was mostly about chasing women, it never occurred to him that the good ol days would be short lived. He silently chuckled to himself. He was still chasing women, even now.

Carter brought up the rear, as usual. Up ahead he could see John, his childhood friend, following Lee through the sea of stalled vehicles. John had been calling him Carter for almost thirty years. Cecil Carter was his given name. He hated it, even though he was named after his grandfather. It occurred to him that Lee probably doesn’t even know that. Just as well, he would call him by that horrible name just to get under his skin. He hadn’t known Lee before all of this, but John Clay was the best friend he had ever known. They were like brothers growing up. John had been there through thick and thin. When Carter’s wife was killed in a car accident, John had helped him through it. This new world in which they were living did not mesh well with him. Being surrounded by death and despair made Carter think of suicide quite often. He wanted off of this sick carnival ride, but John needed him. He had to stick around, he owed him that much.

Lee crouched down and held up his left hand, signaling them to halt. Since Carter brought up the rear, he instinctively scanned the area beside and behind them. His Savage bolt action was brought to his right shoulder, safety off. In the apocalypse, or whatever this was, a man needs all of the firepower he can get. Unfortunately, Carter was caught off guard. He had sold most of his weapons to help pay for his wife’s funeral. This rifle he had kept, as she had given it to him one Christmas as a gift. Sure, in the time since, they had found other guns, but once they ran out of ammunition he kept going back to his .22 Savage. Besides, he has fired more shots at animals than humans.

As Lee called for them to stop a few yards ahead, John took cover beside a sun faded Pontiac. The peeling clear coat looked like sun burned skin flaking off. The thought of meeting strangers, not knowing if they were good or bad, always made him nervous. Glancing over the trunk lid, he could see Lee weaving between vehicles, he guessed to get a better viewpoint. While Lee was being Lee, John’s mind wondered, as it often did, about the past. It was a cool and windy day, which reminded him of hunting trips as a boy with Carter and their fathers. He was 12 years old when he had killed his first deer. His dad was so proud that day, he told everyone the story for years afterward. Now, there are no deer. John had not laid eyes on a living one in over two years. They had all been hunted out. About the only fresh meat they find regularly comes from raccoons and possums, which seem to thrive these days.

John was awakened from his thoughts at the sight of Lee’s thin frame, still crouching, making his way back toward him. “You see anything?”

“There’s about five or six of them over the hill a little ways.” Lee gestured with his hands in front of his chest to mimic grabbing a pair of breasts. “One of them is a woman, and I don’t think she’s friendly toward the company she keeps.”

John looked puzzled. “How so?”

By now, Carter joined his companions. “What’s going on?” He craned his head as if to try and catch a visual of the intel being relayed.

Lee continued with his colorful narrative. “There’s a woman up the road a bit with some men. I think.”

“You think?” Carter was confused. When Lee was excited he could be a little vague with details.” How about you tell us what you know, instead.”

In exasperation, Lee started over. “I saw a lady and three or four men. The female of the party…” Again he gestured with his hands as to grab breasts. “…look as though she’s being held against her will.”

“How do you know that?”

“Well, Carter, it’s pretty obvious. Her hands are tied and she’s being led by a rope.”

Carter hated the former deputy’s long rambling way of explaining something simple. “Why in the hell didn’t you just say that from the start?”

Looking confused, Lee answered him. “I thought I did. Anyway, we should go rescue her.”

“Whoa…hold on a minute.” John did not like where this was going. “How is it our problem?”

Again, Lee fondled the pair of air breasts. “It’s a girl, John, and she needs our help.”

Thanks for the chapter!

I'll be watching this one. Do you have a working title yet?

I don't, actually. I started on this about 3 years ago. I work on it a little on rainy days. I have more to post, about another 10k words or so.

I like It! Keep it coming!

Well? Let's see more!  It has potential!

I'll post more in the next day or two. I work on four different stories on two devices, so I am apologizing in advance if something doesn't make sense, or is repetitive lol

Ten minutes later as the three of them hid between a pair of trucks, John wondered just how many times Lee had talked them into one of his foolish plans. Sure, that girl may be in trouble, but was it really his problem? It seems something like this comes up a lot. Lee sees a potential adventure and expected Carter and himself to jump right in with him. The major problem, other than possibly death, was that they had dangerously low ammo supplies. As the men split up, according to the plan, John’s part to play involved flanking the captors and captive from the left, while Lee went right. Carter was to hang back and provide cover fire, even though .22lr was practically useless at that range.

