Chapter seventeen: Bandits
By dawn's morning light, the campers were already up and at em. The sky had softened into a baby blue hue. The sun had not risen yet and so, the altitude to which they were at was still below freezing, but nevertheless, the continued to hustle, dragging the bags two at a time in order to climb back down the other side. It would take at least another day to reach the bottom, seeing as how they couldn't carry all the weight at once, foreshadowing yet another hard days work.
The boulders rose like jagged teeth from the earth, creviced to perfection, sculpted by the rains and winters. A sea of grey rocks, both big and small, wide and tiny threatened to make Margo fall on her clumsy feet but with her hiking boots on, she trekked harder than ever before. From where they were, they could just see the outskirts of the sea and it motivated her to persevere.
Supposing she'd awoken around five o'clock in the morning, Margo licked her lips at the fond memory. For once, she was glad to have an early awakening. Ordinarily, her instincts of the light streaming through her stained blinds were enough to make her eyelids open and accept another day of misery but today had something else in store.
When she opened her eyes, she was faced with Ben who crouched down beside her. She'd blinked her mink lashes and through her hazy vision, she trailed her sights from the laces on his hiking boots and up to the hand he extended.
Accepting the hand, her cold palm slipped into his and before she could open her mouth to ask why he'd waken her up so early, he merely placed a finger to her lips and guided her over to the edge of a boulder that stood tall above the others and overlooked the beautiful scenery of nature.
When they both sat down, her lips parted upon an orange silhouette which stretched across the lands before it. A chorus of silver and gold streaks blessed her skin and for once in a few days, she greeted the warmth with a pleasant smile, absorbing the rays willingly.
With her mind recalling of how the rest of the men were fast asleep behind the piles and piles of cash, she and Ben had the same running commentary of flirtatious banter which led to a little more than sweet talk.
A tingle awakened her core yet again. Glancing over to Ben who gave her a cheeky grin in return, she could tell he was remembering the same thing.
In dawn, they explored fifteen minute's worth of absolute desire. They rode the highs and the lows of the experience as though they were at the last rodeo they'd ever attend. To each other, they were healthy drugs and with each dosage they cursed their veins with, they eloped with a frenzy of sparks. And in the moment when they erotically met each other, behind the damned boulder just a foot away from their friends, they exposed each other in all their glory. In all their time, they'd never felt more alive.
The high being the indecency in public with prying ears of their sleeping friends who tossed and turned on the cold ground, the possibility of awakening at any second. The high being the euphoria they reached at the exact same time under the magnificent sunrise. The high being they were able to finish what they started without the interruption of a father figure.
The only low being there was no use of contraception. Upon their climax, Ben pulled away, bewilderment on his sweaty features with a mixture of deepened love to the woman who could only quickly pull the clothes on the half of her body up with a frown.
In the moment, Ben grew self conscious. In all his experience in sleeping with women, he never left them unsatisfied, but with Margo's existence being the only one his heart accepted without attacking it like antibodies with pathogens, he too was naked and in his insecurity, he pulled his clothes back on, grimacing due to the lingering awkward tension that lay ahead.
Then, before he could ponder further about her enjoyment, she shot down the allegations of dissatisfaction and faced the music. She told him that she wasn't on the pill and how he didn't use a condom could lead to impregnation. He only ran his fingers through his shaggy, sweated hair and reminded her that he was a lot older than she was and knew all about the birds and the bees, to which began a whispered-screaming match that awoken Tom.
Before they were able to greet Tom, they came to the conclusion that everything would be okay and one simple act of passion wouldn't lead them to any unwanted pregnancies.
The sudden bang of a bullet awakened Margo from her thoughts. Its bang echoed against the ledge of every cliff and everyone dived for cover after screaming profanities in alarm. As Margo's thought process was a little slower than the rest, given her daydream state of mind, Catfish pulled the woman by the arm and covered her as though she couldn't protect herself.
"I'm hit!" Ben yelled, causing Margo to pounce up in fright to which Frankie only held her back.
