Fight 4 Us | Book 14 | Revenge, page 11
part #14 of Fight 4 Us Series
“What’s next for us?” asks Lauren.
I look at Lauren and answer, “Isiah wants us to meet with him and I think that’s the next main thing for us.”
“What does he want to talk about?” asks Lauren.
“We’ll both find out when we meet with him as you are coming with me,” I answer Lauren.
“What about the neighborhood? We all can’t leave this place. What if we’re attacked again?” asks Lauren.
“Isiah told me that they will be watching over our place from now on and they finished repairing our entrances,” I answer Lauren.
“When are we going to meet with him?” asks Lauren.
“I don’t know, but he said they’ll let us know. Most likely in a day or so though,” I answer Lauren.
“I’ll be ready to go whenever you say,” replies Lauren.
I kiss Lauren and give her a big hug. I don’t want to let her go as I feel that I could have lost her. This new world continues to show me that I need to be thankful for who is still in my life because in an instant they could be gone.
I enter my master bedroom, go into my master bathroom, and close the door for some privacy.
My master bathroom, well really any bathroom I guess, has always been a place to reflect on things as it’s one of the only places where no one seems to bother me.
I look at myself in my master bathroom mirror and I start to process everything that just happened. Everything has been happening so fast and I really haven’t had time to process, analyze, and evaluate what has happened.
I stare at myself in my bathroom mirror and start to think about DK, Jacob, meeting with DK, the Ghosts and Isiah coming here days before the meeting, and the Ghosts knowing about the planned attack on Citrus Oaks. Strong feelings of worry and anxiety overcome me as I remember feeling scared and somewhat helpless for the safety of everyone here inside Citrus Oaks when Phil was speeding back home after our meeting with DK at World of Trade.
I put both of my hands on my face and ask myself, “What’s the point of all this? Did Isiah and the Ghosts fuck us over? What should I do next? Who can I trust? Is it worth all the pain, strain, worry, and agony to keep fighting for what we have? Is it worth staying alive and dealing with all the bullshit and problems in this new world or is it better to die and be done with it all?”
CHAPTER 10
THE OTHER RYAN
“Ryan, you awake?” asks Kelly over the radio the next morning.
I grab my radio that is next to my nightstand and answer Kelly, “Yeah, I’m up. Is everything okay?”
“Brody just woke up, and I’m not sure what to do next,” replies Kelly over the radio.
“I’ll be right there, just keep him on the medical table,” I respond into my radio to Kelly.
“Everything okay?” asks Lauren with a half-asleep voice.
“Yeah, Brody just woke up. I’m going to check on him,” I answer Lauren.
I kiss Lauren on her forehead as she rolls towards me in our bed.
Lauren falls back asleep as I change my clothes and exit our bedroom.
I put on a pair of sneakers and a light jacket in my living room before exiting my house.
It’s a nice, cold, Fall morning as I exit my house and I start to walk down my sidewalk.
It’s still somewhat dark out as the sun is about to rise and I see two drones flying over our neighborhood.
I take cover by a bush that’s in the front yard of our Armory house and I see the two drones hover away from my position.
“What the fuck? Now we have drones to worry about around here?” I ask myself.
I come out from behind the bush, make my way down the sidewalk, and enter our Medical house.
I see Kelly standing next to our medical table that Brody is sitting up on.
“Hey man, how you feeling?” I ask Brody as I walk over to him and Kelly.
“He says he is in pain and I didn’t know what meds to give him,” answers Kelly.
“Don’t worry Kel, I’ll give him some meds. Thank you for checking on him,” I reply to Kelly.
“The people who attacked this place took some of our supplies, but we should have some medication in the locked cabinet,” says Kelly.
“Thank you, I’ll check it out,” I reply to Kelly.
Brody looks at me and asks, “What happened? Who attacked us?”
“Jacob and the Conquerors, and some people from the prison,” I answer Brody.
