by Bobby Akart
He now had a better view of the road in front of them. There was a long stretch of open highway with more abandoned cars. He and Mac were both in excellent shape and he considered their options.
Hunter quickly found his way back to Mac and gave her an assessment.
“He’s dead, Mac.”
“Geez. He was such a nice kid. This pisses me off, Hunter,” she growled. “Can we get these guys?”
“I’m mad too, but that’s not what we’re here for. We’ve got two options.”
Mac chuckled. “Two? You’re pretty optimistic or crazy. Which is it?”
“Your dad said crazy.” He laughed as he pulled his backpack around and began to rummage through it.
“What?”
“I’ll explain later,” he replied. He reaffixed his pack and showed Mac a simple clip-on visor mirror he’d purchased at Walmart. He also handed her a white tee shirt. “I’m gonna get in position, and when I give you the signal, I want you to throw this shirt as high in the air as you can. I’m hoping you can draw their fire.”
“Got it.”
Hunter eased to the rear bumper of the Defender, which was wedged against the concrete barrier. He positioned the mirror just past the fender where he could see the tops of both ridges. The snipers were well hidden, but all he needed was a general idea of where they were. He’d never get a clear shot at them.
“Okay,” he said to Mac. “Now!”
She tossed the shirt into the air, and as expected, the shooters reacted. He saw their muzzles flash nearly simultaneously as bullets rained down upon them, but flew harmlessly over the top of the truck. Now he had them spotted.
Hunter turned to Mac and waved her to his side. “Hold the mirror with your fingertips so that you can see from the ledge on the left side of the road all the way to the top of the ridge on the right side. I’m gonna do the same thing. Mac, this is important. Watch for a flash of light. From here, it’ll look like somebody lit a cigarette. You have to focus, okay?”
“I’m ready. Go for it,” she replied.
Hunter tied the tee shirt on the end of his rifle and quickly moved across the front fender of the truck with the tee shirt just above the hood. Two shots rang out, followed by a third. He stood up once he was behind the back end of the patrol car.
“Did you see them?” asked Hunter.
“Yeah, and something else too,” she replied.
“Whadya mean?”
She was still looking through the mirror, but the angle was tilted lower. “There are five or six guys walking down both sides of the highway. They’re spread out, maybe ten feet apart.”
Hunter rolled his eyes and banged the back of his head against the trunk lid of the patrol car. He dropped to the pavement until he could look under the frame of the Defender. He saw three sets of feet spread apart, as Mac had observed. That meant the other men were across the barrier.
“Come join me,” he said to Mac. She walked back to him, being careful to keep her head below the truck’s windows. She slid next to him and they stood with their backs to the trunk of the patrol car.
Mac was breathing heavy. “What’s the plan?”
“We could jump the concrete barriers and dash thirty yards for the scrub brush and aspen trees over on the shoulder of the westbound lane, but we’d be exposed for a considerable amount of time.”
“I’d cover you and then you’d cover me, right?” suggested Mac.
Hunter smiled. He was impressed at how Mac was holding it together. Taking on live rounds in a gun battle was a lot different from her days playing combat games at Paintball Atlanta. However, the principles applied were the same.
“I don’t like it,” said Hunter. “There are too many shooters. Our cover fire may take the guys approaching us out momentarily, but the snipers will be a real problem. At least one of them is a great shot. He hit the deputy in the forehead from a distance while the car was moving at a pretty good clip. The snipers worry me more than the guys approaching—”
Hunter was interrupted by shouting.
“Hey, down there!” yelled one of the gunmen.
“Y’all need to give it up! Come on out with your hands high and empty.”
“Maybe you’ll live!” said another.
The men were getting closer and laughing. They were taunting Mac and Hunter.
“Plan B?” asked Mac.
“Look at this,” said Hunter. He grabbed her by the hand and they eased to the hood of the patrol car, where they could see down the highway. The cars were scattered every twenty yards on both sides of the eastbound lane from the barrier to the canyon wall. “If we can neutralize the snipers with cover fire, you and I can run from car to car.”
“Bounding overwatch,” said Mac. “You cover me and I’ll cover you.”
“You’ve got the concept. You learned that playing paintball, right?” asked Hunter.
“Yep, sure did. I’m ready. Who’s first?”
Hunter loved this woman.
He thought through a pattern first. If they stayed at a low crouch, they could make it to the front of the small sedan next to them first. After that, he’d send Mac to the vehicle while he covered her.
“Shoulder your rifle and we’ll crawl like spiders to the front of this car. Stay low. Me first.”
Hunter slung his rifle’s strap over his neck and got on all fours on the ground. He walked on his hands and toes until he got to the front of the small Nissan. They didn’t take on any fire, so he waved Mac forward to join him.
“So far, so good,” she said.
One of the men shouted at them again. They were close.
“Last chance, people! Sheriff, don’t try to shoot it out with us. It won’t end well for you!”
“Time to go, Mac,” insisted Hunter. “I’ll lay down cover fire and slow the roll of these jerks. Get in front of the minivan and I’ll join you.”
Mac had her white CDC cap on. She turned it sideways and put on her Ray-Bans. “Love you!” she whispered, tapped him on the shoulder and began to run down the road.
