Before the dust had fully cleared, Ali got us moving again while I stared daggers at Max. Is this how it was always going to be? Max nudging and prodding me in the direction he wanted me to go, letting me think I was getting my way on occasion, only to go behind my back and do what he wanted anyways?
“Hey, woah there, buddy. First of all, you never actually said to not blow the house up, you said you wanted answers first. Going in ourselves was cathartic, but you were going to let that bitch walk! I thought we went in there for some sweet sweet justice, vengeance, righteous fury, and retribution! Then you wimp out and leave her laying there to crawl away and continue her machinations. Plus you let one of them come with us, again!
Although, to be fair, Raschel does seem likely to actually be innocent in all this. Did you know she doesn't even eat meat? She’s a total vegan, and not one of those annoying ones that won’t shut up about it.”
I continued to just stare at him, trying to think of some way to push back, some way to stand up for myself against him. All I could come up with was imagining him as an actual bobblehead with his stupid round head bouncing around like it was on a spring.
“Very funny. You should give that up, I’m doing this for you as much as I am for myself after all. Plus, there are like 6 vehicles that are totally going to intercept us in a few more miles, unless you count motorcycles as a whole vehicle, then the count would be 9. We should really be coming up with a plan for that instead of pointing fingers and groaning over old news.”
Before I could react, the van roared through an intersection and caught about a foot of air. We were all tossed around inside of the cabin when we landed, other than Ali who was the only person actually wearing a seatbelt. Rin and Raschel got the worst of it. I watched as they rose up into the air as if in zero gravity, only to slam back down in a tangle of limbs, shaggy hair, and cursing.
Raschel began to cry again, and Rin shot Ali a dirty look while he worked to untangle himself from the girl. He muttered something under his breath, the only thing audible enough for me to understand of which was “lead-foot.”
Ali either did not hear him, or ignored him entirely and kept her focus, grappling with the steering wheel as she worked to keep the van in the middle of the now paved road. I brought my attention back to Max, sending questioning thoughts about how we could avoid them.
“We can’t fully avoid them, not really, punching through this group is our best option. I’m watching a perimeter with the last of my drones and a bunch of them are converging on this area. You need to tell Ali to take the second left and jog over to Mclauchlan road, otherwise we’ll hit a roadblock they’re building on the next little bridge.”
‘You sure there’s not just something else you want to blow up that way?’ I thought back at him, realizing I was being petty, but unable to not have the thought. That was one of the biggest problems with Max, my thoughts couldn’t hide from the bastard. My filter, as often as I ignored it anyway, didn’t have a chance to even try to catch me before I said something stupid.
“Yes, as fun as explosions are, there’s not much of a point to just blowing up random peoples houses. You really need to tell her to turn though.”
I hesitated, childishly rebelling against the confounded bossy AI, which actually seemed to get to him. His voice rose an octave as we neared the turn.
“I mean it, we need to turn, like, now!” he practically screamed into my mind as we approached the intersection.
I relented, smirking at finally getting a reaction out of him. I’d have to remember this when he was being especially annoying in the future. “Ali, take this left.”
For a moment, I thought she didn’t hear me. She reacted so late to my order that I thought we were going to blow past the turn, but she slammed on the brakes and braced herself against the wheel with locked elbows. The rest of us were thrown forward into the dash as the van shuddered, the anti-skid braking system worked to keep us from losing traction, and Raschel let out a scream as Ali cranked the wheel and pulled us into the turn.
There was a terrifying moment as I felt the van tilt, pushing me into the door as we went up on two wheels, and what little rubber that remained in contact with the road just barely stayed on the pavement through the end of the turn. Then, as swiftly as it had started, the moment was over with a chirping squeal. The van fell back onto all four wheels and Ali punched it, weaving back and forth across both lanes before getting the van under control and speeding up.
I glanced at Ali, letting go of the handle built into the window frame that I had instinctively grabbed ahold of. She looked like she was enjoying all of this. The predatory grin she had worn when she crashed the van through the gate had returned, and she seemed completely absorbed in her task.
