A/N: Yay new chapter! This one was really hard to wright for some reason. I don't know why. It just seemed to drag on. Anyway it's my longest yet at over 8200 words! Enjoy!
Chapter 3: On the Road
The next five minutes were spent in silence. Nobody wanted to try and speak about what they had all just witnessed. Jack knew that it would stick with him for the rest of his life. While he and Drew had avenged them, that little boy's blonde curls were there every time he closed his eyes. He still felt the slight tingle in his shoulder from the recoil of the C9 now stowed back in the bed of the truck. What had surprised him the most was when he looked next to him on the gun line he saw Jess standing there looking determined enough to walk through a concrete wall without stopping. They had all taken part in the massacre even if to Jack it felt more like justice.
A voice in his headset broke him out of his reverie. It was Tawny, driving the lead truck ahead of them.
"Ok Jack, where to?" He could hear the weariness in the big mans voice. Today was taking a toll on everybody
"Just get on the highway to Nanaimo. Once we get closer to the city I'll give you more directions from there. "
His compound was located just outside the city on the top of a small mountain. Really it was more of a large hill with a great view of the city and harbour. But what concerned him was that to get to it from the highway they would have to drive through some well populated areas. Not downtown exactly, but dense enough to have some tight turns and choke points that would make a great ambush for anybody of a mind to. These trucks were not armoured past the stock steel used for the doors and would have a hard time stopping a .22 let alone anything else people might have. He hoped he would be able to get everyone through this alive.
Looking around inside the vehicle he took stock of his people. There was Jess, badass little Jess with her hair a mess sticking out of her bun and hanging in her face. Her helmet looked comically large dwarfing her head. She had the barrel of her rifle resting against the inside of her knee as it pointed at the floor in the backseat. Jack knew he wasn't supposed to notice the tears silently streaming down her face. To her left was Mark with his C9 casually pointed out the window. Technically Canadians weren't supposed to shoot out of the windows. If they were attacked they were to either get the fuck out of there, or dismount and engage. Jack had told them that they were not to get out of the trucks unless absolutely necessary. They were to suppress whoever was shooting at them as they drove away.
He couldn't help but shake his head as he looked up at the truck in front of them. Military-Commercial-Off-The-Shelf or MilCOTS, were the general term for the sad excuse of a military vehicle they were in. The Light Utility Vehicle Wheeled, or LUVW was a 2003 Chevy Silverado painted green with a few alterations made. It was a pickup truck with a cap on the back that was never designed for combat. As such it had absolutely no capability for armour or mounting weapons. Other than the paint job, brush guard, bed modifications and mounts for a radio it was literally a civilian pickup truck. Its nickname was the Chevy Milverado. For what it was designed for, it was actually a decent truck. For combat, it was a piece of shit. This is what had Jack so worried. If they took any kind of fire those rounds would punch right through and into them.
Looking ahead at the next truck he wondered how the doctor would do if they got into any heavy fighting. For that matter he wondered how any of them would do. The most combat any of them had seen was what happened today. Decent enough trial by fire he supposed but he got the feeling this was going to be a really long day.
Craig was driving the lead truck with Drew riding shotgun with his C9 out the window opposite of Marks. Trish was behind the both of them. Driving as far apart as they were if one of the trucks was blown up by some kind of improvised explosive device or IED there was enough distance and time to react accordingly. They would either stop to try and help the occupants, or get out of there as fast as possible.
Jack knew he was only thinking about these things to avoid noticing what was happening outside the vehicles. It seemed like every second building they passed was either had its windows smashed or was on fire. People were running any way they could. Most were covered in blood. He tried not to look down side alleys as they passed. He had no interest in making himself feel guilty over the rapes and murders he could do nothing about. He couldn't save everybody. He learned that lesson the hard way. He quickly supressed a flash of blonde curls and an agonized scream and scanned around. Not many people seemed to have guns thankfully. Knives, axes, and baseball bats were no threat to them.
Other people weren't so lucky however. The streets, even this far from downtown seemed to run with blood. He couldn't understand it. These were people that only a couple of weeks ago, had lived completely normal lives. Even up until yesterday they had never killed anybody, they were just getting up and going to work. Maybe it's the freedom they suddenly found. They weren't just paying bills until they died anymore. They had a future other than societal norms. The only problem was they felt that they had to fight and kill for it. Humanity is violent, always has been always will be.
Let's think about it this way, there are two kinds of people. The first when dropped off in the wilderness with predators all around and plenty of game to be had is going to revert to the flight instinct. They are going to run and scavenge for food wherever they can find it. The second kind however when they see the threats and other weaker animals is going to go the other way. While the first person is running as fast as they can from danger, the second is making a weapon.
