Cody looked at Crazy Diamond. She lifted her pistol, the barrel pointing at the sky. She gave him a quick nod.
“I hope Nick’s a fast runner,” she said.
“Me too,” Cody said.
Footsteps crunched over the snow. Coming closer.
Cody took a deep breath. He clamped his fingers around the Glock’s rubber grip and looked at Crazy Diamond. Then slowly, he mouthed the words:
“One. Two…”
They started shooting on two.
Chapter Twelve
Cody and Crazy Diamond fired into the ragtags but their attack didn’t last long.
Mackenzie walked through their shots, his black eye gleaming and a grotesque grin etched on his face. About twelve ragtag came up behind him, returning fire with reckless abandon.
“Shit!” Cody said.
He pulled Crazy Diamond back down and they took cover behind the vehicle.
“What are you doing?” Crazy Diamond said, looking at him in surprise.
Cody shook his head. “I can’t die here. Rachel’s out there and she needs me.”
“That’s why we’re fighting back,” Crazy Diamond said. There was a fierce look in her eyes. “We’re dead if they catch up with us. Remember?”
Cody’s head fell against the back of the pickup. Sometimes he was amazed at how mature Crazy Diamond came off, especially for a young woman barely in her twenties. He should have been the one telling her to get up and fight. And she was right – of course she was. Either way, the ragtags and their boss were going to kill them. Worst-case scenario – even if they couldn’t take Mackenzie out they could at least take out some of his men.
“Ready?” Crazy Diamond said. “Take two.”
Cody nodded.
They jumped back to their feet, firing a volley of bullets into the ragtags.
Mackenzie didn’t flinch. His mangled features stared back at Cody with a look of calm loathing.
Crazy Diamond stepped out from behind the truck. Cody gave her a look that said she was crazy but he didn’t hesitate to go out with her. There might as well have been a piece of rope tied around their waists, joining them together.
Cody concentrated on his aim. He took out two ragtags with two shots. Crazy Diamond hit one square in the forehead. As they walked forwards, moving past the other cars, Cody could hear the ragtags’ bullets pinging off the stray vehicles, smashing through windshields.
After a few seconds, Cody dropped to his knee and kept shooting. He took out a skinny teenager who dropped to the ground, wriggling in agony with his long, bony hands pressed to his stomach.
Mackenzie realized that his men were dropping like flies. He looked at Cody and Crazy Diamond and came charging towards them.
Now Cody pointed his pistol at the man in the black cloak. But before he could squeeze the trigger he heard Crazy Diamond let out a high-pitched shriek beside him. Her pistol dropped out of her hands and as Cody looked to his left, he saw her reach for her right shoulder.
Mackenzie halted his approach. He smiled and there was a cruel glint in his eye – it looked like he wanted to relish the moment.
Crazy Diamond grasped for her fallen pistol at her feet. But it was Cody who kneeled down and grabbed it and with a barrage of gunshots whizzing past his ear, he dragged Crazy Diamond back behind the pickup.
They were both breathing heavy, like they’d just tackled the hundred-meter sprint. Crazy Diamond was screwing up her face in pain.
“Damn it,” she hissed.
The ragtags’ gunfire stopped. The car park was dead silent again.
“I gave you every chance I could,” Mackenzie said. He sounded like he was still standing in the middle of the car park. “Time’s up. We’ll find the girl ourselves and I want you to know this Cody – when I hand her over to the Exterminators she’ll be screaming your name. How does that make you feel?”
Cody looked at Crazy Diamond, doing his best to ignore the bait. She gritted her teeth, her hand still pressed tight up against the wound. He unzipped her parka and saw a bloody patch seeping through her sweater.
“Keep the pressure on it,” Cody said. “It’s not as bad as it looks.”
“Give me my gun Cody,” Crazy Diamond said. “We’re not done with these bastards.”
“I’ll fight,” Cody said. “You stay here. You’re in no shape to…”
“We’ll both fight,” she said.
What choice did they have? At the very least they could die on their own terms.
