Badlands Trilogy (Book 3): Out of the Badlands Read online

  “Stop lying to me, bitch,” Roman said. “It’s only going to get worse from here.”

  Jasper glanced at Sue, recoiling at the sight of her face. Both eyes had swollen shut and her nose was clearly broken. Several of her teeth were missing. Blood covered her face, running down her neck and saturating her shirt. Jasper absently wondered how bad he must look.

  “Fuck you,” Sue croaked.

  Roman nodded at Monkey, who landed another right hook against Sue’s cheek. Jasper heard something crunch as her head snapped back. She’d have toppled backward if not for the nails holding the chair to the floor.

  “Stop it,” Jasper said, feeling how empty the words sounded once they left his mouth.

  Monkey slapped him quickly. Pain roared throughout his entire face. He thought he heard himself groan, but things had gone fuzzy.

  “Where are they?” Roman repeated.

  Sue didn’t reply.

  “She sleepin’,” Monkey said. He sounded like an overgrown child.

  “Wake her up then,” Roman said. Monkey tossed a bucket of water in Sue’s face. Bloody water pooled on the floor below her chair. She groaned, slowly lifting her head.

  “Where are they?” Roman repeated.

  “Ain’t nobody else,” Sue said.

  “Bullshit. Nobody travels alone these days, especially not with brand new rifles. You’ve been outfitted and I want to know who did it.”

  Sue nodded. “Okay,” she said. She mumbled something incoherent.

  “Speak up,” Roman said.

  Sue continued to mumble.

  “Who outfitted you?” Roman said.

  Monkey leaned in as Sue repeated what she’d said. He turned to Roman. “Your mom. That what she say, boss.”

  Roman growled. He stepped in drew back a fist. He let fly, crushing Sue’s eye socket. He followed with another, her head lolling to one side as he shook the pain out of his fist. He screamed at Monkey. “Hit that bitch!”

  Monkey leaned in and delivered a massive blow, smashing Sue’s nose.

  “Again!”

  Monkey’s face screwed up as he reared back and landed the hardest punch yet. A loud snap resounded as he connected.

  “Where are they!” Roman screamed. “Fucking tell me, right now!”

  No response from Sue.

  “Wake this bitch up again!” Roman yelled.

  Another bucket of water splashed over Sue’s head, but she didn’t move.

  “Wake up!” Roman bellowed.

  Still no movement from Sue.

  Monkey gripped Sue by her bloody face, shaking her head from side to side. “Monkey think she dead.”

  “Fuck!” Roman snapped. He turned his attention toward Jasper. “Looks like it’s up to you now, kid.”

  Chapter Forty

  The chatter of gunfire erupted from inside the machine shop. Ed ran from the office and down the hall toward the main room of the shop, toward the source of the sounds. He unslung the M16 from his back as he ran. He opened the door to the shop, the sound of the shots echoing throughout the large room. He saw Terry, Herb, Dario and Reggie hiding behind the truck, stepping out to fire at someone out of sight.

  Ed ran to where they were, listening to the sound of bullets whizzing through the air. He checked the back of the truck and found Zach and Jeremy there. Trish sat between them, rifle in hand.

  “You okay?” Ed asked.

  “Yeah,” Trish replied.

  Ed left them and slipped in between Reggie and Terry. “What happened?”

  “Somebody got inside,” Terry replied. “About five or six guys with handguns and rifles. We killed a few of them, but there’s at least three more still shooting. We need to get the fuck out of here.”

  “Night’s coming,” Ed replied. “There might also be more of them out there waiting for us.”

  “That’s a chance I’m willing to take,” Terry said. “We stay here and we might get overrun with these guys’ backup.”

  Four more shots echoed throughout the building.

  “Jasper’s not back yet,” Ed said.

  “Sorry, my friend, but we can’t wait on him. We gotta go now. We’ll worry about your friend later.”

  Ed considered his options. If they fled now they might outrun whatever possible threat a backup party held. But evening was upon them and night would swiftly follow, bringing with it the white carriers. And leaving meant giving up on Jasper, the man who’d saved Ed’s life.

