Ch - XVII The Narrow Escape

All 3 of them tried to escape yet one of them got stuck and...

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

 

There was quiet and silence when they approached the old wooden railway bridge but it didn’t calm Finn.

Fog and smoke made their world gray. With dawn, the smell of lingering fires cut the air. Fire brings to mind all sorts of s**t he didn’t need to be dwelling on. Memories of the bombings cluttered up his head. There had been so much death and destruction, innocent civilians leveled where they stood. Destroyed flesh had a particular, pungent smell he had never forget. He concentrated on his elbows to stop the shaking in his hands, an old trick a detective had taught him. Finn had to clear his thoughts and focus on the job at hand.

It was not going well though.

The bridge would be tough, which sucked, seeing as it was their sole option. Heading back into the burnt remains of the place would be a death trap. They had to get across the river somehow.

Some s**t had trashed the stairs leading up to the fenced-in walkway that ran alongside the train track. To cross the bridge they would have to climb the hill and walk along the railway tracks. It would take longer. Time was at a minimum.

No one spoke.

The railway was perched atop a mound, built up a couple of meters above street level. They turned and made their way up the slope.

Someone’s stomach growled. Finn could understand the same feeling. They were running low on supplies; he had had no plans to cater for three.

Cracked surfaces were everywhere on the side of the hill, not the optimal climbing surface. They crawled more than walked, the tumbling stones similar to the roar of an avalanche in the pre-dawn quiet. Ad had one hand wrapped around Macy’s arm, the other flat against the hill for balance. The rocks slid down the mound like a landslide.

They were so exposed, wide open and awaiting an attack.

“Easy, and keep your footing stable. No rush,” the big guy instructed Macy in a low voice, which was good advice. The problem was, they needed to pull their asses, clear the area as fast as possible.

Finn made his way quickly to the top of the mound, checking every direction and seeing nothing. That did nothing to relax the itch between his shoulder blades.

Time seemed to slow down to a deliberate, painful crawl while he watched them make their way up the incline. He wanted to grab her and run the minute she hit the top. Get her somewhere safe and never let her out again. Lock her up for her own protection.

The world was too dangerous. He couldn’t keep her safe this way.

“Let’s go,” Finn said.

Ad appeared solid enough with a gun back in his hands, and Macy was managing. Just. What parts of her not bruised or dirty were white as a ghost. She panted from the crawl up the incline.

Up ahead, the coal train looked like as if giant hand had picked it up and throw it across the bridge. Two cars, one on each side, sat in the muddy water below, as if they were toes, testing the temperature. The walkway beside the tracks would have been a dead end after all.

The other two hadn’t seen it yet. There was no excuse, he was plain tired, and telling them versus waiting the minute or two at most that it would take …

“Oh, no …” Macy saw it.

Adrams groaned.

“They’re going to try to trap us up here.” Adrams drew Macy in front of him with a hand to her hip. “No wonder they let us get this far.”

“So where are they?” she asked, sneaking around the big guy’s side, as far as his grip Macy owed.

“There’s got to be a way around.” Finn flashed them a smile, more teeth and determination than goodwill. He was feeling a little wild, all things given. “It’ll slow us down, not stop us.”

Adrams guide Macy on, fingers fixed around her arm. “Solid notion.”

As the sun rose, long shadows crept out from everywhere �" the trees lining the riverbank, the houses up and down the street. Color faded into shadows, providing plenty of cover for both sides.

Their feet shuffled along the tracks, which were cluttered with coal spilled and scattered from the train wreck. The wreck they were heading straight toward. The same one they somehow had to magic their way past. Their only option lay beneath the iron beast.

Maybe they should have tried the river. But with its swift current and so much scattered pieces of rubbish or remains in the water, the bridge had seemed the safer option.

Finn tried to look everywhere at once, but the shadows and smoke prevented him from seeing much at all, which meant stumbling every other step. From the trickle of warm liquid down his back, he knew his shoulder had started bleeding. He could feel the wet bandage against the open wound. It was just another irritation to ignore.

The a*s**les were out there. He knew it. His head quieted, the whole world shutting up, shutting down as he went to work. His mind took on a clarity he couldn’t explain.

Finn saw the flare of light on the edge of his field of vision as the bottle flew through the air. It struck to the chain wire fence and then fell toward the bridge. Two, three meters away at most.

The Molotov dropped, smashed against the wooden boards of the walkway far too near to them. It lit up the old planks like tinder, the flames burning bright, hot and close. The stench of the petrol filled Finn’s head and clogged his throat, making him gag.

