Total Apoc Trilogy (Book 2): Fighting the Hordes (16 page)

            "Oh," Olivia whispered, perking up.

            He had a point.  Did we really have a dog in Emory's fight?  The arms and ammo was all for Emory.  We'd be lucky to keep most of what we had in the jeep after any firefights with Deathdealers.  Jake and Mike might even contest our departure, which could mean another firefight.  We
belonged
to them, or at least they thought so.

            "Jake never promised to let us go," I said, nodding.  "He just said they wouldn't put us back in the NML Zone."

            "Do you trust him?" Olivia asked.

            "Kinda, but not the people really in charge back in Emory," I replied.  "But they've kind of become friends in the last few…"

            "Hours?" Ralph said.  "Yes, it's been around twenty-four hours since we escaped the zone and were recaptured.  I don't think we've endeared ourselves with them that well."

            He had a point.  Yet, they expected our help.  I hated to disappoint anyone, and I did think at least Mike was becoming a friend, if not already a friend.  Jake wasn't our friend.  He only wanted to get the job done, nothing more, and nothing less.

            "We can go radio silent," Olivia said.  "Turn right on the Loop.  Disappear off their radar forever."

            The Loop was just up ahead.  We could be on the Loop, heading west, before Mike's group even reached the state highway.  Hell, Mike already knew the Deathdealers were on that highway.  One jeep full of computer geeks wouldn't matter in the long run.

            "Well?" she asked.

            "I'm still trying to talk myself into betraying their trust," I said.  I lifted my hand when Ralph started to object.  "I know!  They don't give a damn about us.  Or very few of them care."

            "I don't want to die for people who don't care about me," Ralph added.

            "I'm glad you still have a conscience, Kyle," Olivia said.  "But I'm with Ralph on this one."

            They were right.  The thought of Olivia or Ralph being seriously hurt or killed just to get Emory's guns back made me sick at heart.  Mike and Jake would get over our disappearance.  Hell, they might even think we were ambushed and killed.

            "Yeah," I said, coming to a decision.  "Only if we go up one more exit past the Loop, there's another state highway going in the general direction of Plano.  It might get us home faster."

            "I know the highway you mean," Olivia said, jumping up and down in her seat.  Ralph looked happy, too.  "Wahoo!  We're going home!"

            We passed by the exit ramp to the Loop, driving under the mini-cloverleaf, and continuing down the highway.  Embarrassment still heated my face.  I did feel like I was letting Mike down, but my first priority was to my friends and family.  And I was pretty sure the boys in Emory wouldn't let us go without a fight.

            The highway left the city, and plunged back into the even darker forestlands.  The clouds were starting to break up above, and moonlight shown through in a few places.  My spirits were lifted, at least a little.  Everything was looking up.

            We were finally free!

            "Shit!" Olivia screamed, slamming on the brakes as we topped a hill.

            Gunfire erupted as we skidded towards a dozen motorcycles stretched across the road.

Chapter 18

            "Go left!" I screamed as my side of the windshield shattered.

            She turned the wheel so hard that two wheels came off the ground in that turn.  To his credit, Ralph manned the M60 and returned fire.  Then we were off the pavement, bouncing across the open ground between the road and the forest.

            "Swing around behind them and then go back the way we came," I cried.  "The Loop is a better option!"

            I turned in the seat to defend Olivia as much as possible with my body.  Ralph's M60 ran out of ammo, and the ride was too rough to reload, so both of us returned fire with the M16A2s.

            "Who was the moron that decided full automatic was a bad idea?" Ralph growled.  "Aaaggh, I'd shoot the bastard myself right now."

            Even with 3-round bursts, we managed to throw a lot of shit at them.  Enough that the ambushers scrambled behind their motorcycles.  Yet, the ride was so bumpy most of our shots were way over their heads.  They hit the jeep, but didn't seem to be any better shots than us.

            "Tell Mike to hurry up!" Olivia said when the Deathdealers jumped on their motorcycles and came at us.  "We need help!"

