Fight 4 Us (Book 6): Keeper Read online

  FIGHT 4 US

  KEEPER

  CHAPTER 1 - DON’T FEED THE ANIMALS

  CHAPTER 2 - THE PRIDE

  CHAPTER 3 - WHAT DID YOU GET ME?

  CHAPTER 4 - WHAT’S OUR AGREEMENT?

  CHAPTER 5 - TO THE GROVE

  CHAPTER 6 - THE GROVE

  CHAPTER 7 - THAT SHOULD DO IT

  CHAPTER 8 - ST. PETE

  CHAPTER 9 - WHO IS JACOB?

  CHAPTER 10 - WHERE’S MY BOY?

  CHAPTER 11 - FREAKING TEENAGERS

  CHAPTER 12 - HURRICANE SEASON

  CHAPTER 13 - LET’S CLEAN UP

  CHAPTER 14 - TRADE MASTER

  CHAPTER 15 - DON’T WASTE THIS

  CHAPTER 16 - IT’S ELECTRIC

  CHAPTER 17 - NEW ORDERS

  CHAPTER 1

  DON’T FEED THE ANIMALS

  Armstrong aims his gun at the approaching lion and lioness as he stands next to Brimley and Roberts in the outdoor lion exhibit at the Tampa Zoo.

  Armstrong shouts, “We need a way out of here TJ?”

  Brimley and Roberts, who are standing slightly behind Armstrong, aim their rifles at the lion and lioness.

  ROAR!

  The male lion lets out a huge roar as he walks closer to Armstrong.

  TJ sees a closed silver metal entrance door inside the lion exhibit.

  TJ shouts, “Help! Please open the door! We don’t want to have to kill these animals!”

  Armstrong shouts, “Who are you yelling at? No one is here to help! We need to kill these animals!”

  Brimley shouts, “Fuck this! I ain’t dying for these people and this way!”

  Brimley takes aim at the lions’ head and puts his finger on the trigger of his rifle.

  Roberts follows suit and aims his rifle at the lioness’ head.

  A loud whistle goes off.

  The lion, lioness, and everyone look up at the stone wall outside of the lion exhibit where the whistle came from.

  A woman jumps up onto the stone border wall of the outdoor lion exhibit.

  The woman whistles again.

  The woman shouts, “Down Taraji! Down Zeus!”

  The lion and lioness sit down in the grass but are still staring at Armstrong, Brimley, and Roberts.

  “Put your guns down! Do not hurt my animals!” shouts the woman as she looks at Armstrong and TJ.

  Armstrong, Brimley, and Roberts look at each other but keep their guns aimed on the lion and lioness.

  TJ shouts, “Yes ma’am! Do what she says everyone!”

  TJ goes to put his gun on the ground but sees that Armstrong now has his gun pointed at the woman, while Brimley and Roberts have their guns aimed at the lion and lioness still.

  TJ holds his gun at his side and shouts, “Armstrong! Do what she says! Stand down!”

  Armstrong shouts, “I can’t do that TJ! I’m not putting my life and my men’s lives in some woman’s hands.”

  The woman shouts, “Sir with the gun pointed at me! I would listen to your friend there and lower your weapons! You have no place to go!”

  Just as the woman finishes her statement, ten people come around the woman with guns and other weapons pointed at TJ, Armstrong, Bo, Brimley, Janet, and Roberts.

  “One command and my animals will rip you apart. Do you want to live or die?” asks the woman.

  Bo looks up at the woman and group of people standing around the woman on the stone border wall of the lion exhibit and shouts, “Barrett? Darby? Nicky?”

  A man walks closer to the woman talking and shouts, “Bo! Is that you? What are you doing down there?”

  Bo replies, “Looking for you. I came looking for you, Darby, and Nicky.”

  Janet shouts, “I hate to break up the family reunion, but can we get the fuck out here please! I don’t like how your lion is staring at me!”

  Zeus licks his lips as he stares at Janet.

  Barrett shouts, “I’ll be right down and get you out of there!”

  Bo shouts, “Hey Darby! Hey Nicky!”

  Darby says, “Hey Bo. Barrett will get you right out of there. I’ll keep Zeus, Taraji, and Keanu from attacking.”

  Nicky shouts, “Where have you been Bo? I was worried sick about you!”

