Spore Series | Book 2 | Choke

by Soward, Kenny

  “It’s tight as always, scavenger,” the corporal replied, and she gave his coveralls a hard tug to ensure there were no gaps between the jumper and his hood. “You’ve got it down. You and your sister, I mean.”

  “Of course, Corporal.” He gave a brief, efficient nod. “But I may need some additional, private training, though. I’m struggling with my boots.”

  “Your boots?” Tricia stepped back and looked down.

  “Yes, um. Getting the seal right. I’m having problems with it.”

  Jenny scoffed next to him, and Randy almost laughed. He imagined his sister’s eyes rolling out of her head.

  Tricia used the toe of her boot to scrape at the duct tape wrapped around Randy’s shin. “I see. Yes, you’re using way too much tape to do a simple seal. I’ll be by later to help you get the strips right—” Tricia’s smile faded, and her brow furrowed.

  The sounds of gunfire touched the edges of Randy’s hearing, and he glanced over his shoulder toward the tarmac. But the gunshots weren’t outside. They came from inside the terminal.

  “Wait right here,” Tricia said. She wore a calm expression, though Randy could tell by her tense movements that something was wrong. She backed up and addressed the entire group. “All of you. Stay right here. Do not move!” With that, Tricia jogged back through the tunnel and bounded up the stairs to the gate.

  Randy shifted as more gunshots rang out. Someone screamed inside the terminal, and he looked down at his sister in fear. Jenny’s eyes were wide as she stared down the tunnel after the corporal.

  He looked askance at the other scavengers, and Randy saw a thousand thoughts rushing through their heads. Stephanie gripped Kirk’s arm, and the young man turned toward her in a protective posture.

  Something exploded inside the building. The scavengers jerked in fright, and two of them turned and escaped down the tunnel leading to the tarmac. Randy’s instincts told him to grab Jenny and flee, though he couldn’t bring himself to leave Tricia behind.

  Shouts followed more gunfire, and then a mass of screams carried through the gate and down to the waiting scavengers. He exchanged a look with Kirk, and for once they were on the same page. No longer competing scavengers, but two young men uncertain who to fight.

  With a nod to him, Kirk grabbed Stephanie and turned her toward the tarmac tunnel, and they fled after the other two scavengers.

  “What’s going on?” Jenny grabbed his arm, the tension in her voice edging upward.

  “I’ve got a few ideas,” he replied. “And they all amount to a whole lot of danger.”

  Jenny tugged him toward the tarmac tunnel. “Let’s go.

  “Not yet.” He broke out of her grip and jogged to the gate tunnel. “Just stay here. I’ll find Tricia.”

  “Randy, no!”

  With a clenched jaw, he ignored his sister and entered the tunnel, following it all the way to the other end. He planned on climbing the stairs and poking his head up in the gate area. If Tricia wasn’t inside, he’d come back and get Jenny out of there.

  Tricia landed at the bottom of the stairs. Her expression was wide-eyed and feral, and she held a second rifle in her other hand. To Randy’s complete and utter shock, she held out the weapon.

  “Take it!” she shouted.

  Randy took the weapon but held it at arm’s length and shook his head. “I’m not fighting for Odom or Taggert.”

  “I’m not asking you to fight for them,” Tricia said. “I’m asking you to fight for us.”

  She ran past Randy to the prep tent where the remaining scavengers waited.

  One of them stepped in front of Tricia, his eyes darting toward the gate. “What’s going on up there? What should we do?”

  “Question number one is that hell is breaking loose up there.” Tricia removed her pistol and handed it to Jenny. “For question number two, you can stay or go. I don’t care either way.”

  The corporal dug into her fatigue pockets and drew out a set of keys. She gave the twins a hard look before she tossed the keys to him. “Let’s go. Randy drives.”

  Tricia jogged down the tunnel that led to the tarmac. Holding the gun in one hand, and the keys in the other, he followed the corporal with his sister in tow.

  They busted through the Velcro tunnel flaps and broke out onto the tarmac. The transport vehicle was right there, and Randy gestured at it with a question on his face.