As John slowly crept into position, he could see his targets better now. Anticipating the quickly approaching darkness, they had set up a crude camp under a semi-trailer. This was going to be easy at least, as they were all bunched up around a tiny little fire. As he watched, he counted them. There were four men and one woman. To his right he could see Lee moving into position as well, and although he couldn’t read his face, John was sure there was a look of joy on it.

Carter watched from his vantage point. He could see Lee and John in the fading daylight. He felt useless way back here, but a scoped bolt action .22 was not much of a close-quarters weapon. His two companions had done this before, but even so, he always worried. Looking through the scope, he could see one of the men get up and walk away from the little fire. Not good. Lee’s plan did not account for chasing down a runner. Still watching, Carter quickly discovered the man just had to take a leak. While he did his business about 20 yards from the camp, Lee was rapidly approaching.

“Take me to your leader, asshole.” Lee whispered as he stuck the slant brake of his AK into the man’s ear.

The man quickly raised his hands, pissing on his leg as he did so. “Don’t shoot, man. Please.”

Lee, still holding his rifle at the man’s ear, instructed him to drop his pistol belt. “Unbuckle that ALICE belt, drop it real slow.” After the man had done as commanded, Lee reached down and pulled the handgun from the holster, then shoved it into his coat pocket. “Walk.”

Within 20 yards of the meager campsite, John could see Lee approaching with one of the men, his hands on top of his head. Moving forward, rifle shouldered, he trained his sights on the first armed man he spotted. Lee’s captive cried out, alerting his partners of the ambush which sent them jumping to their feet, weapons in hand. John fired twice, hitting the first man to his feet, and quickly transitioned to the second, who fell before he could fire. Lee had kicked his prisoner to the ground and shot before John could follow up. The last man crawled under the trailer and out the other side, and although he never heard it, Carter had been firing from his position as well.

By now it was fully dark and the thug who escaped was long gone.  John turned his attention to the dead men by the fire while Lee checked on the captive, who was still tied to the trailer bumper. John searched the bodies. He found an old Taurus .357 magnum, a foreign made 1911, a beat to hell Mini 14, some knives, as well as several rounds of assorted ammunition. In their backpacks he dumped out some canned goods and random personal belongings.

“I’m coming down!” Carter called out as he made his way into the camp, eyeing the aftermath of the short fight. “Is everyone ok?
”
John tossed him a liberated plastic sandwich bag full of .22lr cartridges. “ Yeah, we’re good.”

“I’m not going to hurt you.” Lee let his rifle hang from the sling and put his hands up, palms forward as he walked over to the frightened woman. “I’m going to cut you free.” He reached down and severed the rope binding both her wrists to the truck, then dropped the knife at her feet. “ Cut yourself loose and we’ll be over here by the fire when you’re ready to tell us what happened.”

The newest member of the group just sat by the fire in silence, no matter how many times Lee smiled at her or tried to chat. The frightened woman looked to be in her mid thirties, in good health, and nowhere near as dirty as her captors had been. John suspected she would talk eventually, but for now she probably didn’t trust anyone after what she had been through.

After a meal of canned ravioli, courtesy of the dead men, Lee stood up and slung his AK. “I think I’ll take first watch, you know in case that other one comes back.” He started to walk away but turned back. “What are we going to do with Cockfag over there?” He hooked his thumb back toward the man he had taken captive earlier, now tied in the same place the woman had been.

Carter shrugged, but John spoke up. “We can let him go tomorrow as we head out. It feels wrong to execute him.”

Lee frowned. “Yeah, I guess.” He looked over at the man in question, who had everything to lose hanging on the outcome of this discussion. “If you behave tonight, you can live.” He stared a moment as the threat sank in, then strode off to take up watch away from the fire.

John stared into the fire, his eyes getting heavy. He had walked several miles today and survived another fight, although it was not much of one. Granted, those men they had killed were not exactly walking a righteous path, still he felt that killing them was wrong. Carter most likely felt the same way, but he knew what Lee would say “Oh muh feelz! Suck it up, pussy!” He began to visualize the faces of all of those that he had killed, every single one of them. He was not a bad man, he truly felt remorse for every life he had taken, even those where he had no choice. Sure, on the outside he kept his cool, not showing how much it bothered him, even as he so nonchalantly ordered Carter to shoot two men not 24 hours earlier. Was it possible he could have diffused the situation without violence? Sure, however John had learned over time that shooting first also solves problems. John also knew that their buddy Lee did not share those inhibitions. Lee Durbin perpetually had an ‘us vs them’ attitude, which if the truth were told, saved their asses on numerous occasions… Unless there was a female involved. Women were his weakness.

