PROJECT ANDERSON

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT: SARGE

We hadn't even made it out of Krystal yet, because Melissa decided to take a detour to a mall.

"Why did we stop here again?" Johnny asked as we walked through the deserted building.

"You didn't have to come in Johnny, no one was forcing you to." Melissa said annoyed by her brother's constant questions.

"Sarge was going to help cover you, so I would have been left alone with the littles...and I'm not sure I'm ready for that kind of responsibility." He defended weakly.

"You just didn't want to be outside alone." I said with a small laugh.

"Well would you, what if you need back up or something." He said with a slight tremble in his voice.

"Good save." I retorted as we followed the girls into an old hunting and sporting goods store. "What are doing in here?"

"I figured that if we are going to act like a unit then we should be armored like one." Mel answered as she walked towards the back counter. "This is where the guns are." She said as she pointed towards a large glass case that held an assortment of various hand guns and hunting knives.

"What do you want us to do?" Amber asked nervously.

"Break the glass and as much as you can carry, Sarge and my brother can grab the bigger guns." She answered confidently.

"On it." I said before tapping Johnny's arm and we both headed behind the counter.

"You haven't told her about the note yet have you?" He asked as he grabbed a couple of short double barrel shot guns.

"No, I was going to wait until I see further evidence of him." I answered as I grabbed a couple of long double barrels and a dagger they had hanging on the wall.

"Are we ready to go?" Mel asked from behind us.

"Almost, we just need to grab the ammo." I answered as we loaded everything in our packs.

"Gearing up for a war there William?" An unfamiliar and foreboding voice said from the storage room beside where I was standing.

"Who the hell are you?" I asked as the door opened slowly and a man about an inch or two shorter than me walked out.

"Did you get my letter?" He asked with a sinister grin.

It was him...the man that has caused all of this...the man that killed my wife.

"I'm not afraid of you...if you want to get to Andie you are going to have to kill me first." I said, but I didn't dare move any closer to the man.

"That's the plan." The man smiled before walking passed us and laughed softly as he left the store.

"What's going on Sarge?" Melissa asked as she watched him.

"We aren't the only ones looking for the cure and Andie...he is too." I answered softly. "We need to find her first, but we have to lose that piece of shit first." I said before zipping up my bag. "Come on we have to warn her."

"Are we going to be okay?" Johnny asked as we headed towards the door.

"Of course we are, I promise that I won't let anything happen to any of you; besides I'm the one he wants to kill."

"Wait, if he's following us...wouldn't he already know where we are headed?" Amber asked.

"Maybe, maybe not." I shrugged. "Unless he has a listening device in my truck I doubt he would know."

"What if he has a spy?" She questioned worriedly.

"And who would that be?" Melissa asked angrily.

"Well it could be any of us...except for Sarge of course." Her brother answered for the other woman.