mentally calculating each move. I imagined myself like a human spring ready to bend to whatever Mother Nature had in store on this run.
The road came up fast, and I waited for Brick to cross and disappear into the ditch. Once he was out of sight, I did the same, nearly taking his shoulder off as I landed next to him.
God, I missed my brothers already.
Brick’s chest heaved while he patted his pocket for his smokes. He pulled them out and cursed at the damp, crushed mess.
“I blame you.” He shook the box into his hand and showed me the cigarettes.
“You’re welcome. They were wet, anyway,” I muttered and suddenly tuned in to a new sound.
“If I was Rail, you’d be getting a mouthful right…” He trailed off when he realized I wasn’t listening. “What?”
“Shh,” I ordered and closed my eyes to block out all the white noise. The sound of pebbles scraping over sand made me hyperaware we were about to have company.
Static from a radio had us both frozen mid-move, and Brick motioned with his eyes that someone was approaching from behind me. He moved his weapon, but I shook my head. If there were more cartel around, we needed to stay quiet. I pulled my knife from my belt where it was hidden in the buckle. It was small, I knew, but it could be just as effective as a bullet if used correctly.
Brick spread out his hand and silently counted down to when I should make my move.
Three.
Two.
One.
I darted from the protection of the ditch and rammed my knife into someone’s ribs, and when he fell, I kneed his face then carefully lowered his heavy body down to Brick, who dug through his pockets like a grave robber. He grinned when he found a half pack of smokes.
I felt the bullet graze my cheek a hair of a second before I heard the click as the bullet left the chamber.
“Shit!” That was close.
Brick shot up pulled me back down and stared into my face.
“You good?”
“We need to move.” Hot flames burned my face. It had been a close one, but I knew it was only a flesh wound.
We stayed low and worked our way along the ditch, but when we came to a storm drain, Brick hesitated.
“Anything could be in there,” he hissed.
“But we know what’s out there, so get on your knees and crawl.”
“You know that came out sexual, don’t you?”
I pushed his back and shot him forward just as we heard footsteps.
I tried my hardest not to think what was living inside the steel tube, considering not many of these were around the area. When we got to the other side, we raced toward the gas station, only to be greeted with more bullets.
“Jesus Christ!” Brick skidded as the bullets kicked up the dirt around him. “Plan B would be a great option right now, Black!”
“Truck!” I tossed at him. A semi-truck had just finished at the pump. “Come on!” I picked up the pace and closed in on the trucker getting into the driver’s side.
The engine roared to life, and so did Brick. He yelled he’d been hit. I reached back and grabbed his leather cut to pull him up behind me and cursed as he dropped his gun.
“The fuckers got my leg!”
I quickly glanced down and saw the blood draining from his calf.
Shit.
More bullets sprayed in our direction, which prompted the trucker to floor it, shifting gears out of the parking lot. I caught his face in the mirror and awkwardly ripped the top of my patch off to show we were Americans. I swore something passed between us, because the truck slowed slightly but then began to accelerate as I grabbed the handle to the massive back door and hauled Brick up on the small ledge with me. I looked back and saw the cartel, who now seemed to be arguing as one guy pointed in the opposite direction while another pointed at us. Why weren’t they scrambling into their vehicles to follow the truck?
“You good?” I hit his shoulder to get his attention. He was drenched in sweat, and mud and leaves clung to his clothes.
“Yeah,” he grunted as he tried to shift to a better spot.
The trucker took a couple of turns, which I hoped would throw the cartel off. Our fingers were white and cramped by the time we hit the next town. After a sharp turn, the truck took a side road and slowed almost to a