11. Crew #2
“They’re fine. They were taking turns reading to me. We started How To Eat Fried Worms last night. They went upstairs to watch a movie with their guard Dobson.”
“Nova, I have to go, there’s a roadblock ahead, but like I said don’t worry I will be there soon. I love you, Princess.” I said before ending the call.
The road twisted and weaved through the countryside for another half mile before we finally saw it. We were still two miles away and we could see the flames and smell the smoke from something burning ahead. The SUVs were scattered across the road and at least two of them were on fire.
“What can they see?”
The radio crackled and a voice relayed what the scouts were seeing.
“We can’t make out any survivors. It looks like at least two of the SUVs were hit with a projectile and overturned.
There are high caliber bullet casings everywhere, along with broken glass and bodies.
Mr. Sanderson’s personal Sprinter van is intact, but there is no one inside.
Do you want us to go in closer?” The voice said.
“No. Fuck, where is he. His sprinter is bulletproof. Why did he get out of the fuckin van?” I ranted. That was the purpose of having our vehicles bulletproof. He would have never got out of that van if it wasn’t life or death. “Wait for us.”
“Roger that, Sir.” The voice said.
We stopped a hundred feet away from the accident, flanked by the men we brought with us as we went to check out the scene.
The scent of blood, gunpowder and burning gasoline hit me harder than the smoke that burned my eyes and lungs.
We spread out and searched the rubble for survivors.
It was quickly verified that these were Pops men laid out across the road.
“Check for anyone who doesn’t belong here,” I said. I wanted to know for sure that this was Valdez or the mercs that had mysteriously arrived in town. The crunch of glass under my feet almost drowned out the sound of wheezing and moaning coming from near the back of the sprinter.
“I hear something,” I yelled. “Stop movin’ and be quiet.” And then I waited. It took a while but then I heard it again, a soft whimper in the night air. There were two large bodies at the back of the van, riddled with bullets. I reached down to check their pulses and heard the noise again.
“C-C…Creeew. Heeelp me.” Janelle slurred. I filled the body closest to the sprinter over and there she was laying half under the dead man and half under the van.
“Somebody get me some help.” I shouted. Janelle was covered in blood and dirt. From what I could see she had a wound on her neck and somewhere on her upper left side. I couldn’t tell if she had been hit in her chest or her shoulder.
“Janelle, can you hear me. I got you. It’s gon be alright.” I told her, not sure if what I was saying was true.
“H-He Shot me.” She said, barely coming out in a whisper.
“Who Janelle?”
“V-Valdez.” She coughed out as Black showed up with our medic Jenson and a med kit.
“Give me some space.” Jenson said as he quickly examined Janelle.
“S-Sorry Crew. My f–f-fault. He knows.” She tried to say.
“Knows what?”
“She needs to stay quiet and remain still.” Jenson grumbled.
“T-The com-pound.” She got out right before she blacked out.
“Is she gon’ make it?”
“If we can get her to a doctor, yes. The bullet missed her carotid and her heart barely. She has an exit wound on her back. I can slow the bleeding for now in her chest but if we can’t get her to the doctor.
She might not make it through the night.
” He said somberly as he patched up Janelle’s wounds as best he could on the side of the road.
I stood up and turned to Blue who was looking down at Janelle’s unconscious body with the same murderous gaze in his eyes as Mecca and Kema.
“If Valdez knows about the compound that means he was able to force Pops or Del to give him the location. Depending on how much of a headstart they have when we arrive they will already be at the gate. We need to get Janelle to the compound, we'll take the utility road through the mountain to get to the rear entrance of the compound, that’s our only way inside if Valdez is at the gate.”
“If I get you to the medical suite, can you keep her stable until we can get the doctor to you?” I asked Jenson.
“Yeah, I got this. We should move her now. I need to get her warmed up. Her temp has decreased from blood loss and laying on the ground for so long.” He said.
We assisted him with getting Janelle into one of the SUVs before heading towards the compound.
The compound was a fortress and old military installation built into the side of the mountain.
Once we were behind those gates the only way for Valdez to get in was if we opened the doors for him and that shit wasn’t gon’ happen.
The mountain road that we were using was once used by the military to transport supplies up to the site before the highway that we use today was created.
Once we moved in, we had a few of the men clear it for us, but it wasn’t much they could do about how rocky the terrain was.
But I would have this truck on two wheels to get to my family.