“I don’t want to know.” Ben started undoing his heavy coat so he could access his handgun. Then he got an idea. “It looks like they’re going to attempt to cut us off when we pass by that rocky hill along the road. We could turn around but I’m sure they’ll follow. I have an idea. You make sure if they try to force us to stop that I have a good view of their tires. Don’t get too close to the mountain. We don’t want to be pinned where we can’t get out. Make sure there’s space so we can squeeze by them and hightail it out of there fast.”
“Are you crazy? I’d rather not engage. I think you spent too much time with Jackson and Anderson. Do you have a grenade launcher hiding back there somewhere?”
“If we don’t try this, you’ll be fighting them off on your own because I’m not in the best shape to fight right now. I can still shoot, though. You know they aren’t here to ask us if we have a beer. If they did ask us about beer, we’d disappoint them anyway.” Ben tried to be casual and lighten the mood but it didn’t help. He gripped the gun trying to keep his hands from shaking when he unfastened the snaps to the side window. One thing he was immediately frustrated with was how small the grip was on the Ruger 9mm. He knew it wasn’t going to slip out of his hands but he was anxious anyway.
It was immediately clear the truck was intending to force them to stop.
However, Nate took the opportunity to dart across to the other side of the road, up another rise, taking them into the trees once more. It was getting dark and harder to see without headlights. At least the falling snow wasn’t obscuring their view in the forest. There was a steep drop right into one of the ponds that Nate was talking about earlier and it had a thin shiny film of ice over the top. He swerved and kept them from plunging into the water but its location was going to force them back over to the road again. The truck was keeping pace with them.
They were forced to drive alongside the road when the truck swerved into them hard, nearly taking them out.
“That’s hostile.” Ben couldn’t see out his side window very well. The vinyl had a fresh coating of slush and water on it and where it was clear, his breath immediately fogged up the vinyl distorting the view.
The guy driving rolled down his window to point and shout at them to stop.
“Go ahead and slow down like you’re thinking about stopping, let him get ahead of us.” Ben racked the slide and took off the safety. His heart was racing as he drew in a deep breath and made an opening big enough so he could clearly see his target.
The truck swerved in front of them right when Nate slowed down. He had to brake hard. As they slid, the Ranger turned the wrong way when Ben was about to shoot. He missed the opportunity to hit their back tire and panic set in. They were about to be pinned. Nate wouldn’t be able to back out easily with the trailer on the back.
Nate stopped when the truck stopped. By some miracle, there was maybe enough space to escape but just barely.
Two guys practically flew out of the cab heading for them.
“Go!” Ben fired, hit the tire right before Nate gunned it, nearly running one of the guys over.
“Oh geez, oh geez.” Nate kept panicking in his mild-mannered way and barely had enough room to squeeze the Ranger between the dugout side of the hill and the pickup. He couldn’t go fast when the tires spun out because he hit the gas too hard.
A Bowie knife with a surprisingly long blade pierced through Ben’s side window and caught his bicep as he instinctively tried to deflect it from hitting his face or neck. He managed to pull away before it cut him any deeper. The guy grabbed one of the roll bars but was knocked off by the pickup when Nate gunned it again, this time it surged ahead.
For good measure, Ben, full of adrenaline and anger because he was hurt again, leaned out the window and shot at another tire.
Nate and Ben ducked when something pinged the back corner of the UTV.
“They have guns too. I hope they didn’t hit any of the gas cans,” Nate said.
They heard a few more shots go off, but nothing hit.
When their attackers did manage to get back in the truck to pursue them, it swerved erratically before it came to an abrupt stop.
“You did manage to take out their tire.” Nate almost slumped in his seat overcome with relief as he focused on the road and gunned it.
“You sure can’t tell how much trouble we’ve gotten ourselves into by your mild-mannered reactions.” Ben ignored the flapping of the window as he pulled his coat off his shoulder to see how badly he’d been stabbed. The pain was starting to build. He exhaled slowly trying not to alarm Nate that he’d been injured again. They needed a lot of distance between them and the idiots. He searched for the sock they had used earlier to clean his head wound. It wasn’t as clean as he hoped it was. With the watered-down blood still in the material, the parts of the sock that had dried were stiff. He had to look for something else. The damp spot on his sleeve was growing.
“What are you looking for?”
“Just keep driving. I’ll find what I need. I’m not even worried about patching up this window just yet.” Ben pressed the crunchy sock against his shirt. The three layers of shirts he had on were cleaner than anything he could find. He used the wadded-up sock to put pressure on the wound and to seep up the extra blood. He sat back in the seat, looked up at the ceiling, and resigned himself to the misery yet again. At least he could see well enough to take out their tires and his head wasn’t bothering him so badly after his nap. But getting injured for the third time that day was beyond frustrating.
Nate kept looking over at Ben. He was attempting to act like nothing was wrong but Nate saw the blood all over his fingers when he didn’t hide them in time.
“What? He got you? I thought for sure you’d dodged it.”
“That was an impressive Bowie knife he had. The blade was surprisingly long. It just kept coming at me. The cut isn’t that deep. It’s just messy.” He hadn’t really tried to move his arm that much to find out how bad it really was, though.
