Chapter 56
As the Native warriors poured through the gate, armed to the teeth and ready to take the world back, Vin felt as though he needed to stay by their side, at least for the first steps of this operation. They were young and inexperienced, and none of them had ever been in a war zone before.
He was worried that once the horrors of this kind of combat fell on them that they would break under the pressure. Vin crouched behind a series of crates and popped up to take shots at the Chain Gang members who flooded into the area.
His soldiers, as he had come to view them, returned fire, found cover, and started to push the enemy back. As the sound of gunfire filled the air and screams resounded from both sides, Vin’s mind started to betray him once more.
His mind seized on him as he flashed back to horrors from war zones past. The moment his mind went, the pain in his shoulder came roaring back as well.
Vin stayed crouched behind the crates, the world blurring in and out as the sounds of battle around him faded into a blur.
All he could hear was his own breathing as his body threatened to shut down.
Then, he could feel someone grabbing him by the shoulder, and he resurfaced just enough to realize what was happening.
One of the Native soldiers had joined him behind the crates. He was looking down at Vin in worry, checking his body to make sure that he hadn’t been shot.
“Vin!” the soldier called down to him.
Vin felt bad in the moment because he didn’t know the young man’s name.
“What are you doing, man?” he cried out over the sound of gunfire and screaming, which still rattled Vin to his core. “Come on, get going. Your wife and son need you!”
His wife and son…
Deb’s face flashed through the theater of his mind as memories of tender moments they had shared replayed themselves one after the other.
He remembered with startling clarity the day Jimmy had come into this world and the darkness that had enveloped his mind had parted for just an instant so that he could look longingly down at this perfect being he had helped bring into this world.
His wife and son were the definitions of love in his life, and the fact that he was fighting for them began to act as an anchor that allowed his shattered mind to start piecing itself back together.
He had to find them. He had to make sure they were safe. Then he had to find Chainz and end him once and for all. He repeated these three steps of the plan over and over again in his head until the pain in his arm faded, and he could feel his limbs once more.
He looked over at the young man, whose hand was still resting on his shoulder. He gave him a nod of thanks and gritted his teeth. He didn’t trust himself to speak yet, but he made a powerful fist with one hand to show that he was feeling strong and ready.
“I’ll cover you,” the young man said, and Vin gave him another nod as he picked his guns back up.
Vin exploded out from cover, firing as he went.
True to his word, the Native soldier rose to his feet and laid down covering fire from his AR-15.
Members of the Chain Gang fell in the spray of death, and Vin took off into the ranch, moving from memory as he weaved between utility sheds on his way toward the residential area.
Vin had no idea where Deb and Jimmy might be. The ranch was huge, and he had no clue as to where they typically found themselves under the rule of Chainz. That made the first two parts of his plan more difficult.
Vin had managed to leave the bulk of the battle behind him in his hunt for his loved ones. Every once in a while, a stray member of the Chain Gang would spot him and make a beeline for him, but Vin had no trouble putting them down like the animals they were.
Something drew Vin’s attention farther into the property.
A plume of thick black smoke was rising somewhere in the distance.
There was too much of it to be a campfire, and none of his people had advanced far enough to bring the battle that deep into the ranch.
Chainz was up to something back there, and whatever it was, no good could come of it.
He took off like a shot toward the source of the smoke.
In his heart of hearts, he knew that somehow Deb and Jimmy were associated with that towering black plume.
He wasn’t sure how he knew it, but he just did.
Perhaps he was taking a worst-case scenario view of the situation, but he had always found that one needed to prepare for the worst and hope for the best so as to never get caught unaware.
As Vin continued farther along, he saw a number of small ramshackle huts built on the property that hadn’t been there before.
He assumed these filthy accommodations were constructed hastily for the members of the Chain Gang.
He imagined his wife and son being forced to live in one of these little shacks while Chainz and his ilk were set up in the old man’s house.
It made his blood boil, and Vin ran with all he was worth around one of the shacks to move closer to the source of the smoke.
In his haste and anger, he wasn’t minding his surroundings. As he moved around the house, something huge and powerful slammed into his chest, instantly stopping his momentum as he dropped to the ground.
Looking up, Vin cursed as the massive Legion stood above him, pulling his fist back and cracking his knuckles as he grimaced.
Vin had dropped one of his guns as he fell, but he raised the other one to take aim at the big man’s massive midsection.
But Legion was ready for this. He kicked out with one leg, striking Vin in the wrist hard and causing him to lose his grip on the handgun.
Legion then reached down and grabbed Vin by the front of the shirt, wrenching him up to his feet before driving a huge fist into the side of his head.