Cody picked up Crazy Diamond’s gun and put it in her hand. Crazy Diamond winced as she wrapped her bloody fingers around the handle.
They looked at one another and exchanged tense smiles.
“Been nice knowing you,” Crazy Diamond said. The fierce glint in her eye was still there. Cody had a feeling she was actually looking forward to getting back out there.
“You too,” Cody said.
“Screw the count,” Crazy Diamond said. “Let’s just do it.”
They jumped to their feet.
Mackenzie and the ragtags were barely ten feet from the pickup truck. The ragtags had their weapons trained on Cody and Crazy Diamond, who in turn had their pistols locked onto Mackenzie and his followers.
Cody’s finger caressed the trigger but something made him stop squeezing.
It made everyone stop.
A noise.
It was the sound of the cavalry trumpet riding in from afar. Only in this context, the trumpet was replaced by the triumphant roar of a large Sprinter van engine being pushed to breaking point.
The silver van shrieked as the tires skidded around the corner. In the blink of an eye, it came racing down West Travis Street at a fierce speed. The bright headlights charged closer. The van was heading for the car park and in particular at Mackenzie and the ragtags, all of who’d moved back towards the road to see what the sudden noise was.
Nick Norton poked his head out of the driver’s side window. There was a massive grin on his face as he extended his middle finger towards Mackenzie.
“DIE MOTHERFUCKER!”
The ragtags scattered when they realized the van was coming straight at them. Mackenzie did no such thing. He faced the Sprinter head on. He stood tall and spread his arms out wide, as if challenging Nick to go through him.
Nick was only too happy to oblige.
Cody and Crazy Diamond watched as the Sprinter crashed into Mackenzie. There was a brutal thud and the hood of Mackenzie’s cloak was flung backwards behind his head. But Mackenzie didn’t go down. His arms grabbed a hold of the van’s hood and his boots clamped down onto the slippery surface of the road. The van pushed him backwards while a geyser of black snow sprayed up at his feet. For a moment, Nick had turned Mackenzie into a human snowplow.
The van bullied its way forward while Mackenzie resisted with his unnatural strength. It was a high-speed duel. Both men were staring at one another through the windshield, daring the other to crack first.
Neither man did. It was the van that gave way first.
Mackenzie, perhaps sensing that the tide was turning, dug his heels in deeper. His long cloak flew backwards and his face twisted in agony as he tried to force the van to slow down.
The tires shrieked and scraped off the road.
The van was losing speed fast.
Cody heard Nick pounding on the steering wheel like it was a tiring racehorse slowing near the finish line. But Mackenzie was too strong, even for the likes of a huge Sprinter van. It slowed to a painful stop and Mackenzie took his arms off the hood. He staggered back a couple of steps and Cody saw a trail of smoke rising up off his feet.
Mackenzie stood in front of the van. His eyes closed and his index finger touched his forehead. His face creased up in concentration.
Seconds later, there was a loud hissing noise.
Cody and Crazy Diamond looked to their left and saw a massive ball of white light, about the size of a house, rolling down the street at a hundred miles per hour. There was a whooshing
noise as it stormed past the car park, closing in on the back of the Sprinter van that was sitting stationary in the middle of the road.
“Nick!” Cody yelled. “Get out of the…”
Too late. The ball of light crashed into the back of the van and went through it like a bowling ball slamming into a wooden pin. There was a sick, crunching noise and Cody and Crazy Diamond watched horrified as the Sprinter was lifted clean off the ground. It flew over Mackenzie’s head in a somersault, hanging in the air for a few seconds before it crashed onto the road fifty feet from where it had started. The van flipped over upon impact, tipping onto its back and sliding forwards until it came to a stop.
Cody felt his heart pounding. He opened his mouth to yell but there was nothing. Shock had taken the words.
“Nick,” Crazy Diamond said. Her hand was clamped over her mouth.
Mackenzie walked back towards the car park. His hood was still down, revealing his horrifically scarred face. He strode in silence, looking at the ground as if lost in deep thought.
