by Sam Sisavath
There was a second man in a hazmat suit standing near the back of the tent, his gas mask clipped to his hip. His label read “Williams.” He looked bored and was staring down at an old copy of Playboy.
Nate was shirtless and lying on a cot in front of a woman in a white doctor’s coat. Fresh gauze was wrapped almost entirely over the left side of his body, all the way down to his elbow, as if someone were getting ready to turn him into a mummy. He looked cleaned up, but that wasn’t hard to do; the last time Will had seen him, Nate had been covered in blood and dirt.
Nate opened his eyes when he heard them coming in. He might not have recognized Will with the gas mask on, but he didn’t have that problem with Gaby.
The doctor was putting her supplies into a small bag as she stood up. Will knew who she was before she even turned around.
“How is he?” Josh asked.
“He’ll live,” Zoe said. Then she looked over at Will, standing behind Josh, and smiled a bit. “Hey.”
Will nodded back at her. “Doc.”
“You got my list?” Zoe asked Josh.
“What list?” Josh said.
She looked irritated. “I gave Givens the list of everyone going on the transport tomorrow. I also told him about the problem with the trucks getting too hot during the trip.”
Josh glanced briefly at Will, then back to Zoe and nodded. “Oh, that. He told me.”
“So?” Zoe said.
“So what?”
“The transport arrangements. You’ll change it for tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I’ll do that.”
“Good.” She looked back over at Will. “Seriously, Givens, you must really like that gas mask. I haven’t seen you without it all day.”
“Yeah,” Will said.
Dammit, Will thought when he saw Williams looking up from the Playboy at the mention of Givens’s name. The man’s eyes zeroed in on Will’s face.
“Givens?” Williams said. “Bullshit. You’re not—”
Will drew his Glock and shot Williams in the chest. A thin bullet hole appeared in the suit as Williams collapsed, all the blood captured inside the fabric as if it were a vacuum.
Gaby quickly scrambled forward and snatched up Williams’s rifle, while Will spun around just as Henry, the other hazmat-suited guard, pushed his way into the tent.
“What the hell’s going on?” Henry said.
Will shot him in the head.
Zoe stumbled backward, shocked, eyes darting from Josh to Will to Henry’s body on the grass floor. She bumped into Gaby, who pulled out Williams’s handgun—a 9mm Beretta—and handed it to Nate.
Nate sat up on the small cot with a grunt and reached for a shirt that looked about a size too big hanging from a hook nearby. He pulled it on with his one good hand, until Gaby hurried over and helped him into the sleeves. Nate grimaced with pain the whole time, but tried not to show it. It was a losing battle, though, and he looked worse than some of the walking wounded Will had seen from his time in Afghanistan.
Josh whirled on Will, his face red with anger. “Why did you do that? You shouldn’t have done that!”
There was already a commotion outside the tent. He heard heavy footsteps, and men’s voices shouting for people to get out of their way.
Will pulled off the gas mask and looked past Josh’s and Zoe’s horrified faces at Nate, as Gaby struggled to do the bottom two buttons on his shirt. “Can you walk?”
Nate nodded grimly. “I can walk.”
Will looked back at Josh and Zoe. “The two of you are coming with us.”
“What?” Zoe said. “Just go!”
“Sorry, doc, but we need hostages.” He focused on Josh. “And I get the feeling Kate made it very clear to everyone that you’re her golden boy. Am I right?”
Josh said nothing.
“Gaby, Nate,” Will said.
He didn’t have to tell them the rest. Nate, still leaning against Gaby for support, positioned himself behind Zoe, while Gaby pulled Josh in front of her, standing the two hostages between them and the tent entrance, as the sound of running feet got louder as they drew nearer.
Will slipped out his cross-knife and moved toward the back of the tent. He shoved the knife into the fabric and sliced it across, then down, before pulling the flap aside to reveal the blue color of the bigger tent directly behind it.
