Day One (Book 2): Choices (2 page)

“You can fight, when you have too. Not many people can keep a clear head when the bullets start flying, when all hell is breaking loose and be able to function… but you can,” he said.

I knew it. There’s always a catch somewhere in the fine print. “Those things out there, whatever the hell they are, scare the ever-loving-shit out of me.”

“But when push comes to shove, and your daughter’s life is at risk, they don’t seem to bother you much,” he added. “And this place is far from being secure, so if a dozen or so of those things found a way in here… well, I don’t have to spell it out for you, now do I?”

And here I was thinking that the old world was screwed up, when in fact the new one made the latter look like a damn picnic. “So, what you’re basically saying is that as long as I fight for you,
if
they ever get in here, then I’ll have a place to lay my daughter’s head at night, food to eat and so on, right?”

He nodded. “That’s one way to look at it.”

“No. It’s the only way to look at it, or I’m stuck in that small room or until you decide to send us packing,” I stated. “Because if we cannot contribute in anyway or bring something to the table, then what good are we? Am I right so far?”

He smiled as he patted me on the shoulder. “I knew you were a smart guy the moment I first saw you. When you’re ready, have one of the guards out front take you over to the supply department. They’ll get you set up with everything you’ll need and I’ll go see about getting you that room I promised.” He turned and walked away before I could do anything. I was simply speechless as to what I had just gotten myself into.

I didn’t remember signing any paperwork to join the military in our haste to leave my overrun house; however, ten years ago the thought had crossed my mind. That was then… this is now.

In our small room, Kember drank the juice box and chowed down on her bananas in bed. I watched her from the head of the bed, smiling as she made faces at me from time to time. I loved her beyond words and would do
anything
to keep her safe. Andrews may not have been right in a lot of the things he had said to me, but there was one thing he had been spot on about, and that was the remark he made about her being my only priority. That she was.

Johnny came into the room, stopping at the door to look at me, asking silently if he was interrupting anything. I shook my head as I got off the bed and looked out the window at the soldiers. I was still angry with him for the way he had talked to me, as I was just trying to help. I wasn’t the leader of this little pack, I was far from it. Had never asked to be the man in charge, he could have that title for all I cared. All I was concerned with was ensuring my daughter’s safety.

As I watched the soldier’s outside I pondered telling him what Andrews had offered me, yet his name had never come up in the conversation, which meant that the deal wasn’t for him, but only Kember and I or he would speak to him alone about it later as he had done with me. Either way, if it was to be then it would happen, and given the anger that was still exposed from the mess hall, I contemplated the outcome of taking Andrews up on his offer no matter the outcome.

I wasn’t part of his original group, I barely knew this guy. Knew nothing about what he did before the world fell apart and that wasn’t good. He could have been a criminal for all I knew, or a law abiding citizen. There was no way to know with absolute certainty, so I pushed it from my mind. My choices were made based upon her safety, not my own, and no one would make them for me.

No matter how hard I tried though, even with the doubt of not knowing anything about him. He
had
put his life in danger to save my daughter, which bought a sense of loyalty, at least for a short amount of time. Diving deeper into thought, my eyes crossed something that made my blood boil.

“Watch her,” I said, grabbing the SBR from under the bed and left.

Johnny watched the door shut and looked at Kember who was looking at him. “And where is he off too, I wonder?”

“Daddy,” Kember said holding a smashed banana end in her hand.

Thirty seconds later, Johnny saw from the window as I passed through a small gate and passed several soldiers without a single one of them looking up or even noticing me. He thrust his eyes further ahead and saw a Huey helicopter sitting off by itself with three soldiers around it, laughing.

From a small command tent, much closer to the helicopter, Andrews stepped out into the sunshine and saw me fast approaching. My body language spoke volume to him. The way I carried my weapon told him that something was about to happen, but he wasn’t sure if he’d like the outcome of it. “Now what is he up too?”

I moved up to the chopper with the SBR in both hands and took a few good moments to stare at the rear of the aircraft. My mind was recalling the images of that day on the interstate and comparing them to what now sat before me. I was a perfect match.

Now what?

A thin man with a military styled haircut and flight suit on lept from the left side of the aircraft and instantly noticed me standing there. “Hey, what are you doing out here?”

I looked at him and he appeared to be no older than twenty-one. “You the pilot of this thing?” I asked.

“Yes, as a matter of fact I am,” he announced. “Civilians are not supposed to be out here on the flight line, and you sure as hell aren’t supposed to be armed either.”

“How many crewmembers does this thing usually need in order to fly?” I asked, ignoring his other comments.

“I know you heard me, so that means you’re either stupid or testing my patients.”

“Three… four?” I asked.

Another man jumped out of the aircraft and walked around the front to where the pilot stood, taking a good long look at me before offering his own hard thought remarks. “Hey, buddy. This man asked you a question.”

“A pilot, a co-pilot, and maybe a gunner?” I added.

The second man spit onto the ground and made his way toward me, stopping just a few inches in front of me. I countered by looking around him at the paint scheme the aircraft had, which was a standard camo pattern. “Are you deaf or just plain stupid?”

“You were flying the interstates a day or so ago, right?” I asked. “Flying around doing whatever it was that you do up there when you suddenly decided to start shooting at me and my daughter for absolutely no reason at all.” I said, trying my best to keep the anger in check.

The man in front of me looked nervously to the Pilot who shrugged his shoulders and approached me as well. “Look, we have shit to do around here, so why don’t you just turn around and walk away before things get real ugly, real fast.” He tried to act tough in front of the others, but I wasn’t intimidated by him.

