A/N Here it is. The much promised rewrite. As you may have noticed it's undergone a massive overhaul. It is now officially a Crossover fic with the Purge and Tom Clancy's The Division because I felt that it fit better that way. If you prefer the old version more IM me I still have it saved somewhere and can send you a copy if you want.
Chapter 1: The Island
It's a funny thing, the difference between imagination and reality. You watch movies and play video games, where there is a large scale disaster and you think to yourself, hey, that would be kind of cool. It's an escape from the normal. You play out all these scenarios in your head of being a hero during the chaos of an evacuation. Maybe even setting yourself up for life while no one's looking.
The reality of a large scale evacuation is something very different entirely.
Chaos and fear was the best description for what Jack found himself immersed in. Going from house to house with his partner, ensuring that everyone got out. All the while they all knew that they were running out of time. He didn't want to leave anyone behind.
Perhaps, going back a bit would help put everything into context.
Two weeks ago, it was announced that the first confirmed case of smallpox since 1978 had been discovered in Port Hardy. By the time it was discovered, the entire population numbering 4000 in the town had been infected. Somehow the virus had mutated. This allowed it to not only bypass the standard government immunizations, but to still be highly contagious while incubating. The Prime Minister had immediately declared a state of emergency.
The funny thing about it was, you never actually saw someone who was sick. It was always a friend of a friend, or names of towns on the news. Each day began with watching reports of the virus spreading. Airports were locked down, and the ferries just never came back after making their runs to the mainland. The island had been quarantined. After the news reported that the first three private boats that tried to leave had been destroyed by the blockade set up by the Navy, people learned not to try again.
Then the order to be evacuated came. Finally, they had set up a system that would allow the healthy to be screened from the sick and removed from the island. That's where Jack came in.
MCpl Jack Hawkins was a reserve weapons technician in the Canadian Armed Forces. As a reservist, one of their main responsibilities was domestic emergencies. His unit, 32 Service Battalion, had been tasked with aiding in evacuating the nearby town of Saanich. Incidentally, as the highest ranking person in the section, he was in charge of this particular shit show. Upon arrival to the first suburb, it was clear that every one was at the tipping point. All it would take was one push, and the entire population would go to panic stations. The police were overwhelmed with trying to keep everyone calm.
Unfortunately, the tipping point was the two MSVS trucks stopping along the side of the street. As soon as people saw the big canvas topped cargo trucks, dripping water off their sides from the constant light rainfall, they started going nuts. They had watched the island slowly go to hell around them and were told they couldn't leave until the government came to get them. Well the government had come and they wanted out now. Before Jack could say anything to control the situation, there was a swarm of panicked people all trying to climb into the back of the truck. Jack was even forced to plant his boot and push on the chest of someone who had climbed up and tried to pull him out of the driver's seat. The man fell back onto the rain-soaked ground, and ran around to the back of the truck joining the clamour to get in. All the while, not even noticing the kick. Jack moved around to the back of the truck with his partner from the eight-man section. Looking to his right he saw Cpl Jessica Dunley. Jess was… well, tiny. That was the only word he could use for her. Coming in at barely 5'1" she had to look up to make eye contact. All it took between them was a quick nod by this point. This was the fourth suburb they had evacuated today. They knew that they were running out of time.
From the moment he had met her, he had liked her. Not in the way that everyone assumed however. She was married to a sergeant in the Canadian Scottish Regiment by the name of Chris Dunley. She was just this unstoppable bundle of energy. Jess liked to tease. She couldn't help it; it was just her nature. If there was an opportunity for her to turn something into a sexual joke you had better believe she would jump on it. Plus, she was adorable so she had that going for her. Everyone joked that the army had needed to make a new size of boot in order to find something that would fit her tiny feet. Watching her load her gear into the truck had been hilarious. Her ruck sack was literally almost as big as she was. However, if you tried to help her load it without her asking, she would rip your throat out through your asshole. She knew that she was small. She knew that the army would not be an easy career choice for her even if she was a clerk. She knew this going in, and was still determined to pull her own weight without help from anyone else. He was glad it was her that he was paired with today. She could be calm and collected while at the same time wouldn't take shit from anybody.