That's what was happening here. In the space of a day humanity had devolved from an advanced reasoning society with laws and science, to prehistoric hunter-gatherers with the weapons and technology of modern human civilisation. Half of the people seemed to be running with no particular destination in mind and the other half was doing their best to kill the first. Panic and chaos was the order of the day with nobody caring what happened to the person next to them.
It was killing him, seeing all this going on and knowing that there was nothing they could do to help. Victoria's population was tearing itself apart and they all had a front row seat through the truck windows. Within five minutes Jess wasn't the only one in tears.
Of course they weren't exactly safe themselves. The MilCOTS had a few extra dents along its body as well as a few new bullet holes but no injuries thankfully. The front bumper was covered in blood by this point as were the tires. The windshield had a few cracks in it but other than minor things they made it out of the city in one piece. Seeing all the empty highway around them they actually managed to relax a little. From the Hell within the city to the comfort and familiarity of an empty highway. The difference was like dunking your head in a stream. After an hour with no sign of death or destruction it was actually possible to forget what they had just left.
They enjoyed the ride in silence right up until they passed a girl being raped on the side of the road. Jack immediately ordered the truck stopped as he threw open the door and was on his feet running, weapon shouldered before the tires stopped spinning. The girl couldn't have been any older than fifteen, with shoulder length blonde hair, and the remains of a knit sweater pushed up to her armpits as she lay on her back trying to fight off her attacker who must have outweighed her by a hundred pounds. She would have been pretty before the bruising, smeared makeup, and blood stemming from several cuts on her face. Without pausing Jack sighted and fired, hitting the rapist just above his ear. A 5.56 round isn't very big, about the size of a .22, but it has a lot of power behind it. It entered barely leaving a hole but the shockwave caved in the area around the entry wound. As the round passed through his skull moving faster than the speed of sound, the waves of energy that followed turned everything inside his head to mush. Once it punched out the other side the shockwave ripped all that mush and a good chunk of his skull out with it to spray against the nearby car. He was dead before the rest of his body realized it. Now missing about half of his head, the corpse slowly fell beside the screaming girl.
Jack lowered his rifle slowly, now pointing in the general direction in stead of directly at the girl. When she realized what had happened she looked over wildly. Seeing Jack standing there she quickly scrambled to pull an old Tokarev pistol out of the back of the meat sacks pants. Jacks rifle snapped back up as soon as she did but instead of aiming it at him she placed it against the underside of her chin.
"No WAIT! – "
BAM!
He hated the way his mind saw things. He saw it happen in real time like everyone else, but at the same time his mind didn't skip a single detail. It was almost like it was happening in slow motion. She looked him in the eyes as she pulled the trigger. Pretty green eyes that a boy could get lost in some day. They were deep pools of expression. Right now all they were expressing was soul wrenching pain. This was a girl who truly had given up and was frantically trying to find an alternative to the hell she was now living in. Next came the shot and he watched the Russian pistol belch out its war cry. He saw the muzzle flash; he saw the gun jump in her hand as her inexperienced wrist buckled under the recoil of the heavy round. He saw the slide come back and eject the round. The shiny piece of brass flipped away from the gun trailing smoke almost cheerily, happy that it had done its job. The hole it left in the bottom of her chin was so startlingly clean and sharp. A perfect circle Jack knew analytically would be just slightly larger than 7.62mm. The hole on the other side however was much worse. Just like the man who drove her to this, she was not treated gently by the passage of the bullet. The shock did not spare her anymore than it had her attacker. One second her head was whole, the next the top of her skull was just gone in a great fountain of blood, bone, and brain matter.
Jack sank to his knees as her body fell backwards. He just managed to claw the scarf off of his face in time to noisily throw up the few things he had eaten the day before. It was too much. A person could only take so much before they couldn't handle it anymore. The girl had hit hers, Jack still had some fight left in him but God was it getting hard.
The sound of footsteps and a hand placed on his shoulder snapped him out of his thoughts. He looked up to see Ramirez looking down at him with concern. Looking past him he saw that everyone was out of the vehicles. Half of them were watching the surrounding areas looking for threats but the other half were looking his way with concern written all over their faces. He could mourn the dead later after he had taken care of the living.
"Mount Up!" he yelled out after picking himself up off the pavement. The others obeyed without saying a word. Nobody wanted to say anything. Everybody was getting pushed past their emotional limits.
