"Jesse!" Liz exclaimed, "Connor, I’ve got to help him." She said, not waiting for my response. She was already climbing around the roll cage, trying to get back to him.
"How bad is it?" I asked after a few minutes. I couldn't hear what they were saying. My heart was beating so fast I thought I might go into cardiac arrest. A sense of despair began to wash over me. It was my job to keep them safe and I had failed. Had I gotten this kid killed?
"He's bleeding like crazy, it hit him right by his collar bone." She yelled to me, as she dug through the packs looking for bandages. "We have to get him to a hospital, he's losing too much blood."
"Just hang in there, we'll be at the road in another ten minutes or so." I said as I looked down at the gauges, trying to estimate how far we could get on this tank of gas. We didn't get a chance to grab the extra fuel container, so once we ran out that was it. From what I could tell, Jesse was in no condition to hike.
I could faintly hear Jesse moaning from the back. He seemed to be in an incredible amount of pain. Probably the worst of his life, up to that point.
"You're gonna be fine, honey." Liz was saying to him, trying to reassure him and keep him calm.
"We've got a problem." I said. "A big one"
"What? what do you mean?" She asked.
"They must have hit the fuel line, I can see the gas gauge slowly going down."
"What are we going to do?" She asked as she finished getting a bandage around his arm to stymie the bleeding.
"I don’t know," I said, racking my brain, trying to desperately find a solution. The soldiers chasing us had to have been on foot. We would have seen or heard them in the days before, if not. According to all reports, the roads we were headed to were safe. They would not have come from the north or the highways to the east. There was no explanation except that they had traveled inland a few days behind us. Easily making up ground on the days we had rested. Perhaps they had been forced to abandon quads or dirt bikes at the cliff we had scaled just a few days before.
"He's in a lot of pain." Liz said as she climbed back up front to talk to me. "He'll be fine for probably an hour, maybe two, but he needs to get to a doctor bad. This isn't something we can just wrap up and drown out with pain killers."
"You're right." I said bringing the tractor to a stop.
"What the hell are you doing?" She said panicking.
"Where's the duct tape?" I asked ignoring her question. I still didn’t have a good answer.
"Connor!"
"Look we're a good five miles away now, it'll take them at least half an hour to catch up to us on foot." I replied, " Now where is the god damn duct tape?"
"It's in the bag by the medical kit." Liz said, still upset and scared. "You have to tell me what you're thinking."
"I'm thinking we need to stop the gas leak if we want to get him to a hospital." I said as I looked for the line that had been damaged.
"Is that going to work?"
"No, not very well." I replied honestly. "It's like putting a band-aid on it, but it will slow the leak down some."
"How much?"
"Enough to get the two of you to the road at least. That's the best we can hope for-"
"Wait," she said cutting me off. "What do you mean the two of you? You cant leave us, are you fucking crazy? They'll slaughter you."
"Yeah," i said, "I’m pretty sure that's what they intent to do."
"I’m not going to let you!" She said crying, knowing she had no say in the matter.
"You are" I said somberly, pulling out the larger mounted gun as I talked. "You won't make it if I don’t and we both know it."
"Connor, they're going to kill you." She said sobbing.
"Probably." I said strapping the Kukri and hatchet to either side of my belt. "But maybe not Liz. If you haven't noticed, I’ve made it this far without getting killed. Maybe, just maybe, that luck is going to hold up."
"Unngghh, don’t...be..."
"Take it easy, Jes." I said grabbing the extra clips for the two pistols.
"..such...a...dumbass..."
"I know what I’m doing. Oh and I’m going to need to borrow these." I said taking the last belt of grenades.
"Connor I cant just leave you her to die." Liz said grabbing my arm as if she were going to drag me back into the vehicle.
"You can and you will." I said, cupping her face with my hand. "I love you and I refuse to keep running from these fucks. Besides, without me on this thing, that's 200 pounds less which means you're going to be using a lot less fuel to keep going."
