“Nice car you got there—haven’t seen one of those in forever… Mazda XIII, isn’t it?” A voice speaks from beside the car.
“Yeah,” I say as I bring my rifle out and point it at the man in the black suit. “That it is…”
“Calm down there chief…” The man says as he raises his arms. You don’t look like you are from around here, thought I might have an actual civilized chat.”
“Sorry,” I say, but I refuse to lower my gun. “I came out here from St. Louis. I felt it was getting too dangerous to stay.”
“Understood,” the man speaks as he nods and continues to keep his hands away from his gun. “I hear they’ve been getting an unusually high amount of Aggro attacks on the east side—you passing through or are you staying?”
“Depends on how safe I am here.”
“Just between us,” the man says quietly. “Not very…”
I slide my finger against the trigger. I know that there are three more in the hotel—however; I also know that there aren’t exactly many ways to get out of this situation. “What’s wrong with this place?”
“The mayor says this is the last month he’s buying Calm,” the man says as he folds his arms across his chest. “We’re here to talk some sense into him—although he isn’t talking to us. Plus they’ve got all these crazy militia types hanging about—which we won’t deal with. Rumors are we might lose this state… we’re just trying to be diplomatic.”
“Trouble out here…?” Eli says as he points his rifle at the man from the open door.
Tom makes his way down the stairs and takes aim as he takes cover behind a tree.
“We’re just having a discussion,” the man says loudly, then turns his voice to a low whisper. “Isn’t that right… Ethan?”
“What do you want,” I say as I keep the rifle trained on my target. “You’re not getting her…”
“We want you to turn yourself in… both of you.” The man whispers—or we’ll turn this town into a ghost town. It’s your choice.”
“Why aren’t you talking to us?” Tom asks as he peeks around from the tree.
“Because your mayor isn’t talking to us,” the Hunter says as he continues to keep his arms folded. “I thought maybe an educated person could talk some sense into him before this town ends up in some real trouble.”
“We ain’t stupid!” Eli shouts. “Our business is our business.”
“So what’s it going to be,” the Hunter says softly. “You think you can even kill with that thing? Last hunter you ran into is doing just fine—you couldn’t kill him, could you? We know you were a Sitter for a reason, not everyone has the balls to kill.”
“What’s going on there Ben?” Tom asks as he keeps his handgun fixed on the man.
I know that I do not have the fortitude myself to kill… but I will not let them harm Claire—not anymore than they already have. There is no surrender. I have to survive. Claire and I have to keep on surviving… “These hunters are here to destroy the town if the mayor continues with his plan to stop paying for Calm.”
“You stupid sun of a bitch,” the Hunter says as he reaches for his gun.
I pull the trigger a second later, managing to blast him at short range right in the arm. It nearly explodes from the close impact. He falls to the ground.
Another man in a black suit rushes out of the hotel and Tom takes him out with a single shot to the head. The Hunter collapses against the ground in a jumbled heap.
“Get behind the car!” I shout as I gesture for Eli and Tom to come over. They begin to run over, taking cover.
“The car is bullet proof,” I say—a statement which is made quite clear as a few shots are fired from the hotel window and bounce off the far side of the red Mazda. “St Louis streets were pretty rough…”
“I’d guess so,” Tom says as he fires a shot blindly into the window.
At least the odds are in our favor. A shot comes from beneath the car and bounces off one of the tires. Despite the shock, I’m a little in awe that they are also bulletproof.
“Fucker’s still alive,” Eli says as he drops to the ground and fires a single shot from his rifle into the man’s side. The blood sprays across the bottom of the car as the Hunter violently begins to shake for a few moments and then dies.
“Now we just have to deal with them assholes in the building,” Tom says as he shakes his head and reaches into his leather jacket. “Hate to do this, I always loved that hotel… lot of good hour long memories there…”
“Just blow the damn thing up,” Eli says as he takes cover as another barrage of shots is fired from the hotel.
“Cover me….”
Both Eli and I fire into the windows. As Tom pulls the pin he tosses the grenade and manages to get it right into one of the broken windows.
“I’d say that’s a three-pointer,” Tom says as we all duck behind the car. A large explosion fills the air, for a moment all I can hear is a loud ringing in my ears. I peer up and from all the dust and debris I can make out pieces of a body. Another man, covered in blood and seriously injured begins to stagger from the remains of the front of the hotel.
“You are all going to die now,” the man shouts as he attempts to limp across the street. “Every last one of you…”
“Well,” Eli says as he takes aim and fires a shot into the man’s head. “…you first then, asshole…”
Tom and Eli get up and survey the area.
“That should be all of them,” Tom says as he reaches a hand down and helps me up. I’m a little bit shaken, but I am rather grateful for still being alive.
“Looks like ya picked the wrong town to get away from your troubles,” Eli says as he dusts off his trousers. “So our mayor is refusing to pay for Calm… so they sent them out here to make sure he would—or else?”
“That’s the general idea,” I say. I know it is somewhat a lie. They were here for me. “He told me I had picked the wrong town, that I should either help them or keep moving on.”
“Instead you helped us,” Tom says as he smacks me on the back. “Wasn’t your business, I appreciate it.”
“I don’t know how much help that was,” I say as I shake my head. It feels wrong to accept any kind of gratitude… if I could be honest, it should be the other way around.
“Why’s that?” Tom asks.
“They may send more,” I reply. Or worse… I think to myself, dreading the thoughts that fill my mind.
“I reckon they will,” Eli says as he shoulders his rifle. “I’ll let the militia know.”
“Quite a racket they have going on,” I say as though this is the first time I’m hearing of it. “Pay for the Calm, or else they’ll come and muscle you into doing it.”
“Not like they’d need the money either…” Tom says as he shakes his head. “Then again, the whole country is going to hell.”
“I have to get home, check on my girlfriend—she’s been sick,” I say as I shake both Tom and Eli’s hand.
“You hanging around, are you with us?” Eli asks before I begin to leave.
“Yeah, I’m with you,” I say as I get into the car. “I’m in the last farmhouse on West 196 Street—if you need anything come and find me.”
“We’ll have a meeting in town tomorrow, can you make it? People will be interested in hearing from you,” Tom asks as he places a hand on my door.
“I’ll be there,” I say as I nod.
“See you then,” He says as he shuts the door for me. I put the car into drive and make my way back to the farmhouse. I feel terrible, once again, because I know that I have lied. Things have become much worse… there is no way that Claire and I can remain here. I am thankful for their kindness, and will never be able to repay their help.