“Funny thing about this dead man, he still has a gun. Seems you four are all out,” Coal replied un-shouldering his rifle and raising it to point at the big man. A moment later Miles followed his lead, shuffling around his crutch, the burning flare and finally managing to raise his pipe rifle by leaning heavily against the door frame.
“Yeah, you got the guns, but we got the numbers,” Vincent replied and gestured to the three men standing behind him.
“And let’s not forget, the moment you take a shot, the rest of my men they are going to come running. How many rounds you got left Coal?” Vincent mocked.
“Enough to kill you for sure asshole,” Coal replied, but even he was having trouble arguing with Vincent’s logic.
“I have a better idea; Miles I want you to point your gun at Coal. Then I want you to shoot that son of a bitch in his big fat mouth,” Vincent commanded.
After a pause, Miles replied. “No,” in confusion.
“Do it, Miles, do it, and I bet Murphy will let you live. He needs you to work the pump after all. Hell, I’ll even sweeten the deal. I’ll take that boy of yours under my wing, teach him to be a bartender at the club. That’s a hell of a lot better deal than he could end up with. A young boy like that, Murphy has more than a few perverted fucks working for him. I would hate to see that boy handed around in exchange for a handful of chits every night or maybe just in thanks for a job well done. I’ll protect him, keep that from happening. That is if you stop pointing that gun at me, right now,” Vincent spoke his eyes never leaving Coals’.
Miles' eyes were wide. “Coal...,” the old man said quietly.
“Don’t listen to that fuck Miles, he’s just trying to get inside your head,” the half-breed replied, glancing between the old man and Vincent nervously.
Miles let out a long breath and lowered his pipe rifle, the old man seemed to wilt, his energy spent he slid to the floor of the doorway. His head was down, his face hidden in the shadows of the flare’s light.
“Fuck, come on Miles don’t quit on me now!” Coal shouted, his eyes darting back and forth between Vincent and the old man.
“Looks like you were finally right about something Indian, he is a traitor!” Vincent smirked.
The words had just left the big man’s mouth when a bottle smashed into his face and shattered. Vincent took a step back in surprise and looked up just in time to see Miles hurl a second and then a third bottle, these broke at the big man’s feet. His face was marked with a few shallow cuts, and he was now dripping wet, but he was more confused than injured. His nostrils were suddenly overwhelmed with a potent aroma; it was familiar, but in the moment he just couldn’t place. Then Miles tossed the road flare directly at him and in that brief moment as the burning flare seemed to hang suspended in the air between them, Vincent finally remembered the smell of gasoline.
In an instant, Vincent was transformed from a man into a flaming pillar of smoke, muscle, and pain. The flames burned across his face, his first breath sucked the awful heat into his lungs, choking him. The big man bellowed and lunged blindly forward as the heat had already seared away his eyes. But the floor was slick, coated in the thick burning fluid and he slipped landing on his hands and knees. A pair of Vincent’s men tried to skirt around the flames to his right, but if they were trying to attack or trying to save their leader Coal couldn’t tell. Miles launched a series of bottles that crashed in front of them, bursting into flames and forcing them back further in the wake of the spreading fire.
With an inhuman cry, Vincent pushed himself upright and again made a desperate lunge forward. The thought of revenge was the only thing left in his pain crazed mind. Coal dove to the right avoiding the flaming giant’s charge, but Vincent’s path swung drunkenly to his left and straight for Miles. The old man had just a moment to slam the boxcar’s door closed in front of him. Vincent’s blind charge crashed into the thick door head first, and then he collapsed into a flaming, screaming heap. A moment later the flames started spreading up the side of the railcar.
“Miles! Miles! We have got to get the fuck outta here!” Coal screamed over the roaring flames.
Glancing back across the growing pool of flames and thick smoke the half-breed could no longer see Murphy’s other men. He couldn’t tell if they had retreated completely or if even now they were moving around the building looking for a way in past the flaming wall.
