The Regulators - 02 (22 page)

Everyone else was still laughing, but I knew Nick from way
back in college. I knew better than to push my luck. The dude got scrappy when
he was pissed.

“That was not okay,” Nick said as he walked over to us. “I
don’t know why you’re laughing; that wasn’t funny.”

The smile vanished from Jaxon’s face, and he moved forward
to meet Nick in the parking lot.

“Actually,” Jaxon said in a sinister tone. “It was funny. It
was also deserved. Your actions jeopardized my team and could have cost someone
their life. This isn’t a game and it sure as fuck isn’t the Nick show. I make
the rules around here, and if I happen to be absent, Dudley is in charge. You
can accept it…or you can do something about it.”

They were now face to face. Well, actually Nick is a lot
taller than Jaxon, so let’s just say that they were up in each other’s grill. I
truly began to get a little nervous. Neither of these guys were the type to
back down. I simply could not see how a fight could be avoided.

“
Would it have even
been a fair fight
?”

I don’t know. Nick is a huge guy, but Jaxon knows how to
fight and let’s not forget he is the Guardian. Then again, Nick punched out a
lot of drunks back in college. I don’t really know who would have won, but it
would have been a bitch to break them up.

Luckily, instead of throwing a punch, Nick mumbled something
quietly to Jaxon. Jaxon began to mumble something back, and Merrick started to
wag her tail. The tension was lifted. I’m not exactly sure what they were
talking about, but it consisted of a lot more mumbling from Jaxon and a lot of
head nodding from Nick. When Nick offered his hand and Jaxon shook it, I knew
that all would be well.

“
You never found out
what they were saying
?”

Knowing Jax, it was probably very straightforward. I’m
guessing that he let Nick know who the boss was and what the rules were. If
Nick didn’t like it, he was free to leave. If he screwed up again and someone
got hurt, well, I’m sure he explained some consequences for that as well.

Life however, wasn’t even close to getting better for me. As
soon as they came back to the doorway of the church where the rest of us were
standing, Nick waited for everyone to get distracted and promptly hit me in the
balls with the handle of his axe.

“I saw you laughing asshole,” Nick said as he smiled at me.

I didn’t have a chance to respond. I’m not sure that I would
have even if I had a chance. I wish I could have just shot him in the leg or
something, but I’m not sure that Jaxon would appreciate that too much. Anyway,
Hardin chose that very second to radio in. He was speaking to Jaxon, but it was
an open communication and all of us could hear what he was saying.

“Jax,” Hardin said. “We’ve got big problems.”

“What’s going on?” Jaxon said.

“We have two teams down, and we’ve just lost contact with
the third.”

“I thought you were removing the teams from the area?” Jaxon
asked.

“That was the plan. The Northeast team wanted to do one
final extraction on their way out. I gave permission. It ended up being another
one of those traps. There were no survivors. The Eastside team was attacked by
your vampire friend shortly after sundown. There were no survivors. This is
rapidly turning into a cluster fuck.”

“Wait up,” Jaxon said. “What’s going on with the Downtown
team?”

“I’m thinking it’s another trap. They entered an abandoned
hotel for a final extraction as well, something attacked them, but I couldn’t get
a clear visual before communications were lost. I believe that they have lost
some men, but I’m not sure how many.”

“So there could be survivors?” Jaxon asked.

“These are elite teams,” Hardin said. “I’m actually
surprised that we already lost two of them, but they just aren’t used to
fighting a supernatural presence.”

“So there could be survivors?” Jaxon repeated.

“It’s possible,” Hardin answered.

“Jax,” I said. “We need to check it out. If we keep hunting
the vampire, we may find a lead on Kingsley.”

“I agree,” Jaxon said. “But we still need to extract the
rest of the survivors.”

“What do you mean find a lead on Kingsley?” Javie said.

“We didn’t see a body,” I answered. “We found a grave. We
probably should have checked it out but we’re guessing it was probably just a
lead up to a trap we fell into. We were also thinking that live bait would work
better than just killing him.”

“So Kingsley could still be alive?” Dudley asked.

“It may be wishful thinking,” Jaxon said. “But there is a
chance.”

“So what do you want to do?” Dudley asked.

“I want to see if I can track this bitch down and find my
friend,” Jaxon answered. “And this possible trap is the only crappy lead we
have right now. I’ll take Nick with me and check it out. Dudley, you take the
rest of the team and continue with the extractions. Take Merrick as well;
she’ll be a good bodyguard for Georgie.”

“Should we be splitting up?” I asked.

“I would like to look for Kingsley,” Javie said.

“I’m sure everybody would,” Jaxon said. “We just can’t
forget about all of those trapped survivors while we search for our friend. I’m
taking Nick with me. I want to make sure that he’s learned to be a team player.
The rest of you can keep on with the extractions.”

Just like that, it was over. Our jobs were given and we set
out to do them.

“
Were you disappointed
that you weren’t going out after the vampire
?”

It wasn’t the vampire we were concerned about. We just
wanted to find Kingsley, but yeah, I think everybody not going was
disappointed. Kingsley was a teammate and a friend. We wanted him back.

Snake
Charmer

It was quite a journey
to reach the man I can only refer to as Snake Charmer. I can’t actually reveal
where it was that I met with him, but I can tell you that it was overseas. I
have also been asked to not give too detailed a description other than to say
that he is tall, though not as tall as Nick, he has a muscled body and a thick
beard.

Snake Charmer works in
one of the most elite sections of the military; again, I cannot reveal which
one. His job description has only been described to me as a position that
allows him to save and take the lives of others. He is a very intelligent and
well trained man.

When he walked into
the room, I could immediately tell he was very unlike the members of the Regulators;
before me stood a professional. He didn’t possess the humor or the carefree
attitude that I was used to seeing. Before me was a man that chose his line of
work because it appealed to him. He wasn’t chosen like Jaxon.