As much as they had hoped for a quiet ride the rest of the way it was not to be. Less than an hour later they slowed to a stop as they saw two vehicles blocking the road ahead of them about 100 metres away. One was a newer Toyota corolla with its front end smashed in and the inside of the front windows stained with blood. The other was a Ford F150 with a large tarp covering the bed of the truck. The way the vehicles were stopped was what had Jacks senses on high alert. Both were stopped perpendicular to the highway with the Toyotas front end pressed into the tailgate of the Ford. It was obviously a trap. Someone had set up this roadblock, all that remained was finding out who.
They didn't have to wait long apparently as soon after they had exited the trucks and taken up a defensive position on the ground braced against the trucks with weapons pointed outwards, five people stepped out from behind the other vehicles. Each of them was heavily armed with a mix of hunting rifles, shotguns, and two with C7's. One of the men holding a C7 stepped forward.
"Welcome ladies and gentlemen!" He called out with a grand sweep of his arms, rifle included "To Max's free Highway giveaway! The rules are simple. Each of you will step away from the vehicles, you will put all your worldly possessions on the ground in front of you. You will then walk away. In return, Bob here won't turn you all into red jelly" With that last statement the tarp covering the bed of the truck was thrown back revealing a man in blood stained navy work dress standing behind an M2 Browning .50 cal.
Clearly Bob had managed to get access to Esquilmault's weapon lock up and somehow had managed to walk out with one of the fiftys that are meant to be mounted on a ship. It wouldn't have taken very long to rig up a mount for the back of the truck, especially if they had anticipated the need.
Without that meat grinder currently pointed at them Jack would have been confidant in their odds, only one of the men with weapons looked like he actually knew how to handle it. But Bob up there wouldn't even need to be especially accurate. That gun would literally turn them into red coloured paste. Bob would have to be the first to die.
Twisting his body slightly to hide the movement, Jack keyed his mike and muttered "Anybody got a shot on the fifty gunner?"
"I got him" came the equally quiet reply from Craig over the headset.
Addressing Max, Jack called out "After careful consideration I'm afraid we're going to have to go with Fuck You on this one."
"Send it" he muttered into his headset.
Max looked annoyed for a second as he spread his arms and said "Well that's a shame because – "
They never did find out why it was a shame because at that exact moment Craig's rifle fired with a loud crack and Bob suddenly found himself with a bullet hole through his left eye. All hell broke loose after that. The other would be highwaymen all scattered, some took cover behind the vehicles while two others dove into a ditch. Only Max stood his ground, Jack had to admire his bravery for that at least. The dumb bastard raised his rifle and started blasting off on full auto. He was cut down with a quick burst from Andrews C9. Jack was still taking cover behind the door of the truck and shooting at anyone who poked their heads out. After about five minutes of trading fire back and forth the shooting died down. Scanning Jack didn't see anyone left standing
"How many do you count?" Jack called out.
"I got five including Mr Sailor over there." That came from Ramirez. As soon as he said that one of the guys who hid in the ditch popped up to run. A quick double tap from Joe's C7 put him back down in the dirt.
"Make that six" he said dryly.
"Alright, search the area then check the vehicles and I want that fifty taken care of." Jack called out as he started towards the bodies. There wasn't really much left. The bodies were still intact unlike after the armouries, but there was nothing to scavenge. The highwaymen had used all their ammo trying to win a firefight against opponents who had them out gunned. A quick check of their pockets turned up nothing useful. A few hundred thousand in cash was sitting in the cab of the truck but all it was good for was lighting fires these days. Sitting in the backseat was something that made Jack smile a little though only to himself. One of these men must have made a trip to the U.S. recently because sitting in the backseat of the truck was a carton of Marlboro Red cigarettes. He didn't really smoke more than one or so a night but it was a small comfort amidst everything that was going on.
Walking back to the MilCOTS with the carton of smokes tucked under one arm, he called out to everyone to mount up. As everyone moved back to the trucks, Mark shrugged and pulled a grenade out of his vest before yelling "Frag out!" and tossing it into the bed of the Ford with the fifty caliber in it. He jogged back to the trucks and made it about twenty meters away before it went off with a loud boom completely mangling the heavy machine gun. Before loading up Jack had everyone grab some food from the back of their trucks. The IMP rations weren't exactly the tastiest but they did the job.
