Fear The Living/Issue 64

This is Issue 64 of Fear The Living.

Issue 64
Ken Myers Jr.'s POV

I stare at the man that’s standing in the middle of the room, surrounded by three bandits. Who the fuck is this guy? These can’t just be any regular bandits, no these are, these are fucking Wesley’s bandits. I stare at Wesley, who just stares at the man, his face filled with surprise.

“Wesley, why the fuck are your goddamn bandits kidnapping us!” I whisper angrily to him.

He turns to me and shrugs, “I don’t fucking no! In case you didn’t know I got fired from the bandits.” He says, and he shows the words ‘Belongs to Superior’ that are burned onto his chest. “This guy, he’s Superior, when I failed he relieved me of my duty! He was the leader of the bandits, I was just one of his puppets, he lead all of us, he’s the asshole you want!” He whispers intently to me.

“No volunteers? Wow, much sad am I, such anger I feel. How about this, we all play a little game, I have this gun here, the chamber has enough for each of you, and there’s one bullet in here. Now you will just shoot the ceiling, I have better ideas for your deaths. Now don’t even think of shooting me, you even point the gun at me, and one of these men here next to me will gun you down, and then all of you will just die instead. Now, who wants to start it.” Superior says, and he takes out his pistol.

I stare at him, the same horror stricken expression I had when he entered.

I look around everyone, no one volunteers, so I stand up and I say, “I’ll do it.”.

He hands me the pistol, I lift it up to the ceiling, I take one big breathe, not exhaling. I close my eyes, I feel my anxiety rise, so I finally pull the trigger. A clink is the most I hear, I finally exhale, then I look around at everyone else.

D.L. walks up to me and grabs the gun, he points it at the ceiling, and another clink. Ben grabs the gun next, he points at the ceiling, clink.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Then Evan and David both stare at the gun, one of them are going to get chosen, no this can’t happen. David walks up to D.L., and he takes the gun, he points at the ceiling.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">I can see the fear in his face, the anxiety inside of him, the fear of being chosen. I remember how he told me that he was afraid of death.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Then, a clink emits from the gun, no bullet. I look at Evan, it’s him, he’s going to get chosen. I quickly stand up and run my one hand through my hair, “Fucking hell.” I say.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Evan looks at all of us, his face not showing any fear at all, he grabs the gun, points it at the ceiling, his face still not faltering, not scared at all. He pulls the trigger, and a bullet emerges from the barrel, and flies into the ceiling.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">I look at him, my best friend since almost the beginning of all of this, fucking hell. I grab the chair I was sitting on, and lift it over my head, grunting because of all the weight being held by my one hand, and I smash the chair against the ground.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">I feel D.L. place his hand on my shoulder to calm me down, but I just shove it off of me and I look at Evan.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">“God fucking dammit.” I say.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;">“Well, follow me Evan.” Superior says, and he takes Evan out of the room.