“Ben, I can’t keep driving much longer and I can’t ask you to do it after all you’ve been through today. If we stop in this weather, we can’t really set up camp or a fire. Not with those guys back there. If they change their tires, they’ll catch up to us for sure.”
“I’ll be able to drive. Once we get it to stop bleeding, I’ll be fine. I had a good nap and I should be able to keep driving through the night.” Ben clenched his fist to stop his hand from trembling. He was getting chilled but it was probably a physical reaction to the aftermath of the attack.
“I was apprehensive about you using that gun but now I’m glad you were ready and didn’t hesitate. I wasn’t expecting them to try to ambush us like that. I thought they’d at least come have a chat first. You’ve been the best at talking our way through everything that’s become an obstacle to get us this far and I had hoped that would be how we got out of that mess.”
“I figured they’d be armed. Actually, I was counting on them not expecting us to strike first like that. That gamble paid off, sort of.” The wound was really starting to hurt. He clenched his jaw and tried to focus on fixing the window to stop the snow from blowing in the cab but the cold was biting at his fingers. It was probably for the best that he had no cell service to see how cold it was.
27
Ben
Nate focused on the road but was unintentionally slowing down.
“Whenever you’re ready, pull over. In the woods preferably. I need your help to fix this mess up and then I can drive.” Ben instantly regretted moving his right arm. “We have some duct tape, don’t we?”
“I do have some. If we’re going to be driving through Canada one must be as prepared as if we are on the Red Green Show.”
Ben let out a soft chuckle. At least it eased the wincing off his face for a moment. He needed to work harder on blocking the pain.
Nate stopped the Ranger and started digging through his suitcase in the backseat. “We’re going to need to wrap up in the sleep
ing bags and blankets as we go. It’s so cold.”
“This snow, it’s getting deeper.” Ben opened the door and scooped up a handful. He held it on his shoulder. He shivered as the melted snow penetrated through his shirts to his skin.
They traded spots. Using one arm, Ben worked on covering himself with his unzipped sleeping bag. The steering wheel kept getting in the way. Nate had to undress Ben’s shoulder to get a look at his bloody arm.
Ben turned away as Nate cleaned up his wound and his arm.
“That’s a beauty and you lied. It looks deep. You’re using up all my dermatape on the first day.” Nate looked at Ben concerned. “This has to hurt. Are you going to be able to drive?”
“If I get sleepy, the pain will keep me awake. I can handle it fine. I just want to get away from this cold. The farther south we get, the warmer it should get, right?”
“You’d think.” Nate frowned at Ben. “It’s Canada, though. They don’t have a reputation for having mild winters.”
“Come on, where’s your positive spin on this? If we keep driving, we should be out of the desolate section in record time.”
“And perhaps head right to where the power’s out and the people are as wild as the animals out here.”
Ben sighed, “Are you done yet? You’re too dreary. It’s obvious you need some sleep.”
“Sorry, I’m just stunned that the one moving vehicle we’ve passed today was out to get us. I don’t want to know what we will find once we get to a city that’s been without power for days.”
“Don’t think about it, because we will just take it as it comes. Keep moving forward.”
Nate nodded as he tightened up the tape to close Ben’s wound.
Ben couldn’t help but let out a groan. It took him a minute to recover.
Nate cleaned up Ben’s arm some more before he placed a gauze pad over it and wrapped it with stretchy horse tape. “We need to watch for infection. This is in a bad spot.”
Ben debated on whether he should change shirts. It was too much work. He pulled his t-shirt sleeves down and needed help getting his flannel shirt and his coat back on. He closed his eyes and paused anytime the pain hit him.
“Here’s some meds.”
“They might make me sleepy.” Ben waved the pill bottle away.
“You should take something.”
“Put them where I can find them if I need them.” He pulled out a protein bar.
“I’ll gas us up really fast and then we’d better go.” Nate took the protein bar Ben offered him and headed to the trailer.
Ben anxiously watched the road behind them. The truck should have two bad tires. With any luck, they only had one spare. If that was the case, they’d be stuck back there with no choice but to limp back to town. If it was only one tire, they could catch up pretty quick but the snow would be a factor to slow them down some. Hopefully, it would take so long for them to change it out that the Ranger’s tracks would be so snow covered by the time they were back on the road.
When Nate returned, he wrapped himself up in a blanket before sitting down and then pulled his sleeping bag over him. He worked on patching up the window as Ben got them back on the road.
Nate fell asleep as soon as he finished his task.
Progress was slow. Snow was blowing sideways. The road was snow-covered and not easy to follow. The massive amount of snowflakes hitting the windshield were not helping him navigate. He knew the truck behind them would have a much easier time catching up if they followed any remnants of their tracks on the road. He gripped the steering wheel tight and kept going as steady as he could, slowing down at the turns and speeding back up when the road seemed to straighten out. The lack of mile markers on the shoulder of the road was maddening.
After a few hours, the snow started to ease up and the road wasn’t covered in as much snow. But he realized once the snow stopped falling and as the sky was starting to clear that it was far colder than it had been when it was snowing. The heater in the Ranger was so ineffective that his toes were frozen in his boots and his fingertips were just as bad. He pulled over and drove into the trees to protect them from the wind. He needed to find the hand and toe warmers his wife had sent him in the spring when there were still cold days.