  “We need to go,” Herb echoed.

  “Okay,” Ed said.

  “You three take care of the door,” Terry said, motioning toward Dario, Herb and Reggie. They left their positions and ran toward the door.

  Ed looked to Terry. “Is everybody loaded up?”

  Terry nodded. He leaned out from behind the truck and fired off a half dozen shots at the men hiding on the other side of the large room.

  Ed opened the truck’s passenger side door and climbed through, jamming the key into the ignition and turning it. The engine roared to life as Terry climbed in the passenger seat and rolled down the window. Ed heard the sound of the large bay door opening as waning sunlight poured in.

  “Get this beast moving,” Terry said. “These guys aren’t going to wait long before they come looking for us.”

  Ed released the clutch and depressed the gas pedal. The truck jerked as the transmission caught, propelling them toward the door. They passed through it, bouncing over potholes as Ed grabbed second gear and gave the engine more gas.

  “Shit,” Terry said, glancing out the window.

  “What?”

  “Don’t look now, but here comes their backup.”

  Chapter Forty-One

  Two jeeps raced toward Ed and the others in the truck, a driver behind the wheel and three other men in each truck, standing up with machine guns and pistols in hand. The jeeps had only roll bars and no tops and both had monstrous faces with large fangs painted on the jeep’s hood and grill. A rusted van also followed, rifle barrels protruding through the windows, a similar face painted on the front. The men inside the vehicles hooped and hollered as they approached.

  “Step on it, Ed,” Terry said, leaning out of the window. He fired off three shots toward their pursuers. Ed grabbed third gear and the engine groaned in response. Gunfire erupted from the attackers. Return gunfire echoed from the back of the truck. Zach and Jeremy were in the back of the truck, along with Trish, all in the line of fire. Ed felt rage and fear build up inside him as he took a hard turn and shifted into fourth gear, headed toward the open highway.

  “Light ‘em up!” Terry yelled to those in the back of the truck. Machine guns chattered in response.

  Ed glanced first in the driver’s side mirror and then the passenger mirror. Both jeeps approached, one on either side. He looked more closely in his side mirror and saw Jasper in one of the jeeps, hands bound. His face was so badly beaten that Ed almost didn’t recognize him. Ed felt his anger rise even higher.

  Terry fired off two shots.

  “Careful!” Ed said. “They have Jasper!”

  Shots rang out form the van following directly behind them and the truck’s back glass shattered, causing Ed to jump.

  “They’re gaining on us!” Terry called out.

  Ed checked his side mirror and saw one of the jeeps fast approaching, no more than thirty yards from the tail of the truck. Ahead the entrance ramp to the highway approached. He smashed the pedal to the floor, feeling the truck pick up speed as it neared the narrow ramp. The jeep fell behind for a moment before picking up speed again and gaining.

  Ed checked the speedometer; sixty miles per hour and climbing. Too fast. Once they hit the highway there would be too many abandoned vehicles to maneuver around. He braked, depressing the clutch and shifting down in to third, throwing the truck forward.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Terry cried out.

  Ed ignored him, focusing on the jeep in the mirror as it continued unabated, catching up with the truck and runnin
g alongside it.

  “Hang on!” Ed yelled. He cut the wheel to the left and the truck obeyed, turning left and rocking in the opposite direction. The tail end of the truck caught the right front tire of the jeep, sending it into a wild swerve. To avoid flipping the vehicle, the driver mashed the brake pedal down slowing to almost a complete stop. The jeep grew smaller in the rearview as Ed sped away.

  “They’re coming up on the right!” Terry said, leaning out the window.

  “Where’s the van?” Ed asked.

  “Right behind us.”

  “How close?”

  “Twenty feet.”

  “Tell everybody back there to hang on!”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Just do it.”

  Terry yelled to the back. “Hang on!”

  Ed took a deep breath. He pushed the clutch all the way in and jammed his right foot on onto the brake. The wheels locked up, screeching as rubber skidded on pavement. A moment later the truck lurched forward as the van slammed into the back. People yelled from the truck bed, caught by surprise and slammed forward.

