Those That Remain

February 13, 2022

“It was the only thing he couldn't do for her, but it was the only thing she needed him to do,” Craig said, pairing his shaking head with an ironic smile; yet the sorrow never left his eyes. There was a prolonged period of silence, and the longer it lasted, the more no one wanted to break it. This was partially out of respect and partially because no one knew what to say. Finally, Rachel spoke:

“Did he?” she couldn’t bring herself to say what exactly he did, since that would cause her to acknowledge it out loud.

“Yeah, I offered to do it for him. He was in no condition for something like that. But they both insisted,” Craig replied, still never raising his gaze from the ground.

“Where is he?” Daniel asked, already making his way toward the door, ready to go after him if need be.

“He’s on his way, he just needs some time. I know it’s still dangerous out there after the noise, but he needs it,” Craig nodded in the direction he had come from. His eyes lingered for a while, worried for his brother’s safety, both emotionally and physically. He knew John, Noah, and Xavier were still out there, but he couldn’t help but be concerned. Daniel slowly nodded his head, but remained at the entrance, hatchet in hand. Makenzie walked over from her former spot by Rachel to Craig as he pulled up a rickety metal chair to the table.

“How are you holding up with all of this?” She said gently as she softly rubbed his back.

“Not as good as I thought,” Craig replied with a sigh, “I’ve never seen him like that. He’s always been the level-headed one. But with Katie, he just lost it. I hated seeing him like that. She meant everything to him; the thing that kept him going through all of this. He never even got to…”

At that point, Craig himself broke down into a fit of tears. He tried to subdue himself by dropping his head into his hand, covering his eyes as he did so. Makenzie wrapped her arms around his head and brought him in close, whispering words of comfort even as her own eyes began to water.

The heavy silence fell again and lasted for several minutes this time.

“Should we go after him?” asked Emma, barely above a whisper. The sorrowful atmosphere fell again, just as chokingly heavy, until Craig finally nodded. Daniel straighten up from his resting position on the door frame to the garage.

“Hold up, I think I see him,” he said as he raised his hand, palm out and towards the group. All eyes turned to the street outside.

A distant figure slowly came into view, moving ever so slowly as it seemed burdened by some object it appeared to be carrying. Several members of the group turned away and covered their mouths or broke into tears as they recognized the object to be Katie and Gregg its bearer. Craig stood up to go meet his brother. He reached out and grabbed his shoulder. Gregg stopped at looked up, only meeting his brother’s eyes for a second, but in that second, Craig saw pure, bloodshot sorrow, with the remnants of rivers of tears running down his cheeks to his thin beard.

Gregg continued with his slow and silent journey. It seemed as thought every step he took was intentional and performed with a great deal of thought, if only to cherish the fragility of that which he held in his arms. His jacket was draped over her chest and head, but they all knew who it was. He made his way to the table in the middle of the room, gently laying Katie’s body on it. He took the time to make sure every part of her lay perfect and peaceful, ending by slowly pulling back the jacket so he could see her face. When he seemed satisfied, he grabbed a nearby chair, the metal legs scraping along the cement floor making far too much noise, but no one cared. He sat on her left side and held her hand that was nearest him. With his left hand beneath hers, he began to lightly play with her fingers. With his right, he stroked the back of her hand, stopping at the diamond studded band on her ring finger. The sight of it sent many of the group into another fit of mourning. The ring hadn’t been there when they had last seen her. The outburst made Gregg glance in their direction. His explanation came in short phrases, filled with pauses partnered with the swallowing of several lumps.

“I, uh…was gonna ask her when we got back, but…so I had to right before I…” Gregg closed his hands around hers in a firm grasp and brought his forehead to her limp fingers. He finally raised his head and looked at her eyes, gazing past the closed lids into the memory of her deep blue eyes which would never again meet his. He brushed away a strand of her jet-black hair that fallen on her forehead and began to chuckle, but the anguish could still be heard through his laughter, “She, uhm…she said yes.” At this he wept harder than any had seen him. He dropped his head again, ear pressed against her blood-soaked waist. The only sound in the room was Gregg’s heavy breathing and sniffling as he trembled over his love’s lifeless body.

The group began to slowly approach the couple. Craig again went to his brother, putting his arm around him and grasping both shoulders. They all lingered for a while, each person mourning and comforting in various ways.

