When they got to the Humvee, Chase was in a panic, screaming at them. “Dad! Dad! What’s going on?”
Jake threw the door open as the three men scrambled inside. A moment later, Pritis caught up, completely out of breath, and they squished over to make room. Harish was pushed unceremoniously into the rear storage area.
“Go, go, go!” Rick exclaimed.
Jake was at the wheel and the engine was already running. He walloped the gas as the Humvee lumbered up to speed. The Jeep behind them was closing in. Rick looked behind and saw two more jeeps join the pursuit.
“Crap, where are these guys coming from?” Rick looked to Harish. Harish said nothing, just shrugged his shoulders.
“Are these friends of yours?” Dawson asked. Again, Harish didn’t answer, but Rick got his attention with a slap to the head.
“Are these your guys?” Rick demanded this time.
“How would I know?” Harish said. “I have no idea where I even am. I’ve been held captive in the desert by some crazy loon for the past … I don’t even know for how long. And you think I’ve organized some kind of kamikaze rescue mission to get me out of here?”
“He’s right,” Pritis said. “It couldn’t be him. Or at least, he couldn’t know anything about it.”
“He may not have ordered it,” Rick said, “but rest assured, it’s him they’re after. You saw where the trail of gunfire was landing, right?”
Bullets bounced off the outside of the Humvee, and it was only a matter of time before they hit something and disabled the vehicle. The jeeps were quicker and lighter, carrying less of a load. They were most definitely gaining ground. And now, it appeared that all three of them were firing with increased determination. It was like they were spurred on the closer they came to their target.
“Get off the road,” Rick ordered.
“What, are you crazy?” Pritis said. “That’s not the way back home. This is nothing but open terrain, that’s barely passable.”
“Obviously,” Rick answered, “you haven’t spent much time in a Humvee. These machines are built to go over anything. Anything solid, anyways. Those guys in the Jeeps back there are faster, more agile and have a lot more guns pointed our way. They’re gonna catch us and surround us if we stay on the open road. At least this way we’ll have a chance.”
“It’s going to be bumpy as hell,” Jake said from the driver’s seat. “We may get lost.”
“I’m counting on bumpy. Getting lost is a whole lot better than getting killed. Once we take care of these guys, we can always find our way back home. And at least we’ll be in one piece.”
They headed off road, and sure enough, things got a lot bumpier, which made life miserable for the Jeeps. They struggled trying to keep the Humvee in their sights. Hitting a moving bouncing target is incredibly difficult when you’re a moving target yourself.
“What makes this guy so important?” Chase asked. He stared at Harish, who was settled in the back of the Humvee, crammed up against the limited amount of baggage they’d taken with them. “I thought he was just some hired thug. Why do they seem to care so much about him?”
“I’m not so sure they do care about him, Chase,” Dawson said. The Humvee hit another pothole, and Dawson braced himself against the ceiling, as did the others. “I suspect they just don’t like loose ends. This guy’s a potential breadcrumb to lead people back to them. Whoever they are. That’s not something they want to have to deal with. They seem more intent on killing him than catching him.”
“I can assure you,” Harish said, “I’m not that important. I’m surprised these guys even knew I was still alive. My brother was the main contact. He’d been communicating with them all his adult life. They’d been waiting for just the right opportunity to use him. I’m not even sure it was their idea for my brother to reach out to me. He just did, he was kind of funny that way.”
“Yeah,” Rick said. “Freaking hilarious.”
“There still gaining on us,” Jake said, gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles. “They may not be hitting us yet, but eventually they’ll get close enough and get lucky.”
“That’s what I’m counting on,” Rick said. The rest of them gave him a strange look. A what-are-you-out-of-your-mind kind of look. “I’m going up top to use the machine gun. We’ve got bigger firepower than they do, and it’s time to take advantage of it. You can slow down a little bit when I give you the signal, Jake. Keep it stable enough for me to start picking them off.”
