Chapter XI: The Great Escape?
There were no more signs of gunfire, for the moment. There was no way I could heave a fully grown man onto my shoulders, so, I had decided I'd have to drag him into the front of the van. I was more than sure that the windows of the armoured vehicle would be bulletproof, or similar in design, due to the situation it was in. Then again, S.P.A.S hadn't been very smart up until now had they?
Cautiously, but confidently, I shifted my head so I could see through the open doors window. I saw the barrels of weaponry poking back over the walls.
"Damn." I thought, "How the hell am I supposed to get out of this one?" I said, slumping back to the ground, staring at Pryces steady breathing. "More pot shots I guess..." I contemplated, turning my attention to the sniper resting in my lap. Pulling the pin back once more I rolled onto my stomach and edged slowly outwards. Looking down the scope, confident in the fact that I was such a small target like this, I aimed at the support group. With a few squeezes of my index finger, two more soldiers joined, what was going to be, a growing heap of bodies.
"Sure they look the biz, but, are they actually any good?" I asked myself, quietly,
Cracking off another shot I continued, "Obviously not..."
I felt something move against one of my feet.
"Pryce?" I asked, snapping my head round,
"Sure is." Groaned the pilot, rubbing his head, "What have we got here then?" He asked,
"They fired some sort of rocket at you and you took a glancing blow. I pegged it over here to drag you into cover." I replied, sharply as bullets started peppered the reinforced vehicle again.
"That would have, probably, gotten you a referral for the military cross, risking your life like that." Pryce smiled,
I simply lowered my head slightly at his comment. Sure I'd gotten these naffy commendations at school for doing something like 'actually paying attention in R.E', paraphrased of course. The military cross? A medal given to those who risk their lives in combat when they don't have to? Something I didn't expect to be aimed at me.
Hearing the window behind me crack slightly brought me back to reality.
"Well let's talk about gallantries AFTER we get out of here, shall we?" I suggested, motioning towards the driver's seat.
Pryce nodded, grabbing his M14, as well as my assault rifle, and sat next to me, waiting for the air to clear a bit. Looking over to where Josh and David were, I noticed, Latias wasn't there.
"For God's sake, not again." I muttered, angrily,
Just then a sweet little red face popped into view in front of me. It looked absolutely terrified of the situation.
"Latias! I thought you'd flown off again!" I said, hugging her round the neck.
When I let go, she cocked her head to the side quizzically. As if to say, 'do you really think I'm that stupid?'
Laughing that she'd learnt from past mistakes, I gave her another hug and turned to Josh.
"It's now or never!" I shouted, hoping that the soldiers wouldn't have heard me.
Josh stood up and peeked around the brick corner, dragged David up with him, and gestured towards us.
When we heard another ceasefire, Josh and David, shot like the wind across to where we were.
Talk about a crowd...
"Get in the van, NOW!" I hissed, urgently.
Pryce chucked his M14 towards me, whilst grabbing back his sniper,
"Not like I'm gonna leave this little beaut behind now, is it?" He grinned, as he swept around the side of the door, jumped into the driver's seat and turned the key.
Morons. They left the key in the van. Morons.
Pulling the door shut, Pryce, reversed slightly so we could get in the back without being shot up. Not quite how I wanted to die...
Throwing our weapons into the seating area and climbing in, as the bullets 'pinged' off the tempered metal chassis.
"Shove this thing into gear, and get us the hell out of here!" I shouted at Pryce, pulling back the M14's chamber.
Pryce gave no indication of acknowledgment, and instead, yanked the gearstick into 'reverse'. The heavy vehicle groaned as it slowly reversed backwards, so Pryce could pull off down the road.
"Check your guns are ready to fire. We might need to." I instructed, turning my attention to Josh and David.
As the clicks of weapons being checked sounded around me, I glanced at Latias. She was curled up next to me, breathing sharply. She raised her head and looked into my eyes, saying nothing. I could see that she longed for all of this to stop. All the pain, the suffering, the violence.
"We're going to be fine. After this is over, they'll never bother us again and we'll all be safe. Together." I whispered calmly, into her ear.
I knew very well that, despite being officially retarded, they were relentless and wouldn't stop till they got what they were after. Or killed. My preference, at the moment, was obvious.