  “Yep, that’s what we’re taking,” Tricia said. “Can you drive a stick?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “All right.” Tricia and Jenny circled to the passenger side while the scavengers jumped in the back.

  Randy climbed into the drivers’ side and glanced at the simple dashboard. The truck was at least ten years old, and the cab smelled like oil and dust. He handed his rifle to his sister, slammed his foot on the clutch, and started the truck.

  The diesel engine roared to life, and Randy moved the stick shifter back and forth to get a feel for it. Then he put the shifter into first gear, let the clutch out slowly, and eased the vehicle forward.

  “You’ll need to go faster than that,” Tricia said.

  “I’m trying not to stall it.”

  “Just go!”

  Randy let the clutch fully out, pressed the gas, and listened as the engine wound out. Then he shifted into second, then third. The steering wheel jumped in his hands as the truck shook and rumbled.

  “Turn north,” Tricia shouted. “We need to take the access road to the expressway.”

  “All right,” Randy called as he turned the vehicle in that direction. He kept his eyes pinned to a small guard station where two soldiers stood. The pair were staring back toward the terminal, and one lifted a 2-way radio and spoke into it before listening for a response.

  An open top jeep with two soldiers arrived at the gate from the service road and stopped behind the two guards. The guards got in the jeep, and the vehicle tore off in their direction.

  “Uh oh,” Randy said. “We’ve got company.”

  “Those are Odom’s soldiers. He must have called them back from patrol.” Tricia checked her rifle and placed the barrel so it pointed outside the window. “If they’re smart, they won’t try to stop us.”

  The passenger soldier in the jeep stood up and raised his rifle at them.

  “They’re waving us down,” Randy said.

  “I see that,” Tricia said. “Keep going.” The corporal leaned farther out the window to display her own rifle. “If they try to stop, slam into them.”

  “Okay.”

  The driver of the jeep said something to the passenger and pulled him down by his belt. The four soldiers stared at them as they passed, and he sighed with relief when no one opened fire. Tricia and Jenny both eased down in the seat, with a clear way ahead.

  Then Randy glanced into his side mirror and saw the jeep turn halfway around and stop as one of the guard soldiers in back conversed with someone on his 2-way radio. After a moment, he lowered the device and slapped the driver on the shoulder, gesturing toward the fleeing troop transport.

  “They’re turning around!” Randy called out. He shifted the truck into fourth and pressed the gas pedal to the floor.

  Tricia turned in her seat and used the barrel of her rifle to separate a pair of curtains leading to the back of the truck. “Keep driving! Head north. Come on, Jenny!”

  Tricia climbed over the seat and through the curtains. Jenny picked up the second rifle and left her pistol in the seat next to him before she followed Tricia to the back.

  “Great,” Randy grumbled. “We’re about to get lit up.”

  Chapter 40

  Randy and Jenny Tucker, Indianapolis, Indiana

  Randy drove the troop transport past the guard booth and onto the service road. He had no clue where it led, though he trusted Tricia. The area around the airport was flat with a thin covering of fungus. Where the fungus had crept onto the road, his tires struck it in a cloud of dust spores that sprung high in the air.

  “I h
ope your masks are strapped on tight,” Randy said to the soldiers, glancing in his side mirror as the jeep ran through the black haze.

  He had the truck chugging along close to 50 miles per hour, but the jeep was much faster and far more agile. Still, the service road was narrow, and he kept the jeep from passing them.

  The men in the jeep waved for him to stop. Randy pushed the gas pedal to the floor, bringing the speed up to fifty-five miles per hour. Going any faster was impossible; the engine wasn’t geared for speed.

  He alternated between watching the curving road ahead and his side mirror. Two soldiers stood in their seats and fired on the truck. A bullet buzzed past Randy’s head and passed through the windshield, and he jerked the wheel to the side in response.

  “Take it easy!” Tricia yelled from the back of the truck, then the women opened fire on the jeep.

  The jeep’s front windshield blew out, and a line of bullets zipped up one soldier’s chest, spraying blood all over the soldier sitting behind him.

  Looking ahead, Randy saw the end of the service road. A quick glance out the passenger window showed the buildings of downtown Indianapolis swinging into view.