“You think putting everyone at risk and ignoring my advice just to mess with me is a good plan? I knew you were kind of a dumbass, but I didn’t realize you were that stupid. Are you going to ignore me when I warn you that you’ll contact that enemy convoy I was telling you about in 78 seconds if both groups maintain their speed? hmm?”
His words sobered me up, and made me feel a little bad. I'd failed to take into account that our driver, while highly capable, was also injured and hopped up on the good stuff. Plus, I had no clue what we should do about the oncoming enemy. What was I even supposed to do in a situation like this? I had no real tactical combat training other than my time at the range with Tevin, and the traditional group tactics that the dwarves had beaten into me over the last few weeks.
The worst part was, I couldn’t even tell everyone else that we were heading straight for another fight. I had already done enough to blow my own cover, and knew I would probably struggle to convince Rin of anything but the truth. Adding the uncertainty of having Raschel sitting right there to overhear anything I said, I was backed into a corner and just had to trust Ali to know what to do when the enemy appeared.
I gripped my borrowed rifle again while I waited, checking the ammo and forcing it to switch to a different tube when I discovered it was already almost empty again. This time I got the chance to study the mechanism, it seemed to work almost like a giant revolver. It had places for 12 tubes, 2 inline sets of 6, and each could hold 30 rounds. The whole thing was already about half empty, with only 5 fresh untouched tubes of ammo, with a couple that had been switched early and still had a few rounds left over. Five of the slots were entirely empty, having been ejected like the one I had reloaded in the midst of the fight in the bunker.
Hopefully we could find some more ammo and tubes for the massive weapon system somewhere, although I doubted we’d have the chance before we got to safety and it was no longer such a pressing issue. It’s not like we could salvage this kind of thing from any of the locals. They all were relying on the older standard rifles, and this definitely seemed like something only a soldier in power armor could carry, let alone actually use in combat. Fully loaded, the ammo stored alone must weigh close to 30 pounds, far too heavy for a normal unaided person to carry effectively.
Max interrupted my thoughts. “So, are we going to think of a plan, or just wing it? I’m game to wing things again, it’s actually kind of fun.”
I felt my face tighten into a scowl, unhappy with his words but unable to come up with an alternative. Today had been the latest in a long string of seriously shitty days, and I was scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas. I needed a damn vacation, even if it was only for a day or two. My focus was slipping and my attention was starting to rebel, seeking out anything to distract my worn out brain from what I should be paying attention to.
I clenched my eyes shut for a moment and shook my head, willing the dregs of my mental acuity to give me something, anything, to get through this next obstacle.
Max, of course, barged into my train of thought. “That’s just sad. You're going to hurt yourself.”
My scowl deepened. ‘How am I supposed to think of a plan if you won't let me think? I don’t hear any brilliant ideas from you, oh most intelligent mind and machine this side of the core.’ I thought sarcastically back to Max.
“I have a plan, we’re going to wing it.”
I sighed and rubbed my hand over my face again, only remembering afterward that it was covered in sticky drying blood. When I opened my eyes, I noticed Raschel was watching me, her own tear streaked and bruised eyes wide and scared. She bit her lip and looked like she was about to say something, but Ali spoke up before she could get a word out.
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“There's a vehicle up ahead, I saw them cresting the next hill.” Her words came out weirdly, almost dreamily. I’d really have to give her an apology for sticking her with the pain meds earlier. It had felt like the right thing to do at the time, but I was realizing more and more what a mistake it was.
“I, uh, what should we do?” I said lamely, hoping someone else would have an idea now that it was out in the open.
“Keep going, they might just let us pass since we’re in one of their vehicles.” Rin replied, while Raschel let out a little fearful squeak and started to hyperventilate.
“Right, but what if that doesn't work?” I answered, keeping my eyes on the road ahead. Just as I finished my question, a large pickup truck rose out from the dip in the road about 200 meters ahead of us. I couldn’t see any of the other vehicles Max had warned me about, but assumed they were traveling behind the lead truck.
The truck was surprisingly well cared for, for an older vehicle. It had a shiny white coat of paint and looked unmodified, yet as it drew closer I could see the top portion of a group of people standing in the bed of the truck. There was a tense moment of silence as our two groups raced towards each other, only broken by Rin’s monotone voice as he answered my question.