The sun was quickly heading downwards by the time they were finished. Between Jack and Jessica sleeping in, to the hours spent in the armoury getting ready and the drive time they had quickly killed what little sunlight they had left. A quick poll found that other than Jack himself, only Craig had night vision. Even then that was only because like Jack, he had purchased his himself. Jack didn't want headlights announcing their every move and they couldn't afford to move as slowly as blackout lights would require. So Jack passed his off to Joe who was driving and climbed back into the passenger seat. The sun had now fallen below the horizon and darkness was more prevalent than light so he gave the order to switch to blackout mode. All it took was a small switch under the centre console and all the lights in and outside of the truck were turned off to be replaced by tiny sets of lights that could only be seen within twenty meters of the vehicles. With the NVG's on they a clear view of the darkness surrounding them.
As the trucks rumbled on into the night jack leaned back in his seat, dropped his scarf and shook out a cigarette. He pulled an old beat up brass zippo from the pocket of his vest and lit up the cancer stick. He closed his eyes as the smoke filled his lungs and blew out a grey cloud. He knew they were bad for him but fuck it, there was a very large chance that he was never going to leave this island again so he didn't really care. A sudden thought occurred to him that He wasn't the only smoker in the truck. He could practically feel Jess bouncing in her seat at the smell of the tobacco smoke. Grinning to himself he pulled another pack from the carton and tossed it into the seat behind him along with his zippo. There was a small squeal of excitement which was immediately followed by Jess leaning forward and pecking him on the cheek. That had certainly never happened before. Jess was flirty by nature, but even that was going further than usual for her. He brushed it off as an overestimated friendly gesture brought on by stress and enjoyed the last of his cigarette. After he was done he closed his eyes and tried to get some sleep as the Kilometers flew by.
"Hey, Jack"
Jacks eyes snapped open at the sound of his name. Checking his watch, he had been asleep for only 45 minutes. It had not been enough.
"Yeah what's up Joe?" He asked the man sitting next to him.
"We're approaching Nanaimo. I figured you'd want to know."
"Ok thanks." He looked out the window and saw the lights of the city sprawled before them. He knew they'd have to drive through downtown to get to where they were going and with the way everything else had gone it was more likely that they would be assaulting through the city. He didn't want to do that at night if it could be at all avoided so he keyed his mic and said. "Hey Craig pull over in this clearing up here."
The trucks pulled into a small gravel turn around area and shut off their engines. When everyone got out including the doctor they all congregated on Jack.
"Alright listen up. We're going to have to drive through the city to get to my place. There is an extremely high chance that were going to be taking fire the second we're within sight of… well anyone. So since it will probably happen anyway, I'd rather avoid a firefight at night when only two people have NVG's. We're going to camp here for the night and try to get some sleep. We'll assault our way through the city in the morning. Any questions?"
No one spoke up. They were all as bone tired as he was. Today had been an emotional roller coaster. It wasn't likely that anyone was going to get much sleep but patches here and there were better than nothing.
"Listen, I know none of us have any experience in the things we've had to do today. This is beyond anything we've ever been asked to do. But I am beyond proud as hell of all of you. You've held it together. All we need to do now is continue to hold it together, and we'll get out of this alive. Remember, we may not have all the specialized training the infantry has but combat road moves are what we ARE trained for. We're Canadian soldiers. This isn't going to beat us." Jack wasn't expecting a resounding cheer from his impromptu speech. He'd smack the shit out of them if they had but seeing the determined set to their shoulders made him feel better about their confidence for tomorrow and all further tomorrows. After they broke apart Jack had them back the MilCOTS into the treeline to help conceal the vehicles. Once the hasty cam over the windows and shiny parts and the Cam netting over the whole lot of it was deployed, the vehicles were practically invisible unless you were standing within five feet. After that was done they all pitched in in pulling out the tents Craig had packed earlier. Once the small four man tents were set up and a watch schedule was established, everybody climbed inside the tents and each tried to get some sleep.
The middle of the night was not Craig's idea of a fun time to be sitting in the forest along the side of the highway. He was a supply tech; his workday was spent inside a warehouse. Sitting against the front tire of a milcot wrapped in a ranger blanket with a set of NVG's looking for danger while cleaning his rifle was not what he enjoyed doing. But still, he supposed there were worse things. He could be dead right now. He probably would be if not for Jack. The guy could be a psychotic robot at times, well most of the time, but he had a cool head when it counted. Not to mention more money than God and the resources that went with it. Spitting a mouthful of brown coloured saliva into the dirt next to him, he shifted the wad of Redman chewing tobacco against his gums and picked up the bolt carrier for his C7 and reinserted it into the rifle. Without thinking about it he snapped off a quick function test and inserted a fresh mag. Racking the rifle he chambered a round and placed it on safe before getting up to take a quick walk around.
