The Resistance

Chapter-10

My whole body was shaking. I couldn't believe it worked. But then it was supposed to work. I could feel Rachel's warm body beside me but I couldn't see her in the darkness of the place. A smile broke out on my face. We had climbed down the rungs in the hidden passage connecting the room to the underground parking lot. We were crawling inside the framework of the its ceiling.

"Rachel, are you okay?" She didn't answer. "I'm really sorry. Please forgive me for making you go through all that."

Then she spoke, "What the hell happened Jason?!"

"I know that I told you to run to the dressing room in Macy's but I wasn't there. It was all part of my plan."

"Yeah and that plan was for me to get caught and get beaten by a 'gentleman' in Armani suit."

"He beat you?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Just tell me what happened Jason."

"Not right now. We don't have much time. We have to get out of here."

"And where exactly is 'here'?"

"We are in the parking lot B-1. There are two layers of underground parking and we are above the ceiling of the parking lot-1. Don't ask any more questions until we get out. Our objective for now is to steal a car and get the hell out of here."

"Leaving the others?"

On that my expression darkened. "I will come back for them. Now, let's go."

There had to be an opening here somewhere. As I ran my hands on the cement surface I touched a piece of cold metal. Voila, I thought. I found the handle of the manhole sized metal covering and slowly dragged it.

Light flooded inside from the small slit which I had opened. More light flooded in as I dragged it further open. I was careful not to make much sound. When the slit was large enough for me to peek I had a look.

I couldn't see much due to the size of the slit but no one was within a 10 metre radius around us. I slowly slid the metallic covering completely which left just enough space for us to squeeze through. I clutched my pocket to make sure that I had all the essential tools. Then I said, "Rachel, listen. I know the last few minutes were kind of a blur but we can escape this. Please do me a favour."

There was a moment's pause but then she replied, "Fine."

"Look we don't have much time so I'm going to be brief. I'm going to jump down and do something while you stay up here like a good girl and wait for my instructions.

"Sure why not? After all you gave me a huge explanation of your 'something'."

I did not like the sarcasm in her voice. I wanted to explain it to her but we didn't have much time. "I'm sorry but please bear with me for a couple of minutes." Saying so I jumped.

I tried to make as little noise as possible when I hit the ground. Around me a sprawling parking lot extended. The dim light radiated by a few tube lights attached to the ceiling were the only source of light. Most of the parking lot was filled with jeeps. The jeeps of the soldiers. They were regular jeeps with military green paint. I had fallen into a free space between two of them. 

Thankfully I didn't attract much attention. The only soldiers I was able to see were far away. I spotted around ten soldiers in the parking lot. Now came the hard part. Hotwiring a car.

I fished out a thin metallic rod I found in the building. I wedged it in the gap between the door and the car. Then I used it as a crowbar to open the door slightly. I slid the rod into it and tried to nudge the lock button. I missed a few times but finally I managed to hit the button. I brought out the rod and used the handle. The door opened.

I gave a sigh of relief. But it wasn't over. I stepped inside the car. Once inside the car I located the solenoid, which was on the starter under the steering wheel. Then I used the rod and detached the lock on the steering wheel. Sure enough the wheel moved freely.

Then I moved back to the solenoid. I spotted the ignition switch wire and the positive terminal wire and pulled them out. Then I used the metal rod and contacted it with the positive terminal which shorted it, sending 12V directly from the battery, cranking up the ignition.

Good news- The car started. Bad news- the car started with roar. I immediately yelled for Rachel to come. Then I heard a thud to my left, telling me that Rachel had jumped.

The soldiers were alarmed. My heart was pounding. The soldiers were closing in on us. They hadn't seen us yet though. Rachel was a split second late in getting up.

One of the soldiers came into view. He was running so fast that he almost slammed into Rachel. But to my surprise she caught hold of his shoulder with one hand and drove her elbow into his chin while turning. Using the momentum she slammed him into the ground before he had the chance to shoot.

She took his Tavor and shot right into the window of the jeep adjacent to us. I realized that she had shot a soldier running that way. Well, imagine my surprise to learn that Rachel was a Kung-Fu master with shooting skills.

Then she looked at me and yelled, "FOR GODS SAKE START THE BLOODY CAR!"

I was about to point out that I had already started the car and word she was looking for was 'drive' but I didn't want to correct an angry girl with a gun. I floored the accelerator just as Rachel climbed the roof of the car. "What are you doing?" I yelled.

"We will never make it out with so many soldiers shooting at us!" she replied.

Well she had a point. The car gave a huge noise and released a lot of smoke in protest. I thrust the steering wheel sideways to the only exit. Six soldiers were in our way to the exit. I knew it was impossible because they could easily gun us down. But Rachel wasn't in the mood to get shot.

As though someone switched on her 'KILLING MACHINE' mode, she pointed her rifle and started shooting. Two of the soldiers fell. She shouted to me, "Swerve the car as much as you can." I did as I was told, thrusting the steering wheel left and right. Both the soldiers and Rachel kept shooting.

The windshield shattered. I slammed the vehicle into a soldier at 25 miles per hour. Three more soldiers fell down in the hands....gun of Rachel. I could hear many thuds above which showed that Rachel wasn't able to handle the inertia.

"You okay?" I shouted to Rachel. She didn't reply which worried me. I floored the accelerator and aimed the car towards the exit. Our car was getting gunned down. The side mirror shattered, the whole car vibrated due to the strain on the engine.

Another soldier dropped, which calmed me as Rachel was still alive.

I couldn't even hear the gunshots as I climbed up the ramp to the exit, due to the roar of the engine. Black smoke billowed from the hood. At the exit, my heart dropped. There were around five soldiers at the end with their guns aimed at my heart. As my last resort I ducked, without leaving pressure on the accelerator. I was out of their sight but I wasn't able to see what was in the front either.

I closed my eyes and grit my teeth. Suddenly the car vibrated and the ground levelled. I peeked outside. We made it out of the exit and reached a road. On the car's hood was soldier's corpse. Behind us, the sprawling complex of BMX became smaller and smaller as we slid out of its view. I didn't have much time to comprehend what had happened or be relaxed. In front of us was a wall of cop cars. We had to get past them.

I raced towards them. I knew that hitting a police car was a violation of law but so was killing people. I watched the speedometer rise up to 60 and then I slammed into a car.

The hit was nerve jarring. All the windows shattered and front part of the car bent inwards. My head slammed into the steering wheel and a wicked pain arose in my nose. But I managed to create enough gap to slip through the cars. Once again I hit the accelerator.