Legend of Mace (25 page)

Wearing a similar jacket to Dawson for concealment purposes, Mace reached around Dawson and undid her top button, pulling the coat open a few inches to show a long coil. “She’s wired,” Mace said loudly. “We both are.” He held up his hand to show a small device in his hand with a wire climbing up the sleeve. “Anyone moves or takes a shot at us and we all go up in flames.”

The laughter instantly stopped, replaced by hard stares.

“You’re dead, you know. You all are,” Razor said, clearly irritated. Staring at Dawson, he asked, “What the hell happened to you? You okay?”

Dawson felt her insecurity soar and she trembled with uncertainty. She was afraid Razor would reject her.

“It was an accident,” Mace declared, answering for her. “It was in the heat of battle. I was aiming for her heart.”

Razor’s eyes turned wide. “You shot her tit off?” Instantly filled with anger, he raised his handgun towards Mace. The rest of his camp followed suit.

“Hold on,” Mace said, holding up the hand with the trigger. “You don’t want to do that. I told you, it was an accident. You shoot me, and we all die.”

Razor briefly bared his teeth in frustration. “You fuck, you’re gonna die slow.”

“We don’t want any more bloodshed,” Mace said calmly. “We want this to end peacefully.”

Smiling bitterly, Razor eyed Mace with vengeance. “We’ve got a deadly little surprise heading for your camp right now.” Looking briefly around at his gang, he turned his attention back to Mace. “We were just getting ready to pay you another visit. This ain’t gonna end peacefully.”

“I could blow us all up right now,” Mace reiterated, remaining blank, hoping Roger and Crockett were moving into place. He needed to buy some more time. “Ain’t nothing you could do about that.”

Roger kept to the streets, driving slowly enough that the ambulance wouldn’t kick up too much dust. He avoided dirt roads as he took the long way around to come up behind the rear of the bikers. Stopping a few times, he raised his binoculars to search for any sign of their camp.

Dawson had revealed they kept the ambulance, RV and semi under guard at the back of their compound. The bikers left enough distance to protect themselves in case of an accident, but were still close enough to protect it if necessary.

Coming up on the other side of the encampment, Crockett dumped his bike at the designated spot, over a mile out from where they believed the rear of the camp to be. Immediately taking off on foot, he sprinted towards his target. He stopped on occasion, lifting a pair of binoculars that dangled around his neck to search for movement or location.

Across his back slung a sniper rifle fitted with a homemade silencer as well as a bow and quiver filled with arrows. He felt the weight of the weaponry and panted as he ran. Ignoring the discomfort and fatique in his body, he was entirely focused on his mission. Stopping to take another look through the binoculars, his hands were damp with sweat.

He smiled as he saw the first sign of the camp. A biker stood guard, pacing back and forth while puffing on a stale cigarette. He was close.

“I see a semi!” JB said crisply into the radio from atop the chapel roof. His hand gripped the Walkie-Talkie firmly as he continued to monitor the trailer with his binoculars. There was no way of knowing whether more bikers followed or if Mace’s plan had failed. “Get ready on all fronts. We don’t know what we’re facing.”

Watching next to JB, Woody wished they still retained possession of the rocket launcher. Hoping the remaining mines would slow down any attack, they watched with interest as the semi drove away from the front of the camp and around the left side. “It’s coming around!” Woody declared as he held the radio to his mouth.“Watch out on the portside. It’s heading your way.”

“Got it,” Bailey said as he watched it continue past his post. A total of twenty-six kids guarded the inside of the encampment, with JB, Woody and Jade in sniper positions. Jade covered the rear, set up on top of the amphitheater. “It’s still going,” Bailey reported as it made its way around to the back.

“Shit,” Jade said under her breath. The bikers knew the back would be the most vulnerable. Razor witnessed the effects of the previous assault, and after escaping from the hotel, realized they’d mined the whole compound. He figured most of the mines were blown at the back. “Get ready!” Jade yelled. “Here it comes!”

The semi continued going until it was midway past the rear compound. A hundred yards out, it suddenly stopped. It started to back up slowly before it lined up its rear with the compound wall. It sat still for a moment before the driver hit the gas and the semi began racing towards them in reverse.