“Answer the question and I’ll leave,” I stated, not really want a confrontation of any sort. I just wanted to hear them say what they had done, to let them know that they almost killed a two year old little girl for no damn reason.

“No, you’ll leave now!” He stated and grabbed me. I jerked away from his grasp, which pissed him off even more. “Look here buddy, I’ll kick your ass all over this flight line!” he tried to grab me once more, but this time I wouldn’t stand for it. He got a gut full of SBR and stumbled backward doubling over before hitting the ground.

“Like I said, you were out flying the other day, right?” The anger was surfacing.

The Pilot suddenly had a better sense of respect for me and quickly nodded.

“So if you do run into any of those things out there, then you shoot them, right?”

He nodded again.

“That’s odd, because there were none of them around when you started shooting at me,” I said moving around the side of the aircraft and slowly nearing him. The man on the ground recovered, pulled his revolver from his chest holster and stood.

“Now you’re done, asshole,” He grabbed and spun me to find the barrel of the weapon now pointing directly at his face and with his revolver still pointed in a separate direction; he’d be dead before he even got close to getting his sights on me.

“Go ahead, slick. Try it and see what happens… I dare you.” There was no hiding from the anger now, it was in full swing and would not die anytime soon.

“What in the blue-blazing hell is going on out here?” A voice screeched from behind. The man and I turned to see Captain Andrews standing a few feet away. His eyes looked hard at me, and then shifted to the man I was holding at gunpoint.

“You’re in the shit now, asshole,” the Man said and grinned.

“Let me ask again,” Andrews said in a deeper tone. “What is going on out here?”

“This asshole came out here starting shit with us and I was about to put him in his place before you walked up, sir,” the man said.

“Yeah, it doesn’t look that way from where I’m standing,” Andrews replied.

“The day before you showed up at my house, this helicopter shot at me and my daughter on the interstate for no damn reason! Had it not been for slick here being a bad shot, things would be a whole lot different right now. So I came out here to ask them about it,” I explained. “To let them know they almost killed an innocent two year old!”

Andrews looked at the man near me, and then shifted his eyes to the Pilot. “Is what he said true?”

“Sir, we were out on patrol the other day, but it could have been a different chopper that shot at him. We aren’t the only ones in the area, sir,” the Pilot said.

“Oh, we aren’t?” Andrews asked.

The Pilot shook his head, although he quickly stopped when he realized that there were no other forces in the area and saying anything more would only add to the anger he now saw in the Captain’s eyes.

“And what about you?” Andrews asked the man near me. “Is anything he just said true?”

The Man did not want to reply, although doing so could lead to severe punishment for insubordination.  “Well, sir. We were in the area and I think maybe…” He stopped to think further into his words, knowing full well they could lead him directly to the brig.

“With a man holding an assault rifle to my head, I’d suggest telling the truth as the proper course of action. Or he might shoot you,” Andrews added scornfully.

“But, sir.”

“There’s no
but, sir,
to it! You know the rules better than he does – rules we have in place to keep from falling into chaos and disorder like the rest of the world has.” Andrews barked. “So I’ll ask you once again. Did you shoot at him and his daughter, or at anyone or anything else, for that matter, that wasn’t a designated target?”

The Man looked at Andrews. “I did fire my weapon, sir. I just wanted a little action and excitement, if even for just a few minutes.”

“You have a weapon pointed at your face, held by a man who’s daughter you almost killed, and from the look upon his face I’d say he’s about to return the favor,” Andrews added. “How’s that for excitement? You go around breaking protocol for a few shit’s and giggles later, then you must adhere to the consequences. In fact, if I was in his shoes right now, I’d just shoot your and get it over with!”

I wasn’t at all sure how to take Andrews line of words and how he was treating the situation, although there was a small portion of me that applauded him for his efforts and agreed with him in every aspect.

“Sir?” The Man asked.

I was not prepared for what would come next; as I was positive they had learned their lesson and would never break protocol again.

“Shoot him, Brandon,” Andrews told me.

I looked at the Captain as though I hadn’t heard what he said.

“You heard me correctly. Shoot him!” Andrews followed.

“You can’t shoot someone just because they are an idiot, if that were the case then three quarters of the population would have died years ago,” I said, but not in defense of the Man in front of me. I said it in order to keep a clear conscious.

“You’re right,” Andrews said and the situation began to dissipate. “Shoot both of them. He’s just as guilty as the other guy. The hell with it, shoot all three of them just to be safe.”

I lowered the SBR, allowing the one piece sling to take the full weight of the weapon and removed both hands from it. “No!”

“Your daughter could have died,” Andrews added.

“But she didn’t and neither did I,” I shot back.

Andrews held up both hands, obviously irritated at what he had just learned. “Fine… then I will.” He jerked the 1911 Springfield .45 automatic from his thigh holster, flipped the safety off and pointed it at the head of the Man closest to me. The Man’s eyes bulged in their sockets as he was certain death was just seconds away.

“Wait!” I shouted to him. “What are you doing?”

“I’m keeping order amongst my men. We aren’t in a peacetime event, this is a full scale war with those things out there, and if we are to win, then these men
have
to follow the code to the letter or face the consequences. I don’t need rouge soldiers flying around doing whatever the hell they want! They must know what discipline is in order to work effectively.”

“They were just blowing off steam,” I exclaimed.

“And so am I.”

I jumped in front of the man before Andrews could shoot him. The barrel was pointed at my face and Andrews motioned for me to move with the weapon, to which I shook my head. “No one was injured and you would have never known anything about it had I not gotten pissed off seeing this aircraft out here and came looking for trouble!”