  The jeep on the right flew past the passenger side door and Terry opened fire, peppering the vehicle. The windshield splintered into a thousand spiderweb cracks as the driver’s head exploded into a slurry of red. Three bullets whizzed past Ed’s head, piercing the roof of the truck and flying wild.

  With the driver now dead, the jeep careened out of control, veering toward a median wall lining the side of the entrance ramp. It struck the wall head on, crushing the grill and shoving the motor back into the driver’s seat. Bodies flew from the jeep, flipping end over end through the air. One of the pursuers struck the pavement head first, his skull exploding into a mess of blood and brains streaked across the crumbling pavement like a smear from a giant paintbrush.

  Ed crammed the transmission into first gear and mashed the gas pedal to the floor. The engine jerked obediently, shifting the occupants in the back as more voices cried out. The truck bounced as it crossed a human speed bump in front of them, crushing the body under the vehicle’s massive weight. It bounced again as the back tires hit the mound of meat.

  Machine gun fire sounded from the back. Ed hoped that meant someone in the back had opened fired on the van or the remaining jeep. He couldn’t be sure from the driver’s side mirror. He considered Jasper and a part of his mind already accepted that his friend was as good as dead. Nothing could be done about that now.

  Ed slammed the gearshift into third gear, gaining speed as he entered the highway. Ahead the roadway revealed itself; cluttered, but passable at a slower speed. Ed slowed the truck and merged onto the cracked roadway, swerving around a broken down car.

  “What’s it look like back there?” Ed called out.

  “The one jeep is toast, but the other is close behind,” Terry replied. “Van took a beating, hood’s all crumpled up, but it’s still coming.” Terry paused. “Jeep’s coming your way, Ed.”

  Ed glanced in his side mirror. “Shit.” He pulled his pistol from its holster.

  Gunshots echoed from the back of the truck and one of the men in the jeep crumpled. It slowed for a moment before resuming its approach.

  Terry turned to look behind them. “Look alive, Ed.”

  The jeep lunged forward, gaining quickly on Ed. He leaned his head back, out of the way of the window. “Get down!” he yelled to Terry. A moment later the jeep appeared beside the truck. The remaining gunman opened fire, sending a stream of bullets in through the window and the door. Ed felt a hot sting as a bullet grazed his left leg. He gritted his teeth, ignoring the pain.

  An abandoned pickup truck loomed ahead. Ed swerved the truck around, toward the right. The jeep veered left, riding on the shoulder and successfully avoiding the obstacle. As they passed the pickup, Ed leaned forward and fired six shots into the speeding Jeep. The driver slammed on the brakes and the jeep disappeared from view.

  Ed glanced at his left leg. Blood seeped into his pants. He pushed in the clutch and shifted gears. It hurt, but he could manage.

  “You okay?” Terry asked.

  “Fine,” Ed replied. “Where’s that jeep?”

  “Coming around to your side again.”

  Ed watched the jeep approach in the side mirror. “Take the wheel.”

  Terry grabbed the wheel as Ed leaned out of the window and took aim at the driver. The gunman in the passenger seat fired, the bullet passing within an inch of Ed’s head. He could hear it as it passed. He turned, expecting Terry to be dead, but the bullet had missed them both.

  Ed squeezed the trigger and watched a hole appear in the driver’s side of the jeep’s windshield. He fired again and another hole appeared. The jeep swerved to the left, rode up on a side wall and flipped onto its top skidding to a stop.

  Ed took the wheel back from Terry and maneuvered the truck around another set of parked cars. “Where’s that van?”

  Terry leaned out the passenger window and surveyed beyond the rear of the truck. “They’re still on us.” Gunfire crackled. “Maybe a quarter mile back. They’re gaining though and they got some firepower left.”

  “We have to stop,” Ed said, slowing the truck.

  “What?”

  “Road’s blocked ahead. We can’t go around it.”

  “Shit.”

  “We need everybody in the back focusing fire on that van. Anybody who can hold a rifle.”

  “Got it.”

