James’s Note: You decide, for lack of better options, to approach the situation on foot. You give up the mobility of your Jeep, but it’s kinda hard to drive and use a rifle at the same time. In case anyone was wondering, the rifle is an M4 carbine in 5.56×45mm NATO with a thirty round magazine.
The bloody woman continues to wave you over hysterically. You slow the Jeep while you think.
On the one hand, you have a bad feeling about this. This whole scene is setting off your Spidey Sense. On the other hand, you don’t really want to try to squeeze through that ditch in four wheel drive and it would be a long way around to double back.
Besides, she might actually need help, right?
You stop the Jeep and hop out, grabbing the rifle and chambering a round. You double check to make sure the safety is off. For good measure, you slip the hatchet into your belt.
Your heart pounds in your ears. This is just how your dad talked about feeling back in his Sherrif’s Deputy days when he’d make a suspicious traffic stop. You wish he was here now. You’re glad you hung on every word when he told you cop stories.
Rifle in a low ready position, you call out to the woman. “Ma’am, I want to help, but you need to walk towards me slowly, hands out where I can see them.”
Her voice is hoarse from screaming.
“My baby! He’s stuck in the car! You have to help him.”
You breathe deep. Panic is contagious and your dad always said that keeping your cool is how you stay in control.
You take a few more steps forward. You hope your voice carries that smooth confidence your dad had when he did his cop voice.
“Ma’am, you need to calm down and come over here so I can help you.”
The woman is in a full blown panic, but you tune her out when you see movement in the trees. Your stomach turns to ice. Sun hits the shiny chrome barrel of a revolver.
Fuck! Dad always did call this the oldest trick in the book. You dive behind the Jeep just as the men who had been hiding along the road open fire.
The woman, all panic suddenly gone, takes cover behind an immobile red sedan as soon as the first shot goes off.
You wince as a round ricochetes off the bumper of your Jeep. If they put bullet holes in your jeep, you swear to God….
What do you do?
Click Here To Read More of Our Stories
1. The Apocalypse We Chose
2. Go for the Jeep
3. Head for the Deer Camp
4. Approach with Caution, Gun Ready
5. Take the Fight to the Woods
6. Loot the Dead
Gray Matters: The Works of Sharon and James Gray 