Not to mention whoever had killed all those people.
When he saw Jenny sitting with Sandy, playing a game, his heart sank and he jogged over to them. “Where’s Devora?”
Sandy shrugged. “She asked me to watch the kid a few minutes ago. She didn’t say where she was going but I think she went into that alley.” She pointed over her shoulder.
Thoroughly alarmed now Les ran to the alley. Driven by a foreboding he hadn’t felt since his squad got ambushed in combat years ago, he sprinted the length of the alley and stopped at the corner, checking what was ahead. Rage filled him as he saw a beat up old groundtruck driving off with a woman in the front seat. That had to be Devora. He stepped into the open and raised his gun but the distance was too much. Desperately he looked around. The buses would be too slow, given the head start the truck had.
He scanned a tangled wreckage of cars and then focused on it more closely. There was an antigrav cycle lying on its side on the fringe of the crash zone. He ran over, to see the rider’s body where it had fallen, helmetless head cracked open on the curb. The AG cycle itself appeared undamaged aside from scrapes and dents. He wrested it upright and swung one leg over. The initiator was in the ignition so he turned it.
Nothing.
Frantically he tried two more times and on the third attempt the engine coughed to life, spooling up sluggishly. Les backed the cycle away from the accident scene and headed for the road the truck had taken, which soon joined the main road out of town. Ahead he could barely make out his quarry and he pushed the AGcycle to the red line and beyond. The powerful motor rumbled and answered his desperate need. He zigged and zagged around the cars littering the road and accelerated. As soon as he was in range, he fired, taking out one of the truck’s rear tires. The vehicle fishtailed but kept going, speeding up.
Now the men inside were shooting at him but he kept moving in a random pattern. They obviously weren’t as skilled at shooting from a moving platform as he was and with his next shot he took out one of the guys in the truck bed, watching with satisfaction as the body bounced off the roadway. He gave the AGcycle a quick spurt of antigrav impulse, just in time to avoid a barrage of blaster fire from the remaining occupants of the truck and shot out one of the front tires. He caught a glimpse of Devora’s terrified face as he circled over the truck from above. His next shot shattered the windshield and hit the driver in the middle of his forehead. Projectile guns might be old fashioned in this day and age of blasters but still packed a persuasive punch.
The truck wobbled all over the road, slowing as it did so. Les picked off the other man who’d been riding in the truck bed, leaving only one thug left alive. Time slowed for Les as the truck careened off the road, running into a ditch and bursting into flames. He landed the AGcycle as close as he dared and ran to the passenger door, yanking it open. The goon tumbled out, neck broken in the crash. Not hesitating for a second, Les grabbed Devora, sliding her across the seat to him. She was unconscious but there was no time to check her for injuries now. He turned and fled from the vicinity of the burning vehicle, throwing himself and Devora to the ground and covering her body with his own once he had put distance between them and the truck. Next second the truck blew up, sending flames and shrapnel everywhere. The concussion rocked him, blanking out his hearing and giving him a raging headache. A few pieces of hot metal sliced into his arm and across his back and Les tried to make himself an even better shield for Devora.
Once the shower of debris ended, he rolled off her and sat up, ripping the gag from her mouth and cursing savagely as he undid the belt binding her wrists, which were red and chafed because her kidnapper had fastened it so tight. She began to revive, screaming and jerking away from him.
“Shhh, baby, it’s me,” he said, still not able to hear properly. He held her by the shoulders and forced her to focus on his face.
Devora collapsed onto his chest, arms around his neck. “I didn’t think you’d notice I was gone until too late. They-they were going to take me to their gang’s camp and?—”
“I know, sweetheart, I know.” He tipped her chin up so he could see her face and lowered his head to kiss her.
Devora met him fiercely, lips parted, and the kiss was desperate for both of them. “I can’t believe how close I came to losing you,” Les said, stroking her back with one hand when they broke apart. “Are you hurt?”
“Bruises. I guess the truck’s safety system must not have worked when we crashed but I was kinda shielded by the men.” Eyes full of tears, she added, “They groped me some but were saving the real violence for their camp. They said the boss would want his turn first.”
Les hugged her tight. “If you can move okay we’d better get out of here. The fire can be seen for miles and it’ll be a beacon for the infected even if not for the rest of the gang. We’d better get back to the buses and get the seven hells out of town.”
He had to help her stand up as her legs were shaky but then he led her to the AGcycle. “Climb on behind me,” he said, “And hang on tight.”
It took Devora two tries to get herself situated on the seat behind him but then she clung to him, arms wrapped around his stomach, pressed tight against his back. Les patted her thigh in reassurance and then fired up the cycle, executing a sweeping turn and gunning it back to town as fast as he’d chased the truck. He was anxious about getting them all on the road and away from here. The truck had been traveling along a kind of rural side road, not the main highway, which was a blessing, but he was acutely conscious his two buses full of refugees were a vulnerable target for ruthless thugs like these.
The AGcycle roared into the square as the others paused what they were doing and stared. Les cut the engine when he was next to the bus and helped Devora off. “We’ve got to go,” he yelled to the group. “Bad guys kidnapped her. I took care of them but they’re part of a gang and we can’t wait around to meet the others.”
People ran for their buses, some carrying items looted from the local stores. Les made everyone else wait while he got Devora on the bus and situated in her seat. Sandy brought Jenny forward and handed her over, to receive a huge hug from Devora. “I’ll be right back,” Les said, leaving the bus and running down the square to a store he’d had his eye on earlier. It took him only a minute to grab what he wanted and shove the prize in his pocket. He heard the bus engines revving and dashed back, leaping up the steps. Devora had the engine idling and she moved out of his seat as he arrived.
“Thanks,” he said over his shoulder. “You’re a hell of a partner, lady.”
With one last regretful glance in the rearview vid at the AGcycle, wishing there was some way to bring it, he steered the bus out of the square, Ethan following close behind, and wound through the streets on his way to the highway. He would definitely remember how handy the AGcycle had been and if he did go out on his own later, he’d have to search for one.
Listening to himself, he scoffed at the ‘if’. He was going out on his own after dropping his passengers off at Glastine.
But then he checked on Devora in the mirror, wanting to see how she was holding up and his resolve softened. She still believed in law and order and the ability of authority, whoever that might be nowadays, to create a safe place to stay. Besides which there was Jenny. Les didn’t believe for a minute her mother would suddenly pop up in the Glastine camp. Devora would never leave the girl and she’d be extremely reluctant to take her into the kind of life he was planning, roaming the planet and staying out of the path of the infected. He heaved an exasperated sigh. Difficult decisions ahead.
He knew which way he was going to go.
But first he had to get them all safely to Glastine.
* * *
Les and Ethan conferred over the driver’s com about what to do next. The road was going to take them past the point where this Ruger person had his camp and it would also deliver them into the heart of Millerville, the last large town before Glastine. After what he’d seen in Verder’s Ford, Les wasn’t anxious to risk entering any more population centers but the map gave him no choices.
“We’ll just have to be ready, with all our people who have weapons and try to power through whatever we find,” he told Ethan after twenty minutes of fruitless conversation where he felt like they were chasing their own tails.
They drove through the night, using the AI, making one pit stop in the middle of the highway for fifteen anxiety-filled minutes. Les wanted as much distance between his group and the truck and bodies he’d left behind at Verder’s Ford. He hoped the explosion would make it difficult for Ruger to figure out what had happened to his four henchmen.
