Page 82 of Purgatory
Well-supplied? Yes.
Prepper approved? Obviously.
But when I went into my room to retrieve the weapons, I got what I already knew was there: extra mags for my pistol, a rifle and a shot gun. The larger guns were all nice and cozy in their cases under the bed. No big deal. Nothing an avid hunter wouldn’t have. It seemed the same for Cole. But Jax’s crazy ass? I knew he had the AR-15 and a bunch of grenades that he swiped from base when the disease took over but fucking S.A.W.s? AND their mounting stands? What else did he knick while he was there? Knowing him he probably took the whole damn armory. It really shouldn’t surprise me, but somehow he always does.
Case in point, the fucking trellis we’re descending, including Sadie who’s currently perched on Jax’s shoulders like a scarf in winter. Decorations are no longer decorations when it comes to Jax. Everything has a purpose adding to the design. Makes me wonder what the silly ceramic dog with the lantern hanging from its mouth near the fire place’s alter ego is. His head probably popped off to reveal a mini flame thrower for all I knew. The next house we get I’m going to second guess everything. Maybe I’ll add some extra goodies just so that I can do the ‘tada’ thing too.
You can’t play John Wick every time we role play, Jax, sometimes us normal dudes want to have some fun too, you know?
We make it to the bottom of the trellis and I take point. We probably have about a minute or so left before the ammo runs out upstairs so time is limited. Jax sets down Sadie and leads the way to the trail head to the right of the house which runs down the length of the lake. Cole brings up the rear, making sure the bastards aren't following us.
The bullets stop just as we reach the entrance to the trail which is flanked on either side by large brick columns. The gaudy things have no real place on a private estate let alone at the entrance to a running trail but who am I to judge.
Jax rounds the one on the left and pushes on the back of it. I hear apopfrom his position and shake my head, muttering to myself. “Of fucking course, it’s not just a damn column. Whatcha got for us now David Copperfield? Rabbits? Couple of doves? Helicopter? Why not, right?” I whisper shout as I cock my head from the opposite side of one of the columns. He smiles back to me, clearly not affected by my jabs. Cole, however, rounds the monstrosity and reacts to what Jax has hidden in there.
“Holy fuck, Jax... How the fuck? When the fuck? Holy shit!” he whisper screams at him, trying not to draw attention to us.
Jax ducks down into it and pulls out more guns. No, not just guns. SMAWs. This bastard got his hands on not one, but two Shoulder -fired Multipurpose Assault Weapons. I cock my head again, my tongue going to my cheek.
“I mean, it's not a helicopter. I have to say, I’m a little disappointed...” Just as I finish my mockery, he one ups me yet again, pulling out two thermobaric rockets. I think my jaw up and breaks itself as it hits the ground in shock.
“Well fuck me up the ass twice and call me Tuesday. You managed to get fucking thermobaric rockets? Of course, you did. It makes total sense. WHY IN THE FUCK WOULD YOU THINK YOU’D NEED THERMOBARIC ROCKETS, JAX?!” He doesn’t answer right away, just gives me one to load as he gets the other one from its home with Cole keeping a lookout for us. We set up as quickly as we can, then finally, Jax explains himself.
“Back up to the back up, bro. When shit hits the fan,you need something to clear it quick. These babies won’t leave anything to clean up after we’re done with ‘em. I told you, if we can’t have it, no one can.”
He looks back at the house and aims the weapon, regret and loss in his eyes but also determination and strength. He worked so hard building and preparing the place. It took him years, but he’s right. There’s too many of them for just the three of us to take on by ourselves and there's too much there that’s far too valuable for it to get into their hands or anyone else’s for that matter.
Since the guns upstairs stopped firing, we start to see Earl’s crew filtering into the house in search of us, trying to take us out. Looks like they don’t know we’ve already left. Good. Less eyes looking this way. I take Jax’s cue and aim at the house as well, uttering a small goodbye to the sanctuary we’ve known as home during all of this. It’s just a place and things. Home is where the heart is and my heart? Our heart? She’s waiting for us down the lake.
“Light it up!” Jax says and fires his rocket. I fire mine right after, both of the rockets entering different windows, and wait for the explosion. There’s not an immediate blast as they enter the house since these particular rockets have a minor delay on impact, but a few seconds later...
BOOOOOOOOM!
The entire house erupts. Cole, Jax and I take in the damage and assess if there are any survivors. It’s quiet. I don’t hear the yells of a group that would surely be trying to contact the people inside or assessing their own damage. No, I think, surprisingly, we got 'em all. Thank fuck becau-
Out of the corner of my eye I see something move through the smoke and rubble. I guess someone survived after all. I put the SMAW on the ground next to me and pull up my AR from the sling around my back as I get a good look atthe guy’s face. It’s fucking Earl’s brother. Never got his name. I’m just gonna call him Fucknut. I swear he's like a damn cockroach. I see him lift his arm, bringing up something over his head and react instantly, shooting him square in the face. Motherfucker was fast, and unfortunately, I’m just not fast enough to stop it.
“GRENADE!”
Too late. The force of the blast is enough to send our asses flying and we land with heavy thuds on our backs a couple meters away from where we were. I might have even bounced once or twice.
Guess that just confirms I’m a Bumble now.
Fuck, everything hurts. If Fucknut wasn’t already dead I’d shoot him again just for pulling this shit. Asshole…I roll around on the ground sluggishly, taking the time to check that my vital organs are still intact.
Yup, there’s my dick. Good to go.
The sigh of relief I release is palpable. I can’t seem to keep my eyes open, though. After a blast like that, I can almost guarantee I have a concussion. I look over and see Cole on his back next to me. It looks like he’s whole and breathing so we’re good there. I can’t see Jax from my perspective though. I try to lift myself up but my body isn’t responding to my commands. My eyes start to close against my will. The blast just too much from this close of a range. The last thing I see before everything goes dark is a tower of flames where our lives used to be and never will be again.
Chapter 51
Cole
Ah, fuck. I’m dead. Fucking dead. That’s all folks. See you on the other side. Jax done blew my ass up. Or maybe it was Hawk. Who the hell knows. All I know is we must have been too damn close with not enough cover to be using mother fucking ROCKET LAUNCHERS!
No. Wait. That’s not right. We were well outside of the range for those to do any harm to us. So, what the fuck happened? I think on it for a second. Jax and Hawk set up their weapons, took a knee and fired. The house exploded. Wham bam, thank you ma’am. Then, Hawk ran forward, lifting his AR-15 and shot toward the house, that’s all I remember. Wait…
Oh! that’s right. Earl’s brother. The fucking immortal son of a bitch. He must not have been in the house when it went up and must have either gotten into our stash or had a stash of his own cause the ass wipe threw a fucking grenade or something at us and knocked us on our asses. That’s why Hawk moved forward, to shoot the dick right in his face, but only after he already threw the damn thing.