“Did we lose CO? Where am I?” asks Brody.
“You are still in CO; you are in our Medical house. We didn’t lose the community,” I answer Brody.
“Oh, thank goodness, the last thing I remember is walking down the sidewalk and the entrance blowing up,” says Brody.
“Glad you have such a hard head, you only have a couple bruises and scratches on you,” I reply to Brody with a joking demeanor.
“My head is killing me, my sides hurt, and my arms feel burnt,” says Brody.
“I’ll give you some meds for the pain, some cream for the burns, but it will take some time to heal up,” I reply to Brody.
I go over to the locked medicine cabinet and unlock it. I’m glad to see that the medications and creams in the cabinet look to have been unharmed during the attack.
I look at Kelly and ask, “You think Jon can do an inventory of everything in CO?”
Kelly smiles and answers, “I think he would love that.”
I give Brody the medication and start to apply some of the cream to his arms.
“Do you think I can go home today?” asks Brody.
I look at Brody and answer, “Your home is gone, they blew it up and torched it.”
Brody looks at me with disbelief and puts his head back on the medical table pillows.
“Are Drew and the guards okay?” asks Brody.
I hesitate to answer Brody and Brody asks, “Shit, did Kiersten and Sam make it?”
“Yeah, they’re both okay, but Drew and several of the guards didn’t make it,” I answer Brody.
Brody tries to fight back tears, but he can’t help it and he starts to cry.
The front door of the Medical house opens, and Kiersten enters.
“I’m so glad you are okay,” says Kiersten to Brody as she walks over to him and gives him a big hug.
“Careful with his arms,” I say.
Kiersten breaks from her hug and she asks Brody, “Are you in pain? Does it hurt?”
“I’m okay, I’m more upset about Drew and the guards. They were good people. They were my friends,” answers Brody.
“Is he okay to leave this house?” asks Kiersten to me.
“Yeah, but I wouldn’t recommend him doing much for a while,” I answer Kiersten.
“Well, whenever you are ready to go. You are coming to my house. I made up a room for you,” says Kiersten to Brody.
“Is Sam okay with that?” asks Brody.
“No, but where else are you going to live?” answers Kiersten.
I hand Kiersten two bottles of medication and tell her to follow the instructions on the bottles and that I just gave him both pills.
“Okay, I’ll make sure he takes these every four to six hours,” replies Kiersten.
“You stay here until you’re ready to go. You might be lightheaded when you stand up,” I say to Brody.
Brody sees that Kiersten is watching him and he wants to put on a brave face and tries to show her that he’s okay, so he sits up and turns to the side of the medical table.
The medical table is up pretty high, so I lower the medical table slightly and say to Brody, “Careful now big guy.”
Brody tries to stand up and he instantly gets lightheaded. I see that he’s unsteady, and I sit him back down on the side of the medical table. “Take your time, you just woke up from being knocked out,” I say.
“Did you drive here?” I ask Kiersten.
“No, but I can get a car,” answers Kiersten.
“My car is right in the driveway, I’ll drive you two back to your house,” says Kelly.
“Thanks Kel, I don’t think Brody walking all the way to Kiersten’s is a good move right now,” I reply.
I help Brody into Kelly’s car and Kelly drives Kiersten and Brody down to Kiersten’s house.
I re-enter the Medical house and see that people were definitely in this house and some things were broken and stolen.
I remember all the previous times in this Medical house with Bobby G, Kat, and Jerri-Lynn. So much has happened since the world fell apart. It feels like years have gone by, but it’s only been months.
After cleaning up the Medical house, I decide to go to our cemetery.
Shoe and boot prints are all over the grass and graves of our cemetery. Blood spatter is on leaves and some of the rocks that are at the top of Keith, Kat, and Jerri-Lynn’s graves.
I look down at Bobby G’s grave and think about what Isiah told me and how Bobby G’s house, that is still standing, but badly burned, wasn’t his house and I say to myself, “What difference does that make? People are taking over so many things that don’t belong to them now. We should take over several homes, especially some mega mansions at the beaches around here.”
