"Shit," Joe muttered, "Dell?"
"Got it," he heard from the back seat. He heard the wind suddenly rushing into the trucks interior and realized that Delbert had opened the window, just before he heard the loud chattering of one of the machine pistols.
The blonde haired man fired the shotgun at the same time Delbert began to fire from the back seat. Joe saw the flash from the gun, and heard a rattle from the front of the Suburban that sounded like hundreds of stones hitting the front bumper.
The machine pistol continued to chatter from the back seat, and Joe watched as dozens of holes appeared in the body of the blue Bronco, almost in a straight line along the driver’s side. The front driver side tire blew out, and the truck veered sharply toward their lane.
"Hold on!" Joe yelled, as he spun the wheel and they left the road. The truck bounced when it left the road and entered the ditch, but Joe kept the truck under control, and without letting up on the gas angled it back toward the highway just as the Bronco began to flip into the ditch. A line of trees flew by on the passenger side of the Suburban, scant inches from the glass, and then the truck lurched once more as it left the ditch and rocketed back up onto the highway. The two trucks missed by only inches, and Joe had found himself looking into the lifeless eyes of the blonde haired man, hanging loosely out of the window, for just an instant, before the truck was by him and rolling into the ditch.
Joe brought the Suburban back up onto the road, and floored it. When he came to the dirt road he almost blew right by it, but managed to slow enough to slide into the entrance somewhat under control. He barreled through the first curve at better than fifty miles an hour. Once he was around it, and hidden from the road, he slowed down. He rounded two more curves before he stopped the truck, and turned around facing back toward the main road. Thick choking dust from the dirt road rafted up into the air. No way are they going to sneak up on me, he thought, as he watched the road and strained his ears to listen. A few seconds later he heard the high whine of a vehicle on the highway, but it didn't slow down, and the high pitched whine of the motor dwindled away to silence in a few seconds as it continued onward, apparently, Joe thought, looking for them.
"Must not have seen the dust we kicked up," Bill said.
"Or pretended not to see it," Becky said. As she spoke they heard a muffled explosion in the distance.
"Think that was that Bronco?" Peggy asked.
"Could've been, probably was in fact," Delbert said, "hope so anyhow."
Becky was studying the map once more. "It's a good thing we didn't break off to the left," she said.
"Why?" Joe asked.
"River," she stated calmly, "about a mile or so in the opposite direction, we would have been trapped if we'd gone that way. It looks like we got open land ahead here. At least it looks that way, it's hard to tell."
Joe looked back along the dirt road. Thick dust still hung above it. "There's no way they missed us," he said, "unless they're blind. They had to see that dust hanging in the air, and if we keep going we're going to kick up even more, and they'll be able to follow it right to us."
"I think you're right, but what the hell else can we do?" Delbert asked.
"Turn around and go back," Joe said. He held up his hand to silence the outburst that erupted at the suggestion. "Listen; if we sit here they're going to come back, probably with more men. If we head back to the road block now we have the advantage. I would bet the sound we heard of a passing car was one of the police cruisers. If so that leaves only one, and less men to contend with back there. If we wait the odds will only get worse. See?"
"He's right, I think," Becky said, "I don't want to die any more than any of us do. Sitting here isn't going to help us at all, going back before they have a chance to regroup might."
"Only thing to do," Delbert sighed from the back seat, "if I gotta die, I'd rather die fighting than get trapped and slaughtered like an animal."
"So?" Joe asked.
"We go back," Peggy said decisively. Bill grunted a short "Yeah" which they could all tell he was not enthusiastic about.
Joe dropped the Suburban back into drive and they began to move down the dirt road, gaining momentum as they neared the highway. Joe slowed to turn onto the highway after looking in both directions and seeing nothing. Ahead, approximately where the Bronco had wrecked, they could see greasy black smoke billowing into the hot still air.
"Could be some of 'em there too," Delbert said, as he stared toward the greasy smoke in the distance. "If so, I'll be ready for 'em." Joe nodded his head, and brought the truck up to speed slowly to hide the whine of the motor, which would hopefully allow them to take the road block, or whoever might be at the Bronco, by surprise.
As they neared the burning Bronco Joe could see one of the patrol cars off to the side of the road, along with the red pickup that Delbert had pointed out to them. "Looks like it," Joe said calmly, as he leaned back into the seat to give Becky a clear shot through the driver’s side window.
The young blonde haired kid from the Bronco was lifeless on the side of the road along with two other
