UT-50

[finch]

I wasn’t really expecting trouble on the drive. I hadn’t seen anybody but Saul since my world ended, after all. But the road was blocked by ruined cars and impassible just before the junction to get on highway 50 and keep going north.

“Figures there was an accident at the one place on the whole highway you can’t just drive around,” I said, looking at the twisted guard rails and the drop on either side. It wasn’t deep, exactly, and we could go around, but something about it bothered me.

“I feel like I’m being herded,” Saul said as he threw the truck into reverse and looked for a good place to pull off. “You ready to use that rifle if you have to?”

The truck began bumping along the desert rock. I rolled down the window. “You think I’ll have to? What do you think’s out here?”

He didn’t get to answer before the first shot came through the windshield.

It missed, thank God, and Saul slid down in his seat and punched the gas pedal. I looked around desperately, hoping to find the shooter, but nothing stood out against the blank scrub.

I saw a flash of movement moments before the second shot came through the windshield. Enough of the glass was broken out that I could fire forward, and I aimed at the movement I’d seen. I took all four shots, my shoulder screaming in pain from the recoil, but it wasn’t until I went to reload that I realized it hurt more than it should.

“Grab my gun, it’s faster,” Saul yelled as I pulled the hunting rifle back. His was already loaded, so I swung it over his head and out toward the same spot. Nothing moved as we sped around and headed back toward the highway.

“Shouldn’t we go look?” I asked him.

He shook his head. “It could be another trap, and if you got them then there’s nothing we can do.”

“I want to make sure,” I told him. “If nothing else, I don’t want to leave him to die slow.”

“They would’ve left us,” Saul shook his head. “But you’re right.” Again he put the truck in reverse. There still wasn’t any motion, but as we pulled up, I could see that there was a rough shelter and an ATV carefully tucked behind the rock outcrop.

The shooter was dead- I’d only gotten two shots into him, but one went clean through the artery in his neck. There was a small array of luggage, presumably things he’d taken from the other people who’d tried to take the same path to Salt Lake City.

“I’m sorry,” I told him as I shut his eyes.

“Are you bleeding?” Saul asked. “Dang, Lacey, why didn’t you say something?”

I blinked at him, having almost forgotten the pain while I was distracted. “It’s not that bad.”

“Let me take a look at it,” he insisted, and I offered him my shoulder. He pulled at the torn sleeve of my dress, tearing a large enough hole to see through.

“Looks like he just grazed you,” Saul confirmed. He grabbed a shirt from one of the bags laying around and tore a strip from it to wrap my shoulder.

Just as he was finishing, I heard a buzzing noise in the distance. “More of them?”

“Let’s go,” Saul said. I raised his shotgun toward the sound, but they were far enough off that I didn’t think they could see much of us yet. We got in the truck and Saul sped back onto the highway. I winced at the rough road but knew we had a ways to go yet.

“Still think we’ll get there before dark?” I asked him.

“God willing, yeah. I’ll get you there.”

Mirrored from Jack-a-dreams.