  Armstrong shouts, “Enough with this bullshit! Get us out of here or I’ll kill both of your animals.”

  Suddenly, a small lion cub runs over to the lioness Taraji.

  Janet sees the cub and instantly worries about the safety of the animals.

  Janet points her handgun at Armstrong and says, “Drop your damn gun. Don’t be a moron. She clearly has command of these animals. They will get us out of here. Don’t do anything stupid.”

  Brimley points his gun at Janet.

  TJ points his gun at Brimley.

  Bo steps back out of the way of Janet and TJ.

  Armstrong looks at TJ and says, “You better control your girl TJ. She’s gonna get us all killed.”

  TJ replies, “She is fine. You are the one not listening Armstrong.”

  Barrett opens the silver metal door inside the lion exhibit.

  Barrett shouts, “Come on guys!”

  Bo sees Barrett and walks through the animal entrance doorway, followed by Janet and TJ.

  Armstrong, Brimley, and Roberts slowly walk towards the doorway Bo, Janet, and TJ went through.

  Darby shouts, “Close the door Barrett!”

  Barrett asks, “You sure Darby?”

  Armstrong stops walking and looks up at Darby.

  Darby shouts, “Close the door Barrett!”

  Barrett closes the silver metal door.

  Brimley shouts, “What do we do Armstrong?”

  Armstrong shouts, “Keep your guns on the animals! Kill the cub first if we need too!”

  Darby takes out her handgun and shoots the ground in front of Armstrong.

  BANG!

  Zeus lets out a big roar.

  ROAR!

  Darby shouts, “Zeus! Taraji! Keanu! Home!”

  Zeus, Taraji, and their cub Keanu run back to their covered area at the opposite end of the lion exhibit away from Armstrong, Brimley, and Roberts.

  As Keanu is running behind his mother Taraji, Armstrong takes aim at the cub.

  Armstrong shouts, “You want to play games! I can play games too!”

  Armstrong puts his finger on his rifle trigger and adjusts his aim onto Keanu’s head.

  Armstrong takes a deep breath.

  Three gunshots go off.

  BANG!

  BANG!

  BANG!

  Keanu makes it safely around the tree where Zeus and Taraji are sitting.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” shouts TJ with his handgun pointed at Armstrong.

  Armstrong, Brimley, and Roberts look at TJ in disbelieve.

  TJ and Janet shot the rifles out of the hands of Armstrong, Brimley, and Roberts.

  TJ, Barrett, Bo, and Janet walk back into the lion exhibit through the animal entrance and over to Armstrong.

  TJ shouts, “Why are you here Armstrong?”

  Armstrong replies, “Your father gave us orders to join you on this trip.”

  Janet replies, “Obviously, but what are your orders? You don’t know Bo, TJ, or myself, so you aren’t here to save anyone. You are here to gain intel and report back?”

  Armstrong looks at Brimley and Roberts and says, “We have our orders, but they are classified.”

  “Keep your guns pointed at them!” shouts TJ.

  TJ sees the rifles of Armstrong, Brimley, and Roberts.

  TJ walks to the dirt in front of Armstrong, Brimley, and Roberts.

  Armstrong asks, “What are you doing TJ?”

  TJ picks up the first two rifles and says, “I’m taking
your weapons.”

  TJ goes to reach for the third rifle in front of Roberts.

  Roberts watches TJ reach for the rifle and gets mad.

  TJ grabs the rifle from the ground.

  As TJ is standing up after grabbing Roberts’ rifle, Roberts kicks TJ in the stomach.

  TJ falls backwards onto the ground.

  TJ drops the rifles as he lands on his back.

  Roberts shouts, “No one takes my rifle!”

  Roberts jumps on top of TJ and starts punching him in the face.

  Janet points her gun at Roberts and shouts, “Roberts! Stop it! Get off him!”

  Armstrong shouts, “Let them fight!”

  Roberts rains down punches on TJ’s face.

  TJ defends himself but is getting bloodier in his face with each punch by Roberts.

  Janet fires a shot in the air.

  Roberts stops punching TJ and looks at Janet.

  TJ grabs Roberts’ left forearm, brings both of his legs around Roberts’ left arm, shoulder, and neck.

  Roberts grimaces in pain.

  TJ looks at Roberts’ face as he pulls down on Roberts’ left arm with all his body weight.