“Go! Get to the train!” Finn yelled, turning to watch at least two of the b******s coming from and struggling up the side of the hill not far from where they had just come.

Adrams push roughly Macy along, keeping her between them. They were only halfway across the bridge. A solid head start but no cause for celebrations yet. They still needed to slide beneath the train wreck and escape into the maze of housing estates on the other side.

Another two of the Molotov made their way gracefully. These ones cleared above the fence to smash onto the train track, one of them exploding a bare few steps in front of Macy and Adrams. It went up with a loud noise.

“whoosh”, black smoke rising into the air. They used it for

cover even though it slowed them down.

Macy pulled her arm out of the Adram’s grasp and ducked down, gun in hand, searching behind them. Finn grind his teeth. Two of the b******s were trying to follow in their footsteps by climbing up onto the tracks, but someone was also back on the riverbank.

“Don’t stop!” Finn fired a few shots at the top of the mound, forcing the two b******s to keep their heads down. “Macy”

She either ignored him or didn’t hear, pausing to fire off a few rounds at the trees. Her bruised face the picture of concentration, but her shots going wild because her aim was s**t.

They might have ideally wanted her alive, but even these dickheads had their limits. Someone shot at her from the bank.

“F**k’s sake.” Finn sprinted for her, heart jammed in his throat. He jumped boxes and rubbish and the thick steel train lines. He didn’t turn at the smash of glass behind him, nor the rush of warmth from the resulting fireball, hot on his tail, warming his back.

The smoke started to disappear around her. She fired again and a shout of outrage could be heard from the riverbank below. Macy had managed to hit someone.

Her face broke into a self-satisfied grin of success as Adram’s arm picked her up and dragged her off.

The two b******s had made good on the threat of clearing the top. Bullets flew wild, care of the smokescreen, but a breeze stirred, their cover disappearing.

Adrams charged straight ahead with Macy tight against him, struggling to keep up. Her feet barely touched the ground.

Whatever had derailed the train lay up ahead. Here, the train cars had buckled and tumbled, spilling their cargo of coal. The crash had wedged two big trucks together. Going over the trucks would leave them open and exposed. Going under was the only way.

The others had apparently reached the same conclusion.

Macy dropped to the ground and proceeded to dig a hole, pushing lumps of coal aside to make a tunnel between the wheels.

“You’re next.” Finn said while ducked down on one knee beside Adrams, making for a smaller target. He fired another shot at the two b******s who had climbed the mound, kept them tucked behind a beam.

“Nope, I will most likely to get jammed under there, so I go last,” Adrams answered. Macy’s feet disappeared beneath the wagon and Adrams reloaded and fired. “Keep her close, Finn. You hear me?” Adrams said.

Finn nodded, then pushed his pack through the gap ahead of him.

The clearance was very deep. He got a grip on the far railway line, dragging himself through the tight space. His fingers fought to keep their hold on the metal bar, and his shoulder throbbed in time with his heart. Coal dust choked him, making him cough. He tried to spit it out but it did no good. Everything in front of him was a dirty haze. The chances of Ad making it through the narrow space were minimal to impossible.

“This side’s clear.” Macy grabbed his pack and pushed it aside, took a step back as he twist his body side to side low on his belly between the bridge and the wagon.

“Keep watch.” His foot caught on a beam, and he pushed off hard with the other, sending himself sliding forward. His bad shoulder rammed into the edge of a metal wheel. Fireworks exploded through his mind. The world flashed white for a long, tense moment. He was not passing out. “Oh, you m**********r.” Macy said.

“Come on.” Her hands wrapped around his good arm and pulled, prying him out. Finally, his torso cleared the truck and his knees came into play when he stands up. “Finn, you’re bleeding again. Take the shirt off. We’ll tie it around your shoulder.” She said.

“Yup. Just a sec.” He really wanted to refrain from crying in front of her. Easier said than done. He covered the wound with his hand and applied pressure. It didn’t feel beneficial but had to be better than bleeding out beside the train wreck.

“Okay.”

“You two get moving,” the big guy yelled from the other side. “Right now.” Adrams shouted.

Macy dropped onto hands and knees, gun clenched tight in her hand. “Come on, Adrams.”

“The kid barely fit in there. I’ll need to go another way. Get moving, I’ll catch up.” He said further.

“No! NO!” Macy screamed, moving fastly forward, then stopped as guns fired up on the other side. There was the sound of someone hitting the water, an almighty splash of water followed by shouting from the b******s left behind.

“…”

 

TO BE CONTINUED IN �" CHAPTER XVIII