Rise of Chaos 2 Read online

  “They were merciless with the survivors in Israel; they executed all of the women and female children immediately, and transported all of the men and boys to a remote island in the Indian Ocean. They had captured a hundred or so feeders ahead of time and placed them on the island, so when the Israeli men and boys were delivered to the island without weapons or supplies, they were easy prey.

  “This island is called Akthar or Hell Island. The Muslims believe that the Annihilation epidemic was a signal from the prophet Mohammad to colonize the world. Their plan is to kill all Christian and Jewish females, so the infidels cannot repopulate. The penalty for the infidel men is to be infected with the virus and left on Hell Island for eternity to atone for their sins.

  “Our traditional allies in the European Union have declared themselves neutral and cut off any communication with what’s left of the United States. I don’t know what the Chinese and North Koreans are planning on the western side of the Mississippi, but I fear it’s something equally disturbing. We are on our own.

  “I’m in contact with other small resistance camps on the Eastern seaboard, and we are planning to launch a counter offensive in the near future, but that’s not why I’ve asked you here today,” the Admiral said as he walked towards the window and paused to catch his breath, before he said, “Mason, Cap’n Tony has told me that you were a Boatswains Mate in the Navy for eleven years, and that you were the security team leader for the boarding party. Is that correct?”

  “Uh… Yes, but that was six years ago,” Mason replied, still spellbound from the story related to him by the Admiral.

  “We have another more pressing threat that I need your skills and expertise for. There are several inlets and coves around Camp Freedom that are inhabited by pirates. These men are scumbags and the lowest form of human life, next to the League of Islam, Chinese and North Koreans. They have an arrangement with the League of Islam to deliver any and all female Americans in exchange for guns and supplies.

  “I don’t know if you’ve seen the population of the camp, but Maria (the doc) is the only female we have here. They’ve relentlessly raided us and have taken almost all of our women and girls to be cleansed. Apparently, once the females are delivered to the League of Islam, they are cleansed—or raped—multiple times before they are violently murdered to atone for their sins.

  “According to the information I received from Cap’n Tony and Kalen, I believe your companion, Pualani, is being held captive, along with my granddaughter, Tracy. I’ve charted the inlet or cove where I believe we can find them. I’d like to assemble a special team that includes you, Brody, Cap’n Tony, Kalen and Mambo to go get them before they are lost forever. You’ll have access to any weapons and ammo that you could ever possibly want or need, but I need your answer now. We are running out of time,” the Admiral said, with a look of desperation on his face.

  “Admiral, Thank you for your offer and I accept. I accept even if I’d have to go alone. And I want to make you a promise now. First off, no one gets left behind ever, no matter what. Secondly, I will fucking kill every one of these Feeders, Muslims, Pirates, Chinese and North Koreans until my last breath. I swear this by everything that I have left in this goddamn fucked up world,” Mason said as anger and hatred started to burn into his soul.

  The Admiral smiled broadly as he shook Mason’s hand and said, “I knew you were the one to help us as soon as I laid eyes on you.”

  “Mason, this is a fucking suicide mission,” Brody said out of the side of his mouth.

  “Don’t be a pussy, Brody; do you want to live forever?” Mason said to his friend, who was obviously scared shitless.

  “Ugh… Not forever, but I’d like to make it to my twenty-fifth birthday,” Brody shot back.

  “Well, I hope you enjoyed the last twenty-four years, 'cause your future isn’t looking too bright,” Mason said, laughing.

  ****

  Luanne had cajoled Pualani into getting some rest before answering any of her questions. She feared that telling her the truth now would be too much for her to handle in her current state. As the sun rose over the island, the blinding light had brought the battered and beaten Pualani out of her unconscious state.

  “I’m so thirsty,” Pualani said, weakly.

  “Here, drink this,” Luanne said, giving her some of the precious rainwater she was able to collect from her makeshift bucket.

  “Thank you… It’s Luanne right?” Pualani said as she hastily gulped down the sour rainwater. As the sunlight illuminated the pit, it revealed two other women intently watching Luanne and Pualani.

