The Rescue

by Everette Morgan

  As he got out of the MAV, he double checked his .44 and holstered it on his right side, careful not to strap it down. If things went bad, he might need it in a hurry. He took the strap of the AR 15 and placed it crossways across his back. As he double checked to make sure he had everything, he realized that he hadn’t worn his bullet-proof vest. Irritated at himself, Marcus knew that this mistake could be a problem later on.

  Chapter 6

  With the exception of one guard, the Jackals who had been drinking heavily, finally all passed out and it quieted down. Wynd had rocked Twig for over an hour until Twig finally gave in and went to sleep. It had to be at least three o’clock in the morning. She was so tired and still frustrated with herself over getting caught. She laid Twig down in the corner of their moving prison and covered her with some blankets the captors had provided for them. She moved in behind her, lay down, and put her arm around Twig. She was just laying her head down on some of the blankets when her eyes caught a movement on the outside of the perimeter fence near the side of the large office building. She rose up ever so slightly to get a better view. With the light of the moon and the glow of the campfire, she was able to see what it was. Keeping a low profile, while coming around the edge of the building, was a tall young man dressed in full camouflage with a machine gun strapped across his back. He had an athletic build and moved with catlike agility. She didn’t know if he was a thief or a hero but she wanted to warn him and let him know about the last person that had tried to make it into the marauder’s camp. Frustrated, she knew that any noise would only endanger him that much more. As he approached the fence boundary, it was obvious that he had encountered this type of invisible perimeter fence before. He stopped just short of the fence and pulled some kind of device out of his pocket and pointed it at one of the intersection poles. He pressed three or four buttons and the semi transparent section closest to him immediately winked out of existence. Almost silently the young man flew across the remaining thirty yards between the perimeter and the back of the truck where Wynd was imprisoned. As far as she could tell, under the camouflage paint he was a handsome young man. He was probably in his upper teens with curly blond hair and a slight beard. He looked at her and gave her the quiet sign and set to work on the lock. Wynd moved out from behind Twig and slid ever so softly over to the door where the young man was standing.

  She whispered to him, “You need to leave. When they find you, they will kill you.” He continued working with the lock and basically ignored her. Once again she said, “You need to…”

  He didn’t allow her to finish. She could see a flash of anger come up on his face. Forcefully, but quietly he whispered angrily to her, “You don’t seem to understand, do you? You don’t want to know what they are going to do with you when they make it back to their home base. Now leave me alone while I work on this.”

  In just a matter of minutes he had jimmied the lock and slowly opened the door careful not to make any noise. He motioned her to bring the little girl to him. She quietly picked up Twig, careful not to wake her, and handed her to the stranger. She started to speak again and he flashed that angry face again but she persisted this time.

  “What about Rom?” she whispered.

  He had put Twig against his shoulder and was just turning to leave as she spoke. He quickly turned around and looked at her with a quizzical look. Still whispering, he asked, “What is Rom?”

  “Rom is a boy not a what. He’s chained inside the other truck.”

  The young man glanced quickly at the other truck. The other truck was closer to the bonfire and very close to some of her passed out drunken captors.

  “I can’t see him,” he whispered.

  Sternly she shot back, “Believe me, he’s in there and if you insist on rescuing us, I won’t leave without him. He’s a twelve-year old, scared little boy and he has helped me.”

  Hesitantly, the young man glanced back at the other truck and finally made a move. After she had eased onto the ground from the back of the truck, he took Twig and placed the little girl in her arms.

  Quickly, he said “Did you see the way from which I just came?”

  She nodded.

  “Take her and start back that way. You will see a small trail that leads down the east side of this hill. Follow it to the bottom and you will come to an old four lane highway. Directly across the highway will be an old dilapidated baseball stadium. Go to the parking lot of that stadium and then continue eastward off of the hill where the stadium sits. When you get to street level you will turn left on the first road that appears. Follow this road for two blocks and turn right. You should see my vehicle sitting in a parking lot in front of a large pointed building. The moon is bright enough tonight so you shouldn’t have a problem. When you get to the vehicle, speak the command, ‘Entry M R 7’. This should unlock the vehicle. Get in and lock the door. If I’m not there in thirty minutes, speak the command, ‘M R Emergency’. Do you understand?”