These differences are
why I worked very hard to get an interview with him
.

Ma’am.

“
You are a rather
difficult man to meet. Um, should I call you Snake Charmer or Mr. Snake Charmer
?”

You can call me Snake, ma’am. That’s what my team calls me.

“
Okay, that sounds
easy enough. I’ve been briefed on what information is classified, but as far as
I know, your involvement as one of the extraction teams is fair game. Am I
correct
?”

Yes ma’am. I have been instructed to cooperate and answer
any questions that you may have concerning that mission.

“
Okay then, take me
back to when you first got the assignment
.”

It wasn’t so much of an assignment, ma’am. My team had just
finished a mission and was called into a briefing. At the time, the contents of
the meeting were considered top-secret, but I have been given permission to
explain these contents to you.

“
Please do so
.”

We were briefed about certain aspects of the supernatural
world that has been kept a secret from the public at large since the dawn of
men fighting monsters. We were told that a large zombie outbreak in El Paso
Texas had just blown the lid off the secret supernatural world. We were
informed that special men were chosen as Guardians to fight these supernatural
creatures. We were also advised that certain parties were awaiting a Guardian
to be chosen from inside of the city of El Paso.

“
What else were you
told
?”

We were told that the zombie presence in El Paso was of a
particularly bad nature, and if the Guardian failed, the entire country would
be at risk.

“
Were you asked to
intervene
?”

No ma’am. The situation needed to play out. We were only
asked to provide two volunteers if things went south. I volunteered immediately
as did another teammate that you may refer to as Scalp Hunter.

“
Okay, as it turned
out things didn’t go south. A Guardian was chosen, and he eventually led a
large group of survivors out of the city. What happened next for you
?”

Well, we watched the situation unfold. I won’t speak for
Scalp, but I had a lot of difficulty believing that zombies were rampaging
through some city in Texas. It just didn’t sound believable. At the most, I
expect to see a few twitching corpses. I wasn’t really prepared when I saw the
first piece of footage that had been leaked through the internet.

“
What did you see, and
how did it make you feel
?”

I saw bodies, with injuries so severe they should have been
dead, attacking living people and devouring them. I don’t really know how to
describe how I felt. I’ve seen some pretty terrible things in my line of work.
I’m no stranger to violence, but that footage actually made me sit down and
catch my breath.

It wasn’t long before a man named the General came forth and
through a series of events and probably some pretty tall tales, led that group
you mentioned to safety. Suddenly, our mission had changed. Things were working
out the way the higher ups were hoping for. I didn’t really understand this. I
believed that a strong military presence should have entered the city and
destroyed the zombies. The higher ups wanted the situation to be handled by the
General.

When the General gave that speech and announced that he was
going back into the city after the survivors, Scalp Hunter and I were
immediately shipped to a temporary base in the outskirts of Las Cruces, New
Mexico. Once at the base, we were sent to a large warehouse that was filled
with men such as Scalp and I.

“
You mean military men
?”

Not just men from the military. I believe there were some
SWAT team members as well. Where they came from didn’t seem to matter as much
as them being proven in battle. The men in the warehouse had all been in some
serious action. They also had serious talents.

We were informed that small teams were being formed to
extract survivors. These teams would be responsible for whatever area they were
chosen to work in. The job was simple enough. We would get directions to a
survivor. We would extract the survivor. We would place the survivor in a safe
place for pick up while we retreated far enough to escape, but close enough to
protect the survivor if need be.

No one ever explained to us just how hostile the environment
actually was.

I mean, we didn’t expect it to be a cakewalk, but we
just…Well, I just don’t think that a person can actually prepare themselves for
what we were sent into. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I’m glad I went. Those people
needed help and I was glad to offer it. It’s just, wow, it was terrible. It was
easily the worst situation I had ever or will ever be put into.

Not everyone was assigned to a team. Most of the guys in
that room were marked down as backup in the event that a team went down. None
of us actually thought such a thing was possible. We were surrounded by some of
the most dangerous men in the country. All of us were highly trained warriors.
It was pretty ludicrous to think that an enemy that couldn’t even fire a weapon
would give us any problems.

Scalp Hunter and I made a team. We were assigned to the
Downtown section of the city.

“
What were your
opinions about the General
?”

He was a joke.

“
Would you care to
elaborate
?”

Let’s just say that the men in that warehouse were given
years of training. When things go bad, guys like us were the people that got
sent in. All of us were from different branches, but that didn’t matter much.
We all knew that each and every one of us could be counted on.

“
You didn’t feel that
the General could be counted on
?”

Of course not, he was an untrained civilian. We had
absolutely zero respect for him. He had no business being anywhere near any one
of us. It was almost offensive that this guy was leading his own team. Don’t
get me wrong; it was a great thing that he did when he led all those people to
safety, but now the grownups were ready to take care of things.

“
Did you happen to see
the
‘
famous fifteen
’?”

Is that what they are calling it now? Yeah, we got to see
it. The General took on a shit ton of zombies. It was impressive, but it was
somewhat misleading.

“
How was it misleading
?”

When the men in that room saw the General fight, we
automatically assumed that we could do a whole lot better. Guys like me
unfortunately come with a bit of arrogance. We watched an untrained civilian go
to town on a bunch of zombies, and we in turn, well, we made assumptions.

“
What kind of
assumptions did you make
?”

The footage led us to believe that the zombies were vastly
inferior to the average man. It was pretty stupid of us to assume that, but
hindsight is 20/20. The zombies weren’t at all inferior. Those bastards are
lethal. It would have better if the higher ups would have clarified that the
zombies had just come through an explosion and were somewhat dazed and damaged.