“What’s going on in there?” a voice shouted from the front of the tent. “Josh? Doctor Zoe? You both still in there?”
“Answer him,” Gaby said. She was calm, but there was an edge to her voice.
“Doctor Zoe and I are being held hostage!” Josh shouted back.
“By who?” the voice asked.
“Doesn’t matter,” Gaby said.
“Doesn’t matter!” Josh shouted.
“Williams? Henry?” the voice asked.
“Dead!”
While they were exchanging questions and answers, Will had slashed his way across the back of the tent, then continued through the blue fabric behind it. He sliced from top to bottom, then side to side, before peeling it back to reveal open air and the frightened faces of civilians staring back at him. They immediately began running away, except for a couple of boys eating apples who stopped to gawk, until older people dragged them away, too.
“Stay back or we’ll kill them!” Gaby shouted behind him.
He went through the makeshift “door” first. “Gaby, Nate…”
Josh and Zoe followed him out, with Gaby and Nate closely behind them. Nate was essentially working with one good arm, his left hanging uselessly at his side.
“You going to die on me, Nate?” Will asked.
Nate gave him a forced grin, then wiped at a thick bead of sweat along his temple. “I’m good. They gave me some great pills back there, and the doc was nice enough to sew me back up.”
Will nodded. He didn’t believe a single word of it, but if he could walk… “Gaby, take Josh up front. Nate stays in the middle. Hold on to my rifle and lead me and the good doctor.”
Gaby grabbed Josh by the arm and led him forward. Will could see the hurt expression on the kid’s face as he silently obeyed. Gaby seemed to be moving on automatic pilot, like some kind of unfeeling automaton. He knew better, of course. She had simply shifted into what he called War Mode. He and Danny did it all the time during combat. It was easier to compartmentalize the superfluous and concentrate on the matter at hand—survival. Gaby was far from ruthless and emotionless at the moment, but she was putting on a good front.
That’s my soldier.
Will was backpedaling with Zoe in front of him, which made walking difficult. He made sure to keep a firm grasp on her arm so she didn’t stumble, and when she did, he was there to keep her upright—at least, for the most part.
Will didn’t think the “don’t come in or we’ll kill them” threat was going to last very long, and it didn’t. They hadn’t gone more than twenty meters through the camp before he saw the first hazmat suit poking his head out from the slashed tent flaps in front of him.
Zoe gasped at the sight of the man emerging out of the tent in pursuit, perhaps expecting everything to suddenly devolve into gunfire with her caught in the middle. He didn’t blame her. She was probably close to being right.
“Relax,” Will said.
“Relax?” she said, almost shouting the word out. “Go to hell, Givens!”
Yeah, Givens, to go hell.
When more hazmat suits started emerging out of the tent flaps, Will fired a shot into the ground in front of the first man. He quickly retreated, tangling up with the man trying to come through behind him. It was almost comical. They disappeared back into the tent, but he didn’t think that was going to last for very long, either.
“Where are we going?” Gaby shouted from behind him.
He couldn’t see Gaby or the direction she was heading. He only knew when to go straight, to turn left or right when Nate tugged on his M4A1, as if he were a seeing eye dog leading his blind master. It was a crud
e form of stacking, but there were no other ways for him to keep an eye behind them while still moving the entire time.
“One of the vehicles outside the fence,” Will said.
“Where are the keys?” Gaby asked. The question wasn’t directed at him.
“In the cars,” Josh said.
“You leave the keys in the cars?”
“No one’s going to steal them. I told you, they want to stay here. Why can’t you understand that?”
“Less chatter, more walking,” Will said.
They began moving faster through the camp, and Will struggled to keep Zoe upright in front of him. He wasn’t sure if she was moving slowly on purpose, or if she was just terrified and her legs were locking up under her.
People were scrambling out of their path, and by now the hazmat suits had emerged out of the blue tent, with more appearing along their flanks. He didn’t have a clue what they were doing; he only knew that they weren’t shooting, which confirmed his belief that Kate had made it perfectly clear Josh was her avatar in the daylight.