  Ed geared down, feeling the bite in his leg each time he depressed the clutch. A wall of cars loomed ahead, a roadblock that would take time to remove. Slamming into it at forty miles per hour would only destroy the truck and their last chance at making it to California. Brute force firepower was their only hope now.

  Ed brought the truck to a stop just before the blockage, killing the engine. He left the keys in the ignition, should things not work out in his favor. With the truck stopped, Ed grabbed his rifle, threw open the door and stepped down and out of the truck, wincing as he put weight on his leg. He limped toward the bed of the truck, almost sick from fear of what he might find. In the tumultuous car chase he hadn’t had time to think about how many bullets must have passed through the back of the truck and if his boys got caught up in it…

  He saw Zach and Jeremy right away, crouched beside Trish. Two bodies lay on the bed of the truck, blood pooled around them. Ed didn’t take the time to figure out who they were, not yet.

  “Road’s blocked,” Ed said. “We have to make a stand here.”

  Trish nodded.

  “They’re coming and they’re coming fast,” Terry bellowed, his gruff and deep voice carrying. “Give ‘em hell when they get here.”

  The sound of the van’s engine approaching grew louder in the distance. They could see the vehicle approaching, men leaning out the windows with automatic rifles in hand.

  “I love you,” Ed said to his family.

  “We love you too,” Trish said, “but we’re getting through this.”

  The survivors in the back of the truck hunkered down, sighting in the van as it approached.

  “Wait until they’re in range,” Ed called out. “Make every shot count.”

  The van approached, kicking up dust and debris behind it. The sound of men shouting carried through the air as they approached.

  “Wait for it,” Ed said.

  The van sped forward, a hundred yards away and gaining. At seventy-five yards away, gunfire erupted from the van as it closed in.

  Then it exploded in an enormous ball of fire.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  “You’re going to want to come with us,” a tall man in a cowboy hat said to Ed. The man looked mid-forties, but his face bore deep wrinkles, giving him the simultaneous appearance of someone much older. He wore a denim jacket and jeans to round out the ensemble. “This wasn’t all of them. There’s likely to be some reinforcements on the way.”

  “You know who they are?” Ed asked.

  “We have some history, yeah.” />
  “Who are you?”

  “Name’s Tex.” He motioned toward an army jeep covered in brown camouflage paint. In it sat three women, all wearing similar garb.

  “No,” Ed said. “We’re not coming.”

  “Is that such a good idea?” Tex asked.

  “We’ve been tricked before,” Ed said. “Not many of us made it out of that alive.”

  Tex glanced into the back of the truck. “You got casualties here. We can try to patch ‘em up, should they still be breathing. We got an EMT in the ranks. She’ll do what she can but the sooner you get these folks to her the better.” His eyes moved to Ed’s leg. “Looks like you could use some attention too. And we did blow up the van, for the record.”

  Still shaken from the firefight, Ed struggled to clear his mind. “You did that?”

  “We did.” He paused, studying Ed. “What do you say? Ain’t nobody forcing you to do anything, but the clock’s ticking nonetheless.”

  “We keep our guns,” Ed said, considering.

  “Sure. So do we,” Tex said. “You ain’t the only one taking a risk here.”

  “One of ours was in one of the Jeeps,” Ed said. “Hostage. They overturned maybe a quarter mile back. He might be alive still.”

  Tex shook his head. “Not a good idea. Every minute we spend here is another minute these assholes’ backup gets closer.”

  “I can’t leave him,” Ed said. “He saved my life. I owe it to him to check.”

  Tex paused, considering. “You and me will go. I’ll send the girls with your truck. Got anybody else who can drive that beast?”

  “I can,” Terry said.

  “All right then. They’ll lead your man to our HQ. You and me, we’ll go check on your boy and see if he’s breathing. Then we catch the truck. Deal?”

  Ed hoped that trusting Tex wouldn’t be the worst decision he’d made yet. His boys and Trish would be in the truck and if they got caught by another group of psychos it was doubtful they’d survive again. But Tex had helped them and that counted for something. In the end, every decision proved harder to make than the one before it.