Running Towards The Abyss Read online

  “There’s no doubt in my mind that they were connected to Carter and his people. The question is, can they connect the dots back to here? If those three carloads of guys found their dead friends in the house and then retraced their steps to the truck stop where their guys ambushed your people, is there any way they might find a connection to the school here?”

  Tina nodded. “I’m sure Jason was carrying his police ID. And Margo and Lamar probably had their student ID cards with them. So yeah, it wouldn’t be too hard to put the pieces of the puzzle together.”

  “How many people did you see in that convoy?” Jake asked Chuck.

  “I counted nine males. It was dark and I was only able to see in the light of their car headlights so I could’ve missed a couple. How many folks do you have on campus here?”

  “We’ve had a few more join us since this started. We were up to ninety but we just lost three so make it eighty-seven. Now, not all of those eighty-seven are fighters. I’d say maybe a quarter to a third could be depended on in a fight.”

  “I can’t imagine nine guys trying anything unless they have a lot of reinforcements,” McCain observed. “I think we’re OK. It might not be a bad idea, though, to beef up your security patrols for the next couple of days. How are you set for weapons?”

  Tina and Jake looked at each other and shrugged. “Not so good,” Nicholson answered.

  “I might be able to help you out a little with that,” McCain told him.

  Before he could elaborate, a pretty girl with almond-colored skin walked up to the three of them. Chuck recognized her as the young woman who had comforted Elizabeth while she was talking to the group.

  “Hi, Mr. Nicholson, Officer Miles. Mr. McCain, I’m Miss Benton’s assistant, Alicia. She asked me to drive you over to the dorm and show you to your room. She left a little while ago with some of her friends. She asked me to tell you that she’ll see you later but she really needed a shower,” Alicia said, with a beautiful smile. Chuck sensed that there was a toughness to Alicia that wasn’t too far below the attractive surface.

  Tina looked at Jake and said, “I’ll go double-check the patrol schedule and see how we can add some more manpower. From here on out, we need to have the supply teams leave their school IDs behind. I hate the idea that some gang might try to attack us here.”

  To Chuck, she said, “Good to meet you, Chuck. Thanks for bringing Elizabeth home. I look forward to talking more. I’ll see you guys later.” She turned and was gone.

  Chuck noticed the way Jake and Tina looked at each other. They were about the same age, mid-to-late-forties, and it was obvious that there was some chemistry there. Good for them, he thought. If you have to be stuck on a technical school campus out in the middle of nowhere, waiting for the world to end, you might as well be stuck with someone who loves you.

  “Jake, you look like a man who appreciates a drink from time to time,” Chuck said, after Tina had walked away.

  “That I am,” Nicholson said, “that I am, but you’ll have to forgive me for my lack of hospitality. The zombie apocalypse has made it kind of tough to keep my bar stocked.”

  McCain smiled. “Come see me later, wherever Alicia is taking me. You bring a couple of glasses and I’ll provide the bourbon. I’d love to talk and see how we might be able to help each other.”

  At the mention of bourbon, Jake’s eyes lit up and he nodded his head. “Sounds good. I’ll see you after while. Enjoy your shower.”

  Alicia had been standing by Chuck during the whole exchange with Tina and Jake, waiting patiently. He smiled at her and said, “Lead on.”

  Outside of Lavonia, Georgia, Friday, 1300 hours

  Joey Lester and Wesley Maddox sat at the kitchen table in Wesley’s home, several miles east of Lavonia. They were each holding a lit cigarette, with two open bottles of beer leaving rings on the table in front of them. Conversation from the rest of the house carried into them as the crew talked, drank, and smoked weed.

  The two men had just walked in the door from their reconnaissance of the Northeast Georgia Technical College. Don and Hoss had accompanied them but had stayed with the trucks while Joey and Wesley slipped into the woods. The gang leaders had learned that you always took at least two vehicles when you had to go somewhere, since you never knew when you would encounter zombies or people with guns. A second vehicle increased your chances of getting away alive.

