Chapter 24





Marc’s voice called out over the splatter of bullets, “Get him in the back of the truck!”



Peering around the corner, Julia spotted Carlos and Twitch dragging Ray from his slumped position against the truck’s wheel, whilst Marc was heading for the cab of the vehicle.

Raising her weapon once more, Julia set her sights on the small group of men heading down from the mountain path and fired.

A few of her bullets hit their marks but most went wide as she simply focused on holding them back long enough for the others to get to cover.

Carlos and Twitch stepped around her, Kazeem following to help place Ray’s unconscious body into the truck.

Shouting something in his native tongue to the children, Kazeem hopped into the truck and pulled Ray up behind him.

Julia fired a few more rounds, distracted by what was happening behind her when she spotted Twitch trading places with Kazeem, and Carlos coming around to her side.

“Julia,” Carlos’s voice was stressed as he came up beside her and provided relief cover, “You and Kazeem get the last truck. I’m going to get the second. We’re driving out of here.”

Julia nodded her head, taking a few steps back behind the truck, before she turned around and stared out at the other side.

The third, and last, truck was the furthest away. The cab had been painted red years ago and there was a large dent in the side of the passenger door, and there were children in the back.

Julia peered around the edge and saw the scattered bodies of terrorists. They were going to have to run and hope for the best, they did not have the time nor the ammunition, to shoot this out.

“Hey!” Carlos shouted back at them and Julia turned to see Carlos handing Kazeem the RPG.

Julia knew what that meant to Carlos.

“I won’t get much of a chance to fire it if I’m driving,” Carlos slapped Kazeem on the shoulder, “Just make sure you get as many as you can.”

Julia and Carlos shared one last look, “Safe driving.”

Carlos let out a bark of laughter before he tipped his head forward and raced past them, towards the second truck.

Julia took a deep breath and focused on the red cab in the distance, “You ready?”

Kazeem didn’t answer, whether because he didn’t want to or simply because he couldn’t, Julia didn’t know. But she wasn’t about to press him for an answer, not now.

Gripping her gun tightly, Julia waited for a gap in the shooting and shouted, “Go!”

Hours without food or water were beginning to take their toll as Julia’s legs felt like jelly after a few seconds sprinting, her lungs were protesting at the dust she was breathing in and her mind felt fatigued and yet flooded with adrenaline at the same time.

Her heavy boots thundered against the hard ground as she and Kazeem lunged behind the truck, taking a deep breath as more sharp pops filled the air, telling her that they were being shot at whilst the terrified screams of children ran through her ears.

Swallowing to appease her parched throat, Julia turned and gazed through the flaps at the lines of children.

The lucky ones managed to squeeze themselves into a place on the two benches that ran down the length of the truck, the others were curled up on the floor but all of them had their heads in their laps and their hands pressed to their ears.

Julia and Kazeem were breathing heavy as they told them to hold on.

Kazeem left them with one last comment in his native tongue before he replaced the flaps and tied them together as best he could.

Spotting that Carlos had just jumped into the truck, Julia and Kazeem raced for their own cab. The longer they lingered, the longer Marcus and the others had to avoid being shot.

Kazeem didn’t argue as Julia climbed into the driver’s side, her body mentally adjusting to left-handed driving.

Slamming the door behind her, Julia rested her rifle on the seat beside her, an old style rug draped over the back.

Gripping the steering wheel, Julia simply looked ahead of her and saw the half dozen men beginning to run towards them.

Jolting herself into action, Julia grasped at the ignition for a set of keys when her fingers hit something cold and metal dangling from the console.

Taking a quick look, Julia let out a small bark and enthusiasm as she turned the key and the engine rumbled to life around her, the entire cab seeming to vibrate from the moment.

Looking out to her left, Julia gave Carlos the thumbs up, which he eagerly returned.

Noticing that it was manual, Julia prayed she hadn’t forgotten how to drive as she pushed down the clutch and knocked the long-handled gearstick into first.

The gears grounded beneath her, grating at her ears, but the engine roared as she pressed on the accelerator, filling her chest with hope.

Lifting the clutch, Julia followed Carlos make a sweeping U-turn in the dessert, the window on his passenger side shattering as a bullet found him.

“Get your head down!” Julia shouted as she leaned to the side, turning the large steering wheel as best as she could.

A sudden loud noise assaulted the right door panel but Julia wasn’t waiting about to check what it was.

Straightening up the truck, Julia quickly hit into second and sped away from the terrorists, her body finding a moment to take a breath when she spotted the two trucks ahead of her.

They were away, Julia could hardly believe it.

But as she turned to look at Kazeem, the smile was wiped from her lips when she noticed something heading in their direction.

