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“You still think Damocles did it?”
“A handful of examples is scarcely proof positive but I think I can say with absolute certainty that the weapon is responsible for this.” Dr. Evans looked at Rick. “This is only going to get worse. We must continue with all possible speed.”
Rick nodded and set their car in motion again, taking advantage of the temporary clearing of the air to get past the area as quickly as possible. It didn’t take more than a mile or so more of traveling before Rick realized that they wouldn’t be able to continue without taking some serious risks.
“Look, out there.” Rick slowed the car as he pointed out the left window to the north. “See that fire?”
Dr. Evans and Jane craned their necks, seeing another distant forest fire that was a few miles off. “What about it? It’s still a ways out, right?” Jane looked at Rick.
“Yeah, but look at where we have to go.” Rick tapped on the screen in the car and zoomed in on the map to their approximate location. “This road curves north for the next leg of the journey. We’re going to be driving straight into that inferno.”
“Why can’t we take one of these back roads out to the east?” Jane pointed at the screen.
“We could. But it’s risky. Most of them wind all through the hills and loop back on themselves. If the wind changes direction and pushes the fires closer to us we’ll have no way to escape.”
“What if we backtrack and go back around?” Dr. Evans chimed in. “We’re only a few miles in here and we could go back, divert straight east, cross the Ohio River and then start heading northeast again after that.”
Rick nodded slowly. “All right, then. We’ll turn around and head around this mess. Better safe than sorry. Are you sure we’ll be able to get across the river, though?”
“I don’t see why not.”
As Rick turned around and headed back the way they came, he was glad to see the fires receding into the distance. Dealing with the wind, rain, cold and even people was child’s play compared to dealing with a fire as big and as menacing as the one sweeping across the fields and forests. He hoped it would eventually die out but there was no telling where or when that would happen—if it happened at all.
Chapter 6
Blacksburg, VA
Dianne sat near the back door of the walk-in clinic for a few more minutes as she listened and occasionally leaned up to peek out the window. With the two men prowling around behind the strip mall she didn’t want to take any chances on making sounds that might lead them to her. The more she thought about how she could get away, though, the more she realized that she would—at some point—have to get to the truck and take off. That amount of noise would certainly draw their attention, but there was nothing else that could be done.
How am I supposed to get away, though? Dianne thought back to her inspection of the map as she tried to remember how to get to the LTAC facility from where she was. With nothing of worth inside the walk-in clinic it was clearly time for her to move on to the LTAC. Getting away would undoubtedly prove problematic. With the two men nearby she could either stand her ground and fight them—perhaps overpowering one before the other realized what was going on—or she could wait for the opportune moment to flee and hope that they couldn’t follow her or get a lucky shot off before she got away.
Already angered by Jason’s injury caused by the gang, Dianne seriously considered ambushing the two men to both keep them from following her and to exact a measure of vengeance for Jason’s injury, Tina’s kidnapping and whatever other horrors the two men and their compatriots had inflicted on other people. While Dianne wasn’t dissuaded by the thought of killing the two men she did have to weigh what it could potentially mean for Jason.
If she spent a lot of time on a plan that wasn’t successful—or even if it was—then that would be less time that she could devote to finding the medication that Jason so desperately needed. After wrestling with the decision for a few minutes Dianne gave up on the idea of trying to take the men out and instead began moving back towards the entrance to the clinic. Inside the front lobby she stared out into the parking lot, looking for any signs of the men that were searching for her. They were likely still searching the buildings behind the strip mall, though as she caught sight of her truck across the street she groaned and wished she had parked it in a slightly less obvious spot.
Dianne ran out of the entrance to the clinic, jumping over large piles of glass as she tried to minimize the noise she was creating. She stopped halfway through the parking lot, pushing herself down between the remnants of two cars as she paused again to watch and listen for the men. The noise she made going out the front door didn’t seem to attract their attention so she moved forward again, keeping as low to the ground as possible and sticking close to objects she could use for cover in case she started taking fire.
After glancing both ways down the street and seeing nothing, Dianne gave up on her stealthy tactics and ran full-tilt across the road. She shrugged off her backpack halfway to the truck and ran around to the driver’s side. She tossed her pack onto the passenger seat and hopped in, closing the door as softly as possible.
“So far so good…” Dianne whispered to herself as she inserted the key into the ignition. She hesitated before turning it, double checking that there was a round in the chamber of her pistol before proceeding.
When the engine coughed to life Dianne could swear that it was louder than it had ever been before in all the years they had owned it. With the windows rolled down Dianne could hear the echo of the engine carry across the streets and parking lots, bouncing off the buildings and the pavement as it seemingly called out for everyone in the area to come investigate the source of the sound. Certain the pair of men had heard the truck, Dianne didn’t waste any time getting moving. She threw it into gear and tore forward down the street, passing by the clinic and the back street where the men had been walking as she flicked on the headlights to keep from running into any obstacles along her way.
The bright beams caught the reflection of pale skin and startled eyes as one of the men ran out from a building to see where the noise was coming from. He nearly fell into the street as he stopped abruptly, staring dumbfounded at the truck as he tried to make sense of what was going on. Seizing upon an opportunity Dianne held fast to the steering wheel with her right hand while she swung open the driver’s side door with her left, bracing it with her left leg and arm. She jerked the steering wheel to the left and pushed outward on the door with her leg and arm, feeling a loud thud as it struck the man who was standing on the pavement.
Dianne pulled the door closed and pulled the truck back to the right as the man cried out in pain, falling to the ground and tumbling forward from the force of the collision. His partner emerged from a building on the opposite side of the street a second later. He glanced at his fallen cohort before he looked up at the truck and started firing at it with his pistol. Fortunately for Dianne, though, she was far enough down the road and his aim was bad enough that he had no chance of hitting her.
***
“My arm!” The man lying on the ground screamed as his partner continued firing round after round at the truck. He knew there was little chance of hitting the vehicle or the passenger inside but he felt obligated to try anyway. Once the truck was out of sight he ran over to the man on the ground and knelt down next to him.
“You okay?”
The man on the ground spat at the one standing above him, then cried out in pain as the movement caused a wave of pain to travel from his shoulder down to his wrist. “Do I look okay? What the hell’s wrong with you?! Help me up!”
The uninjured man helped the one on the ground to his feet, then the injured man took off his jacket to see the extent of his injuries. He could still move his fingers and had some limited movement, but whenever anything below his left shoulder moved around he felt pain wash over him.
“Did she break it?”
