Freelancers: Falcon & Phoenix

by Thackston, Anthony

  The tank heads directly for soldiers on foot. Some of them dive behind parked vehicles. Others aren’t so lucky. Falcon fires off a round at more oncoming troops. The tank’s movement catches his attention. “What are you doing?” He mutters as the tank turns to face them. “Phoenix!”

  She can’t hear him over the sound of her own gun blasts.

  “I’m out,” Little Wang says again, hoping that someone will throw him more ammo.

  “Phoenix!” Falcon yells again as he watches the tank moving straight for her. He fires off a shot from his pistol, hoping to get Daken’s attention. Of course it doesn’t work. Phoenix doesn’t even notice the tank as she fires round after round at more troops.

  She ejects the drum from the shotgun and reaches for individual shells on her sleeve.

  “Phoenix!” Falcon runs toward her.

  “What?” She turns his way just in time to see him lunge for her.

  The Freelancers fall to the hangar floor. Falcon covers her head with his arm while the tank rolls over them. The bottom of the vehicle brushes against Falcon’s sleeve, nudging him just a little, filling his mind with images of the heavy tracks rolling over his body.

  Little Wang looks left and right, searching for a way around it but the tank is too close. He runs forward and jumps for the heavy artillery vehicle. His arms grab for anything to keep him from falling off while his legs dangle over the front of the massive vehicle. Bullets ricochet beside him as he tries to pull himself up. A hatch opens and Daken pokes his head out. “No free rides.”

  “But my brother—”

  “You pay your way.” Daken stands and reaches for Little Wang’s hand. He pulls him up onto the tank while more bullets bounce off of it. Troops continue firing in the hopes that some lucky shot will stop the behemoth. “Get inside.”

  Little Wang crawls to the tank hatch and he drops inside the dimly lit cabin. “What do I do?”

  “Cannon. I can’t fire it and drive.”

  “How does it work?”

  “Get in the turret. Load shells. Fire shells.”

  Little Wang climbs into the turret. He notices one of the shells and struggles to lift it at first, but he manages and gets it loaded it into the cannon.

  Falcon and Phoenix run among the parked cars, stopping to crouch behind a Jeep." What about this one?"

  "I said fast," Phoenix tells him as she pops up from the Jeep and fires at troops.

  A humvee charges at them. Phoenix faces it and takes one shot while Falcon reloads his pistol. The ballistic glass of the windshield shrugs off the impact of her bullet.

  Falcon ratchets the slide of his gun back just before Phoenix tackles him in time for the humvee to miss them both. The larger vehicle rams into the Jeep, flipping it over on its side. Falcon and Phoenix sit up and fire at the exposed underside of the Jeep. Smoke rises from their bullet hits before the entire vehicle bursts into flames. The two scramble to their feet as the humvee tries to back away. It's too slow. The Jeep explodes, knocking the front of the humvee up off of the ground. As it comes down, its front also starts to smoke.

  "Not again," Falcon says as Phoenix tries to pull him to his feet.

  "This is the war they wanted," she says as the two run for another parked humvee. The smoking vehicle explodes just as the Jeep did, creating a shockwave that sends Falcon and Phoenix hurtling over the hood of the parked humvee. They both hit the ground in a roll.

  Falcon's gun lands several feet away from him. He puts a hand over his shoulder, in obvious pain. Phoenix is first to her feet, though not without some trouble. She puts a free hand on her wounded side and pulls it back to find blood. Another loud explosion gets her attention. She watches an oncoming troop rear his arm back as if to throw something. She doesn't wait to find out what it is. She pumps the gun and fires at the troop, sending him backwards and to the floor. The intended item falls with him. She pumps the shotgun again and fires at another oncoming troop. Click. She reaches for her sleeve. It’s Empty.

  "Dammit." Phoenix drops the shotgun and draws her pistol, taking aim just as an explosion rocks the troops near it. "He had a grenade," she says.

  She turns her head in time to see Falcon slam his shoulder into the side of the humvee. His painful yell is quickly replaced by a sigh of relief. He faces her and draws his pistol, aiming it in her direction.

