Chapter 21: War Never Changes
Chapter 21: War Never Changes
As night fell, the group on the border of the farm started mobilising their weaponry, waiting for the command to unleash their bloodlust on the people who killed Matt in cold blood.
"Now then ladies, the people who killed Matt are in that little campsite up ahead on the farm, I am gonna walk up there with a white flag, draw them out, Drew is in charge of the rest of you dummies, when I give the signal, you guys unleash hell on these bastards" said Merle
There were a few cheers and whoops at that.
"They also have a few ladies over there, I am sure you know we should treat them as if they were royalty" said Merle causing some jeering and laughter.
"Right then, get ready boys when the others get here I will give the signal over the walkie talkie, let's get going" said Merle
Speak of the Devil the walkie talkie squawked at that moment.
"Guys, someone is attacking the camp, he killed Dave, Tony, Jack and Marcus!" Shouted Mickey down the mic
The people gathered looked at Merle expectantly, he grabbed the walkie talkie.
"Keep him there, we are on the way" said Merle
After a moment, a voice said "No deal" as the radio clicked ominously.
"Shit, what do we do?" Asked Dwayne, one of the groups scavengers.
"We get back there of course numb nuts" said Merle as he got into the cab of a white van,
The group made their way back to their camp in ten minutes, but they were too late, the camp was pretty much destroyed, the camp was looted and not one thing was left standing in the aftermath.
"Damn, one person did this?" Asked one of the group in awe.
"Yeah, we're boned" said another
"How can we take out that group, with that thing on their side?" Asked another
"Easy, we attack them hard and fast" said Merle "C'mon, back to the forward camp and we'll start the attack"
The group rolled out and got back to their old places as Merle walked out like he said earlier, he saw the group had fortified themselves well, the cars were backed into a circle around that damn RV
"Hello, anyone home?" He called out
There was no answer so he moved forwards, curiously there was a gap where a person could step through, so he walked through and looked around, no one was there, and as he stepped forward, he stopped as he felt a gun barrel poking his head.
"Not bad" said Merle
"I try" said a voice behind him "put your hands up"
"Hey, that's rude, I only have one hand" said Merle
"I know you have a knife strapped to the metal so do yourself a favour and raise it" said the person behind him
Merle unstrapped the knife and dropped it; he saw it was kicked away as the group revealed themselves from various hiding spots.
"Where's Daryl?" Asked Merle
"Right here bro" said a voice in the gloom as Daryl emerged with his crossbow raised.
"Pointing your weapon at me, tsk, tsk, tsk that is not how brothers greet each other Daryl" said Merle
"I aint pointing it at you bro" said Daryl "Lower your gun, Ben"
"Sure, I don't want any more bloodshed if I can help it" said the voice behind Merle
He moved in front of Merle so he could get a proper look at him.
He was average height, a bit of fat but not too much, not amazingly muscular, brown hair and eyes, gold coloured glasses and black clothing, he had a suppressed pistol In his hand, a samurai sword strapped across his back and a sniper slung on his shoulder.
"So, this is the guy who ransacked my camp without provocation. I am honoured" said Merle, his voice dripped with sarcasm.
"I dealt with a threat to the group, I heard your buddies plot the takeover of the farm, so I killed them to protect the people here" said Ben "Now, I know you have your goons in the forest, call them off, or we will kill them" said Ben
"Fine" said Merle as he grabbed a walkie talkie from his belt.
"Boys, get out here" said Merle
Glenn called down to the group that the armed people were taking cover by the barn.
"I told you to call them off Merle, not call them to their death" said Ben as he took the walkie talkie from him.
"They are hardened men, they can take whatever you pussies can throw at them" sneered Merle
"We shall see" said Ben as he unslung his L96 and brought the scope up to his face and fired at the barn.
Gunfire filled the air as the men returned fire, hot lead filled the air from both sides, Ben aimed at one hidden by a barrel and shot him without remorse in his lung, he waited for someone to come to his aid, and then shot him, soon out of the original 25 men there were 19 left.
"Time to finish this" said Ben, he took aim at the padlock on the barn and shot it.
The result flooded out of the doors as the groans of the damned flooded the battlefield drowned out the sound of the guns. The men by the barn had no warning and no chance. The dead fell on their flanks with no remorse.
The ones further away killed them as they killed their men. After the slaughter there were very few of the armed group left, the majority of them were by the barn, and were consumed. There was only about 7 left, counting a wounded man.
"Farmhouse, finish them off!" said Ben into his walkie talkie
As he finished the sentence, two deafening BOOMS! filled the air, the bullets tore into the men without mercy, taking no prisoners.
The remaining survivors dropped their guns and surrendered.
"Rick, Shane and T-Dog can you get them please?" Asked Ben "We'll keep you covered"
The men walked out and binded their captive's hands and feet with rope, they dragged them to the barrier and brought them inside, they dropped them at Merle's feet.
"Farmhouse, nice work" said Ben into the mic
"This is farmhouse, you're welcome" came Andrea's voice
"What now then?" Said Ben to Merle
"Uhhh I kill you and take your farm, sound good?" Asked Merle
"Only four of you, with no weapons? Yeah, you're an idiot. No deal" said Ben
"Well then, we're at an impasse" said Merle
"Daryl, what do you think we should do? He is your brother, but be warned we won't have him here, he will try to kill Ben and Rick if he stays" said Shane
"You aint killin' him" said Daryl, raising his crossbow on the others and standing by Merle.
The rest of the group raised their weapons in retaliation.
"You hypocrite" said Daryl to Ben "Wasn't more than a week ago you said 'we don't kill the living'"
"That changed when the living tried to kill us" said Ben
While they bickered, Dwayne had gotten his spare handgun from his waistband and turned off the safety.
"For the fallen!" He shouted as he rolled and shot his gun rapidly from the floor.
The bullets narrowly shaved past Ben and Shane as they both shot at Dwayne, convulsing under the weight of bullets and died.
"That was too close" said Ben
A scream rent the air.
They turned as one to see two figures on the ground, Jacqui and Amy, the former was holding onto the latter's hand as she clutched feebly at the bullet hole on her upper torso.
All the group could do was watch as Jacqui departed this world.
Ben furiously turned around to Merle before seeing a gun barrel pointed at his head.
"See you in Hell limey!" said Merle
He pulled the trigger.
BOOM!