Hunter immediately opened fire. The explosive NATO 7.62 rounds blasted out of his AR-10 in short three-round bursts toward each of the sniper positions. The approaching men began to yell and the sounds of footsteps could be heard as they sought cover. Neither of the snipers got off a shot.
“Go!” shouted Mac from her cover position.
Fully trusting her abilities, Hunter took off to join her. Her AR-15 sounded like cannon fire as Mac quickly squeezed off a couple of rounds toward the cliffs. Her aim was effective because the snipers were stymied again.
While they caught their breath, a few rounds were fired wildly in their general direction. The snipers had lost track of their targets.
“Mac, from here out, we don’t stop for long, okay?”
“Okay.”
“We get in position and keep the fire headed in their direction. They’re gonna lose interest in us. Most likely, they only want the contents of our vehicles.”
Mac craned her neck to identify their route down the highway until the road curved to the right. “I’ve got our route. If we can make it to the curve at the bottom of the hill, I don’t think they’ll follow us.”
“I agree,” said Hunter. “Although you never know where the bend in the road might take you.”
He turned to steady his aim at the sniper’s position on the ledge overhang. This time, he was gonna try to score a hit.
“Go!”
Mac took off and Hunter hesitated just a millisecond until he saw the slightest of movements through his scope. He squeezed the trigger and allowed the rounds to pepper the shooter. Without waiting for the results of his shots, he whipped his weapon to the right and sent a hail of gunfire in the vicinity of the other sniper. As he did, the wail of a man falling fifty feet to his death filled the canyon.
This battle was over.
Chapter 24
Day Eighty-Five
Cave of the Winds Park
West of
Colorado Springs
They jogged down the mountain several minutes until they were certain to be clear of the threat behind them. For the next hour, they barely said a word as each of them processed what had happened at Canyon Gulch. Hunter knew war and what man was capable of doing to one another. Mac had learned through the plague pandemic how ruthless people were just to advance an ideology. What they’d just experienced was how little human life was valued by some. The snipers on those ridges and the men advancing toward them were killing indiscriminately, not in self-defense or through some warped justification in the name of survival. They simply wanted to take what any passersby had in their possession. They were killing without qualms or misgivings.
Hunter glanced at his watch and walked backward for a moment to catch a glimpse of the setting sun. “It’s gonna be dark soon and we don’t want to enter the city after dark.”
“Wouldn’t it be safer if we weren’t seen?” asked Mac.
“That’s logical thinking, but I suspect any survivors are on edge,” replied Hunter. “They know their surroundings and we don’t, which provides them an advantage. I also suspect the lights aren’t on, making it difficult to choose our route toward the nearest military installation.”
“Based upon the map we studied, we’re probably six to eight miles away from the outskirts of town,” added Mac.
Hunter led them a little farther down the road until the road opened up with a view of West Colorado Springs. He looked up toward the top of the ridges, which were not near as high in elevation as the area they’d just passed through.
They made their way around a sweeping curve and the city opened up before their eyes. Mac picked up the pace to pass him slightly.
“I can’t decide if I’m excited to see where we’re headed or scared to death,” said Mac. “What do you think?”
“I wish we had a car,” said Hunter bluntly. “Being mobile gives us lots of options. We could rest for a while and then slip into some of these neighborhoods. A car would allow us to get around town faster and locate military personnel, who hopefully will help us.”
“Would you feel better if we rested for the night?” asked Mac.
“Yeah, probably. But I’m torn. As it gets darker, we’ll start looking for a spot.”
They walked another half hour, barely over a mile at their leisurely pace. Each time they approached an abandoned vehicle, they had to confirm there wasn’t a threat waiting for them inside, or a plague-stricken corpse. On a couple of occasions, vehicles were found that appeared to be clean, but they had been locked by the owner after having run out of gas.
Hunter was getting discouraged as nightfall crept in and he searched for a place to sleep for the night. He’d brought a couple of mylar blankets in his backpack, but they’d be insufficient against the evening’s upper thirties temperatures. They needed a house or building to get out of the elements and he didn’t want to wait until dark to secure a place.
After another fifteen minutes of walking, they came to a traffic signal with a single road turning off the highway next to a sign indicating the entrance to the Cave of the Winds Mountain Park.
The cave, discovered in the 1880s, had a unique limestone entrance that created winds from the inside of the mountain. As explorers went deeper into the face of the mountain, they discovered enormous caverns inside. After additional excavation and the advent of electricity, the Cave of the Winds was opened to the public. Soon a lodge was built to hang out over the canyon below and zip-line rides were created to send screaming tourists on a trip of terror to the bottom.
Hunter looked at the destination from another point of view. It was a nonresidential area, which might provide them some shelter for the night. Plus, there might be maintenance vehicles on the property if they could locate the keys.
“Do you have enough energy to hike up to the top?” asked Hunter as he looked up the winding road, which traversed the side of the ridge about a thousand feet. “I think it will give us a clear view of the city and it might provide better shelter than sleeping in a house full of plague bacteria.”
