by Mark Clodi
"Shit." shaking his head Charlie continued, "These guys relayed the coordinates for the drop! These guys nuked us!"
Nodding, Jack said, "Looks that way. I wonder how much of what they told us was true? Probably it was a mix, huh? I just don't get why they would kill themselves."
Juan pointed to the satellite disk, "That still work?"
Shrugging Charlie said, "Don't know. I doubt it, ain't there supposed to be an emp wave or something that kills all batteries and radios when it goes off?"
"It won't hurt to try." Juan went over and clicked on the rather old fashion microphone, "Hello?"
Immediately a voice came back, "Who is this?"
"This is Juan Bustillo, who is this?"
"Juan this is Ed Stanson of the 19th Special Forces Group, currently stationed out of Fort Carson. Where are you Juan? Has there been an explosion nearby?"
Laughing quietly, Juan replied, "An explosion? Yeah, there was a bomb dropped up here."
"Okay how safe is your position? Were you close to the explosion, did you feel a heat wave or have any debris or dust fallen near you?"
"No, no we are far away. The bomb fell over by the airport, I think, we are on the south side of Denver, probably twenty miles away."
"Good! Juan that is good! Are you further to the west than the explosion? Further west of it?"
"Yeah, yeah we are, why?"
"The winds, they will carry the dust from the bomb and the dust will be radioactive. I think you are out of harms way. Do you know the address of where you are at? Do you see any street signs?"
"Ah, no, no address, I know where I am, you aren't going to bomb us are you?"
"What? No, no, what are you talking about? We want to rescue you, send people to come and get you."
Chapter 25
Dave was crouched down behind the broken glass of the store front, he was looking out at the group edging towards his motorcycle, there were eight of them. A stranger group he could not have imagined. Just kids, older kids, they had weapons, not just bats or pieces of pipe, but what looked like actual swords, one of them had an ax, some of them were wearing what looked like armor, chain links woven together in an integrated pattern. Pretty really. And pretty stupid, Dave thought, bullets were not stopped by the stuff they were wearing and he doubted the large shields three of them were toting would do much to deflect a thirty eight caliber piece of lead either. Dave loved stupidity. The kids had a couple of little ones with them too, a boy and a girl.
"So." he whispered to his boy, "You want a boy for a friend or a girlfriend?" The boy, who Dave had named, 'Nuke', was much better than he had been at six this morning. Thanks in large part to a man who had fell for the old, 'gun on the seat' thing around seven thirty. The guy was massive, three hundred pounds if he was a hundred and he was slow, which was awesome. Dave just waited for the fat slob to approach the gun then he and the kid stepped out of the store and got his attention. The man, almost to the gun, was already sweating beads in the cool morning air and he did not stop to look at Dave or the kid, he knew he had to get the gun and when he did, he whipped it around and pointed it at Dave. Dave had kept coming closer, in a slow walk, not even bothering to take his own pistol out of his holster. He had kept the gun loaded, but not with a bullet in the chamber, the fat guy surprised Dave by knowing how to chamber a round, but when the gun simply clicked, the guy had deflated, he had looked noticeably smaller and pale. Dave kind of wanted to drag it out, play with the dude a little, however the man was so pathetic looking that he opted for a quick pistol whip upside the head, while the guy was down Nuke jumped on his leg and started feasting, the fat guy was not out though, after being bitten and pistol whipped he still swung around and punched Nuke a good blow to the head. It never ceased to amaze Dave how people fought for their lost causes. He had to hit the guy three more times before he went down and then they both enjoyed a good breakfast. Dave had been taking a lot of hits lately and the extra charge he had gotten from fatty seemed just the thing to push him back up to full strength.
Nuke seemed to benefit far more from his meal than Dave, the pure amounts that he consumed amazed Dave and by the time he was done eating he could not only talk coherently, but his little belly was so distended that Dave was tempted to call him 'Ethiopia', instead of 'Nuke'. That was a couple hours ago and Nuke had vomited a vile ichor and shat more of it out, once in his pants, which disgusted Dave so much that he beat the boy and had made him go naked until he was sure he was not going to go any more. Now Nuke had on some loose sweat pants, easy to get down in emergencies, plus a pair of Nike's which seemed to fit him well enough, on top was Rockies t-shirt two sizes too big.
