The Wrath of David

by Sean-Paul Thomas

  The machine gun open fired at the car behind the one which David had been hiding. The noise was excruciating. If any of the distant soldiers still well away from the bridge hadn't heard the first early fire of gunshots through the howling wind and rain, they sure as hell heard this monstrosity of never-ending noise.

  David tried to scramble left towards the shelter of another car, but the machine gunfire followed his movements and was soon ripping after him through the narrow gap between the two cars. He tried to pivot right, but the same thing happened on the other side. The heavy machine gunfire had him pinned down like a mangy dog.

  To his left, David saw more soldiers closing in on him. They were positioning themselves behind the second row of cars. In just a few seconds he was going to be an open target, like a wild bull trapped inside an empty swimming pool. He had to take a risk and make a move, the sooner the better.

  He made a little dummy dive to his right. When the machine gun firing soldier took the bait and fired upon that opposite side, he shimmied back to his left and dove, rolling underneath the neighbouring car before the soldier firing the machine gun even had a damn clue to what David had done.

  Crawling on his belly underneath the next car, David began shooting at the surrounding soldiers’ ankles and feet. When six of them fell to the ground in sheer agony, he finished four of them off with more shots to their faces and chests as they lay rolling around on the floor.

  David rolled towards the fallen soldiers. He was running out of ammo and desperately needed some of the dead soldiers’ bullets or guns. Before he could even get close enough to them, though, the machine gunfire tracked his intentions and immediately began cutting up the gap he was aiming for while ripping through its own fallen men, including the two soldiers who were still alive and rolling around in agony.

  David ran out of ammo. All he had left was a small Uzi tucked into the side of his belt. He whipped it out and held it in front of him. Making sure the coast was clear, he crawled towards the back of the car, thinking he could mount an attack on the machine gun soldier from there, through the rear window of the car he was still underneath. When he couldn't see the boots and ankles of any more soldiers, he pulled himself out from under the car and tried to position himself into a crouching stance.

  He didn't count on one thing, though – a sneaky, well-hidden soldier hiding on the bonnet of the car directly behind him. The unarmed soldier jumped on top of David as he crawled out from underneath. Right away, the soldier kicked David's Uzi out of his hand before taking swinging kicks at David's shoulder and head. He caught David twice, once on the side of the skull and once, ferociously hard, on top of his collar bone. David winced in pain, but knew he had to stay low or risk being taken out by any of the surrounding armed soldiers, especially if he popped his head up, even just a touch, above the roofs of the surrounding cars.

  The soldier let out a gleeful grin. He knew he had David right where he wanted him, but after the third swift kick to his upper body, upon which David would still not fall, the soldier began to worry. David was standing his ground and taking the soldier's blows with no problem, even with his legs still underneath the vehicle he had been trying to crawl out from.

  The soldier hesitated before attempting to kick David for a fourth time, right on the side of the head. David saw it coming, though, and collapsed his supporting left arm, falling flat on the concrete ground. The impact was painful, but not as painful as it would have been had the soldier's boot connected with the side of his face.

  As the soldier's kick swung past his head, hitting nothing but rain and wind, David reached down for his hunting knife, which was still strapped against his belt and the back of his trousers. Whipping out the knife, he stabbed the soldier hard, right through the side of his knee.

  The soldier collapsed to the deck like a sack of turnips, howling in agony. David didn't hesitate for a second. He slid the knife back out of the soldier's knee before stabbing it into the rest of his body, over and over, slowly but surely working the stab wounds higher and higher up the screaming soldier's body until, with one final blow, he stabbed the soldier straight through the throat. Then he sliced down violently hard upon his neck, almost detaching his head from his body with sheer, brutal strength, just to ensure the man would never rise again,

  David hauled his legs out from underneath the car. He squatted now, keeping low, crouching just a little underneath the rear. To his right, half a dozen more soldiers were sneaking up on him from behind the next row of cars. In front of him, the machine-gun-wielding soldier was still scanning the area and waiting patiently for David to remerge into the light of day.

  From the corner of his eye, David spotted a fallen handgun lying beside the next car's front tyre. Wasting no time, he dove straight for it, picking it up and cocking the chamber. He then stood to his feet and fired it straight at the machine gun soldier.

  Nothing happened.

  The handgun just clicked. He fired it again. Another click. David held his breath as the rain beat down upon his face. He looked and felt utterly exhausted. A small seed planted itself in the back of his mind that perhaps his time was finally up in this world. He had failed with his mission as far as avenging Ashley was concerned, but at least he'd done some little good here today in taking out a few of the extremists. But in another flash he realised none of that mattered. None of it really mattered at all. He had failed to save Ashley and now he had failed to save Louise. His effort and actions were all for nothing in the grand scheme of things and he knew it in his heart. He had failed. He would die a failure.

  Up on the guardroom roof, the machine gun soldier focussed the huge barrel of his weapon directly upon David. He even found the time to unleash a cocky grin. David was as good as dead. Not even an untrained child could miss from there.

  The oncoming soldiers quickly closed in all around David. He let out a weary sigh. Stubbornly, he refused to lower his gun or break eye contact with the machine gun soldier. For a fleeting second time almost stood still.