It had been passed on when they were called in that the last boat leaving the island would be at 1800, 6 PM to those unfamiliar with the 24 hour clock. Anybody still on the island after 6 PM, would be left there. Given how far away they were from the ship, over an hour with light traffic, the trucks would be leaving at 4 whether or not everyone was on board. It was a harsh reality that not everyone could be evacuated. The official quarantine set in at precisely 1830 Pacific Standard Time. So if the ship wasn't well clear of the Island before then, the Navy was required to sink it.
As they came around to the back of the truck, Jack wasn't sure that they would be able to get everyone out. As much as he wanted to he couldn't just drop the tailgate and let everyone crowd in on the benches built into the back. Everyone had to be screened first. Yelling did no good. Nobody heard him, or paid attention. They were all too busy trying to climb into the truck, over each other if they had to. Children were being passed over the heads of adults and some people were pushing even the children aside to try their luck with climbing into the back of the incredibly tall trucks. This needed to be stopped before someone was seriously hurt. Jack looked back at the Military Police that had come with them. His truck had been the first in but was quickly followed by the second and two Military Police cruisers. The MP simply nodded knowing what it was that Jack wanted. He drew his sidearm and fired three times into the air above his head. This had already needed to happen twice today. At the sound of the shot people screamed and ducked but they did stop clamoring which was what Jack wanted. He took the quick moment of silence as his opening.
"ALRIGHT LISTEN UP!" He was grateful to see everyone's heads turn towards him. "I know you all want to get out of here but we can't let anyone on to the trucks until you've been screened. It doesn't take long but the longer you stay out here the longer it takes. So I need everyone to return to their homes. We will come for you. You will not be left behind. We don't have a lot of time however so if you want out of here you need to move RIGHT NOW!" As if the force of his last word was a bolt of lightning, everyone present jolted upright and then hurriedly shambled back towards their houses.
Once everyone had cleared away from the back of the trucks and hurriedly, if grudgingly made their way back to their houses Jack's team set to work. As they moved toward the houses, Jack had to curse his horrible sense of timing. He had only been on the island to oversee the final stages of a product release. You see, his name wasn't Jack Hawkins. Not really, anyway. While he preferred to be called Jack by his friends, his full proper name was Johnathan Montgomery Hawkings, CEO and founder of TAC-6 Industries. From an early age it was apparent that Jack was special. At 6 months old, he was speaking fluently. At age 2, with difficulty, he was reading Tolstoy. By age 3 where most kids were colouring on the walls, Jack was taking apart household electronics. After the third time his parents caught him carefully dismantling the VCR, they knew they had to give him every chance to succeed that they could. Graduating high school at age 12, Jack went on to attend and complete an undergraduate program in mechanical engineering. Bachelor's degree in hand, he then went on to become one of the youngest people to ever attend MIT. By the time he turned 18, he had attained a double master's degree in Mechanical engineering, and computer science.
Jack was always a tinkerer, an inventor, and growing up in a military family he knew how woefully inadequate the Canadian Forces body armour was. So with that in mind he sat down and cranked out a design for a new kind of plate carrier. To Jack, the design was the easy part. He knew it would sell. The hard part was getting people to invest. He quickly lost patience with the private sector after the third company in a row tried to buy the rights to the design from him. They all seemed to think that a 19 year old would see a check for five hundred thousand and jump up and down for joy. He knew how much his armour would be worth, and he wasn't going to let some private company make millions off of it while he was tossed a couple of bucks for his trouble.
He was sitting in a bar in Toronto complaining to a friend of his, about the arrogant asshole he had just talked to at AR5000.
"Well why don't you just make the damn thing yourself?" his friend Tommy as they scanned their surroundings for interested females.
"Well Tommy, where the fuck am I going to get the money for that? I'm kind of living pay check to pay check here." He said as he took a pull from his bottle of Molson Canadian.
"Look it's simple man. You designed this fucking thing for the Canadian Forces right? Go online and register a company name. then once you have that approved, go to a bank and file for a small business loan. That should give you enough capital to at least produce a prototype that you can take to their acquisitions people." Tommy had to laugh at Jack's stunned expression.
"That…. That did not occur to me. WHY DID THAT NOT OCCUR TO ME?"
"Maybe you're not that smart?" Tommy had to chuckle at Jack's sudden glare over the top of his beer bottle. The next twenty minutes were spent discussing possible names for his company. Several ideas were tossed about each of them being discarded. Jack knew that he wanted to make tactical gear. He wasn't looking to make things that would only be purchased by airsoft kids who wanted to look cool. He wanted to make gear that would keep soldiers safe. Body armour was what he wanted to be doing. With that in mind he kept trying to find a way to incorporate the word Tactical into the name somewhere. Right now the front runner was Hawkings Tactical. Somehow though it seemed too cliché. That form of name had been used far too often. He needed something different. Something that would portray professionalism while still being easy to brand.