  “Yes, I’m Luanne and this is Simone and Tracy,” Luanne said, pointing at the other two girls in the pit.

  Simone and Tracy moved closer to Pualani to introduce themselves. Simone was in her early twenties with lavender hair, shaved underneath on one side. She was a bigger girl, and the unfortunate events had not seemed to faze her as badly as they had Tracy.

  Tracy looked despondent, she was dangerously skinny and this captivity was killing her. Tracy silently nodded her head in a feeble attempt to say hello, as Simone broke the silence.

  “Looks like you pissed off Vinnie the Guinea,” Simone boomed, in her usual loud, annoying voice. “He’s a sick, twisted fuck and you’re gonna be in for it from him later,” Simone said, genuinely feeling sorry for Pualani.

  “Vinnie the Guinea? Who the fuck is this guy, and what are we doing here?” Pualani asked, desperately needing an answer.

  “He is my husband,” Luanne said, sadly.

  “What?” came the stunned reply from Pualani.

  “He wasn’t always like this, something happened to him after the outbreak started. One day he just turned on me and became a cold, dark, vicious man,” Luanne said as she explained the events leading up to her captivity in the pit.

  “We had barely made it out of Orlando when the Annihilation epidemic started. Our plan was to get to the coast and find shelter on a small deserted island, and wait this thing out. We made it to the coast and met Billy Boy, when everything changed. Billy Boy had a few speedboats and told us about this cove and how we would be safe here. At first I had no idea what was going on, they had left me at the cove to collect rain water and cook. Billy Boy, and about six other lost souls he had found, convinced my husband to start raiding the coast for survivors and supplies. As the weeks passed, Vinnie became more and more psychotic, until I didn’t even know who he was anymore,” Luanne said as the tears started to well up in her eyes.

  “It wasn’t until about a week ago, when they returned with several women and girls that were beat up and bloody, that I confronted him. It didn’t go very well for me; he has become an evil man that I don’t even recognize anymore. He basically told me that if I didn’t like what he was doing, that I could get fucked and join the prisoners. I told him that I’d rather die than become an animal that preyed on the weak and helpless. I think that was what he wanted to hear because, after that, he dragged me out to where all of the other women were and made his point publicly.

  “He dragged me by the hair in front of Billy Boy and the others and threw me to the ground. He started to kick me in the ribs as he announced that I was no longer his wife and that I was no better than one of these pathetic girls that didn’t deserve to survive in the new world. After he was done humiliating me, he hit me with a shovel and then forced me and the other girls to dig this pit,” Luanne said, spiritlessly, as she was now openly crying. Relating this story again was a tremendous emotional burden for her.

  “I’m so sorry, Luanne.” Pualani said softly as she cradled her head, trying to comfort her.

  “Are there any more girls here? How did you end up here?” Pualani asked Simone.

  Simone was obviously moved by Luanne’s story, because it was a long moment before she answered. “There were almost twelve when Tracy and I got here, but we’re all that’s left now. A couple of them died down here, and the others were taken away, I don’t know where.” Simone said dismal
ly.

  “We were with a larger group from Camp Freedom when these bastards attacked us and took us prisoner. We were scavenging supplies and weapons on the coast, when Billy Boy and Vinnie the Guinea came out of nowhere and killed everyone we were with and then brought us to this fucked up place,” Simone said, clenching her fists and staring up at the opening of the pit.

  “That’s about the same thing that happened to me, but I was with friends, and we were heading to Camp Freedom. They won’t leave me behind, they’ll come for us,” Pualani said as a glimmer of hope sparkled in her eyes.

  “I hope you’re right. I don’t want to die here,” Tracy said as she came out of her hypnotic state.

  Icy cold water splashed over the girls in the pit as they heard the menacingly familiar voice of Vinnie the Guinea. “Rise and shine, bitches, time to come on up.” He lowered a crude rope ladder, then barked at them. “Get your asses up here now or I’ll come down and get you myself, and I guarantee you don’t want that,” he said, with a wicked laugh.

