Danny tried to regain his footing as the van swerved back and forth. He went to try and grab the gun Tyrone had given him but he slammed on the van floor again as they were rammed from behind, crashing into the remaining boxes, which piled on top of him.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Danny heard from somewhere. It was a static filled shrek. Danny realized it was coming from the scanner Tyrone had in the cab.

"There's no reason to hurt the...." the voice continued, but Tyrone quickly shut it off.

"You okay back there, Danny?" Tyrone yelled as he kept swerving.

"Yeah!" Danny screamed, it was all he could do.

"Good" Tyrone said. "Hold onto something!"

Danny had no time to react. The van swerved hard right and he flew into the boxes. Something hit him hard in the gut and he crumbled to the floor. He heard ScarJo scream from the back seat. Then everything calmed for a moment, the van travelling at a extremely fast rate of speed.

"One more time, buddy!" Tyrone shouted and the van right hard right again, but this time spun in a circle. Danny thought for sure they'd flip over, but at last the van came to a hard stop.

He could hear Tyrone and ScarJo in the front panting, catching their breath. Danny laid on the van floor, covered in boxes, catching his breath, clutching his stomach.

"Danny!" ScarJo shouted back to him. "You okay sweetie? Please tell me you're okay!"

"Yeah" Danny grunted. But he wasn't really.

"Oh thank God" ScarJo said, sounding genuinely relieved.

Then there was silence. Tyrone and ScarJo both dead quite.

"What's wrong?" Danny asked, feeling his mouth feel with acidic saliva. He knew what was coming.

"Three black SUV's came up behind us and tried to force us off the road" Tyrone said from the front. "Got to be feds. I managed to sharp turn into an exit before they knew what was happening and we're ducked behind an old gas station now. I just saw them go by. Looks like we lost them..."

Danny busted out of the van door. It came open with ease, the door latch having been damaged by one of the SUV's. He crumpled into the ground on the gravel and began puking.

Tyrone and ScarJo rushed out.

"Danny! What are you..."

Tyrone stopped as he saw what was going on. ScarLo kept running over, comforting Danny and rubbing his back.

Tyrone looked on at the scene and sighed, looking down. He slammed a fist against the side of the van and laid his head against it.

"Fuck" he muttered.

He would have laid it there until Danny was back to normal, but the sound of tire on gravel made him lift his head off the van in alert.

He peaked around the gas station and saw it: a lone black SUV. He immediately cursed himself. Only two SUV's had passed by moments ago. He got caught slipping. This one must have been smarter than the rest and had seen the dust from the gravel they'd kicked up. Tyrone suddenly wondered if this had been the voice on the scanner -- the one he'd not wanted Danny to hear.

"We've got company" he whispered to Danny and ScarJo, pulling out his gun. "Stay low!"

The SUV stopped and the door opened without hesitation. A leg stepped out and a man followed it, walking forward, hands up. He was middle aged and had hair Tyrone could tell was normally kept short but had been forced to grow out due to the lack of a barber. He wore a polo shirt, black bullet proof vest and brown pants that had both seen better days. On his left cheek was a wound. It was healed but in that phase where it hadn't quite formed a scar yet. It went all the way up and just touched his eyeball.

"I know you're back there" the man said. "I just want to talk. Tyrone, Scarlet, there's another way..."

Tyrone didn't like where this was going at all. ScarJo gasped as he looked in the direction. Danny was finally finishing puking and not able to fully comprehend what was happening.

Tyrone shot around the gas station, gun pointed at the man.

"Don't fucking move!" he shouted. "Not another fucking word. Just don't move".

The man started to speak but Tyrone aimed the gun more towards his head and he stopped and just nodded.

There was a pause. The man couldn't speak, but Tyrone didn't know what to do next. Well, that wasn't true. He knew what to do, but didn't know if he had it in him.

He took a breath and gripped the trigger but before he could pull the two other SUV's came flying into the gravel.