  When suddenly, the sound of a single bullet whizzed through the air, splitting wind and rain particles as it went. When David heard the hiss, he immediately guessed it had come from one of the distant forested hills north of the bridge. Before he could even finish that thought, the smiling machine gun soldier's head exploded from the right side like a burst watermelon.

  The other soldiers, distracted by the new sound of gunfire, looked around in shock, astonished at what had happened to their fallen comrade up on the guard room roof. They all turned to glance at each other, wondering what the hell to do. With no leader to direct them, they were painfully slow to react.

  David was a born leader though and already two steps ahead of them. He had ducked low, disappearing amongst the cars as soon as the bullet passed through the machine gun soldiers head. By the time the other surrounding soldiers realised what had happened, David was already undercover three cars away.

  More rifle shots began firing down from the distant hills in the north. The bullets whizzed over the top of David's head, heading straight for the spooked and rattled soldiers. One, two, then three, all hit the deck, stone cold dead with gaping head and face wounds. The others scrambled back the way they'd come, ducking and diving, this way and that, fleeing for their lives, back down towards the south side of the bridge, all the while keeping close to the rows of abandoned cars and trucks as they fled.

  On the nearby hills, the two female snipers remained low in the bushes while firing their rifles at the bridge and fleeing soldiers.

  “I got two of the fuckers,” cried the Indian girl.

  “I got four,” cried the black girl, still wearing her cocky grin.

  Back on the bridge, David gave a grateful glance north towards the hills. He silently thanked the sniper or snipers, whoever they were, for helping him. Still, he couldn't fathom for the life of him why they were performing such an act, but he'd take the good fortune from wherever he could.

  Snapping back into
kick-ass action, David returned his focus to the unguarded guardroom. He picked up another two handguns lying on the road and dashed straight for the sealed steel door. Without thinking, he kicked it open. He didn't seem to care whether it was locked. He just wanted to catch whoever was inside the windowless boxed chamber completely off guard.

  With the door open wide, he clocked three more soldiers standing inside the darkened room. When the door burst open, they all jumped out of their skin. Two soldiers were standing to his left while the third stood behind a far desk, holding a gun to Louise's head.

  “You put those fucking guns down right now, pal, ya hear?” screeched the soldier holding the gun to Louise's head. “You put down those fucking guns now or-”

  Without hesitation, David shot the soldier holding Louise at gunpoint, straight through his gun hand, which hovered in front of his face as he held his gun to Louise's head. He caught the other two soldiers by surprise, too. Neither of them had anticipated that David would shoot the first soldier without thinking about his actions first. And in another split second, he shot the other two soldiers dead, right through their foreheads, but not before one of them managed to fire off a random shot, hitting David clean in the shoulder.

  David winced but shrugged off the flesh wound. He hurried over to Louise, who had fallen to the ground in a crumpled heap as soon as the soldier pointing the gun at her head had been shot through the hand and face.

  “Louise! Louise! Are you okay?” David cried as he crouched behind the far desk to comfort her. Louise was sobbing and covered in blood along with bits of flesh, bone and pieces of brain from the soldier lying dead beside her. When she gazed up to see David right in her face, she hugged him hard.

  “I knew you'd come for me, David. I knew you wouldn't leave me here,” Louise cried. She sobbed into David's wounded shoulder.

  David winced. Louise tilted away her head and gazed at the giant bloodstain spreading its way through David's dark t-shirt.

  “Are you all right?”

  “I've been worse,” David said with a wry smile. He stood up and gently pulled Louise to her feet. “We need to get out of here right now. Before the rest of them come.” He glanced down at a small box of grenades and ammunition underneath the dead soldier's desk. He took four grenades before leading Louise towards the open door. Outside, he could hear the exchange of gunfire between the snipers on the northern hills and the remaining soldiers who had been hounded back to the south side of the bridge.

  David poked his head out the door. The soldiers on the south side of the bridge were still in plain sight through the wind and rain, though they had retreated and could easily fire a few rounds of random bullets in his direction if both he and Louise decided to make a run for it back to his truck. David knew he and Louise could use the mass of abandoned cars as a shield to protect their movements from the shooting soldiers, but they still had to make the dozen-or-so-yard dash to reach those cars.

  “Take this,” David said as he handed Louise one of his guns. “And wait here.” He climbed the steep laddered steps that led to the roof. Then he forced open the hatchway door with a few hard shoves. The dead machine gun soldier's body was lying over it. David hauled himself onto the roof and took up a position right behind the machine gun. Without pausing for breath, he began raining a river of bullet hell all over the south side of the bridge.

  The dozen or so soldiers still holed up on that side took cover as David cut up everything in his path, from cars to trucks, dead bodies to the tarmac upon which they had fallen.

  When the machine gun ammo ran out, David raised all six feet four inches of his frame, exposing himself for the whole damn bridge to see. He approached the edge of the roof, reached into his pocket and pulled out the first grenade. He pulled out the pin, then lobbed the grenade towards some of the abandoned traffic on the south side. Then he pulled out another grenade and threw it, followed by another, then another.

