Chapter 10

"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Brown Belt

Joshua Walsh!" said Andre.

This kid has been through it! He's never met his dad, his mom was killed by DCs, and Em found

him barricaded in a house with a dead babysitter in Birmingham. He says his dad

was a sheriff's deputy in Kentucky.

According to his mom's journal that he carried with

him, his dad and a few of his sheriff buddies were at a seminar in Birmingham

when he met Joshua's mom. Well, one thing led to another and nine months later

Joshua was here. I don't think the guy even knew he was a dad. But his mom did

give him his dad's last name, Walsh.

Today we're taking the kids that Andre believes to be

capable to remove some DCs from one of the outposts that we established.

Gerald, Andre, Diane, Em, Ricky, Robert, Rodriguez, and I were to chaperone

Joshua (16), Aisha (18), Regina (18) and Jeffrey (17). I think Robert had a

thing with Aisha and Ricky with Regina. Or was it the other way around? Both

Andre and Leon signed off on them being ready. But it takes more than being

ready on a mat. You have to be ready "in the shit," as T would say! T and Leon

both agreed that I needed more command experience in the field.

After we got far enough from the ARC, we removed the

hoods. Diane was a little feisty as she didn't know why she still had to wear a

hood being a council member and Rodriguez didn't as he was the newest member of

the Raiders.

"This is bullshit, papi!" she said. "You know you can

trust me. Why do I still have to wear a hood like some newbie?"

"Diane, if you were captured and torture and ordered

to give up our location, would you?" I asked.

"I don't know!" she said honestly.

"Well, that's why you still wear the hood," I replied.

I overheard her curse me in Spanish under her breath.

"Bossman," said Andre. "It looks like we got fresh

tire tracks near the outpost. Somebody came a looking and may still be there."

We had a snowfall last night, but the tracks were

fresh. Whoever made them may still be in the area.

"Okay everyone, stay on your toes," I said. "You first-timers

stick with your adult counterparts and do everything they say, when they say

it!"

The tire tracks ended with a car plowed into a tree.

There were obscured footprints leading to the outpost.

We stopped a good 20 yards from the outpost. It was

very unassuming. It was just a hunter's blind in a tree. We stashed some

weapons, food, and ammo for emergency purposes. As we approached the blind, it

shook a little and we heard some muffled noises coming from inside. The noises

were voices.

"Look! This stuff wouldn't have been left here if they

didn't want us to take it," said the male voice.

"We shouldn't steal, Ronny!" said a female voice.

"It's not stealing if the owner never comes back for

it, Jamie!" said the male voice. "If they're dead!"

"Eventually, everything dies, little brother," she

said.

We surrounded the blind as two kids climbed down. The

girl raised her hand and nervously pointed a gun at us.

"You stay back, mister," she said. "I'm not afraid to

use this gun."

You can tell she was inexperienced with weapons as the

safety was still on. Her hand shook under its weight.

"We mean you no harm," I said. "My name is Dr. Marvin

Harris. We set this place up for people in trouble. Are you alone out here?"

The kids looked at each other and their mood changed

from one of defiance to sadness. Tears appeared in the boy's eyes.

"Our mother was killed by her boyfriend, and we saw

our father, Jeremy, get eaten as we were trying to make it to Atlanta," said

Jamie as she lowered her gun. "I'm Jamie, and this is my brother Ronny."

"Are you hungry?" asked Em. "We have some food." Ronny

quickly hid the rations we had stored in the blind behind him.

"It's okay," I said. "We put that food in there to

help people, just like you."

"The military was evacuating people from the park near

the gazebo, but by the time we got there, it was overrun with those monsters,"

said Jamie.

"How did you two kids survive out here by yourselves

all this time?" asked Gerald.

"After the park, we went to a church. We were there

with a bunch of people and we thought we were okay, but one of those monsters

got inside," said Ronny.

"DCs, we call them DCs," said Diane. "As in dead

carcasses or the DeCeased."

"Well, Father Alonzo told us to run. And we did," said

Jamie. "It seems that whenever danger was around, we ran."

Just then, Joshua's eye caught Jamie's. They both

began to blush and quickly lowered their eyes. It was like every 80s teen

romance happened all at once.

"Well, if you two are tired of running, you're welcome

to come with us," I said. "We do however have some rules."