“You know you’re not totally protected up there, right?” Chase said. “There’s three of them, and the shield only covers the front of the gun. If they come at you from behind, you’ll be exposed.”
“Hear that, Jake?” Rick said. “It’s your job to make sure they don’t get in behind me.” And with that, Rick popped his head out of the Humvee and grabbed the grips of the machine gun.
The Jeeps were practically on top of them now. You could see them jostling through potholes, barely holding their course. As tough as it was for Jake to drive the Humvee over this terrain, it was even tougher for the Jeeps’ drivers to keep all four wheels on the ground. The lead Jeep was off to the right of the Humvee, so Rick focused on that one. He braced his legs against the sides of the turret to keep himself steady.
“Slow down a little bit more, will you?” Rick called down to Jake at the wheel. “I’m barely holding on up here. I sure as hell don’t want to go flying out.”
Jake did his best to keep the Humvee on a steady course. Thankfully, there weren’t a lot of obstacles to avoid out in the open desert. Big rocks and cacti were obvious, and the little boulders didn’t make much of a difference to the big wheels of the Humvee. It was the medium-sized stuff that caused most of the jostling. Meanwhile, up top, Rick was firing the machine gun at the nearest Jeep. Finally, the Jeep was on the defensive. The bigger caliber bullets from the Humvee were taking their toll on the smaller Jeep. It didn’t have the armored plating and reinforcements the Humvee did. Rick took out one of the tires on the Jeep, but it still kept moving. They were all moving slow enough that even the Jeep with three working tires could keep up. Then, Rick aimed for the driver’s side door. A number of bullets hit their mark and found the driver. The Jeep slowed to a stop. They were close enough to see the driver slump over the steering wheel.
“Dammit,” Rick said from above, banging on the machine gun.
“What’s wrong?” Chase called, looking up.
“It’s jamming. The damn thing is jamming. Has anybody done maintenance on this thing?” Rick was searching the gun to determine the problem. “When was the last time this thing was cleaned?”
“Oh, like we’ve had time for that,” Dawson said.
Rick loosened his grip long enough to reach under the machine gun. Just as he did, Jake swerved to narrowly miss hitting a large boulder. Rick almost flew out the side as more shots rang out from the next approaching Jeep. Chase noticed a damp trickle of red appear on Rick’s pant thigh.
“Rick, you’ve been hit,” Chase called up.
Rick ignored him as he swung the machine gun around and fired at the second Jeep. This time he was able to hit both tires in rapid succession, causing the driver to lose control. The Jeep rolled onto its side, and then onto its roof, before sliding to a stop. That left only one Jeep, and after watching the power of the Humvee machine gun, that driver lost his nerve. The Jeep slowed and made a U-turn to beat a hasty retreat.
“Stop,” Rick called out. “Stop now.”
Jake complied, and the roller coaster ride came to a halt, but bullets were still flying from the Humvee’s gun. Rick had no intention of letting these guys get away. If they did, he knew they’d just come back with reinforcements. Firing from a stable platform was a whole lot easier than the trampoline-like surface of a few seconds ago. Rick placed shots meticulously, and while he didn’t have a clear view of the driver, he did have a clear view of the extra gas tanks hanging on the back of the Jeep. It didn’t take many shots bef
ore the tanks blew and the whole Jeep was in flames. Rick slumped back into the Humvee seats.
“You’re bleeding.” Pritis noticed the blood as Rick sat down.
“It’s just my leg. It’s nothing,” Rick said, just before losing consciousness. It wasn’t just his leg. He’d taken shots to his side as well and was bleeding profusely.
Chapter 17 ~ Deeper & Darker
The Humvee raced back into the EarthShip community and came to a screeching halt in front of Pritis’ home. The Humvee was enveloped by the cloud of dust that followed it. The rear driver side door flew open and out tumbled Harish onto the ground. His hands and feet were bound, and he hit the ground hard without anything to break his fall. Next, the rest of them scrambled out, gingerly carrying Rick.