The same crew manned the back wall as before, and Jim yelled out, “Prepare to fire!” as the truck barreled closer. A large liftgate covered the rear of the trailer, making it impenetrable from bullets. The truck wasn’t slowing down.

“It’s going to ram us!” Yvette yelled out.

“Fire!” screamed Jim, and they all opened fire on the trailer, automatic weapon-fire bouncing off the large metal plate.

“Fireballs!” yelled Jim behind him and Travis immediately lit the first one with his torch. It burst into flames and he released the catapult mechanism, sending it launching over the wall. It landed wide right.

“Move it to the left,” screamed Jim in a panic as the truck kept coming. They wouldn’t have time to load a second one. “Get ready for impact!” he yelled as the truck raced directly towards them.

“It can’t jump the trench!” Chelsea yelled as she fired. Jade jumped to her feet and yelled into the Walkie-Talkie, “Everyone to the rear wall now!”

The truck approached the trench gap at a high rate of speed. With a slight incline, the rear of the truck briefly lifted as it hit the gap. The girls screamed as the rear of the truck catapulted towards them. The back wheels landed just below the trench gap but the speed and weight of the semi sent dirt flying as the wheels dug in and the truck continued to move backwards.

The driver of the semi slammed against the rear of his seat as the truck made impact and stopped. He immediately pressed a button and a small explosive discharged at the rear of the trailer, releasing the heavy lift gate and blowing open the rear door.

The lift gate crashed against the adobe wall, and everyone fell backward as part of the wall crumbled in. The first infected barreled through the shredded door and raced up the liftgate, which now rested on top of the fallen wall. Dozens more followed. Maya screamed.

Crockett dropped to the ground, resting the gun barrel on a rock as he lined up his first shot. The biker stopped pacing long enough to flick his cigarette butt to the ground. Crockett didn’t see any other threats in close proximity.

Squeezing the trigger, the rifle made a small popping noise a split second before the biker clutched his chest and toppled over. Crockett quickly found the biker’s head through the scope and popped off one more shot for insurance.

Climbing quickly to his feet, Crockett sprinted once again towards the biker camp, sweat now pouring freely off his body. Adrenaline made his heart race, and he stopped after another hundred yards to scan the camp for any more activity or signs of the ambulance. He spotted it. It was parked next to their RV, which unbeknownst to him was loaded with drug chemicals.

He could see one guard leaning against it as he took a swig off a bottle. Ducking down, Crockett stayed low as he rapidly covered more ground, wanting to get close enough to make sure no other guards kept watch.

Once the guard was in easy range of the sniper rifle, Crockett dropped to the ground, lining up a shot. The man’s face was weather-beaten and wrinkled. A long gnarly beard covered most of his face. Thick, beefy arms covered with tattoos were bared under his black leather vest.

Focusing the scope between the man’s eyes, Crockett started to squeeze the trigger when the man suddenly turned his head to his left and smiled. Inching the scope over, Crockett spotted a second biker approach from the RV.

Crockett’s breath caught in his throat. He needed to take one of them out without the other one noticing. The first one lifted the bottle back to his lips and Crockett took advantage of the momentary distraction. He took a deep breath and fired, hitting the second biker in the upper chest. The man fell backwards, slamming into the ambulance. The first biker turned at the sound a second before a bullet pierced his skull.

As the biker crumbled to the pavement, Crockett put a second bullet into the first one's head. The biker’s body jumped briefly before turning deadly still.

Pulling out a small mirror, Crockett wiggled it in front of the sun, holding it high, his signal to Roger and Mace that the ambulance was clear.

Mace spotted the signal behind the bikers to the left and started with the end plan. “I’m going to cut the wire and release her,” Mace said loudly to Razor. “It’s a sign of good faith.”

Shaking his head, Razor’s face remained fixed for blood. “First smart thing you’ve said. That will buy you a head start. Better get going and get ready, because we’re gonna come and finish off your whole fucking camp.” Looking at Dawson, Razor asked, “How many they got?”

Dawson glanced quickly at Mace. “Mostly kids. Just a few adults.”

“Kids?” Razor questioned, a smile briefly showing. “Girls?  Any teenagers?" he asked excitedly.

