บท 93: Chapter 93
- Narrator -
Time slowed down for Xenon, as he started weighing his options with a heavy heart. There was no clear indication that something was wrong with the scene, but his guts were screaming at him to get the hell away from there... Xenon then took a decision. He decided to trust his instincts, as this can't go wrong if he assumes the worst.
"Andrea, aim at the spot between the two cars and accelerate." He ordered, before taking his talkie out. "Maggie, follow closely behind us. Everyone, get ready to open fire. We're surrounded!" He would not waste time explaining to them what was wrong, even if he had no visual confirmation. It gets them on full alert faster.
Andrea started hyperventilating because of the fear she felt. She was at the very front of the truck, which gave her the feeling she would be the first to get shot since she could see in front of her. And she wasn't particularly wrong. Albeit it was a military truck she was driving, it was not bulletproof, and they didn't have enough time to reinforce the front as well. However, for Andrea and Maggie, their smaller stature helped them in this case since they could easily get down and take cover while maintaining their grip over the steering wheel.
Xenon was still hoping he would be wrong, that he was just being overly paranoid if it meant they wouldn't have to fight in such a disadvantageous position. But his hopes were soon dashed away as his fears materialized themselves out of the woods, two men on each side of the road, one of which was holding a gigantic rifle.
'A machine gun!' Xenon's eyes widened in surprise at the discovery, but he didn't get much time to think as bullets began raining on them.
* BANG BANG BANG *
Andrea immediately took cover behind the steering wheel, screeching in fear. As the group had already been warned, they didn't waste a second returning fire. Xenon did the same, prioritizing the man with the M249. While the others would have to reload their automatic guns, he wouldn't have such a problem and would inflict heavy damage on the trucks. Thankfully he was in a prime position to aim, although he was also exposed. But it seemed their assailants weren't aiming at him at all.
'They're firing at the wheels!' He panicked at the realization. They'd be sitting ducks without their trucks, and would most likely lose their cargo in the process when they're forced to flee. He still had no idea how many people they had with them, even if he could count four of them. He aimed at the man with the machine, but it was easier said than done when riding on a moving vehicle, as it took emptying his whole magazine before he managed to hit him on his exposed leg.
The truck's level distinctly lowered after an initial shock, indicating one or more flat tires, but the truck drove off unhindered, crashing into the two cars, sending them flying off the other sides.
"Fuck! They got away!" One of the men cursed at their failure.
"We weren't supposed to stop them. With flat tires, they won't be getting too far away. The others will soon catch up." His friend said. "Everyone get in the cars, we're going after them!"
"They're gonna follow us." Daryl spoke through the talkie, sharing his thoughts with Xenon. "We got flat tires on both trucks, we won't make it too far." Xenon was silent for a moment before he answered.
"Get the trucks next to each other, we drive in parallel. That way, we get more people on to shoot them." Xenon instructed, both Maggie and Andrea understanding his intention even through their fearful state of mind.
They soon drove past an intersection, which brought them even more bad news. Two vans were coming from the side, albeit they were still at a distance for now.
"Two more vehicles incoming!" They were now four vehicles against two, and while that does not necessarily mean they were outnumbered, things were not looking for them. Their group wasn't exceptionally skilled at firearms, and with the state their trucks were in, they would sooner or later have to stop, especially since the gas tanks were damaged and leaking, meaning they were losing fuel at an accelerated rate, but they haven't noticed that just yet.
"They'll catch up to us at this rate." Shane said through the communication device, and it was something they unanimously agreed on. Xenon was pondering over this same issue right now. They were clearly on the losing side of this conflict. It was only a matter of time.
Xenon reached for his pocket and discreetly took out a grenade from his inventory. In the heat of the moment, nobody would truly pay attention to the fact that he wasn't supposed to have any of them, and he could lie through his teeth that he always kept one with him for emergencies.
He looked outside the window to estimate the distance between him and the nearest van, before unplugging the pin of his grenade and throwing it. They had no way to notice it thanks to the small size of the explosive, leading to their fiery demise, and the ground below the van exploded, making the van lose balance and roll to the side of the road.
"Beautiful!" Daryl said through the talkie, and Xenon could hear him cackling in the background. But although they were down one van, the other three vehicles were still chasing them relentlessly, never missing a chance to rain bullets on them. While Xenon's group was running out of ammo. They couldn't tell the situation of the enemies. That's when the situation became ten times worse.
Xenon was noticing a huge number of walkers popping on his map. From the initial numbers alone, they were over a hundred walkers. And once they had visual confirmation from a distance, he understood that was merely the tip of the Walkerberg. The pace at which they appeared on the map didn't slow down, meaning there could be at least a thousand walkers there.
"Horde of walkers ahead. We'll stop and blend in!" Xenon instructed through the talkie. The situation was already bad. In fact, the walkers were a godsent gift at the moment, as they provided an easy escape path. The vehicles at the back noticed them as they promptly stopped their chase and made a U-turn and waited to see what the others would do.
At a hundred-meter distance, both trucks stopped and every passenger got out running at Xenon's orders. They ran to the woods, taking only their weapons with them. Thankfully, Xenon had everyone wear their Anti-Walker gear just in case something like this happened. From their assailants' perspectives, they were running toward their deaths without a doubt, since that is the only possible outcome. They drove away, fully intent on coming back for the trucks when the situation cleared, maybe with more people next time.
"Shane," Xenon said as soon as they stopped to catch their breath. They needed to get out of the walker's vision before blending in again, to "reset" their aggressiveness when they've already locked into them. "Take Jason with you and go back home. Bring every capable fighter we can afford back here. We're fighting for our stuff. I want anyone that can hold a weapon to be holding one at Motherbase, even the women. Have them stand guard until we come. They don't even need to take the safety off weapons.
I just want them for the intimidation factor. The rest will stay here to defend the trucks, we'll run circles with the horde to keep the others at bay until you come back. Take a talkie with you." With a horde this big, he doubted anyone would be stupid enough to approach them, but he'd rather have more people with him blend in with the horde to control it. They had three talkies with them, and they've already practiced communicating amidst a horde of walkers. Jason was the only one who didn't take part in that training, though he was given the basics, enough to be able to stay unharmed as long as he staggered his way out.
Overall, it was only a matter of holding on until backup arrived, and with Shane in charge of that, he was confident he'd be able to bring them in record time. The group slowly integrated the horde, taking the front to guide them to their whims, while Shane and Jason staggered through to get to the other side, in search of a vehicle to take them back home.
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