She punched the air bag trying to smother her and reached to restart the engine, but nothing happened. It didn’t even whimper.
She hit the air bag again. She turned the key in the ignition once more, to no effect. She shook her head, realizing she had to get away before she was found. Thankfully she’d had MacTierney move the rifles and other gear to the second vehicle. She had no baggage to slow her down.
Kat had everything she needed on her—including the nine-millimeter she carried in her shoulder holster. Then she remembered the night vision goggles. She reached down, but they were no longer on the seat where she’d left them.
Unfastening her seatbelt and pushing the door open, she thanked God those at least still worked—then she leaned over and reached her hand down to scrabble along the floor until she found the goggles where they had landed. Broken.
Dismissing the goggles, Kat slid out of the cab, dropping down onto the ground outside. The headlights of the jeep were still shining out into the black night, one high-beam past either side of the inconvenient tree she’d collided with. The battery would run down in time.
Though when she walked around to the front of the vehicle, neither it nor the tree looked the worse for wear. Apparently she’d borne the brunt of the impact. And now she was on foot.
She walked away from the wreck, taking it slow in the dark. Her pursuers would be able to find the immobile vehicle without trouble, and she couldn’t outrun them. And if she tried to make it to the compound, she’d probably be overtaken before she got all the way to the main gate—which would be bad. Better if she could find a good place to hide. That reminds me.
Kat turned her wrist over and rubbed the skin to see the time. By now she must’ve given MacTierney and the others the opportunity they needed to make it safely through the north gate. She had certainly provided them with enough of a distraction.
Now she needed to focus on her own safety—but even if she’d still had her night vision goggles, she doubted she’d be able to find sufficient cover in this forest. Not with dozens on either side searching for her. But I can elude them for a while.
She considered again the idea of trying to get to the main gate. But even if she got there first, in trying to get through she might give the enemy an opportunity to get in. It might be alright if Tony had gotten her message—depending on what action he’d taken as a result of her information. Not being sure though, she couldn’t risk the safety of the community. I’ll have to take care of myself.
Of course, she hadn’t known about the amassed forces of the law that had been waiting. He couldn’t know about them. And she couldn’t warn him now, not without her FURCS pad. Neither could he ping her location. Not that she would want him to risk his own life coming after her.
The sheriff’s deputies and the governor’s forces wouldn’t be that far behind—she’d tried not to stay too far ahead of them. So she decided to head east, toward the Aryans. They ought to be coming from that direction as they closed in on what they would suppose to be her location. Only now that tracker of theirs would lead them to the wreck she’d left behind—hopefully into a fight with the lawmen who’d be advancing on that same position from the other direction. I can hope.
The sky overhead flashed with brilliant light, as if it were day for a split second, and a heartbeat later a loud crack of thunder shook the earth. Then it was dark and quiet again.
Kat kept moving steadily to the east, listening for sounds of pursuit as she slipped along through a corridor of night. Minutes flew by as she walked on, hearing nothing but distant rumbles of thunder and the even more remote hum that could be vehicles—the enemy winding their way through the forest.
She stopped for a moment to think. Putting her hand out to a nearby tree trunk, she moved close to the tree to hide her silhouette. They could only follow her now by sight, though they could have infrared or enhanced imaging night vision such as she’d had. Mainly they would have to rely on where they thought she’d go. Which would be toward the main gate. That way lay safety and they knew it—so it was the one direction she couldn’t head in.
If the forces of the law found the remains of her encounter with the tree before running into the Aryans, they’d head toward the FURC, supposing that’s what she’d be doing. And once those white supremacists found their tracking device, they should make the same assumption and head for the main gate.
One way or another, the two groups of enemies should end up tangling with each other—and forget about her.
While they were occupied with each other, Kat would head in the opposite direction—south toward the ghost town with its warren of empty buildings—which should thwart any pursuit and offer her shelter until she could think of a way to safely return to the FURC. Though she could worry about that after she’d found a good place to wait out the storm. That was her new plan.
She started moving again—silently and without disturbing the ground as Tony had taught her. She wasn’t going to leave them a trail. Her hand drifted to the Glock at her shoulder, reminding her she still had that for protection.
So confident she must have felt, that her mind ran on ahead to start planning where in town she’d hide until her pursuers had given up. Then to think of ways she could get back to the compound. When the lights flashed ahead of her, a warning sounded in the back of her brain—telling her something was wrong.
It startled her to realize the flashing lights at the edge of her vision weren’t lightning. Slanting horizontal through the gaps in the trees, those were the beams from headlights. Searching for her.
She immediately understood her mistake in not thinking through what path the white supremacists would take as they tracked her vehicle. She’d imagined they’d come straight through the woods to try and head her off from the main gate. But they were not attempting to keep her away from the FURC.