The trucks were well hidden and if he didn't have the Night vision monocle attached to his helmet he knew he never would have seen them. Mid January on Vancouver Island meant almost constant cloud cover. He was just glad that it wasn't raining. As he walked along behind the tents Craig had to admit that they had been remarkably lucky thus far. No one was dead or seriously injured. The trucks had made it out of the city in one piece and they were even managing to get some sleep tonight even if Craig had gotten the balls watch. It was one in the morning, darker than the inside of a bats asshole, and if you ignored the occasional sound of gunfire from the city you could almost believe everything was normal.
As he rounded the other side of the milcot a sudden flare of light in the monocle made him hiss in pain. It was the high beams from an old VW Golf as it rounded the corner coming out of Nanaimo. After lifting the monocle and allowing his eyes to adjust he saw the car just in time for it to swerve violently into the ditch. The headlights were destroyed by the impact as the engine sputtered out.
Before Craig had a chance to wonder if he should call out a stand to, waking everybody and drawing attention to their encampment, the sound of a car door opening followed by a muffled woman's voice yelling no, interrupted his train of thought. Flipping the monocle back down he took in the scene in front of him.
A blonde woman in her mid twenties was fighting her way out of the passenger seat while a larger man was trying to grab at her pants and pull her back in. Seeing the situation as easy to handle, Craig decided against his rifle as it would make to much noise. Slinging it behind his back, he drew his bayonet. The deadly piece of steel was made by the Ontario Knife Company and was more of a combat knife that could be attached to a rifle. The distinction was important because a pure bayonet was not designed to be sharpened. It could be, certainly and often was, but it would dull after cutting butter. The new OKC Bayonet was a knife, pure and simple, and as such was razor sharp.
By the time Craig had drawn closer the woman had managed to free herself from the car and was running blindly toward him in an attempt to get away from the man who had climbed out the door after her and was chasing her. He was furious and yelling things like. "Get back here you bitch! What did ya think the ride was for free? Get that sweet ass over here!" Hearing this is what made up Craig's mind. He had been forced to see too many rapes today only to drive past. He was a protector by nature. Call it old fashioned but it was what he was. The blonde girl from earlier today floated through his mind as he moved to intercept the man.
Neither one of them saw him as the woman ran past him and the man drew closer. He stepped to the side of her attacker, seemingly a ghost despite his size. As the man passed clearly illuminated to Craig through the green filter of the passive night vision, he reached out and grabbed the man. A tree trunk like arm wrapped around the mans throat cutting off all noise. All that managed to escape before he tightened his grip was a strangled grunt. Craig knew there was a major artery under the arm and stabbed his knife straight into the mans armpit. He held the thrashing man still as he sawed his blade back and forth ensuring the thumb thick blood vessel was severed. He could feel the hot blood pouring down his arm and the side of his combats but he held the man until he stopped thrashing. With his elevated heart rate and the fact that the artery was completely severed, he bled out in less than 30 seconds.
Releasing his grip, he let the man drop to the ground and wiped his blade on the dead mans sleeve. Returning his blade to the scabbard he looked around for the woman. She was about twenty paces away from running headlong into the first of the trucks. Running to catch up, he intercepted her before she hurt herself slamming into a truck she couldn't see. He reached out and wrapped a hand around her mouth to stop her from screaming as he pulled her tight. He was surprised at how hard she fought, biting into his hand while shifting her hips to the side and slamming her fist into his groin. He grunted in pain and almost let go. He could see spots dancing in front of his eyes but he held on.
"Jesus fuck woman would you stop? You're safe!" he hissed into her ear.
She stopped struggling as soon as she heard the new voice. Not relaxed exactly but frozen like a deer in the headlights.
"He's dead you're safe. Now if I release you will you stay calm and quiet? Nod if yes."
When he felt her shaky nod he let her go and stepped back. She stood extremely still, obviously still terrified and unsure what he was going to do. He introduced himself in an attempt to calm her down.
"My name is Private Craig Tawny, Canadian Forces what's your name?" he said in a soothing voice.