"Wait dude I got it!" Jack perked up when he heard the excitement in Tommy's voice. "How many companies did you walk out from?"
Wrenching his mouth in disgust Jack replied "I terminated negotiations with six separate business entities"
"Ok Spock, with that in mind, how about TAC-6?"
It was born that night in a hipster bar lit by Christmas lights and covered in movie posters from the forties in downtown Toronto. The company that would make Johnathan Hawkings the first name in personal armour technology.
Once Jack was home he looked up a website that would allow him to register TAC-6 as a federally licensed business. He passed out halfway through filling out the form. When he woke up however, nursing his hangover, he finished filling out the online paperwork and submitted it.
That wasn't the end of it of course but within three months everything was up and running. He had his prototypes for testing and by his twentieth birthday had worked out a deal with the procurement officer for CANSOFCOM to supply vests for the Joint Task Force 2 teams and the Canadian Special Operations Regiment.
Three years and 16 billion dollars later, John found himself depressed. His entire life had been taken up by his business. He was 23 and couldn't remember the last time he'd taken a day for himself. It was when he was walking into some shitty coffee bar on his way into his office that he bumped into a familiar face. Tommy was walking out carefully balancing an overloaded coffee tray. Correction, 2nd Lieutenant Thomas Anderson. His best friend from college had joined the military.
"Tommy? Is that actually you?" he couldn't believe it.
"Jack? Holy shit man it's been years! I suppose there's no point in asking how you've been because it's plainly obvious. Seems I can't turn on the news without seeing some new story about the real life 'Iron Man'".
"God I hate that nickname." Jack moaned under his breath "Tony Stark at least had a sense of humor". Breaking off from his internal bitch-fest, he looked back up to Tommy "So you joined the army huh? Got to say I did not see that coming. Besides I thought I made damn sure you didn't need to work ever again."
Aside from the monthly checks he sent to his parents, He had set Tommy up with a 10% royalty from the TAC-6 name. He knew for a fact that because of one drunken night in a shitty bar Tommy was raking in the dough without ever having to lift a finger.
"You're right, I don't need to work but I want to. So I Joined the reserves as a logistics officer. It keeps me busy for a couple nights a week. Speaking of which-" He looked down at his watch with a panicked look "Oh Fuck! Sorry to cut this short dude but I'm going to be late." With that said Tommy ran out the door trying and mostly succeeding in not spilling the coffees everywhere.
After getting his own coffee and bagel Jack continued on with his day but it got him to thinking. The reserves might be a good idea. There was nothing saying he couldn't join if he wanted to. The only problem would be if the media got wind of it. He would have to create a new name for it. Not different enough to be charged for falsifying enlistment forms but different enough that the casual reporter might not think anything of it if they saw his name. Three days later in a pair of jeans and a brown zip up hoodie, forgoing one of his Armani suits in the name of being inconspicuous, he walked into the Canadian Forces Recruiting Centre.
Flash forward another three years, four promotions, and a transfer to Victoria British Columbia and he found himself in Saanich helping with an evacuation. They had already cleared about three houses on their side of the street and were moving into the fourth.
As Jack was moving up to the door a commotion behind them drew his attention. The other teams police escort was arguing with a very aggravated couple who were insisting on being allowed onto the trucks without screening. This was absolutely against their orders as it could risk spreading the virus to the mainland and the MP's were trying to explain this to the couple. Apparently the husband had a cough but it didn't matter because didn't they know who he was? His taxes paid their salary and with one phone call he could have them all fired. Pretty much every possible thing you could say to piss off a cop. Never mind the fact that they were all military and therefore federal employees and out of the arrogant asshole's reach. Jack had to chuckle privately to himself. None of them may know it but he could buy every single one of the expensive houses in this suburb and none of his bank accounts would even notice. Suddenly the argument changed dramatically when instead of yelling the man lunged for the officer's weapon. His bottle blonde wife who up until then and been nodding along and yelling agreement with her husband produced a steak knife from under her expensive rain jacket and lunged at the officer's partner. In a flash, Jack's own police escort was racing over to assist. Jack's hand twitched toward his own sidearm but left the Browning Hi-power in it's holster. It was made very clear to them by the organization that was handling the evacuation that they were there as bodies on the ground, NOT a fighting force. This was why they were not issued C7's and told not to wear any of their fighting order. All they wore was their uniforms, berets, raingear, a sidearm for worst case self defense, and the neon green safety vest they had been issued by the relief organization. There were teams out there for security as they were told. The Canadian Scottish Regiment were out in full kit with all their toys in case of armed rioters. The Organization they worked for was a strange one. It had only popped up in the days following the outbreak. No one had heard of them until then. CERA, the Canadian Emergency Response Agency was supposedly Canada's version of the American FEMA and had apparently always existed even though Jack could find no trace of them. They were willing to fund the evacuation however and the Canadian government had leapt at the offer.