Craig decided he needed some air. He stood and gave Gregg another squeeze on the shoulder and made his way to the door, putting one hand on his hip and running the other through his hair. Daniel noticed his change of locale and followed.

“I know Kenzie already asked, but are you doing okay, brother?” he asked as he took his position leaning against the wall behind Craig.

“Personally? I will be. Again, I hate seeing everyone like this. It’s just weird how they’re all taking it. Not to mean any disrespect, but…” Daniel nodded in understanding. The group had been through a lot. They were all good friends from college, even before all of this started, all save Essex, Hanna, and Mike, all of whom had joined the group after the beginning. Everyone had lost someone initially, but they had been lucky for how many of them got out before everything went down. There used to more of them…a lot more. It was nice going through all of this with people you considered family, but it made it only harder as the group got smaller.

“Was it one of them or…?” Craig nodded before Daniel could finish the question. Daniel nodded again and looked at his shoes. They had encountered this group before. He hated how so many normal people out there felt like they had to fight people like him and his friends when they all had a common enemy in this world. He hadn’t lost many friends to groups like theirs, so maybe that’s why Katie’s death was different. But no, Craig meant something else, and he was right. Craig continued thinking out loud:

“I mean, don’t get me wrong, I loved Katie, we all did. This is just different. Why is it different? We’ve lost people before. What’s so special about Katie?” he caught himself, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that like it sounded. It’s just, why couldn’t they…”

“Why couldn’t they have reacted like this to Izzie?” Daniel finished his thought for him. Craig couldn’t handle affirming it in words, so he turned away and nodded. Daniel continued:

“Maybe part of it’s just seeing Gregg like this. He’s never taken anything this hard, not even when Brady…you know. And, let’s face it, whether they’ll acknowledge it or not, they see him as our leader; I know I do. It’s like the first time you see your dad cry; it’s significant.”

Craig couldn’t argue with that. As much as he may hate to admit it, Gregg was their leader. What was worse was that he knew he couldn’t lead even if he tried. At that moment, John and Noah returned.

They began to enter, but Craig put a hand on Jonah’s chest, stopping him. The two newcomers looked between Craig and the mourners inside. No words were needed; the two simply looked down in a brief moment of silence. They had important news.

“We found them, they’re camped in a warehouse about half a mile east,” John pointed a thumb in the stated direction, trying to keep his voice down. He waved the walkie-talkie in his hand, “Xavier’s watching them now. He’ll let us know if they move.” Noah nodded towards Gregg.

“Do you think he’ll be up to this? Maybe we should wait.” Noah was always ready to postpone something like this if he was concerned about one of his friends--which always made his ferocity on the battlefield so surprising to Craig--but Gregg’s current state made even Craig reconsider this. He looked back at his brother, no longer weeping, simply holding Katie’s hand, her fingers pressed against his lips. If there was any decency left in this world, Gregg should be allowed this time with his fiancé. If anyone should have the right, it would be Gregg.

But no, decency left a long time ago. The lack of it was why any of them had a reason to mourn tonight, and because of that, they needed a leader. Their leader. As unfair as it was, they needed him.

“No, this needs to happen,” Craig stated, a part of him still questioning the decision himself. The quartet made their way to the rest of the group. Craig continued to his brother’s side, making is presence known by the usual hand on the shoulder. Despite the urgency of their situation, he tried to speak as softly and comfortingly as possible.

“Hey, bud, we gotta go. We should bury her before we leave.” They were no strangers to quick funerals. Gregg made no movement or reply. Craig hesitated.

“You wanna pick the spot?” At this, Gregg looked up, then nodded. Without a word, he stood up and cradled his would-be bride. Daniel, John, and Craig grabbed the only three shovels in the room and followed behind Gregg to wherever it was he was leading them. The rest soon came, as well. They had passed a church with a small graveyard when they first came into this small town, which was where the funeral procession ended. The men made quick work of digging a hole for Katie.

Craig and his brother were the only sons of a pastor and had therefore been to many funerals. Gregg usually said a few words for whatever kind of ceremony they had, but in this case, Craig took over. Not much changed, though. He quoted the first five verses of John 14, then talked about Katie’s life, how they’d all miss her, and that because of her faith in Jesus they’d see her again: the same old spiel he’d heard from his father and brother for years. But where was God in all of this? He wasn’t sure anymore. The entire world had gone to crap, so who’s to say God didn’t, too? He was angry: angry at God, angry at himself, and angry at the people who did this to his brother. So, why wasn’t Gregg angry? How could he not be? He needed to be if they were going to pull this off.

