Karen yanked open the shiny black armored door and ripped the wiring harness free from below the APC's dashboard. "Come on, start, baby!"
"Forty seconds!" Reggie said low but forcefully. He looked over at Harvon standing ready on the other end of the vehicle's rear bumper.
Harvon checked Rudolph with a low whistle generated between his tongue and teeth.
The Victorian-era time traveler was stationed on the passenger side near the front of the truck. He nodded in acknowledgement.
"Twenty-five..."
"Got it!" Karen said aloud and the engine roared to life. "Hop in!"
The bright searchlight instantly turned its beam their way just as Harvon and Reggie slammed the rear door closed. They pointed the muzzles of their rifles out of the rear firing ports. "Secured!"
Pops of gunfire lit up the darkness from all around the NWUS camp like loud fireflies. The small caliber fire peppered the armored vehicle harmlessly.
"Go, go, go!" Rudolph yanked open the passenger side door and jumped in the seat as Karen stomped the accelerator. Rocks flew from beneath the tires of the truck and the machine lurched forward, bouncing over the wall of concrete rubble.
"Hang on, everyone, it's going to be bumpy!" Karen shouted. She could hear Reggie cursing in the back of the APC.
"Now, is not the time to take the Lord's name in vain, Reginald!" Fentz said, clinging to the overhead safety bar.
Karen bounced around in her seat a few more times and then the vehicle was sailing down the open highway. She flicked on the headlights. The action was greeted by the sound of automatic weapons fire from behind. She looked into the side mirror and could see two sets of headlights gaining on them. "We should have taken a damn ATV, not this beast!"
<<*>>
Reggie considered the pinging of the bullets against the vehicle's armored hull. He shook off the memories and returned fire. "Harvon, shoot damn you! Come on! What's the...?"
Harvon sat back in the darkness. It was as if he was relaxing in one of the seats lining the walls of the transport.
"Harvon, buddy?" Reggie said and carefully stepped over to check on his friend.
There was no reply.
Reggie removed a small cylindrical object from his vest. He clicked on the electronic flashlight lifted from a dead NWUS soldier and pointed it toward his partner. "Oh, damn."
A dark hole replaced one of Harvon's eyes.
Reggie exhaled and turned off the flashlight. Reinserting his weapon's barrel into the firing port at the rear of the truck, Gilbreth chambered a round in his machine gun. "Come get some, assholes!"
<<*>>
"I don't think we're going to have too much time to load anything with these guys hot on our tails, Rudy. Got any ideas?" Karen inquired, checking their pursuers' distance in the mirror.
Rudolph looked down at the floorboard. "Ah! Will these do?" he asked, lifting a box that contained a couple of grenades.
Karen laughed. "Absolutely!"
YOU ARE READING
Voynich Shift - Season One (COMPLETED)
Science FictionParker Raymond recently inherited his estranged grandfather's large plantation home in Savannah, Georgia. The Spanish Moss hanging from the estate's large oaks, its massive gardens, and a near endless bank account were, in the end, not what captured...
