The Fight to Survive

Chapter 3: To The Death

Chapter 3

Everyone shot out of their chairs, standing and grabbing whatever gun was closest to them. Tears streamed down some of their eyes. Richard had been close with all of them, and he was an irreplaceable member of the group. But now he was gone. Nick cocked his gun, but did not shoot. Though everyone had their weapons raised, on both sides, no shots were fired. Everyone on Nick's side knew the reality. They were outmanned and outgunned.

"We don't want any trouble." Nick called out, trying his best to control his rage for the good of the group.

He could tell that Noah was ready to blow the leader's head off. He had his finger resting on the trigger and any sign of movement would make him fire. He also looked over at Kelsey. She looked terrified. She had just seen her friend get shot down and now they were face to face with a group who could wipe them out in a heartbeat. Ashby was still sitting at the table behind Nick, but he had his weapon in hand and was ready to use it. Brian looked emotionless. Like a terminator who had just found his target. Alec, Zac, and Max were in the back of the group. Though their guns were raised, they were all staring at Richard's body, which was slowly leaking a stream of blood into the ground. They had been the closest to the kill and some even had his blood on them. Nick returned his attention to the leader as he began to speak.

"Of course you don't. Nobody does. Well, almost nobody." He said as he spit on the ground and took a step forward, his silver revolver raised at Nick.

"But we don't give a shit what you want. Here's how this is gonna fucking work. You're gonna drop all of your shit, guns, clothes, food. Everything. Then you're gonna march your asses into the woods and never turn the fuck around, do you understand? You made a big fucking mistake intruding on our territory today." The man said.

Nick thought back to the house and realized how stupid he was. The boarded up doors, the stockpiles of food. The house belonged to this man. To his group.

"We didn't know the house belonged to you. We just needed shelter for the night." Nick explained, trying with all he had to keep these men from unloading into his group right here.

"Doesn't matter. Your shit please. We wouldn't want you all to end up like your fat headed friend" The man said, pointing at Richard's corpse with his free hand.

With those words, Noah couldn't restrain himself. He fired at the man, hitting him in the shoulder and causing him to fall to the ground.

"FUCK!" Nick yelled as the other men retaliated. Their weapons fired at Nick's group, lighting up the air with the loud bangs of death shooting at them. Nick grabbed Ashby and pulled him behind the table. Flipping it over to make a barrier between them and the other group. Nick peeked over the table and fired two shots at one of the men. He was a large, black man who was wearing an orange jumpsuit and was built like a bodyguard. Nick ducked back down behind the table before he could see the bullets make contact with the man, hitting him in the neck and chest and ending his life. Ashby looked scared and unsure of what to do. His eyes were wild and Nick could tell he was on the verge of losing it.

"Come on Ashby we need to regroup. Get your shit together and get ready to move" Nick said, more of a command than a request.

Meanwhile, Kelsey, Noah, and Alec were pinned down behind two large trees which were directly next to each other. Noah was mercilessly eliminating the enemies, having already hit three, including the leader, who had crawled to safety behind a bush.

"Shit. There has to be some way out of this. Some way where none of us get killed" Alec said.

Noah didn't reply, he simply kept up his routine of ducking and shooting, a routine which had begun to draw attention. Kelsey looked through the small space between the trees, trying to find where Nick may be but seeing nothing. She feared the worst, but she wouldn't give up on him.