After explaining our customs, the two agreed and

tagged along. We had brought a mini school bus that one of the twins, Robert I

think, found and that Fred was instructing on restoring. As we approached a

clearing in the woods, we saw about 12 or 13 DCs dispersed but heading our way.

"Okay, I want the new kids in the middle. Blades only,

we don't want to attract any more attention than we have to," I whispered.

On one of his first raids, Rodriguez found five Hattori Hanzo Swords. These swords

obviously belonged to a collector. There were only 100 ever made. The metal

folding technique has never been duplicated. The tensile strength of the blade

makes it unbreakable. They were pristine and priceless. But more so, in the hands

of one who could wield it, they were deadly to the living and the undead alike.

Rodriguez gave them to me and said that I should

decide who should have the honor of owning them. I kept one for myself and gave

one to T and one to Leon. Together, T, Leon and I decided we should give one to

Andre. The fifth one is locked in my quarters in the ARC. Gerald seemed to be

comfortable wielding dual machetes and the twins were bowmen through and

through. Rodriguez had a pair of hatchets with curved pikes on the end that he

found when he found the swords. He kept those for himself. Diane had a fencing

rapier that she had become accustomed to. It suited her rapier wit, pun

intended. Em had a pair of hunter's knives as she was still feeling her way out

for a weapon.

We picked the stragglers off first. One by one, they

fell quickly. They fell quietly.

"Sweet!" yelled Ronny as his voice echoed through the

clearing. And with that, the DCs were upon us. When he yelled, more started

pouring in from out of sight of the clearing. There must have been 30 or 40 of

them.

"Keep the kids safe!" I yelled. "It looks like we have

a small herd to deal with."

Jeffrey lost his nerve and panicked. He ran out of the

clearing and right into another pack of advancing DCs. They devoured the poor

kid as he yelled and screamed for help.

"No one else runs! Now close ranks and stick together,"

I yelled over the hissing and gurgling of the DCs as we continually sliced and

diced our way back towards the bus. If I was being honest with myself, I was

scared shitless. I'm a doctor, not a warrior.

As we continued, Aisha fell. Em jumped in with her

knives and killed, eight DCs as Aisha got back to her feet. She was a flurry of

blades and feet. I yelled for Andre to get them back to the bus as I unleashed

the Hanzo.

Its shining blade flashed in the sun as two, four,

eight, twelve, sixteen DCs fell. Em and I ferried Aisha toward the bus. As the

bus was loading, a decrepit hand reached out from under the bus and grabbed

Jamie by the foot. In one swift motion, Joshua stomped on its forearm severing

it and kicked the hand freeing Jamie's foot. He then stomped its head in an

exploding bloody mess. The bus was slowly being surrounded. Joshua had a walking

stick. He used it to bludgeon the advancing DCs as they approached the bus.

"Hurry and get on the bus, now!" he ordered as he

continued to whack the DCs. The twins began to let arrows fly from the windows

and the DCs began to fall. Joshua quickly jumped on the bus.

I motioned for Andre to take off as Em, Aisha, and I

headed back to the blind. We ran as fast as Aisha could limp. First, we got Em

up, then Aisha. As I was climbing the rope-ladder, a DC grabbed my leg. Em

whipped one of her knives and it stuck right in the DCs eye as she slumped to

the ground. We heard Andre honking the horn of the bus as the remaining DCs

began to follow the sound instead of pursuing us.

The three of us sat there out of breath looking at

each other. It felt like my heart was in my throat! I was tired, scared and

pissed all at once!

"Poor Jeffrey!" exclaimed Aisha.

"This is why we train!" I scolded. "Why did he have to

run off by himself into another pack?! Why did they make me do this? Now

Jeffrey is dead!"

"You're scaring the poor girl, Marvin," said Em. "We

all need to relax and figure out what we are going to do."

"I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't

want to die," muttered Aisha. "I don't want to die, Dr. Harris!"

"You're not dying today," I said with authority. "As

long as you do what I say, when I say it. Do you understand me?"

She nodded with tears in her eyes.

"And call me Doc," I said attempting to ease the

tension.

I looked at Em and exhaled with a sigh of relief. I

don't know how I would have gotten through this without her.

"Those were some slick moves back there," I said. "You

were kicking ass and taking names!"