"We have to keep running, it's the only way." she said desperately, tears streaming down her face.
"I've run far enough." I said, bracing myself for what lay ahead. "If they want a fight, I’ll give them one. This ends here one way or the other."
We stood there in silence, her clinging to me as if she thought that I would float off if she let me go. She was trying to come to terms with the realization that she would probably never see me again.
"You need to go." I said, "Tell people what happened here today. They can kill me, but they can't destroy what's been set into motion. This is bigger than any of us now, we've just got to keep the momentum going."
She said nothing, knowing she couldn't change my mind. I kissed her on the forehead as I picked up my weapons and started walking back the way we had come.
"We'll come back for you..." She said sobbing as she got into the tractor and pulled away.
We had wasted a lot of time. At a brisk jog, they would be here within minutes. There was no way of losing them with the gator leaking gas behind it. My jaw was clenched tight as I looked around, trying to find my vantage point.
There was no time to try and camouflage myself, I would need to find somewhere to hide. I walked about thirty yards back, looking for the place I would make my stand. Just a few feet off the trail was a large tree with plenty of low hanging branches. I climbed up a few, putting myself about 10 feet off the ground. the branch was sturdy enough to hold my weight near the trunk. I was crouched down, with the machine gun's tripod set against the branch.
They were out for my blood, but I would be waiting for them. I could not continue running away, it was against every instinct in my body. I had no flight reflex, this assault would not be over until one party was unable to walk away.
Luckily for me, I wouldn't have to wait much longer to find out who that was. I was out-manned by about two dozen. Outgunned by probably thousands of rounds and injured as well. My only advantage was that they had no way of knowing this. I would have to make myself appear as an angel of death in their eyes. A demon, using their fear against them. No mercy, no hesitation, and no survivors to bring back reinforcements.
Within minutes I heard their boots thundering down the trail in unison. The sound of their feet amplified by the almost complete silence of the woods. Even the birds had left, they wanted no part of this.
I waited patiently, as I had been trained to do. Taking measured breaths, biding my time until my enemy would inevitably step into my sights. I would strike when they were so close that they could not retreat.
I did not have to wait long. Soon they came into view, twenty six men. They looked well seasoned and experienced. However, they had made a fatal mistake in exchange for speediness. Their weapons were slung over their shoulders, hanging behind them so that they could chase us. Never expecting that I had decided I would no longer let them chase me.
Twenty six men in tight formation came running up the trail toward me. Their eyes on the tracks from the gator, they would not get close enough to see where we had stopped. They were only yards away, nearly in front of me. The trail was narrow, with huge trees walling them on each side.
I tossed grenades at them, in front and behind. They were caught off guard and had started to panic. They were now in my kill box. I trained my gun on them and opened fire.
22 men, the grenades had killed four. Another two were obviously injured.
The bullets tore through the leaves in front of me. Like a swarm of angry hornets, speeding toward their victims.
16 men left scrambling for cover, as my magazine was spent. I lobbed the rest of the grenades, corralling them back into the line of fire, afterward jumping out of the tree.
14 men, three more on the ground dieing from grievous wounds.
The strap on my gun snagged a branch on my way down. They had spotted me and came running. Ignoring their training in favor of allowing themselves to be controlled by their adrenaline. I released the hook, leaving the machine gun where it had stuck. I didn’t have time to grab it.
Three men running right at me, raising their guns to fire. Rage in their eyes, they wanted my blood as payment for the friends I had taken from them. I unholstered my pistol, calmly moving forward toward them.
Only eleven left as I put bullets in heads of the three foolish enough to rush me. The others had begun to collect their-selves. The blasts had knocked them off their feet, they had scrambled for cover. I did not allow them to find it.
A few bullets in one man's back as he tried to run behind a tree. Ten left. I walked forward calmly firing. They were starting to fight back, but I had pressed toward them so aggressively that they couldn't afford to fire wildly without hitting their own men.