"Baby! Are you alright?" Not caring for the men to hear the nickname, tears flooded her vision and she clammed up at the thought of him being severely injured.
Ben cocked his gun. "I'm fine. Just grazed my shoulder."
"Shooter's up on the ridge line!" Santiago yelled after a chorus of shotgun shells falling to the ground.
Margo moved out of Catfish's protective grip and she scanned quickly for her gun and when she realised it was beside the bags just half a yard away, she panicked.
"Don't you dare think about it!"
"Sorry, Fish." Margo sympathetically smiled to him before she took off running.
Ben heard loud, fast paced steps thumping along the rocks, followed by the pellets of shells that littered around its target. When he finished reloading, he peered above the boulder and with his gun at the ready, a mixture of fear and confusion entwined on his face upon seeing Margo fly wildly in a zig-zag pattern to dodge the bullets that were inches away from piercing her body.
"What the fuck are you doing, Vix?" William yelled before Ben could.
Both men watched Margo retrieve her gun which lay alongside the bags of cash and with her being the quickest in the group, she was able to find asylum behind a large rock. She then pushed the nose of the weapon on top of the grit and with her finger on the trigger, she fired bullets in the direction of the unknown enemy.
She yelled over the gunfire. "Saving all of our asses!" When the shooter made his mark by piercing a hole in the boulder millimetres away from her head, she thought of an idea to save her friends. "Oh, since he likes me so much, I'll stay and hold his fire!"
Before the other men could deny her access to the suicide mission, Tom wanted to help her as an apology for being such an asshole, seeing as how he didn't thank her for saving his life all those many years ago. He was angry in the moment and he shouldn't have taken it out on the only woman who's ever had the courage, yet power to fight him back.
"I'll stay and cover her. You guys go!" Tom spoke, earning a nod from Margo in acceptance.
William growled lowly to himself and he watched his brother do the same. The pair shared a look. They didn't have time and they needed to get on with it. Nobody had any idea who this was and a reoccurring thought was that it was one of Lorea's men, and if so, he'd have backup ready in less than minutes. They needed to leave right now.
"Pope, can you step out?" William yelled over yet another whizz of a bullet. "Work up the trail head."
"Alright." Pope agreed and with his hands, he directed his crew. "Flank right, make sure no one else is coming up below.
With his pistol aiming at the ledge, Frankie made himself useful. "I'll cut up behind you."
"Benny, you alright?"
Ben responded to Santiago with ease as though he wasn't hurt. "Yeah, I'm fine. We'll hold down here until you get into position."
With her eyes averting from Pope and Catfish who made their getaway, a cloud of white dust blew up in Margo's face and she coughed on the smog that seeped into her lungs. Frustrated and afraid, she littered more bullets up in the direction of the original blast in an attempt to kill the enemy but they were invisible.
Ben turned round on his injured shoulder to get a glimpse of Margo. When he noted that she was untouched and safe, he still wasn't able to produce a sigh because they weren't out of the woods yet.
"I think Pope's in position right now." Ben informed with his back pressed against the boulder.
"Yeah, let's move!" Tom said.
Margo skillfully jumped over a pile of rocks. Lifting herself over a boulder that got in her way, her ass skidded along its surface and she followed behind Tom who led. Margo had no idea what the plan was, no where they were going. She'd love to have access to some sort of blueprints in regards to the operation and a map to navigate the grey plains but with Tom's navigation, she didn't expect to get lost, even though he had no idea either.
"Look!" Tom hissed to Margo who kept behind him to cover the other end. "We've got this sonofabitch right where we needed to."
Margo looked over through the eye of his gun and she hissed with narrowed eyes upon seeing the figure of a criminal. "Bastard."
When Tom released the trigger, piercing a bullet through the man's head, Margo was relieved to watch the man fall to his death. But they should've known, the worst was yet to come and the should've learned to expect the unexpected.
With Margo's hands on her hips, she breathed out a sigh, unbeknownst to the barrel of a gun that was aiming for the back of her head. When a gunshot echoed, white noise pierced her eardrum and she fell to the ground and hit her head.