Condemn (BUNKER 12 Book 2) (39 page)

"Invitation's still open," Bix
replied. He walked about ten feet out and stared for a moment
straight down to the river far below before returning. Finn knew
what he was looking for, but he didn't want to know if it was still
down there.

"No thanks," Jonah said.

"Scared?"

"Never, but I'm not crazy,
neither."

"It's stable," Finn said. "It'll
hold."

"You sure about that? Maybe it'll hold
you two weasels but that bike's got to run at least two-fifty.
Which is more than the two of you put together. Soaking
wet."

"Funny. Ha ha."

He clapped Bix on the back. "Just
kidding. I'd probably piss myself, too."

"Ain't no shame in that."

"You two better get a move on,"
Harrison said. He handed Bix his pack and rifle. "There's extra
ammo in there. Be careful. And remember what we talked
about."

Bix nodded.

"I love you, son."

Bix blushed. But when Hannah stepped
forward with a hug and whispered that she did, too, the blush
deepened so much that Finn feared he might faint from oxygen
overload.

Eddie wheeled the bike to the edge of
the bridge. "How exactly were you planning on doing this?" he
asked. "The base plates are barely wide enough to walk on. You'll
either have to straddle the bike going across, or—"

"No way!" Bix said. "No freaking way
anyone's riding the thing across."

"Then one of you will have to get in
the front and pull on the handlebars and steer while the other
pushes from behind."

"Then that's what it'll have to be,"
Finn said. He stepped forward and took hold of the handlebars. Bix
didn't argue. He'd rather not have to walk backwards across the
damn gorge.

Moving slowly and steadily, they made
their way out over the canyon.

After fifteen minutes, they'd gone
about a quarter of the way across. Finn straightened up to ease the
cramp in his back. He waved the group on. They hesitated a moment
longer, then turned and melted into the forest.

The sound of the truck engine reached
their ears, then was gone.

"How are you hold up?" Bix
asked.

They were still in shadow, as the sun
hadn't yet breached the tree line, but they wouldn't be for long.
Already, sweat dotted Bix's forehead.

"Not as bad as I thought it would be."
He'd been so focused on keeping both his feet and the front tire on
the narrow track that he'd stopped seeing the river far
below.

"You need to rest, let me
know."

"No, let's keep going."

"You see anything down
there?"

"No. You?"

"Nope."

They continued on for another ten
minutes. The cables seemed to creak all the more from the added
weight, but the bridge didn't swing as much as it had the last
time. It helped that there was no wind.

"What'd your father tell
you?"

"When?"

"Back there. He said to remember what
he told you."

Bix was quiet for a while. Finally, he
said, "He thought my mom would be proud of me."

"She would."

He sighed. "You know, in the past, I
wouldn't have taken it as a compliment. My dad and I were always
the kids in the family and we liked it that way. Two peas in a pod
is what she always said. And I always just thought that she was a
total— Well, that she was always too stiff. It used to piss her off
how little we took seriously. 'You'll never grow up, just like your
dad.' That's why she left."

"Sorry."

"She was ashamed of us."

"Well, she—"

Finn's foot slipped off the side of
the grate and he dropped to his knees. His rifle twisted on its
strap, knocking him on the side of the head. The bike began to
tip.

Bix struggled to keep it upright,
throwing a hand out to the cable rail beside him and grunting from
the effort. Finn scrambled back to his feet and righted it. For a
moment, neither boy moved. They just stood there and panted, their
faces white from the near-miss.

"Here's a suggestion," Bix said.
"Don't do that."

"Yeah, I think until we reach the
other side, less talking the better."

The bike probably wouldn't have
fallen. The gaps between the support wires woven between the base
and hand cables were small enough that the machine likely would
have snagged on one. But even so, there would have been no way
they'd be able to pull it back up onto the bridge if it had. They
simply lacked the strength and leverage.

They reached what they thought was the
halfway point, and each took a moment to rest and get some
water.

"Want to switch places?" Bix
joked.

Finn rolled his eyes.

"Just thought I'd ask, you know, to be
fair."

"No, but when this is all done, you
owe me."

"Name it. How about a nice
busty Norwegian fully schooled in giving full body massages. And
when I say full, I mean
full
."

Finn snorted. "I think maybe that's
your fantasy."

"Her name would be Helga. Helga
Björgund . . . lund . . . son. That
sounds Scandinavian, right?"

"Helga? You got something for
Vikings?"

"Hell yeah.

Finn laughed. The bike started to
shake, making him stop.

"Ready, bro?"

"Yeah."

Another twenty minutes passed. Finn's
arms were shaking badly by then, and Bix didn't look so great
either.

"You know you don't look so great,"
Bix panted.

"I was just thinking the same thing
about you."