  All of the men had grown up in Franklin or Hart Counties and were familiar with the school. The college was in a remote area, seven miles southeast of the small town. There were scattered homes along the way but Joey and the others had searched them on other looting trips and knew that they had all been abandoned.

  Lester had turned into a dirt driveway a quarter mile before reaching the school’s entrance, pulling up next to an old, gray double-wide mobile home. Harper followed and they turned both trucks around for a quick escape. This vacant home bordered the college campus, with the school only six hundred yards through the woods.

  Several months earlier, right after the zombies had swept through the area, Joey had taken his team down the long driveway to the school. His plan had been to see what had been left behind. He’d had no idea that people were still on campus until he saw the barricade a few hundred feet in front of him and two students pointing guns at them.

  Joey and Wesley, along with most of their gang, made their living as burglars. They did have a few car thieves and armed robbers among them, as well, but Lester and Maddox always tried to break into homes and businesses when no one was there. They didn’t want to get shot or have to shoot anybody. The last thing that Joey wanted was to be involved in a firefight so upon seeing the armed roadblock at the entrance to the college, the thieves had immediately turned their vehicles around and left quickly. Since then, they had steered clear of the technical school, not knowing how many armed people were on the campus.

  Now, however, they wanted to get some payback. All the evidence pointed to people from this school as having been the ones to kill Jerry at the truck stop, and if Joey was right, they were also connected to the deaths of Bo’s dad, Larry, as well as Bobby, Ronnie, and 5-0.

  The whole gang wanted vengeance but Joey had wanted to do a little recon first. His 9mm Beretta was in a hip holster and carried a Saiga-12 .12 gauge semi-automatic shotgun. Wesley carried a .45 caliber Glock Model 21 in a shoulder holster and had an AR-15 on a sling across his back. Lester and Maddox both had on camo clothing and waterproof boots. All of the equipment that the crew used had been stolen in residential break-ins.

  The burglars didn’t know if the college had security patrols but had to assume they did. Their plan was to approach as quietly and as stealthily as possible. If spotted they would retreat to their vehicles and get out of there. If they had to fight, the goal would be to disengage and escape.

  After moving slowly for four hundred yards, the two men stopped on a slight ridge overlooking the front of the campus. They went flat on their stomachs next to a massive fallen pine tree. There was a gap of over a foot where the tree was hung up on its stump allowing them to peer under it, hidden from view. Joey pulled out a pair of binoculars and scanned the buildings within his sight line. It was 11:00am but there was no activity at the moment.

  Off to their right, Lester spotted movement. A young man and a young woman, both carrying long guns, were walking down a sidewalk behind a large brick building, possibly containing classrooms, Joey thought. They were talking and laughing as they walked, never even glancing towards the wood line off to their right.

  “Not the best security I’ve ever seen,” Joey said, softly, passing the binoculars to Wesley. They watched the pair disappear deeper into the campus.

  A few minutes later, the sound of a vehicle came from the direction of the driveway into the school. The two men couldn’t see the barricade from their position on the ridge but they knew it was a few hundred yards further to their left. Soon, a white Jeep Cherokee drove into sight and pulled under the overhang at t
he administrative-looking building near the front of the campus.

  Joey watched through his binoculars as a girl got out of the driver’s seat. An older man, maybe a teacher, met her and they talked and hugged. Wesley took a turn with the glasses. When the girl turned, letting him get a glimpse of her face, he let out a low whistle.

  “Whoa! I’ve haven’t seen a girl that good-looking in a long, long time.”

  Maddox observed a big man dressed in black climb out of the backseat of the SUV. He took off a tactical vest and left it inside the vehicle. Wesley handed the binocs back to his friend.

  “Look at this, Joey!” Maddox hissed. “That guy’s wearing 5-0’s NASCAR hoodie. You think he was the one who killed him?”

  Lester examined the man through the binoculars, noticing his large, muscular frame. His face even had the same ‘Don’t mess with me’ attitude that 5-0 always had. Looks like he’s got a Glock on his waist, Joey noticed.

