The Herd

Chapter 14

P.O.V.: Damien
I sat at the far end of the truck bed, watching the sleeping Jocks on the other side. Antonio was on their side, sitting over the spot that combed over the tire. We rocked and bumped around when Noah drove over the potholes and trash that littered the road heading away from the city and back to our place.
The terrain around us turned from polluted city, to green rolling hills, and now to tall orange mountains covered in tall grass and few trees. Every so often we'd see deer and mountain lions, but mostly nothing but birds. We passed a few garages, gas stations, and other shacks of sorts but all of that stopped a few minutes back.
James had taken Jewel back home in his own car, so it was just us, Noah driving and Kap, Ben, and Cameron driving behind us. Kahu barked every time I looked at them. I could see them talking or jamming to the music. Made me jealous of not being in Kap's Party Camaro. Damn Noah for making me be the one to watch these two Jocks. Why not make Ben do it?
For the most part of the ride I was quiet and playing games on my phone, but every once and a while I'd strike a conversation with Antonio. None would last more than a few words, of course. Dumb stuff like how his training was going and how the weather is. Of which was great by the way. Good clear skies and a bright sun. However, it did seem like a storm was moving towards us but it was still a far ways from us.
I didn't even want to go on this rescue mission. I mean, I love James and all. He's like my brother, like everyone else it, but I knew he had everything in control. I just wanted to stay home and play video games. Besides, I was completely unprepared to rush out of the house.
I didn't have the time to grab all my gear. I wore a basic gray t-shirt and a blue flannel. My ripped jeans were not what I wanted to where on a mission, and I forgot my hat.
Antonio on the other hand wore what he always wore on casual missions. His black and blue collared jacket with his hood flapping in the wind. His own tattered jeans were much more worn out than my own and his boots looked like they either stomped through long wet grass or someone's skull. He had to continuously hold on to his black cowboy hat whenever he felt like the wind would blow it completely off. The blue leather strap around it caught a leaf in it but I decided to let it sit there.
"Where are we?" Curt said.
I looked at him, still bonded and blindfolded but tried to sit up. He was forced back down when Antonio kicked at him.
"What's it matter to you?" Antonio said.
Curious of where we actually were, I peeked over the front of the truck. We were just driving up to an old abandoned town that was between the house and the city. Hillsbrook County was old and rickety. It was abandoned twenty years ago, before any of us even moved to KC. No one has lived there and the state hasn't tried anything to restore it. The roads were empty, and the power was out making the place a ghost town. There's a warehouse to the far East of the town that we use for certain training. It was the main place Kap used to train Kahu, a little fun fact.
I leaned back against the bed door and crossed my arms. "You're in our custody. That's all you need to know."
"Oh." He scoffed. "Not for much longer, I assure you."
"That a threat?" Antonio said.
"Pft, no." Ron finally said, revealing he regained consciousness as well.
"Oh?" I asked. "What was it then, a fact?"
"I was going to say a promise but I like that better." Ron laughed.
By then, we were officially in Hillsbrook. We passed dead buildings and over growing trees and other plants.
"Fuck it." Antonio said, taking off his hat. He opened the window on the back side of the truck and threw in his hat. Probably to keep it from flying away.
Noah looked from the wheel to see what was up but realized it was nothing. However, that quick second of looking away from the road was all it took for shit to hit the fan.
We were just passing an empty intersection. The left side road was completely hidden and shadowed by a towering building. Noah turned around at the time he would have checked the road. He missed a semi-truck barreling down the street. We drove straight passed the intersection giving Kap the implication to carry on. I watched as the semi-truck rammed into the side of the Camaro. Antonio and I shouted and cursed over the horrific sound of cracking metal and burning rubber.
Noah stomped the breaks and almost caused us to flip but we stopped safely.
The Camaro flipped onto its side as the truck turned a degrees to continue its carnage until it pushed them off the road and then into the side of a building. The truck stopped and the back door slid open allowing armed men and woman to pour out into the streets. Antonio and I jumped out of the bed to take cover on the left side of the truck to evade flying bullets.
Noah jumped out and threw me an automatic rifle as he held a finger to his ear as he shouted through the comms for the others to answer. They never did. Antonio opened the back door and brought out another weapon. Noah crawled around to the front of the truck with his sniper rifle. Before turning the corner to get a shot he turned back around at us.
"Your priorities:" he said. "Keep them from getting to Curt and Ron. Hold on to them no matter what. We cannot let them escape."
"But what about the others?" Antonio said loudly. "We can't just-"
"I said those are your priorities." Noah cut him off. "Another one is to keep them off my ass so that I can go check on the others." He ordered. "Damien." He said, looking to me. Antonio took this time to fire at the enemies. By the sounds of gunfire and shouting, it seemed to be a lot of them. "Call James, tell him to get to Hillsbrook as fast as he can. Then call Brooklyn and Catherine at the house. The truck hit their left side meaning Kāpena and Cameron are probably in critical condition. Tell them to get the health room ready for immediate care."
I nodded my head in agreement. With that, I whipped my phone out as Noah vanished behind the truck. His first sniper shot echoed through the town.
I peeked around Antonio's leg as he fired to see what exactly we were dealing with. There were dozens of people armed with sub-machine guns and pistols. All were dressed in thick bullet proof armor. Their belts were laced with ammo packs and grenades. I also noticed that the truck was backed up away from the building they smashed the guys through. The drivers door was also open, but whichever of these assholes were the the driver I couldn't tell. I ducked back behind the truck, leaning against the tire to lessen my chance of getting shot from below the truck, and dialed James' number.
I held it to my ear and let it ring for a few seconds until he finally answered.
"Hey, what's u-"
"We need you to get here right now!" I shouted, cutting him off. "We have a major problem at Hillsbrook!"
"Whoa, dude. What happened?" He said. I could here the background. It sounded like was was rushing with something. And he sounded slightly out of breath.
"Ben, Cam, and Kap are badly injured and we need backup." I said. "There's a shit ton of Jocks here."
"Any core members?" He said as I heard a dog barking and a door slam from his side of the phone.
"I haven't seen any but they're after the Jocks we have." Thinking of them, I peeked over into the bed but had to duck back down before getting a good look because I almost got shot.
"Okay. I'll be there soon. Jewel's neighborhood isn't to far from there." He said hanging up.
I dialed Brooklyn's number quickly and as it rung I peeked over again. Curt and Ron had managed to get their blindfolds off but stayed still on the bed to reduce the chances of getting shot by their own men. I sat back down and put the phone to my ear.
Antonio crouched down and scurried over my legs. "Shit. Shit. Fuck. Crap!" He muttered. He leaped into the backseat and grunted when the windows shatters. He flopped back out, dusting off shards of glass. He reached his arm back in and it came back out with a new magazine for his gun. After loading it, he took a few more out and shoved them into his jacket pockets along with his pants pockets.
"Hello?" Brooklyn answered as Antonio stepped passed me again.
     "Hi." I said. "We need the health room prepped for when we get there. Critical Conditions."
She stuttered for a moment in confusion and shock. "O-okay." I could hear her pull from the phone and shout out to Catherine. She came back to the phone and asked: "What happened?"
"We ran into trouble as always." I said. "Cameron, Ben, Kap, and Kahu are probably in bad conditions."
"Oh, shit okay." She said.
"Guys," Noah said through comms in my other ear. "They're on my ass, can you get them off?"
"I gotta go." I told Brook before hanging up. I slipped the phone back in my pocket and grabbed the rifle Noah threw me off the ground. I quickly rolled under the truck and fired at the hostiles. The sudden change in targets threw them off and gave Antonio and I easy shots. We were able to take down quite a few before I had to crawl back and Antonio needed to take cover again.
"We almost got them all." Antonio said. "Maybe fifteen left."
"Oh good." I said taking out my magazine to look inside. I threw it down in frustration. "I'm out."
Antonio did the same. He quickly checked his pockets but grunted and threw it down next to mine. "Dammit. So am I." He said as he pulled out his pistol from the back of his pants.
I got up and crawled over to the truck door. The glass was shattered and everywhere but I was able to locate my personal weapon. My Hoyt Pro Hawk