Feeling her chest get tight, Dawson answered, “Yes, a few.”

“Teenage girls,” repeated Poncho quietly as he stood next to Razor. He leaned in and said, “We haven’t had any tight pussy around here for a long time.” Poncho was covered in burn marks from the meth lab.

Razor’s smile widened as Dawson felt her value slip further. Mace’s face remained tight. He’d finish them off in due time. Turning Dawson around, he snipped one of the wires that ran across her chest with wire-cutters. Staring blankly at her face, he said quietly, “Looks like you were right. You don’t mean shit to them.”

“They’re going to kill you, you know.” Her face remained passive, although her eye twitched several times.

“Maybe,” Mace said. “Let’s see what they do with you first. Time to finish this off.”

Dawson gave him a confused look as he turned her around to face Razor again. “This thing is rigged with a timer. I just cut the wire that starts it. You’ve got five minutes to figure out how to get this off her before she blows.”

“What the fuck?” Dawson turned around and spit in his face as a loud murmur went through the biker camp.

“Get going,” Mace said tightly, as he wiped the spit off his face and climbed back on his bike.  Firing it up, he raised the trigger again for the bikers to see. “Take a shot at me and you’ll all die. I’m wired with enough explosives to take out this whole goddamn camp.”

“Razor,” Dawson yelled in desperation as Mace roared away from the camp. “Help me!”

“Shit,” Razor said as he stared at her.

“What do we do?” Poncho asked.

Razor glared back at him, clearly perturbed. “You know how to dismantle a fucking bomb? Stitch was our demolition man.” Turning back towards Dawson he waved his hand. “You need to leave,” he commanded. “Get away from this camp. Now.”

“What? You can’t do that, Razor!” she yelled pleadingly.

She started to move forward and he lifted his handgun. “Take another step and I’ll put a bullet in your fucking brain.”

“No, please! It’s a trick!” she yelled. “I don’t even know if this thing is live! They had some type of plan!” She paced back and forth, not willing to move any closer.

***

Roger slowly pulled the ambulance next to the dead bikers. It wasn’t from the same hospital but he doubted the bikers would notice. Shutting the engine off, he started to climb out when Crockett sprinted towards him. “Let’s go!” Crockett whispered anxiously. They’re busy.”

“Right,” Roger whispered back as he crouched down and ran to the biker’s emergency vehicle. He opened the door and almost gagged. It was absolutely filthy inside. Crockett hopped inside and tried not to touch anything. “Gross!” he whispered, staring at the maggots that squirmed on the passenger side floor.

Turning the ignition, Roger took a quick look in the back. The crate with the nukes was there. Roger pulled away slowly, praying they wouldn’t be noticed.

“Razor!” Dawson yelled. “You can’t just leave me!” Unable to cross the invisible line Razor drew with his words, Dawson panicked. The seconds continued to tick off. “C’mon baby, you know I can make it up to you! Please!”

“What the fuck do we do?” asked Poncho, this time more urgently. The bikers were growing more uneasy.

“Just hold on,” Razor said to Dawson as he walked towards her. He estimated a minute of time already lapsed. “I’ll take care of it.”

Dawson’s face was streaked with dirty tears. Visibly shaking, she tried to hold back her sobs as Razor approached her. “Cut this thing off me now, please!”

Razor nodded. “Just close your eyes and stay still. I’ll get you out of it.”

As soon as Dawson closed her eyes Razor lifted his handgun, pressed it against her forehead, and pulled the trigger. The back of her head exploded outwards as her body toppled over. Razor flinched as her body hit the ground, unsure if it would set off the explosives.

Turning around, he said loudly, “We need to get the fuck out of here now! We’re gonna blow those fuckers right to fucking hell! Poncho, get the ambulance. We’re gonna take all the fucking girls then shove the nukes right up their ass!”

The men quickly climbed aboard their Harleys, their outrage clearly visible. Razor pulled out and zoomed past Dawson’s body. The bikers steadily followed.

Running towards the ambulance, Poncho spotted his dead comrades on the ground. His eyes darted around in paranoia as he pulled open the driver’s side door to the rescue vehicle. He was about to climb inside when he noticed how spotless it was. “What the fuck?” he said out loud.