The ragtags were regrouping in the middle of the street. Some of them were staring at their boss in awe with worshipping eyes. Others stared at the upturned van. Cody could barely see much of their faces since the hoods of their coats were always up. There was only the occasional glimpse of a young, eager pair of eyes poking out from behind the wall of a winter balaclava.
Mackenzie stopped at the edge of the car park. He touched the red skin on his cheek and pulled his fingers back quickly like there was electricity in his fingers. Cody saw a trickle of blood running from one of the long scars on his face.
“Tell me where I can find Rachel,” Mackenzie said, turning to Cody. He pointed to Crazy Diamond’s bloodstained coat. “That wound of yours, I doubt it’s fatal. Tell me where Rachel is and I’ll let the woman live.”
Cody looked at Crazy Diamond. She didn’t waste any time in letting him know what she thought.
“You’ll let me live?” Crazy Diamond said, speaking loud enough for everyone to hear. Her cheeks were damp with fresh tears. Tears of grief, tears of rage. “Well that’s mighty big of you Mackenzie. Do you remember what I told you after you killed Richards? I said I was going to kill you. It’s not in your best interest to let me live.”
Mackenzie pulled his hood back over his head.
“As you wish,” he said.
He turned around to face the ragtags.
“Kill them both,” he said.
Mackenzie walked away from the car park. The ragtags on the other hand, walked over with their weapons raised and locked onto Cody and Crazy Diamond.
Cody glanced at the upturned van in the distance. He’d lost Rachel, probably for good. His best friend was lying dead or dying further up the street. Thinking about it, there was only one thing left to do.
He looked at Crazy Diamond. She was already nodding her answer to the silent question.
“Yeah,” she said.
Cody dropped onto his stomach. In a flash, he pointed the Glock at the ragtags while Crazy Diamond dove down and did the same. She yelped with pain as she used her wounded shoulder to regain balance on the ground.
They fired their pistols into the crowd, dropping a couple of ragtags. But Mackenzie’s troops didn’t lose their cool – they marched forward with their guns pointing into the car park.
Cody knew that he was almost out of ammo. Wouldn’t be long now. He heard Crazy Diamond scream with frustration when she realized that her gun was empty. There was no time to reload, not in the middle of this shitstorm. As a last act of defiance, she threw her pistol at the ragtags.
Cody’s Glock clicked next.
Empty.
“Shit,” he said.
The ragtags rushed forward and swarmed all over them.
Cody felt himself being lifted off the ground by several pairs of rough hands. Two men dragged him towards the road while several others pulled Crazy Diamond back into the car park. She was trying to fight them off but as well as being wounded, she was hopelessly outnumbered.
Cody caught a glimpse of Mackenzie, standing on the other side of the road. He was a solitary figure, staring into space. Perhaps this was how he’d planned to get the information out of Cody all along. Mackenzie must have known he was more likely to get them to spill the truth after a prolonged dose of torture.
“I thought you were going to kill us,” Cody yelled across the street.
Mackenzie didn’t look at him.
Cody’s reward for opening his mouth was a fist in the stomach.
He wheezed and doubled over in pain. From nearby, he heard Crazy Diamond snarling and screaming as the men dragged her over to one of the cars. A clicking noise. The back door of a Honda was pulled open. Crazy Diamond’s feet scraped along the ground as she went, fighting for a solid grip.
“She’s real pretty this one,” a muffled voice said, drooling with excitement from behind a balaclava. “Time for a little reward, right boys?”
“Jesus it’s been so long,” another ragtag said. “I’m so horny I could burst.”
“Who are you kidding?” said another. “You’re a virgin, don’t pretend like it’s been long when it’s been forever.”
“Fuck you Mike. I ain’t no…”
“Just hold her down for God’s sake. Everyone gets a turn.”
“Hey!” Cody yelled. He was being held back by one of the big ragtags. The man was holding onto Cody’s collar like he was restraining a dog on a leash.
“She’s hurt,” Cody said. “Can’t you see that? Leave her alone you fucking bastards!”
