The Decay

Chapter 15 - The Return

15

“Hurry up, we're almost there,” said Sam, panting. The girl ran, trying to keep up with him. Mercenaries walked out the large door and headed away from them. “Look, the door is ajar,” he said, pointing at the service entrance.

Mike shut his eyes tight as he heard a single gun shot. Tears stung his eyes. “Put down your weapons,” said Sam, his rifle aiming at Daniel. On hearing the familiar voice, Mike opened his eyes and look up in disbelief. “Sam?!” he exclaimed, baffled. Sam shot a quick glance at Mike before focusing back on Daniel. One of the mercenaries lay on the ground, bleeding from the shot. Mike noticed a girl standing next to Sam, a pistol in each hand, pointing at the two other mercenaries. “I won't say it again,” said Sam. Daniel put his gun on the floor and kicked it towards Sam. It was at this point that one of the mercenaries reached for his reserve pistol. The girl noticed and planted two bullets in his chest without hesitation. To Mike, the girl seemed familiar yet different.

“On your knees,” said Sam. Daniel and the remaining mercenary obeyed quietly. “Cuff them,” he said and the girl tied both of their hands with ropes. “There we go,” said the girl. Her voice. Mike sprung up, his eyes wide in disbelief. “Christy!” he said loudly, “You're alive! But how?” Christy ran over to Mike and hugged him tightly. “I have no idea who you are, but thanks for helping us,” said Anita, relieved. “I was quite sure that we were all done for, this time.” Sam helped Anita and Ellie to their feet. He extended his hand. “Name's Sam. Pleasure to meet you, ladies,” he said, a wide smile on his face. Mike rushed over and hugged Sam too. “Woah, calm down boy,” said Sam, laughing. “What are you doing here? How are you alive, Christy? What's going on?” asked Mike, confused. “Calm down Mike,” said Christy, giggling. “I'm sure you have a lot of questions. We'll gladly answer them, but let's take care of this first.”

Mike stood up, took his pistol and shot the remaining mercenary square in the head, not battering his eyelids. He then took Daniel and threw him against the nearest wall. His right fist connected directly with his jaw. Blood came flowing out of Daniels mouth. “I told you I was going to make you pay, you bastard!” shouted Mike angrily before kneeing him in the abdomen. Daniel doubled over, groaning in pain. Mike's knee connected with his forehead, causing him to straighten up sharply, the back of his head hitting against the wall. He screamed out in pain. Mike proceeded to put his hand around Daniel's throat. “Tell me what the plan is. Tell me everything, or I swear I'm going to kill you right where you stand,” said Mike, angrily. “I... don't know,” managed Daniel. “I... was ordered to hinder... your progress and to... to lead you here. That's all... I swear,” he continued, coughing. Mike tightened his grip. Daniel coughed and struggled to breathe. “Please... I swear... believe me,” he said, weakly. “Oh, I believe you,” said Mike, his eyes full of hate. With a swift movement, he smashed Daniels head into the wall and proceeded to snap his neck. “That's for Marcus,” he spat, before turning away. Ellie and Christy stared at Mike, scared. Anita walked over and hugged him tightly. “Calm down, Mike. Let's get out of here. The five of them exited the building through the service entrance and headed in the opposite direction of the mercenaries.

Several minutes later, they were finally safe. They all sat down before Mike started asking questions. “So, let's start with one thing at a time. What are you doing here?”, asked Mike. “Oh it's simple really. We followed you Mike,” replied Sam. “But how? How did you know where the mercenaries took me?” “Let me start from the beginning Mike, then everything should be more clear,” replied Sam. “Three months ago, I was out hunting when I bumped into Christy here. She seemed really nice and, after hearing her story, I offered her a place to stay.” “Yes, but what about the mercenaries?” asked Mike, impatiently. “Quiet boy, just hear me out,” said Sam. “One day, about a month ago, I mentioned that she reminded me a lot of you, Mike. She too had assumed that everyone died that day, so she was surprised to hear that you had survived. She asked me where you had gone and wanted to track you down.” When Sam was sure that everyone was paying attention, he continued. “At first, she wasn't sure where to start, so after a few days of thinking, I offered to speak to the sheriff, Jack. Maybe he had told you something. As it turned out, he did, and so last week we headed to Stonegate town together.” “Why didn't you find me there then?” Sam looked at Christy. “I was scared. I had come to terms with being the only survivor, so when I heard of you, I couldn't think of anything else than to come look for you. When we finally traced you to Stonegate town, however, I got nervous. I wasn't sure how you would handle it... or how I would for that matter,” said Christy, biting her lip.

“The truth is that, apart from what Christy just said, the day after we arrived, we overheard Daniel speak to a shady guy. Something about a reward and that everything was going as planned. We got suspicious and thought that the best course of action was to follow him, and so we did. We got to the air force base and, when he and the other boy split up from the girls here,” said Sam, pointing at Ellie and Anita, “We followed Daniel. We saw him shooting Marcus and telling one of the mercenaries to set off the alarm. When you appeared with the girls and headed towards the museum with Daniel, we kept our distance. When we saw all the mercenaries, we knew something was wrong and the rest is history,” finished Sam.

Everyone remained silent for a moment, letting everything sink in. “Well, it certainly seems like I owe you two my life. We all do,” said Mike. Anita and Ellie nodded, thankfully. “And what about you Christy, how did you survive?” Christy's expression darkened.

She remained in silence, as if remembering the fateful night. “I woke up to the gun shots,” she started. “I grabbed the knife I kept under my pillow and slipped out of the room, unnoticed. I saw the bodies and started to run as fast as I could, but as I turned a corner, I slammed into one of the attackers.” Mike raised his eyebrows. “And how did you get out of that?” he asked. “When I slammed into him, I knocked his rifle out of his hands. I still had the momentum and immediately kept pushing into him. Once he regained his balance, he threw me off and went for his rifle. I pushed myself off the wall and slammed into him again, this time with my knife drawn. I pierced his chest. As he went down on his knees, I got up and ran. The rest is a bit of a blur. I woke up in an old nuclear bunker, so I assume that I got there before collapsing from exhaustion,” she answered. “And then what happened?”, asked Mike, curiously. “Nothing in particular. I stayed there, made camp and used whatever skills you taught me to hunt and survive until one day I stumbled into Sam,” she said, look at Sam and smiling. “Well, I'm certainly glad you made it, Christy,” said Mike. “Let's get going shall we? We have a lot to say when we get back to Stonegate town.”