A moment later the railcar door slid cautiously open. Miles’s eyes went wide as he saw how quickly the flames were spreading across his museum and the very boxcar in which he stood. Coal turned as well, three of the cars along the rail lines were engulfed in flames. Wooden cars dried for years in the desert were going up like kindling. Coal turned back to the dumbfounded Miles.
“Holy shit, I mean holy fucking shit! Look what you did!” Coal shouted, his words ringing with laughter.
Miles just looked back at him blankly, his mouth slightly open and he replied weakly. “I didn’t, I just wanted to…stop him from saying those things…about Juan.”
“Well, you sure as hell did that!” Coal said and pointed at the big man’s charred corpse and began laughing hysterically.
Miles looked down at Vincent’s body, and his face froze in horror, his eyes rolled back in his head, and he pitched forward. Coal darted out and caught the old man just before he landed in the flames and joined the big man in hell. Carrying Miles in his arms, Coal turned and ran down the line of railcars towards the cattle car. Already the half-breed could hear the horses neighing and snorting in panic, they could smell the smoke.
“Damn it, Miles, hell of a time for you to take a nap!” Coals shouted at the unconscious man in his arms as he ran.
Coal reached the cattle car and dropped the old engineer in an unceremonious pile at the foot of the ramp. He quickly yanked open the car door and was almost kicked in the face by the Palomino for his efforts. The gray mare just looked up at him unconcerned. Both horses had the wagon collars already fitted around their necks, it seemed Miles had really done everything he could before Coal’s arrival. Taking the two horses by the reins, the Indian led them back down the ramp and found Miles stirring.
“Nap time is over, saddle up old man,” Coal shouted.
Miles looked around confused for a moment and then asked weakly. “Where’s my crutch?”
“Right here!” Coal replied and in one motion hoisted the old man up and across the back of the mare like a sack of grain. With that, the Indian leaped onto the Palomino’s back and holding both reins, urged the horses into a wild run down the line of railcars towards the end of the building not engulfed in flames.
“I’m assuming there has to be another way out down here?” Coal called over his shoulder.
“The end…of the…track…rail doors,” Miles coughed in reply through gritted teeth and the mare’s jarring stride.
The pair reached the end of the building a moment later, the Indian pulled the horses to a halt and then launched himself from the Palomino’s back. The massive sliding doors were held in places by a rusted latching mechanism, Coal struggled with it for a moment, and then a few well-placed kicks broke the mechanism free, and the Indian slid the doors open just wide enough for the horses. Miles had barely enough time to set himself properly on the mare before Coal mounted again. He again grabbed both sets of reins and kicking the Palomino into a run, leading Miles and the mare out at a breakneck speed. They raced out of the opening and into the smoke-filled light of day. Coal turned the horses hard, and they ran down the back side of the building towards the teetering shed holding the wagon. Miles heard a shout from behind them, and a moment later a crossbow bolt shattered against the wall next to them.
“They’re after us!” Miles yelled to Coal.
“No shit?” Coal responded sarcastically not looking back.
The horses ran hard fueled by the fear of fire and Coal’s urging. Miles held on to the mare’s mane for dear life. He glanced back just once and saw 3 men running around the corner of the bu
ilding in pursuit before they were lost in the horse’s dust. At least one carried a crossbow that Miles could see. Less than a minute later Coal pulled the horses to a stop in front of the shed, not waiting for Miles to dismount he began trying to back the scared animals into place.
“Miles the doors, get the fucking doors!” Coal shouted.
Doing his part Miles fell from the back of the horse into the soft sand and then forced himself painfully to his feet. He took a few stumbling steps and then fell into the rickety doors. He didn’t waste time looking back over his shoulder at Murphy’s approaching men, but he could hear their curses and shouts as they got closer and closer. The old engineer threw his weight into the door, and it pulled open wide enough for Coal to back the horses in. The confused animals didn’t make the process easy for the Indian, but he held them in place with calming words and an iron grip.
Miles stumbled over and helped raise the wagon’s tongue up between the animals. The end held a large iron loop, and a pair of steel carabiners connected it to a set of nylon straps. Coal wasted no time in securing the straps to the horse collars.