They had always meant to drive her toward the compound, and since they wanted the gates opened for her, they had gone around the forest and come down the road leading to that main entrance. That now put them between Kat and the town.
The forces of the law must have arrived by now at the wreck she’d left behind—so they would stand between her and the main gates, hemming her in on both sides. She couldn’t avoid them both. So it was just a matter of which enemy she’d rather face.
The sheriff’s men might not shoot her on sight, but they would be more professional, more skilled than the Aryans. She would receive no quarter from that trash, but she had less to fear from their amateur antics. And she’d find more satisfaction taking out some of those white supremacist witlings.
So she continued to the south. She stayed away from the road, though—she’d stand a better chance with plenty of trees for cover. She followed the advance of those high-beams cutting across the dark and began to breathe easier. I can do this.
She could make her way through the lines of the enemy, taking out a handful of them as she went—and when she was on the other side she could keep going. Reach the town and leave the two sides still to clash with each other, hopefully. She just had to get through the enemy in front of her like a shadow, without their noticing. Until it was too late.
The wind picked up and she felt the chill blow, then drops of rain began to splatter against her. A cold wad hit her cheek. At least this weather would make it more difficult for her adversaries as well—except they had the shelter of their vehicles.
She was watching the progress of the headlights gliding toward her along the main road and almost missed the others—the smaller beams weaving back and forth along either side of the road. And as she grew closer, she could see they were on foot, combing the forest as they went. No doubt part of their attempt to drive her toward the compound. I’m not sure why they’re bothering. They can’t know I’m on foot.
Kat stopped in her tracks as a horrible possibility occurred to her. Though surely there was no way even the governor’s people would coordinate with these lawless hooligans. Certainly their local sher
iff would never go along with such a thing.
Though it would explain why they were searching for her on foot. If the governor’s forces had discovered the wreck of the jeep and then radioed that information ahead to the Aryans…
Her mind tried to shy away from that thought. If that were the case, if both enemies were working together, Kat didn’t have much hope. Still, she slid her weapon out of its holster and patted the pocket with the backup clip. She’d be alright. She’d just have to make effective use of each bullet.
She slowed her stride. She’d do better to pick her ground and her targets than to keep going only to cover more distance. Though moving helped her stay warm.
Another bright flash lit the sky, and the boom of thunder right after made her jump. But in the brief interval of light, she’d made out the shadowy forms of her adversaries advancing toward her.
After the image of the lightning had faded from her vision and her eyes had readjusted to the night, she saw again the flashlight beams playing through the trees. While she still had her own small torch at her belt, it would probably be of more use as a backup weapon than as a light source. If she ran out of bullets.
Kat held her gun low in both hands, fighting the temptation to find a target too early. She reached a wide oak and decided to wait for the enemy there—its thick trunk would be good cover while she made her shots.
Once she fired her first round, they would surely take cover themselves—so the longer she waited, the closer they’d get and the better odds she’d have of picking them off. Patience isn’t exactly my strong suit though.
Thinking that others might be coming up from behind her, she decided to try going through these ahead of her now—without waiting to see the whites of their eyes.
Kat wished she had a night sight on her Glock as she did on her rifle, but the flashlights they wielded gave her good targets. She took a moment to get her breathing calm and relaxed and then took aim at the nearest light source. Exhaling as she fired, she was gratified to hear a yelp and see the flashlight fall to the ground. She pivoted her aim straight to another target and fired again.
She’d managed to hit four of them before they’d realized they needed to switch off their lights. Now it would get tricky. They must’ve gotten a bead on where she’d been firing from. So she crouched low and ran from the protection of the tree, forward in a zigzag pattern toward another.
Bullets whizzed through the air. But it was impossible for her to tell how close any of those shots might’ve come, or from what positions. She hadn’t been hit, and that was what mattered.
When she reached the limited protection of another tree, she waited. And when the next flash of lightning illuminated the night, she was ready. She glanced around and imprinted a number of targets and their locations in her mind.
Ignoring the loud crack of thunder shaking the ground, her hands guided her gun to aim at the closest of those targets. When everything was still, she fired at the target as she remembered it.
Not waiting to find out if she’d hit, she immediately shifted her aim to another. She fired without hesitation, again and again, hoping her shots would go home before the targets could react. And when her memory faltered finding a new target, she was on the move—ahead and to the right where she had taken out a few of the enemy and hopefully created a hole. To go through, farther toward town.
Thunder boomed again, and it started to rain in stinging pellets. That was good—it would make her less visible. More lighting illuminated shadows out in the forest, but if she couldn’t tell one vague shape from another, they couldn’t recognize her.
A bright swath of light swept across her. Looking back, she saw the headlights of a truck shining through the trees and another truck turning off the road and into the woods. In her direction.
The first truck swerved around a tree, its high-beams putting Kat in a spotlight for a brief moment. She began to move faster, flitting from one tree to another—but she refused to run scared.