"How far do you think we've
come?"

"Why don't you look?"

"I'm not looking anywhere but at my
feet. And I refuse to see anything else but those damn metal
grates."

Finn exhaled in exasperation. "Okay,
stop." He planted himself, then looked up past Bix's shoulders.
"About three-quarters of the— Oh, shit!"

"What?"

"Nothing," Finn said. "Don't look.
Don't look! Just hurry!"

"What?"
Bix whispered.

Finn tugged on the handlebars. He
stepped back, no longer obsessing that his feet were planted
exactly right in the center of the grate. His eyes weren't focused
on the front tire anymore, they were glued to the other end of the
cable bridge.

"How far?" Bix asked. His voice shook
with terror.

"They're on the bridge."

"Leave the bike!" Finn screamed at Bix. "We're not going to make it
like this!"

"No!" Bix yelled back. "Keep going!
We're almost there."

"Those things are almost half way
across, Bix. We have to go! NOW!"

"Just forty more feet, Finn. You can
do it. Come on, I know you can." He let go.

"What are you doing?"

"Keep going! Save Bren." He stepped
away from the bike. "See? You got this."

Finn wobbled. "No! Push!"

Bix spun around, pulling the rifle to
the front of his body and chambering a round. He kneeled as he took
aim. "Go, Finn. I'll buy us some time."

"There are too many! They're coming
too fast!"

"Go, dammit!"

Finn pulled hard on the motorbike and
nearly fell off the platform again. He whimpered in fear, but kept
going. A single shot rang out. Out of the corner of his eye, Finn
saw something tumble off of the railing. It crumpled to the
platform fifty yards away and rolled off.

"Are you going?" Bix cried.

"Yes!"

Bix aimed again and fired another
round.

He missed! Oh my god, he
missed!

Three rapid blasts followed, rippling
through the canyon. In the distance, a figure jolted. It staggered
forward, then seemed to recover. But it was soon overtaken by two
more Wraiths right behind it and trampled into the
metal.

How much further? How much
further?

Finn could feel the angle steepen
behind him, so he knew he was getting close. But the slope also
made it harder to pull the heavy bike. His feet kept sliding. His
hands kept slipping. The cramp in his back was beyond painful. It
burned, sending spikes of pain into his neck.

The Wraiths had reached the halfway
point. There was no way Bix would be able to stop them in time, not
with bullets.

"Let's go!" Finn screamed. "Bix! I'm
dropping the bike!"

"No!" Bix yelled back. "Don't you
dare! It's the only way you'll be able to cut Adrian
off!"

He fired off another three rounds,
then set the rifle onto the grate at his feet.

Finn pulled harder on the handlebars,
drawing the bike six more inches toward the edge. He watched as Bix
pulled off his backpack, yanked the zipper open, and reached
inside.

"What are you doing?" Finn
yelled.

Bix didn't answer. His arms started to
whirl.

The claymore! He's got the
claymore!

Bix set the mine on the bridge, picked
up his rifle and shot dead the closest Wraith before shouldering
his pack and jogging back. "Go!" he shouted at Finn. "Go! Get off
the damn bridge!"

With dawning horror, he realized what
Bix was planning. And he knew what would happen when the mine
exploded. "There's not enough wire, Bix!"

"I know! Go!"

The last ten feet were excruciating.
The angle was almost too steep, and Finn's arms almost too
exhausted that he nearly gave up. But the bridge supports suddenly
appeared at his sides, and when he looked down, there was solid
ground beneath his feet.

He dumped the bike and his pack and
tried to raise the rifle to his shoulder. His arms shook so badly
that he couldn't aim. He feared he'd hit Bix instead.

The Wraiths had reached the mine.
Their movements threatened to knock it over the side. One kicked it
and it spun along the grate before coming to a stop. It started to
tilt off.

Bix was kneeling, trying to attach the
wire to the battery and not paying attention.

"Hurry! Bix, they're—"

The mine exploded in a white flash.
Finn threw the rifle away from him as he ran back out onto the
bridge. The cables trembled and held. White smoke rolled toward the
spot where Bix had been crouching, engulfing the Wraiths that had
already passed the bomb. Bix was back on his feet, running, waving
at him and screaming to get off the bridge.

Finn started to back up. He could feel
the bridge shaking beneath him from Bix's pounding feet. Bix
stumbled, sprawled and nearly fell off. But he was back up,
grabbing the rail.

The bridge trembled as
cables began to snap. Bix flailed for a moment. A half second
later, a loud
TWANG!
tore the air. The bridge tilted to the side, throwing him back
against the rail. He spun around. "Get off!"

"BIX!"

There was another loud, metallic snap.
Finn jumped and landed hard.

By the time he spun around, the bridge
was gone, and so was Bix.