Latias simply tilted her head, eyes soft, and edged closer to me, where she rested her head onto my lap. I began stroking her head.
Suddenly a large explosion rang out from behind, rocking the van.
"Goddammit Pryce! Get us out of here!" I echoed, making Latias jump (wishing I hadn't been so sudden)
There was a grinding noise from the gearbox and we shot forward in the direction of the estate exit. Pryce watched his rear view mirror as the soldiers slowly stepped out of their vantage points and threw their guns on the floor, no doubt cussing over our 'little theft'.
Screeching around the corner, we began the journey back to the valley with the helicopter.
"We've got to get you guys back to Vermillion. It's way too dangerous for you to stay here, especially since we've added another person to the hit list." Pryce said, hinting at David's sudden appearance in the group.
Slowing down to turn the corner, Pryce spotted a couple of ATV's and a jeep pull out of a nearby drive.
"Buckle up kids. I think we've got some friends joining us." Pryce hummed,
"Friends? What the hell is he talking about?" I thought. Probably one of the worst things I contemplated in a long time.
One of the quad bikes had the same familiar insignia and pulled up alongside us as the driver looked into the cab. He obviously wasn't expecting to see a man in a ghillie.
"Learn when to bugger off!" Pryce shouted towards the man, steering the van towards him and his passenger.
The driver quickly slammed on the brakes and steered behind the van.
"Any cover we had has just been blown!" Pryce called, as we tried to pick ourselves off the floor, after his sudden change in direction.
"Told you we'd probably need to shoot something else." I sighed, heavily, "Get ready guys. We're going loud." I said, rather ironically. It's not like what's happened previously wasn't loud...
Grasping the trigger of my assault rifle, I kicked open the back door, letting in blinding sunlight.
"Can't we just have one day without needing to run for our lives or shoot someone?" I asked myself, rhetorically.
Quickly shooting the front tyre of the ATV, before their passenger had chance to lift his weapon, causing the driver to lose control, and for the vehicle to turn, sharply. The quad obviously didn't respond well to the change in direction as it barrel rolled across the road, onto a grassy bank, throwing its occupants into the air.
The other ATV was too far away to get a steady shot at, as the van bounced about on the road, dodging the other cars. Being as careful as I possibly could to get them off our tail, trying not to snuff any innocent bystanders in the meantime.
"For goodness sake." David mused, standing up next to me.
Squeezing the trigger, a crossbow bolt shot through the air and attached itself to the passenger's helmet. The bolt childishly beeped as he attempted to rid himself of the beeping headgear.
David swiftly sat back down and watched the jeep chicane between cars as bewildered children strained their necks, watching the high speed chase plough down the road.
The passenger looked relieved as he tore off his helmet, only to find that the beeping had subsided. This was promptly followed by a small explosion, ripping apart the ATV and the people on it. The jeep behind it simply crushed the burning wreck under its tremendous weight.
"How far are we Pryce?" I called, watching the black behemoth close the gap between us,
"Shouldn't be far now! How's it going back there?" He replied,
"Crap!" I answered.
I can swear I heard Pryce laugh quietly to himself upon hearing that.
Pulling the handbrake, we slid around the bend and tore through the traffic, as we accelerated downhill. Recognising where we were, I knew we weren't far from our destination. Watching the passenger stand up in his seat, behind us, wielding some sort of ballistics weapon, ready to spray the living hell out of everyone that was inside the van. I couldn't get a clear shot with anything automatic, or even the semi-automatic M14 I was holding. It was too far away for David to get a clear shot with his crossbow, the doors were too far away to try and close and Latias was lying in the corner, weeping softly.
For once. The odds were against us. No way out of this scenario, no way of defending ourselves. No ray of hope, as far as I could see. I confirmed the situation with myself by looking out the front window, as the enemy soldier was prepping the rocket.
As the all too familiar squeal of the rocket rang in the air, time itself seemed to slow down. The plume of smoke ejected from the tail of the missile streamed through the air, like a long, thin cloud, as the tube of metal seared the air around it. The soldier who'd fired it had recoiled backwards into his seat, as the jeep backed away.
This felt like the end...