Answering his question, Nuke said, "Boy, no girls."
Dave smiled cruelly and said, "Shows what you know stupid. The girl can open doors your wanker never will. Adults go ape shit for girls in distress. I'll take them both. No, you'll take them both and if either of them winds up dead, so will you. I got no use for people who don't do as I say. Got it?"
Nuke nodded and they continued to watch as the group outside had a discussion, about eighty feet away at the end of the block. One of the girls had a bow, a goddamn bow and arrow. Dave smiled. "Christ, girlfriend, this isn't some sort of stupid game." Still it would pay to be prudent, what if she knew how to use it. Shoot her first, or at least at her, then take out the bigger boys. Six shots for six people, and Dave knew he would miss. At least once, probably; he would be lucky to hit three of them, they were not slow zombies he could throw rocks at. Yeah figure on getting three of them down, then either re-load and shoot the rest of them or just go mano-a-mano, there was no way in hell they could win, Dave was feeling very, very strong right now.
Turning to Nuke Dave said, "Get the kids knocked out or break a leg or something, so they can't go fast, then make sure any of them I shoot stay down, then jump anyone I am fighting from behind. You are not to run away, you die out there to keep me from dying, got it?" Dave put an extra mental push into his words, it gave him a feeling that Nuke could not disobey him, he was not sure if it would, time would tell.
Ah good, the group was making a decision, the right decision, to investigate the motorcycle and gun. The group came forward warily, at about forty feet from the motorcycle two of the heavily armored guys and the boy came forward, the rest of the took up a holding position. The third guy with a shield and the ax had a revolver, he took it out and held it down along his body. He looked inexperienced holding it, funny really he looked more confident when he had been holding the ax. 'Target One' changed to him in Dave's mind, revolver guy gets two bullets, girl with the bow, gets one, two guys in front each get one, then whoever looks most threatening gets the last one. Plus there would be misses. The boy in front had a long dagger out, probably nothing to worry about, he was half Dave's size. "Watch the boy he has a big knife.", Dave said to Nuke, who stood quietly watching with big eyes as the trio approached the cycle and gun.
Dave had told Nuke earlier that the signal for the attack was when anyone touched the gun. His reasoning was that anyone who grabbed the gun would be distracted by it, try to get it to work and in those crucial seconds where they figured out it didn't work, they would be dead.
The three guys stood there looking at the bike from about fifteen feet away, Dave could not quite hear what they were saying, but they were pointed to the blood on the ground where fatty had died. 'Shit', thought Dave, 'I should have moved the fucking bike twenty feet away or so, it is so obviously a trap they will never fall for it now.'
Yet they did, the older guys stopped and looked around, they sent the boy up with his knife, he approached the bike, and flicked the gun off the seat. Dave said, "Good enough, go!" to Nuke who looked confused as to if flicking the gun off the seat with a knife was the same thing as touching it with their hand. "Go!"
Dave pulled his revolver out and got a bead on the kid with the gun. Meanwhile Nuke scrambled towards the group out the front door of the building they had been hiding. Dave
watched him go and also watched as the older boy with the gun raised it and prepared to fire. Dave pulled the trigger and fired until the young man went down, 'Was that two shots? Or three?' he thought to himself, 'Goddamn it! I am too far away!'
Pulling himself up Dave burst out of the front of the store and watched as the girl with the bow put an arrow into Nuke from about twenty feet away, Nuke was running for the little girl first and the arrow, which went through his forearm and pinned it to his neck, not slowing him up in the slightest.
'Gotta get closer to the chick with the bow!' this was Dave's only thought as he charged towards the 'rear' group to get a shot off, ignoring, the three people closer to his motorcycle, who were about fifteen feet away. Nuke slammed into the little girl, an all pro football star could not have done a better job of knocking her on her ass. As they went down Dave closed to within 'accurate' pistol range, or about thirty feet from the young woman, he sighted down the gun, going for a torso shot and just as he was about to pull the trigger he hand was knocked aside and the gun went flying. Staring in amazement at his arm Dave saw a long sliver of metal sticking out of it, about eighteen inches long.