As I continue to look at our graves and notice the marked spots for Deb and Drew’s graves, I think that it’s a good thing Bobby G wasn’t here during the attack as he probably would have been killed and maybe even burned alive inside his house.
A drone comes flying over to my direction and I hear it flying to my right. I don’t have any place to hide, so I decide to stand my ground and look directly at the drone.
The drone comes flying directly over to me and it stops about five feet away from me and hovers at just a little higher than the top of my head.
“Are you Ryan Briggs?” asks the drone with a robotic voice.
“Yes,” I answer the drone and I instantly can’t believe that I’m talking with a drone.
Suddenly a video display is projected from the drone and I see Saba.
“Hey, it worked,” says Saba with a big smile.
I look at the projection of Saba and I see Saba in his lab.
“Can you hear me Ryan?” asks Saba as he looks at me.
“Yeah, I can hear you,” I answer Saba.
“Awesome, I just wanted to let you know that we have drones over CO and the Haven now. Plus, all over Tampa Bay,” says Saba.
“So, the drones flying over here are yours?” I ask Saba.
“Yeah, most likely. There could be some rogue drones or military drones, but our drones are directly over your neighborhood,” answers Saba.
“B wanted me to check in with you and to see if you would be able to meet with I and B tomorrow afternoon,” says Saba to me.
I nod my head and tell him that will be fine.
“Good, I’ll relay the message,” replies Saba.
“No more calling over the sat phone?” I ask Saba.
“We’ll probably still use the sat phones, but we just got some new tech and some old tech working again and I thought I would try out some drone communication with you,” answers Saba.
“I’ve never really used drones and this kind of technology before the world fell apart,” I say to Saba.
“Yeah, you seemed more like the old school type,” replies Saba with a smile.
I smile and chuckle and Saba says to me, “I know you feel betrayed by us, but I and B must have had a good reason for keeping it from you.”
“And what was that reason?” I ask Saba.
“I don’t really know the exact reason, but we’ve heard some pretty big news over the radios and satellites recently, along with getting some new game changing toys and tech,” answers Saba.
“Were those robots that you brought here new?” I ask Saba.
“Yeah, and they were just a small amount of the stuff we got,” answers Saba.
Saba needs to end our drone call and the drone flies away and keeps patrolling over CO.
“What the hell was that?” jokes Phil as he walks over to me as I stand in our graveyard.
I turn towards Phil and answer, “That was Saba. We just had a drone call.”
“Nice, we are really stepping up our tech game around here,” replies Phil.
“Yeah, just took another attack on CO to do it,” I say.
“What did Saba say?” asks Phil.
“He set up the meeting with Isiah tomorrow afternoon,” I answer Phil.
“You think they’ll let us have one of those construction robots they brought here?” asks Phil.
“I don’t know, I’ll have to ask them about it when I see them tomorrow,” I answer Phil.
I walk with Phil back towards his house and I ask Phil, “Did you have any robot police officers?”
“We were getting one at the station when I was away on our guys trip to Tennessee,” answers Phil.
“Did your police station in Raleigh use a lot of AI or androids?” I ask Phil as we stop walking in front of Phil’s driveway.
“Our computer system, storage, and filing software had AI components, but we didn’t have a pre-crime unit or anything like that,” answers Phil with a smile on his face.
“Shaun loves those futuristic sci-fi movies,” I reply.
“Yeah, Shaun and the other Ryan would always go see them. They asked me to go, but I was always working,” says Phil.
“Oh yeah, the other Ryan, or should I say the other RB?” I joke.
“Yeah, RB and RB,” replies Phil.
“Lisa would always ask me if I met the other Ryan, like for years, and I would always say yes Lisa. It became a pretty funny joke every time the other Ryan and I would be in the same place together. Do you know Ryan?” I say with a smile on my face and some laughter in my voice.