  Wynd nodded her head tentatively. He turned and started around the far side of the truck and then dropped to his hands and knees. As quietly as she could, she took the girl and went in the direction that he had indicated. The path off the hill was steep and overgrown and the underbrush made it darker but she could see where the young man had made his way up the hill and that made it easier. It took her about twenty minutes to make it to the edge of the highway. Amazingly, Twig had slept through her entire descent. She must have been extremely tired. As Wynd crossed onto the highway, it was littered with bumper to bumper vehicles that had been abandoned. She knew that several cities were like this. Certain highways became congested and overran with people who panicked and tried to get away from the general population. With the speed of the virus, there wasn’t enough personnel to help clear the cars and get the traffic moving again. Wynd weaved in and out of the cars and made her way to a fence on the other side. She thought at first there wasn’t a way through but then she saw where the fence had been cut. Twig started crying and wanted to walk. Wynd whispered to her and calmed her down. It would take too much time to drag her along. Although Wynd was getting tired, she knew she had to make it to the young man’s vehicle. As she crossed the parking lot of the old stadium, she heard the distant sound of gunfire. Frightened, she increased her speed, saying a silent prayer for the young man and Rom. She knew they would kill Rom if he was caught trying to escape again. The last time he had tried escaping it had ended up with him being beat severely. Making the turns as directed, it took her about fifteen more minutes to reach his vehicle. It was a large SUV military type vehicle painted black with darkened windows. Using the command he gave her, she spoke, “Entry M R 7”.

  Immediately she heard an audible click and the passenger side door swung open. Still holding Twig she started toward the door. From inside she heard a female voice speak.

  “Enter quickly and apply your seat belt” was the command from the female voice.

  Wynd entered the passenger side door and climbed between the seats and belted Twig into the rear passenger seat. She didn’t have to lock the doors because they automatically locked when she put on Twig’s seatbelt. Twig had begun to sob.

  “Shhh. Shhh. It’s okay. We are going on a fun ride. Please don’t cry Twig”, she said trying to console the little girl.

  She got back in the passenger seat and continued to pray for her young savior and Rom. What was she going to do if they didn’t make it? Tears began to well up in her eyes. Where were they?

  Chapter 7

  After Marcus dropped to his knees and started forward, he turned to see the girl heading in the same direction he had approached the camp. He had not noticed anything on the sensors of the MAV that would indicate the presence of any other unwanted prehistoric guests in this part of the city so he knew she would be relatively safe. As he rounded the far side of the truck on his hands and knees, he stopped quickly and eased backwards. One of the drunks had stirred, risen, and walked between the trucks over to the edge of the trees to re
lieve himself. Marcus flattened out on the ground and waited patiently as he finished his business and turned to go back to the fire. As Marcus passed the rear of the first truck, he stopped and peered into the darkness of the truck for a few seconds, then stumbled back to his resting place and dropped to the ground.

  Marcus waited patiently for another five minutes before he continued his trek to the first truck. As he reached the rear of the vehicle, he moved from his hands and knees into a crouched position and slightly raised his head until he was able to see clearly into the back of the truck. Sure enough, a young boy that was about twelve or thirteen was chained to the rear of the cab of the truck. From the looks of him, he was sleeping. Marcus slowly eased himself into the back of the covered truck and slowly moved toward the young sleeping boy. Careful not to make any noise, he made it to the boy without waking him. With a quick movement, he pinned himself against the boy and clamped his hand over the boy’s mouth.

  Marcus held him and whispered to him, “Don’t make any noise. I’m getting you out of here.”

  Rom nodded his head silently and Marcus took his hand off of Rom’s mouth and went to work on the chains. It was taking way too long. He needed to hurry. Finally, breathing a sigh of relief, Marcus was able to pick the locks that held him. Helping the boy to his feet, Marcus and Rom turned and stopped suddenly. At the rear of the truck stood one of the captors grinning and holding a pistol pointed in their direction.

  “What have we here? Seems the boy has picked up a companion. Let me see your hands, friend,” he said laughingly with a sneer on his face.

  In a smooth, almost effortless fluid motion, Marcus drew his .44 and shot him between the eyes. The man didn’t have time to react. It happened almost in an instant. Rom mouth dropped open in shock. In the next instant Marcus grabbed the boy and shoved him toward the back of the truck and screamed for him to run. They dropped to the ground from the rear of the truck, Marcus pointed the way, and they took off at a dead run. For a bunch of drunks, the captors had extremely quick reflexes.

  The one Marcus shot must have not been the only one awake. Marcus and Rom hadn’t gone over ten feet from the rear of the last truck when they could already hear the gunfire and could hear the bullets whizzing by their heads. They crouched down further but continued running. Marcus turned as he was running and began firing his big .44 in their general direction. As he had noted before, he was beginning to regret that he hadn’t put on his police vest when he left but of course, now was not the time for regrets. They had to get out of here. They finally made it to the edge of the hill, into the underbrush, and down the side of the hill. More and more bullets were being fired. Marcus could hear them striking the underbrush around them. About half way down the hill, the shots stopped but he could hear the men crashing through the underbrush. They were gaining on them.

