| General Fiction posted October 6, 2018 | Chapters: |
...8 9 -10- 11... 
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The hunters/hunted begin to meet.
A chapter in the book Baker's Dozen
Choices
by Bill Schott
| Background Image from Google |
CHARACTERS:
Ben Baker low-level White House worker forced to fight others as Presidential punishment
CC. Connors President's Chief of Staff
Tim Bends Assistant to the Assistant Post Master General
B.B. Bauxers Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Agriculture
Feather Waites former wife of B.B Bauxers
Ivan Zaroff husband of Orrin Breefs
Woody Post Journalist
Cpl. G.I. Joseph Connor's adversary in Vietnam
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The story so far...
Ben Baker, must find and kill a dozen people in a secluded, government-operated, forest compound.
Rusty Pipes, aiding C.C. Connors, President's Chief of Staff, has been killed.
Tyler Angles and Orrin Breefs have also been killed.
Tim Bends has survived, but is barely alive.
BB Bauxers, Feather Waites, Ivan Zaroff, and Woody Post, likewise sent to the compound and are working together.
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Baker could see right away that the mass of crawling hamburger was the Assistant to the Assistant Post Master General, Timothy Bends. Looking at his own arm, he saw that Bends was on his list. Moving out of his concealed sleeping position, Ben approached the human debris cautiously.
"You have had it, man."
Bends could only move his head a bit to make eye contact with this person talking to him. He tried to speak. "Gun?" came out of his half shredded mouth.
Baker gave it a bit of thought.
"I should just hit you over the head and be done with it. It's a courtesy that you dragged your way here for assassination."
Bends, who had somehow kept from crying through it all, produced a tear. His one-eyed gaze stared through Baker and hit a nerve. "Why?" asked the half-dead man.
"Wait a second," said Baker, wondering if the dying man thought he might be joking, as though he was in a hurry and wouldn't 'wait a second'.
Returning with a nine millimeter handgun, Baker pulled the hammer back and placed the weapon in Bends' hand.
"There's one round in the chamber, Bends. All you have to do is pull the trigger."
With that said, Baker grabbed his other gear and turned towards the encampment. He heard a click behind him. Turning around, he saw that Bends had indeed pulled the trigger. The barrel was pointed at Baker's back.
"Now you know -- why."
Baker retrieved the pistol, which was empty, loaded it with a full magazine, and continued gathering his equipment. He left Bends on the ground to suffer through to the end. He was no threat.
Meanwhile, B.B., Feather, Ivan, and Woody arrived at the encampment. B.B. saw the box of MREs on a cot and tossed a bag to each person in his group.
"What's this?" asked Ivan, looking at the bag with disdain.
"Food. Eat it."
B.B. took his ex-wife's knife and split open his MRE bag. "Just tear open what's inside and eat it."
The others got the knife, which seemed to be the only one they had, and did as instructed. Bauxers looked at the open boxes and realized that others had already been here.
"Get down behind the crates. Low. They could be targeting us right now."
"Who B.B.?" asked everyone.
"I don't really know. Get your weapons ready to shoot and blast anyone who isn't us."
Bauxers ripped open a meal package and squeezed what tasted like cold spaghetti into his mouth. After swallowing that, some crackers, and squirting a gob of creamed cheddar cheese from a pouch into his mouth, he moved on to the other crates.
Socks in one, rifle ammunition in another, and a laundry bag of what looked like hand grenades in the third. There were nine other crates still sealed.
"Each of you grab a couple grenades; put them in a pocket or somewhere."
He then ran to another unopened box. After cutting the banding and prying it open, the crate contained dozens of empty automatic rifle magazines. Digging through them did not reveal a weapon to use them in.
"Ivan!" he yelled. "Grab a bunch of these magazines and fill them full of bullets."
Bauxers moved to another crate and got it open. Inside were nearly a hundred short arrow shafts. After a moment he shouted, "One of these crates has a crossbow in it! Let's get them all opened now!"
Using the knife she had taken from her kidnapper, Feather pried open another crate. It was filled with pints of bottled water.
Woody opened a crate with a knife he had found at the crash site. It had been hidden from the others until he knew who to trust. He lifted the lid and turned to inform the others of what was inside. Instead, his chest exploded.
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