“Lead the way,” said Mac. “I think we’re both in better shape than we were five weeks ago. I’m finally used to the altitude, how about you?”
“Absolutely,” said Hunter as they started the trek up the mountain. Periodically, he’d glance over his shoulder, looking for signs of movement below them. It was eerily still. “The first week was brutal, and then all of a sudden, I didn’t experience the shortness of breath anymore.”
As the two of them reached the top of the ridge, Mac exclaimed, “Whoa, look at this place!”
Hunter picked up the pace and started a half jog towards the facility. The zip-line ride contained a bottomless chair attached to the cable. Called the Bat-A-Pult, the attraction dropped those fearless souls who enjoyed the thrill from the top of the mountain twelve hundred feet to the valley below.
“No way!” shouted Mac, who picked up the pace and jogged past him. “Do you think we could get it working?”
“I doubt they have power, but what a ride! It reminds me of dropping out of that helicopter in the Gulf of Mexico.”
“What helicopter?” asked Mac as she looked over the safety rail to the base of the mountain. Hunter had never told her the details of their mission, so she was unaware of the risks he had taken.
Hunter walked closer to the building and didn’t find any cars in the parking lot. Just the same, they needed to be careful. “Mac, let’s clear the building and then we’ll see if we can find anything useful. Let’s go.”
Together, they walked the perimeter and looked for evidence of looting or any occupants in the building. It was remarkably untouched. They approached the front door, a wood and glass patio-style door that was locked. Hunter shrugged, picked up a large piece of limestone from the landscaped area at the front, and broke out a pane near the handle.
With his left hand, he reached in and quickly turned the lock. He flung open the door and led the way, his rifle barrel swinging back and forth, ready to fire upon anything that moved. Mac walked in behind him, looking under the counter of the cash wrap where the registers were located at the front of a gift shop.
Hunter went left toward the children’s play area and Mac cleared the gift shop. It was a one-story building with vaulted ceilings. Each of them opened closet doors to find them stuffed with merchandise, but no people.
Hunter declared this part of the interior to be clear. He whispered to Mac, who joined his side, “I don’t see any evidence that this building has been touched in weeks. That means it’s clean, right?”
“Yes, Hunter, but look,” said Mac, directing his attention to a winding stairwell at the rear of the gift shop. “There’s an upper level. Looks like a restaurant.” She pointed to a sign on the wall, which read Caver’s Café.
Hunter moved quickly past Mac. They moved upstairs together with Hunter taking two of the wood steps at a time. Mac continued to watch their backs, allowing Hunter to deal with threats head-on.
A quick glance at the large dining area revealed neatly arranged tables and chairs and an incredible view of Colorado Springs. Mac remained in the dining area while Hunter entered the kitchen and food storage pantry. After a minute, he emerged from another entrance.
“We’re clear, Mac. This place has a lot of food like those big #10 cans of vegetables and lots of condiments. The walk-in freezers and coolers are locked up, but I imagine the food is spoiled anyway.”
He walked through the dining room and stood by her in front of the windows facing the city. After a brief moment, she left his side and walked out onto the balcony.
“Hunter, check it out. They have those tower viewers. You know, put in a quarter and you can see all the way to the city.”
Tower viewers were large metal binoculars that were mounted on a steel base and stalk. They were coin-operated, usually requiring a quarter to view locations in the distance. When payment was required, there was a time limit of a couple of minute
s. The ones located at Cave of the Winds were free.
Mac and Hunter positioned themselves behind their own viewer. These particular devices enabled them to change magnification and had a wide range of motion although Colorado Springs was seen through a narrow gap in the mountain ridges.
Hunter liked the directories provided with the units. They showed specific attractions in the field of vision, which included Cheyenne Mountain. He adjusted the focus and the height to allow him to study the situation on the ground between the base of the mountain and NORAD. There was a road that ran along the mountain to their immediate south along the outskirts of a large residential area. That road would give them a straight shot to where they needed to be.
“Mac, originally, I thought we should go to the Air Force base, but it’s on the other side of the city. I have a better idea. Let’s go right to the front door of Cheyenne Mountain. There’s a road that winds its way along the neighborhoods and comes out fairly close.”
“So we’re gonna stay for the night?” asked Mac.
“Yeah. Let’s establish a secured perimeter. I wanna look in those storage garages out back for a ride, and then we’ll check out the kitchen.”
“Nacho chips and cheese, with jalapenos,” said Mac. “Movie theater food.”
“Sounds delicious,” said Hunter with a laugh.
“No, seriously. I saw bags of tortilla chips and a large can of that Rico’s fake nacho cheese. It won’t be hot, but it never is by the time you get to your seat in the theater anyway.”
Hunter laughed and put his arm around her neck. “Let’s get our chores out of the way and you can whip me up a gourmet post-apocalyptic dinner.”
Chapter 25
Day Eighty-Six
West of Colorado Springs
It was early in the morning, about an hour before sunrise, when Hunter woke up next to Mac. His back was sore from the accommodations, which consisted of the two of them crawling into a wooden play fort created for the children who visited Cave of the Winds. It had two-inch foam pads as a base inside and they used Terror-Dactyl pillows from the gift shop to rest their heads on.