  “And that jacket the chick is wearing looks like the one Larry had,” Joey noted. “Remember? Gray and puffy, we used to call him the Michelin Man.”

  Wesley got the binocs back and took a look. “Yeah, I think you’re right. It just don’t make sense. That little hottie and that big guy couldn’t have taken out 5-0 and all the others. There had to be more of them. We counted, what, three dead ones with school ID on them at the truck stop? I don’t get it, man.”

  Maddox peered closer at the white SUV and saw the many boxes stacked inside of it. He handed the binoculars back to Lester. “They were the ones who robbed us, Joey. Look at all our stuff in the back of that Jeep.”

  Joey could see what Wesley was talking about and shook his head. How did these two people pull off such a stunt? Well, they were going to pay for it, that was for sure, Lester thought.

  A red-haired woman joined the three people outside the building. There was some hugging and crying between the two women that the burglars could see. A few minutes later, the girl and the big man drove around behind the building they had been stopped at. Wesley could see the damage to the windshield and the blood on the front of the Cherokee. The vehicle left their line of sight but they watched as people excitedly started congregating back there.

  Joey tried to count the gathering crowd but he didn’t have a good angle to see the structure that everyone seemed to be converging on. Voices and laughter carried across the campus to the two burglar’s position, letting them know that something was happening behind the administrative building. At 11:30am, Lester and Maddox started their withdrawal, crawling slowly until they were out of sight of the campus. By 11:45am, they had reached their companions and started for home.

  “So, what are we going to do, Joey?” Wesley asked, taking a long drink of his beer and finishing it. He stood and walked to his back door, opening it and tossing the empty bottle into the backyard. He reached into a cooler sitting just outside and pulled out two more Budweisers, handing one to Lester.

  Joey stubbed out his cigarette and quickly lit another one, taking a deep drag. He finished his beer and opened the fresh one that Wesley had just given him. Maddox could see that his friend was nervous. They had worked together for a long time and Joey was always the one who stayed cool when the police got behind them in traffic or if a homeowner pulled up while they were inside ransacking their home.

  When the zombies invaded the area, 5-0 had walked away from the Sheriff’s Department and given up any pretense of being a cop. Most of the other deputies had left to look after their own families, but Carter abandoned his post to fully immerse himself in the dark side of the law.

  He began spending more time with Joey and Wesley and letting them know the full range of criminal activities with which he was involved. They found out that Carter ran prostitutes, oversaw a thriving drug business, and had a number of groups of thieves, besides their own crew. 5-0 had introduced the two men to many of his other team leaders.

  Carter explained that with communications being down, it was important that they all have the ability stay in touch. The only way that was going to happen was face-to-face and knowing where each other lived. The members of all the different gangs understood that 5-0 was in overall charge but men like Joey and Wesley ran their own teams, making sure the Boss got his cut of the earnings.

  Now, Joey realized that none of Carter’s other team leaders even knew that he was dead. He and Wesley would need to make contact with and recruit as many of these other criminals as they could before they launched their attack on the college. They were going to need all the firepower that they could get.

  “You know we have to do something,” Maddox said. “The guys want revenge and they’ll get it with or without us. They’ll follow you but we need to come up with a plan.”

  Lester sighed. “I know. I don’t like going in there not knowing what we’re up against. I counted about fifty people but I may have counted some twice and there could’ve been others I couldn’t see. We know they have security at that roadblock and we saw those two who looked like they were more interested in each other than patrolling the campus. Have you got any ideas?”

  “How many more guys do you think we can round up?” Maddox asked.

  “Maybe seven or eight, maybe a few more than that. 5-0 didn’t introduce us to everybody and it’s hard ‘cause we just can’t call ‘em up. We’ve got to go try and find them. We could start this afternoon and check on a couple of the boys that live close. Tomorrow we can try and track down a few more, but it ain’t gonna be easy. We’ll see who we end up with. Even if ten more of 5-0’s guys went with us, that’s nineteen of us against, what? Fifty, sixty people? Do you like those odds, Wesley?”

