Chapter thirty nine
''Get down!'' Sabrina's voice came strained behind a large rock and despite not reassuring Kelly that she wasn't hurt it confirmed that she was alive. She heard her empty the first clip of her pistol but she still couldn't see what was going on.
On hands and knees she slowly crept closer to the rock and loooked back to see the other two women following. She joined Sabrina and finally saw what she was seeing. A 4x4 had stopped and men in uniforms had opened fire, taking cover behing the massive metalic sceleton of the vehicle.
''Shit I can't aim left handed!'' Sabrina swore under her breath and loaded the shotgun, using a crack on the rock to support it. A bullet buzzed next to her ear and she let out a loud gasp. That was close. She lowered her head. ''Hope!'' She shouted and the other girl nodded, loading her own shotgun. Sabrina knew Hope hadn't been trained for combat, or in a police academy like the rest of them had but at this moment she could perfectly understand what the plan was.
She loaded the max of three shells in the pump action shotgun and shot one last look at Sabrina. The Angel clenched her teeth and drew in a sharp breath. She used her right forearm to push Kris flat down on the ground and waited as Kelly loaded the rifle.
''Blow them up.''
The massive explosion from the gas tank knocked Kelly and Hope flat on their backs, the rock taking most of the damage. Sabrina ended sprawled over Kris. The smell of fire, gas and death hang heavy in the cool air of the desert. It was actually Kelly who got up first and aproached the burning ruin of the 4x4. She raised a hand in front of her mouth but no sound came out.
Sabrina and Kris were quickly by her side.
''They're dead.'' Sabrina said, dryly.
''How can you...'' Kelly started saying but stopped, unsure what she herself had wanted to say.
''Better them than us.'' Sabrina cut in. Her voice wasn't angry or sad, just flat. She felt flat. She felt nothing, even as Kelly noticed the remains of the three men and stepped aside to empty her stomach on the sand. She didn't go to help her, she just stood emotionless, looking down at the charred bodies. She turned on her heel, searching for Hope, who was sitting on the ground, blood runing down her shoulder.
''Over here...'' she grunted and Sabrina went to kneel by her instead. She opened the backpack she was carrying and took out a clean shirt, putting pressure on the reopened wound on Hope's shoulder.
''Are they dead?'' Hope asked.
''Yeah.'' She looked down at the fresh blood colouring her hand. ''We got to get going.''
''I can't. I need to stop.'' Hope almost growled the last word out. She looked up at Sabrina. ''Go on without me. I'll catch up.''
Sabrina now was aware of Kelly right behind her, listening in to the conversation. Aware of the distance they would have to cover, aware that this might not be the last of their problems tonight. And she concidered the thought, the option for a few moments, the option of discarding a burden of someone who wouldn't be able to walk. Discarding a burden that would slow them down. She took her hand away from Hope's shoulder and sat completely down on the ground, staring off into the destroyed car.
Can she really have taken this away from me? She thought. Can she really have done this to me? Do I really not care about what happens to her?
''Go on without me, Sabrina. Get your people out of this hell. ''
She looked up at Hope, saw deep in her eyes that she meant it. She, didn't answer, just turned her eyes up in the night sky, a sky that one can only find above deep oceans and deserts where humans have not been able to add artificial light, where the light of the big cities doensn't reach and there's only darkness.
She quitely took Hope's good arm and wrapped it around her shoulders. ''I can't lift you up and carry you, you'll have to help out some.'' She pushed up and got them both standing. She passed by Kelly, who was trying to get Kris on her feet again and met her eyes. They were watery but they didn't hold the anger she had seen before.
They went on.
It was hours later when they saw the narrow road to the Vegas highway. Well, they had gone from the wrong direction but Vegas was just as good. By sheer luck the first vehicle that passed by was a patrol car that came to an abrupt halt when the driver saw the four women covered in blood, dust and armed for combat.