Overrun: Project Hideaway
Page 34
“Break to goddamn where?!” Ford shot back.
“Sir…,” Baldwin said again. The turbulence from the transport jarred his speech.
“Forget the retreat. If troops are this far out, then they are out looking for us. And if they know where we are now, then they know where we’re going. It’s probably already been overrun.”
“No! We follow it in!” Ford said forcefully. “We go to the landing site. This is going to be it. Right here. We need what’s on that ship.”
A large boom ripped across the sky overhead.
Pressing up against the vehicle’s rear and side windows, Ford, Baldwin, and the driver watched a large ship break through the clouds and streak across the horizon.
Part of it was on fire. Large shredded pieces of its structure dropped away behind it and smashed into the ground.
“Oh my God…,” Ford said quietly.
Two smaller ships chased after it. Weapon bursts and laser fire spit at it from every side trying to knock it from the sky. Behind them, a larger more massive craft broke from the horizon momentarily blocking out the sun and casting a dark shadow across the terrain.
Ford stared at the trail of fire behind the Hideaway as it streaked ahead of them. Hills and dunes fell beneath it. Ripped metal and debris tore loose from its sides and plunged into the sand around the speeding transport. Giant craters opened in the ground on all four sides of the vehicle.
The injured guard tried to straighten in his seat.
“Five miles,” Baldwin reported.
The Hideaway dropped further from the sky heading in the same direction as the transport towards the coordinates of the presidential retreat.
The smaller ships continued to give chase. Their weapons fire hammered at its front and midsections. Streaks of orange and red traced after it through the sky.
The Hideaway barreled ahead across the dunes. Its rearmost section had almost completely torn from the rest of the ship. It was only connected by a section of steel protruding from its side. Pieces of metal continued to shake loose and crash into the earth.
The transport trailed after it along the ground.
Ford took his eyes from its descent just in time to see a piece of shredded steel smash down directly in their path.
The transport slammed hard into it.
Its front crumpled ferociously in on itself, and its rear end raised high into air before smashing back down hard to the ground. The windshield shattered into dust, and like a bullet, a body sailed straight through.
Smoke, fire and crushed steel marked all that was left of the transport. Ford raised his head through the haze. Faint gasps from the destroyed engine were the only sounds along the dunes.
Not far ahead he saw the Hideaway bury itself in the dirt.
A fireball followed by a loud boom marked the crash. The world then became suddenly still. A faint breeze tossed warm sand lightly about.
Ford looked over at Baldwin silent and unmoving in his seat. A deep gash ran across the top of his head.
Ford turned his head and gazed back out beyond the wreckage.
It was then he saw the troops. They were still far in the distance, but they came from all sides and steadily approached.
Ford pushed away the pieces of metal that covered him and slowly pulled himself from what was left of the transport.
The injured guard in the back next to him was dead. A ripped piece of steel jutted from the center of his chest.
The faint sound of an engine made him again look out. The first of many vehicles appeared from behind a dune.
The small distinguishable shapes of men walking on foot across the sun and battle-damaged terrain continued to advance from the distance. Their dark figures were ominous and foreboding against the light blowing sand.
Chapter 32
After a length of time he couldn’t determine, Tuttle awoke buried in twisted metal and dirt. The bodies of men damaged to the point they couldn’t be recognized were strewn about from the force of the crash.
Dazedly, he pulled himself from the wreckage of the cockpit away from what remained of his crew. He could hear the crackle of flame coming from the rear.
He dropped one leg, then the next, to the dusty ground. He leaned an arm against the Hideaway’s side and tried to find his balance.
The warmed air from the fires blew softly around.
He held a hand across his eyes and stared hard through the sun’s brutal haze.
A man ran towards him.
Tuttle took two unsteady steps to his right in the direction of the crashed transport.
His eyes focused and refocused against the sting of the falling sand and licking flames.
He saw domes burning in the distance. Entire cities smoked in ruins before his eyes. People scurried beneath decayed streets seeking shelters that never would stand a chance of shielding them from the blasts.
Tuttle lowered his hand to the Sunszk still holstered at his side. He raised it unsteadily and pointed it out.
The figure still ran toward him.
A few short seconds later, a vision of John Kirken stood in front of him. Tuttle tried to straighten himself across his unsteady legs.
Kirken’s daughter was next to him.
Tuttle squinted through the smoke still trying to focus his eyes and mind.
He was surprised to see they were back on top of the shopping mall rooftop. The voices of soldiers came from in front of him and behind. Weapons fire ripped through the air over his head and close to his ear.
And more than anything, Tuttle felt the intense heat.
He took a wobbly step toward them.
Kirken’s daughter moved back toward the edge of the rooftop. Flames licked viciously at her shoulders from over the side.
Kirken turned to stare at her. Large tears welled under his eyes.
Tuttle tried to move again. He felt the pain from his legs and broken bones throughout his body surge up and down his sides.
Kirken’s daughter took another step back. Kirken only stared at her as she moved closer to the ledge.
His body seething with pain, Tuttle tried desperately to make his body run. He lunged out to grab her. He felt Kirken also reach out to her from over his shoulder.
A tear dropped from his eye and splashed across the back of Tuttle’s neck.
His daughter reached the rooftop ledge. With tears in her own eyes, she looked at her father then to Tuttle.
And then she let her body fall back.
The same maddening desperate feeling Tuttle had felt before on the rooftop again consumed him. His heart withered and became sick.