<p style="text-align:center;">Richard Burke's POV

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Bullets collide with the walls around us more by the second.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">I look at Felix lying on the ground, weeping sadly into his sleeve.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">I grab his shoulders and heave him up, then a bullet rips through his temple, and I feel his body slouch in my hands.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">I stare at him for a moment, and then I feel a bullet graze my arm.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">I let go of Felix, and I grip my arm, trying to hold the wound down as hard as I can to stop the bleeding.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">I look at James helping drag Steve to the room where Logan was.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">I dive towards the dead corpses of the men that killed Sofia and Felix Jr., I grab their guns and I hold the two pistols in my hand.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">I hold one to either side of me, then I burst through the door of our apartment out to the outside, and I send a couple of bullets at the bandits shooting at us.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">I dive behind the fencing we had built around the room.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">I release the empty clips from both pistols, and slide in two new ones into the pistols.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">I hold them to my sides again and I rise up, I look at the bandits at send three bullets their way, missing two, but managing to get one bandit in the throat with one.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Then I see James run out of the door and slide next to me.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">“We need to get the fuck out of here, the others are slipping out the back of the motel right now, we just got to hold off these fuckers, aight.” James says, and he grabs a machine gun that we always leave next to the fence, in case of something like this.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">I look around me, and I see a piece of cardboard lying on the ground.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">I stand up quickly and chuck it at the nearest bandit, knocking him back, then I sit down again.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">I can hear a couple of bandits start laughing at this feeble attempt of defending ourselves, so I take advantage of this and I stand back up and shoot at the nearest bandits, killing most of them.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Then I feel a bullet rip through my chest, I take a deep gasp, and I walk back a couple of steps, I hit the wall, and I slump down. I put my hands on my shot wound, no this can’t be happening. I look at James who is staring at me, he doesn’t know what to do, so I speak as quick as I can.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">“In my room, there’s a couple of explosives, get them, once you activate them they have a 30 second detonator timer. Get them over here, and blow the bandits to bits.” I say, struggling with every word.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Then I feel blood gurgle out through my mouth, I grab my chest, trying to stop the pain. James runs inside the apartment, and a couple of minutes later runs out with the explosives, he crouches behind the fence.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">“Those are it.” I say, knowing that he was going to ask that.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">James turns all of them on at the same time, he tosses them wildly at the bandits. Then  when he finished chucking them at the bandits he crouches back down, I slowly feel my vision fade.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;">And the last thing I see or hear is an explosion, and dead bandits.

<p style="text-align:center;">Rosalie's POV

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">I look over Logan’s body, I put two fingers on his neck, and I feel a pulse. I look at James who is helping everyone jump out of the window going outside this room. I look down at Logan, Ken cares so much about him, but I will never know why, they just seem to connect, and they bond like two brothers would. I love Ken so much, my love for him has grown so much over last two months. When he didn’t return the I love you I said to him, I just don’t know what’s happened to him.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Ever since he became the dictator of the group, he’s changed, he’s being an asshat to everyone, but Logan, or Sofia. Now that Sofia’s dead, Ken will only have Logan rely on. Hell, Logan’s like a little brother to me also, he’s grown close to me the last two months, but that’s probably just because I’m Ken’s girlfriend.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">“James, give me a hand with Logan, we need to get him out of here.” I say, and I pick Logan up.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">“What’s going on Rose?” Logan asks groggily.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">“I’ll explain it all later, but right now we just need to get out of here.” I say, and I go look at the window.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">I grab a chair near me and I place Logan on it, “Just sit there.” I say, and I look at the window.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">I put one foot through the window, James grabs me to help me stay upright, then I place the other one out, and now I’m just sitting out the windowsill.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">“I think I regret this now.” I say, looking down.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">“Well we got to go now.” James says, and he slaps my ass, making me jump a little, and I fall off the windowsill. I land on my feet, and I stop myself from stumbling.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">“Nice trick, you do that with Steve also?” I ask jokingly.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">“Of course I did it with everyone.” James says, jokingly.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">“How do we get Logan down there?” James asks.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">I look around me, and I see a big trash can standing around, filled with bags of trash, and a mattress sitting next to it. I push the trash can under where the window is, and I lug the mattress on top of it.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">“Just push him off, he’ll land on this.” I say, Logan is very important to Ken and me, he has to survive.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">“Here’s to hoping.” James says, and he grabs Logan, and he puts both of Logan’s legs out of the window, and then releases him.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Logan lands softly on the mattress, I grab him and lift him up.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">“You okay?” I ask him.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">“Yeah.” Logan says, and then he looks at me confused.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">“Why do you and Ken care about me so much?” He asks.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">“Because you’ve touched our lives, now let’s go.” I say, and I help Logan walk towards the middle of the motel, where we will decide what to do.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">I get there and everyone else goes there, then I see a convoy drive towards the motel, and it stops in front of it.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;">And out walks Superior, I remember him from when I used to be a bandit, he was the ruthless man behind all of it, and about thirteen bandits get out of the convoy. Then he opens the back, and I see D.L., Ben, David, Wesley, Evan, and Ken walk out of there, all looking bloody and beaten, and Ken missing the prosthetic hand he had.