The other crawler bowled into the backs of Mikey and Gus sending them both to the ground. The two Marines instantly bounced back to their feet with weapons in hand. The crawler turned towards Gus and lunged. Gus jumped to the side and stabbed as hard as he could where he thought the crawler should be. His knife carved a useless path through thin air. Looking around he saw the crawler staring at the outline of the sun behind the clouds. Mikey jumped on its back bearing it to the ground. He stabbed it repetitively in the side. Drew stepped in and curb stomped the thing’s face until it’s teeth had all broken out.
After they’d stabbed and beaten it to death Mikey rolled off it. They all stood around gasping for air. Hearts racing, they grinned at one another. They’d gotten the rush they’d been seeking. LeBron looked at all of them in disgust. That they’d risk so much then make light of it was beyond him. Sick of the three of them he stormed back to the cab where he said nothing about what’d happened to Yue. Instead, he put his head back on the seat and tried to take a nap himself. It was going to be another long night.
Chapter 18: Bullets, Blood, and a Blizzard
First thing in the morning they got the trucks turned around and started back the way they’d come. Mikey and Drew sitting in the cab of the first truck with Lisa’s dad sitting behind them. Drew had been irritated at first when he realized Lisa wasn’t going to be joining them. He got it when her dad told him it was because they might be driving headfirst into an ambush. It also turned out to be an opportunity the dad had been looking for to lay into the two of them for checking out the station the day before.
“You both realize we need you right? Mikey, nobody else can drive these trucks. At least not as good as you. Drew, my daughter likes you for some reason or other. You seem like you may be an ok guy but why keep doing stupid stuff like you did yesterday? What if she’d been with you? Why take risks you don’t need to take. It’s immature and asinine.” The dad said.
Drew and Mikey both did their best to look contrite. Mikey wanted the old dude to shut up and Drew wanted to be able to hang out with Lisa again. Neither of them felt in the least bit chastised by the white-collar dressing down they’d just received. Drew had been yelled at way more by coaches and even his own dad. Not to mention the verbal abuse he’d taken in some of the foster homes he’d gotten stuck in. Mikey had been verbally destroyed by the drill instructors on Parris Island. This guy with the rapidly receding hairline crouched in the backseat sporting a freaking sweater vest didn’t even register on his radar.
“Understood sir. It was stupid for sure. I think the three of us learned our lesson there.” Drew said. He hoped that ended it. He knew Mikey was trying to help him out with the dad. He was worried though since it was a guessing game how long Mikey would be able to contain his true self. He was kind of surprised the brash jarhead had lasted as long as he had.
“Yeah, it was absolutely asinine.” Mikey said. He kept a straight face for like five seconds before he started giggling. It was a little concerning since he was driving a big truck around a curve covered in ice and snow at the same time.
Drew bit his own tongue to keep himself from laughing as well. If anyone said the word ‘asinine’ again he was going to lose it. He wanted to look in the back and say something to the dad. If he saw the guy’s sweater vest, he was going to start cackling like an idiot though. Mikey had done a whole routine around the sweater vest the day before that’d almost made him pee himself.
“Up there!” The dad yelled pointing through the busted windshield. A vehicle was parked across the road about a hundred yards ahead. They were coming up on it fast. It didn’t take but a second or two to verify it was a Humvee waiting for them. Drew was wondering what they should do when they started taking incoming rounds. He saw little spurts of flame where rifles were firing at them. He turned to warn Lisa’s dad to get down.
Her dad was lying on his stomach choking on his own blood. By the time Drew turned his head to shout a warning a bullet had ripped the man’s throat apart. The sweater vest was drenched in blood.
”Get down and hang on!” Mikey yelled.
Drew ducked down under the dashboard as far as he could go. Mikey ducked down as well. Bullets were ripping the inside of the cab apart. They weren’t slowing down though. Mikey had the pedal to the metal and was screaming out a challenge to the men hurling lead at them. The truck hit something and there was a momentary feeling of weightlessness before they crashed down to the ground. Blackness came in around the edges of Drew’s eyes and gradually spread to cover his whole vision as he drifted into unconsciousness.
He came to and saw that Mikey was carefully climbing out the windshield. Lisa’s dad’s body had somehow bounced out of the sleeper and was draped across Drew. Mikey stopped crawling and stared out at someone. Drew watched as his friend started fumbling around his waist for something. He was probably going for his gun. There were a couple of loud pops and Mikey stopped moving. The anger at the death of his friend motivated Drew to find his own weapon. His pistol was right where it should be. He had no idea where his rifle was. He felt the corpse draped over him slide around.
Drew looked through the arm pit of the body splayed across him. There was a soldier standing there looking around the side of the flipped over cab. The man had shot Mikey and then noticed the sweater vest wearing dead body of Lisa’s dad covering up the passenger seat. With his neck blown out and blood all over him he looked extremely dead. The soldier took a few tentative steps around the side of the cab away from where Drew was. The sound of gunfire drove him back to the front of the cab.
