Chapter 3

Jackpot

"Mikey! I swear to fucking God, if you both don't shut the fuck up, you're dead!" Austin shouted down the hall.

I rose up off the floor, rubbing my eyes. I heard pounding on a wall, coming down the hall.

"Mikey! Last chance shithead!" Austin shouted again.

"Oh fuck…"

I jumped up, swung my door open and ran down the hall. Austin and Justin were standing at the doorway to the guest room.

"What the hell is up with the noise?!" I question, still rubbing my eyes.

"Listen…" Austin harshly whispered.

I put my eye to the door. I could hear Emma's voice coming from the other side.

"Oh Mikey… –moan- Uh-huh… YES!"

I jumped back from the door in disgust. I turned back to my brother, his face fuming with rage. I pointed to the door, my mouth wide open in disbelief. Austin nodded, his fist balled up.

"I'll fix this. He'll stop one way or another." I said. "Stand back."

Austin and Justin took a step back. I stepped back, and gave a swift front kick to the door. It flew off its hinges and landed inside the room. We all looked in to see Emma on top of Mikey, riding him.

"Mikey, what the fuck!?" Justin shouted. "We have better things to do than…"

Austin bolted into the room. Emma jumped off Mikey and over to the other side of the bed. Austin grabbed Mikey, and tossed him clean off the bed and onto the floor. Before he could stand up, Austin gave him a hard left hook to the jaw. Mikey collapsed on the floor…with…no pants…

"Fuck you, you fuckin bitch!" Austin shouted at Mikey's limp body on the ground. He turned to glare at Emma, who was cowering under the bed sheets in the floor. Austin stormed out of the room and went down the hall. I heard his door slam shut.

I looked to Emma and pointed to Mikey.

"Dress him when he wakes up." I said. I turned and walked towards the kitchen to find food. Justin followed.

"Damn, your brother seems kind of tense, eh?" Justin asked. I pulled two cereal snack bars out of the pantry.

"Can you blame him?" I asked. I tossed one of the bars to Justin. "Our parents are dead, and he found someone he hates havin' sex in his own house. How would you feel?" I said, chomping down on my food.

Justin shrugged. "I don't know. I guess if the chick was hot enough, I get rid of the guy and start bangin' her instead." He said with a smirk.

"YOU would ya fuckin Italian." I said, punching him on the shoulder. Justin replied with a chuckle.

I made my way back to my room. I turned the handle and pushed it open…or at least tried to. I fell into the door face-first. It was locked.

"The fuck…?"

I wondered how my door locked itself.

"Who is it?"

I heard Kiley ask from inside. I rolled my eyes.

"It's me! Lemme in" I said, giggling the handle.

"The door is locked James. We're changing" Kiley replied.

"Really? In my room of all places?! We have bathrooms!" I shouted.

"Well, we didn't know how long you would be.' Amy said.

"Fuckin great…" I muttered.

"We'll be done in a minute." Kiley said.

"Hmph… Women…"

000

After everyone was dressed, and Mikey was woken back up, we all met outside. We all had some guns and gear ready with us.

"Alright everyone, pay attention. We gotta get this place secured. Being out here in the middle of nowhere is going to be our best defense." I shouted. "We need to split into several groups. We need one for home defense, one for food runs, another for supplies, and one more for weapons. We need to split up, scavenge for a set amount of time and return back. We'll repeat the next day."

"Who's goin' where and doin' what?" Austin asked, a cigarette hanging loosely from his mouth.

"Bro, you stay here. Kiley, Amy, and Lisandra. You all stay too." I said. "Board up the house and do what you can to make this place safer."

"Great, we have to fucking babysit…" Kiley huffed, her arms crossed and rolling her eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sandra asked.

"Enough!" I shouted. "EJ, Ashley and Alrene. I want you guys to raid as many food places you can. I don't care if it's a grocery store, a fast food joint, or a hotdog stand." They all nodded in agreement.

"Vic. I need you, Mikey and… -sigh- Emma to go find supplies. We need gas, building supplies, anything useful you can find." I said to the three of them.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you babe." Mikey said, putting his arm around Emma's waist.

"Shut the fuck up shithead…" Austin growled. I shook my head.

"I would tell you two to get a room, but look how that ended." Kiley retorted.

"People, put your shit to the side for now. FUCK!..." I yelled. "Justin, Eric and I will look for guns. We'll bring back any ammo and weapons we find, even if we ain't got any bullets." I said.

"Fuck yeah!" Justin shouted. "Gun run!"

"Cool it shorty." Eric said, smacking Justin in the back of the head.

"Ah, fuck off…" Justin replied.

"You have your instructions, let's get to work. Move out!" I said.

Justin and Eric followed me to my car. We all got in and buckled up. I started the car and started to head off towards town. The others followed in their vehicles as well.

000

We all drove with each other for some time. By the time we arrived in town, we all split off. I grabbed the radio from the center of my car and held it to my mouth.

"Can you all hear me loud and clear?" I asked.

Silence filled the air for a brief moment, then static came through.

"Roger. Loud and clear." Vic said.

"We hear you guys." EJ replied.

"We can hear you at home base too." Kiley said.

"Good, we'll use these to keep in touch. I doubt phones work much now. If you find any extra vehicles, either syphon the gas or take the whole damn car." I said.

"We will." Vic replied.

"Ok. Meet back at the highway in one hour. Keep each other posted." I said

"Gotcha." EJ replied.

I hung the mouth piece up and continued to the gun shop I knew about.

"Isn't it unfair for you to have all the guns, James?" Justin asked.