  SNAP!

  TJ breaks Roberts’ left arm.

  Roberts screams in pain.

  AHH!

  TJ releases Roberts’ left arm, stands up from the ground, and spits some blood from his mouth.

  TJ shouts, “Tie them up! Restrain Armstrong and Brimley!”

  Janet asks, “With what?”

  Barrett says, “We have to have something in here we can use.”

  Barrett goes back through the lion exhibit animal entrance.

  Roberts shouts, “You broke my freaking arm!”

  TJ shouts, “You deserved it! You had no right to attack me!”

  Armstrong looks at TJ and shouts, “I hope you know what you are doing!”

  Barrett runs back out to Janet and asks, “I have these zip ties. Will they work?”

  Janet says, “Yeah. They will work perfectly.”

  Bo and Janet zip tie Brimley and Armstrong’s hands behind their back.

  TJ walks over to Roberts and says, “I’m going to zip tie your hands in front of you. Don’t fight it.”

  Roberts shouts, “Fuck you!”

  TJ says, “Fair enough.”

  TJ smacks Roberts in the head with his handgun and knocks him out.

  Roberts falls into the dirt.

  A cloud of dust flies into the air as Roberts faceplants into the dirt.

  TJ puts Roberts hands together and zip ties them together behind Roberts back.

  Janet asks, “You okay TJ?”

  TJ looks at Janet and says, “Yeah. I’m okay. My face is just swollen and bruised. Let’s get them inside now.”

  Janet, Barrett, and Bo escort Armstrong and Brimley into the indoor lion cage room of the lion exhibit.

  TJ drags Roberts into the indoor cage section and Barrett closes the silver door.

  Armstrong and Brimley are positioned next to a wall, as Janet, Bo, Barrett, and TJ talk.

  Bo hugs Barrett and says, “I’m so glad you are okay. I was worried sick about you.”

  Janet looks at TJ and asks, “What do we do with the three amigos over there?”

  TJ looks at a sign, laughs, and says, “We can always feed them to the lions.”

  Bo introduces Barrett to Janet and TJ.

  Armstrong looks at Brimley and nods his head.

  Janet sees the interaction between Armstrong and Brimley and walks over to them.

  “What’s the plan fellas? I know you are trying to figure a way out of this,” says Janet.

  Armstrong says, “We will play nice now. We don’t want to be fed to the animals.”

  Janet says, “I don’t trust you. You Delta Force guys are nuts.”

  Janet takes Armstrong and Brimley’s weapons that they have on them. Janet takes two knives, two grenades, and their two handguns from Armstrong and Brimley.

  TJ says, “Good idea Janet.”

  TJ takes the weapons Roberts has on him as he is passed out on the concrete floor.

  Darby, Nicky, and several other women enter the lion exhibit indoor cage area and walk over to Bo, TJ, Barrett, and Janet.

  Nicky hugs Bo and gives him a big kiss.

  Bo introduces TJ and Janet to his girlfriend Nicky and Barrett’s fiancé Darby.

  A woman comes over to Darby and says, “I don’t trust those three men right there. I don’t want them around Zeus, Taraji, and Keanu.”

  Darby looks at Armstrong and Brimley and says, “I don’t trust them either Aisha. They will not be around the lions unless we are feeding them to Zeus.”

  Aisha smiles, looks at Darby, and says, “It is almost feeding time for big Zeus.”

  TJ and Darby make eye contact.

  TJ says, “Darby, I just want to apologize for our landing in the lion exhibit. Our helicopter was taking gunfire and we had to decide on what to do. We meant no harm with this trip.”

  Bo says, “Darby, TJ and Janet are good people. They made this trip happen on blind faith of me finding Barrett and Nicky. You can trust TJ and Janet.”

  Darby looks at TJ and Janet and says with her Australian accent, “You showed me that I can trust you. You and Janet saved my lions. I am grateful for that, but I don’t trust your three fellow soldiers.”

  A woman comes in the room and gives TJ a bag of ice to put on his bruised-up face.

  TJ thanks the woman and applies the ice bag to the left side of his face, which is badly swollen, bruised, and bloody.

  Darby asks, “Is your face okay TJ?”

  TJ touches his face and says, “I don’t think anything is broken. It’s just swollen. I will be okay.”