“Thank you for helping me.” It was the voice of the woman they had rescued.

“What? Oh, yeah. Any time.” John straightened his back and leaned against the trailer’s wheel. As he often did, John had zoned out. “What happened?”

“They kidnapped me.” She looked down into the fire, her long, dark brown hair obscuring her eyes. “Those men you…you killed, they took me from our town.”

“Town? Which town?”

“It doesn’t really have a name, we just call it ‘Town’”. She looked back up at John. “Those guys caught me outside the walls. I think they meant to trade me.”

John looked at her for a moment, trying to process the odd information he had received. “So, you’re like a slave, or something?”

About that time, the woman’s former captor spoke up. “Don’t listen to her bullshit. We were just protecting ourselves.”

Carter looked over at the tied up man. “I really want to hear you explain that one.”

The man frantically continued. “Look man, Anna and her people have been killing our people for like, forever. We saw the bitch alone, so we took her. I mean that’s what they do to us.”

“Anna, I take it?” John didn’t know what to think so far, but Lee needed to hear this too. “Anna what is he talking about?”

As Anna explained about how she had been kidnapped, Carter motioned for Lee to join them. Anna, and the man they now held captive, argued over which group were the bad guys. Anna argued that her people were peaceful and completely innocent, while the man (whom they learned was named Jeff) painted a different picture. He claims both groups preyed upon each other, with both sides murdering and kidnapping.  The three of them had stumbled into the middle of a feud of sorts.

Lee pulled John aside as Carter listened to Anna and Jeff argue back and forth. “It looks like we got a ‘he said, she said’ situation. I think they’re both full of shit, myself.” John didn’t answer right away, but Lee thought of something else. “We might be able to make this work.”

“What are you planning now?”

“Just hear me out, John.” Lee moved in closer and lowered his voice. “I say we find out where these idiots live and ransom them back to their people.”

“You do realize that we’re dealing with two different groups of people here, right? Logistically, the three of us can’t swing that. Besides, you said it yourself, they’re probably full of shit.”

Lee shook his head, “No, this can work.”

“This is your fucking fault, Lee.”

“What do mean?”

John pointed over to their new problems sitting by the fire. “This! We could’ve just kept on walking, but no! You couldn’t do that, could you? You saw titties and just had to intervene.”

“John, I thought you liked titties, too.”

“That isn’t the damn point and you know it!”

Returning to the others, they heard more of Jeff’s claims of protection. Apparently he and his buddies saw the woman alone outside their walls, and decided to kidnap her in exchange for two of their own people who had been taken. It was a wild story to be sure, but he was very adamant about it. “Look dudes, my buddy Roger got away. Soon he’ll tell the guys what happened here and the shit will get bad, then.” He looked down at his worn out shoes. “We just wanted to get our people back, and now two of us are dead. I can’t stop them if they come back here and kill you all.”

John kicked Lee’s ankle. “I told you!”

“Ow! Damn it, John, I don’t have a crystal ball. I can’t always see when something bad is gonna happen.”

“It’s the apocalypse! Something bad always happens!”

Not satisfied with Jeff’s or Anna’s stories, John thought it best if he and his companions distance themselves from the situation. On one hand, Jeff’s gang, which was of unknown size, may come back for vengeance. On the other, so might Anna’s, despite her claims that they were peaceful. He assumed the truth was somewhere in between the two stories. Basically, it was a feud in a lawless land that had gotten out of hand. After much discussion, John was able to convince Lee to forget about ‘titties’ and remove themselves before sunup. Carter wasn’t so hard to persuade, as he didn’t like getting involved no matter the reason. They were going to leave the woman one of the captured weapons, and escort Jeff further down the road before releasing him as well. Hopefully, the plan would work and they could go about their business without any further trouble. John also hoped that Lee learned something from all of this, and that he’d be more hesitant to get involved next time.

In the dull glow of the fire, John checked his watch. It was 5am. It was time to move out. After a last minute gear check, they were ready. While Lee was pulling their captive, Jeff, to his feet, John handed Anna a handgun. “Here, take this. I assume you know how to use it.”

Anna nodded. “Thank you.”

Jeff turned around as Lee yanked on the rope binding his wrists. “Hey, you gave that bitch my gun!”