He knelt down on the edge of the grave by his brother. He sat there for a second and watched as everyone grabbed a handful of dirt and tossed it into the grave. There was something about that old tradition he liked.

“Do you want the ring, you know, to hold onto?” Craig asked, leaning over, ready to get it for him.

“No, she didn’t get to live as my wife, she might as well be buried like she was,” Gregg replied in a solemn, but oddly profound voice. He needed something of hers, however, he knew that. He opened up his hand for Craig to see. In it lie the cross necklace she had worn even before all of this.

“She gave it to me right before…” Gregg explained. Craig nodded. He began to stand up.

“Here, help me cover her up,” he said, offering his brother a hand. The hand was taken, and the pair began to fill the grave, shovel by shovel. Craig waited a short while before bringing up what was next.

“Hey, brother, we found the guys who did this,” he kept digging, giving short glances up at Gregg, who stopped for a second before continuing to shovel. With some apparent confusion among the group, Craig took the rest aside to fill them in. The two continued digging in silence, causing Craig to become more cautious of speaking further. Finally, they completed their task. Craig forcefully stabbed the ground with his shovel and folded his arms.

“We need to make them pay, Gregg,” he stated, still trying to sound calm and reassuring. The tone still sounded weird coming from him; Gregg was usually the one who did the comforting. He extended his hand for his brother to grasp.

“Bite one wolf…” he stopped, waiting for Gregg to finish the group’s adage. He was not disappointed:

“…the whole pack bites back,” Gregg grabbed his brother’s hand and nodded in affirmation, eyes still lingering on the fresh grave. There was still a semblance of reservation in his voice, and Craig needed affirmation that Gregg wouldn’t falter in this fight.

“Hey, we need you. I need you. You sure you’re up for this?” Craig strengthened his hold on his brother’s hand, hoping to maybe squeeze some confidence back into him.

“No, I’m not. But that doesn’t matter. Like you kept telling me, they’re all looking to me. ‘The needs of the many…’” Gregg let go and separated his middle and ring fingers and extended his thumb, forming the famous science fiction symbol they both knew very well. Now, that was some of the normal Gregg coming back. Or was he just faking it, like the leader in him always did? Craig didn’t know, his brother had always had a high resiliency. The sudden change in attitude did make him wonder. The two shared a nod and returned to the rest of the group.

“John, what’ve you got for us?” Gregg inquired, quickly filling his role, yet still lacking the confident voice of his usual self. John gave Craig a cautious glance, which was answered by a quick, reassuring nod.

“As I told everyone else, they’re about half a mile that way,” he said, straining to point east, “Xavier’s holding up in an office building a block away from the warehouse they’re in. While you were…over there, I got a call from him. They’re all there and accounted for. All we have to do is move in.” With that, the band proceeded to return to their previous resting spot.

Along the way, various members discreetly made their way to Craig, asking if Gregg was up to the task. Each time, Craig reassured them, but he would look again to his brother. He was sure he could hear all of the concerns, and even if he couldn’t, he was smart enough to know what everyone was thinking.

They eventually arrived at the garage and gathered any weapons and equipment they needed for the coming attack, which was essentially everything they had. They had all grown accustomed to traveling light. Gregg stopped and looked at the lever-action rifle which only hours ago had belonged his Katie. He stood for a moment, then put the strap around his head and walked to the door.

“Let’s get this thing done,” he said, removing the safety from his own rifle. The eleven of them then set out in pursuit of their enemy as the last remnants of the dying sun faded into the night.

John directed them to the building where Xavier was. The group entered through the back and up the stairs to the fourth floor. Xavier turned to fill them in.

“There’s only two of them on watch right now, the rest are asleep inside,” he handed his scoped hunting rifle to Gregg and pointed to the warehouse two buildings away and across the street, “One’s on the fire escape outside the third floor. The other’s on the sidewalk leaning against the wall. He’s been dozing off a little; he’ll be out any time. I count fifteen inside. I haven’t been up here long enough to see how often they’re rotating the watch. It’s your call, Gregg. What do you wanna do?” They all turned to their leader, who removed the scope from his eye while still looking at their target, deep in thought. He finally looked up at the group.

