by Mark Goodwin
They reached the other side of the landslide and continued on the snow-covered mountain road. Everett smiled as he looked out at the beautiful white scenery. He knew the marred countryside beneath was still grimy, gray, scorched, dead, and filthy. But for now, it was a sight to behold.
They continued slowly for three miles. Everett slowed to a stop when he saw an oncoming vehicle. “Who else would be crazy enough to be out on the roads today?”
Courtney raised her rifle and looked through the scope. “The Global Republic, that’s who. Come on, let’s get out of here. Maybe they didn’t see us yet.”
Everett yelped, “Hang on!” He gunned the engine and spun the ATV around. Everett raced to get out of view of the GR vehicle. “Did you see what kind of vehicle it was?”
“MRAP. A Typhoon I think. A newer model. Not one of the old Russian ones.”
Everett gritted his teeth. “Great. A passenger van. We definitely don’t want to tangle with that.”
“Maybe we can get back to the landslide and lose them on foot.”
“If they haven’t seen us, and they’re not pursuing, we might be able to, but if they’re on to us, we’ll never outrun that thing on an ATV. Did we lose them?” He waited for her response.
Finally, she said, “Nope. They’re gaining on us. We’ve been made.”
Everett sighed and pushed the ATV as hard as it would go.
“They’re getting closer. I can see the face of the driver.” Courtney’s voice sounded frantic. “Can you go off-road? That MRAP can’t drive through the tree stumps.”
Everett looked toward the side of the road and down the mountain. “No way. We’d roll to our deaths.”
“What about uphill? We just need to put some distance between us and them so they can’t catch up to us on foot.”
He glanced at the other side. It too was steep, but perhaps he could pull it off. “Maybe.”
Everett found a navigable path and turned off. The engine whined as the ATV began storming up the steep incline. He zigzagged to decrease the effect of the sharp embankment as he maneuvered through the burnt tree stumps. “Hang on tight!” Everett gunned the engine to get over a sheer mound. The front wheels left the snow-covered ground below, and the vehicle pitched up perpendicular. Everett leaned forward, but Courtney was holding on to his pack. For a brief moment, the ATV was motionless, then it tipped backward, and the two of them fell off to the side. Everett grabbed his wife and rolled out of the way before the vehicle tumbled on top of them. The ATV flipped onto its back, then rolled sideways until it came to a stop against an incinerated tree trunk less than twenty-five feet from where Everett and Courtney fell.
“Are you okay?” He looked her over.
“Yeah, are you?”
He ran his hands across his legs and arms. “I think so.”
A voice called through the loudspeaker attached to the MRAP with a thick New Zealand accent. “We can very easily resolve this issue. As of right now, you’ve committed no crime other than evading a constable of the Republic. It’s a minor offense that I’m willing to overlook if you’ll come on back down here.”
“What do you want?” Everett lay prone in the snow as he yelled.
“We’ve been tasked with locating the survivors of the Wormwood impact. We only want to make sure we have an accurate estimated population count so the appropriate amount of resources can be allocated to the area.”
Everett yelled back. “Okay. We’re two people. We don’t know of anyone else that survived. So if that’s it, we should be free to go.”
Everett watched as four armed GR peacekeepers exited the Typhoon from the rear doors. The man who had been speaking through the loudspeaker now yelled up the ridge to Everett. “Yes, well. We do have to ensure that you have your Mark.”
“And if we don’t?” Everett inquired.
“We will implant you right here, and you can be on your way. Trust me, I have no desire to spend any more time here than I must. I have a quota of 100 persons from the outlying areas to implant, then our team will be reassigned off this wretched hemisphere. I have no reason to lie to you. But let me be clear, the quota is to implant or eradicate. Obviously, it’s easier for us both to implant you. I do not wish to transport your bleeding corpses back to the outpost, but I want my reassignment. Do we understand each other?”
