Battle Earth VII (22 page)

“You were a hero to this world, Colonel, and rightly so. But in these past years you have been a shadow of your former self. You have let yourself be paraded around for the entertainment of the lowest common filth in society, but you can be the man you used to be. Be the soldier you used to be.”

“I don’t need any lectures from a politician,” he snapped back, “Where were you when the World needed you?”

Yet again she made some sense, but he’d never admit it to her.

“Do the right thing, Colonel. If we don’t protect the next generation, what was it all ever for?”

“Right, stop the bus!”

The driver slammed the brakes on and froze where she sat. Taylor knelt in close to talk with her.

“Get the kids off the bus and take them back to town. Don’t cover for us. Don’t lie to anyone. We don’t need your protection. We just need the vehicle. Got it?”

She nodded her head in agreement.

“Do it.”

She carefully and slowly got to her feet as if she was suspicious he was actually going to let her leave. He hated having made her feel that way, but there was no time to apologise over it.

“What are you doing?” asked Mertens.

“Okay, we won’t put these kids in any more danger, but we need this bus.”

He pulled open the door and let the driver do the rest before turning back to the few companions he had.

“Hughes, think you can drive this thing?”

“It looks older than my Pop’s, but yeah.”

“Get on it and get us moving.”

He looked around, the sailor was right. It was a rickety old transport that looked as if it had been brought out of military service.

“Come on, Hughes, minute they realise we have ditched the kids, we are fair game.”

“Then why did we ditch ‘em?”

“God knows,” he said, sighing.

Hughes leapt into the driver’s seat and got them moving quickly.

“I can drive this, but I got no idea where we’re going.”

Taylor looked over to the navigation, but like his Mappad, it wasn’t working.

“Take the road to Gedinne. We can cross the border near there,” Mertens said.

“You sure about that?”

“That I know my own country? Yes, I’m sure, Colonel.”

“Do as the President says.”

They could see the signs in front of them and did as she said. Taylor took a seat, relieved that they finally seemed to be on the home run. He sat next to the driver and facing backwards to the rest of the seating. Mertens was sitting nearest him and seemed surprisingly calm with all they had been through.

“What else do you know about all this?” he asked her.

“I’m afraid to say everything else is public information. The last communication I had with anyone was your President. I pleaded with him for the United States to intervene at the prison camps to aid in a peaceful solution.”

“And?”

“And it failed…”

Taylor looked out of the window for some sight of the craft that had stalked them, but it was gone.

“Think they’ve had enough?”

“Not likely, Waters, but we can hope.”

Twenty minutes later Hughes let out a cry of excitement, and Taylor turned to see it was a sign pointing to the border crossing.

“Just two kilometres out!”

“What will you do once we get to France?” the President asked Taylor.

“Push my contacts in the UK and see where I can get to. If I can’t get support back home, that’s my next safe bet. I have friends there.”

“And do what then?”

He shook his head.

“I don’t know. The World’s going to shi… to hell. And this time it isn’t as simple as fighting those in front of me.”

“Welcome to my world.”

He opened his mouth to speak but was silenced by a scream from Hughes.

“Shit!”

Taylor turned to see a line of gunmen blocking the road. They wore Reitech equipment but no insignia over plain black uniforms. He reached over and grabbed the wheel, tugging it to one side. The bus veered violently off to one side, ramming a car beside it as the line of gunmen opened fire.

“Get down!” he ordered.

He heard Hughes yelp as a shot went into his arm. Bullets ripped through the outer skin of the bus with little resistance at all. Taylor couldn’t see anything from where he was and had to hope for the best now. A moment later they heard glass shatter, and the bus rocked as they burst through a huge pane and then smashed into a wall.

The impact sent them all tumbling from their positions. Taylor hit the main console at the front of the bus, smashing into the inside of the windscreen, and then back down to the seat. He got to his feet, doing his utmost to ignore the pain and get a handle on the situation.

“Get up!”

He looked out of the windows. They were inside a modern shopping mall. He drew out his pistol and offered it to Mertens.

“Know how to use this?”

Mertens was in her mid-fifties. She was more than a little overweight and hardly looked like the gun toting type, but he had to do something.

“Can you use it or not?” he insisted.

“I can learn quickly if I need to,” she responded, snatching it from his grasp.

Fighting spirit, it’s a start.

“Everyone off the bus!”

The door was jammed shut, but it was fortunately weak. He kicked it and it flew from its hinges. Screams of panic rang out from around them, as people went from concern for the occupants to fleeing from men with guns. He quickly surveyed the scene and led them further into the facility. He looked back. Hughes was nursing his wounded arm and wasn’t even holding his rifle that was now slung on his back. Jafar was holding up the rear.