I brought out my sheath stocked with arrows and threw it over my shoulder. I know what I said earlier about not being prepared, but I always have time to grab my baby. I don't ever go on any mission without it.
Antonio looked over at me when he took cover and rolled his eyes. "Show off."
I winked before peeking over the truck bed, pulling back and arrow. Between the time I stood up and someone could get a shot lined up, I let loose the arrow, planted it between someone's eyes, and crouched back behind the truck. I whipped out another arrow and shifted my position closer to Antonio. I stood up, and shot down a woman.
"Nice shot." Antonio said. "That was a better shot than a shot you'd have with a woman." He said sarcastically.
"Ha ha." I rolled my eyes. I reached in my pocket and pulled out a small devise. It was a blunt arrow head, but no ordinary arrow head. I took an arrow and twisted off the tip it had before replacing it with the new one.
"I'll show you what kind of shot I got." I backed up and ran towards the open door of the truck. I stepped up onto the step and pushed down, launching me into the air above the truck. The enemies didn't know what to expect so they missed all the shots they had quickly made in a panic, but it was too late. I let the arrow fly and it collided into someone's chest. He, along with four others exploded into a fiery force from the explosive devise I had screwed onto the arrow. The explosion knocked more off their feet and rocked the semi-truck.
"Holy shit!" Antonio laughed. "Nice!"
I smiled, clearly proud of myself, and nocked another arrow. I stepped up and took aim over the truck bed, but a leg came up and knocked into me, making me fire the arrow into the air. "What the f-" I was suddenly tackled by Curt as he leaped out of the truck bed.
I hit the ground with him on top trying to push him off with my bow. Before Antonio could help, Ron jumped on him as well. Antonio knocked him in the head with the butt of his pistol and made him fall off, but before he could help me, Ron kicked him clean across the face. Curt pulled at the bow. In attempt to keep him from taking it, I pulled it back, lifting my top half off the ground. That however allowed him to slam me against the ground again. That made my head dizzy and I almost let go of the bow. We were pinned by the Jocks, and he rest were probably making their way towards us to surround us and kill us.
We were all kinds of fucked...