After taking a second to collect herself the woman replied "Krista Jocylene, th-thank you for saving me. I-I don't know what I would have done otherwise." She was clearly still shaken up and rightly so given what had nearly happened. It seemed to be a trend lately, they only came across women when they were about to be raped. She shifted her arms against the chill and that was when Craig really noticed her. The girl was beautiful in geeky mousy sort of way. She looked a lot like Emily Bett Rickards character Felicity Smoak from the show Arrow. Long blond hair held up in a pony tail framed a narrow angular face and a broad mouth. Dark defined eyebrows hovered over a set of square framed glasses. The glasses perched on her nose only drew attention to her eyes. The colour while hard to tell through the green filter of the night vision seemed to be a pale colour maybe blue or green. It was clear she was cold in the night chill as she was wearing a thin pair of jeans and a thin plaid button up shirt over a white tank top.
"Alright Kristy come over this way, before you freeze out here." He gently took her by the arm and led her over to where his ranger blanket rested on the ground against the truck tire.
As she followed him she suddenly spoke up. "How can you see anything right now? I literally can't see anything in front of my face. Though I guess that's not saying much given how terrible my eyesight is. To be fair though I blame my mother for that. Her whole side of the family is notorious for being basically blind. I think my great grandmother actually was blind."
Craig was happy to let her ramble. Aside from how cute it was, it was clearly her coping mechanism and he wasn't about to stop her from getting what comfort she could in the situation. He simply wrapped the blanket around her shoulders as he said "I'm wearing night vision. Now stay right here while I go and get the guy in charge." While he respected Jack, he still wasn't sure what to call him. Master Corporal wouldn't make any sense to anyone not military. Besides, he had made it clear that no matter who joined, he was in charge. He couldn't fault him for that. He had done an alright job so far but still what should he call him? Sir? Jack? Boss? Commander? El Jefe?
As he approached the tent that Jack slept in he wondered how he would react to the things that had happened while he slept.
The boy was covered in blood. The front of his striped shirt was soaked in red stemming from the huge gash across his throat. He was staring up at him and smiling with dead eyes. He could hear the father screaming somewhere in the background. As he looked Jack could see that the boy's hand was being held by a blonde fifteen-year-old girl with torn leggings and a knit sweater bunched up under her arms. She was missing the top part of her skull. To his horror she too was smiling. Off to the side was a feminine shape laying on a couch covered in a blood soaked blanket. The body sat up to reveal the other girl that he couldn't save. He wished they weren't all smiling.
"Jack wake up" they said together. It was horrible. He dropped to his knees and started crying.
"I'm sorry I couldn't save you! I'm sorry I was too late!"
"Jack seriously wake the fuck up" was the only reply he got. He knew this was his fault. It was all his faul-
Jack suddenly snapped awake when he felt a boot connect with his leg. Lightly to be sure but when Craig Tawny kicked you, even light pressure felt like a bulldozer.
"Ah what the fuck Craig?" Jack snapped out as he rubbed his thigh.
"Don't be such a pussy, listen something happened you need to get out here. We're not in any immediate danger though." Came the gruff reply from the bear sized man.
Grumbling to himself, Jack rolled out of his sleeping bag and started pulling his clothes on. Five minutes later he climbed out, fully dressed minus his vest, helmet, and scarf. Armed only with the .45 in it's holster on his thigh he walked over to the soft glow of the red filtered flashlight.
Jack wanted to swear when he got closer. Figures he goes to sleep for… actually he didn't know how long it had been but when he wakes up, they've picked up another stray. She seemed rather attached to Craig, though that could be stress.
As he approached, Craig stood and filled him in on everything that happened starting with the crash and ending with going to wake up Jack. When he heard what happened he did swear.
"Fuck seriously? Where's the car?" As Craig pointed the direction of the crashed vehicle, Jack pulled his own red filtered flashlight out of his pocket. Red light was extremely useful in tactical situations for two reasons. The main one was that no matter how bright, red light would not ruin your night vision. That's why most alarm clocks displayed the time in red. The second reason was that it was generally dimmer and a lot harder to see at night. You could look directly at a red light from thirty meters away and have a hard time seeing it. The downside was that it WAS a lot dimmer. All Jack could see was what was directly in front of his feet so he nearly tripped over the body of Krista's attacker. Just once I want to save a woman from a nice normal murder attempt. It would say much better things about men in general.
The site of the body was gruesome to be sure. His face and neck were clean but everything from the chest down was completely soaked in blood. It looked like he had been covered in black ink in the red glow but Jack knew better. Craig had done a good job. Moving on, Jack arrived at the car. Its front end was completely smashed in with both airbags deployed. Searching through it, he found a Glock 22 with about a hundred rounds of 40 caliber ammo. Admiring the weapon, he tucked it into the back of his pants and put the extra ammunition into one of his leg pockets temporarily. Further searching revealed a gym bag filled with women's clothing and photos of a younger Krista with an older couple he assumed were her parents.
