I inhaled sharply and tumbled out of the pickup. My heart hammered in my chest, and my headache pounded in tempo with it. My eyes widened as a javelin flew across my path. I huffed and hurried on to reach Khemera's limp figure in the sand ahead. When another of the weapons flew at me, I caught it and furiously hurled it back at its owner. He gasped as he finally became immersed in the sheer agony he doubtlessly inflicted on others daily.
Moving on, I dropped to my knees at Khemera's side and shook him. His reaction was nonexistent. I reached for his neck and sighed with relief. His pulse was still strong.
I exhaled again and rose to my feet. After stretching my back, I reached down and dragged Khemera from where he'd fallen to a more sheltered spot between the pickup and the canyon wall. The man was surprisingly heavy, which made my struggle all the harder.
As I approached the spot, Hannah shouted, "This is mah last shell here, so you'd better enjoy the heck outta it!"
The agonized groans that ensued, convinced me that their enjoyment was quite lacking. Hurried footsteps rounded the corner a second later, and Hannah crouched beside me.
"He okay?" she asked, her big brown eyes drifting down to Khemera's limp form.
"He's breathing, just not moving."
Hannah nodded. "Good."
She rose quickly to her feet and rummaged in the pickup bed for a few seconds. Then she crouched back down with her ammo belt in hand. After clipping it around her waist, she stuffed ten shells into the shotgun and rejoined the fight. I got back inside the truck, closed my eyes, and threw my head back against the headrest. The stress and my headache both were really getting to me.
********************
A few minutes later, the situation's intensity had multiplied. Hannah's ammo belt was empty, and her shotgun was reaching that status as well. Jedrek had run out of bullets completely and now scrambled to search the pickup bed for more. Khemera hadn't yet stirred, and most painful of all, my headache hadn't subsided in the least.
Hannah fired off her last shell, hurried back to the truck, and took cover behind it. With nobody to resist them, the raiders hurried their approach and began to surround the vehicle. In that moment, I understood the horrible depths of the feeling called helplessness, and strongly desired release from it.
I recoiled in fear as one of the raiders' heads slammed into the window. With a gasp, I clambered out of the passenger seat to the driver's side of the vehicle. Then I raised an eyebrow as the face went limp and fell away from the window. Perhaps Khemera has arisen! I thought happily to myself, Maybe hope yet remains for us!
A loud snap drew my attention the next second, and when my gaze rested on a raider leaning against the canyon wall, screaming over his contorted spine, I couldn't help but make a mental connection. But who's doing this?
Finally, I spotted a big, burly man dashing through the rows of raiders and knocking each one unconscious or worse. He appeared to exert no effort at all himself. He snapped one man's neck on the hood of the pickup, which bothered me slightly, but I couldn't complain.
After the last of our attackers had been hurled into the canyon wall, the brawny man rushed to the back of our pickup and snatched Jedrek up by his neck. I gasped and exited the car to at least witness, if not somehow intervene.
Jedrek's gaze remained locked on the other man's eyes, widened in sheer horror. Something about his expression appeared less like a man who had encountered an unknown terror, and more like one who was now reliving an old nightmare that still retained its frightfulness.
"Easy pal," Jedrek began, obviously trying to hide the tremble in his voice. "Ever heard of...words? They usually help."
"As much a smart-aleck as always." the brawny man spat. "You should've known better than to come through here again, Urban!"
"Maybe so. Maybe so. Can you put me down?"
With a minimum of effort, the brute lifted up his other hand and put a knot on the side of Jedrek's head. "You're in no position to make demands, after what you've done!"
"Excuse me," I spoke timidly, "we literally just ran out of gas here. Nobody wanted to be here to start with."
The beast of a man gave me a sharp glance and pointed at Jedrek. "Nobody wanted him to be on this earth to start with! But here he is!"
"Ouch. That's a bit harsh." I retorted, before realizing the unnecessary peril I'd just put myself in, "Not that I disagree with you, of course, but just...you know, the truth can be a bit harsh."
The brute stared at me like I was the dumbest thing he'd ever seen.
Finally, Hannah emerged from her hiding place under the pickup. She approached the brawny man with an innocent smile and an outstretched hand. "Howdy, sir, I'm Hannah! Who might you be?"
The man's eyes drifted down to her hand. He studied it for a few seconds before he reached his own meaty hand out and shook hers. However, he refrained from answering her question.
Her optimism not quenched in the slightest, Hannah backed away, a grin still perched on her lips. "Nice to meetcha, anyhow!"
She only received a nod in response before the brute carelessly dropped Jedrek onto the sandy ground. He immediately rolled and scrambled out of reach while struggling to catch his breath. He gazed into the horizon for a minute and slowly appeared to regain his usual careless demeanor.
Finally, the colossus broke the lengthy silence. "Much as I hate him and don't care about you guys, it's getting dark soon. So purely on a principle of kindness, follow me."
"Follow you where?" Khemera inquired, causing me to jump. I had no clue he'd ever awakened.
The muscular man squinted at the elder martial artist. "My home. It's the only shelter you'll get in this canyon. Unless you wanna take your chances lowering their antagonism." he added, motioning to the limp raider bodies all around.
Khemera, Hannah, and I exchanged a round of glances before giving the brawny man a communal shrug and taking our first steps to following him. He led us on a straight path alongside the canyon wall for a good quarter of a mile before he abruptly stopped. He rummaged in his pocket for a remote, and when he found it, he pressed a blue button. A segmented metal ladder lowered itself from a hole in the cliffside and touched the ground before us.
Without ceremony, the man ascended the ladder, and Hannah followed suit. I went after her, Khemera took his position behind me, and Jedrek took the rear. When I'd climbed over the edge into the little cavern, the darkness of the place struck me first. In fact, I could see nothing. Also, the way my footsteps echoed inside the place, it couldn't have been much bigger than a small bedroom.