“Miles, get in the fucking wagon and if you’ve got another one of your guns back there get it ready!” Coal shouted.
Miles hobbled around the side of the wagon and then painfully rolled himself up into the open bed. He straightened out his screaming leg and then pulled the armored tailgate closed behind him. With no further warning, the wagon lurched forward into motion. A single duffle bag, the three remaining pipe rifles were scattered around him where Miles had hastily loaded them earlier. That and the leather satchel that Miles still carried was all that he had left in the world.
Miles scooped up the nearest rifle just as the back of the wagon cleared the shed, he turned and saw one of Murphy’s men less than 50 feet away pointing a crossbow directly at him. He didn’t have time to even flinch as the bolt struck the tailgate in front of him and exploded into a mass of splinters. Miles raised the rifle, barely took aim and jerked the trigger, the gun belched smoke in the direction of their pursuers. Miles shot didn’t even come close, but all three men dropped to the ground and as the wagon began to pick up speed and slip further away not one of the men tried to rise. Their will for the chase suddenly spent.
“Hi Ho Silver, Away!” Coal shouted, and even Miles couldn’t help but smile.
His smile was quickly cut short as the wagon bounced hard sending pain shooting up his leg. He grimaced and reached for the front pocket of his bib and his Oxy’s. His hand couldn’t find the familiar spot, and he glanced down at his chest. The pocket containing the pills had been torn away, he vaguely remembered Brooklyn grabbing at him as they struggled. Now all that remained were a few blue threads and a part of the seam. Probing around in the seam he found three of the white pills. He just shook his head, it seemed like the trip just got a hell of a lot longer.
Escape
“Get back you sons of bitches, I swear I’ll fucking do it!” Kyle shouted as he aimed the magnum at his group of one time friends. Three men in the front held clubs and were steadily advancing on Kyle. Anna held a crying Juan just behind him, though she looked close to tears herself. They had managed to flee the fire pit when the people had unexpectedly turned on them but now found themselves backed down one of the compound’s narrow alleys between a pair of R.Vs. Even now Kyle could hear running footsteps on either side of them, people moving to get ahead of them and cut them off.
Not for the first time, a voice shouted from somewhere back in the crowd. “Get the Scavenger, give him to Murphy, and maybe he’ll let us keep the doctor!”
It was one of the old women Kyle realized, one of the women they simply called Mother now screaming for his blood. From behind him, Anna yelled again, begging for reason.
“Stop this, please stop, we’re your friends we just wanted to help you, all of you!” she yelled.
“You can help yourself now, give us Kyle, give us Kyle and you can go back to your office, the boy too!” One of the club-wielding men shouted in reply.
“You can’t make a deal like this with Murphy, he’ll never honor it, and he’ll just kill you as soon as it suits him,” Kyle shouted back, knowing that was exactly what he had done to land himself in this mess.
As Kyle, Anna and Juan reached the intersection of RVs Anna let out a gasp and shouted over her shoulder to Kyle. “They’re behind us!”
Kyle hazarded a quick glance away from the men in front of him and saw that she was right, a man and woman, each armed with knives blocked the alley to the left. That was the direction of the gate and as he watched a second group appeared from the right. Kyle spun back to face the group in front of him, they had grown bold and pulled up short just 10 feet from him now.
“I’ll fucking shoot!” Kyle screamed and just as the words escaped his lips a shot rang out, the sound amplified by the small space seemed unbelievably loud. Anna screamed behind him, the group in front of Kyle fell backward, tripping and crawling over one another to escape the gunfire.
Kyle risked another glance over his shoulder and saw a body lying in the alley between the R.V.s, most of the man’s head was gone, a women lay near him on the ground she was bleeding and crying out in pain. Kyle spun and pointed his pistol down the alley, and a moment later Dante appeared around the corner shotgun in hand.
“Well don’t just stand there, run!” he yelled at them.
The trio pushed passed the dead man, Anna instinctively reached out to the injured woman, but Kyle pushed her forward passed Dante.