  ****

  Billy Boy was returning to The Cove after another parley with Aazim at the Red Line. He saw with his own eyes that the League of Islam had destroyed or ran off all of the US naval presence there. What was once the end of the quarantine zone and the temporary moorage for the US Navy’s Atlantic fleet was now infested with Islamic destroyers, frigates and amphibious troop transports.

  There were dozens of ships, and they were all flying a solid black flag with a crescent and a star. Something big was in the works, and he wanted to make sure he was on the winning side. Billy Boy remembered, in stark detail, the heated discussion he had with Aazim, his contact and the man that offered him a shaky truce.

  “I spared your life, because you told me you could deliver the infidel women,” Aazim said, angrily, as he spat on the ground. “You’ve had two months, and I’ve only been given less than twenty. Are you not able to fulfill your end of the bargain?” Aazim asked, inquisitively.

  “I’ve lost men; I need more weapons and supplies. Women are getting harder to find and those bastards at Camp Freedom are hunting me,” Billy Boy said, backpedaling.

  “These are not my problems. If you cannot keep your end of the agreement, I will look elsewhere,” Aazim said, internally debating on whether or not to shoot Billy Boy where he stood.

  “I have four now. Yes, I have four women that I can give you now, today, tonight, tomorrow, whenever you want them. After that, I’ll return to the mainland and get you more, ten women a week, right, that was our deal?” Billy Boy asked, nervously.

  “Our deal has been altered; I will need twenty infidel women a week. I will send a boat for the four tomorrow at your cove along with weapons and supplies to aid you in your future endeavors,” Aazim said, happy to have any infidel women close to his grasp.

  “Twenty a week… Jesus Christ! How the hell am I going to get twenty a week?” Billy Boy shot back and then thought better of it. “I mean twenty a week will be no problem, no problem at all, Aazim.”

  “Good. That’s the answer I wanted to hear. Now, be gone from my sight before I change my mind and take you to Akthar (Hell Island) in chains to atone for your sins. When I send for my infidel women, I want them cleaned and wearing Burkhas this time. I will send with you all of the outer garments you need to dress them properly,” Aazim said, turning his back to Billy Boy and walking away.

  “Your wish is my command, Ali Baba, you fucking prick,” Billy Boy muttered under his breath as he hopped into his speedboat and noticed a box full of Burkhas, and several cans of ammo that had been newly placed into his boat.

  Billy Boy roughly beached his boat at The Cove, and noticed that he mowed down one of the feeder’s heads with the speedboat’s propeller. Brains and skull fragments were floating on the incoming tide, and he also noticed a couple of the other feeders he had buried up to the neck were not moving anymore. He figured it must have been due to the force of the tide, or maybe rocks, but they still served their purpose as a quasi-type of landmine.

  “Vinnie, get everyone together and meet me in the shack,” Billy Boy shouted as he walked to the crude hut, or The Shack, which served as their headquarters.

  As he entered the shack, Billy Boy brutally punched one of the men in the back of the neck, as he was leaning on the entrance. The man dropped to the ground, almost paralyzed, as Billy Boy started to mercilessly kick him in the ribs, for no reason.

  After he was done kicking his victim, he slumped down into his makeshift chair that was made from palm tree fronds at the head of the table. He now had the attention of the thirteen or so men staying at The Cove, living as Pirates. He looked around at his men, and realized that they all clearly feared and respected him, because he was a viciously cruel man. He noticed that there were half drunken bottles of Palo Viejo Rum everywhere, and the smell of Marijuana permeated the air.

  “Well, how did it go with Aazim?” Vinnie asked.

  “Shut the fuck up, and pass me the Rum,” Billy Boy shot back as one of the other men handed him a full bottle. Billy Boy chugged the fifth of rum like a frat boy, and then threw the empty bottle at the man he had just stomped, who was still curled up in the fetal position on the ground.

  “He wants twenty women a week now. There’s a buildup on the Red Line, and it’s all of those fucking Muslims and their ships, I think they are planning an invasion.” Billy Boy said, seriously. “We need to step it up on our coastal raids and find more female survivors. He is starting to get impatient. Without their guns and supplies, we won’t last long.”

