Bart fought against his cop reflex to run towards the sounds of people in trouble. That wasn’t something he’d be able to do anymore. At least not for a while. The world was going to fall apart around them. His job was to keep his family alive at all costs. There were going to be some very hard decisions that had to be made. Decisions he knew he was going to have a hard time living with.
“Did you hear that?” Drew asked him. He was referring to the distant screams and gunshots. He’d stopped walking beside the concrete covered trail that’d take them in the direction of the people who needed help. Bart kept right on marching the other way. He’d instilled a strong sense of community in Drew. The boy knew right from wrong. He had honor. He’d have to squash all that to survive the next few months.
Drew stared up the sidewalk another second or two then turned and followed his father into the darkness. The trail they were on skirted the suburb they lived in before disappearing deeper into the wooded preserve areas. Carrying his rifle in the crook of his arm with the now familiar weight of the pistol hanging on his belt Drew felt like an impostor. Like a kid who’s just a little too old for make believe dressing up to go out in the yard and play regardless. He couldn’t imagine actually killing someone. He thought of the weapons they were carrying more as a deterrent. A sign that people should leave him and his dad alone.
“What’s that?” Drew hissed looking up the trail at some lights coming towards them. Bart immediately looked to the left and right to see if there was somewhere that they could hide. They were surrounded by swampy woods though and the lights would be on them in less than a minute. Cussing himself out for getting them into this situation Bart told Drew to let him do the talking as the lights got closer.
The lights coalesced into a small group of men on mountain bikes. The men were armed with rifles strapped to their bikes and pistols hanging off their belts. A couple of the men had baklavas pulled up to hide their faces. There were six men total. They stopped pedaling and coasted to a stop as they got close enough to clearly make out the two of them.
“You out here alone?” One of the men on the bikes asked. The bikers were shining their lights into Bart’s and Drew’s faces effectively blinding them. Drew was backing up slowly wondering when he was going to feel a bullet rip through him.
“Drop the lights or I’ll drop a couple of you.” Bart answered the man. Bart hadn’t pointed a weapon at the group or made any other sort of threatening move, but the tone of his voice clearly conveyed he wasn’t bluffing.
“No problem. All friends here just trying to survive the end of the world.” The mountain bike guy said. The men angled their handlebars so that the lights mounted to them were no longer pointed straight at Drew and Bart. The bikers all sat on their bikes with weapons in easy reach waiting to see what was going to happen next. Everybody was taking this end of the world stuff one step at a time. It wasn’t like the apocalypse came with a handbook.
“Yeah. Friends. Where are you guys headed?” Bart asked.
“Just out for a little ride. How about you two?” The man asked casually. The group of bikers were slowly moving to encircle them. Drew nervously flexed his arms and subtly checked to see if the safety on his rifle was engaged or not.
“You guys really need those rifles and everything?” One of the other men had put the kickstand on his bike down and was getting in Drews face. Drew was big and athletic but the man in his face was bigger. Drew looked desperately over at Bart.
The man swung an arm to grab Drew in a headlock. He may be bigger than Drew, but he wasn’t anywhere near as well trained. He was definitely not in the same kind of shape as the star athlete he’d just attacked.
Drew had grown up fighting. Someone twice his size swinging a fist at him was nothing new. The man’s fist sailed harmlessly over his head as Drew ducked then swung his fist hard into the man’s crotch. Without needing to think too much about it he then stood up and grabbed the hunched over man by the hair. Drew slammed his knee into the guys face then flung him into the swampy woods. He watched a little too long as the guy tumbled into the murky water.
A fist slammed into the side of his head. Drew hit the ground rolling to avoid the kick his instincts expected. Bright flashes of light and the loud roar of gunshots. Drew rolled and scrambled off to the side of the road. His brain was screaming at him that he was going to die. He finally latched onto the fact that his dad was in the middle of that firefight. That thought goaded him into action.
He’d rolled himself out of close proximity to the fight. He sat up Indian style and flipped off the safety on his AR-15. He focused on