  “Hold on to something!” Randy shouted back. He hit the brake and whipped the steering wheel to the right, turning the truck onto the wider highway.

  He shifted down to third to regain his speed, and the truck lurched so hard it threw him six inches out of his seat. Settling back, Randy ground the engine to a high whine and then shifted into fourth.

  The jeep swung onto the road behind them, minus the dead soldier from the passenger seat. One soldier had picked up the dead man’s rifle and resumed firing, with Tricia and Jenny returning in kind.

  The jeep tried to pass them on the right, so he moved the truck over to block them. The jeep whipped back to the left and tried to flank him. Randy pulled the wheel back in the other direction, and the truck tipped hard to the right.

  It was enough to back the jeep off. The ladies unleashed a burst of rounds on the soldiers that blew metal and glass everywhere. The jeep’s radiator exploded in a hiss of steaming fluid before the jeep spun out on the shoulder.

  Randy was about to celebrate, but two more jeeps whipped onto the road behind him and began to gain. Tricia’s head poked between the curtains, and the heavy scent of gunpowder rolled off her.

  “Are you two okay?”

  “We’re fine,” Tricia confirmed. “The tailgate is pretty chewed up, and it won’t take much more.”

  Randy shifted into fifth gear and pushed the truck to its fastest speed. “I guess you saw the company?”

  “Affirmative.”

  “Still think this is a good idea?”

  “Too late to turn back now.” Tricia’s eyes searched the road ahead.

  His brow furrowed. “What happened back there to make Odom go nuts?”

  “Jergensen died.”

  “That explains it,” Randy said with a grim tone. “Where to, now?”

  “This highway should take us to some suburbs we scavenge,” the corporal said.

  “Jump out and scatter?” he asked. “We’re not going to outmaneuver them in this.”

  “That’s what I was thinking. Unless you had a better plan.”

  Randy shook his head and pulled the truck into the right lane as they approached the first exit. He took the ramp, noting that the two jeeps behind them were catching up. “I’ll find a nice subdivision,” he said.

  “I’ll let everyone in back know.”

  Tricia disappeared as Randy slowed the truck at the bottom of the exit ramp and took a right. He shifted fast, getting the truck back up to speed. By the time he had it in fourth gear, the pursuing jeeps swung onto the road behind him.

  He passed some gas stations, liquor stores, and food marts before he swung the truck left in a wide arc across the opposite two lanes. They entered a subdivision previously looted by the Colony. Randy could tell because the garage doors remained open with their insides gutted.

  It wasn’t a subdivision he was familiar with, though he chose it due to the sizable amount of brush cover and copses of trees separating back yards. It was an older community, and it gave them the best chance to escape.

  Randy’s heart pounded as he wove the truck left and right down the streets, moving deeper into the subdivision. He picked a cul-de-sac and parked the truck halfway down it. Then he grabbed his pistol out of the seat and got out.

  The truck’s tailgate slammed down, and the other four scavengers hopped out. They split up into two pairs. Two ran toward the houses on one side of the road while the other pair ran in the opposite direction. Tricia and Jenny leapt down and met him.

  He gestured behind him. “I was thinking we should run to the circle. There are woods behind those houses.”

  Tricia was already nodding. The three of them sprinted toward the circle of homes as the two jeeps roared around the bend in a squeal of tires. Tricia angled through the yards, so the old trees provided some cover.

  The jeeps squealed to a stop. A brief delay preceded more gunfire, and lead flew in their direction. Several rounds hit a tree just ahead of them, spraying bark and wood everywhere. The trio cringed but kept running.

  He glanced over his shoulder to see the soldiers had split into two pairs. Two had run off in another direction, while three chased Randy, Tricia, and Jenny.

  They reached the corner of the last home on the street and sprinted between the houses to reach the back yard. Brick splintered around Randy’s head, and he cursed as he ducked beneath the barrage.

  Upon reaching the back corner of the house, Randy turned and poked his head around the edge. The three soldiers were coming at a dead sprint with their guards down. They were forty yards off, but he reached around the corner and fired off three rounds from his pistol. The two male soldiers dove to the ground while the woman ducked and crashed to her knees.