Just past another oak she stopped to catch her breath—she wouldn’t keep going while those bright lights were chasing her. So she waited there in the dark until she saw the high-beams swinging back in her direction. She steadied herself against the tree and set her sights—and when the lights hit her, she squeezed off two shots in rapid succession and took out both lamps. She’d have to tell Chief Cameron about that—it would make him jealous.
She had used two bullets on inanimate targets, but they hadn’t been wasted. Pleased, she allowed herself another few moments of rest—and then she was on the move again, more slowly this time as she had to be careful of her footing. The rain was making the ground slippery.
She kept her gun at the ready so she could take advantage of the next lightning strike, hoping that it would illuminate another adversary—instead of fry her. She was holding a metal weapon, but that was the least of her worries.
Two flashes of lightning later and she had fired four more rounds, though she couldn’t be sure how often she’d hit her target. And she was starting to get tired. Ejecting her spent clip, she pulled the replacement clip from her pocket and slammed it in. Now she was ready for more target practice.
Skirting around a large patch of mud, Kat tried to estimate how much farther she had to go before she reached the road that separated the FURC land from the town. Once she’d crossed that, she’d have her choice of places she could hide and shelter from the storm. But it could still be a long way away for all she knew.
She stopped for another long minute. She was so tired she almost missed the next lightning flash, but she did manage to get off two more shots. And take down one more enemy. She couldn’t continue to waste bullets like that.
Wiping her brow with a soggy sleeve, she started toward another tree—one tree at a time and she would get where she was going. Eventually.
Halfway to the next one though, she almost ran straight into one of her pursuers. Only the darkness of his hulk in front of her gave her enough warning to bring her weapon up in time to shoot him point blank. Or try to.
The gun clicked, and she had a moment of surprise hearing the sound of the empty chamber before she reacted. She punched the barrel of the gun into the face in front of her. She heard the sound of bones breaking, and he dropped to the ground in a heap. Kat darted around him to the nearest tree for cover. Sliding the clip out, she found it empty. Fish hook!
Someone had tampered with her ammunition, removing all but a couple bullets from her clip and leaving her a nasty surprise. But she didn’t have the time to dwell on it—she first had to deal with those enemies surrounding her.
Grabbing the flashlight from her belt, she held that in her left hand and the empty gun in her right and reviewed the tactical situation. She was vastly outnumbered. They had the superior weapons, but she had resources of her own. And a goal.
After several minutes of silence, the Aryans advancing on her must’ve guessed she was out of ammunition—they turned their flashlights back on to search for her. How helpful of them. That gave her the opportunity to survey the field and get a sense of how they were arrayed.
She still planned on going through them.
Looking for the thinnest section in that line of searchers, Kat carefully crept toward them—it took her several minutes to work her way close to a man on his own. Watching the beam of his flashlight as it played across the ground, she shifted the gun in her hand to hold it in her palm. And tried to estimate where his face would be.
She threw the gun spinning toward that space, not concerned if it actually struck its target—it was his flinch response she needed, to distract him. But she heard the crunch as it connected—right before she tackled his knees and sent him sprawling backward into the mud.
Leaping into a crouch, Kat tossed her flashlight into her right hand and advanced. He was trying to sit up when she crashed that fist, gripping the torch in it, right across his jaw. He grunted and fell back into the mud.
Still, his comrades might have noticed
his light falling and be heading this way. She flicked on her own torch for a brief survey of the man’s prostrated form, but the only weapon she saw was a knife secured on his belt. She didn’t have time to struggle getting that off him, or to search around in the mud for the gun he must’ve carried. She moved on.
The sound of a truck roared off to her left, and soon a new pair of high-beams was swerving in her direction—and flashlights were all around her. She had made her way through the front line. Now she had them to the sides and behind her as well as in front. Trying to get a bead on her location.
Her nerves told Kat to run, but she’d been too well trained to listen to that, and too stubborn. So she continued to make her way with care. The last thing she needed was to trip, or slip in the mud and fall. But it wasn’t long before a beam of light found her and a cry raised by one of her pursuers.
It didn’t matter. She’d soon break through the last line of men ahead of her to the other side—and then she’d find out how fast she could run after all that fighting. And suddenly she was moving out of the trees and into open space.
There was a little more light here. She quickly realized she’d come out of the forest into the small clearing between it and the road. Across that road and down the berm and she’d be in the town, close to the maze of buildings she needed to improve her odds. To change back from flight to fight.
There were only a few problems—the monster truck idling on the shoulder with a couple of thugs with rifles standing up in the back, watching. That was one. The men just coming up behind her from the forest were another.
They’d driven her into this trap even if it made no sense—they should have wanted her trying to get into the compound. So they’d have an opening for themselves. Except they must’ve thought the rest of her group was there trying to do that.
Starting the Slowpocalypse (Books 1-3 Omnibus) Page 40