            "Fuck!  Fuck!  Fuck!" I cried, fumbling for the loose handset.  "Mike!  They're attacking us!"

            "Ugh!" Olivia cried.

            Her head was knocked to the side as the helmet liner flew off and was gone.

            She slumped.  The jeep started to slow.  I panicked.

            "Olivia!"

            Her head came back up.  Slowly.  She shook her head, gasping for breath, but then pressed down on the accelerator.  Just to slam down into a ditch and stop, engine dying.

            "I'm fine," she croaked out.

            She started the engine and put it in reverse.  Ralph took the opportunity to quickly reload the M60.  He was really getting good at it.  Still, my full focus was on Olivia.  She didn't look well.

            "What happened?  Are you shot?"

            She bit her lip, face intent, and got the jeep moving forward again.  All of the Deathdealers were on their bikes and coming towards us.  Fortunately, their aim was even worse when mounted like that.

            "Shot in the head," she said.  I didn't see any blood.  "In the helmet.  Felt like I got hit with a bat."

            Two women on a dirt bike raced up to us, behind Ralph firing at the largest group.  I swung my weapon around to shoot the driver, but missed and killed the passenger aiming a pistol at us.  There was just enough light, and they were that close, for me to see the surprised look on her face.  Then she was dead.

            I kept shooting at the rider until I got her, too.

            "Aaaaaggh!" another biker screamed as he slammed into the front of the jeep.

            The jolt and sudden turn threw Ralph out.  I screamed as we went towards the treeline.  Straight at an ancient oak.  Olivia turned just enough, but still struck the oak with the cowcatcher.  I slammed into the hard, steel dashboard, my breath knocked out.

            I was still better off than Olivia.  She slumped again, head lolling around.  Ralph was on his feet, unarmed, and screaming for help.  I rolled out of the jeep to hands and knees, gasping pathetically.  It took all of my concentration and will power to find my weapon.  I used the jeep to steady my aim, and started shooting at the people attacking Ralph.

            "Someone just shoot me," Olivia groaned.

            I couldn't see her from my position, but heard her crawl into the back.  She manned the M60, firing up the Deathdealers.  The M60 didn't limit her to 3-round bursts.  The men and women attacking us didn't have automatic weapons.  They were armed mostly with pistols and shotguns.

            The M60 was a beast up close like that, decimating the Deathdealers at an astonishing rate.  Ralph was able to break free and come running back to us.  He immediately climbed up in back and helped Olivia reload the M60.  To my surprise, she refused to give up the M60, firing at the Deathdealers without mercy.

            "More coming back!" she cried.  "We have to get the hell out of here!"

            Headlights were coming our way.  Not Mike and his Rat Patrol team, but motorcycles, RTVs, and two cargo trucks.

            Olivia gave up the machinegun and jumped back into the driver's seat.  She started the engine, but the jeep was wedged between two trees.  She turned the wheel this way and that, rocked the jeep by going between first and reverse, and finally broke free.

            Too late.

            "Abandon the jeep," I said as a dozen more dirt bikes and RTVs swarmed in front of us, with more coming.  "Into the woods."

            Ralph removed the M60 from its mount.  He stopped, couched over atop the jeep and aimed it at the incoming Deathdealers.  My first thought was the guy earlier who tried that and was knocked out of the jeep.  I started to call a warning.

            "Die, motherfuckers!" Ralph screamed and sprayed the area around him.

            He wasn't knocked to the ground, though it looked like he struggled with the weapon.  I shook my head and looked towards Olivia, who was busy taking the sawed off shotgun and shells off one of the dead.

            "Into the woods!" I repeated.

             "How can there still be so many of them?" Olivia asked.

            Good question.  Every time we turned around they added more to their group.  Or we weren't killing as many as we thought.

            "Grab some M60 ammo boxes," Ralph said, jumping to the ground.  "We'll set up behind the trees."

            Both me and Olivia grabbed as many boxes as we could carry.  It wasn't many.  They were heavy as hell.  And unwieldy.  Ralph stretched out between a pair of pine trees, with the M60's bipods down and started shooting.  Olivia knelt behind a pine and became his loader.  I laid on the other side of him and shot at the Deathdealers.