He leaned frenziedly out over the rooftop and tried to grab her. Her legs flailed out just beyond his reach.
The flames licked harder as her body dropped away.
Tuttle stopped at the edge of the rooftop. His cries choked in his throat.
He stumbled once and fell to his knee.
* * *
Ford watched Tuttle pull himself from the what remained of the Hideaway’s cockpit.
His throat tightened when he saw the distant shapes of soldiers coming from everywhere across the sand.
Tuttle balanced himself and tried to walk. He reached for the weapon holstered at the side of one of his unsteady legs.
He raised it halfway up his chest when the first shot rang across the dunes.
Ford broke into a run. He screamed and waved his arms at Tuttle trying to get him to drop the Sunszk and fall to the ground.
A series of weapons bursts thundered from the dunes surrounding the Hideaway and the crashed transport forcing Ford to dive for cover behind a large rock.
Rounds slapped against the metal of the ship just above Tuttle’s head. Tuttle raised his weapon and looked around in confusion at the sound.
With his arms outstretched, Ford jumped away from the rock and ran towards him again.
Tuttle straightened his arm and with single methodic shots returned fire.
Ford yelled for him to stop.
His screams were quickly drowned out by a new weapons volley from behind one of the dunes.
Tuttle turned around and stared blankly at the fresh holes ripped into the Hideaway near where he stood.
Ford pumped his legs harder and continued to run. Weapons fire whizzed over his shoulder and traced a path at his feet.
Tuttle turned back around and held his weapon up loosely in the air. He then noticed Ford coming toward him. With puzzled interest, he watched him approach.
Tuttle stared at Ford for several long seconds then staggered once and fell to his knee.
Weapons fire blasted from all around. Bullets made sharp pings against the metal of the ship and shredded the terrain near his feet.
Ford dove again beneath a piece of destroyed ship metal for protection from the weapons bursts.
He raised his head through the smoke. Tuttle was just ahead. Ford could now see the blank look across his eyes.
Tuttle remained kneeling for what seemed like an eternity and then slowly stood. Raising his arm halfway and pointing his weapon forward, he pulled the trigger again. A single round buried itself in the ground ahead.
Immediately, additional weapons bursts kicked up handfuls of dirt around him in response.
And then a loud single rifle shot caught him in the center of his calf and spun him hard around. A second shot tore into his opposite arm wrenching his body hard back.
Ford rolled onto his chest. Beneath the heavy flame and smoke, he pulled himself on his hands and knees towards where he saw Tuttle fall near the front of the ship.
Before Ford could reach him, Tuttle stood again and raised his arm. He fired twice more before additional loud single rifle shots ripped into the center of both his legs and one of his arms.
Tuttle’s Sunszk flew into the air from his grasp. His mouth opened in a silent scream. His body tumbled backward toward the ground.
Ford continued to slide toward him through the smoke and sand.
* * *
Tuttle tried to open his eyes against the blazing heat from the fires and the onslaught of sunlight overhead.
A shadow across his face offered some relief.
Like the world moved in slow motion, he felt someone pull his body around. The person leaned over and spoke into his ear, but he couldn’t hear the sound.
The person dragged him further from the burning ship. Flames roared from its every side making the air almost impossible to breathe.
Tuttle tried his best to help make his body move.
The front of the ship was all but consumed by fire. Thick black smoke bellowed into the air. What was left of the rear cargo area stretched behind in a trail of wreckage for as far as he could see.
He didn’t recognize the man that pulled him away. His face was covered in both crusted and fresh blood. When they were far enough away, the man tried to tend to his wounds.
Tuttle looked past the man’s shoulder towards the black shapes of the coming troops. Tanks and vehicles followed behind. Several air ships circled the crash site overhead stirring up the sand so that it blasted hard across his face.
* * *
Ford pressed harder at the wound in the side of Tuttle’s chest. The bullet had passed through his arm, and judging from the way he breathed, buried itself somewhere close to his lung.
He couldn’t get Tuttle to speak.
Ford raised his head and watched the troops advance from the other side of the flaming ship. So far they hadn’t been seen. But the President knew it was only a matter of time.
Ford rolled Tuttle gently onto his side. He coughed and had trouble pulling breath into his lungs. Ford clutched him tightly in his arms and did his best to keep pressure on all his wounds.
The President stared out over the wreckage.
“General,” he said again. “Could there be anything salvageable? Anything at all we can use that withstood the crash?”
Tuttle didn’t respond.
Ford gazed out again at the troops and then down at Tuttle’s fading eyes.
Lying on his side with his head against the sand, Tuttle started to talk softly. Ford bent his body forward until his ear was just across Tuttle’s face.
“She’s dead…they’re both dead,” Tuttle said quickly. His voice could only be slightly heard over the approaching vehicles and the licking flames. “We couldn’t save her, John…she’s gone…she’s dead…they’re both dead.”
Ford pulled his head away and turned his face into the overhead sun. His heart wept for Kirken, his children and all those lost as a result of the conflict.
“Please forgive me…,” Tuttle said again. “I am so sorry…I swear to God I tried…”
Ford stared again at the Hideaway and the advancing troops.
The larger ship that had chased the Hideaway from the sky now circled overhead. Its massive frame covered the sun shrouding the world around them in a sudden dark.
Ford continued to hold Tuttle tightly in his arms and watched the troops slowly come.
Table of Contents
Copyright
...105 Years After Final Ozone Depletion
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32