Free Zombie Dawn II: A Zombie Apocalypse Sequel by J.A. Crowley

involved with this.  Perhaps this was the attack I’d been
expecting.  If so, he’d fucked it up beyond repair.  Instead of a surprise
attack or a recon session, he’d blown his cover.  And would soon be killed by
Ian and me.
    This was confirmed when the idiot
began to talk to “Jack.”  He was delirious.  “Don’t worry, Jack, I’ll pull your
tooth.  I’ll take care of you, Jack.”
    This confirmed it.  My father had
destroyed any hope of rescuing me and mom, and had killed Lita as well.  What a
joke.
    I was about to kill the idiot when
Ian stopped me.
    “This bloke is harmless, and we might
be able to use him.  He can’t move.  Let’s leave him here and find the
shooter.  Take his weapons.  Move!  Do it now!”
    As usual, Ian was right.  We headed out
after the “shooter,” who I knew was my Dad.  I had no idea what to do with him,
or to him, if and when we found him.
    It was actually pretty easy.  Jack
ran about two or three blocks and set up an ambush.  But when, in my rage, I
ran right into it, he called out to me instead of shooting. 
    “Mike, it’s me.  I’m sorry about that
girl.  I thought she was going to kill you.  I didn’t know.” 
    “Fuck you,” I screamed. “I will kill
you, asshole.”
    Ian calmed me down.  “Think a bit
here, Mike.  He’s here to rescue your Mom.  Maybe we should hear him out.  We
are on the same side, after all.”
    “OK, but I want to hurt him.”
    “Maybe later.  First we talk.”
    “Dad, come on out.  Let’s talk.”
    He walked around the corner, his M4
pointed at the ground, while Ian and I covered him.  We dropped our muzzles as
well.  We all put our guns down.
    As my father neared me, my rage only
grew.  A tiny part of me was glad to see him, but I could not get over that
he’d killed Lita.  So, to his surprise, as he went to hug me, I head butted
him, popping his nose wide open.  To his credit, he immediately responded with
a kick to my nuts, which I was able to avoid, catching it on my thigh—which
promptly when numb.
    “Stay out of this, Ian.  Do not
shoot,” I called.
    “Wouldn’t miss it for the world,
lad.  No worries.”
    I circled my Dad, and he circled me. 
We each pulled our knives, but dropped them.  Somehow we decided to have this
out as a fistfight only, without killing each other.  I knew that he wouldn’t
kill me, anyway, except to save my Mom.  I decided to do the same.
    I’d learned a lot from Ian, but Jack
was a pretty good fighter for an old fat guy.  No longer that fat, but hey.  As
I came in, rather than moving side to side he came right in, and gave me a head butt.  I kneed him in right in the thigh and I could tell it hurt.  We
were even.
    We stood toe to toe and exchanged a
flurry of blows.  Some hit, some missed, but we whaled the tar out of each
other.  I surprised Jack with a leg sweep and brought him down.  He whipped out
this extendable baton and, as I went for a head stomp with my boot, whacked me
in the knee.  I also went down but got on him and started to strangle him.  He
started to strangle me back, then just went limp, looking up into my eyes.  Released
his hands.  He decided to let me make the call.  I did, and it was to kill him,
but Ian choked me out before I could.
    When I came to, Ian and Jack were
sitting on a couple of chairs, talking calmly.  Ian helped me up, and helped me
into a chair.  As my head cleared, I could tell they were talking about working
together to storm the Armory and rescue Mom.
    I jumped in.  “Why don’t we get Uncle
Jim and some guys to help?  That’s still a pretty big group down there, and
they are dug in.  How can we get in and out alive?”
    “You have a point, but I think we
have to go now.  That place is a tinder keg with Mariana’s baby competing with
Joumana’s.  The lid could come off at any time.  They both hate your mother. 
If anything starts, either one could kill her at any time.  We have to go