Black Market Merchant

After Hanna drove the Mover Mech back to the dam and parked it right next to the river, John grabbed her arm and led her through the claustrophobic mass of townspeople crossing over the dam. The masses were going north along the river as Bell, Mr. Flanigan, and others were directing them that way in an attempt to escape the town. However, John took Hanna and headed south. Both knew that they had to find Mary and the others right away and get them to escape before the defenses at the dam broke.

Just before John and Hanna left the dam and entered the town below, John noticed that the fires burning in the town were much closer. Though he didn’t have time to wonder why for a distant rumbling from the baby Hoard Mother spurred him to speed up. Hanna was having trouble keeping up, but she did her best to follow.

The two of them hadn’t gone more than three intersections when they were passed by others hurrying northwards. At first it was only couples, or small family units and John assumed it was just a coincidence. Then the small groups turned into sizeable crowds and the pace of their numbers increasing worried John.

“Are the fires really that bad or have the Twisted reached this side of town already?” John wondered to himself. “I hope not. If the Twisted have invaded then Mary and the others might have already left the house and if that is true, we might not find each other in time!”

John looked back to check on Hanna and saw that she was starting to get separated from him in the thickening crowd. “Come on Hanna, grab on to my hand.”

“O-ok.” Hanna answered reaching out to hold his hand.

As she grasped Johns hand, she felt that his hand was twice as big as hers and the callouses covering most of the hand were rough and tough. But even though his hand was so much bigger and stronger, it was shaking, like John was afraid. Hanna looked up at him and saw the tense expression on his face, John was indeed afraid. This was the first time she had ever seen John fearful and this new emotion on a normally calm, stern face made her uncomfortable.

“We will make it in time, Mr. Weathers.” Hanna said softly, not only to comfort him but to comfort herself too.

John didn’t look back as he guided their way through the pressing crowd. “I hope we do.”

A few minutes went by before they arrived at their cul-de-sac. Everything looked normal so far and nothing seemed out of place. As they started running towards Mr. Weathers house, they spotted Benny calmly sitting on his porch.

“Hey, what is the rush you two?” Benny called to them.

“Benny, get ready to leave, now! Take anything of value you can carry and bring your shotgun too.” John shouted without stopping on the way to his house. “I have no time to explain, but the entire town is already evacuating. Tell Richard and Joan for me too!”

Benny didn’t say a word. He just jumped up and disappeared into his house. Even he hadn’t seen John this frightened, not since their years together as cops.

John burst into through the front door and called out, “Mary! Mary, we need to leave the town!”

Mary was in the kitchen cleaning something when she heard him. Poking her head around the corner of the kitchen wall to look at him she asked, “What is it? Has something happened?”

“Yes, something terrible!” John answered breathing heavily from their run over here. He then hurried towards the stairs and Mary followed curiously after him. “Lisa and the ERM are doing what they can to stop them, but the Twisted Hoard is too strong. I think the Twisted might be on this side of the river as well. The town is already in a panic and fleeing north. We need to leave now, or it will be too late.”

“Twisted Hoard? Dear, what are you talking about?” Mary asked.

Hanna watched them go up the stairs and disappear down the hall. She could hear their voices as John explained the situation. However, she herself didn’t know what to do now that they were back home. Her dull green eyes wandered around the house until they settled on the safe John kept his pistol in.

“I think I should take that gun with me.” Hanna thought. “I can’t protect myself from monsters like Lisa can and I can’t always rely on everyone else to protect me too.”

Cautiously she glanced upstairs but the Weathers still sounded distant. She then tiptoed over to the safe. Taking a moment to clear her thoughts Hanna recalled the combination she had seen John use and entered it. She pulled back hesitantly when the lock clicked loudly, but she tossed her hesitance aside and opened the door. The pistol was there along with one spare, loaded magazine.

“Here goes nothing.” Hanna said to herself as she grabbed the pistols handle. She then tucked it into the back of her jeans, just as she had seen John do, and shoved the extra clip into her pocket.

“Hanna?” Mary’s voice called out.

Hanna nearly jumped out of her skin as she turned to see Mary coming around the corner to enter the living room. “Hanna, go fill this backpack with clothes. We need to leave in five minutes.”

“A-alright.” Hanna stammered nervously. She took the backpack and thought to herself, “Whew that was close. I thought she caught me!”

John was about to pass by Hanna on the stairs when he stopped her. “Hanna after you pack, go find your friends by the stream and tell them to go back to their families and warn them of the danger. Make sure to say they need to run north. If you see anything remotely dangerous head back here without a second thought, ok?”

“I will do that.” Hanna replied. She then tugged at the back of her purple shirt nervous that he might notice the pistol.

“Good.” John said patting her shoulder as he then started down the stairs. “Mary and I will go make sure Richard, Joan, and Benny are getting prepared to leave. We will head your way before heading north.”