Vin cried out in pain as he slammed back into the wall of the shack and braced himself as the huge man readied another blow that might just cave his face in.
Vin ducked the incoming strike, and Legion hit the side of the hut full force.
Vin heard the wood crack under the force, but Legion was not unphased by this accidental strike.
He cried out and clutched at his hand, giving Vin the moment he needed to strike out with his own fist and rock the big man in the throat.
Legion stumbled back, and Vin shot his knee forward, striking the bodyguard in the gut. He then shoved Legion back with both arms, barely moving this colossal opponent a step. Vin tried to punch at Legion’s face again, but he was blocked by a huge meaty arm that stopped his momentum dead.
Legion swung out twice, catching Vin in the temple and jaw.
He fell off to the side and desperately crawled for one of his guns.
Legion, however, was on him in an instant, moving incredibly fast for someone so large.
He grabbed Vin up by the back of his shirt and waistline of his pants and threw him at the ramshackle door of the hut.
The shoddy workmanship crumbled under the force of Vin smashing into it, and he fell within the one-room home, slamming into the floor and trying to roll with his momentum. Legion advanced inside, his bulky body squeezing through the doorframe.
Vin kicked up, catching Legion in the stomach and driving him back again.
He then climbed back to his feet and attempted to charge at Legion and take him down to the ground.
Legion sidestepped Vin’s clumsy attack, grabbing him by the back of the neck and the shirt and heaving him into a flip that took Vin right onto the home’s wooden table.
The table broke under his weight, and Vin felt the air fly out of his lungs. His chest burned for oxygen as he sucked in a breath, barely rolling out of the way in time as a colossal boot slammed down where his face had been only a second before.
As he rolled, Vin grabbed a shattered piece of the table leg and jumped up, swinging out with the makeshift weapon and catching Legion on the side of the head.
He struck out again and again. Legion got his arms up to defend his face, but the blows were digging into the flesh of his forearms and nearly breaking them.
Vin jabbed the table leg into Legion’s gut and drove him back again. He then took a few steps back and ran at Legion, whose back was up against a window. He swung the table leg like a baseball bat, hoping to connect with Legion's head and end this fight with one blow. But Legion saw him coming.
He dodged out of the way, and Vin’s weapon smashed through the window instead of Legion’s skull. Legion gave Vin a powerful shove that sent him stumbling back. He then reached out and grabbed Vin by the throat, but he wasn’t trying to choke him to death.
Instead, Legion flung Vin at the remnants of the window. He smashed through it, the glass slicing at his forearms and neck. Vin landed hard on the ground in the back of the hut, his body feeling like it had been hit by a car.
Legion was out the back door a moment later, advancing on Vin with murderous intent. However, before reaching his downed foe, Legion stopped dead in his tracks, his face falling in horror as he looked beyond Vin at something off in the distance.
Vin was confused by this and turned to follow the direction of Legion’s gaze. He gasped when he saw the horse barn completely engulfed in flames. But why? What good would burning down the horse barn do for Chainz? It seemed senseless and meaningless at a time in which they were under attack.
However, Legion looked as though his heart were breaking into a million pieces.
Vin saw real genuine emotion on the man’s bearded face as his mouth hung open in shock.
Anytime Vin had ever seen Legion, he had been scowling or looking at him as though he wanted to tear him, or anyone, limb from limb.
But in that moment, Legion looked less like the monster Vin had always known him to be and appeared more human than ever before. Legion looked down at Vin, his stare no longer fiery and malicious. Instead, his eyes seemed to implore Vin, and he motioned with his chin toward the barn.
“What?” Vin asked, his mind still clouded from the beating.
“Your wife and son are in there,” Legion said, speaking to Vin for the first time ever. His voice wasn’t the hard, grating tone of strength Vin had always assumed it to be. Instead, it was soft, almost gentle. And he sounded desperate and terrified in the moment.
As soon as his words sank into Vin’s spiraling mind, he shared Legion’s horror and dread.
“Help me save them,” the big man implored, reaching a hand down to help Vin up.
Vin looked at the huge paw of this bear of a man. It was unexpected but knowing Deb and the effect she had on people, it wasn’t surprising. He reached up and clasped Legion on the wrist. The big man gave a hard yank that was certainly not gentle.
Vin was pulled roughly to his feet and made eye contact with the big man. Their look of shared terror bonded them to one another, if only for this one moment. Their mad, desperate attempt to end one another now feeling as though they were memories from someone else’s life.
“Come on,” Vin growled, and together, the two of them ran toward the barn.