Zipping up the gym bag he started back over to the trucks. As he arrived he placed the bag on the ground just out of arms reach of the blonde newcomer.
"I believe this belongs to you." Jack said stepping back from the bag and sitting down across from her. Krista got up and retrieved the bag, returning and sitting even closer to Craig this time. Theory confirmed, Craig officially had a follower.
"Craig you can get some sleep. I'll stay up the rest of the night. I'd like to talk to our new arrival for a little while." Krista grabbed Craig's arm in a death grip when he got up to go back to the tents, so he shrugged and sat back down.
"I think I'll stay for a little while, at least until your done with her. Then we'll both go and get some sleep." He said this while glancing at the still terrified blonde woman out of the corner of his eye. Jack could see her visibly relax at the news that Craig wasn't going anywhere.
Over the next twenty minutes Jack managed to get the girls story out of her. Krista Jocylene had just graduated from UVic a month ago with a Masters in Computer Science. She had decided to celebrate by driving up island and staying with some friends while they spent the week partying. She had been there when the news of the outbreak hit and everyone was asked to remain where they were to prevent the spread. She and her friends had been among the many missed in the evacuation. She had been woken up by the sound of her friend stabbing her boyfriend of six years to death with a chef's knife. Apparently he had been cheating on her with someone from work. She had grabbed her bag and run outside to find the city in chaos. Nanaimo wasn't in much better shape than Victoria apparently. Worse even if that was possible. After realizing that she forgot her car keys inside, she started running rather than risk going back inside. She could hear screaming coming from her friend's roommates and wasn't willing to risk it. After running all over the city trying to stay alive for most of the day, she finally found herself sitting on the curb of a quiet street, gym bag next to her crying her eyes out and waiting to die.
Then a red Volkswagen Golf pulled up in front of her and the driver offered to get her out of the city. Night was falling and he was the first person that wasn't trying to attack her so she jumped on his offer. That of course led to where they now were. Jack listened intently and Krista clung to Craig as she spoke like she might be swept away if she let go.
Jack didn't know why but he trusted her. He may come to regret this decision later but that sounded like a Future Jack problem.
"Ok Krista" at the mention of her name she looked up fearfully. "You can come with us. Only thing is until we get where we're going It's going to be incredibly dangerous. We have to go back into Nanaimo tomorrow. I can't guarantee your safety, but I can guarantee we will all do everything in our power to look after you ok?"
She swallowed hard when he mentioned going back into Nanaimo but a quick glance at Craig sitting there half asleep with a wad of dip bulging out his cheek set her shoulders and she nodded determinedly. Jack had to resist the urge to chuckle. That man was doomed and he had no idea.
"Alright Tawny, take blondie here and get to bed. I'll take the rest of the watch. Set her up in my bag, she looks half frozen." The thought of trying to sleep again had Jacks stomach flipping in knots. After fetching his rifle and gear, Jack sat with his back to the truck tire. Wrapped up in his own ranger blanket with the NVG's clipped to his helmet and C8 across his knees, he tried not to let his demons win. The sound of an agonized wail in the back of his mind told him he was losing.
The next morning Jack had them up as the sky was lightening from pitch black to a dark blue on one side. Sometime during the night, the clouds had cleared and the stars had shone through. No matter how many times he saw it he would never get used to seeing the night sky through night vision. By the time they had the camp packed up and were eating a breakfast of cold IMP's the sky had lightened considerably though the sun had not yet crested the horizon. Flicking away the butt of his cigarette Jack reaffixed the scarf and goggles over his face and signalled everybody to mount up. Today he would be lead vehicle to make it easier to find where they were going especially if they were going to be hit as hard as he thought they would. Climbing into the passenger seat, he checked to make sure everyone was ready to go before telling Joe to head out. Craig was still driving the other vehicle with Krista sitting behind him next to Tricia. She had been just the same in the light of day, never straying more than five feet from his side. Everybody was surprised to see her among them the next day. Jess commented to Craig that it appeared he now had a duckling in tow. Craig merely grunted non committedly though Jack saw him smile as soon as Jess turned around. The drive into Nanaimo was a fairly quiet one. There was still the sound of gunfire throughout the city but as they passed the first few buildings it almost seemed as if all of Jacks fears were for nothing. While it was technically downtown, they weren't exactly driving on main street were all the fighting seemed to be concentrated. It had died down considerably overnight.
"Maybe our luck has turned for once." He mused to himself. It would be nice after all.
He spoke too soon.