By the time Jack had finished his internal monologue, the MP's had subdued the overly self entitled couple, quickly screened them, and were marching them over to their squad cars to begin processing them. Jack knew his orders were not to enter a residence without their police escort but their deadline was drawing closer with every passing second and he simply didn't have time to wait for them. Looking over at Jess he found her already looking back at him. He didn't even have to say a word She just nodded to him, her brown hair pulled up into a bun bobbing behind her head as she did so. With that unspoken agreement they moved up to the next door.
Stepping up onto the porch, Jack knocked loudly and announced. "CERA Forces! Open up for screening and evacuation!"
This was the first time he had actually had to knock. Usually people were waiting for him and opened the door before he was within five feet. Everyone wanted to leave. Everyone except these people apparently because a deep male voice replied with "Uh..no thanks man, we're good here."
This actually made Jack take a step back. This was a first, everyone wanted to leave. Well regardless his orders had been if they are healthy, they're leaving whether they want to or not.
"I'm sorry sir, but there's no choice in this. I need you to open the door. Everyone's leaving."
"Maybe I didn't make myself clear. FUCK. OFF."
Well Jack had tried being diplomatic about it, but he had his orders. Unless one of their family was sick, anyone who was healthy had to leave. He took a step back, heaved, and kicked the door right below the door knob. The door slammed open with the sound of wood splintering and metal rending.
As soon as he stepped through Jack knew why they didn't want to open the door. Directly on the floor in front of him was an elderly couple. Their hands and feet were bound, and their throats had been cut. Judging by the size of blood puddle beneath them, a puddle that Jack was now standing in, they had been dead for at least a few hours. Directly across from him at the head of what he assumed were her grandparents, a girl was sitting with her arms and legs bound a chair. She had a dish towel tied around her face as a gag and her makeup was streaming down her face. Jack said girl because she couldn't have been any older than maybe sixteen with long brown hair and green eyes. That was all Jack noticed before his hand jerked to his side arm. He had never had to draw a weapon on someone before but that wasn't going to stop him from shooting whoever had done this. He never got the chance. Before his weapon had cleared the holster, he felt a blinding pain in the back of his head. After that everything went black and he felt nothing for a long time.
Pain. That was Jack's entire world. He was floating in a sea of blackness with nothing around him except for pain. He became aware of the fact that he possessed a head, when he was able to determine the pain's source. Hands and arms sprung into being when he attempted to hold his head to stop the pain and found that he couldn't move them. The rest of his body was revealed in much the same manner. After what seemed like a lifetime, but was probably only two or three minutes, he was able to determine that he was laying on his front with his hands tied behind his back, and his feet secured at the ankles. Next came what might have been the hardest thing he had ever had to do in his life. He opened his eyes.
The light burned in like the light of a thousand suns being condensed into two distinct laser beams searing through to his soul. He wanted to scream but didn't know how. He shut his eyes against the pain. Of course even then the pain was excruciating. It wasn't until he finally registered someone trying to call his name weakly that he forced himself to open his eyes and take stock of his surroundings. With his sight came memory.
He was still in the house. That much was clear. He was bound hand and foot in the same living room lying in a puddle of someone else's blood. Panic struck him when he remembered Jess. Trying to look around was painful but he did it anyway. There she was right next to him also covered in someone else's blood looking at him anxiously.
"What the fuck happened?" Jack mumbled or at least that's what he thought he mumbled. What actually came out was something more like "whadda fuuuu-OOOOWWWWW- happpun" When he saw her look of confusion he coughed and spit out a mouthful of sticky coagulated blood and repeated his question again, clearly this time.