  Marcus was fast but with the boy in tow, he was going at a significantly slower pace. They finally made it to the bottom of the hill and cleared the guardrail. Weaving in and out of the stalled traffic, they raced across the highway. As they crossed the median of the highway, the gunfire started again. The captors had cleared the underbrush and were firing now that they had a clear field of vision. Marcus was careful to keep the boy ahead of him to try and protect him from the hail of bullets coming their way. They cleared the highway, shot through the hole in the fence, and raced across the parking lot of the stadium. One of the captors got hung up at the fence and that slowed them down somewhat.

  In labored breathing, Marcus spoke as they raced off the hill from the stadium, “Jocelyn.”

  “Yes, Marcus,” came the reply into his earpiece.

  “Are the two girls in the MAV?”

  “Yes, Marcus, they are in and safe.”

  “Good. Jocelyn, activate defense protocol. We are coming in hot. It will be me and a young boy. Are you picking us up on the sensors?”

  “Yes Marcus. Based on your current rate of travel, you should be here in approximately 7.3 minutes.”

  “Activate the Korak,” Marcus said still breathing hard.

  Marcus began thinking that he must really be out of shape because he was beginning to struggle with the all-out run. Still keeping the boy in front of him, they finally passed the last building and could see the MAV sitting about 200 yards across the way.

  “Jocelyn, something is wrong.”

  “Yes, Marcus. My sensors indicate that you have sustained an injury.”

  “Jocelyn” …

  Chapter 8

  “Jocelyn”… was the only thing that Wynd heard. She was sitting in the front passenger seat of the MAV listening to the conversation from the young man who she knew now as Marcus and apparently the computer controlling the MAV. As soon as he spoke, he tripped and went down. Rom was still running ahead for all he was worth. Marcus was slow to get up and finally started lumbering toward the MAV again. About that time Wynd saw the first of her captors, which was the large leader of the group, round the corner of the building and began firing at Marcus again. He turned slightly and began returning fire again as he struggled to reach the MAV.

  Frustrated, Wynd screamed, “Can’t you help him?”

  Almost on cue, the MAV lurched forward and slammed her backwards into the seat.

  “Marcus, offensive measures engaged,” Jocelyn stated.

  Immediately in an extremely labored voice, Marcus shouted, “Do not fire until they are all in range. Repeat. Do not fire until they are all in range.”

  Wynd saw Marcus take another shot to his upper left shoulder and almost fall down again but he kept going. The MAV was almost on him when he stumbled and fell again. The MAV had stopped by now and the driver’s side door swung open. Rom shot into the driver’s seat and then over into the back seat. Painstakingly slow, Marcus made it back to his feet and stumbled the last few feet to the MAV. He fell into the front seat and the door slammed shut. Wynd could see that the last of the captors except for one were now in sight firing at the MAV. The outside must be shielded somehow because the bullets were bouncing off and it seemed that they weren’t making contact with the big SUV.

  Weakly, Marcus gave the command, “All targets, Code Red: Fire.”

  Instantly, the windshield of the MAV changed and a heads up display popped up. Nine red circles appeared and locked on the advancing captors. At the same time, Wynd could hear the servos working as the big gun swung around and began firing. It was lightning fast. One short burst of gunfire and it was over. Nine bodies lay strewn across the parking lot. Blood and body parts were everywhere. She recognized Torque laying the closest to the MAV. He was the leader of the group. The Korak had completely cut him in half. Wynd was in total shock. The “Korak as Marcus called it was definitely a killing machine.

  Wynd turned to look at Marcus. He tilted his seat down and lay back. She moved over to him and began to try and help with his wounds. She could see the one in his lower leg and the one in his left shoulder but not the other. It must be in his back somewhere. She tried to help him turn over.

  “Wait,” he said.

  “We have got to stop the bleeding. Let me help you.”

  “Just a second… Jocelyn; Haven; Secondary route; Blackout. Evasive procedures”

  Immediately the windows of the SUV went into night vision mode again and the MAV started forward slowly. Wynd had no idea where it was going but it was driving itself.

  Chapter 9

  She noticed that Marcus had become silent and she turned to look at him again. She reached over and touched him and he didn’t respond. It was very dark in the MAV now and she needed to be able to see.

  On a chance, she said, “Jocelyn, can I have some interior lights please”

  Immediately the interior lights turned on. Wynd looked at Marcus and could see his shallow breathing. He was alive but he had passed out.

  “Rom, help me with him please.”

  Rom moved forward and with his help Wynd was able to remove his shirt. The wound in his shoulder went all the way thro
ugh. He was losing a lot of blood.

  “Jocelyn is there a first aid kit of any kind in here?” Wynd asked.

  “In the rear, behind the back seat is an EMT first responder kit Marcus acquired from an abandoned ambulance.”

  Rom quickly climbed over the back seat and brought back a good size bag with all types of various medical supplies. Wynd wasn’t sure what exactly to do so she took another chance and asked the computer’s AI if it had any medical knowledge.

  “I have extensive knowledge and access to all medical databases.”