“Get him to my bedroom, quick,” Pritis called out. The rest of them each took hold of Rick and carried him gently towards the house. Pritis pulled Chase aside and gave him specific instructions.
“You need to go find Mary as quickly as possible. She’s in the third house from here. Take the Humvee. You can drive it, right?”
“Yeah, sure, I think so.”
“Don’t tell me you think so, Chase, just tell me you can do it. Scratch that, just do it. You need to find Mary and get her back here as quickly as possible. I know some first aid, but she’s the only one that’s actually had medical training. Tell her to bring her kit too, and hurry!”
Chase jumped into the Humvee and drove off. Dawson noticed Chase drive off, but was too focused on getting Rick into the house to say anything. He’d lost a lot of blood and was turning gray. Everyone was thinking the same thing. They thought for sure he’d be dead by the time they got him home. Still, he was breathing.
Eventually, they got him inside, and Pritis continued giving orders. She’d already grabbed disinfectant and towels from the bathroom, then told Dawson to stay with her.
“Jake, keep an eye out for Chase and make sure he makes it back here with Mary. Let her know where we are as soon as she gets here. I’m not sure how much longer he has.”
Jake made his way outside and noticed Harish was still lying in the dirt. He didn’t look very happy as he struggled to get to his feet. They’d all forgotten about him in the rush to get Rick inside.
Jake walked over to Harish and helped him up.
“Let’s go, young man. Don’t want to leave you here just to blow away in the desert wind. I have a feeling you’re gonna have a lot of explaining to do.”
“You people are crazy,” Harish said as he shuffled through the dirt with his hobbled feet. “How many times do I have to tell you people, I have no idea what’s going on. I don’t know those guys that were shooting at us.”
Jake kept his eyes peeled down the road, where Chase had taken the Humvee. “Yeah, yeah, I’m sure you’ve never seen those guys before in your life. Complete strangers and all that.”
Harish nodded in agreement, without realizing that Jake was being sarcastic. “That’s exactly right. You need to tell the others. Convince them. I want nothing to do with any of this anymore. If you can convince them to let me go, I promise you’ll never ever see me again.”
“Well, I’m afraid things aren’t going to work out quite like that. You see, we’ve got some bigger plans.” He looked back into the house, but couldn’t see the room they’d taken Rick into. “First of all, you better hope our friend recovers. You may find this hard to believe, but if he doesn’t, your life’s about to get a whole lot worse.”
Chapter 18 ~ Wounded
Chase had really wanted to drive the Humvee earlier, but now, he didn’t feel so lucky. Now he felt he was under the gaze of a thousand people. In reality, though, it was only one. Rick. Rick was dying, if not dead already, and it was up to Chase to get the one person who could do something about it. Chase couldn’t help him, and neither could any of the others. He wondered what Pritis meant when she said she had some first aid. Did that mean she had some formal training? Probably not. She didn’t seem like the type to spend time in the classroom, or any other formal setting. Maybe she did, he hoped. Maybe he was wrong about her. They’d have to have doctors or something, living this far out, and away from most of civilization. Chase’s mind started to wander from the task at hand but didn’t get far. Which house did she say? he thought to himself. The second one? No. No. It was the third one. Mary was the person he had to find. She lived in the third house. Chase wasn’t sure it would make a difference. Rick looked so gray. He’d never seen a person look that color before. Did that mean he was already dead? No. He was sure that he’d seen his chest rise and fall. He was still breathing. How long did it take to die from a gunshot wound? Somebody had said the injury didn’t look so bad, but there was so much blood. He glanced quickly into the back of the Humvee where Rick had been sprawled out. There was blood all over the seats, and on the floor. That’s a lot of blood, he thought to himself. It had pooled in the crevices along the floorboard, and he could see where it was gathering against the nuts and bolts holding the seats in place. His mind tried to think of something else, to distract him from the possibility of a bad outcome to this situation. Holy jeez, how far apart are these places? That was the second one. He was sure.