"Well from what I can tell… We were hit over the head with something. Looks like everyone else is dead." Jess managed to mumble out. "Our side arms are gone too."
Dammit she was right. Jack noticed that they had taken the whole goddamn holster with them.
"Did you get a look at who did it?" he wasn't really all that hopeful that she had.
"No I think they hid behind the door. Had to have been at least two of them."
Jack grunted in agreement and set to work trying to free himself. His hands were bound with duct tape from what he could feel. That was lucky he could still feel his knife clipped to the inside of his pocket so there was that.
"Jess can you get to my knife? It's inside my right pocket and I can't reach it." Jack had to try and shimmy closer to her and roll onto his side so that they were back to back. The sticky half dried blood on the floor made it extremely difficult however. He could feel it pulling at his clothing as he tried to move. Finally, and with great difficulty he managed to move close enough to Jess' reaching hands that she was able to dig his knife out of his pocket. Opening it was another matter as it too was covered in the congealed bodily fluid.
"Ugh God if I never have to see this much blood again it'll be too soon." She complained as she finally managed to flip the blade out behind her back.
"Just be glad it's not ours, now hurry up. I have no idea how long we've been out for. There's still a chance we can make the evacuation."
Bitching the entire time, Jess finally managed to cut the tape holding her hands together. Bringing them around to her front she winced as blood was allowed to flow back into the starved limbs. She then turned towards Jack and smoothly sliced the tape holding his hands together. After he managed to sit up and they cut the tape from their legs they looked around the room and immediately wished they hadn't. The elderly couple was where they had been when Jack came in. That hadn't changed. The girl was there too still tied to the chair. She unfortunately had changed. Her gag was gone for one thing, though she didn't need it anymore. So were her pants. It was obvious that she had been raped before someone took the time to calmly and smoothly slit her throat. The cut was deep and from what Jack could see had been done with an exceedingly sharp blade. That suspicion was confirmed when he spotted the bloody straight razor on the ground next to her body. Her head was slumped to the side, her eyes were open, and the entire front of her body was stained red except for where the blood had started to dry and turned brown. Sighing, Jack walked over to the girl's body and cut her free of the now useless restraints. Picking her up he was shocked at how light she was, and he placed her on the couch. He took the time to close her eyes and then covered her body with a nearby blanket.
"Ok, let's get the fuck out of here" Jack said as he straightened from the girl's body.
"Uh Jack…" Jess said with an uncertain tone in her voice. "Look at the time"
"Fuck" was the only word that Jack could utter when he looked at the clock above the fireplace. It read 7:32 PM. The Island had been under quarantine for over an hour now. It was over. They were trapped.
When they stepped outside, the silence was deafening. Since it was the middle of winter, the sun had already gone down long ago. The steady ever present rain continued to mist down onto to them and wash the dried blood off of their faces. As Jack looked down he could see the puddle beneath his feet turning red in the light of the street lamps. Clothing and personal belongings were scattered in the street. He hoped that they had gotten everyone out in time. From the silence surrounding them, it seemed to be true. For this neighborhood anyway.
He spotted two familiar lumps out near where the trucks had been parked. Walking closer he was able to confirm that both his and Jess' rucksacks were sitting against the curb mostly protected from the rain by an overhanging tree. It would seem they hadn't completely given up on them being alive. He didn't blame them for leaving. He would have done the same. They hadn't had any other choice given the situation. So they tossed out their rucks and hoped for the best.
As they shouldered their rucks Jess turned to him and asked "So what are we gonna do now?"
Jack knew what the obvious answer was. It was hard though. He had spent three years carefully cultivating this separate identity and he was loathe to throw it all away now.
"Alright listen. I have something I need to tell you. I also have a plan but first it's late, and we're exposed out here." Gesturing to one of the nearby houses he said "Let's spend the night in one of these places and in the morning we'll hike back to the armouries."
Suiting action to words he shouldered his pack and started walking towards the nearest house. He knew he had to get them off the street. With the evacuation gone, all emergency services went with it. Police were gone, and with them the requirement to obey the law. Jack figured that by this time tomorrow it would be full blown anarchy. If it wasn't already.
The house they took shelter in would provide them with the safety they needed. First thing they needed to do was check to make sure it was clear. Then, they had to secure all the entrances. After that maybe they would be able to take off their blood soaked clothing and take a shower. It might be their last chance for a long time.