After Jedrek stepped inside, the man pressed another button, and the ladder ascended once more, locking itself into the rocky ceiling above us. Another button clicked, and a previously unseen door on the back wall disappeared into the floor and revealed a much larger living quarters beyond. Our muscular host motioned for us to enter, so we did, with more or less timidity.
The brightly-lit, well-furnished interior of the living area proved very pleasing to my onlooking eyes. A gorgeous, walnut coffee table stood in the middle of the room, sandwiched between two handsomely-worn leather couches. A rather large television graced the wall on the left side of the room, and on a ledge attached to the opposite wall, a row of potted flowers beautified the homely abode even more.
A door much like the one we'd entered through, positioned just under the television, dropped open, and an athletic brunette strutted through the door. She glanced over us for a second, but rage flashed across her pretty green eyes upon spotting Jedrek.
"I can't believe what I'm seeing!" She shouted as she took long, purposeful strides up to the impassive treasure hunter. Once she reached him, she slapped his cheek, which swole up and reddened in mere seconds. "You dare show your face here again?"
Jedrek bit his lip, his stony countenance threatening to crack from the pain. Somehow, he managed to retain his composure. "Our...arrival here was totally unplanned. We just ran out of gas nearby. Then this idiot," he said, jerking his head back at the brute, "dragged us in here."
The brawny man punched Jedrek in the back of the head. "Watch what you say, Urban. One bad word out of you, and you're nothing but a bloody pulp on our floor."
"That would be a costly stain to remove." I remarked quietly, flinching in fear as the brute's stern gaze met mine. "Sorry, continue."
"You know," the woman continued, "I thought I'd finally moved on, but now that you're here, I wanna just slap you until even your mother couldn't recognize you!"
"Well, she's dead," Jedrek replied calmly, "but okay. Listen, Keira, what happened...that was years ago. We were young, and—"
"And you were selfish! You were given a choice between your life, and mine. Of course you would choose your own, because nobody can possibly love you as much as you yourself can!"
"I had my—"
"There's no discussion to be had here, Jedrek! You left me, us, more accurately, to die, merely for your own pleasure!"
"Wait, who's this 'us'?"
The brute growled. "She was carrying, you vacant skull! Twins!"
"I fought tooth and nail to get outta there, and thankfully I did, but I miscarried in the process, all because you—"
"Okay, okay, I get it!" Jedrek shouted, finally showing some emotion, "That's unfortunate. I'm glad you made it. But you make it sound like I chose some life of ease afterwards. Not so! My brother—"
The muscular man snatched Jedrek by his shoulder and balled his fist.
"Please refrain from violence and hear my words." Khemera interjected calmly, much to my relief, "I understand, and even share, your anger toward this man. However, I'm a martial artist, so I, of all people, know this best: A multitude of punches seldom prove the best way to end a conflict. Words do far better."
I physically felt the tension in the room simmer down. Everyone stood quietly for a minute and collected their thoughts. Then the brawny man calmly grabbed his remote, opened the front door, and guided Jedrek gently, but still firmly, outside, closing the entrance behind them. I shifted awkwardly and waited.
Hannah broke the silence with a small grin perched on her lips. She turned to the green-eyed woman. "Well, I'm sorry to hear 'bout all that, but if mah assumption that we're stayin' here tonight is correct, I might as well meet our hosts. I'm Hannah, how 'bout you?"
"Keira." she answered before absentmindedly shaking Hannah's hand.
"Nice to meetcha! Well, this is Khemera, and this is Baird." She said, motioning to each of us with her hands.
Khemera and I grumbled our greetings, and Keira halfheartedly waved. Clearly, free-flowing conversation wouldn't become a reality until Jedrek and the burly man returned.
*********************
A/N: Can we all agree that we need to take a breather now? That chapter was intense. I mean, to think we were scared of the raiders last chapter! 😂
Well anyway, if you enjoyed it, please remember to vote and comment. I always appreciate it. 😀
So...I have a special announcement regarding this book!
Since writing has been going so very smoothly, (I'm getting an average of 0.5 to 1 chapters done A DAY), I am going to be increasing to twice weekly updates! So starting next week, you'll see an update drop on Friday, and then the regular Saturday updates will remain. Ya'll are gonna be pampered.
Okay, so...we met a couple new characters in this chapter, so what do you think of them? (The brawny man's name is Aaron, by the way. It's not supposed to be a surprise, per se, but just story-wise, it didn't make any sense for him to introduce himself. You can refer back to the cast list to...view him. No drool, please. 😂)
And also, now that you've heard...that thing about Jedrek, how has your view of him changed? (Or has it remained the same? Because that would be equally interesting to hear.)
Finally, what's something unique or at least semi-unique about where you live, that makes you grateful to live there?
(For me...I love Washington [Washington State in the US, for you foreigners 😆] for a lot of reasons, like the trees are beautiful, the post-rain air is addicting, and on the right day, the beaches are so underrated. But one of the main things for me is the variety of weather! Like...I think ex-Californian me really appreciates it, because one day, we might get a ton of yard work done in the sun and have one of those kinda days. But then the next, we'll be refreshed by a rainy day that also nourishes the ground we just were working on. That kind of thing. And I dunno, you just never know what to expect, and that's beautiful to me. 😁)
And with that, I shall leave you hanging until Friday! You can't really complain, because you've had to wait longer than that all this time. Anyway, have a great 6 days, and I'll see you then! 😂
(Of course, if you're reading this long after this author's note was written, how about you just click the "continue reading" button? You'll only have to wait a second or two, unless your internet connection stinks. 😂)