            They turned every weapon they had towards us.  Bullets zipped all around.  Splinters flew in all directions as shots ripped into the trees and brush around us.  We returned fire as fast as we could

            "It's a lot easier on the jeep mount," Ralph said.

            "Yeah, well," I said, emptying a magazine.  "While getting you more ammo, I forgot to bring any for me."  I pulled my pistol and returned fire.  I didn't have any spare magazines for it on me, either.  "This is going to be a short fight."

            "We have to run," Olivia said.  "We can hide in the woods."

            "Dammit," Ralph cried.  "I snuck a M203 grenade launcher into the jeep."

            I remembered.  We could've really messed those guys up if we'd remembered it before now.  There were too many of them, and the jeep too exposed for us to go back for ammo or the grenade launcher.

            I didn't want to be on foot with no food, weapons, or ammo, either.  It was looking like we'd have to choose between death and escaping without supplies.  Then the cargo trucks stopped on the road, and men swarmed behind them.

            "Oh my god, they're all going to have M16s now," I shouted.  "Are there any M60s or anything in the back of those trucks?"

            "I can't remember," Ralph said.  "This is so fucked up."

            "Quick, shoot at the trucks," Olivia said.  "Don't let them have automatic weapons."

            Ralph shifted to the side, and started shooting at the trucks.  But that allowed the others to get up and charge towards us, so he had to swing back around to them.  I took over as loader, and Olivia started shooting at them with the shotgun.

            "We take off running as soon as we run out of ammo," I said as I loaded the last box.  "Ready!  Just spray the whole area to keep them on the ground."

            We could only hope it took them a few minutes to realize we'd bugged out.  There was no doubt in my mind that every one of them was bigger, meaner, and stronger than any of us.  We needed a head start.  Maybe they wouldn't pursue us into the woods.

            "Almost out," I called.  "Get ready to run.  Stay together."

           
Boom!

            "What the hell?" Ralph cried.

            That explosion was only about thirty feet in front of us.

            "Are there grenade launchers in the trucks?"

            "I don't know!" Olivia replied.  "Let's get out of here."

           
Boom!  Boom!
More grenades hit up on the road. 

            "Wait.  Listen," I said, cocking my head.  "I hear jeeps!"

           
Boom!

            "It's the cavalry!" Olivia said, pointing to our right.  A line of dark shapes sped towards the battle.  "It's Mike!"

            The Deathdealers were all scrambling for their dirt bikes and RTVs.  I spotted men climbing back into the cargo trucks' cabs.  Since no one cared about us anymore, I stood up and headed for the jeep.

            "Come on," I urged.  "We have to stop them from taking the cargo trucks."

            Running up to the jeep, I immediately leaned in and found a full 30-round magazine for my weapon.  I stuffed a few in my pockets, just in case.  I was the last one into the jeep.  Ralph had the M60 mounted before Olivia got her cranked up and moving.  He had to reload as we bounced towards the trucks.

            "Die, motherfuckers!" I shouted, shooting through the glassless windshield.

            Olivia's side was intact, but I kind of liked my side open.  I shot straight into the passenger doors and windows, going back and forth between the two trucks.  Ralph turned his weapon on the motorcycles and RTVs.

            The Deathdealers quickly abandoned the stolen trucks, racing away back towards Carson on either side of the highway.  Mike's team fired them up, but they mostly got away.

            "You guys okay?" Mike called to us.

            "Mostly," I said.

            "Kyle pissed his pants again," Ralph said.

            I looked down.  He was right.  How could I piss myself and not feel it?  I glanced at Olivia, but she looked sympathetic instead of mocking.

            "Shut up, dork," she said.  Then more quietly, "I peed my pants, too."

            Mike's jeeps swarmed around the two trucks.  They quickly found dead men behind the wheels, dragged the bodies out, and started up the trucks.  I hurried over to Mike on foot.

            "We need more ammo before we leave," I said.  "We used almost all of ours up fighting them off."