"Sonuvabitch!" he cried, it was the little kid's dagger, sticking through his arm! Dave had expected the trio to run away, not stand there facing down a guy with a pistol. Turning Dave saw the little kid looking smug and worried at the same time, obviously happy with his throw and afraid of what was coming. Only he was not alone, the two larger boys jumped in front of him and stood shoulder to shoulder, one of them yelling to the boy, "Stay back Matt!" and the advanced on Dave.
Giving them his full attention, Dave mimicked them, "Oh yes, stay back Matt! And stick around, me and you are gonna have a long talk once I get rid of these bozos!" As he said this an arrow appeared out of his shoulder. "Fucking Christ!" Dave yelled, a little higher and the arrow would have hit him in the head. To prevent any further bow shots Dave jumped forward into the two young men, 'let bow and arrow girl get a shot off now.' he thought, thinking she wouldn't risk firing for fear of hitting her friends.
As he slammed into the taller boy's shield both of them took swings at him with their swords. One sword bit deeply into Dave's lower leg, breaking the bone, however as he spun aside he was able to dodge the other blow entirely. Not quite breaking through the two Dave jumped back, keeping them between him and the archer and trying to buy time for his leg to heal to the point where he could use it again. The boy Matt had picked the Glock up off the ground was trying to figure out how to use it. Dave saw Nuke running at him from the side, Nuke had sprouted two more arrows, one in his back and another in one of his legs, neither of which stopped him from tackling Matt into the Harley.
While this by-play was going on the taller young man had lumbered forward and tried to hit Dave, they were talking quietly to themselves, planning their moves and Dave figured he had better just handle them one at a time. Behind the young men the bow woman was trying to get a shot on him or Nuke, the other two in that group were bent over the guy on the ground and the little girl, checking to see if they were alright.
Dave feinted back at the smaller boy, then jumped sideways into the larger one, knocking his sword aside with ease. Once close in Dave smashed the kid in the face three times, then swept his hand down on the kid's shield arm, probably breaking it, the kid was tough and spun away from Dave and stayed on his feet, shrugging off the pain of his broken nose and split lips and trying to bring his shield back up into line. He did get his sword up and between them, which put all three of them in a line giving the archer another shot, which took Dave right in the neck, he gurgled and pulled at the arrow. He felt, then saw the slender blade of the other kids enter through his back and come out of his stomach, with Dave impaled the bigger boy stepped up and swung at Dave's head, trying to end the combat. Dave's gestures were a ruse however, the neck shot hurt like hell, but was not a blow that slowed him down, and the impalement? Well the kid in back should have taken a head shot, not stabbed him through the chest.
The kid behind him yelled, "No!" as Dave twisted sideways and pulled the sword hilt out of his hands with his body's weight. Then Dave lifted his hand up and deflected the sword by hitting the flat of the blade, which bent the weapon slightly. Continuing his twist he backhanded the shorter youth, knocking him to the ground. Dave briefly saw Nuke fighting with the kid on the ground and he turned full circle and and stood facing the the taller kid once again. Dave spread his arms wide, ducked briefly to let another arrow fly past his head and then leaped on top of the youth, knocking him down and landing on top of him.
In a classic bully on the school yard method Dave pulled himself and the blade of the sword up the kid's body and then sat on his stomach and delivered another volley of fists to his head, stunning or knocking him unconscious, Dave could not pause to find out. Reinforcements were arriving in the form of one of the girls who had hung back and the other, young kid who had been checking on the guy Dave had shot.
Quickly standing and putting the new combatants between himself and the archer Dave stretched, then reached up and casually tore the arrow out of his throat, followed by removing the other arrow from his shoulder. Rotating his shoulders and clearing his throat Dave tried to talk, his damaged throat would not allow it yet, though his leg seemed to be completely better. Cracking his knuckles Dave then reached behind him, grasping for the hilt of the sword under his left shoulder blade with his right hand. It was a tight reach, until Dave used his left hand to push the blade back through his body, making the hilt stick out a little more and easier to grab.