“I wonder if he’s still alive?” asks Phil.
“Who knows, wasn’t he living in Michigan or Wisconsin or something?” I ask.
“I think it was Michigan,” answers Phil.
I tell Phil that Brody woke up and went to stay with Kiersten and Phil tells me that he’s going to check in on JJ, Darlene, Jon, Kelly, and Jordan later today.
I say goodbye to Phil and walk down the sidewalk and enter our Armory house.
Our Armory house is all tore up and looks to have been looted, but the safe is still shut and secured.
I wonder if Jacob and the people who attacked us took most of our weapons, or if they’re still placed around CO.
I look at the safe and think about calling DK over the walkie that should still be inside the safe.
My curiosity takes over and I open the safe and find a couple handguns, boxes of bullets, two knives, and the black bag that has the walkie in it.
I unzip the bag, remove the walkie, and call for DK.
No one answers over DK’s walkie after I try to reach him several times.
I try one more time and no one answers. I’m about to turn off the walkie and a young boy replies over the walkie, “Hello, who is this?”
“Who is this?” I ask into my walkie.
“It’s Brandon, who am I talking with?” asks the boy over the walkie.
“I’m Ryan, is DK there,” I ask into my walkie.
“No, he hasn’t been around for a while,” answers Brandon over the walkie.
I wonder who this Brandon kid is and why he has DK’s walkie.
“Do you want me to tell him you called for him Ryan?” asks Brandon over the walkie.
Brandon sounds like a nice, polite, and respectful young boy. “No thanks, I’ll just try him another time,” I answer into my walkie.
Brandon doesn’t reply to me and a woman asks into the walkie to me, “Who is this?”
“No one ma’am. I was just trying to reach someone over the walkie,” I answer into my walkie to the woman.
“Well, who were you trying to reach?” asks the woman over the walkie.
“He was trying to reach DK,” says Brandon to the woman as she still has her finger on her walkie call button.
“Are you one of his squad mates?” asks the woman over the walkie.
“What’s your name ma’am?” I ask into my walkie.
“It’s Bethany, but people call me Beth, I’m DK’s sister,” answers the woman over the walkie.
“I didn’t know he had a sister,” I reply into my walkie.
I feel a mix of emotions as I’m talking with Beth and Brandon over the walkie. I don’t feel like they are a threat to me and I feel a weird combination of ease and anxiety with every call and response over the walkie.
I’m about to respond to Beth, but Beth replies over the walkie first, “I don’t know where DK is and when he’s coming back here.”
“Thank you, I’ll try to reach him another time,” I reply into my walkie.
CLICK.
I hear Beth’s walkie turn off and I feel like the conversation ended harshly and abruptly, but that it was going nice up until the end.
I turn off my walkie, place it back into the black bag, and put the black bag back into the safe. I close and lock the safe and I’m about to leave the Armory house when I get a call over my radio.
“Ryan, are you there Ryan?” asks a man over the radio.
“This is Ryan,” I answer into my radio.
“This is Brad and I have some big news,” replies Brad over the radio.
Before I can reply to Brad into my radio, Brad says, “Sal wants to me with you. I setup a meeting with you and him tomorrow.”
“What time?” I ask into my radio.
“Dinner time, like six or seven at night,” answers Brad over the radio.
“I have another meeting tomorrow, and I’m not sure I should meet with Sal,” I say into my radio to Brad.
“Well, I wouldn’t normally recommend it either and I know this wasn’t the plan, but Sal is pissed. He said he’s done working with Jacob and I told him that you would be a good ally for him,” replies Brad over the radio.
I’m shocked to hear that Sal wants to meet with me and I don’t know if I should trust what Brad is saying.
“I know it sounds too good to be true, but Sal is pissed that Jacob took a lot of the prisoners for some attack on a community,” says Brad over the radio.
“He attacked my community,” I reply to Brad into my radio.