  Joey took another drink of beer, shaking his head. “I want payback, but I don’t want to die getting it.”

  Wesley nodded. “You’re right, but you’re forgetting one major ace-in-the-hole we have. We’re really good burglars. We’ve made a nice living getting into people’s homes and businesses and haven’t got caught since we were kids. Those people we saw at that school didn’t seem like they were expecting any trouble.

  “I think we can get in easy enough. That’s what we do. I’ll admit, it might get a little dicey, but if we can get in there late at night, I think we can do some damage and get out. I guess the big question is, ‘What message do we want to send?’”

  Joey grunted, stubbed out his latest cigarette, and lit another one. ““Whaddya think? Somebody’s gotta die so we can avenge 5-0 and the other guys. I say we kill the big dude and the hottie, then steal back our supplies and whatever they’re guarding at that dang school.”

  “Or kill the man and take the girl with us. I think the boys would enjoy gettin’ to know her,” Maddox winked wickedly at Lester. “But even if we kill her, let’s keep it simple. It’d be great if we had enough people to go in there and just take over the place but I don’t see us doing that with the few guys we have.”

  Lester looked more relaxed now. “I like it, Wesley, I like it a lot. Let’s nail down some of the particulars and then talk to the guys.”

  The Northeast Georgia Technical College, Lavonia, Georgia, Friday, 1615 hours

  Elizabeth and Chuck walked to the dining room together, her arm looped through his. McCain enjoyed the normalcy of a sidewalk stroll under the tall oak trees with this beautiful woman at his side. He couldn’t remember the last time that he’d been able to relax. Beth pointed out several of the buildings and told him what they were used for, chatting away for the entire walk.

  McCain had on the jeans that Jake had given him and the t-shirt and sweatshirt that Elizabeth had provided. He had left his long gun and body armor in his room but had on the pistol belt containing his Glock. Chuck had seen a number of other people wearing pistols on the campus but the only ones carrying rifles or shotguns were those on sentry duty.

  “Do they have a public display of affection policy on this campus?” McCain asked Benton, smilingly putting his arm around her shoulders and pulling her close.

  “
Probably, but who’s going to enforce it?”

  “Do you care if anyone sees us together like this?”

  She reached up and clasped her fingers through his hand draped around her shoulders. “I probably should, but we don’t have that much time and I want to make the most of it. Plus it’s not like we’re doing anything, Mr. Celibate,” she said, laughingly, giving him a hip bump.

  When they walked into the cafeteria, Alicia was waiting for them. “Hi, Miss Benton, Mr. McCain.”

  “Alicia!” Beth said, smiling and hugging her assistant. “I didn’t get a chance to thank you earlier for coming up and standing with me while I was talking to everybody. And thanks for getting Mr. McCain settled. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  “Thanks Miss B,” her assistant replied, embarrassed but returning the smile. “We’re just so glad you’re back.”

  Elizabeth leaned over and spoke into the younger woman’s ear. Alicia smiled and nodded. Benton turned back to McCain, touching his arm. “Chuck, Alicia will take you through the food line and help get you situated. I need to make the rounds and speak to as many people as I can. I want to make sure everybody’s OK after losing Officer Storey, Margo, and Lamar. I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

  Beth left them, going around to all the tables, talking to the students, faculty members, and other residents. Chuck noticed again how everyone’s face lit up when she spoke to them and how she made a point of not rushing as she conversed with each one individually. Most of the residents got up from their meals to hug Elizabeth as she came by their tables.

  Alicia cleared her throat and said, “Mr. McCain, if you’ll come with me, I’ll help you get some dinner.”

  As they walked across the large room, Chuck said, “Alicia, thanks for telling me your story earlier. That was very personal and it meant a lot that you’d trust me with it. It was actually very inspiring and I hope many other people get the opportunity to hear it.”