Everett’s face held a grave expression as he looked to Courtney. “We’re going to have to run. We’ll leapfrog backward. One lays down cover fire, the other moves.”
She looked deeply concerned. “Then what? We don’t have enough ammo to do that all the way back to the landslide?”
Everett watched as six more peacekeepers got out of the vehicle. “They left the back doors open. Let’s try to lead them in a spread-out circle. If we can get back to the Typhoon before they do, the vehicle is ours.”
“It’s not a great plan.” Her voice was distressed.
“Okay, what do you suggest? They’re heading up the hill.”
“Not a great plan, but it’ll do. Cover me. I’ll run first.” Courtney got in position to move.
“If you want to live to see that reassignment, you should leave us alone!” Everett was sure the statement was made in vain, but he had to give the easy way one last try.
“I can’t do that.” The man began leading his squad up the hill with weapons drawn.
Everett took aim at the one he assumed was the commander. “Go!” He pulled the trigger, dropping his target and causing the others to dive into the snow, and scurry for cover.
Courtney sprung up from her position and ran while Everett fired three more quick shots at the positions where he’d seen the men jump.
“Set!” Courtney yelled to Everett.
He waited for the first GR troop to stick his head up, then joined Courtney in firing at him to keep him pinned down. Everett slung his rifle around his back and began hustling up and beyond Courtney’s position. “Set!” He leveled his rifle and began firing so Courtney could advance to the next position of cover.
They repeated the maneuver four more times. As Everett readied his weapon, he called out to Courtney. “Come to me.” He opened fire in the direction of their pursuers while she ran up the mountain toward him.
Once she arrived at the burnt stump where he was positioned, he asked, “Did you hit any of them?”
“I think I winged one in the shoulder.”
“Then we better start circling around. If they send wounded back to the vehicle, it will ruin our plan. As far as I know, the only one I’ve hit so far was the boss. The rest of them don’t seem eager to get shot.”
She fired two rounds at one of the peacekeepers who was preparing to make a run toward them. “Yeah, but they’re not giving up either.”
Everett scoped out the path they would take. “When I start shooting, you keep going all the way to that knoll. Once I get to your location, we’ll be in position to get between them and the Typhoon.”
“Okay, ready when you are.” She got into position for her sprint.
Everett laid down a volley of heavy fire, quickly changing magazines before the GR troops could pop back up. “We could all still walk away and call it a draw.”
A peacekeeper called out in reply, “You shot the boss, mate. We can’t go home without your scalp now.”
Through his sights, Everett saw the barrel of the man’s gun rising from the cover of a charred log. He breathed steadily, waiting for the man’s head to be visible. Everett pulled the trigger, and the shot echoed off the barren landscape. The peacekeeper slumped onto the log, and crimson blood streamed down onto the brilliant white snow.
Courtney’s rifle rang out from a distance, letting Everett know that she was in position. He let off another short volley of rifle fire, then dashed through the snow toward his wife.
“Okay.” He gasped for breath when he arrived at her location. Trudging through the snow proved to be much more challenging than their morning runs with Sarah. “You head straight back from me, t
hen start curving down the hill toward that group of stumps. But not too much. I don’t want them to figure out what we’re doing until we’re between them and the MRAP.”
“Got it!”
Everett whispered, “Go!” and began providing cover fire for Courtney’s retreat.
“Set,” she yelled from a distance. The remaining troops were still following and appeared to be losing steam. Everett bolted from cover and tromped across the snow as quickly as possible.
When he got to Courtney, his heart was pumping like a locomotive. He breathed in his nose and out his mouth to regulate his respiratory system.
“You’re huffing hard. We should rest so you can catch your breath.”
“No.” He shook his head. “I’ll be okay. Besides, it’s all downhill from here, and they’re out of breath also.” Everett inhaled deeply and raised his rifle. “Go.”
Courtney ran, and Everett began shooting.
Soon, one of the peacekeepers caught on to their predicament. “She’s going for the truck!” he yelped.