"Humph! Somewhere along the lines, I must have had a

good teacher," she said as she cracked a smile still breathing heavy.

Jamie and Ronny had taken the food we had stashed

there. There were still two canteens of water. I gave one of the canteens to

Aisha.

"Drink up," I said as I handed the other one to Em. "You

too!"

"What about you?" Em asked.

"I'll be fine," I replied.

"Uh-uh! We'll share," she said.

We took turns sipping from the canteens as the hissing

and the gurgling of the DCs began to fade in the distance.

"Andre will come back to the blind once he eludes the

DCs," I said. "You two stay here. I have to take care of Jeffrey."

"I think we should stick together," said Em. "Are you

up to it, Aisha?"

"I think so," she said nervously.

"Look, Aisha, I know I sometimes I come off as a tight-ass,

but that's because I can see the potential in each and every one of you. I know

you can do this. I just wished you believed in yourselves as much as I do," I

said as Em smiled at me.

"Thanks, Dr. Harris, I mean Doc," said Aisha. "I can

do this."

We looked around the blind and there was no trace of

any of the DCs. We slowly and quietly climbed down from the blind.

After we climbed down, Em retrieved her knife from the

DCs eye socket. Aisha had taken the crossbow and bolts that were in the blind.

We circled back to the clearing and followed the trail of bodies we had left.

All that was left was the top half of Jeffrey's bloodied torso as it crawled

toward us hissing and gasping. I raised my sword to put him out of his misery

as a bolt found its mark in his right temple. We picked up his pack and his

hammer.

"Are you ok, Aisha?" asked Em.

"I'm fine as long as Doc is around," she said with a

lilt in her voice. "He'll protect us."

Em looked at me with a look that said, "If you don't let this poor girl down easy…"

"Look, Aisha, I want you to be strong enough to make

it if you happen to find yourself on your own," I said as I pulled the bolt

from Jeffery's temple a little nervous about her declaration.

"Would you be willing to train me the way you train

her?" she asked motioning to Em.

"I'm not training her, as much as I'm training with

her," I said. "We're partners, so to speak. Why not learn everything that

Masters Leon and Andre have to teach first?"

"I will. Will you teach me then?" she asked.

"We'll see," I said. "What about Robert?"

"What about him?" she asked. "He's a boy, but you're a

man."

When she said that, I felt my butt cheeks clinch.

Either I was going to be the guy who lead on a teenage girl or the guy who

destroyed her first older crush.

"Yeah, a man who is technically old enough to be your

father," I said looking for a way out.

"Plus, he's already spoken for," said Em as she placed

one of the wettest, sloppiest kisses I've ever had on me.

"Oh! I didn't know," said Aisha.

"Apparently, neither did I," I muttered to Em.

"Sometimes these things just sort of happen,"

announced Em. "You spend enough time with someone and bam! You start having feelings for them."

As we walked back to the blind, Andre was pulling up

with the bus. There were bits of DC splattered all over the front of the bus

and stuck in the radiator.

"Does someone need a ride?" asked Andre as he opened

the bus door.

"Is everyone ok?" I asked.

"Yep! Everyone is a little freaked out, but ok," he

said.

I looked around the bus assessing our surroundings.

"But this dude right here," he said pointing to Joshua

as we boarded the bus. "This dude is a freaking beast. He saved this little

lady over there. Handled himself like a pro."

Joshua blushed again as Jamie kissed him on the cheek.

We put bags on those that needed it as we headed back

to the ARC. Once we arrived, I asked Joshua to walk with me.

"You handled yourself really well out there," I said. "So

much so, that Gerald and Andre want you in the Raiders."

"Really!" he exclaimed.

"Yes!" I said. "And I want to take you on as a

student."

"But I'm not a black belt yet," he said.

"Let me worry about that," I said. "And I wanted to

give you this." I reached into my locker and pulled out the remaining Hanzo

Sword.

"Sensei," he said as he bowed. "I am not yet worthy of

this honor. May I make a request?"

"Sure, go ahead," I said.

"Will you present this sword to Em?" he asked. "She is

more deserving. Especially, how she saved Aisha. And besides, for the sword to

truly mean something to me, I'd rather you award me your sword when you feel I

am ready."

"Well, it looks as if the student has become the

teacher," I said. "Joshua, I have no doubt that someday you will be running

this place."