Six (Countdown book 1)

Chapter 15

"Get in the car!" Scarlet shouted. We all ran over to the car, and scrambled in. "Can you put out the spotlight?" she asked me, starting up the engine, and swerving out of the carpark.

"No." I said, holding up the wrist that still had the metal band on it. Suddenly, there was the sound of a gun firing. "They're trying to get us to pull over." I said. 

"I know." Scarlett snapped, pressing the accelerator to the floor. "Try and get the wristband off." she said, glancing in the rear-view mirror. We were being tailed by three black cars. I started pulling at the metal bracelet, but all I achieved was a sore wrist. It was made of thick metal that somehow had no lock or connection. It was smooth the whole way round, and I realised it must have sealed itself around my wrist. 

The Hunters had some serious technology. 

I reached for my knife, but realised I'd left it in the hotel. I pulled out the keys, but after a few second's worth of trying, it was obvious that the keys weren't going to cut it. "Throw the helicopter off." I called over my shoulder to Andy.

"I can't." she said, gripping the door. "It must be made of that special metal. The cars are too, probably. "

One of the cars pulled up beside us, driving at the same speed. "DUCK!" Scarlett shouted, as the passenger rolled down the window and fired into the car. Her window shattered, and bullets sprayed the inside of the car. 

"I don't think they're interested in taking us alive anymore!" I called. 

"Ram them!" Tony shouted, laying almost flat in the boot. Scarlett obliged, and the car swerved away. More bullets came from behind, and I realised that Wyatt must have somehow made the car bullet-proof. There was no other way it would have survived an assault like this . I sat up. We were safe for now. 

Then the helicopter's machine gun started up. If it hit us, the car would be turned into Swiss cheese, bulletproof casing or not. "Do something!" Scarlett shouted to me. 

"What do you want me to do?" I snapped, struggling with the bracelet again. 

"I don't know, just do something!" 

I sighed angrily, and wound down my window. Wind beat in through the window, making it hard for me to breathe. I climbed up onto the window frame with difficulty, so that my legs were still inside the car, but I was hanging out. The wind pushed the hair back away from my face, and I stuggled to cling onto the car. 

"What are you doing?" Scarlett shouted. 

"Something!" I gasped. I raised the gun that I'd picked up from the Hunter back in the hotel with one hand, and aimed it carefully. I fired off four rounds, and the helicopter's gunman stopped firing, but one of the black cars behind us started firing at me. One of the bullets hit me in the wrist, and I gasped, dropping back inside the car. 

I checked the clip on the gun. One round left. 

I clutched my wrist, and realised that a bullet had hit the wrist band. It wasn't enough to take it off, but enough to weaken the metal in one place. I took a deep breath, and climbed back out onto the window ledge again. I raised the gun up to the helicopter, as another of the Hunters took over from the gunman that I'd shot down and focused on the front of the helicopter, where the pilot would be. 

I pushed my powers to their very limit. 

I forced myself to think about the pilot, sat up there, hunched over the controls as his friends fired on six kids, and suddenly, I could see him through the darkness of the morning. I could just make out his shape in the cockpit, despite the glass being tinted, and how far away he was, and I suddenly felt a gut-wrenching pain in my stomach. I ignored the pain and aimed down the sights of the gun. It was a shot in a million, and I'd never used a gun before today.