“Rachel, how many arrows you got?” he inquired, looking at her for a second, then to the floor, ready to hear her answer and analyze for his plan. She flitted through her quiver before replying:

“Nine.” Gregg nodded and pointed to the building next to them.

“You think you can get the one up top from there?”

“Easy.”

“Okay. Emma, go with Rachel to the next building,” at that, Gregg nodded to Mike, who gave his walkie-talkie to Emma, “Xavier, you’ll stay here. You’re our overwatch; radio if you see anything changing. Daniel, John, Makenzie, and Craig, you four get rid of the guy out front. The rest of you with me. Craig, I’ll radio your group, and, on my signal, you enter from the west; we’ll go through the back. Everyone try to be as quite as possible when taking these guys out, hopefully we can get this done in a few minutes. Any questions?”

Gregg looked around, but everyone just shook their heads; satisfied. Craig didn’t have anything to ask, but he was still concerned about his brother. He surprised himself at how his anger had dissipated since Gregg had seemingly come-to. He was used to seeing this leadership from him, but something about it this time seemed odd; almost machine, even. He could only hope Gregg would keep his composure when the bullets started flying. With no voiced concerns, Gregg stood up and headed towards the door, giving Xavier a good-luck slap on the back on his way out. The others followed and split to their respective positions.

Fortunately for them, there was only a crescent moon out that night. However, the entry teams had to go down a few blocks and cross the street to have access to their enemies’ current resting place, as well as to avoid being seen.

Shortly after leaving Xavier’s perch, Emma and Rachel radioed that they were in position, and it was not long before the other two groups were ready, as well.

Gregg and those with him crouched below the windows broken long before at the back of the warehouse, while Craig and his group waited at the ground floor of the building immediately adjacent.

Craig readied his walkie-talkie to give Rachel the “okay” and nodded to Daniel, who slowly opened the door they were held up behind in order to creep behind the watchman who at this point and long been asleep. Upon having his knife and hatchet ready, he nodded to Craig.

“Rachel, take him out on your go,” Craig whispered through the radio. There was no acknowledgement in words, only a whizz and wet shunk as her arrow found its mark in the guard on the third floor.

At the same moment, Daniel buried his hatchet into the skull of the sleeping guard, then rammed his knife into his neck for good measure. There was still that audible crunching and the fleshy slice that bothered Craig, even after all this time.

After wiping his tainted blades on his fallen foe’s shirt, Daniel headed to the side door, followed by Craig and the others.

“Ready on this side,” John said into the walkie-talkie after all four of them were along the wall, two on either side of the door.

“Alright, let’s make this quick and quiet, people. You all know the drill. Remember: fatal tunnel,” Gregg instructed, “On my mark. Three, two, one…mark!”

At that moment, several things happened. John pushed open the door as Craig and Daniel entered and immediately moved away from the opening, guns pointed and ready. The same happened at Gregg’s door. However, when he opened it and Mike went through first, he was met by a flurry of bullets from one of their opponents waiting on the other side.

Mike was jerked in all directions, fresh holes and squirts and mists of blood multiplying by the second. A couple of stray bullets found a home in Essex’s leg, who had followed Mike through the door. Hannah was quick to reach out and drag back outside behind the safety of the wall.

When the barrage stopped, Gregg leaned through the door way and quickly avenged Mike. Enraged, he rushed inside and behind a couple of barrels as a new hail of bullets came at him. Noah quickly covered him and ran to his side while the others remained outside and fired through the windows.

We return to Craig and his group who upon entering the warehouse from their side, were met by the immediate cover of stacks of crates and garbage. They were taken aback by sudden gunfire from the other side of the room.

My God, Gregg. What did you do? Craig thought to himself. His suspicions of his brother’s stability fearfully began to grow in his mind.

He was soon brought back to reality as the rest of enemy group stirred around the small fire in the middle of the room and got up to join the fight. The four of them proceeded to stay behind the boxes and rain down a flurry of fire on their opponents. Nine of them fell in their initial onslaught, before the rest were able to get their own cover.

“Cover me, I’m going for Gregg,” Craig shouted to John amidst the noise of the fight. Remaining low, he made his way around the room to where his brother would be.