"These are MINE. As in, I OWN them." I replied. I was a bit overpowered. I had my 9mm Berretta on my right leg, my .357 Magnum revolver under my left arm in a shoulder holster, a sword on my back and a sawed-off lever-action shotgun on my left leg. But hey, at least that means I'm prepared.

"Well, hopefully we'll find some good shit…" Eric said, holding onto his AR15 rifle.

"Hopefully…" I said. "There's the shop. Let's see what we can find."

"Let's hope it's not picked clean…" Justin replied.

I pulled the car up next to the front door. We all got out and started to make our way in. I pulled my 9mm out and held it at the ready. I turned and nodded to Justin and Eric, they nodded back. I walked up to the door and eased it open.

All the lights were off. Some of the cases were busted open and empty gun racks were exposed.

"Search the place guys. Make sure we're alone." I whispered over my shoulder. Eric looked around the shop and Justin looked in the back rooms.

I went around the counter to see if there was anything of use. I pecked at the register to see if I could open it. I banged it around a couple times and nothing happened. I found a piece of metal and tried prying it open. That worked.

Money was still in there. I started stuffing it in my pockets.

"You think that has any worth now?" Eric asked, walking back into the main room, his gun over his shoulder.

"Better safe than sorry, right?" I asked. He nodded

"We're all good back here James." Justin said, joining us. I nodded to him. Looking through the register, I found a key card. I picked it up and examined it. I looked to the display cases to see if it would work, but no card slot.

I looked around and found a small slot for a card under the counter, out of plain view. I slide the card in and back out. There was a quick beep sound made. Suddenly, I felt the floor shake underneath me. I jumped back to see some of the wood flooring slide away and disappear. A steel staircase was revealed and let into a dark room.

I motioned for Eric and Justin and we made our way down, guns ready. We made it in the small room, but we were surrounded in darkness. I felt the walls and found a switch. I flipped it up and got ready for anything.

The whir of electricity sounded. Lights inside the room flickered and then brightened. The room lit up brightly.

"Jack-fucking-pot" Justin said in astonishment.

We found a hidden storage room, underneath the store. There were rows of rifles, shotguns, pistols, even some grenades. There were cases upon cases of ammo. More than we could ever need.

"Eric, call everyone on the radio and let them know… My car can't carry all this…" I said, my jaw practically on the ground.

000

"I think that's the last case." EJ said, putting a giant case of ammo in his car.

"Good job everyone. I think the weapon situation is good for now. Just don't go killing every zombie you see." I said.

"Dammit…" Justin mumbled, kicking the gravel.

"You'll get your chance soon, shorty." Vic said. Justin only grumbled more.

I turned to Mikey, who was ,surprisingly, standing by himself.

"Where's Emma?" I asked.

"Oh! She cut her ankle pretty bad. I patched her up best I could. She's in the truck." Mikey replied.

I looked to her direction. "Well, we'll get Amy to look at it anyway." I said. "Let's head home people. Time to hurry back home."

We made it back to our vehicles and got ready to go. Suddenly, static started coming through my radio. I turned the knob to adjust it and tried to make it clearer. A female voice came through.

"Help me! I'm trapped… Liberty…Hospi…wards…ple…save me!"

I looked to Justin.

"Sounds like a distress signal coming from the wards of Liberty Hospital." Justin said.

I thought to myself for a moment.

"Justin. You and Eric go with the others, I'll handle this myself." I said.

"No way you're going by yourself!" Eric shouted.

"Just do as I say. I'll take a look and be right back. If I'm not back or you don't hear from me in an hour, come looking." I replied.

Eric huffed. "Alright."

They both got in the others vehicles and headed back home. I made my way to the hospital.

000

I pulled up and parked at the front door. I got out and pulled out my 9mm.

"Could be a trap… but let's just see anyway… I may find medical stuff here…"

I made my way inside the hospital. The whole place was quiet, too quiet. I hated the silence. I walked down the desolate halls, blood splattered on the floor and walls here and there. It was quite a sickening sight.

"HELP MEEE!"

I heard the same female voice coming down the hall. It was faint, but I knew about where she was. I ran in the direction of her screams.

"HELP MEEE! PLEEEEASE!"

"Where are you!?" I shouted.

"PLEASE HELP!"

I ran and the cries got louder with each step. I heard her crying from inside one room. I kicked the door in and stepped inside. I pointed my gun around and turned on my flashlight.

"HELP MEEE!"

I shined my light into a corner. There she was, curled up in a bloody ball in the back most corner of the room.

"I'm here to recue you ma'am. Don't be afraid." I assured, walking towards her.

"HELP MEEE!" she screamed.

"No need to shout I'm here." I said again.

I noticed a small object on the floor next to her. It was a recorder. I shined my light on it. It was connected to a speaker on playback.

"What the fuck..?"

I reached down and lifted her head to see who she was.

As I lifted her head, her screams echoed through the speaker again. He face was sewn shut… her eye sockets and mouth… stitched closed…

"WHAT THE FUCK!?" I screamed, jumping back.

Before I could run, I heard a set of very heavy footsteps coming up behind me. I turned to see a giant silhouette of a man. He was huge.

Before I could react, he clubbed me on the head. I fell to the ground and blacked out. The last thing I remember…was him dragging me by my legs… down a bloody hallway…

[Uh-oh… James is in some deep shit now people. What was the purpose of the playback message? Who is the giant man? Will Mikey keep his dick in his pants? Who knows! Find out what happens next time in – "The Butcher's Lair" dun-dun-duuuuuuuun]