John grabbed the man by his collar and shoved him in Lee’s direction. “Relax, it’s a Kel-Tec. It’s not exactly heirloom quality. I’m sure you’ll be fine. Now move.”

Anna ran forward and grabbed John’s arm. “You’re not just going to leave me here, are you?” Her face showed a look of worry and confusion. She had probably never been truly alone, being from a walled township.

John stood back and stared at her for a moment. She was thin, but so was everyone these days. He could tell that wherever she had come from, was nowhere near as bad as a life on the road. Her clothes were a little dirty, but in good shape, her shoes also. Most people he met looked downright unhealthy, in one way or another, but not her. “Look, we saved your ass and gave you a gun. We don’t owe you a damned thing.”

Lee swaggered up to Anna with a smile on his lips. “Sure, I’ll take care of you.” He reached out to put a hand on her shoulder, which she slapped away.

She glared at Lee for a moment before turning her focus back toward John. “Ok, fine, we’re square, but I really can’t survive out here on my own.”

“Why?”

She looked up at John, who was a good half a foot taller than her. “Why? Why!? It’s a death sentence for a woman all alone, that’s why.”

Lee doubled over laughing uncontrollably. “Oh, so you’re gonna play the ‘woman card’ now, huh? You didn’t need me a minute ago.”

John thought it over as he watched his friend start an argument with Anna, accusing her of harboring feminist double standards. Lee probably had a point, but Anna did as well. It was a death sentence leaving a woman alone out here. Judging from her appearance, she had most likely come from a community that was well off at best, and sheltered its women at worst. “Alright, alright! Both of you shut the fuck up.”

Anna looked at John, a smile slowly forming across her lips. “I won’t get in the way, I promise.”

“You’re damn right you won’t get in the way. The first safe place we find will be where we drop your ass, understand?”

Lee rolled his eyes, as Carter, who had kept silent to this point, voiced his concerns. “It’s only temporary, and even though you’re with us, you’re not really with us. Do you know what that means?”

Wordlessly shaking her head, a blank look appeared on Anna’s face.

Carter spread his hands, the left one still displaying his wedding ring. “We will protect you and feed you, but you have no decision making powers, got it?”

Lee again rolled his eyes. This was going to suck, and not in a good way. It was obvious this woman wasn’t going to put out, and even more obviously, she was going to be a pain in everyone’s ass. “Yeah, what they said, plus keep your mouth shut. I know women like to run off at the mouth, but we have to be quiet when we’re walking through gangland.”

It was painfully obvious to John that their new traveling companion and Lee would not get along. However it was Lee who had gotten them in this situation, right or wrong, so it was his own doing. “Let’s move out.”

The four men and Anna walked, mostly without talking, until the sun had come up. This time John had taken the lead, and called for a halt as they passed between two tractor trailers. He pointed at their captive and addressed Lee. “Cut him free.”

Lee cut the rope around Jeff’s wrist and kicked him in the back once had turned away from him. “Get lost. You’re free.”

Jeff turned around, absently rubbing at his sore wrists.  “Man, at least give me a gun. That bitch’s people might be out here, or worse.”

John cocked an eyebrow and thought for a moment. Who else could be out here? “Here you can have this.” He handed Jeff the old worn out Mini 14 then tossed the loaded 5 round magazine on top of one of the trailers. “If I see you go for that mag before we’re clear I’ll shoot you. Got it?”

Wordlessly, Jeff nodded in comprehension and sat down on the pavement.

Before they had walked out of earshot, John turned back around. “What did you mean when you said there might be ‘worse’ out here?”

Jeff slowly stood up and propped the rifle against the semi-trailer. “Hey I don’t know where you guys are from, but around here there’s a lot bad dudes cruising this road.”

“Would any of them happen to be bald?” Even though he hadn’t laid eyes on any bald gang members in a couple of days, John was not sure how far their area of operations extended.

Jeff nodded his head vigorously, “Yeah, you know em? Bad motherfuckers. They call themselves the Skins.”

“Skins, huh? That’s original.”

Lee and Carter exchanged looks. “We popped a couple the other day. Well, Carter did anyway.”

“You don’t want to get caught by those guys.” Jeff shivered. “They scalp people.”

John looked over at Lee. “You don’t think the Skins followed us, do you?”

“Who cares? Let’s go.” As Lee again took the lead he called over his shoulder to Jeff. “Good luck, asshole.”

I know I promised more last fall, but i just got my laptop back from my SIL.

I like it so far!

Ugh......another story that hooks you in & then goes MIA.

Hey, I'm working on it.