“You guys trust us now?” Drew asked indicating the fully loaded AR-15 he was cradling under his arm.
“We trust you not to want to get your brother killed. You’re also seriously outgunned if you did want to try and pull something. Although I really had to control myself not to snag one of those sweet assault rifles for myself.” Harley was looking at Charani while he talked. When she heard the order come across the radio, she nodded at him.
Harley waved Yue and Drew over then opened the doors. Drew took the lead moving quickly out the back of the truck. Yue came right after him since Harley was making it super obvious that he was in a hurry to get the door shut and locked. They began the loop around the trucks under the watchful eyes of the drivers and their escorts. The trucks hadn’t been turned off yet since the drivers were ready to drop the hammer at a moment’s notice if they needed to get the hell out of there. They were sitting ducks up in their cabs.
The spot they’d parked in for the night was a parking lot next to a sandy beach on a huge lake. Drew stomped around the perimeter angrily. He was holding his rifle like he’d welcome the chance to put some rounds into something. Yue followed behind hoping to temper Drews temper before it blew up in their faces. They were both so preoccupied with his simmering anger at having LeBron held hostage that they lost precious seconds when a small group of surgers came running at them from the woods on the other side of the road.
Losing a few seconds when dealing with attackers who move as unnaturally fast as the surgers was a big deal. If one of them hadn’t been screaming they’d have probably been pulled to the ground and eaten before getting off a single shot. As it was Yue swung around first and immediately yelled for Drew to help.
There was a total of five surgers sprinting towards them. They were dressed for camping and their clothing was still relatively fresh looking indicating they hadn’t been turned that long ago. Yue got two shots off before a skinny kid sprung forward and knocked her to the ground. Drew was standing beside her firing at the three still running for them. He had no time to bend down to help Yue who was grunting as she rolled around on the ground with the surger. She was desperately fending off the things teeth as it snaked its arms behind her crushing her into a lovers embrace.
Drew put rounds in two more of the surgers before one got past and knocked him to the ground beside Yue. Somewhere off in the distance Drew heard shots ringing out. He felt his wrist twisted around so hard he knew it must be sprained. It might even be broken. He pulled his pistol and fired four times into the torso of the older man in red flannel who’d taken him down. Using the old man to help him steady his hand he shot the woman trying to pull Yue close enough to bite her. He kept shooting her until she collapsed on top of his hyperventilating sister. Disregarding her respiratory crisis, he rolled on his back to shoot the other surgers he’d seen coming at them.
Nothing was coming at them. Blinking in surprise he slowly sat up looking in every direction. He finally noticed the escort in the truck closest to him had his hunting rifle stuck out the window. He waved jauntily over at Drew when he saw that Drew had finally noticed him. Drew stood all the way up and helped Yue to her feet. She waved a thank you to the truck escort as well before they returned to their perimeter check.
They walked the perimeter a few more times before whoever was in charge of making the call made the call. The backs of two of the trucks opened up and the clan hopped out. This couple of hours bleeding into dusk were the best part of the day for most of them. A life spent trapped in the big metal coffin on wheels was a life most of them didn’t think was worth living. On the flip side they understood that the big metal coffins and their extremely unique lifestyles were the only things that’d kept them alive this long.
“The gun shots will probably bring us a lot of visitors tonight but we’re staying anyway. Drew, we’re going to have you keep walking the perimeter for the next hour. Yue, feel free to go check on your brother in the first vardo but then join back up with Drew on sentry duty.” Charani had walked straight over to them when she came out of the truck. She gave her orders and turned to leave.
“Can I go see LeBron too?” Drew asked.
“Nope. Follow orders boy. It’s what’s going to keep you alive.” Charani tossed the reprimand over her shoulder as she headed towards the lake to take in the view. A revolver dangled from her hand for defense. Drew nodded in appreciation on seeing that. The surgers came so fast that you might not have time to figure out where your holster was. Having one of those things coming straight for you could be a bit stressful.
Drew grumbled a reply and took off on his rounds