“Is something wrong?” Nate started to stir.
“No, stay bundled up, though. It’s getting colder and I’m looking for something to warm my feet.” Ben had to leave the sleeping bag in his seat and got a chill as the cold penetrated through all the layers he was wearing. With one hand, he found another pair of gloves, some socks, and the warmers. It was a struggle while all bundled up for him to even reach his feet. Once the warmers were in his boots along with extra socks, he moved his toes until he could feel them better and the same with his fingers before he settled back in his seat.
He hadn’t turned off the Ranger fearing that it wouldn’t want to start again in the extreme cold but he had turned off the headlights. It was a good thing the lights were off. The pickup passed by on the road. Ben inhaled sharply and held his breath. The snow was barely covering the road where he had pulled off and the wind was still blowing. Maybe his tracks had already disappeared.
The truck didn’t even stop where they’d veered off the road into the trees. Ben unsnapped the window to see how fresh the tracks looked behind the Ranger. The wind had already blown snow over them.
Once the truck reached the snow covering the road a short distance ahead, they stopped and backed up.
Ben frantically looked all around the floor to grab the flashlight he had left on. There was no time to get the camo net out to cover the reflective stickers on the hood.
“Nate,” Ben nudged his friend’s shoulder. “We have company.”
They both watched the truck continue to back up past where they were hidden in the trees. Ben looked out the window again and swore under his breath. Steam was rising from the exhaust.
“I can’t decide whether to turn off this thing hoping they won’t spot us or to gun it.” Ben was about to turn it off when the truck shined a spotlight with incredible range at the trees and it was surely going to catch a good gleam from the reflectors or from the reflective paint striping on the Ranger. “Never mind, they made up my mind for me.” He gunned it even though he could barely see the trees. The windshield had fogged up some and he didn’t dare turn on the lights just yet.
He wiped the windshield with the sleeve of his good arm. It was like divine intervention when the moon revealed itself from behind a cloud. Moonlight reflected off the snow and through the trees and he could navigate easier. However, that was when they were spotted.
The sound of gunfire was almost drowned out by the engine of the Ranger.
He gave up on stealth mode. Turning on his headlights, he gunned it deep into the forest, trying to navigate to the south so they wouldn’t get lost in the woods.
“I have no idea where we are, Nate.” His panic was rising as he weaved around trees and had no sense of direction. The snow had drifted in places covering the logs or debris crossing their path. They bounced around in the cab as the Ranger kept going. Ben was afraid they’d lose what was in the trailer or lose the trailer itself when he was practically hitting his head on the roof. The trailer had some weight in it but it didn’t have the fantastic suspension that the Ranger had. “This trailer is becoming obnoxious to deal with the bigger our problems get.” They hit a huge dip in between the trees and it jarred Ben’s arm. He couldn’t stop the noise that escaped his mouth. He quickly regained his composure and kept going.
“You’re following the road a little too closely, they’re right there.”
The truck followed along, using the spotlight to trail them.
He clenched his teeth and went deeper into the forest. “I sure hope we aren’t in wetlands.”
“I hope we can head down a hill to get out of the line of sight of those guys.”
A tree splintered ahead of them.
He took a sharp turn and gunned i
t. “Why aren’t we out of shooting range yet?”
“Wind helping it along? I doubt that. The trees open up there.” Nate pointed to the right side.
“And go where?” Ben turned where Nate had pointed and realized maybe he should have looked closer. The space between trees was tighter than where he had been heading and suddenly there were no trees behind that line because there wasn’t anything there. “I think that’s the hillside you summoned. At least I hope it’s a hill.” Ben was scared it was the edge of a cliff when he veered away from where everything dropped from view.
“Yeah, it’s a steep drop, but not all that bad. We can take it in this thing. They can climb mountains surprisingly well.”
Ben didn’t have a choice. He couldn’t keep going along the ridge. The trees were unforgiving and he had to be careful with the trailer. It also meant he’d have to watch how he went down the hill so it didn’t jackknife or unhitch itself to tumble down the side of the mountain.
“Take it slow, we just need to disappear from view to get out of range of their guns.” Nate urged him on when they heard honking, shouting, and gunfire when Ben stopped.
He drew in a deep breath and went down the hill as slowly as he could. But the ground was giving way. It was covered in rocks and dead trees that were more like giant toothpicks in the way, impossible to deal with. The snow collected where it could hide what was holding it on the hillside. He had to pick up speed to get over the piles of rotting wood. He went down the hill diagonally and tried not to go down too far as he went. He couldn’t tell what was at the base of the rocky hillside, though. It was too dark but he could hear running water.
“Shine a light on what’s down there.” Ben was desperate to know what they might find if he couldn’t keep them on the steep hillside that was getting steeper. The trees and brush were denser at the bottom too.
“I can’t see anything through all that overgrowth.”
“There’s always more vegetation near water sources, right? It has to be a river, Nate. Do you hear it?”
Endure Series (Book 2): Enduring The Journey: Page 18