  The bullet flies right by her head and hits a soldier charging with a bayoneted rifle. She spins to see the fallen troop on the floor. She looks back at Falcon.

  "We're not gonna get far, this way," he says.

  Phoenix looks through the vehicle’s window and sees more soldiers trying to fight the tank. She turns back to Falcon. He’s not there. But a large wave of vehicles and troops from outside of the hangar are. And they’re traveling directly toward the Freelancers’ position.

  "This will have to do." Falcon shatters the passenger side window of a black sedan. Phoenix watches him disappear inside. There's no time to question his choice of getaway car. She runs for the vehicle and practically dives inside. Falcon has the gas floored before she has time to close the door.

  "They got a car," Little Wang says.

  "I see it. Take them out," Daken orders as he steers the tank after the sedan.

  Falcon drives straight for the oncoming vehicles coming across the runway. "I don't like this plan," Phoenix says as she holds on to the strap above the door.

  Falcon lines up the sedan with one of the Jeeps. As the two vehicles race toward one another, Falcon looks in his rearview mirror to see the tank pulling up, deceptively fast, behind them. His eyes drop back to the Jeep and he cuts the car left at the last second, steering around the passing Jeep. Falcon and Phoenix twist in their seats to see the tank roll right over it.

  Falcon faces the front but Phoenix continues to watch as the other vehicles all turn around to continue their pursuit. "They still outgun us."

  "Yeah." Falcon checks his mirrors to see muzzle flashes behind them.

  "You have a better plan than just running?"

  "Yeah."

  "We're not going through those mines are we?"

  "Yeah?"

  "Is that all you can say, right now?"

  "They get close, shoot back." He puts his second gun on the dashboard and unloads some of the magazines from the ammo belt. A few of those go into the cup holders between them. He puts a couple more between his legs in the seat before retrieving his gun. He takes his eyes off the road to look at Phoenix while she chambers a round. She tries to read his expression but is unable to. Following his example, she ejects the magazine from her gun and loads in a full one.

  The Jeeps and other nearby military vehicles still closest to the tank, continue to fire on it. The bullets sound like little pings as they hit the armored body. Little Wang turns the cannon turret and peers through the scope. "I've got a lock.”

  "Loyalty," Daken shakes his head and smiles. "So much for it."

  "Not to them. I wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for Falcon.”

  "And you won't get out without me. You remember that. Now, fire!"

  Little Wang does as ordered and hits the trigger. The tank rocks back as the shell blasts out of the cannon, heading straight for Falcon’s and Phoenix's getaway car.

  22

  Blast smoke from the fired cannon catches Falcon's eye in the rearview mirror. He cuts the car sharply to the left. The body of the car on the driver’s side lifts under the force of the turn but the tires stay on the pavement. With no target to hit, the shell explodes on the runway, blasting a crater into the pavement. The force of the blast lifts the back of the car up high enough for the front bumper to scrape concrete. Falcon and Phoenix brace themselves on the dashboard as a downward view of the runway suddenly fills their field of vision.

  They wait for the eventual flipping to the roof to come. It doesn't. As the sparks from the grind of metal and concrete lessen, they watch the horizon come back into view and the rear tires fall to the ground with a bounce, rocking
the car's occupants up and down.

  Phoenix wastes no time processing what just happened. "Go!"

  Falcon hits the gas and the sedan tears off down the runway with the military vehicles making wide turns in pursuit. Some choose to take their chances with the tank and, like the others before, end up being crushed under its treads. The lucky ones are just batted aside.

  Rapid fire gunshots hit the driver’s side of the car, making Falcon swerve to the right. Phoenix rolls down the window and climbs out to once again position herself on the car door. She keeps one hand holding the grip strap on the ceiling while taking aim with her other. Three shots blast out from her gun. Two hit nothing. One hits the grill of a Jeep. "I can't get a clear shot!"

  "Just keep them from firing back." Falcon watches as three vehicles move in a diagonal line to intercept them. He looks over his shoulder to see others maneuvering behind them. "Faster would be better." He grits his teeth.