…

Hanna left the Weathers house running as fast as she could to warn her friends. Hanna dashed along the dirt worn path and jumped across the first ditch far faster than she had ever done before. If they were to be attacked by the Twisted Hanna wouldn’t know what to do. Other than Lisa and the Weathers, her friends were really all she had left in the world.

Soon she arrived within sight of the large oak tree and play area. She was relieved to see that not only were her friends there, but some of the parents were either just arriving to claim their kids or already leaving with them. Hanna then got the idea that they might not know where to escape too and that John had told her to tell them to go north out of town.

“Hey, wait everyone!” Hanna called out as she waved towards them. A few of the parents and kids looked back at her and she continued. “Everyone, you need to escape north out of town, Mr. Weathers said it’s the safest route.”

“Hanna, what are you talking about?” Clair asked. “The fire is not that bad yet.”

Hanna jumped the last ditch effortlessly and finished running towards her friends. “Its not the fire I am talking about. It’s the Twisted!”

“What game are you playing.” Kirk, Clair’s father, scolded. “Go home. We don’t have time for this. Come on Clair.”

“I am not playing!” Hanna yelled and she grabbed Kirks arm. “There really are Twisted in the town! We all need to leave town right now and go north. If you don’t believe me, Mr. Weathers will be here any moment and he will prove I am telling the truth!”

Kirk hesitated and so did a few other of the parents. Just then Mrs. Goldsberry arrived, and Jillian ran over to her and repeated what Hanna had said.

“I did hear something about monsters near the fires from some people passing by not too long ago.” Mrs. Goldsberry announced. Everyone turned to look at her curiously, Mrs. Goldsberry wasn’t known to be someone that would make something up. “I am not sure they were talking about Twisted though. Something more like the fight between the Mad Dogs and Skull was the cause for the fires and they were monsters for spreading the flames further into town.”

Kirk turned back to Hanna. “Is that what you were talking about? The gang war and not actual monsters?”

Hanna shook her head violently and a tear started to breech her dull green eyes. “No! I am talking about the Twisted! There are hundreds of monsters on their way here, right now, and we need to leave!”

“Look, we need to get ready to deal with these fires before they reach our house.” Kirk sighed disbelievingly. “We don’t have the time to listen to your stories.”

“But they are not stories!” Hanna pleaded. “I am telling…”

“… the truth!” A mans voice finished loudly for her.

Turning around Hanna saw that John had arrived and with him were Benny, Richard, and Joan. All four of them were carrying loaded back packs and guns. John cleared his throat and urgently told the news. Hearing him say these things everyone started to panic, but John calmed them down right away. “I have a solution and we need to act now before its to late. Hurry home, get what you can carry, and meet with us on the road in fifteen minutes. We all need to escape town together.”

…

“Almost everyone is inside!” A gangster called from above on the metal wall tower.

“As soon as the last person enters, shut the gate!” Martinez shouted. “What have we got for ammo? I am all out already. Those f****** Twisted are everywhere!”

“We emptied everything from storage and brought it here to be distributed.” Tio answered right away.

Martinez grabbed a loaded magazine angrily. “Those monsters are going to be here any moment and I refuse to let them get in here. I don’t want to see a single person not fighting. We all are in this together and if I spot anyone trying to run away, I’ll shoot you myself!”

“Well, so much for a motivational speech.” Jackson thought as he looked at the already worn-out gang members. “Their spirits are already low enough.”

“I am going up top to shoot first.” Ernest called out.

Ernest and his group from the barge had arrived back at the compound first. Traveling on the river with nothing attacking them was much quicker than being on foot. Martinez’s forces were not far behind them though and hot on their heels was the Twisted. Gunfire from the gangsters acting as the rear guards were now only a street away.

“Jackson, get a head count and start spreading them out around the wall’s perimeter.” Martinez order. “We can’t let them get behind us in here.”

“Already working on it.” Jackson replied. “Rodney is also reading snipers on the roof tops as we speak.”

“The Twisted are in sight!” Ernest called down. He then turned back and took aim with a rifle he had grabbed from below. “They are coming straight for the gate now and it looks like they are swinging towards the eastern side of the compound.”

Ernest then shot a few rounds at a Night Hound chasing a gangster as he ran for the gate. The Night Hound reeled back to fall dead as Ernest blasted its chest open. Following his lead, the other gangsters atop the wall opened fire. The street was filled with a racket of screeches and ricocheting bullets in moments.

“Is everyone inside?” Martinez called up from the gates entrance to Ernest.

Ernest stopped shooting and looked around at the streets below. He was about to confirm that all were nearly inside when a movement from the road leading to the rivers direction caught his eye. Focusing his attention on it, Ernest saw that it was a large group of Mad Dogs hurrying towards the compound. Leading them was Hugo.

Ernest smiled wickedly and thought to himself. “It looks like if we waited a few moments, they might make it here in time, but why would I do that? Ha-ha, with Hugo out of the way I would get promoted! Letting the Twisted do all the dirty work for me is the perfect cover.”

Ernest looked back at Martinez and shouted. “Everyone is inside. Close the gate!”