Reckoning

Chapter Twenty Eight: Day of Reckoning

The war begins...

ONE WEEK LATER

The dawn comes slowly over the forest, the sun bathing the land in light.

The morning fog floods the road leading to the main gate.

I rest my rifle on the top of the wall, along with many others. The walkway's length and support is enough for twelve people to stand on. I am one of them. Joining me is DJ, Emma, Caesar, Eli, Lauren, and Charlie are standing up here alongside me, additionally a few other residents who agreed to fight.

Everyone except Lauren has automatic weapons, such as assault rifles and AK-47s. We all stare out at the road, waiting for the Angels of Darkness to arrive.

At the bottom of the wall, over a dozen more soldiers stand ready with their weapons, including Theo and Logan.

Inside the walls, Lauren had ordered every resident to stay indoors until the battle was over.
Before I went to get my rifle, I kissed Grace since I know that only one community will win this war.
Lauren stands in the center of the row of soldiers atop the wall with her arms crossed, squinting at the road.
We've waited for almost an hour now.

I have on a black jacket and dark blue jeans to keep warm. I hold my rifle with  steady hands, waiting.
"Where are you...you son of a bitch", I hear Emma mutter, aiming her assault rifle out towards the foggy road.
"Stay focused", DJ says.

A couple of minutes pass, no sign of Nathaniel.

All of a sudden we hear faint rumbling coming through the fog.
"Get ready", DJ whispers.

The rumbling gets louder, then quickly emerging from the foggy road is a fleet of vehicles, firing bullets at us atop the wall.
"Get down!", Lauren orders.

That order came too late for one man at the very end of the walkway. A bullet rips into his neck and falls ten feet to solid ground.
I duck behind the top of the wall, shielding me from the storm of gunfire. The soldiers at the bottom duck to the side of the gate. But Logan is struck by several bullets in the chest though the metal bars of the gate. He collapses, blood splattered onto his gray beard.

The bullets clang against the metal of the gate and the concrete of the wall.

It's loud.
I close my eyes.

Then suddenly it stops.

I open my eyes and peek over the wall. Jeeps, trucks, and Nathaniel's big rig rumble to a stop in front of the gate, just like when they first arrived more than a week ago.

The rest of us stand up aiming our guns at the vehicles.
Quickly, the Angels of Darkness step out of their cars and aim their guns at us as well.

This just turned into a standoff.

Nathaniel and Richard step out of the big rig truck, both of them holding assault rifles. Nathaniel's machete is in a sheath across his back.

"The day of reckoning has come", Nathaniel says loud enough for us to hear, "Bring out the prisoner!"
One of Nathaniel's men opens up the trunk of an SUV they drove and practically drags out someone.

It's Anna. She's alive.

She has on a black tank top and jeans, bandages wrapped around her right upper arm. The man yanks her arm and stands beside Nathaniel.
"Anna...", DJ whispers.

"Bring me my daughter!", Nathaniel shouts, then he holds his large combat knife against Anna's neck and threatens, "or this woman dies."

Anna says nothing, but she just stares at us on top of the wall.

"This your last chance Nathaniel!", Lauren shouts, "Stand down, now-"

"No!", Nathaniel angrily shouts back, "This is your last chance! All you had to do was hand over my daughter! This is all on you, sister! Fire!"

I get ready to fire my rifle.

"No!", we all hear a voice yell from behind the wall.
We turn and see Lisbeth running down to the gate from the street.
"Hold your fire!", Nathaniel orders. The army lowers their weapons. Lisbeth stops in front of the gate and shouts to her father, "Dad, please stop! I'll...I'll go with you!"

"Lisbeth", I loudly say down to her, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Ending this", Lisbeth says seriously.

"Open the gate!", she adds.

There is silence and no movement on both sides of the wall, but then Lauren lets out a frustrated sigh and says, "Open the gate."
Theo slides open the metal gate.
"Our woman first!", Lauren shouts. Nathaniel nods and shoves Anna forward. She slowly walks through the gateway and out of harm's way.

Lisbeth slowly walks outside of the wall and towards her father.

I watch Nathaniel touches Lisbeth's cheek and says, "You're safe now, my wildflower."
Lisbeth then tells her father, "My name is Lisbeth."

She reaches behind her back and pulls out a knife.

She slashes her father's hand making him drop his rifle. He clutches his bleeding hand. Before he could do anything else, Lisbeth sprints toward the woods and hides behind the trees.

"Now!", I shout to my comrades.

We all open fire on the Angels of Darkness, killing a few. They fire their weapons back at us and we duck behind the wall. I hear a few more of Nathaniel's men scream in agony as they are hit by gunfire. We lose another soldier down at the bottom, her body falling backwards onto the ground.

"Shit!", Nathaniel yells.

"Fall back!", he shouts to his men. I fire my hunting rifle at one Angel of Darkness, killing him as he tries to run away.

Their vehicles rumble to life, and before we know it they start to drive off down the road, DJ and Emma still shooting at the back of their cars.
"We did it!", Theo shouts below.

He is followed by a chorus of triumphant shouting.
"This isn't over!", Lauren shouts, "Everyone get to the cars! We're going after them!"

One by one we climb down from the wall. DJ stabs a few of our dead in the skull to prevent them from coming back as walkers.

"David!", I hear from the woods.

Lisbeth comes out from the trees and says, "Listen, when you go out there, please...just kill my father. He's done enough harm."
She follows me to a large military truck and I climb in.
"Tell Grace I'm okay", I tell Lisbeth before the truck roars to life and drives through the north gateway and down the road.

This is it.

We're really going after them.

And this time, I'll make sure they get what's coming to them.