  A Jeep is the first to catch up to the sedan. It runs parallel with the car and Phoenix shoots at the gunner. Her first one misses. Her next shot wings the soldier, rocking him backwards but not off his feet. The Jeep pulls back a little to avoid her next round of gun fire. Phoenix keeps the pressure on them by firing more. Each bullet hits the nearby vehicle but doesn't stop it.

  "I'm out." She thrusts the gun back through the window, hoping Falcon will get the idea.

  He sees the gun in his peripheral vision and reaches down for one of the magazines in the cup holder but machine gun fire hitting the door takes priority. He sees the same Jeep pulling up alongside them and he cuts the wheel to the left, sideswiping the pursuers and knocking them away. The gunner loses his balance and falls out and onto the runway. Falcon grabs a magazine and loads it into Phoenix's gun. He pushes her hand toward her, signaling she's loaded.

  Phoenix brings the gun back out and pushes the slide against the door, chambering a round. She swings the gun to the rear of the car and watches as a Jeep and a troop transport pull up to either the side of the tank.

  One soldier from each vehicle leaps to the tank. The troop closest to the hatch reaches down to grab it but before she can get her hand on it, the hatch flies open and Daken thrusts a gun up. He fires, hitting the troop and knocking her off the tank. The second soldier ducks down as the cannon turret swings toward him. Daken tries to get a shot off at the stowaway but the top of the turret blocks his view.

  Little Wang fires the cannon at a nearby humvee. The shell rips into the vehicle, sending it skyward in a ball of fire. Those closest to the explosion veer in the opposite direction as the wrecked mass of steel falls back to the runway.

  Daken drops back inside and closes the hatch. "Turn it back on those two!"

  Little Wang does as he’s told and swings the turret to face the front again.

  Phoenix takes a shot at a humvee getting far too close to the rear of the sedan. She fires at the windshield until she's out of ammo. Her gun goes right back inside the car. This time there's no distraction for Falcon and he slides a new magazine into the gun, pushing her arm back as he does. Phoenix re-aims at the humvee and fires, hitting very close to the same spot as before. The bullet proof glass starts to crack under the constant bullet impacts. She thrusts the gun inside the car one more time and Falcon slides in another new clip. Changing tactics, Phoenix releases the grip strap and kicks up toward the ceiling, narrowly missing Falcon. He grabs her leg and watches her lean back, drawing her second gun.

  Both pistols blast at the humvee windshield, finally shattering the glass. Several of the bullets hit the driver. Phoenix barely notices as the humvee swerves into another Jeep, forcing it back toward the hangar. All of her attention falls to the soldier climbing across the tank cannon.

  The troop gets to the front of the big gun and shoves a brick inside it. With no time to crawl back, he drops from the cannon to the concrete below. The tank rolls, harmlessly, over him as it did Falcon and Phoenix in the hangar. Seconds later the front end of the cannon splits into four sections from the powerful explosion inside of it.

  Phoenix shields her face with her arm as the battle vehicle buckles from the blast. “The tank is out,” she yells and climbs back into the car.

  Falcon checks his, now dangling, side mirror and sees the destroyed cannon. "It can still crush us."

  "The cannon just blew up," Little Wang says.

  "Well, that won't do,” is Daken's only response as he pushes the gas pedal, accelerating the heavy battle vehicle.

  The tank hauls after the sedan much faster than before. Falcon watches in his mirror, unaware of the humvee maneuvering behind them from the passenger side. A soldier steps onto the running board and makes his way to the front. He crawls out onto the hood of the humvee and inches close to the rear of the sedan. Falcon turns his attention back to the runway in front of them. Instinctively, his eyes dart to the rearview mirror. Surprised, he looks over his shoulder just in time to see the soldier jumping to the trunk of the car and finally balancing on the driver’s side. Falcon swings his pistol back and fires. The bullets shatter the rear windshield but the angle of his arm is not quite in line with the soldier.

  Phoenix turns in her seat to see the troop holding onto the window frame. She aims her gun but the troop fires first. Two bullets hit the back seats and one cracks the front windshield. Miraculously, Falcon and Phoenix are not hit. They return fire. Falcon’s shots are more suppressive while Phoenix fires to hit the troop. Two of her bullets strike the soldier, knocking him off the car.