Focus, he told himself. Just focus on what you have to do. That’s all you can control. There it is. The third place. It was getting dark now, as he jumped out of the Humvee. He noticed the blood on the Humvee doors as he turned to make his way up the walk. He checked his hands and his clothes as he scurried towards the house, making sure he didn’t have blood all over him. It wouldn’t make a good first impression to knock on a stranger’s door, covered in blood, and demand that they come with him. There was no blood on his hands and clothes, but it was smeared across his right cheek, and he didn’t notice. He pounded on the door, trying to make his pounding sound controlled. Calm and measured. He didn’t want them to think he was a raving lunatic, smashing wildly on the door and demanding they come with him.
A middle-aged woman opened the door. She had long brown hair tied back in a braid, which accented her short and slim frame. She kept her distance from the doorway and held a long metal rod. It looked like a poker from a fireplace.
“What do you want?” The woman eyed Chase suspiciously, gripping tightly to the metal poker. She tried to hide the poker behind her left leg but didn’t do a very good job of it.
“Are you Mary?” Chase blurted out. He was trying hard not to sound like a raving lunatic, but failing miserably.
“And who are you?” the woman asked assertively, bringing the poker into view.
“You have to come with me. It’s urgent.” He reached to take her arm, but she pulled back and raised the poker as a weapon.
“Who the hell are you, and what’s so darned urgent?” the lady demanded again and made a motion to close the door in Chase’s face.
“I’m Chase, and it’s Rick. Rick’s dying. Pritis told me to come and get Mary, and to make sure you brought your kit. She said you’re the only one that could help. I can take you there.” He turned his body to allow her a view of the Humvee parked out front. She peered cautiously around him, still keeping one hand on the door, and one on the poker. “You are Mary, right?”
“Yes,” she said. “Let me grab my kit. I’ll meet you in the vehicle.”
As she closed the door, Chase’s first instinct was to stop her by putting a hand on the door, but he didn’t. Instead, he just leaned in and spoke. “Hurry. It’s urgent, it really is.”
“Yes.” She nodded. “I’ll be right there.”
Chase was just getting in the Humvee as Mary closed the house door behind her. Chase’s hand slid over the steering wheel like it was greased. He turned the palms of his hands over, expecting to see them covered in blood, but it was only sweat. He tilted his head to look out the passenger window and saw Mary jogging down towards the vehicle. She jumped in and closed the door as Chase accelerated, and headed back towards Pritis’ house.
“Why didn’t you say that Pritis se
nt you in the first place? People have been abducted from here recently by God knows who. What were you thinking?” Mary asked.
“I don’t know. I’m kind of nervous and in a panic.” Chase alternated wiping his hands against his pants to keep them dry on the steering wheel. “I’ve never seen anybody that close to dying before.”
“Dying? You really think someone is dying?”
“Rick. He was shot.”
“Rick? I don’t know a Rick. Hang on. Was he here with the crew from Texas last week? The ones that chased off the motorcycle gangs?”
“Yes, yes,” Chase said nervously. “He is, he was, I mean he is. We had to come back because Pritis called for us.”
“How did he get shot?”
“We were rescuing someone. Or more like capturing someone. One of the terrorists that were here before, who might have had clues or knowledge as to where the missing people are. We were trying to find out more information. Just as we were about to come back, they attacked us.”
“I don’t understand. Who are all these people? And who were you rescuing? Was he one of the motorcycle gang members from before?”
“No, no. It was … It doesn’t matter. We’re here now.”
The Humvee skidded to a stop in the loose gravel in front of Pritis’ house.
“He’s inside. Please, you have to help him. Quickly.”
They both jumped out of the Humvee and scampered up to Pritis’ house. Jake met them halfway. His shoulders were slumped, and his hands hung limply by his sides. Chase didn’t like the look of Jake.
“Jake, where is he? I’ve got Mary. She can help, she brought her kit with her and everything. Where’s Rick?”
America's Sunset: Final Days: A Post Apocalyptic Fight For Survival Page 9