Another struggling to get a bead on me, his gun caught. He probably let the barrel hit the dirt in his panic. Another fatal mistake. I shot him from so close that his blood splatter reached me.
This time, I made the mistake. I had passed one man in order to shoot the other. The man behind me, much larger than the others, viciously slammed into me, tackling me to the ground. My gun went flying out of my hand. As we fell, I slipped thew Kukri out, driving it into his stomach as we hit the ground. His guts spilling from the gash.
His friends knew he was dead, they didn't hesitate to fire on us. I used him as a shield, buying time to pull out the other pistol, as he absorbed their fire. Reaching out from behind him I shot down two more soldiers.
Only half a dozen left standing, they scattered about. Desperately looking to distance themselves from me. Two had dropped their guns and appeared unarmed, I would deal with them last. I flung the dead man's body off of me and jumped to my feet.
I hadn't anticipated they would use their own grenades. One hitting just yards away, sending me flying into a nearby tree. I nearly blacked out from the force of the impact. Slinking to the ground, my ears ringing. I couldn't hear anything. The grenade had knocked down the other three who had been closing in on me. It was a twisted blessing, they probably would have had me seconds later. I forced myself to my feet once more. Struggling to get up where a low hanging branch had forced itself between my ribs.
I emptied the clip into a particularly motivated individual who was charging toward me, while firing erratically. One of his bullets had clipped my injured shoulder, the bandage taking more damage than my own arm.
I went to reload, only to realize my clips must have been knocked off when that grenade had sent me flying.
Five left, three armed the other two still trying to find weapons on the ground. I had no gun. The three saw their opportunity and advanced on me. They weren't firing, these bastards intended to take me alive if possible.
Unfortunately for them, it was not. I moved fast between the two closest to me. Swinging the kurki, knocking his barrel out of my way. I came down hard with the hatchet, lodging it into his skull. He crumpled to the ground, the other had decided I didn't need to live after all. He fired with his pistol, as I dislodged the hatchet, by kicking the dead man in the chest, and moved toward him. I took a bullet in my uninjured shoulder, but it was not enough to stop my momentum. The blade of the Kukri slashed across his face, blinding him. I followed by slamming the hatchet into his wrist, forcing him to drop the pistol.
I was unrelenting, like a hurricane of blades, raining blow upon blow onto him. The last armed soldier moved in trying to peel my attention away. I struck hard, swinging my arm backward slicing his throat. I moved to finish my first target. He had fallen to one knee under the force of my blows. Wounds all over him, I had broken his collar bone with the hatchet during the melee. He was completely incapable of fighting back at this point. Pleading, begging me not to kill him, I couldn’t understand if it was Chinese or if his voice was just garbled by the injuries to his face.
No mercy, I reminded myself. He would return with more men. I hesitated for only a moment before driving the tip of the kukri down through his right trapezius muscle and into his lung.
Two men left. The hesitation was the last fatal mistake. I had ignored the other two men for far too long. Perhaps, I had even been arrogant in thinking they were not a threat. A hail of gunfire rang out, spraying me from the side and another from behind.
I had no idea how many bullets had torn through me as I sank to the ground in shock. They had won, I would not walk away from here. They couldn't possibly get me to an infirmary in time on foot. Then again, perhaps they no loner wanted me alive. In that case, they had probably succeeded.
I had fallen to my knees, slumping forward. The man who had shot me from behind yanked me upright by the throat. Pressing a pistol to my head with his free hand.
"Hey, that's my gun asshole." I said, spitting blood out of my mouth.
"Silence!" Yelled the other, viciously backhanding me. I fell to the ground from the force of the blow. His comrade, promptly yanked me back up. I was at their mercy, which meant I was no better off than they were at mine. Only an hour before we had been so close to escaping them.
Only minutes away from the road and a clear path to Seattle. I knew Jesse and Liz would make it. It pained me to know I was right, that they couldn't have made it, had I stayed with them.