“Shoot them.”
I glanced at him, wondering if he meant that as a joke. Ali belatedly laughed like it was, catching up to the conversation a couple of seconds into the lingering silence that followed.
With the enemy convoy quickly approaching, I held off on answering him as I realized that had to be the plan. I couldn't come up with anything better, and I did have the gun after all. With a start, I remembered that I had more than that. I had looted some stuff from the bunker, but in my rush had not paid enough attention to what I was grabbing to remember it all. I frantically started to pat my pockets with my free hand while I kept my eyes on the approaching truck, watching as the guys in the bed of the vehicle waved and raised their weapons into the air. Max laughed at me while I struggled to multitask, searching for the pistol I knew I had picked up and keeping my eyes forward at the same time.
It looked like they were slowing down, but they were all staying on one side of the road and did not swerve into our lane to try to block us as we blew past them at nearly 60 miles per hour. I tracked them with my gaze, trying to get as good of a look at the group as I could as we went by. There were at least a half a dozen people in the back of the truck, which was followed by another truck just as loaded down, then a beat up looking and rusty 4 door car, and lastly a formation of doubled-up guys on six motorcycles.
Some of them pointed at us and looked like they were yelling something, and others fired their rifles off into the air, but none of them swerved to block us and we were past them in an instant. I breathed a sigh of relief, and my hand finally landed on the pistol I’d taken from Andy back in the bunker. I pulled it from the pocket it was stuffed in, causing a few loose papers to fall out and scatter along the floorboards. I tossed the gun over onto Ali’s lap, along with the mix of magazines I’d retrieved as well. Even if she was drugged up, I trusted her well trained instincts to know what to do with it all.
While my hands sorted out the weaponry, I kept my eyes on the enemy convoy. I had to lean forward and crane my neck to get a good look at them through the side mirror, and held my breath as the convoy grew smaller in the distance behind us. I willed them to keep going, to just let us pass by and continue on, but of course couldn’t be so lucky.
Our van crested another hill and gave me a good view of the group of enemies as they all started to turn around. The two trucks in the lead pulled wide three-point turns, while the car and motorcycles spun in quick circles, some of the slower to react vehicles driving down into the ditch and ramping back up into view. A few bullets started to ping against the van, and I breathed out my held breath.
“They’re turning around.” I said just loud enough for everyone to hear over the road noise, causing Raschel to, again, break out in tears and curl up into a little ball.
I banged on the back wall of the van to signal Jorn, and then hit the button to make the window roll down. The cab filled with rushing air and the noise of the road, and I shimmied my way out of the window until I was sitting on the bottom edge with my chest facing the van. I felt someone grab my leg, and when I ducked back in to pull the heavy rifle up after me I noticed that Rin and Raschel were both steadying my feet and holding onto my calves.
I nodded thanks to them, and then refocused on not dropping the rifle as I awkwardly slid it up through the window and got it onto the roof. It was heavy and unwieldy, plus it was large enough to catch a lot of wind and nearly pulled me out of the window before I could get it into place. Yet I managed, and thanks to the helpful passengers, I got the gun up and shifted into a passable firing position.
Most of the motorcycles had already nearly caught up to us. The person on the back of the lead bike stood up behind the driver and started shooting at me, spraying a blast of automatic fire around me and into the van. Most of the shots flew by harmlessly, but one of them pinged off the rear of the van and sprayed bullet fragments and paint chips into my face, causing me to blink and shake my head. It felt like one of them got into my eye, causing me to clamp it shut, but I rallied and pulled my own trigger.
Again, I felt the gun vibrate and correct my aim, sending a three round burst into the pair of riders. I saw the driver flinch and lose control, the handlebars jerking back and forth quickly for a second before the front tire turned too quickly and caught on some imperfection in the road, causing the bike to flip over and throw both of the guys into the air in a rolling wreck.
The bike behind them swerved to avoid the sliding crash, and bumped over one of the flailing riders legs before veering off into the ditch and being forced to slow down. The other motorcycles, having more time to react, revved their engines and overtook them as they easily avoided the hazard of the downed pair.