  Armstrong shouts, “I hate to break up the party here, but you are going to let us go right?”

  Roberts wakes up and lets out a big moan as he lays on the concrete floor.

  Darby says, “We can have our doctor take a look at your man’s arm.”

  Armstrong says, “Yeah. That’s the least you could do. Patch up Roberts before you kick us out.”

  Darby walks over to Armstrong and shouts, “Excuse me? Least we can do? You came here to our home and started this! You are lucky we don’t feed you to our animals!”

  Armstrong smirks and says, “You ain’t going to do nothing. You are all talk and trying to scare us.”

  Barrett walks over to Armstrong now.

  Barrett is a large man. He stands 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 265 pounds.

  Barrett looks at Armstrong and says, “Now mister. That’s not nice picking on the little 5-foot 6 lady who weighs 135 pounds. I think you should apologize for the rude remarks you made and the previous attempts to kill her animals.”

  Armstrong laughs and replies, “Sure thing Barrett. What kind of a name is that anyway?”

  Barrett replies, “I can see you are the smart ass of the group.”

  Barrett takes out a large knife from a holster behind his back.

  Bo walks over to Barrett and says, “Brother, calm down. Don’t do anything crazy with grandpa’s knife.”

  Roberts tries to stand up but can’t.

  “Can someone help me get off the ground? It smells like shit over here!” shouts Roberts.

  TJ walks over to Roberts and helps him stand up.

  Darby opens an empty lion holding cage.

  “Let’s put them in here for now. They will be safe in here and they won’t be able to get out unless we let them out,” says Darby as she holds open the steel cage door.

  TJ puts Roberts in the cage.

  Bo and Barrett escort Armstrong and Brimley into the same cage as Roberts.

  Darby closes and locks the steel cage door.

  TJ looks at Armstrong and asks, “Do you want to tell me why you are here with us? What are your orders?”

  Armstrong just stares at TJ from inside the cage.

  “Okay. Don’t talk now when it’s easy. Just remember where you are and
what animals are waiting outside to eat,” says TJ.

  Darby, Nicky, Aisha, and the rest of Darby’s group take TJ, Bo, Barrett, and Janet out of the indoor lion exhibit cage area and out to the main complex of the zoo.

  TJ walks by a sign and over to Janet.

  The sign reads, “DON’T FEED THE ANIMALS.”

  Bo walks with Nicky and Barrett.

  “How did you get into this place Barrett?” asks Bo.

  Barrett replies, “I drove my truck here when they were building the walls. The walls were pretty much done except for a small section. I shouted for Darby, and Nicky found me. Nicky told me how to get in, but I had to leave my truck outside.”

  Nicky says, “We have ways in and out of the zoo. The walls are very secure, but we do have some hidden ways to get in and out.”

  Bo says, “I’d say your walls are very secure. I didn’t know how to get in. None of us did.”

  The group walks towards a main center section of the large zoo.

  Barrett looks at TJ and asks, “You took some gunfire on the way here?”

  TJ replies, “Yeah. One second it was all clear, and then suddenly our helicopter took on some heavy gunfire. I didn’t see who was shooting at us, but our pilot made the quick decision to get away from the gunfire.”

  Barrett looks at Nicky and says, “I’m sure it was Isiah’s people.”

  Janet asks, “Isiah? Is he good or bad?”

  Nicky replies, “He’s good. He’s on our side. He and his people watch over this place for us. They protect the wall and borders.”

  Barrett says, “Isiah and his group are good people. A little strange, but they protect the zoo and people inside the wall. Darby and her people were attacked in here before the walls went up. People even tried to attack us when the walls were finished.”

  TJ walks by an empty rhino exhibit and then an empty giraffe exhibit.

  “What happened to the rhinos and giraffes?” asks TJ.

  Darby shouts, “Hunters, people, and zombies killed them! They killed some of our other animals also! Before the walls went up! Some animals escaped and could be anywhere in the Tampa Bay area now! Our lions, baby elephant, gorilla, chimpanzee and her babies, and two orangutans are still alive though!”

  Janet says, “I’m sorry to hear about you being attacked.”

  Darby stops walking in the center of a zoo walkway and says, “Me too. We are secure in here for now. As long as I’m the keeper of this zoo, I will protect this place.”