An eighteen-year-old kid, Kate? You could have done better.
He fired a shot into the air and the hazmat suits darted for cover.
Temporarily, anyway.
Soon they were back out and following them again.
Will pulled Zoe tighter against him, heard her grunt a bit.
“Gaby, how we doing?” Will shouted.
“Almost there!” she shouted back.
More men in hazmat suits were converging on them now. He counted a total of ten, then eleven—and those were just the ones he could see trailing them and moving in on his left and right. He glimpsed a man taking careful aim with a bolt-action rifle.
Will shifted Zoe over so she was directly between him and the would-be shooter. “Sorry, doc.”
“What?” she said, even more alarmed than she already was.
The man with the rifle pulled his eye away from the scope and lowered his weapon slightly, though not completely.
“Gaby, give me a sitrep!” Will shouted.
“Gate!” she shouted back.
Nate tugged on the M4A1 and Will moved right and found himself backpedaling through one of the unlocked gates. He risked a quick glance over his shoulder at a row of vehicles—the five-ton transports, Jeeps, and too many trucks to count. The ground under the vehicles was wet, and mud clung to the undercarriages, especially those of the five-tons.
He felt Nate let go of the rifle. Will waited at the gate, his gun pressed into the side of Zoe’s neck where it had been for the last few minutes during their trek through the camp. The hazmat suits had gathered in front of them now, spreading out along the other side of the fence. They weren’t engaging in anything resembling tactical maneuvers that he could see, but they looked fidgety and anxious, which was never a good sign with people armed with assault rifles.
Now or never…
“Will!” Gaby shouted behind him. “You coming or what?”
Will slipped his head behind Zoe’s, then looked back at the others. Nate was behind the wheel of a white Ford F-150 and Gaby was pushing Josh into the backseats.
“Come on, doc,” Will said, dragging her toward the open front passenger side door.
The men in hazmat suits looked conflicted, unsure whether to follow, shoot, or let them go. He could see them exchanging looks, talking to each other. A lot of head shaking, a couple of the men trying to take control, but most of them looking unsure.
Thank God for amateurs.
“Jesus, you’re trying to get me killed,” Zoe said, gasping against him.
“Let’s hope that doesn’t happen,” he said.
Will finally reached the truck. He glanced in at Nate, settling in behind the steering wheel. “You good?”
“Good enough,” Nate said.
“In you go, doc.”
Will shoved her into the open back door with Gaby and Josh, slammed the door closed, then dived into the front seat.
Almost instantly, he heard rifle fire and the front windshield spiderwebbed as Nate slammed his foot down on the gas. The F-150 skidded, fighting for purchase against the muddy ground.
It finally got enough traction to back up, Nate spinning the wheel as if he were some Hollywood stunt driver. Will had absolutely no idea how the kid managed it with just one good arm.
Then they were moving forward, slashing along the hurricane fencing to their left, men in hazmat suits running and firing after them. He heard the ping ping ping! of bullets going into the sides of the vehicle. Then Nate slammed down on the brake and spun the steering wheel again, and they were suddenly back on the dirt road with trees everywhere.
Will turned around and looked into the backseat, at a horrified Zoe sitting behind him in the middle. Josh sat against the window to Zoe’s left, while Gaby caught her breath to the doctor’s right. Gaby had her Glock in her lap, aimed at Zoe and Josh.
“We good?” Will asked.
Gaby nodded. “No bullet holes.”
Will looked over at Josh, but the kid’s face was turned against the window. “Josh—”
Before Will could finish, Josh jerked on the door handle, flinging open the door and disappearing outside in a rush of wind. Gaby screamed his name and Nate slammed on the brakes. The F-150 skidded to a reckless, sliding stop.
“Holy shit,” Nate said. “Did he just jump out of a moving car?”