  Cars, trucks and vans, anything with fuel, began exploding all over the place. Soldiers screamed in agony as a huge wall of fire rose across the south side of the bridge.

  David disappeared back down the hatch and into the guardroom. He took Louise by the hand and led her outside, away from the fire and chaos and towards the north side. He told her to keep low as they headed for his truck, still waiting for them beside the makeshift checkpoint just up ahead. As David led Louise closer to the truck, a wounded soldier on the pavement they were about to pass raised his gun and took aim.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Louise caught a glimpse of the soldier. David was looking the other way, trying to see if any soldiers were lying in wait on his side, where most of the abandoned cars were scattered.

  A gun fired. David froze, then whipped around to face Louise, who had unexpectedly let go of his hand. To his shock and relief, Louise had her handgun raised and pointed at the now-dead soldier, who lay only a few yards away on the pavement. David gave her a grateful nod. Louise didn't say a word. She slowly lowered her gun and began following David's lead once more, taking great care to look this way and that. She was desperately seeking any other soldiers with guns waiting to ambush them. She didn't dwell on the fact that she had just killed another human being for the very first time in her life.

  When they reached the truck, Louise climbed in first through the driver's door, followed by David. As Louise shoved over to the passenger side, David jumped behind the steering wheel and started the engine. A second later he sped away, smashing through the bridge barrier and checkpoint as he drove.

  Back up on the hill, the two snipers, both wearing satisfied grins, had ceased firing and were now watching David and Louise driving off and making their escape from the bridge.

  “I was into double figures big time there before he threw those grenades,” said the excited black female sniper.

  From trees behind them, another group of armed black and Asian men and women suddenly emerged. A large black man, who appeared to be leading the small group of resistance fighters, yelled over at the two snipers. He was clutching a small Kalashnikov at his side.

  “What the hell's going on up here? Why are you giving away your cover? And why the hell are you trying to blow up the bloody bridge?”

  “It wasn't us, Steve,” replied the Indian woman defensively. “So, take a bloody chill pill, will ya?”

  “We just helped them out a little, that's all,” continued the black female sniper. “So they could get away, you know. They're on the move now. They seem like good people.”

  “Who's on the move?” demanded Steve.

  “Some insane fucking white guy with a death wish and a young coloured girl.” replied the Indian sniper.

  Steve remained silent, yet his gritted teeth and confused facial expression revealed that he seemed more than a little intrigued. He turned back to some of his team and addressed two of them with an impatient tone.

  "You two come with me. We'll take the jeep and follow them. The rest of you head back to camp."

  Steve then turned back to the two snipers and eyeballed them hard.

  "You two stay put until your changeover. No more shooting. Keep an eye on what happens down there and report back right away if those fuckers send any troops over the bridge after the guy and girl.'

  "Yes sir, Colonel sir" said the two women in jest.

  "But can we shoot the ones who are running around on fire?" joked the Indian sniper.

  Steve just gave her another intense stare and gently shook his head.

  ***

  Twenty minutes later, David was still driving hard and fast as he reached the southern shores of Loch Lomond. He drove in silence, but every few moments his eyes faded over while his head nodded and bobbed forward, like he was fighting a desperate internal battle to remain conscious.

  Beside him, Louise sat and stewed in her own harrowing silence. Her head was turned away from David as she stared obliviously out the side window at all the passing trees and fields. She was unaware of David's dilemma, stru
ggling to stay awake and alert at the wheel. Without warning, David slumped over the steering wheel. He was out for the count. Louise heard his head thump down and turned around to face him. The truck was already veering off the road at great speed.

  “David?” Louise screamed as she tried to grab a hold of the huge steering wheel and take control of the truck. But it was too late; the truck was already heading down a rocky ditch and hurtling into the huge, spiralling loch, which filled her entire vision every which way she looked.

  Upon impact, both Louise and David were thrown all over the vehicle's driver's compartment like human pinballs before the truck, already half-drenched in water, began floating and bobbling farther out into the loch. Both the windscreen and David's driver’s-side window were shattered, yet still intact.

  Louise was in a daze and struggled to regain control of her senses. She couldn't figure out just where the hell she was. In a brief flash she saw the smiling faces of her two younger brothers as they splashed beside her in the open water at some seaside beach resort from her long-forgotten past. Then she heard her father's voice, calling to her from the nearby beach. He was telling her not to go too far into the water and to look after her brothers, who, like her, were both wearing armbands.

  Louise began coughing and spluttering. In another second she came crashing back to reality. She was in the army truck again and it was filling with water thick and fast while an unconscious David floated and bobbed right beside her. Louise tried to shake him awake, but he wouldn’t come around in the slightest. Soon, the truck dipped fully beneath the waterline and a disoriented Louise took one big final gulp from the remaining pocket of air before the water finally consumed her.

  With new life in her lungs, Louise frantically tried to grab and pull David, this way and that, but he still wasn't responding. With time rapidly running out, Louise used her remaining energy to kick through the shattered front windscreen. Even though she couldn't swim, she was grateful the water of the loch was so clear; otherwise, she would never have been able to find her way around the front compartment of the truck.