Note: Once again, only one message from John Thomas. But he did eventually reach a way out of the place he was at when we last heard from him, so I’m hopeful this weekend will bring another.
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I could tell that the man who was sent to rescue me, Mack Sauer, was having a very bad day. I didn’t know at the time why those two women worried him so, but I was about to find out.
No sooner had he taken two steps towards them than they had dropped their arm lock and covered the space between them and him, one attcking high and one low. As though expecting this, Mack stuffed the heel of his pistol in the face of the dark haired woman and his left boot into the shoulder of the other.
Unfortunately, and rather oddly, though they were obviously damaged from the initial contact, it didn’t phase them.
With moves like that of cats and the fighting instinct of a pack of dogs, the two women set about savagely taking turns attacking Mack. I started towards them to see if I could help Mack, but he yelled at me to stay back. While I had done what he had told me to do during this rescue so far, I had a feeling that I shouldn’t listen to him now.
I looked around and found a couple tennis ball sized rocks, picked them up and cocked my arm back, waiting for an opportune moment. Mack had been able to grab one the women by her scalp and swiftly toss her a few feet out of the fray. As she sat up and wiped the sand from her eyes I let the rock fly, and it gave an excellent “thunk” when it arrived just behind and below her left ear.
This gave Mack a reprieve from having to cover 360 degrees and he was able to send the other girl to sleepy-time land in short order.
A bit bloddied by the encounter, Mack curtly congratulated me on my aim and started walking over to the helicopter and where it’s former pilots lay. He grabbed the fire extinguisher from behind one of the seats and set about putting the fire int he control panel out.
“Damn, the radio’s cooked! Check those two guys. See if they’ve still got their pistols.”
I rolled the first guy over and was horrified to see that there was a four-inch hole in the visor of his helmet and that if that was his face inside, it looked like someone put a rather large hammer in it via the hole. He was wearing a holster across his chest which contained a revolver. Same horror with the second pilot, and we netted another pistol. I handed them to Mack.
He checked them for ammo and handed one to me. “If you can shoot as well as you can toss a rock, you can have this.” I nodded and remembered that I had to have been over two years since I’d been shooting with Phil. I just figured I’d be careful.
“I’ve found the handhelds and their transponder. Go around the other side and rummage through the emergency packs for some water while I try and reach someone.” Water sounded like a very good idea right about then and he didn’t have to tell me twice. While I was rummaging through the packs I heard Mack calling ” Shake It, Shake It. One. Two. Shake It, Shake It. One. Two. Looking for some fries.”
He repeated himself a couple times until a male voice responded. “We don’t have any fries, but we got onion rings.” Mack smiled and said back “Heya rings, somebody sent rookies to the rendezvous. There were a pair cyberchicks waiting for them here so now someone is going have to write a couple letters letters home. I have the happy meal and the coupon with me safe and sound and we need alternate transport ASAP. Can you see my coupon? Copy?”
“Copy that, Shake. Stand by.” I brought Mack a couple of the water packets as we waited. “Onion rings to shake and happy meal. We see your coupon and advise that you head north for two miles. You’ll be at the river. Go west for another mile. Cherry soda will meet you there. You have 45 minutes. Copy?”
“Copy that.” Mack replied. “Thank you for your order, please pull forward.” was the last thing the radio said before Mack smashed it into the side of the helicopter. “C’mon, Booty, we’ve got a long way to go and short time to get there.”
We set of north at another hefty pace, and it wasn’t long before we were at the river. Heading west, we took it easier though there was no resting. After what seemed like a short time, a woman swung around from behind a tree.
I pointed my revolver, but was told to lower it by Mack. “He’s a little jumpy, Cherry.”
“I could understand that. You have been a busy boy this morning, Mack. Am I to believe what I’m told that you blew up a building, twice, wiping out a household of Haters in the process, then ran six miles and dropped a couple of cyberchicks off at the pool?”
“Yeah. Well, happy meal here helped with the cyberchicks.”
“Why am I the Happy Meal?” I said, both surprising the hell out of myself and instantly realizing that I sounded like the undead.
“He speaks!” said Mack. “I was wonering if you were ever going to say something. Don’t talk too much or you’ll just stress your chords out. By the way, you’re the happy meal because we said so. Let’s get moving Cherry.”
This woman, Cherry, the first woman I could remember for the longest time who was going to try to kill me led the way. West again, along the river until it came to where it dumped into a lake. There was a boat waiting for us, piloted by another woman whom I was introduced to as Root Beer Float.
As she grabbed an oar, she motioned for Mack to grab the other. As they pushed off I finally felt a little relaxed about this “rescue”. Though I didn’t know whom I was being resuced from or by.
But it wouldn’t be long before I was told.