Dell part 2 of 2

Dell

"No, no, no!?"

Dell

Dell was admiring the scenery when noise from his left startled him.  It was a brief and distant noise obscured by the vegetation somewhere beyond his site. There was no delay in identifying that the source was cause by Merol when he emerged from the foliage. He looked angry now with his brow low and frown lower. When he got closer it seemed to be fatigue setting in rather than rage, "we are in position and the location is lightly protected." Dell felt exhilarated but simply nodded etching every word in his head. As soon as Merol disappeared again noise came from his right this time. It was the other woman who had been shouting orders in the camp who now ran up to Dell.

"Merol said they are in position and the location is lightly protected." Dell said making sure to be loud and clear.

"That's good but don't tell me that, it is not my call. Tell Don that when he or one of his team report back. She crouched and started to look around. “The same goes on my end we don’t see anything either.”

“Are you going to stay here?” Dell asked.

“Yea, I’m just an extra body in case you need me for anything.”  Dell looked at her body when she looked away and it was lean and padded with mostly black protective gear. 

Startled when she looked back at him he looked up then down then asked, “So what’s next? What should we expect?”

She opened her eyes wide and thought out-loud, “There’s really no way of knowing.  The plan would be that Don or one of his team would return soon.  But one of Merol’s team could show up to send word things have changed, that there’s movement at the Sam’s Town police station.  But that’s unlikely since they’re so undermanned already.”

Portions of her face were shaded but Dell knew she was staring at him now.  “Oh, okay. Thanks for helping even though you’re not getting my family.” 

“Oh I’m really sorry about that but we have to do first things first. Do you know why those guys are even there? Or where your dad is?”

“Nope and nope.  My dad is either with the Americans now setting up to help get us out of here, stuck at the end of the Pan-Atlantic, or, “ Dell stopped at the first time letting the possibility hurt, “Dead,” He finished. When she said nothing he continued, “Part of me thinks they won’t let up without getting me but that doesn’t make sense.  They’re probably looking for my dad.”  Dell had helped his dad escape Newtopia by lowering him into a flotilla in the Pan-Atlantic. Nine times out of ten the flotilla reaches the Atlantic Ocean. “He wanted to get people out of Newtopia because he knew it was coming.  But it was too late by the time we got the plane tickets when they had stopped all commercial flights in October.”  When she said nothing and in the silence there he felt an intense swelling of affection for the Worshipers.  The deepness of Don’s words that he had argued back in the camp seemed like light-hearted truth, ‘A thousand mile journey is no different than a one mile journey.’  The past hour of running and thinking and planning blended with fear and exhilaration instead of time and boredom.  He loved this life he realized.

When the woman worshiper next to him said, “What I want to know is how are things between you and Mara?” he sensed both her compassion and intense desire to break the silence.  Still, in his euphoric-like state, he blushed at the question.  Her smile then turned to an awkward frown and her eyebrows raised.  She was dead by the time she fell forward at Dell. The hole in the back of her head stared back at him, red and dark. 

Through his confusion he moaned, “No, no, no!?”  He looked around and saw eyes and sudden movements in every shadow. The crunch beneath startled him but it was just the leaves.  He heard Merol roar and shouts in all directions.  He wanted to roar, roar like a lion.  But all he could do was fall to the rock behind him holding the lifeless woman on his lap.  The silent killers now shouted and shrieked behind the dense curtain of bushes and distance. There was no sound, no noise or anything to warn her, he thought piteously. He was too tired to cry for her.  He thought of her looking over maps earlier and how she shouted for ammo from other worshipers.  He looked at her waist and reached to unbuckled the handgun. No sound. There was sound but it was far away: shouts, and cries of pain, and branches breaking. If there was danger it was close and quiet.  A stray bullet buzzed many feet away and found a slender maple tree causing it to spit wooden flakes everywhere. 

Dell quietly unbuckled her gun and laid her body down. No sound to save her, he thought bitterly.  He started a slow, low trot near another, larger boulder so he could stand.  He took a sharp left around to its broad side.  This time there was sound and it was so loud though it was only a short stumble.  But to Dell the stumble was as loud as tree falling.  So when he turned the corner and saw the colors and shot.  The muffled pistol met the man’s chest as his eyes met Dells.  Then Dell shot many more times, he did not know how many.  One shot finally landed beneath the arm and chest making him wine rather than shout.

Dell approached the man who seemed huge though he lay on the ground and was grabbing at his injured area.  Dell kicked the rifle away and looked at the man’s hand gun, close to his one arm.  The man cursed when Dell pressed his boot hard to the bleeding area but that was when Dell reached and grabbed the handgun.  He heard scratching nearby and began to back away with the two guns drawn. Even lions can be eaten, and steep slopes often lead to fresh water, Dell coached himself.  The mantra gave him courage enough to turn and run. He stopped and turned back on the thin side of the large boulder.  The cool stone licked at the thin black shirt he wore.  The breeze cooled him too.  It was a sudden scrape again that sent his blood boiling.  Dell peeked out and saw Merol coming.  He stepped out to appear obvious to Merol and then waved when he got close.  Merol eyed the distraught man lying on the ground and looked up at Dell. He looked back to where he had come then again at the man and said, “Geese, I can’t believe that happened.”