"Fuck" the man muttered, defying the rule not to talk. The SUV's flew right up and as Tyrone bounced his gun back and forth between the SUV's and the man, now out gunned, three other men jumped out of the SUV's. One had a submachine gun, the other a shot gun and one a hand gun. These men did not look like the other man. They looked like they could have been military. They were in all black tactical gear.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

"Don't you fucking move!" one of them screamed as they trained their weapons at Tyrone.

Tyrone swallowed hard, a bead of sweat rolled down his forehead.

"Guys, stand down" the man said. "Let me handle this..."

"No can do, sir" one of the man replied. "We have orders. They don't leave alive".

"What?" the man asked, confused. "No! That's not goin..."

Before the man could finish they fired a hail of bullets towards Tyrone. He'd anticipated it so was able to dodge most of them and return fire, but one hit him in the shoulder. It didn't seem bad, but it made him cry out.

Tyrone backed hard against the wall of the old service station. He looked over for ScarJo and Danny and they looked on in horror. He motioned for them to run and hide and they did around the other side of the service station, ScarJo pulled a still weak Danny to his feet.

The man approached Tyrone in formation. Tyrone touched his shoulder and pulled away a bloody had. He gripped the handle of his gun, the blood grinding into the metal and shut his eyes, saying a final prayer a God he'd only come to know a month ago and was regretting serving more and more each second.

"Stop!" he heard the man yelling to no avail.

Tyrone stood to his feet, taking a few steps back and straining his gun forward. In any second the men would be around the corner.

They arrived and paused. It would turn out that pause was a mistake as bullets flew in their direction from the side, strategically striking two in the head and killing him instantly. The third, the man with the pistol, returned fire. The man in the polo shirt jumped to the ground dodging the bullets but was struck in the arm.

The man was a sitting duck now.

"Traitor!" the man with the pistol shouted at him, but he'd forgotten all about Tyrone. Before leveling kill shots at the man Tyrone popped in in the head. His head exploded and he fell to the ground. Tyrone turned, gritting his teeth in pain and pointed his gun at the man who had already stumbled to his feet.

"Just put it down, Tyrone..." the man said, catching his breath. "Like I said, it doesn't have to end the way you think. I can help you get out. Don't you believe you can trust me now?" he continued, motioning to the corpses on the ground.

Tyrone's hand began to shake, his breathing heavy, tears ran down from his eyes.

Who was this man? Who was he to bring his false hope? Nothing could change his path. There was no escaping him.

"Tyrone, listen to him..." a voice came from behind him. It was ScarJo. Him and Danny had seen what had happened.

"Get in the car. You and Danny get in the car..." Tyrone muttered, struggling to keep his emotions at bay.

"Tyrone, he can help us. You saw what he just did. We don't have to..."

"HE'S A FUCKING LIAR!" Tyrone screamed. "YOU'RE A FUCKING LIAR!" he screamed for a second time, this time looking right at the man.

"Tyrone..." ScarJo began. "I don't..."

"GET DANNY IN THE GODDAMN CAR SCARLET OR I'LL KILL YOU TOO!" Tyrone screamed.

"Tyrone..." Danny spoke in a sickly, tired voice. "He saved you. He..."

Danny was interrupted by gun shots as Tyrone fired a hail of bullets at the man. The man reacted, trying to run. He was struck twice. Once in the shoulder and grazed in the leg.

Danny shouted and Tyrone felt his arm get yanked up as Danny jumped on him, knocking the gun astray, allowing the man to jump down a nearby hill and escape.

"WHAT THE FUCK DANNY!?" Tyrone shouted, effortlessly knocking Danny's frail body away. "You let him escape!"

But Tyrone knew that wasn't totally true. He'd been weak. He could have killed the man he'd wanted to. He'd purposely not aimed for the head.

Tyrone angrily swung the gun around and pointed it at ScarJo and Danny, who was only just getting on his feet.

"Both of you get in the fucking van. NOW!" he ordered.

ScarJo looked at Tyrone with sad, shocked eyes and did as she was told, helping Danny in the back before getting into the passenger's seat.

Tyrone put a bullet in a tire on each of the SUV's and climbed into the driver's seat. Without another word, he flew out of the parking lot and back onto the road.