Narrowing her eyes at the approaching vehicles, Julia gripped the steering wheel tighter when she saw what it was.

Three jeeps, each with their driver and passenger armed with rifles.

Julia and Kazeem watched them speed straight past them, not paying them a bit of attention, as they went to the rescue of their leaders stranded in the desert.

“They must have called for reinforcements hours ago,” Julia hit the wheel with her hand, letting out her frustration as she knocked it up a gear and followed Carlos through the desert and back towards the roads.

It wouldn’t be long before the drivers of the open-topped jeeps realised who was really driving the trucks.

And without radios, Julia couldn’t communicate with the others as they took a sudden turn and emerged out into a small strip of desert with mountains on either side of them.

Putting her foot to the pedal, Julia pushed the truck as fast as she dared go before it collapsed beneath her.

The engine was already screaming in protest at being pushed to sixty kilometres per hour, a loud clanking noise coming from the engine that did not ease Julia’s fears.

But these trucks were at least a decade old and were heavy with human cargo, there was only so far Julia could push it safely, though she highly suspected that those modified jeeps could go faster.

Kazeem suddenly spoke from beside her, “We have company.”

Julia looked in her side mirror to see the three jeeps, suddenly with a lot more passengers, gaining on them.

As they got nearer, Julia could see them weaving to the sides, trying to find a way through.

She could not let them get past her.

“Hold on!” Julia shouted as she spotted the first jeep take the risk.

Kazeem relayed the message to the children in the back in their native tongue.

Pressing a boot against the dashboard and pressing her body into the corner of the cab, Julia turned the steering wheel hard to the left making the truck swerve into the jeep’s path.

The children screeched with fear.

Julia let out a maniacal laugh as the jeep was forced to break suddenly and fall back behind her.

Straightening up the lorry once more, Julia repeated the action but to the right, keeping the jeeps at bay as a cloud of sand blew up behind them.

Kazeem was holding onto the dashboard, looking at her from the corner of his eye, “W- Where did you learn to drive like that?”

Julia looked at Kazeem, “I don’t know.”

Kazeem stared at her with confusion.

Julia let out a loud burst of laughter as she suddenly braked sharply, jolting the driver of the jeep, before she kicked it back up a gear and sped off.

“I don’t remember!” Julia clarified for Kazeem, a smile on her lips, when she saw that a jeep had managed to wedge itself up her right hand side.

“Hey, Kazeem?” Julia kept the truck level, her eyes switching between the road in front of her and the mirror on her right, “You know the RPG that Carlos gave you?”

Kazeem nodded.

“I think now may be the time to use it,” Julia jolted in her seat as they ran over a large rock, the back end of the truck swerving out as it hit the wheel.

Kazeem reached for the RPG at his feet.

Julia looked back at the mirror and saw a second jeep at the joined the first, which was nearly level with their cab.

“Yep,” Julia swallowed, “Now is definitely the time.”

Staring up ahead, Julia saw that the strip was ending and they would soon be out into open space. At the moment, they had them trapped.

Kazeem seemed to juggle with the large rocket for a moment, gaining his bearings with the triggers before he kicked open the door.

“Kazeem!” Julia shouted when a burst of bullets hit the inside of the cab, ripping through the roof, her head ducking forward.

Looking back she saw that Kazeem was fine and he was re-adjusting the rocket which had slipped from his shoulder.

Julia sighed, “Make it count.”

Kazeem remained his silent self as he kicked the cab door back open from where it has swung shut and leaned forward, pointing the RPG at the first jeep.

Julia looked ahead and saw the strip ending, “Kazeem?”

Nothing happened.

“Kazeem?” Julia called with warning, “Kazeem, now!”

After a few seconds, Julia heard the whoosh of the rocket, her body acutely familiar with the sound.

Kazeem seemed to leap back into the cab for cover as Julia went down a gear, the engine whining in protest, as she floored it.

Speeding away as fast as she could, Julia could only watch as the rocket detonated inside the jeep, the car flying into a ball of flames and quickly careening into the side of the mountain.

Julia let out a loud cheer as she saw the second jeep, with nowhere else to go, drive straight into the back of it and catch alight.

Julia and Kazeem were shouting with joy, their moods instantly elevated by the sight, when a large judder suddenly went through the entire length of the truck.

“Whoa,” Julia blinked as she tried to locate where it had come from when she felt the truck begin to pull to the left.

The wheel began to jerk, the cab shuddering in protest, when the sound of a tyre blowing filled their ears.

Julia screamed once more as the truck veered to the left, the wheel flying from her grasp, and drove straight into the mountain.