One of the hooded men looked back at Cody. “She ain’t hurt down there,” he said, pointing to Crazy Diamond’s groin. “That’s all that matters to me.”
They laughed. It was maniacal playground laughter.
“Hey that guy was a movie star!” one of the ragtags said, pointing a finger at Cody. “Why don’t we have a go at him as well? It’s something to brag about later ain’t it? Fucking a celebrity and all.”
“Yeah,” another voice said. “He’s still kinda pretty too. I’ll do the honors first, huh? Break him in for y’all. Hey Curly, knock some of the fight out of that boy will ya? A bloody nose always put me in the right mood for a little romance.”
The one called Curly threw a series of hard punches at Cody to soften him up. Most of the ragtags however, were gathering by the car where Crazy Diamond was being pinned down on the backseat. She was still fighting, kicking at her assailants, but she was slowing down, running out of steam fast.
“Get off her!” Cody yelled.
Curly responded with a swift kick to the groin.
Cody doubled over again, his head hanging down. Crazy Diamond’s screams rang in his ear but they were far away now. Cody was swimming in the void – he saw brief glimpses of familiar faces in his mind, flashing by like it was another one of the Exterminators’ hallucinations. He saw Rachel, Nick, Marv, Crazy Diamond, Rita and Lance. They were all smiling and waving at him. Without speaking, they were telling Cody to let go. To just roll over and die.
The pain began to dull. But Cody knew that Curly was still hitting him because of the dull jolt he felt with each fresh blow.
Whack.
He fell forward, dropping onto the black snow. His palms were flat against the ground, the only thing stopping him from tipping over. They’d stopped hitting him all of a sudden. But why?
Cody looked up, groaning in agony. The world was a grainy blur, spinning faster than it normally would. He sucked in a lungful of air. At least the pain had spread out, distracting him from the headache he’d acquired on the roof. Now everything hurt.
A few ragtags were still standing over him. The others were lined up at the car but they weren’t paying any attention to Crazy Diamond anymore.
They were looking at something else.
Cody turned his head to see what had interrupted the attack. His neck made a clicking noise as he looked to the left.
There was something on the road. Two s
lit-shaped headlights were cruising up North Flores Street in slow motion.
Cody wiped a dribble of warm blood off his chin. He leaned forward slightly, ignoring an explosion of pain in his stomach.
His heart sank.
It was the school bus.
“No,” he said, spitting out a puddle of blood.
It had to be reinforcements arriving on the scene. Not that Mackenzie needed any – the ragtags might have taken some losses but they were well in control of the situation now. The school bus was just another nail in the coffin of the Resistance, the New Resistance, or whatever Cody and his group were called.
What did it matter? Cody felt his last reserves of hope being trampled upon. Surely this was the end.
Except something strange was happening. The ragtags, rather than being overjoyed, looked troubled by the arrival of the school bus. Casting their eyes over in that direction, Cody thought they looked like they’d seen a ghost.
It was the same with Mackenzie. He was standing tall, tense and alert.
The bus was sitting stationary, its engine purring quietly. Cody noticed that a cloud of colored mist had come down and was now lingering near the vehicle. As he sat up on the snow, more light appeared, coming from all directions and drifting towards the bus at a steady, cautious pace.
Cody’s Glock was lying nearby on the snow. It wasn’t that far. If he could just get his hands on it…
He saw Crazy Diamond sitting up in the backseat of the car. Fortunately she looked intact if a little dazed – the ragtags hadn’t gotten much further than pulling open the zip of her parka. There was a bewildered look on her face.
Mackenzie signaled to the ragtags by clicking his fingers.
“Over here,” he said.
They hurried over to their boss’s side like well-trained puppies. At the same time, Cody heard the swift whooshing of the bus doors opening from afar. He climbed back to his feet, reenergized by curiosity, wincing at the countless aches and pains all competing for attention around his body.
The Exterminators Trilogy: A Post-Apocalyptic Thriller Box Set Page 41
