Infest

As the smoke clears, Jacob finds himself cornered between gunshots and he realizes that his situation has been compromised. He then curses God for bringing such a deal on him, as the sound of gunshots near him, all the blood on his face disappears and he looks like the unmerciful Arctic ice sheet, dead,  frozen, hindering any life form.  His mind faltered and his feet wobbling, he resists from making any effort, he awaits the bullet with his name on it, just When cutting through the rain of gun fires Tony comes to his aid. As he comes to a stop Jacob looks up at him with a shock, The White vest he wore was now a torn War field covered with entry and exit wounds, with blood smeared across his face.....  but it wasn’t his. Poor Dave. he couldn't handle the situation much, the blue eyed boy who lured women of all ages with his charm couldn't handle a gun bolt which caved in through his right shoulder and drilled its way through his young and slender body...Even if he'd handled the first shot, it was impossible to have survived Officer Steinberg’s Buck shot which made his body open up in many places. Death came quick and as he had always, Dave slept in the arms of Tony whom he considered his brother. But this time even if Tony had asked him to go to bed he wouldn't, for now he was to be laid six feet below the ground where not even Mrs. Robinson's voice could reach, The lady had a bitter end towards Dave, for he never gave his rent nor did he ever do the laundry and she always had to run after his life to get him do things, but most of all she was angry at him for Her daughter had been the recent ones to get acquainted to Dave!

“He’ll never forgive us, he shall never forgive me, look what I drove him into”, Tony cries out, as he drags Jacob out of the haze of bullets coming through the window, they make a run towards the altar, they take cover behind the altar table and the firing stops.”No he won’t, he will never blame us and he’d better wish to die than blame you, You who was everything for him, you whom he looked up to, oh, poor Dave, he wanted to be just like you Tony, just like you” Jacob cries in vain and for a moment everything comes to a standstill. The Church was to hold Tony’s Wedding with Jennifer, but Jennifer never came instead she sent a cavalry of lawmen with big guns and accompanied with her father they broke hell loose on them, they ripped apart the house of worship and tore it down with their cold hearted weapons, it wasn’t Jennifer’s deception that had broken his heart, Tony had already seen it coming, but he wasn’t ready to believe himself as his conscience was hidden behind the dark veil of love he had for Jennifer. He was broken because of Dave’s death, Dave died very young!

“Men down, men down, requesting immediate backup, I repeat men down, sniper in the bell tower requesting immediate backup’’ cried an officer who just witnessed three of his colleagues being  shot down one after the other. All of them dead, all of them marked with a neat bullet wound placed very precisely right in the middle of their foreheads! Precision which came from no one else but Jerry, Jerry was still very young for anyone of his age, he had already brought down four of Steinberg’s men and the latter ones raised his toll to seven, this wasn’t his fight still he was dragged into it on his son’s death, Dave meant a lot to everyone and for Jerry He was his only son, the only one whom he could call his own, the only one who was left in this world to carry his Legacy. Jerry fancied guns more than he fancied his knife, which he used for, sculpting down masterpieces. ‘’them Bastards can’t take away me son, they’ll pay for each drop of blood me son shed!” Jerry cries to himself as he takes down the officer commanding the radio. Amidst all the smoke and gun fires everyone forgot about Charlotte, if not forgotten they were helpless to pull her out of the rubble of furniture and stone. She was stuck under the grand piano which was barely holding the weight of the roof, which came down as the result of a mortar explosion. Charlotte was Jacobs’s beloved who came in hope of convincing Jacob into matrimony.

 Oh how much had she wished, to down the white gown and walk with her Father on the aisle and commit herself to marriage, an eternal bond which she was to share with Jacob, but now she lies hapless under a pile of shabby earth and wood, was she too bound by a pitiful fate like that of Dave? Perhaps yes, as the patrolling officers closed in on to the huge arch like structure which separated her from her fate, she knew it, she was to be the next. Fate- the ultimate, inevitable and predetermining course of event which could never be bent seemed to have taken a blow from Jacobs muzzle, Jacob somehow got hold of himself and rushed to save his beloved, he ran across the aisle towards the elbow room and made a desperate attempt to pull her out. But all was in vain he could not pull her out. He made an indiscreet judgment of his strength, as the cavalry moved in, it was certain that they both would die, together at least. But again there was a twist of fate; Tony would never give up on his best man, not in this life. He gave them a cover fire as Jacob tried again with all his might. By now Officer Steinberg ran for cover and his men hid behind the pillars waiting for Tony to either stop or hoping that he would run out of ammo. But tony had something else in his mind; at once he stopped all the firing willingly, there was complete silence, save the cries of Jacob and Charlotte. The men went for the bait, and they moved in to grab hold of the two beloved souls, Tony played his card and he threw at them a heat grenade which he had seized from his first kill. The entire hall was now choking in a thick cloud of smoke. He rushed towards Jacob and Charlotte who were still trying to pull themselves out of hell, he placed the butt of his gun in between Charlotte's leg and the stand of the piano and yelled ‘’Pull her out Jacob, Jacob, god damn it, pull her out now,” Jacob who was terribly exhausted somehow tried again with all the strength he could gather, Charlotte broke loose from the claws of fate and cling to Jacob. “You’ll live another day to romance, run to the chapel and exit now, quick, before they get to you, run, run” Tony’s voice now sounded like a battle cry. As the smoke cleared the trio was nowhere to be seen, they had disappeared with the smoke.

 Jerry was still battling it out on top from the bell tower, one after the other he was sniping down Steinberg’s men and there was nothing that could stop him.  He spots the trio making a run for the just married getaway car; he gives up his killing spree and rushes down in the hope of making it out to St. Bernard’s street where he presumes to meet Jacob and Tony. As he comes out of the bell tower he is shocked to see a pack of men in blue pointing guns straight at him, without losing a moment he dives and runs towards the forest, luckily the police thought of him as the church’s pastor given Jerry’s long Beard, he runs down, amidst sprinting trees and finally reaches the extraction point where he rendezvous with Jacob and Tony!

Lorraine County was never before like this, Lorraine was a country for the soft hearted; Lorraine had never seen gun fights as it had today; Jacob and Tony were two very old friends. Jacob was the Sheriff of Lorraine and Tony was the one who owned the only filling station. Both of them had lived all of their lives in Lorraine and were considered Lorraine’s own sons, but what in the world had gone wrong, what had made them pick up the gat and fight? Lorraine County had never had an Officer named Steinberg. No one in Lorraine had ever used guns against other men, even when autumn came and everyone in Lorraine went hunting, it was Jerry who went for the kill, he was a master in handling his gun but never had he raised his gun against another human being, what had made him kill people he never even knew?