It didn't take them long to clear and lock the house. The deadbolts looked sturdy enough to hold, and if they didn't then they would make one hell of a noise when they gave out. Jack located a bedroom upstairs that had a door lock on it with an attached bathroom.
"Alright we're going to sleep here in shifts, four hours each. There's a bathroom with a shower in there. Might as well get cleaned up while we have a chance. We should be safe here for tonight." He didn't need to say safe from what. Society had been on the tipping point for the last week. The evacuation was the last push it needed to send it over the edge. "You can take the first shower. Throw your clothes out to me and I'll try and clean them as best I can." She just nodded to him and grabbed a towel out of the nearby linen closet and walked into the bathroom closing the door behind her. Jack started removing his own bloodstained uniform. He winced as the dried blood pulled at his skin. Finally stripped down to his boxers he examined himself in the mirror. He stood at 5'9 and weighed 180 lbs of lean muscle. He had always had a stocky frame, with wide shoulders and rib cage. His family had always had a predisposition to carry extra weight around the middle but he had managed to stave it off with a religious work out regimen. He ran 5 km every morning, with a half marathon thrown in every now and then. He regularly practised martial arts, changing styles every two years. Since he turned 16 he had become proficient in Boxing, Escrima, Kenjutsu, Wing Chung, and Krav Maga. He was by no means a master at any of them but he was able to mix them together to create his own sparring style.
Right now his body was covered in sticky blood and gore. The rain had managed to wash a fair amount of it off his face but his sandy brown hair that had previously been styled in a captain America style side part was now a matted and tangled mess of blood and dirt. Summed up, he looked like shit.
The sound of the bathroom door opening distracted him as Jess tossed out her clothing. Jack caught a quick flash of bare leg before the door closed. Chuckling and admonishing himself for trying to check out a married woman he picked up her soiled clothes and took them to the laundry and tossed them in with his. He wrapped a towel around his waist and added his own boxers to the pile and poured in twice the amount of soap and started the machine. He went back to the bedroom and sat down on the bed to wait for the shower by the light of the small bedside lamp. It was the only light he would allow as it was easily concealable from the window.
He didn't have to wait long as Jess soon stepped out of the shower wrapped in a towel and wringing out her hair with another.
"Shower's all yours."
"Thanks Jess."
His shower was longer than he intended it to be. The water felt good against the throbbing in the back of his head. As he stood under the hot stream, he watched the red stained water flow into the drain. He was running his plan over in his head constantly repeating it, trying to find any flaw that he could. Unfortunately, the flaws were numerous and unavoidable. Too many things were capable of going wrong. It was too easy to die trying for Jack to be comfortable with it. Unfortunately, He didn't have any other choice but to continue with it.
The sound of the bathroom door opening broke him out of his reverie.
"Hey Jack?"
He poked his head out around the frosted glass of the shower stall to see her standing in the doorway. She was wearing fresh underwear and a long OD t-shirt that covered her to her hips. Her long brown hair looked almost black from the dampness as it hung over her left shoulder. He kind of hated Chris sometimes.
"What's up Jess?" he could tell she was on the edge. There was going to be a breakdown eventually but she was holding it together for now.
She moved into the bathroom and sat down on top of the toilet seat. Jack ducked back into the shower and tried to wash the blood out of his hair.
"Do you think Chris made it?" The pain in her voice was evident.
"I'm sure Chris got out in time. He was stationed closer to the ferries than we were." Whether that made her feel any better or not he had no idea but from the little he knew of women, probably not.
"I'm never going to see him again am I?"
Jack almost stepped out of the shower to confront her but stopped himself when he remembered his state of undress.
"Now you listen to me. I don't care how hopeless everything seems. You will see him again. I promise you. I will do everything in my power to ensure that. You. Will. See. Him. Again." There was a significant pause for a minute where Jack could hear her sniffing back tears.
"Thanks Jack. I don't know why but that actually made me feel a little better. Now what was it you said you had to tell me? Something about a plan?"
This was the part that Jack was dreading. Having to explain his background to her. He knew it had to be done though so he finished showering and asked her to hand him a towel. He stepped out of the shower and looked in the mirror. He needed a shave. He knew he was just stalling but he didn't care. Unfortunately for Jack, Jess took the decision out of his hands.