“These people are trying to kill us!” Kyle reminded her.
“They’re just scared!” she cried back.
“Scared, I’m fucking scared, keep moving!” Kyle urged as they ran towards the gates.
The gate was open, and Kyle, Anna, and Juan slipped through. Dante stepped out of the compound last slamming the gate closed behind them. He then re-secured the padlock and with a quick grunt snapped the key off inside of the lock.
“That won’t hold them for long, too many places to jump over the walls from inside anyway. What’s our move?” Dante asked looking up and down the street.
Kyle shook his head in frustration, it was all collapsing around him. His plans, Anna’s clinic and now the very people he had hoped to save turning against him. As if in response to a silent prayer a rumbling echoed up the street. The little group turned and looked up together, just as the wagon came charging out of a side street and turned sharply racing towards the clinic. Coal was riding one of the hitched horses and held up his rifle in salute while wearing a toothy grin. A heartbeat later he pulled the wagon to a halt in front of the group.
“Going my way?” he asked still grinning.
“Yeah thank god, bring any trouble with you?” Kyle asked, as the rest of the group moved around to the rear of the wagon.
“Had a bit getting started, but nothing we couldn’t outrun.”
“The Rangers?” Kyle asked glancing back down the street.
“No sign of Rory or his goons so far. How many are we bringing along?” Coal asked looking over at the compound gate.
“This is it,” Kyle said, his words heavy with despair.
“Well that’s just gravy!” Coal replied his grin growing even wider now.
“The people, our people, they just kinda turned on us. A few had hope, I could tell, but when I mentioned Murphy, they were just so scared,” Kyle was still trying to come to grips with what had happened in just the last few minutes.
“Well fuck em then,” Coal replied simply.
“Oh hold on. Looks like maybe some have had a change of heart,” Coal said nodding his head up the street.
Kyle turned and saw a green duffle bag drop from the compound walls and land with a thud on the pavement. A moment later a backpack followed, and then a figure gingerly lowered herself down the wall after it. Coal raised his rifle, and Kyle pulled the magnum out again. The woman dropped the last few feet clumsily, almost fell but managed to catch herself. She stood
and looked down the street at the wagon.
“Well aren’t any of you bitches going to come and help me or what?” Pauli yelled.
Anna ran to greet the tall woman.
“Pauli, I didn’t think…I…” Anna began as she neared Pauli.
“Damn right you didn’t. You think I was going to hang around and deal with all of this drama? There is some serious bullshit going on in there right now. I’m going with you. Besides what the hell else is a professional blood bag going to do with herself,” Pauli replied with one hand firmly planted on her hip.
Anna grinned from ear to ear and grabbed Pauli in a tight hug, then she glanced down at Pauli’s bags and realized they were her own.
“Oh, Pauli!” Anna shouted releasing the women and dropping down to inspect the bags.
“Yeah, they were just left sitting there in the clinic, and I figured what the hey, a girl's got to have her shoes and shit,” Pauli replied simply.
“Pauli, these are, these are the medical supplies I packed, the medicines, everything!” Anna replied tears filling her eyes again.
“Oh well, that’s nice too I guess,” Pauli replied with a knowing grin and carrying her own pink backpack walked back towards the wagon.
Anna carried the bags back to the wagon, the second bag was Kyle’s rucksack after thanking Pauli again Kyle moved to the back of the wagon to help both of the women in. Dante sat at the very front of the box, keeping his gun on the street ahead of the wagon. Miles and Juan were close to the back gate, ready to shoot and reload the pipe rifles as needed. Kyle helped Anna in and then handed in their bags. Miles extended a hand to help Pauli up.
“Why thank you, such a gentleman,” Pauli said taking Miles’s hand and smiling as she climbed up.
“My…Uh…my pleasure…my dear?” Miles stuttered meeting Pauli for the first time.
“I’m sure it is,” Pauli replied with a wink and Kyle secured the tailgate behind them.
To Cross a Wasteland Page 33