Everett wanted to yell gotcha, but he knew it was too soon to get cocky. He heard Courtney’s rifle begin firing. It was his cue to run like he’d never ran in his life. This was the final leg of the race. And unlike most contests of speed, the prize for this one was life. Everett left the safety of the seared tree trunk and charged toward the armored vehicle.
Yelling and gunfire broke out behind him. Courtney continued to shoot back, but the GR troops seemed to have renewed vigor and an undaunted determination to stop Everett from reaching the Typhoon.
Just before he reached the vehicle, he stumbled, dropping his weapon.
“Come on, Everett!” Courtney unleashed a hail of bullets from behind a snow drift on the side of the road. “We’re almost there, but these guys are right on top of us!”
Everett reached out to grab his rifle, then struggled to get back on his feet. “Go! Get in the truck!”
Courtney turned to dart toward the open door of the MRAP. Everett rushed behind her. She climbed in the back door. Everett jumped in as bullets peppered the heavy metal door. “Give me cover!” He lay on the floor of the vehicle waiting for Courtney to shoot.
She fired three rounds, and Everett reached out to grab the door handle of the armored vehicle. He had to use the weight of his entire body to move the cumbersome chunk of steel hinged to the rear of the truck, but he got it closed. “Check the latches on the front doors. Make sure they’re locked!”
“Roger.” Courtney hurried up the aisle to the front of the vehicle, slamming the security latches shut.
PING, PANG. PONG. The sound of bullets hitting the truck rattled inside the vehicle like a marble in a soda can. Everett soon realized the rifles of the GR peacekeepers were no threat to them at all. “Thank you, Jesus!” He held his hands heavenward in praise. He looked to the sky. “Now, Lord, just let the keys be in the ignition.”
Everett made his way to the driver’s seat. His smile slipped slightly as he looked at the vacant slot where the keys should have been.
Courtney looked over his shoulder. “I don’t suppose you know how to hotwire a military truck, do you?”
He shook his head. “No, do you?”
“What kind of girl do you think I am?” She feigned a look of uncertainty.
He started to grin at the jest but saw peacekeepers approaching the left side of the vehicle. He drew his Sig from his side arm holster and quickly located the latch for the driver’s side gun port. He stuck the pistol out and fired two rounds, hitting one of the assailants in the knee. “We have to keep them back from the truck. If we let them get close, they could build a fire and smoke us out real quick.”
Courtney changed magazines and readied her rifle to fire out the passenger’s side gun port if the GR troops tried to get close.”
“Patrol nine, respond.” The radio chirped with the voice of a British man.
“That ain’t good,” Everett said as he dug his last full magazine out of his pack.
“Respond patrol nine. I’m dispatching three backup units to your location, but it would be very helpful if we knew the particulars of your situation.”
Courtney shook her head as she watched Everett pick up the mic.
He gave her a smile that said he understood her objection, but that it had been overruled. He pressed the talk key and made a very poor attempt at a New Zealand accent. “We’ve just returned to the vehicle. No need for backup. Thought we saw some activity down in the valley, but it turned out to be a garbage bag blowing in the wind.”
“Very good to hear, patrol nine. Just give us today’s authentication code, and I’ll recall the additional units.”
Everett set his teeth together tightly as he strained to think of how he could possibly bluff his way through this one. “Password.”
“What was that you said, patrol?”
Courtney dropped her head into her palm.
Everett tightened up his fake accent and doubled down. “Password.”
The voice became very hostile. “You are in violation of crimes against peacekeeping forces of the Global Republic, for which the punishment is death. I hereby command that you release control of the vehicle you are in and surrender yourselves.”
Courtney cut the power to the radio. “Password?”
Everett lifted his shoulders. “Do you know how many people use password for their computer password?”
“This is a military authentication code. Not someone’s personal laptop.”
Everett huffed and pointed to the rear of the truck. “Look around and see if you can find any 5.56 ammo. The hospitality team is on their way, and I’m on my last mag.”
