A panicked look crossed the face of Avery as he tried to force the gas pedal closer to the floor, but it was already planted. He looked over at Sutherland, who seemed to be deep in thought.
“Sir? What… what’s happening?”
“There’s a group of men on motorcycles… they are catching up quickly. There’s no way we can outrun them.”
Avery swallowed and turned his attention back to the road. Sutherland looked out the door of the bus and watched the scenery. He let his mind drift to his wife… his daughter… he hoped they were OK and he hoped one day they would know what happened to him.
“What are we going to do?” Avery said.
“I… I really don’t know.”
“We have to make it to District Four… they need our help.”
Sutherland took a deep breath and turned back to Avery. He knew the young man was right. Sutherland was a military man and he had sworn to protect his country. He didn’t want there to be collateral damage, but as far as he was concerned the biker gang was giving him no choice. Sutherland turned around, faced his men and shook his head.
“Men… this biker gang… we have to assume they’re hostile and likely armed. Our mission is to reach District Four and we can’t let them stop us.”
The men nodded in response and began to ready their rifles.
“Open your windows and be ready in case they come alongside. Give me two men at the back of the bus. Knock out that window and get ready.”
The two men closest to the rear of the bus darted to the rear exit. One of them raised the butt of his rifle and smashed out the glass with two hard strikes. The rest of the men opened their windows and lifted their rifles to their shoulders. The sound of motorcycles grew louder and Sutherland watched as they came within a hundred yards of the bus.
“Hold your fire,” Sutherland said, “and don’t fire unless they show they’re hostile.”
Just as Sutherland finished speaking a bullet ripped through the back door of the bus. He dropped to the floor and looked around, but none of his men were injured.
“Open fire!” Sutherland said, yelling at his men.
The sound of gunfire filled the bus and Sutherland stood back up in time to see three of the bikers get hit. They lost control of their motorcycles, taking out another two bikers in the process. It was a good start, but it didn’t seem to slow them down. Sutherland slowly walked toward the middle of the bus and tried to count the bikers still coming for them, but gave up when he reached twenty.
A bullet tore through the neck of one of the men positioned at the back of the bus and a spray of blood hit him across the face. Sutherland lifted his hand and wiped the blood away from his left eye, walked to the back of the bus and picked up the fallen man's rifle.
Sutherland took a deep breath, aimed for the rider at front of the pack and fired. The bullet slammed into the bikers’ chest and he let go of his handlebars. The bikers behind him swerved out of the way and continued to fire on the bus. Sutherland had a feeling the only thing saving them from being overwhelmed was how difficult it was to fire a pistol while riding a motorcycle.
A biker on the right side of the pack sped up and overtook his comrades. Sutherland looked over at him and realized there was a second person riding on the back of the bike. The man on the back lifted a sawed-off shotgun as the motorcycle drew closer. Sutherland aimed toward them, but flinched as a bullet whizzed by his head and he missed the shot. The motorcycle sped up and got within twenty feet of the bus. Sutherland watched helplessly as one of his men fired and missed.
The biker on the back aimed his sawed-off at the rear wheels of the bus and fired as they closed in. The slug tore through both of the rear tires on that side of the bus. Sutherland turned around and watched as Avery wrestled to keep control of the bus. He ran toward the front, hoping to aid the young man and looked out the window as he got there. The biker who had shot out the tire was alongside the front of the bus and had his shotgun aimed at Avery. Sutherland raised his own rifle, but he wasn’t fast enough. The shotgun slug slammed into the side of Avery’s neck and barely missed hitting Sutherland as it exited the other side.
Avery slumped over dead before he knew what happened. Sutherland felt his world slow down as he reached for the wheel of the bus. Sutherland realized it was hopeless as he looked out the front of the bus and saw it heading over the edge of the road. Sutherland instinctively dropped his rifle and grabbed onto the driver’s seat to brace for impact.
Sutherland wanted to warn his men… he was sure they had no idea what was about to happen, but he froze and watched in horror as the bus went over a thirty foot embankment at full speed. Sutherland closed his eyes and thought about the only thing that really mattered to him… his wife and his daughter.
The bus went over the embankment, rolled over twice and finally came to rest upside down. Sutherland felt blood flowing down his face as he tried to force his eyes open, but it was no use and his world faded to black.
