THEY CAME PART 6
“We are going on a supply run. You’re going with us.” Doug had come up to me while I was sitting drinking my nasty coffee they had made. Who was I to complain. I couldn’t remember when the last time I tasted the evil bean.
“What do you mean? Why am I going? I need to find my sister and her husband, not become a part of your group.” The coffee was now forgotten.
“We need to see how you handle yourself out there. From what you have told me, you are new to being free. Let’s see what you can do. Maybe we can come to some sort of agreement with finding your family.” He handed me a small hand gun and walked away. Well, hell.
A large group formed at the inside the front entrance again. No one wore combat gear. That wasn’t a thing out here in the “free world”. You wore whatever you had. This group wore dark colors, mostly browns and blacks. I am sure if they didn’t own what they wore, it was borrowed. Someone threw a black beanie hat at me to cover my blonde hair. It smelled like the zoo on a bad day.
When we were all ready, it was the same as before but in reverse. Doug led the group out, but we left in pairs. Each pair moved from shadow to shadow before darting across the road and up the steep small path leading to the gardens. After that, we were taken in a different direction.
My head was killing me. For some reason, after I witnessed my sister and brother-in-law being taken, I just couldn’t shake the pain. Then, when that poor child had to see her father killed right in front of her, it went from a headache to a mild migraine. I could function, but just barely.
Doug whispered something to one of the lead men and stopped to let everyone pass. As soon as I came in close enough, he fell in line beside me. “Are you doing alright? You seem to be squinting a bit too much.”
“My head is hurting pretty bad, but I will get past it.” I tried to open my eyes more to prove I would be ok, but the light was like sharp needles in my head.
“Why suffer when you don’t have to. I’ll be right back.” He quickened his pace to catch up to the medic in our group. After about two minutes, he was back with me. “Here, we have ibuprofen. Us your flash of water to make sure it goes down better. They are a bit out of date.”
“Whoa! You actually have that? We ran out of it within a year at my compound.” I took them from Doug and downed them instantly. Hopefully, in about thirty minutes, I would have some relief.
Doug jogged back up to the front of the line. We had taken several terns and came to a tall office building. It was at least eight stories high. He held up a closed hand, and we all came to a stop. I only knew the signal from watching movies before life became a living hell.
In a lowered voice, Doug sent people off in groups. The numbers weren’t all the same, so I guessed the jobs were all different. When only me, another six people, and Doug were left, he said, “We are taking the top floor. No one really thinks to look in office buildings. They stored stuff for the higher-level executives all the time. We will go quietly and by twos.”
We took off at a run, crossing the main road as quickly as possible. Once at the building, the side door was locked. Doug brought out a simple pocket knife and used the back side to break the glass at the handle. We made it inside and started up the stairs. I may have worked the river grunt jobs, but my legs were not ready for this.
Surprisingly, I made it all the way up even though I thought my legs were going to fall off and my lungs were going to go on strike. Doug came back to me as the others went onto the floor to scout for food. “I’m impressed. You made it all the way with no complaints.”
Between breaths, I answered, “Yeah. Well, I couldn’t complain if I couldn’t breathe.”
He simply laughed and held the door for me. We started with the main conference room. It was huge and everything super plush. A giant dark oak table sat in the middle. “Check the cabinets.”
Doug took one end of the cabinets, and I took the other. He wasn’t wrong about them stocking for the executives. It was full of sodas, coffee, snack cakes, and even heat able meals. “Jack pot!”
Doug came over to see what I was talking about, and his excitement couldn’t have been contained if he tried. “Let me go get the others, and we can pack all this up and head out.”
After he left, I took to loading my empty bag. I only had it halfway full when a noise caught my attention. It came from an adjoining room. It must be one of the other teams, so I walked over and opened the door. It was not one of us.