"Jack, tell me what the fuck is going on!"
So he did.
He explained everything, who he was, what he did for a living, and why he had kept it all a secret. It took about half an hour to get through everything. When he was done he leaned back against the wall, still wrapped in his towel, folded his arms and waited for her reaction.
She looked at him like he had just told her he was Santa Claus. Half awed and half disbelieving.
"Ok, Mr. Billionaire. Was there supposed to be a plan somewhere in there?"
Jack couldn't help it. He laughed. A deep belly laugh. Here he was stressing out over telling her this and she just brushed it off like it wasn't important. It was intensely amusing.
"Ok fine, here's the plan. We spend the night here. In the morning we hike back to the armouries. It's not too far, maybe 2K we can easily make that in about twenty minutes. After that we load up on weapons and ammo, grab a vehicle and head up island. I have a cabin out there where we can be safe. I guess cabin is a bit of a misnomer. It's more of a compound, but it's highly secured."
"That's your plan? Go to the Armouries, steal a truck and drive off into the sunset?" While her words were sharp her face told a different story. Jack could see that Jess was considering it.
"I mean… It's not the best plan but…. Alright fuck it, we don't exactly have a lot of options. I'm in."
Jack smiled. That was all there was to do.
After their discussion in the bathroom, they moved back into the main room and Jack started digging through his rucksack in order to find a clean pair of Boxers. Jess politely turned her head when he dropped his towel and pulled them on. After that Jack volunteered to take the first watch and sent her to bed. There was no way he was leaving the room so he sat down in an armchair near the corner and continued trying to iron out his plan.
About forty minutes and a break to change over the laundry later he was once again jerked out of his thoughts by the sound of Jess' voice.
"Jack… could you come here please. I don't want to be alone right now."
Sighing quietly to himself, he got up and climbed into the King-sized bed behind her. He could understand not wanting to be alone. He shimmied in behind her and laid his head down on a pillow. He knew there was no way he could fall asleep right now so he wasn't worried about it.
He was surprised to feel Jess' arm reach behind her and grab his wrapping it around her mid section so that her breasts rested on top of his forearm. He could feel her body shuddering as she tried to hold back the tears. Suddenly she whirled around in his arms and buried her face in his shoulder. She let everything go. All the pain and worry she was feeling she spilled out into his OD T-shirt. He knew it wasn't because it was him there. It was because Chris wasn't and he was the closest she could get. He was okay with that. After a while of pain wracked sobs she finally tired herself out and fell asleep. He continued to hold her.
Jack awoke to the sound of a loud crunch from somewhere in the house. Instantly he was awake.
"Jack, what's going on?" He could feel Jess still wrapped in his arms. Her hair was tickling his face as he tried to get his bearings.
"I don't know, stay here." Of course he would fall asleep. He was lucky they were still alive right now. Anything could have happened. Judging by the faint predawn light coming in through the window they had slept for about ten hours. It most be close to six am by now.
Jack climbed out of bed and silently padded to the door. He could hear voices coming from downstairs.
"See what the fuck they got in this place. I want food, I want weapons, I want drugs, and I want booze."
The voice was not one Jack recognized as he crept to the railing at the top of the stairs. From this vantage point he could see into the entranceway and living room. There were five men arrayed below him. All five were dressed in rough work clothes that consisted of things like wool shirts, paint stained jeans and boots, and torn jackets.
What wasn't standard however were the weapons they carried and the large amount of blood covering the front of one of them. The one covered in blood had what looked like a M1911 .45 tucked into the front of his pants and a large blood stained machete in his hands. Another had a hunting rifle slung over one shoulder and a bottle of expensive looking tequila in his hands. One man held a bat, one held an axe and the last one held a snub nosed .38 special loosely in his grip.
He knew he was going to have to play this carefully. If he still had his sidearm, he would have considered engaging them but given that they were un armed and outnumbered he decided that discretion being the better part of valor he was going to get Jess up and try and sneak out the bedroom window. Just as he decided this and began slowly backing away, a floorboard he was standing on decided to sing him the song of its people. It gave off a loud squeak which had every bleary eye below him focused directly onto his position.
"Hey it's you again! Come on down and join the party! Where's that cute piece of ass you had with you?" The man with the machete said.
Clearly this was one of the men who had hit him back at the other house. Well he didn't know it but he had just died.