Soon after the first gunfire, Emma and Xavier joined the battle, with what little vision through the various windows and weak lighting from the fire from their vantage points. Shortly following the beginning bloodbath, they each were able to pick off one foe.

Gregg and Noah were currently pinned down and unable to return fire, relying on the support of those behind them.

“Are you good, bro?” Noah asked with a slight jab to Gregg’s shoulder as they huddled behind the barrels, which shook from the occasional bullet pinging off their metal sidings. Out of breath, Gregg nodded and tried to look over their cover, only to quickly drop his head.

“Yeah,” he said and nodded, “Cover me, I’m going in.” He suddenly barrel rolled to his right and sprinted to another set of boxes nearby and much closer to the three remaining hostiles.

Noah tried to yell out a warning but was unable to before Gregg’s quick and rash exit. After uttering a frustrated curse under his breath, he raised himself over his barrier and shot at the enemy now focused on Gregg.

Gregg looked around his immediate area and noticed a large but empty toolbox lying a few feet away. He leaned over to bring it closer, then crouched as if ready to run.

With seemingly inhuman speed, Gregg tossed the toolbox in the direction of his attackers, then did another roll along the ground to his left, ending on his belly, gun trained in front of him. With the short distraction of the box, he was easily able to mow down the two men closest to him. The third and final enemy tried to dash away, put was tripped up by several bullets to his leg and thigh. He went airborne and quickly came crashing down to the floor, his cheek coming down with a distinct crack.

Gregg soon got to his feet and slowly made his way to the wounded opponent. The bleeding man rolled onto his back, one arm clutching his injured side, the other pulling him frantically toward his gun and away from his ominous vanquisher who was steadily bearing down on him.

With hardly an effort, Gregg fired from the hip at the man’s arm. He stopped and shouted in pain, falling flat on his back. Gregg moved closer, now mere feet from him.

The terror in his enemy’s eyes increased the nearer he got. He liked it. He was glad there was still one left alive he could get satisfaction from.

He bent down and grabbed the man by his collar, pulled him up, and brought his other fist hard on the man’s broken cheek. Then he did it again. And again. He kept going until he could hear the blood gurgling in his prey’s throat. Then he let go.

The man flopped to his side and vomited. The gooey streams of blood dripped out and puddled on the floor below him.

“Just...kill me,” the man gasped out, then choked and coughed, causing more blood to gush out.

Gregg suddenly pulled his knife out and buried it in the man’s uninjured leg. The man again howled in pain.

“Oh, I will, but not before you know what you did,” he said as he twisted the knife already embedded. At this point, the others had gathered around. Makenzie edged forward a bit.

“That’s enough, Gregg!” She yelled, eyes welling up with tears, both for her friend and the man he was torturing. Gregg didn’t even look up.

“You killed my wife,” Gregg cried, tears of rage and sorrow rising to his own eyes. He ripped the knife out of the man’s leg and brought it under his jaw as the victim tilted his head back. A look of confusion came over the man, mixed with his agony.

“What? I swear, I don’t know your wife. I never seen you before!” the man begged as he tried to bring his head as far away from the blade as he could.

“You may not have pulled the trigger, but you’re with the people who did. ‘Guilty by association’ in my opinion,” Gregg said, his face only inches from his enemy’s. He raised his knife again, and this time the man went into a near panic.

“And I want you…” Gregg brought the knife down in the man’s gut.

“to suffer…” Stab

“just as much…” Stab

“as she suffered…” Stab

“and I suffered!” This time, his stabs came in a flurry, turning the man’s insides into crude hamburger.

Craig rushed to his brother and tried to pull him off but was stopped by Hanna, who shook her head as he attempted to pass.

“Let it happen,” she said, tightening her grip on his shoulder as she looked over in the direction of Mike’s body.

At this point, the man couldn’t even scream, he simply winced and gurgled with every blow, until finally, his eyes glazed over, and his head dropped to its side.

Gregg raised his head, panting and dripping with blood that was not his own.

“What?” he questioned, in the annoyed tone of an adolescent.

Everyone just stood there, silently. Some were appalled and either turned away or watching in disgusted awe. Others simply looked, satisfied with the justice they had just witnessed.

Craig didn’t even know what to think. He knew one thing, though: his brother was gone.