To Be A Warrior

Chapter 23: Caravan of Love

My nose scrunches up. "Peter, I love you, but if you even came close to my head with a pair of scissors, I'd have to give you a black eye. And I really don't want to hurt you."

"I really don't want you to hurt me either. I still remember the time you punched through a metal door then ripped open a hole for us to climb through."

"I'm sorry. She did what?" Colonel Sage asks. Oh, that's right. He wouldn't know about that.

"Oh, uh, yeah. I can do that sometimes. Van Ark subjected me to phase one of his regeneration treatments when I was sixteen and it sort of did some stuff to me. Don't know exactly what, but I'm not dead and I haven't grown a third arm, so I'm luckier than most," I reply, sounding a bit awkward.

"I see," He replies thoughtfully, and my shoulders scrunch up. I hate being studied like I'm some type of animal.

Peter seems to sense my rising discomfort, and he squeezes my wrist and clears his throat.

"Well, Five, if you did happen to grow a third arm, I wouldn't love you any less."

I laugh at his poor attempt at a joke, but we still fall into an uncomfortable silence for another few minutes. The only noise we hear are the slowly fading growls of the shamblers behind us. I'm glad they aren't V-Types. We don't need any more trouble on this run.

But all those thoughts are pushed away when we see the convoy up ahead. It's made up of many different vehicles-mini vans, cars, some lorries that look to be made into dormitories. I don't see any Riders, though.

Maybe they were able to get ahead of them for now, or the distress call may have been sent by scouts. Either way, we know they're coming. There's no way Riders would just let them go if they knew there were this many people, this much stuff for them to scavenge and destroy.

We keep running until we're parallel to the convoy, which looks rather peaceful. I'm a bit confused as to why so many people are out here. Three hundred plus is quite a large group when it comes to people being outside the safety of a fenced-in settlement. Are they relocating?

"Okay, the Riders'll have to come along this road. It's the only pass between the ravine in the wood, so keep an eye open," Sam says.

"I know I don't need to emphasize the importance of this mission to you, runners," Janine says. "Much is at stake in addition to innocent lives. This is an opportunity to learn about the Riders. And Sage would be a valuable ally to us. While the UK is crumbling, Banktown stands strong."

I pause when I hear a sudden rumble of machinery. Multiple rumbles. They're loud and obnoxious and followed by several high-pitched whoops.

"Looks like the party's arrived," I mutter, and Peter sneers as he looks behind us.

"Riders at six o'clock. They've set their own helmets on fire, so that's alarming. That, and the ululating. I think my blood might have just curdled... There aren't many of them, though."

"We've been fortunate," She replies. "A few outriders must have happened upon the convoy. Runners, distribute caltrops at six inch intervals across the road."

We nod, pulling them from our bag. These were another thing Janine had us add to our standard pack, since we knew we'd need some way to stop the Riders if they happened to spot us while on a run. Peter and I slow down a bit, heading across the road and dropping the caltrops behind the convoy. I wish it would go a bit faster, because even though this is a semi-decent pace, the Riders are quickly catching up.

We keep dropping the caltrops. I don't know how many Riders there are. It's a bit hard to tell from this far away, but I think there might be five or six. I'm dropping down more caltrops just in case. Even one Rider is dangerous. They're unstable. They'd kill themselves if it meant hurting and killing others.