Will threw his door open and climbed out. Josh was picking himself up from the road thirty meters back. He looked to be in one piece, but was cradling his left arm. Josh stared back at him, almost daring Will to come get him.
Kid’s got balls.
“Should we go back?” Nate asked, leaning over the front seats.
Will shook his head and climbed back into the truck. “Let’s go.”
Nate put the truck back in gear and stepped on the gas. As they shot up the road, Will looked at his side mirror and saw two trucks, men in hazmat suits mounted on the backs, appear behind Josh. They slowed down when they saw him, and he calmly, almost leisurely, walked over to one of the vehicles.
Then Nate made a turn and Will couldn’t see them anymore. Will thought about telling the kid to slow down, but he seemed to be handling both the truck and his own pain well enough.
He looked back at Gaby instead, saw the unasked question in her eyes. “He’s alive,” Will said. “Hurt, but alive.”
“Are they chasing us?” she asked.
“I don’t think so.”
“Why aren’t they?” Nate said.
“Maybe he doesn’t think there’s a point.”
“Who? The kid?”
“Yeah,” Will said. “The kid.”
“Nate shouldn’t be driving,” Gaby said.
“I’m fine,” Nate said.
“The hell you are. You could barely walk an hour ago.”
“That was an hour ago. The doc gave me some really good pills back there. Right, doc?”
Zoe didn’t answer. She stared forward in silence, looking dazed.
“Anyway, I’ll let you know when I can’t drive anymore,” Nate continued. “But I’m good for now.”
Will turned his attention to Zoe. “You okay, doc? Any bullet holes?”
She seemed to remember where she was and glared back at him, just before lunging forward and slapping him across the face with surprising speed. Gaby grabbed her and pulled her back, but Zoe never took her eyes away from him. If she could, he imagined she would drill lasers through his eyeballs.
“Go to hell, Givens,” Zoe said.
“My name’s not Givens,” Will said.
“You can still go to hell, whatever your name is.”
Will sat back in his seat, trying to shake off the stinging in his cheek. She was a hell of a lot stronger than she looked.
“That was fun,” Nate said, grinningly crookedly at him. “Let’s not do it again anytime soon, huh?”
CHAPTER 27
GABY
About ten minutes after they e
xited Sandwhite Wildlife State Park, Will pulled off the hazmat suit and got behind the wheel of the Ford F-150. In the backseat, Zoe cleaned up Nate’s open shoulder wound—which had begun bleeding again—and applied a fresh bandage, tossing the blood-soaked one out the window.
Gaby had been reluctant to let Zoe even touch Nate, but she finally relented when the older woman gave her a firm look and said, “I know you don’t trust me, but I’m a doctor, and I’m not going to let your friend bleed to death if I can help it.”
Zoe kept her promise, cleaning Nate’s wound, then dressing it back up with the supplies from Will’s pack. When she was done, they propped Nate up between them so he could lean his head against Gaby’s shoulder. She slipped an arm around his waist just to make sure he didn’t fall down.
When they finally reached the town of Harvest, Gaby half expected to see Harris, Kellerson’s sniper, lying in wait for them again. She listened for gunshots that never came.
Will pulled off the main highway and drove west along the small streets for about thirty minutes, heading deeper and deeper into the main center of town where they could become lost among the buildings. He finally stopped, then guided the truck toward a two-door auto body garage called Fredo’s. They drove past a sign featuring a cartoon character holding a wrench, and the promise of “Mechanic on Duty.” Fredo’s was squeezed in between a combination Phillips 66 gas station and Burger King, and an empty building with a “For Rent” sign in the window.
Will parked the F-150 and climbed out with his rifle. He entered the office next to the garage, then came out of a side door and went around the back. Gaby waited with Zoe, still holding the Glock she had taken from Josh, just in case.
“He called you Gaby?” Zoe said.
“Yeah, that’s my name.”
“I figured that.”
“So why’d you ask?”
“I’m just trying to be friendly.”
“You can stop now.”
The older woman sighed. “When are you going to let me go?”