Drew stuck his pistol out the shattered windshield. With his arm trembling he pulled the trigger twice. The first shot hit the soldier in the arm spinning him around in a half circle. The next one hit him in the neck right above the body armor he was wearing. He should’ve thrown on a Kevlar necktie while he was at it. Drew saw the man’s eyes widen with surprise at being shot. His dying thoughts centered around how he’d been stupid enough to leave the cab uncleared behind him. Drew felt a ferocious pride in his chest at taking out the man who’d popped his friend Mikey. The feeling of vengeance fulfilled wasn’t enough to keep him from blacking out again a couple of seconds later. His pistol tumbling uselessly into the blood drenched snow.
Drew woke back up to the muffled sound of sporadic gunfire. Wondering how long he’d been out he carefully maneuvered the corpse of his girlfriend’s dad to the side so he could sit up. Ignoring the aches and pains his body was throwing at him he stuck his head up far enough to see out the window. The soldier he’d shot was covered in a thin layer of snow. The dark sky was dumping more of the white stuff everywhere. It was swirling down thick enough that visibility was limited to under ten feet. By squinting he could make out a rectangular shape that looked like it might be a Humvee up on its side in the distance. Muzzle flashes from that direction forced him to drop quickly back out of sight.
Realizing he’d lost his pistol he dug around in the cab looking for weapons. He took the pistol and rifle off Lisa’s dad. He found his own rifle after a little bit of searching. He was planning to rush out through the window firing the AK-47 in the direction of the Humvee then sprint to safety behind the truck. The truck was resting at an angle that should provide him with some solid cover once he got around it.
Mustering his strength, he climbed out the wrecked window and collapsed to the ground in full view of anyone who happened to be looking. Rather than firing the AK and sprinting for safety he found himself inching through the snow on his belly hoping no one noticed him. A full-scale battle was raging around him. Drew kept his head down and continued to crawl towards the side of the truck. As he got closer, he saw a rifle muzzle stick out and fire off a few rounds in the direction of the Humvee. Return fire pinged off the side of the overturned big rig. Drew buried his face in the cold, snow covered earth shaking with fear. Too battered, scared and traumatized to continue moving he kept crawling anyway. He wasn’t capable of giving up.
&nbs
p; Hands reached out to grab him. Sliding easily across the snow he was pulled to safety. LeBron squatted in front of him asking if anyone else was alive. He shook his head thinking about how he’d left Lisa’s dad in a bloody pile on the side of the seat like a bag full of used fast-food wrappers. Tears in his eyes he told LeBron that everyone was dead. He’d ducked when Mikey told him to duck. LeBron cradled his head and let Drew vent out some of those emotions. They were in a serious time crunch though. LeBron hoisted Drew up and began dragging him back to the second truck. A few men stayed behind to keep the Delta Team from advancing on the trailer and killing everyone while it got turned around.
LeBron half-dragged, half-carried Drew all the way to the back of the second truck’s trailer. Yue came and met them there helping LeBron get Drew hoisted up and laid down on a sleeping bag. She looked him over and announced he’d live. Quickly giving Drew a sisterly kiss on the forehead she told LeBron to get back in the front of the truck. It was time for Gus to get them the hell out of there. She immediately turned around and went back to caring for the others in the trailer with worse injuries than Drew. Drew had already curled into a miserable looking shell-shocked ball of pained grief on the thick sleeping bag. Their lives all depended on Gus getting them moving in the opposite direction as quickly as possible. He hopped out of the trailer and sprinted towards the front of the truck.
Running through the slippery snow knowing a bullet could hit you at any time sucks. He didn’t think whoever had ambushed them was necessarily aiming for the second truck already, but it wasn’t like they were trying to be careful either. LeBron slid under the cage like he was a big leaguer scoring a home run in the world series. Popping up through the access hatch he yelled for Gus to get them out of there as fast as he could.
“I saw you dragging Drew back. He ok? How’s Mikey?” Gus asked.
“Drew’s ok. Mikey didn’t make it. We’ve got to go now!” LeBron said. He was trying unsuccessfully not to sound completely freaked out. Gus gave himself a second to reflect on the loss of a friend. When they’d seen the truck in front of them accelerate into the ambush Gus had known exactly what Mikey was doing. He’d also known he’d most likely never see Mikey again.
That tactic of charging at an enemy like that was sound military doctrine given the situation. The distinctive sound of the Ma Deuce chugging away had told Gus they’d be lucky if any of them walked away from this. Mikey had sacrificed himself to buy them that luck. He’d held on long enough to hit the enemy Humvee with the only weapon they had that’d hurt it. With the pedal down on an eighteen-wheel juggernaut weighing in at around forty tons he was going to do some serious damage. No matter how up armored the Humvee might be the laws of physics still applied.
“I’ll start turning around. I need those guys to keep laying down suppressing fire to keep the ambushers off of us. I need them to fall back at the same time. Otherwise, I’m leaving them once we get turned around. The whole trailer will be exposed to whoever has that machine gun. I’m not sitting around waiting while everybody in the back gets shredded.” Gus said. He was working the big rig dangerously close to the steep inclines on each side of them as he tried to get them turned around. It was only the second time he’d ever put one of the trucks in reverse.
