Salvage Station 23

Chapter 3, Part 11

~~~

The raiders were relentless.

With every passing second, more of them seemed to emerge from the shadows, filling the night with the sound of clashing weapons, grunts of effort, and the occasional scream. Olivia’s arms ached from swinging her bat, the barbed wire slick with blood, but she didn’t slow down. Max, beside her, fought through the pain in his back, his spear flashing as he fended off another raider.

Aiden fired another shot, his Glock 22 barking out in the night, but even he could see they were getting overwhelmed. For every raider they cut down, two more took their place.

“There's too many!” Eli called out, his voice strained as he slashed with his knife through a crack in the window. Zoe stood beside him, sweat dripping down her face as she stabbed at a raider trying to climb onto the bus.

Mia pressed herself against the side of the bus, her knife clutched tightly in her hand as she glanced nervously at her father, who stood firm, his spear ready.

“We’re not going to last much longer!” David shouted, his voice hoarse from calling out warnings.

Olivia gritted her teeth. She knew he was right. The bus was their only protection, but it was slowly being overrun. The raiders had the advantage of numbers, and if this went on for much longer, they wouldn’t be able to hold their position.

The raider leader, still at the front, laughed as he advanced again, his axe gleaming in the dim light. “You’re done! There’s no way out of this, so just give up!”

Rosie’s eyes flashed dangerously, her grip tightening on her katana. “We don’t give up,” she hissed, stepping forward to meet the leader’s next swing head-on. Metal clashed against metal as they exchanged blows, neither one backing down.

But then, Olivia heard it—a sound that cut through the chaos like a whisper. A single gunshot, so precise it barely registered over the noise. The raider who had been closing in on Max dropped, a neat hole in the center of his forehead.

Max blinked, momentarily stunned as the raider crumpled at his feet. “What the—?”

Another shot rang out, this one even quieter than the first, and another raider fell. Olivia’s breath caught in her throat. These weren’t wild shots or stray bullets. These were deliberate, deadly, and coming from a distance.

From somewhere unseen, a sniper was picking off their enemies.

“Someone’s helping us!” Zoe shouted, her eyes wide as another raider fell to the mysterious gunfire.

A moment of confusion rippled through the raiders as they looked around, trying to locate where the shots were coming from. The leader snarled, his confidence faltering as one of his men dropped beside him. “Where is he?!” he bellowed, his eyes scanning the darkened horizon.

Another shot. Another raider down.

Olivia’s pulse quickened. Whoever this sniper was, they were buying the group precious time, but the raiders weren’t retreating yet. She had to act fast.

“Push forward!” she yelled, rallying her team. “Now’s our chance!”

Rosie met her gaze with a sharp nod, breaking off from the leader and cutting down a raider who had gotten too close. Eli and Zoe moved in tandem, stabbing and slashing through the gaps in the windows to keep the attackers at bay, while Max, Aiden, and David regrouped at the front.

The raider leader, realizing his men were being picked off one by one, growled in frustration. “You think you can beat us with a few lucky shots? I’ll make you all pay!”

But before he could step forward again, another bullet found its mark, striking him in the shoulder. He staggered back, clutching the wound as blood seeped through his fingers.

“You coward!” he screamed into the darkness, eyes wild with rage. “Face me!”

Another shot followed, this one grazing his leg, sending him crashing to the ground.

Olivia didn’t hesitate. She leaped forward, bat in hand, and with one brutal swing, she brought it down on the leader’s weapon arm. His axe clattered to the ground as he howled in pain.

The remaining raiders, now leaderless and spooked by the sniper’s deadly precision, began to falter. Some of them looked at each other in confusion, while others started backing away into the shadows.

“Retreat!” one of them shouted, panic rising in his voice. “We need to fall back!”

The few raiders still standing quickly turned tail, disappearing into the forest as the sniper continued to fire, picking off the stragglers with deadly accuracy. Within moments, the battlefield was silent, save for the soft, dying groans of the injured raiders scattered around the bus.

Olivia stood there, breathing heavily, her eyes scanning the horizon. “Who…?”

Rosie stepped up beside her, wiping the blood from her katana. “He’s out there somewhere,” she muttered, her voice low and thoughtful.

“Who is he?” Olivia asked, still catching her breath.

Rosie’s expression hardened slightly, her grip tightening on her weapon. “I don’t know. But he’s been watching me for a while now.”

Before Olivia could ask any more, a faint movement in the distance caught her attention. She squinted, but all she could see was a shadow slipping away into the night, vanishing as quickly as it had appeared.

Max, still recovering from the adrenaline of the fight, shook his head in disbelief. “I don’t care who he is. If he hadn’t shown up when he did…”

Aiden holstered his Glock and let out a long, slow breath. “Yeah, we owe him one.”

Olivia nodded, but her mind was racing. Whoever this sniper was, he had saved their lives, but he wasn’t just some random stranger. There was a purpose to his actions, a reason he’d chosen to intervene. And the way Rosie had reacted…

There was something she wasn’t telling them.

For now, though, there wasn’t time to dwell on it. They had to get moving again, even if the bus was damaged. There were still miles between them and Salvage Station 23, and the night wasn’t over yet.

“We’ll figure it out later,” Olivia said, turning to the others. “Let’s patch the tire and get out of here. The raiders might come back, and we don’t want to be here when they do.”

As the group began to gather their supplies and check the damage to the bus, Olivia cast one last glance into the distance. Somewhere out there, their mysterious guardian was watching.

And she had a feeling this wouldn’t be the last time he intervened.

~~~