They took a bend, and the only way was up via automated stairs. As they rode up to the next floor, Taylor looked at the faces of Hughes and Waters. They both looked ready to give up.

“Hughes, get that weapon in hand. You haven’t got time to bleed! Mertens, you stick at my back, no matter what.”

Jafar was the last one off the stairs, and as he did so, gunfire raced past his head. Taylor jumped to his aid. A metre high wall ran alongside the top of the stairs, providing a perfect firing position to shoot down on those chasing them. He popped up from cover, quickly took aim, and fired three shots. Two hit the man’s armour, and the third struck his hand, almost taking it off at the wrist.

He ducked back down as he head the screams of the fallen soldier. Jafar fired the next shots, but he could not see the result of them.

“Who are these people?” asked Waters.

“Soldiers loyal to Armand. That’s all you need to know.”

“What are we gonna do?”

“Shoot back!”

He got up and fired again. It was enough to drive their attackers back, but he knew they’d already be working on ways to flank their position. Mertens tried to get up to fire, but Taylor hauled her back down.

“I gave you that gun as a last resort. You do not stick your head out while we’re still in this fight.”

She was at first offended by the way he spoke to her, but then thankful. He took a few more shots before getting to his feet and dragging her with him.

“Come on, let’s keep moving!”

They were on the first floor of the mall now, and the floor divided and split with an open drop down to the ground floor below.

Up or down? Up or down?

It wasn’t easy to decide when so few options presented themself.

“Where are we going?” screamed Waters.

“You don’t know, do you?” asked Hughes. “This is fucked. It’s so fucked.”

Taylor turned and slapped the man hard in the face.

“Man the fuck up. We’ve got a job to do, and we’re gonna get it done.”

Screams rang out from below, and he looked down to the ground level. Troops were pouring through the crowd looking for them.

“Follow me.”

He headed for the next escalator, but this time he sprinted up it. They took up position as they had done before.

“How many floors in this place?” Taylor asked Mertens.

She shrugged. “I’m sorry, but I’ve never been here before.”

He looked around for some more information and found the board with a map of the site.

Why didn’t I think to look?

He hadn’t visited a mall in more years than he could remember. It showed another two floors above them.

“What do you think, go for the roof?” he asked Jafar.

“You’re the boss.”

“That’s a big help.”

“Here they come,” said Waters.

Taylor lifted his rifle over the ledge and took aim.

“Just a few shots to keep their heads down and then we move.”

He fired first. One brushed off one of the soldiers’ helmets. One missed all together, and another clipped a man’s ear and got him screaming as it took the tip off.

“Go!”

They rushed up to the next level but did not stop until they hit the roof. As they burst out of the door, Mertens curled over gasping for air. She wasn’t able to handle the exertion being placed on her, and he could see the Navy boys suffering also.

“What now?” Jafar asked.

“You too? How about somebody else comes up with the answers for once?”

He went over to the western edge of the roof and looked out towards the border.

“We could jump it?”

“I don’t think we have the power left to do it.”

“I don’t think we have a choice,” he replied, “We jump as far as we can, and carry on from there on foot. It’s our best hope.”

He knew the others had heard him, and he looked to them for an opinion. None responded.

“We keep pushing, or it’s over, and it was all for nothing. Did we fight all this time to give up now? Did the Deveron go down for nothing? Was the sacrifice of her crew, our friends, for nothing?”

Footsteps thundered up the stairs behind them, and they knew they had less than a minute to make a decision.

“We’re gonna make this, you know why? Because we deserve to; too much shit has happened today for us to fail now. So what the hell? Let’s do this!”

He grabbed Mertens and threw her over his shoulder and ran along the rooftop. The others were quick to follow, not because they believed they could make it, but being left behind was a more frightening concept.

The boosters launched them from the rooftop. They covered a few hundred metres when Taylor’s boosters began to give out, and the last of his power was automatically diverted to bring him to a quick and safe descent. He landed in the middle of the road to the border, causing cars to veer off it to avoid them.

The others landed around him soon after, but they knew they were a long way short of France. It was within reach and yet so far away. A driver of a car that had slid to a halt before them ran from his car. Taylor moved up and quickly took it as cover.

“What now?” Hughes asked.

“I’m not gonna be shot in the back. We turn and fight these bastards.”

“With what? We’re outnumbered, and you can’t have much more ammunition left than me.”

“And that is a reason to quit, a reason to give up? Thinking like that would have seen an end to humanity! Load up and prepare to fight!”

He slammed in a new magazine and put his muzzle down on the roof of the car. Troops were amassing. He’d counted a few dozen figures already taking up position.

How did it come to this? A hundred battles, and it could all end with so few at my side on some crappy stretch of road?

It was hard to see a way out for any of them. He turned to Jafar for answers, but he had none.