LeBron started to broadcast the plan with the walkie talkie. He was actually holding it up to his mouth when he realized the enemy may be listening in. It wasn’t like they had guys who could speak dead Native American languages or something. Most of them could barely even use professional sounding radio lingo without the people around them giggling. Instead of announcing their plans in plain English to anyone in the area with a radio LeBron pushed open the passenger side door. He told Gus he’d be right back and dropped back down to the snow-covered road. He had to time it for when Gus hit the brakes for the fiftieth time trying to complete a hundred-point turn.
He ran towards the small knot of men standing on the side of the overturned truck up ahead. When he reached them, he panted out the plan. The men got it immediately. They got in position and started sending a lot of bullets in the general direction of where they assumed the bad guys were. LeBron unclipped a bandolier he had with some extra magazines and a couple of grenades clipped to it. He handed it to one of the men who looked like he might be running low. The man nodded his thanks and ran back towards the overturned cab of the truck.
Before he could get in position there was a loud explosion and a big puff of white. LeBron couldn’t tell at first if it was smoke or snow getting thrown in the air. The man he’d just handed the bandolier fell to the ground with a blood covered face. He wasn’t rolling around or screaming in pain or anything, so LeBron assumed he was dead. Next to him a woman had collapsed to the ground. She’d dropped her hunting rifle and was holding her leg. The two other men helping hold down their position tossed their last grenades over the top of the trailer hoping to slow down whoever had just popped one off on their side.
LeBron ran over towards where the wounded woman was sitting in a patch of bloody snow. He slowed down to rip his bandolier away from the dead body of the man that he’d just handed it to. The wounded woman looked up at him and then back down at her blood-soaked pants.
“Tie off the wound. I’ll cover you. We have to get back to the truck or they’ll leave without us.” LeBron said. His harsh breathing sending jets of his steamy breath into her face. She abruptly pointed behind him and tried to move backwards all at the same time. Her body shook as she was struck with a burst of automatic weapons fire. One of the rounds caught her on the chin sending bone and bloody skin flying off her broken face. She crumpled lifelessly to the ground leaking blood like a sieve.
LeBron jumped to the side and rolled over on his stomach. He had his rifle pointed in the general direction she’d pointed. He didn’t see anybody, so he just started pulling the trigger. Off to his right the other guys were both lighting up that whole section as well. One of the ambushers must have crawled up there to flank them. A series of muzzle flashes were visible from where LeBron was taking cover behind the woman’s corpse. He saw where the man must be lying. Off to his side the other two men were both down.
Rather than lay behind the dead woman until whoever was in the bushes decided to come kill him LeBron got to his feet. Screaming in fear and anger he charged towards where he’d last seen the muzzle flashes. He was yanking the trigger on his M-16 as fast as he could. When he got to the spot that he’d seen the muzzle flashes coming from he was rewarded by the sight of a dead man in winter camouflage. He’d drilled a hole right through the top of the attacker’s skull with his random shooting.
LeBron turned to leave but something was bugging him. He had to get out of there or risk being shot himself. Hoping he didn’t pay for his curiosity with his life he squatted down and carefully moved the dead man’s head so he could see his face. The dead man was one of the SEALs from the Fontana dam. The Delta team must have called the SEALs in to block off this road. That meant the Delta team was most likely out of there. They must be taking Jeff back to wherever they’d been ordered to take him.
That didn’t explain why there was still a Humvee there. LeBron didn’t remember them having Humvees at the dam. The sharp retort of a rifle being fired nearby reminded him he needed to get moving. He pulled off two grenades from the bandolier and chucked them one after another as far as he could throw. He didn’t bother counting. He just threw them as soon as he pulled out the pins. They‘d land in the snow where no one could recover them fast enough to throw them back at him anyway. At least he hoped not. He didn’t want to die as the punchline of a dad joke.
One of the men who’d been shot was still able to walk. Between the two of them they carried the third man towards the truck. Gus had now gotten the tractor trailer perpendicular to the road and looked like he was moving it about a foot in between each application of the brakes to switch from reverse to forward. LeBron was positive they were all about to die sitting in the truck waiting for Gus to finish turni
ng around.
As if to enforce how much the situation sucked the snow suddenly kicked up around them and a couple of loud snapping noises came from the trailer. Somewhere behind them someone had gotten the machine gun working and was sending some love their way. They didn’t have a buffer anymore. LeBron realized him and the men he was with were the only thing standing between the truck and the attackers.
Gus must have realized it as well because he got a lot less risk averse in his turning technique all of a sudden. LeBron ran as fast as he could for the cab. The fastest he could move wasn’t very fast considering he was dragging two wounded men along for the ride. Another burst of bullets struck the snow around them and ate up part of the passenger door. LeBron lunged for the cage and lost his grip on the man he’d been helping to carry. He spun around after opening the access hatch and saw that the man he’d been helping was now far beyond any help he could provide. One of the large caliber bullets had carved a bloody crater in the man’s back.
Crawlerz: Book 3: The Mountains Are Calling Page 16