  Falcon faces forward and checks the rearview mirror again. It is the same view Phoenix has. They both watch while the tank slams into the rear of the tailgating humvee. The big truck steers left to get out of the way. Wrong choice. The tank's treads catch the passenger side of the humvee and crawl right over it, smashing that side into twisted steel.

  Daken steers the tank to the right of the sedan. "Go out on the cannon. Drop into the back seat and take them out."

  Little Wang glares at him. "You want me to hang from that thing?"

  Phoenix watches as the tank maneuvers in their direction. "What's he doing?"

  Falcon steers away from it but it just follows. Phoenix takes aim.

  "There's no point. Save it for the Wasters,” Falcon says.

  She scans the runway behind them. There are far fewer pursuing military vehicles than there were.

  "Why don't you just crush them?" Little Wang asks. "Why do I have to go out there?"

  "So we have a body to bring back to the Emperor."

  "We'll just say he was killed in a crash."

  "Trust me. That doesn't always stick."

  "I'm not going out there."

  Daken points a gun at Little Wang. "You'll go out there or you won't make it out of the Waste."

  Little Wang stares at the gun, struggling to think of a better option. Nothing comes to mind. He swings the gun turret around so it points at an angle toward the sedan.

  "What if I fall?" he asks.

  "Don't," Daken says, effortlessly. It’s as though this whole situation is an everyday thing.

  Reluctantly, Little Wang steps down from the turret and under the hatch.

  “Go,” Daken says.

  The younger brother nervously pushes the hatch open and takes a long look up at the passing sky before sticking his head out to see the sedan speeding ahead of them.

  Falcon starts to smile, thinking they'll make it as the end of the runway nears. The expression quickly fades at the sight of water rushing across the land just past the runway. "Dammit." He turns the wheel left to make a wide turn.

  "Why are we turning?" Phoenix asks.

  Falcon points toward the river. "We'll either sink or get stuck in there. We need one of those humvees.”

  Phoenix switches out magazines in both guns. Falcon hands her his to do the same.

  "Go!" Daken orders, again, as he steers after his prey.

  Little Wang climbs out through the hatch, grabbing the turret for balance. Daken straig
htens the tank as Wang starts to climb onto the big gun. He swings his legs out on the cannon and locks his ankles around it to shimmy his way out to the front. The shaking of the heavy vehicle as it speeds across the runway makes him stop for a moment of prayer.

  A Jeep's gunner sprays bullets at the sedan and the tank as its driver comes straight for them. The bullets ricocheting off the tank startle Wang, forcing his ankles to loosen their lock, making his legs fall from the cannon. He tightens his fingers as best as he can around the wide barrel.

  Phoenix looks back to see Little Wang hanging from the cannon. His mouth is wide open, yelling for Daken to stop. "He's not gonna make it out of here," she quietly regrets before the little brother’s grip gives out and he falls to the runway. She spins forward unable to watch the result.

  Falcon lines the sedan up with an oncoming humvee. "Hang on."

  She snaps out of her brief moment of sorrow to see the oncoming truck. “You're playing chicken with a vehicle twice our size," she says. "The idea is to get one. Not crash into one."

  "It's fine."

  He looks at her and their eyes lock. A glimmer of trust shines through her uncertainty. They both look forward as the humvee gets closer. A frontal collision is imminent.

  23

  Suddenly, Falcon hits the brakes and cuts the wheel to the left, whipping the back end around so the sedan’s driver’s side is in line with the humvee’s passenger side. Falcon pushes his door open and the humvee crashes into it, ripping it from its hinges as it passes by.

  "Take my place," he tells Phoenix as they catch up to the humvee and pull alongside it.

  A troop rolls down the humvee window and sticks a gun outside. Falcon releases the wheel to grab the weapon while Phoenix leans over to take control of the car. The humvee starts to veer away from the sedan, pulling Falcon out with it. He switches his hand from the gun to the window’s edge for a better grip.