  “Twenty a week? What the fuck? How in the hell are we supposed to find that many?” Vinnie said, frustrated.

  “They’ll provide us with everything we need. We split up into four teams of three and we scour the coastal towns, if they’re there we’ll find them or we’re as good as dead, just like those fuckers at Camp Freedom are going to be. He’s sending a boat tomorrow for the four we have now in the pit.

  “Vinnie, take a couple of guys and clean those bitches up, and make sure that they’re wearing the burkhas that Aazim sent with me,” Billy Boy said, imperially, as he reached for another bottle of rum.

  ****

  Under the supervision of Cap’n Tony, Mason and the group began to outfit the Tugboat for war. The Admiral had given them carte blanche to take whatever they wanted from the armory. They were only given a twelve hour window before they needed to get underway, so they had to work fast.

  They started by installing a Piggyback 81mm Mortar and .50-caliber Machine Gun onto the main deck, aft of the bridge. On the forward port and starboard sides, they installed two more .50 Cal machine guns, making this tugboat into a well-armed raiding vessel. They were all given SEAL issued HK MP5 submachine guns, 9mm Berettas and all the ammo they could ever want or need. They also were given their personal favorites back, Mason’s Estwing Campers ax and Brody’s ball-peen hammer.

  Brody and Kalen had no military experience or knowledge of how to use these advanced weapons, so Mambo had taken a few hours to train them on how to properly aim, load and fire the .50’s and MP5’s, while Mason and Tony went over their plan of attack on the bridge of the tugboat.

  “The Admiral says he’s ninety-nine percent sure that they are hiding in one of the small inlets in this bay,” Cap’n Tony said as he pointed to his nautical chart. “If it was me, I would be here,” he said, poking his finger at a coastal inlet he had circled in red. “Only one way in and out, easy to protect and impossible to flank. If I was still a betting man, I’d put my money here,” Tony said, looking up at Mason for his opinion.

  “Yes, I see. It makes sense for them to be there,” Mason said, running his finger over the chart. “If they’re here, they’re close to the red line and they have easy access to least six coastal towns here,” Mason said, smiling, fully aware that they now knew where to find Pualani and the others.

  “Let’s go get them, and bring them home Cap’n,” Mason said as he looked down on deck and saw Brody an
d Kalen taking turns shooting the .50 Cal.

  The Admiral had walked to the dock to say farewell, and brought them a gift. He handed Mason a Flag that had a gold trident on a dark, royal blue background. “I’m sure you know what this flag means, and I’m sorry that we don’t have much time to plan. I’m almost positive that the League of Islam is planning an invasion, and that they’ll try to eliminate Camp Freedom first. If that happens, I want you to harass and kill the enemy, wherever you find them, and whether they are Pirates, Muslims or Feeders,” the Admiral said as he shook hands with all five men on the tugboat. “Mason, one more thing. Find my granddaughter, and bring her back to me ... alive,” the Admiral said, gravely.

  Mason nodded to the Admiral as Cap’n Tony got the tugboat underway. He tossed the new flag to Kalen and motioned him to raise it just below the main mast.

  “That’s a cool flag, what does it mean?” Brody asked.

  Mason took a long look at the new flag, fluttering in the wind, before he answered. “It’s an original Naval Special Forces flag.”

  As the five of them headed out into the Atlantic to find the cove and rescue the hostages, Mason made everyone’s job description crystal clear. Cap’n Tony was the coxswain; he was in charge of the boat and all things nautical, most particularly its steering and navigation.

  Mambo was to man the aft guns; he would also provide security for the tugboat and be in charge of any hostages or prisoners that were recovered. He was to stay on the tug at all times, to protect the boat and the Cap’n. He was extremely happy with his task because he made it embarrassingly clear that he didn’t know how to swim.

  Brody and Kalen were to man the port and starboard guns and join Mason, when it was time to go ashore or board any vessels that they came across.

  Mason stood at the bow of the boat, admiring a pleasant night. It was a full moon and a warm breeze greeted them as they made headway towards their goal. The calm, dark waters were illuminated by the bright light of the moon and the starry sky.