Life After Z

Chapter 22 - Cooper

It was hard to tell through the glare of their bright headlights, but I was counting nine men in those tucks. Four in the hummer, three in the green truck and two in the white one. Their mouths were moving, meaning that they were talking to each other. Probably making plans on what to do next. Deciding if it was worth it to engage with us.

These were not Ivy's people.

Seeming to come to a decision, nearly all of the doors on the trucks opened and all nine men stepped out to take defensive positions behind their open doors. All of them were locked and loaded. Barrels of guns pointing right at us.

Guess they came to a decision.

"That's an awfully nice looking truck you have there," the driver of the hummer called out and I gritted my teeth in frustration. These were exactly the kind of people that Ivy was so afraid of. People that believed they had a right to take because they could. There was very little humanity left in guys like this. "I think we might want to take it off of your hands for you."

"I'm thinking that would be a bad idea," I replied in a calm, even tone, refusing to cede control or show fear. "We are just as armed as you are and just as willing to drop bodies to protect what is ours. It would be best for everyone if you were to turn around. We can forget this whole meeting ever even occurred."

"Ah, I have no doubt. The hardware you are packing, the modifications to your truck, and your response time all illustrate that you guys know your shit. But you are mistaken on one front. You are not as well armed as we are. See this?" the driver asked as he held up a small round object in his hand. "This is a MK3A2 concussion offensive hand grenade and let me tell you, it packs quite a punch. All I have to do is toss this under the trailer of your truck and any people you have holed up in there will be damn near liquified. Take into consideration that you are parked next to a fuel tank and I wouldn't put good odds on the two of you up top making it out either."

"Fuck," Everett hissed and I whole heartily agreed.

I took a deep breath, pushed away my burgeoning panic and forced myself to think. There was always another option. I just had to slow down enough to see it.

Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.

Jed's words played in my head as I centered the driver in my scope. I could take him out. Easy. But the real question was if I could take down the rest of them before someone else got to that grenade and pulled the pin. Not likely. Plus, I wasn't accounting for the very real possibility that they had more than one grenade. Any one of these apocalyptic pirates could have one.

Meaning taking them out was a bad option. One that would more than likely get us all killed. Sebbie's green, trusting eyes flashed before me.

"You are starting to see it aren't you?" the driver taunted, clearly enjoying this display of power. "I have you by the short and curlies. You have two options here and only two options. Option one, you and all of your people drop your weapons and come out of that truck with your hands raised so that we can get a good look at you. I want the truck and I want your supplies. I don't particularly want to kill you. I will, but I would rather not waste the time or resources. So you can come out here and give up your truck and leave with your lives or you can take option two. Option two entails explosions, blood, and none of us having a very good night."

I wasn't even a little convinced that these guys would just let us leave. I would forfeit the truck and our supplies in a heartbeat if I really believed it would save our lives. But the more likely scenario was that these sick fucks would play with us before putting us down. They wouldn't kill Jen though. No, they would keep Jen. Although it wouldn't be long until she wished they had killed her with the rest of us.

Maybe going out fighting was the best we could hope for here. At least if they tossed that grenade we would be granted a quick death. And they wouldn't get their grubby hands on our truck.

I was seconds away from pulling the trigger and sending us all into the next life when an idea came to me. The odds of it succeeding were low, but low was better than guaranteed death. I exchanged a loaded look with Everett, silently telling him to play along and then I put my rifle down. I then stood, making myself completely vulnerable to the many guns that were trained on me, and smiled at the driver. I showed him my empty hands and shrugged my shoulders.

"You can't blame me for trying. You know how it is," I said, my voice carefully pitched to sound friendly. "I know you said that there were only two options, but I am hoping to convince you that there is a third."

The driver copied my smile but kept his gun trained on me. "And what exactly would you suggest?"

"We just took down this beautiful buck and grilled the tenderloin to perfection. Even have a bottle of whiskey here to help wash it down. Why don't we all enjoy this beautiful night, get to know each other as friends and then tomorrow when you take our truck, you bring us along with you," I replied as if joining this group was exactly what we had been looking to do.

"We are hard workers and willing to do the shit jobs that no one else wants to do. We will pull our weight. No one here is looking for a free ride. Just a safe place to rest our heads at night. The third option is that you give us a chance to prove to you that we would be a good addition to your group," I said into the night air and knew that more than the driver were listening.

"Fuck yeah! Dinner sounds great!" one of the men called out.

"I like the idea of having some new meat to do all the grunt work," another agreed.

"They seem like capable men. Might work out," another added.

"They have to be more than capable. They would have to be the kind of men that understand their place. That knows how to follow orders and not cause problems," the driver said, silencing all other voices in the night.

I forced myself not to grit my teeth. We needed time. Right now everything about our circumstances are working against us. Thus we need to change the circumstances. Playing along and pretending to be the type of men that would join these pirates would buy us time. And hopefully that time would give us a chance to fight for our lives.

"I think you will find we are just those sort of men."