“Yeah, me, too.” She began searching compartments as Everett scanned the rearview and watched both sides of the truck for anyone trying to sneak up on him.
“This looks like some kind of gun for implanting chips. I guess he wasn’t lying about this being a mobile station for giving people the Mark.”
Everett fired three more shots out the driver’s side gun port. “Yeah, yeah. How’s the ammo situation?”
“Boom!” she exclaimed. “Full AR mags!”
“5.56?” Everett didn’t want to take his eyes off the outside of the truck long enough to look.
“Roger that,” Courtney replied. “And here’s a breaching shotgun.”
“Good, good. Bring me some magazines, then look around and see what other goodies you can find.” Everett saw a man trying to sneak up from the back. He sprinted toward the back door, opened the rear gun port and fired several rounds from his HK rifle. “These guys are as persistent as a bunch of hyenas trying to get into a rabbit cage. You gotta work fast so you can help me keep an eye out.”
“I’m moving as quickly as I can.” She continued to rummage through the various compartments. “Berkey water filter. It’s specifically for arsenic. Ration bars.”
“Great, I could use one of those, but we need to get our mags loaded first”
She dumped the AR-15 magazines out of the ammo box and began stripping out the shells.
Everett pulled all the empty mags for his HK G36 out of his pack. “Here comes another one!” He rushed to the passenger’s side and fended off yet another attempt by a GR troop to get close to the vehicle.
Courtney opened a ration bar and took a bite. She held it up to Everett’s mouth. “You burned a lot of calories running up and down the mountain.”
“Thanks.” He kept his eyes peeled as he bit into the tasteless nutrition bar.
Courtney began loading Everett’s magazines while she chewed. “Here’s a full mag. Why don’t you change it out for the one in your rifle?”
Everett took the mag she handed him and exchanged it for the one in his gun. He scoured the mirrors and windows for any sign of movement.
Courtney diligently loaded 5.56 bullets into Everett’s spent magazines as well as her own. “How long do you think we have until their backup comes?”
“It sounded like he’d jus
t dispatched them. I know they’re not coming out of Winchester. Tommy would have probably heard something if they had an outpost in Martinsburg. I’m assuming they’re farther out than that.”
She passed him two more full magazines. “We don’t know they’re coming from the north. They could have been on their way back south after reaching the end of their patrol.”
“They definitely didn’t drive across the landslide.”
“No, but they wouldn’t have to. The patrol may have originated out of Harrisonburg and went west into West Virginia, then came back through Wardensville.”
He kept a steady lookout. “That would have been a convoluted way to get here, but I suppose it’s possible. More likely though, is that they came out of Hagerstown or Fredrick. If that’s the case, we’re probably looking at an hour and a half until backup arrives.
“And I don’t mean to sound grim, but they know we’re in the MRAP, so they’ll be coming with heavy weaponry.”
“Like what?” Her forehead puckered.
“I don’t know. Something big enough to defeat this armor.”
“We need a plan before they get here.” Her statement was insistent.
“I’m open to suggestions.” Everett stuck his rifle out the gun port and fired several rounds at the burned-out tree trunk the GR troops were using for cover.
Courtney huffed. “I don’t know. I don’t see any fragmentation grenades or explosives in here.”
“That wouldn’t matter. They’ll be coming in heavily armored vehicles.”
The minutes crept by slowly as the two of them struggled to come up with a plan. They said a quick prayer asking for wisdom and protection. They took turns eating and drinking water so they’d have the strength to take advantage of any opportunity that God might provide.
Everett looked at his watch. “It’s been over an hour. All the magazines are topped off. We’ve done all we can. Whatever happens, know that I love you forever.”
“And I love you, Everett. I can’t imagine going through the Tribulation without you. As hard as it’s been, you’ve made it one of the best times of my life.”
Everett could hear engines approaching. He took Courtney’s hand to hold for what could be the last time.
