The trees grew close to the road, their branches almost meeting above their heads and forming a shadowy canopy that made Marnie shiver.
“Be careful, Nic.” Her gaze darted from side to side.
Something wasn’t right.
Nic turned the headlights back on.
Roughly five hundred yards ahead, light glinted on metal.
“Best pick up that shot-gun, piccolina di papà.”
Marnie scooped the weapon off the floor near her feet and held it cradled in her arms, the muzzle pointing toward her passenger door.
“There it is again.” She pointed to the right. “Amongst those trees.”
“Yeah, I got it.” Nic hit the accelerator and the ute flew down the road.
A figure emerged from behind a tree, ran towards the road, waving.
“That looks like Luis. What the devil is he doing out here?” said Nic, applying the brake. When the ute rolled to a halt, he rested his elbow on the open window. “Luis, man. Thought we left you back in town.”
“Nah, I decided to take my chances on my own.” Luis shrugged. “I nicked a motor bike and set off just after you left the mayor’s place. Then I got spooked. Any chance I can ride along with you guys?”
“Sure thing, buddy.” Nic grinned. “You wanna climb on board?”
“If it’s all the same to you, I'll ride behind on the bike.”
“Come on then.” Nic nodded and set the ute into motion.
Frowning, Marnie swivelled around and peered out the rear window as Luis pushed the bike onto the road then followed. “Nic...”
“Leave it, piccolina di papà. I owe him. Anyway,” Nic tossed her a cocky smile. “We're almost at the road block. See?”
Sure enough, a crudely constructed timber road-block squatted in the centre of the road. On the left hand side, an army truck was parked on an angle in the side ditch. As their ute approached, two men climbed down from the inside of the truck, one yawning and tucking his rumpled shirt into his pants and the other holding two rifles. They strolled casually to stand behind the road block and raised their weapons.
Marnie exchanged a glance fraught with meaning with her father. Her stress levels went through the roof as she silently clicked off the safety before resting the muzzle out the side window.
Nic pulled the ute up ten yards from the road-block, keeping the engine running. Leaning out the window, he called a greeting in a friendly voice, adding, “Hey man, wanna help us out a little here?”
“No one is allowed to pass,” said the taller of the soldiers, gesturing with his rifle.
“We don’t want no trouble.” Nic held up a hand as if to give credence to his words. “We’re just a family looking to reconnect with one of ours who needs help. You can’t blame us for wanting to get to her. She’s only six years old.”
The other soldier with sandy-coloured hair and a straggly beard shuffled his feet, a frown appearing on his face.
Would he let them pass? Her stomach clenched into a painful knot but Marnie didn’t dare take her eyes off the soldiers.
“We’ve got our orders,” barked his partner.
“We understand. But a man’s gotta do what’s right for his family.” Nic gave a loud sigh and scratched his chin. “I tell you what, how about I make this a little easier for you guys. We could help each other out.”
The rifles aimed in their direction, lowered a trifle and Marnie's frantic heartbeats slowed as well.
Emboldened by this wavering in confidence, Nic said, “I bet you guys have family elsewhere too. You must be wondering how they’re doing in this here bad times.”
Sandy-hair admitted, “I got folks in Longreach. Haven’t heard from them for a bit.”
“And I bet you’re worrying whether they’re safe from this disease striking all of our families down.” Nic snapped his fingers. Sandy-hair jumped.
Not a good sign – an armed soldier with twitchy nerves. Marnie squinted along the sights of her rifle.
Her father added, “I have twenty vaccines and I’d be more than happy to share half with you.”
“Shit yeah.” Sandy-hair poked his buddy in the shoulder. His rifle was now pointing at the ground. “Come on, man. Just think what we could get on the black market for this stuff.”
The other soldier jerked his chin. “What’s stopping us from taking all of them?”
“Well, my piccolina di papa here has a shot-gun aimed at your gut and my mate is a mean shot with his rifle. We could stand here all day either pissing at each other or we could see who can shoot first or we can act like civilised men and be on our way. What’s it gonna be?”
“I say we take what these good folks are offering, Jim. This shit is getting out of control,” muttered Sandy-hair.
“It does sound mighty tempting,” admitted the other soldier, slowly.
Boots crunched over gravel as Luis strolled along the site of the ute until he was level where Nic leaned out his window looking at the soldiers.
A cold frisson streaked up Marnie’s spine. The world switched to slow motion as she swung her shot-gun around.
Too late!
“Or, there's another solution.” Raising his gun, Luis fired off two shots in quick succession at the soldiers then spun round and fired at Nic.
DAD!
Hands shaking, her belly feeling like lead, Marnie levelled her gun at Luis. From the corner of her eye, she could see her father slumped back in the seat, eyes closed, blood flowing from his shoulder down his arm and chest. How badly was he hurt? Was he...was he even alive?
“Don’t do it, girlie, or the next slug goes into your pa’s head. Only reason I aint killed him straight off, is he and me are mates. Now, I’ll get you to lower that gun ‘n I won’t have no need to do any more killing.” The complete lack of emotion in Luis’ flat eyes convinced her.
Slowly she placed the shot-gun near her feet.
“Now you get out of the car and come round here and get your pa out. Come on, now. I aint got all day.”
On trembling legs Marnie did as she was told. Three minutes later, she sat by the side of the road, Nic bleeding in her arms and watching their only hope of reaching her daughter disappearing into the distance.
***
Don't Look Back (Warders of Earth) Page 30