Clearing his throat again, Dave wondered at why they were not jumping him, instead they seemed to be watching him, waiting to see what he would do. Glancing quickly sideways he saw Nuke pinned under the bike with the other brat on top of him, pistol whipping Nuke with the Glock! Well there was nothing Dave could do for him now, he would live or wouldn't. Shrugging his shoulders and clearing his throat yet again, Dave found he could speak again, albeit his voice was rough, "Wh-hat are you waghting for?" he asked them.
The girl, who had a smaller shield on her arm and a long sword, answered him, "You."
"What? Why?" he asked.
"It is the damage moron, the more you use your body to heal up damage the slower you become, you lose your reflexes, we've seen it before.", she answered smugly.
'Huh?', thought Dave, he hadn't really noticed that, though it made sense, still he had gone into this fight well fed and was sure he was still stronger than he had ever been. He tried a feint with the sword, the woman didn't even flinch. Instead she said, "Oh please, you are not even in reach of me yet!"
Snorting, Dave lunged into reach and stabbed at her, using his speed to take her by surprise, only she was not where he stabbed, she had sidestepped and delivered a sharp thrust to the side of his head above his ear. A thrust which he barely was able to pull back from before it shattered his skull! Further her companion, had stepped forward and slashed at Dave's legs from behind, cutting through his denim into his calves! He almost went down, instead staggering forward and beyond the reach of their swords. Turning he put his back to the archer, and watched them intently, when he heard the arrow released he stepped right, to the other two it was as if he had just disappeared and reappeared two feet to the left of where he had been, the arrow, unimpeded, smacked into the boy's shield.
Casting the boy a sidelong glance the young woman said, "Ron, you better let me handle him."
"You sure Whitney?" said Ron.
She nodded which was enough for Ron, he then stepped back behind her, saw the little kid still pistol whipping Nuke and then stab his another dagger into Nuke's head. Nuke's back arched lifting the whole motorcycle off the ground momentarily, then he stopped moving. Dave got pissed, Nuke was his, his, well just his, no one else got to kill him. Only Dave got to do that. Leering he moved up towards Whitney, "You'll handle me? You'll handle me? What makes you think so? You cocky, young bitch?" Gripping his sword in two hands Dave stro
de forward on unhealed legs and started beating on Whitney.
For her part she managed to dodge some of his blows and took the rest on her small shield, until the shield started to come apart in her hand. Then she realized she was going to have to fight back, not wear her opponent down, she went on the offense and Dave was amazed, where as the young men were all brute strength and force, she was agile and did not telegraph her moves, making it harder for Dave to dodge her blows. They traded blows, with Dave nicking her thigh and Whitney opening up Dave's stomach, his entrails spilled out over his legs and almost by mutual consent they both spun away to drier ground. Guts hanging around his legs like an obscene kilt Dave and Whitney fought on. Dave started to get tired, Whitney was also breathing heavily. Dave knew any breaks in the fight would only serve to give her time to rest and, if she had told the truth, make him slower as his body healed up any damage he had already taken. He kept the fight up, jumping right back into combat with her, at a pivotal moment Whitney and he crossed blades. Dave pressed in close, both hands on the hilt of his weapon and his body pressed up against hers. His strength was winning the contest, pressing her downward, seeing an opportunity he swept out with one foot sweeping her off of her feet, at the same time she 'gave', shoving the hilt of her weapon into his face, breaking his nose and causing him to lose vision in one eye, both stumbled and fell backwards to the ground. He was quicker to regain his feet and slashed his sword across her torso as she rose. The blade did not seem to penetrate her chain armor shirt, but it threw her back to the ground, as he raised his sword over his head for a possibly killing blow he felt a sword slash to the side of his head, clipping the bottom of his ear off. As he had raised his own sword it had inadvertently blocked the blow from Ron, who had sneaked up behind him.