everything was quiet. Earlier, they'd heard banging and other noises coming from the long rectangular building in front of them, and they were fairly sure it contained zombies, but even that had settled down.
"What do you think is taking so long?" he asked his brother.
"Could be anything," Scott replied. He was sitting with his back against a large tree and had his eyes closed. "Take a chill pill; you know how these things go."
Sean sighed and got up on his knees so he could stretch his back. "You know how I am, I hate waiting."
A rustling sound off to their right brought them to full alert. Sean quickly scooted over behind a tree and Scott got to his knees to do the same. Both relaxed when they spotted four soldiers threading their way toward them. Sean slowly stood and gave them a quick wave. Once they reached the brothers, they quickly filled them in on what was going on.
Complete radio silence was in effect while final tweaking and placement of soldiers took place. The four soldiers would help Sean and Scott secure the back in case anyone tried to leave that way once they revealed themselves to the camp.
Once the soldiers were in place, Sean and Scott settled in again, but this time they were sitting together so they could talk.
"What do you think is happening up front?" Sean whispered.
"I'm hoping we're ready and the Captain is on his way to confront them."
"Do you think they'll give us Brooke and the others back without a fight?"
Before Scott could reply, the sound of a single gunshot rang out.
"I think that's your answer," Scott growled as he grabbed his rifle.
"Damn! I was hoping this was going to be resolved easily," Sean muttered. He walked on his knees over to another tree and looked out over the camp with his binoculars.
"See anything?" Scott asked as he joined him.
"No. Wait. I do see something." Sean adjusted the glasses. With the binoculars he could make out several figures standing between the tents. To his dismay, one man had a firm grip on Brooke's arm, another man had Jenny by an arm, and both had their hands bound together behind their backs with plastic handcuffs. Two other men stood guard on either side, one balanced a rifle on his hip and Sean figured he must have been the one that fired the shot.
He raised the binoculars slightly and refocused. Now he could make out the Captain, who was standing several feet away with his hands out.
He felt a nudge and Scott asked in a loud whisper, "What do you see?"
"Four men, two have the girls, and there are two guards. Captain Sears is apparently still trying to talk to them," he whispered back.
"I'm moving to another tree so I can see what's going on," Scott said before moving off on all fours.
Sean focused back on the man holding Brooke's arm. He seemed to be doing most of the talking so Sean assumed he was the one in charge. Sean could only see him from the back and occasionally caught a glimpse of his profile. He was very tall and every part of him seemed long and thin. When he turned, Sean could see that even his nose was long, but shaped more like a beak than a nose. He had wavy dark brown hair tied back in a long ponytail that went halfway down his back. His clothes and watch were expensive looking, and he was wearing dress shoes.
Sean took another quick look at the man holding Jenny; he was nicely dressed and clean shaven, but a lot shorter than the man next to him. Most likely the bodyguard or second, Sean thought to himself. The other two men flanking them were obviously former military and he gave them an even faster once over. Nothing new there.
He zoomed out so he could view the entire scene. The situation didn't seem to be getting any better. Captain Sears looked perplexed and was shaking his head. Abruptly, he swung around on his heel and headed for the jeep behind him. The four men turned and led the girls back into the white tent on their right.
"Damn," Sean muttered to himself. Obviously there was a stalemate and that was bad
Dana Carpender, Amy Dungan, Rebecca Latham