"She's dead. You hit her too hard. I think her brain hemorrhaged internally." Jack said as flatly as he could while walking down the stairs towards him.
"Aww that's a shame. She looked like she would'a been a lot'a fun in the sack. That Jailbait earlier wasn't bad but I had to wait my turn for her. Nah, that soldier bitch woulda been nice."
It took everything Jack had not to lunge for the man's throat. He knew though that with patience he would kill him. Jack continued to draw closer until he was stopped by the leaders raised Machete.
"Ah that's far enough. Now on your knees, fucker." Jack stared him in the eye refusing to even so much as blink. It had the desired effect.
He could see the others mans face twist with rage as he punched Jack in the stomach. He had been expecting the hit, however and was able to move with it. He dropped to his knees, only partially faking the pain.
"Haha now im gonna kill you like I should have back then. With this guys."
Jack could see out of the corner of his eyes that the main man wasn't even looking at him anymore but at the faces of his buddies as he gloated.
Jack lunged.
He delivered a sharp jab straight to the man's trachea. It was intensly satisfying to feel the cartilage crunch under his knuckles. Without stopping his momentum, he used the jump upwards to get around behind him and plant a foot in the back of the other man's knee. As he was forced into a kneeling position Jack wrapped his left arm all the way around the man's neck until he grabbed his right shoulder. He then did the same thing with his right arm until he had the man's chin caught in the crook of his elbow. All he did then was pull his arms apart. His neck snapped with a sound of a dry twig breaking. The entire exchange lasted about four seconds.
Before the body had a chance to fall Jack reached down and drew the 1911 from the front of his waistband. Praying to any god he could think of that it was loaded, he raised the gun to the man with the .38 who by now was aiming at him. With a pull of the trigger the old warhorse roared and blew the top quarter of snub nose's head off. Whirling, he then shot the man with the hunting rifle in the chest before he could chamber a round. The round exited, leaving a hole the size of a grapefruit. By now the man with the axe was charging him. Jack stepped aside, delivered a roundhouse kick the axeman's midsection and shot him in the back of the head as he stumbled past. He turned just in time to catch Batman's charge head on, jumping in under his overhead swing. Jack wrapped an arm around the man's neck and fired three times into his chest. The shots were muffle by his body. Jack stepped back and surveyed the scene. Five men dead in under a minute. He tried to ignore the way his hands shook as he checked the magazine in the gun. Two rounds left. He could hear his blood pounding and he felt like he was going to be sick. He knew it was adrenaline but that didn't help.
"Holy fuckballs! Jack what the fuck did you do to them." Jess' eloquent outburst broke Jack out of his inward spiral. He looked up to see her standing at the top of the railing right by the treacherous floorboard that had given him away. Her hair was still mussed up from sleep but she stared down in an even mix of horror and alarm.
"I killed them." He said simply. He had a tendency to do that. During times of high stress, he would revert to short concise sentences with minimal eye contact.
"Well no shit Sherlock I saw you kill them I mean…. You just flowed. One second you're on the ground, next second you're this whirling death machine."
"Oh that. Yes, daily martial arts practise." Suddenly the reality of the situation snapped Jack back into the present. Shaking his head, he took in his surroundings. He was standing in a group of five dead bodies in his underwear holding one of their guns. A very LOUD gun. It was time to go.
"Get back to the room, get dressed and get packed. We're leaving in five minutes." Suiting action to words Jack raced up the stairs and began pulling on clothing. He spared a minutes to pull their dry yet still stained clothing out of the laundry and crammed them into his rucksack not bothering to separate them according to ownership. When they were finally dressed they went back downstairs and Jack began searching the bodies. Unfortunately, besides the weapons he had already seen, they carried no extra ammunition. The hunting rifle carried five rounds of .308, the 1911 had two rounds of .45 ACP, and the snub nosed .38 special only had one round left. Jack tucked the 1911 into the back of his waistband and Jess picked up the hunting rifle and the .38. Stepping out into the rain they looked out at the street as the sun started to crest the horizon behind the cloud cover. They knew where they had to go. They knew what they had to do. Tugging his bush cap low over his eyes to keep out the rain Jack stepped off on what he had a feeling, would be one hell of a ride.
A/N There it is. Since the moment I first posted it I had been unhappy with my first chapter. I felt like I didn't put enough work into it and it showed. So here it is the Chapter 1 RETCON Stay tuned Shit-birds.