  Randy turned and ran. Tricia and Jenny stood on the other side of the yard, waiting for him. When he caught up, they plunged into the woods and sprinted through the sparse undergrowth, weaving between the trees. A clear patch of daylight beckoned them from the other side.

  Bullets zipped through the green, snapping off tree bark and sending leaves spinning through the air. Jenny had already outdistanced them and approached the other side of the woods.

  Tricia wasn’t so fast. Still, he wouldn’t allow himself to overtake her. She’d likely call him a fool, but he’d take the bullet before she would.

  The soldiers must have spread out to get a wider angle, because a shot zipped by Randy and hit Tricia with a sick thwack sound.

  “Ah!” Tricia grabbed the back of her leg. She remained on her feet and kept going, dragging her wounded leg behind her.

  Randy caught up with her and turned her toward one of the larger trees where they both took cover. Once safe, Tricia fell to her knees and grasped her hamstring, screaming behind her visor.

  Jenny stopped at the edge of the woods and turned at the wounded woman’s cry. She saw Tricia and Randy taking cover, so she leapt behind the next tree over.

  “We need to make a stand here,” Randy shouted, leaning around the tree and picking out one soldier approaching through the brush. He straightened his arm and took a shot, causing the soldier to duck down.

  Wordlessly, Tricia crawled to the tree and peered through the low foliage, picking out a target and popping off two rounds. Jenny hefted her rifle and edged around her tree trunk, squeezing off two rounds in the general direction of the soldiers. The soldiers dropped into cover.

  His sister had never fired a military-style rifle before, and Randy had only once or twice. Tricia must have given Jenny a thirty second training session to make her functional. Still, he couldn’t imagine she’d be too accurate. The odds were stacked against them with their only soldier down.

  “Conserve ammo!” Tricia yelled at Jenny. “I’ve only got two more magazines.”

  Jenny nodded and pulled herself back behind the trees, while Ra
ndy knelt down next to Tricia.

  “How’s your leg?”

  Her face was a grimace, her voice hoarse with pain. “Direct hit. I’m not moving.”

  Randy cursed under his breath and glanced up through the sticker bushes and fallen tree branches to pick out a target. He couldn’t see anyone through the brush.

  “I’m not a soldier, Tricia,” he said, leaning his shoulder against the tree. “What are they going to do?”

  “They’ll try to flank us.” Tricia’s voice strained to the breaking point. She gestured to the right and left. “You know, get around to the sides.”

  “Right,” Randy said, though he didn’t know what they could do to stop them. “Stay here.” He jumped over to the next tree where Jenny was leaning with her back against the rough bark. Randy put his visor against hers. “They’ll try to flank us. Keep an eye out.”

  Jenny nodded as he turned to the left, peering down the middle of the firing zone.

  Bullets flew in their direction and ricocheted off the tree trunks. They responded sparingly just to keep their attackers at bay.

  Randy glanced over where Tricia had gotten up on her left knee and was firing ahead of them but a little toward the outside. After another few rounds, it became clear to him that Odom’s soldiers were trying to do what Tricia said they would—outflank them and pick them apart.

  Clenching his teeth, Randy wondered if the soldiers had kept one behind to guard the middle? What if he surprised them by charging ahead and taking them out?

  “Cover me,” Randy hissed.

  “What?” Tricia turned on her shoulder and glanced back. “Wait! Randy. Stop!”

  He put his head down and started forward through the brush, crouch-walking to stay low. Tricia and Jenny let loose with a brief volley, followed by several spaced-out shots to keep the soldiers busy.

  There was a wide tree ahead, and he suspected a soldier hid behind it. Eyes straining to spot them, he angled to his right, aiming his rifle barrel from one side of the tree to the next, expecting the soldier to show themselves at any moment.

  Someone shouted, and a bullet zipped by his head, and another smacked a tree two feet away, sending bark and mold flying. Randy kept moving, intent on surprising his target. Just when he thought he might have been wrong, a woman leaned around the tree and raised her pistol.