I pulled the trigger a few more times, spraying fire at the group in careful controlled bursts, and was rewarded by knocking one of the passengers off the back of their bike to start ragdolling as they flipped and slid along the cracked and rough pavement. More gunfire flew back in my direction, causing me to flinch and close my eyes, ducking my head down against the roof of the van and using the rifle as makeshift cover.
I felt the gun shake in my hands as it took a bullet for me, and repeatedly blinked the eye that had been hit as I tamped down a sense of rising panic. While I huddled behind the rifle, out of the corner of my still good eye I spotted movement to my side.
The sliding side door ripped open, and I felt the whole van shift as Jorn leaned out and blasted his own rifle at the pursuing forces. The changing center of gravity caused the van to lean and Ali to swerve to correct, before she slowed down slightly and used the weight of Jorns armor hanging out of the side of the van as a pivot point and took the next corner, giving him an even clearer view of the chasing bikes for a moment as we skidded back onto a gravel road.
I got with the program and together we sent a flurry of copper jacketed tungsten slugs in the direction of the group of riders, downing another of them before we made the corner and they were blocked by the trees. As we started to rattle and shake down the bumpy and ill-kept gravel road, I caught a flash of Jorn’s angry face as he turned his helmet over to look at me, before he looked back to the billowing plume of dust that the van kicked up behind us on the dry road.
He waited a few seconds, and then fired a single round off behind us into the cloud of dust. I was confused at first, until I heard the explosion and realized he had launched a grenade back in their direction, only after waiting long enough for the pursuing forces to have rounded the corner. It also gave me an idea.
‘Max, does my rifle have grenades too?’
“Yep, it has three left. There’s a fire-mode selector above your thumb you have to switch over. It has two frags and another thermobaric, but you should give it another second and aim for the car that's about to round the corner though. The last of the bikes are being told to pull back and let the car take the lead.”
Right, I could do that. Now was not the time to ignore Max’s advice, I’d already learned that lesson for the day. I thumbed the selector, waited a moment, and when Max said “Now!” I pulled the trigger and sent a grenade into the cloud of dust and listened for the explosion, hoping to see like a fireball or something that would let me know if it actually hit the car. I heard the explosion, but couldn’t tell if it hit anything or not.
“Oh, you want to see? I have some drones I’m watching them with and one of them has thermal, Jorns suit has some good optics I’m borrowing too, check this out.”
The dust disappeared, mostly, turning from a massive plume of tan dirt-colored cloud to a more grayish haze-like fog, and I could see the dark forms of the car about 80 feet behind us. I aimed my rifle back at it and shot off a few rounds, grinning to myself.
The car dropped back, black smoke pouring out from the engine and mixing with the dust. A larger form broke off from the side of it, overtaking it and quickly catching up to us with the roar of a large engine. I squeezed the trigger again, firing off a long burst as one of the trucks revved right up to the back of the trailer and crashed into it with a crunch. The van rose up and then dropped down out from under me, before jerking off to the side and flinging me out of the window, causing me to lose my grip on the rifle.
In a confusing rush, while I scrambled for purchase on the van, I watched the rifle tumble away from me and bounce off of the roof. I managed to grab ahold of one of the ragged holes in the van from where I had ripped the awning off with the excavator, and fell heavily against the side as the wind whipped me around. I squinted my good eye and tried to get a grip with my other hand, feeling the jagged and torn sheet metal cutting into my fingers, but the truck rammed into the trailer again and caused the van to shimmy and shake as Ali tried to maintain control.
The body of the van bumped into me, causing me to fly like a damned kite for a moment in the wind, and I caught a glimpse of Jorn as he watched me from inside of the van a few feet away. He could have reached out and offered a hand or just grabbed me and pulled me in, but the bastard just sat there, calmly watching me as I lost my grip and tumbled away.
I thought I was done for, that I’d end up mashed under the tires, or thrown into a tree at speed. Yet before I gave up and resigned myself to my fate, I felt my boot slam into the bumper of the van as I tumbled by. With an adrenaline fueled surge of quick thinking, I triggered the magnetic latch.