Shaun Harbinger - Survival - Revenge of the Living Dead

I sat there in the cold air for at least five minutes before I saw the sun flash off something on the road to my right. Squinting my eyes, I could make out two Land Rovers in the distance, heading this way.

I took the handbrake off and put the X-Trail into first gear, keeping my foot on the clutch so the vehicle didn’t move just yet. I couldn’t see Sam or Tanya now—they were too well-hidden in the long grass behind the walls—but I was sure they’d be able to hear the deep growl of the army Land Rovers’ engines as they got closer.

The distance between me and the crossroads wasn’t far and it would take no more than a few seconds to cover but I had to wait until the right moment and arrive there an instant before the other vehicles. Then I had to start firing. The M16 and Walther PPK lay on the passenger seat next to me, within easy reach.

I pressed the button that lowered my window. When the glass had buzzed all the way down, I could hear the Land Rovers approaching.

I tightened my grip on the steering wheel. My hands were shaking. So much could go wrong in the next few minutes. We could all end up dead. I tried to push that thought out of my head but it clung to my brain and kept repeating itself over and over.

Forcing out a breath, I forced myself to raise the clutch slowly and steadily. If I let it up too fast and stalled the car, all was lost.

The X-Trail inched forward.

I released the clutch fully and crawled toward the crossroads in first gear, ready to press the accelerator when the Land Rovers got closer and pick up speed.

The military vehicles were moving quite quickly for such a narrow road. I guessed their speed to be around fifty miles-per-hour.

I waited as long as I dared before putting my foot down and racing for the crossroads.

Somehow, I timed the maneuver perfectly and arrived at the four-way intersection moments before the Land Rovers. I hit the brakes and skidded to a stop, blocking their path.

The driver in the lead vehicle saw me and his eyes went wide. He slammed on the brakes but the Land Rover had been going so fast that he couldn’t stop it in time. A high-pitched squealing filled the air as the Rover’s tyres skidded on the road. Through my open window, I saw the vehicle grow larger and larger as it got closer.

Then it hit the X-Trail and my door caved in with a sickening metallic crunch . I reached for the M16, intending to spray bullets through my open window, but the soldier sitting next to the driver had figured out that this collision had been no mere accident and had raised his weapon and aimed it at me.

Throwing myself across the passenger seat, I heard bullets hiss through the air over my head. They penetrated the passenger side window and a couple embedded themselves in the pillar that held the windscreen in place.

I scrambled across the seat and opened the passenger door, sliding out headfirst onto the road. The air was filled with the sound of gunfire now. Sam and Tanya must have opened fire on the vehicles and the soldiers were firing back.

I raised my head to peek over the X-Trail’s bonnet at the lead Land Rover. All of its doors were open and there were no soldiers inside. The guy who had been shooting at me and the driver had either been caught in the crossfire or were coming this way.

Crouching low, I made my way to the rear of the X-Trail and peered around the tailgate. The soldier who’d shot at me was standing there, gun in hand. He’d obviously planned to surprise me but my sudden appearance had taken him off guard.

His eyes went wide and he brought his weapon up.

I squeezed the M16’s trigger and sprayed the soldier’s chest with bullets. They thwacked through his combat jacket and red mist filled the air in front of him. He dropped straight away, his SA80 clattering onto the road.

I didn’t have time to retrieve it; or even to make sure the soldier was dead; the driver was still around somewhere. I crept back behind the X-Trail, keeping the M16 pointed ahead of me in case anyone else should suddenly appear in my sights.

Despite the sound of gunfire and shouts coming from the area around the Land Rovers, I could hear light footfalls on the other side of the X-Trail. The soldier—the one who’d been driving the lead Rover—was trying to sneak up on me.

Freezing so I wouldn’t make any footsteps of my own, I raised the muzzle of the M16 and waited for my stalker to come into view around the front of the car. The footsteps stopped. I tried to slow my breathing in case it was giving away my position.

When he came around the car, he didn’t appear where I expected him to be. Instead of coming on foot, he rolled from behind the front tyre, aiming a handgun at me. He managed to fire before I did but because he was rolling, his aim was off and the bullet thwacked into the side of the X-Trail.

I took aim and squeezed the M16’s trigger. When the momentum of his roll was spent and his body came to a stop, he lay face down on the road, forehead on the asphalt and eyes closed.

As a precautionary measure, I kicked the handgun away and nudged him with the sole of my boot. He didn’t move. He’d never move again.

The gunshots had died down now and the air was thick with the smell of spent ammo and hot metal. I had no idea what had happened at the Land Rovers. For all I knew, Sam and Tanya were dead and the remaining soldiers were closing in on my position.

I raised my head above the bonnet of the X-Trail and checked out the situation. The Land Rovers were riddled with bullet holes. Glass and dead bodies lay scattered around the vehicles. I counted six dead soldiers. Along with the two I’d killed, that made eight. Unless anyone was hiding within the Rovers, we’d taken out the military unit with our ambush.

But at what cost?

I shouted out to my companions, my voice breaking the silence that had descended upon the area like a shroud. “Sam? Tanya?”

I saw Tanya vaulting over the wall at the side of the road. She approached the Land Rovers slowly and carefully, her M16 raised, and peered into the rear of the vehicles. Then she lowered her weapon and shouted, “Clear!”

Sam’s head appeared above the wall on the other side of the road. His lips were drawn back in a wide grin and his eyes looked a little wild. He climbed over the wall and strode up to the Land Rovers. “Man, that was a blast!”

I didn’t share his enthusiasm. We’d just killed eight people. I only hoped it was worth it.

Sam clapped a hand across my back when I joined him and Tanya at the rear Land Rover. “Good job, Alex! You timed that crash perfectly.”

“Not so perfectly,” I told him. “They crashed into me. The X-Trail is pretty beaten up.”

He shrugged. “Hey, don’t worry about it, man. There are plenty more cars where that came from.”

“True,” I said. “But we still need to get back to the boats somehow.”

He looked over at the X-Trail and for a moment his face fell. “You mean it’s wrecked?”

It was my turn to shrug. “I don’t know. They hit it pretty hard and the engine died.”

“We’ll find away back to the boats,” Tanya said. “Even if we have to take one of the Land Rovers.”

“The problem with that,” I said, “is that they might have trackers fitted to them. The bad guys might know where we are.”

“We’ll worry about that later.” Sam climbed into the back of the Land Rover. “Let’s see what the hell is so valuable that everyone is willing to die for it.” He looked around the dark interior of the vehicle and sounded disappointed when he said, “Nothing. There’s nothing in here.”

“There were four soldiers in the back of this Rover,” Tanya said. “It was only used for transporting personnel. I think the good stuff is in the lead vehicle.”