Up ahead a man wearing a red sweater with the hood pulled up whipped around the corner holding a hunting rifle, aimed and fired. The front windshield exploded as the bullet caught Joe right under the eye. The back of his head exploded all over Mark who was sitting behind him. Luckily after passing through Joe's skull It bounced harmlessly off of Mark's helmet. The truck swerved violently to the right as Joe's body slumped over and Jack had to reach over and straighten the wheel. He could hear Jess screaming into the radio "CONTACT! Contact front! Joe's hit!" Jack was too busy trying to keep the truck moving and on the road as fire starting pouring in from all around them. Pushing down on Joe's now limp leg to keep the accelerator down, he struggled to get his body out of the way. It seemed like every building they passed had a shooter in the window, most of them were wearing something with red on it.
"Help me get him out of the way!" he yelled into the backseat. Another pair of hands came from behind and helped Jack muscle the skinny man out of the driver's seat all while he tried to keep the truck on the road. He managed to get his foot over and on the gas to keep the truck moving. Their speed was the only thing keeping them alive right now. If they stopped, they were dead.
Once Joe's body was safely in the backseat he hopped over the centre console and into the driver's seat. He got there just in time for another round to hit the windshield and blow it inward. Another round entered grazing his temple. The shockwave disoriented him as it hit the edge of his goggles, shattering the plastic and gouging out the side of his head. He ignored the pain as another round hit him in the leg through the door.
Taking stock Jack looked around as he accelerated taking turns fast enough to cause the tires to lose traction and drift around the corner. Marks C9 behind him was keeping heads down as it blasted away but it was about to run out of ammo by Jacks estimate. Same with Drew's in the other vehicle. Jess was blasting at anything with a weapon and actually hitting about one out of four things she shot at. There were so many empty mags, casings, C9 links and empty boxes on the floor that Jack thought it had to surely be covering their boots. He managed to ignore all the hot brass from the machine gun that got caught between his vest and skin. Craig was keeping up as best as he could with all the sharp turns Jack was taking and it was only a matter of time before – CHUNK hhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiisssssssssssssss. Jack decided in the back of his mind that he really needed to learn to shut his fucking mouth. Steam was now pouring in thick clouds out of the front of the engine as the unarmoured radiator took a round directly into it. It wouldn't be long now before the truck would overheat and seize completely. As he turned another corner he saw someone out of his side window preparing to throw what looked like a pipe bomb in front of the truck. Before he could think about it, Jack drew the 1911 from it's holster and shot the would be bomber through the driver's side window. Amazingly he actually hit him and the pipe bomb dropped at his feet where it exploded after they had passed.
Just as Jack was starting to think it couldn't possibly get any worse and that they were all about to die, he saw the turn off ahead. As they made the turn it was like night and day. Once they were off the main street the steady stream of incoming fire seemed to die off. Jack followed the winding road as it led them further out of the city. Jack could feel the tension leaking out of his shoulders as they grew closer to their destination. It was good that they were getting so close because the engine had stopped steaming and was now making some rather stressed noises.
When the main gate to his compound came into view he could swear that he had never seen a more beautiful sight in his life. Just as they were rolling up to it, the engine gave a final chug and died. He managed to get it into neutral before the transmission seized up and they coasted up to the gate.
Climbing out he suddenly remembered that he had been shot in the leg and collapsed onto the ground with a yell of pain. Tricia was on him a moment later checking the wound and bandaging it tightly.
"How are the others?" he managed to get out through groans of pain.
"Everyone from our truck is fine" Tricia replied in her crisp British accent. "Minor cuts and grazing from glass and close calls. Looks to be the same with your vehicle. I'd say you got the worst of it. Where's Joe?"
When Jack shook his head she nodded sadly and moved on the check the others. Jack pulled himself to his feet. He had gotten Joe killed getting everyone here. Might as well make sure it wasn't in vain. Using his rifle as a crutch he hobbled over to the gate and punch in a code followed by his thumb print. As the gate beeped and swung open he looked at the rather beat up crew of individuals before him. They were all covered in blood and sweat to one degree or another and looked like they had run a marathon covered in burning coals and barbed wire. Pulling off the now useless goggles, and lowering his scarf he shook out another cigarette and lit it. This had been without a doubt the longest day of their lives.
And it wasn't even 9:00 yet
A/N: Oh No Joe! Not going to lie, originally I was going to kill off Craig but then the scene at the campsite just kind of happened and suddenly I have a new character and Craig gets to live. Anyway Next chapter we see the house! And all the high tech goodies that are in the secret mansion of a tech genius. Cheers!