"Tell me something, General," the soldier, clearly an officer of some kind, said snidely. "Did you really think you could withstand the might of the Empire of China?"
"Oh, you're an Empire now? That's precious." I said spitting more blood out of my mouth. I was bleeding out, but they didn't realize it. They were probably too shaken to assess the situation.
"Arrogant fool!" He said stomping his boot hard into my face. I felt my nose breaking, but this time the other soldier was kind enough to keep me upright. he bound my hands with zip ties as his Officer kept speaking. "You're going to make me a very famous man, General. I am deeply saddened by the loss of so many soldiers, but it will only serve to bolster my own reputation."
"I'm happy for you." I replied, amazed at his self righteousness. "But what makes you think you'll make it back alive?"
"You are as foolish as you are dangerous," He said, a glimmer of doubt flashing in his eyes. "Xiang, call in the helicopter for retrieval."
Xiang responded in Chinese and began to walk off as his superior continued to monologue like a classic cartoon villain.
"You talk too much." I said tired of listening to his poor English.
"I will take great pleasure in watching your execution, perhaps I will even be allowed to take part in it."
'Shao Xiao," Xiang said as he slowly walked up to his officer, continuing to speak in Chinese
"So your name's Chow Jow, huh?" I said trying to unsettle him. "Is there a Mrs Chow Jow?"
"Shao Xiao, you arrogant little scum," He snapped at me, more angry with whatever Xiang had told him. This time he kicked me hard in the ribs, connecting with where the branch had penetrated earlier. "It is not a name, it is a rank."
I clenched my teeth hard, trying not to scream from the pain. I was getting dizzy from the blood loss, even starting to feel a slight chill. I had no interest in carrying on their games, I needed to find a way to end this. I had accepted my fate and did not wish to waste any more time than was necessary.
"Stand up" He ordered me. Xiang pulling me up by the collar,
"It seems our radio is damaged, we will have to march back to the cabin and retrieve another. Move fool!"
"What makes you think I’m going to let you live?" I asked looking him straight in the eyes, with a look of menace, fueled by the rage in my eyes. He was visibly taken aback.
"You couldn't possib.."
"Shut the fuck up." I snapped, "I killed two dozen of your men single-handedly. Another thirty or forty within the last week. Do you really think, the two of you will live long enough to find another radio?"
"You arrog..." He said moving closer to my face. "Arggh" He yelped as I headbutted him in the nose. Our faces were now both covered in blood.
Xiang stomped hard into the back of my leg, sending me to my knees.
“Pray!” I roared, struggling back to my feet. Xiang trying to yank me back down. “Pray to whatever god comforts you, beg him to accept your soul, because I promise you I will separate it from your body before this day ends. Ask your god whether you have been righteous. Ask him if the incredible suffering, I laid upon you and these men, was necessary. Nearly two dozen others have died today and I guarantee you will as well. Reconcile with your deity before I rob you of the opportunity.” I continued as they stood there stunned. I flung myself upright, viciously slamming a boot into his chest. The kick sent the senior officer sprawling before his lackey pistol whipped me from behind.
"No matter," The officer said collecting himself. His eyes betraying the fear he felt. His voice trembling. "It will make very little difference whether you live or die. Kill him, Xiang. Make sure the pig stays down this time."
It would not matter, I had over-exerted myself and was already fading fast. I would soon pass out from the blood loss and be dead within half an hour. My thoughts had become so cloudy that I couldn't even figure out how many times I had been shot. I didn't even have the energy to move as Xiang walked slowly around me, standing next to the officer. He slowly drew his gun up, toward my head, his hands trembling.
This was the end. Xiang fired, I thought I heard more than one gun as the first bullet entered my chest knocking me to the ground.
I heard another gun for sure that time, was the officer shooting me too? I felt nothing, aside from my body being jerked by the impact of the bullets.
I fell completely to the ground, the left side of my face in mud, made of the dirt and blood. I found myself looking into the officer's eyes on the ground next to me as I lost consciousness.
Chapter 16