“Sir?”
Sutherland groaned and slowly opened his eyes. Pain shot through his whole body as he tried to move.
“Sir… don’t move.”
He nodded, but even that caused pain in his head. He forced himself to remember what happened, but it all felt foggy… like some bad dream he wanted to wake up from. Sutherland felt something cool on his forehead. It took a little bit of the pain away, but he still felt like someone had hit him in the head with a baseball bat.
Sutherland moaned and the cool feeling came back to his forehead again. After a few more minutes of feeling sorry for himself, he finally forced his eyes open. It hurt like hell, but Sutherland wasn’t about to let anything stop him unless he was about to die. Looking down at him was one of the men, one whose name he didn’t know, and he had a streak of blood down the side of his head and a sad look in his eyes.
“What… what happened?” Sutherland said.
He closed his eyes again as pain shot through his shoulder.
“Well, Sir, the bus crashed and you were knocked out.”
“The… the other men?”
The soldier took a deep breath and shook his head. Sutherland nodded in response and closed his eyes again. It was as he had feared… the rest of the men were dead and it was all his fault. It was his job to keep them all safe and he had failed.
“What’s your name?” Sutherland said.
“Wheeler, Sir.”
Sutherland cringed as he forced his body into a sitting position with the help of Wheeler. He looked down at his right shoulder, one of the main sources of pain, but there didn’t look to be anything wrong with it. He put his left hand to his shoulder and felt around, but he couldn’t figure out what was wrong.
“Are you alright?” Sutherland said.
“Yeah… I hit my head, but not as badly as you.”
Sutherland winced as he put his hand to his head. He pulled his hand away and looked down at the blood on his fingertips.
“What happened… after the accident?”
“I’m not really sure, but when I woke up the rest of the men were dead… a few of them had bullet wounds and a couple of them seemed to have died in the accident.”
Sutherland looked around and realized none of their gear, which he expected to be strewn around, was there. He was next to the crashed bus and there was nothing but sand and broken glass around him. The only thing that made sense to him was the bikers took all their supplies and killed anyone who resisted.
“Help me up,” Sutherland said.
Wheeler hesitated for a moment, but finally stood up and held his hand out to Sutherland. Wheeler helped him to his feet and Sutherland walked toward the back of the bus. He looked inside and saw the bodies of the rest of his men and the sheer lack of gear. Sutherland walked back to Wheeler, who was still standing in the same spot.
“I already checked… they left us with nothing.”
Sutherland walked to the front of the bus and looked at the driver’s seat. There was a pool of blood around Avery’s mangled body. Sutherland sighed and turned away. Avery had gotten them so far and Sutherland felt like he owed it to him, and all the men, to make it the rest of the way to District Four.
“Let’s go,” Sutherland said.
He started to walk up the embankment. Wheeler followed him, not even questioning his superior.
“I know we have no guns… no supplies, but there’s no way we can stop now.”
“Sir, I agree.”
“Good.”
“Permission to speak freely?”
“Of course.”
They reached the road and Sutherland put his hand to his head again. There was still some blood, but it was starting to dry… not to mention he didn’t have time to worry about it.
“How are we going to get there?”
“I’m still working on that,” Sutherland said. “Just before the crash there was a sign for Pierre… it was one hundred and eighty-five miles. We need to find some kind of transportation and go from there.”
Sutherland wasn't optimistic, he knew the chances weren't great... but he knew they had to reach District Four, even though it was now just the two of them.
"Should we go back to Watertown, Sir?"
Sutherland stopped, turned around and looked in the direction of the town. He knew it was probably their best chance of finding a working car, but he felt like they couldn't afford the time it would take.
He felt like his world was spinning as he tried to think of what he should do. For all they knew District Four could already be overrun and they had risked everything to get there and it wouldn't matter. Sutherland knew it was his duty to at least try. He felt dizzy, like he might pass out... but he wasn't about to let himself. Sutherland took a deep breath, stood up straight and turned back in the direction of Pierre.
"Let's keep heading this way. We know there are cars in Watertown, but we don't know what's in this direction. For all we know there could be a farm over the next crest."
"Yes, Sir."
Sutherland prayed he wasn't making a mistake.