Freelancers: Falcon & Phoenix (7 page)

P
hoenix doesn’t even ask
as she hurries to the back door.

They run across the road to their car. Little Wang has managed to get it out of the rut and is moving toward the road but the ground is so wet that getting proper traction is an uphill battle.

As their boots step off of the concrete and onto the muddy ground, Falcon and Phoenix slow down—not only to keep themselves from slipping but because the car doesn’t seem to be getting very far as it slides and gets itself re-stuck every couple of feet.

The Freelancers step in front of the car and aim their guns at Little Wang. He puts the car in park and takes his foot off the accelerator before raising his hands into the air.

“I was just getting it unstuck.” He steps out of the car.

“Save it. You were gonna leave us here.” Falcon moves the gun to follow Little Wang’s movements.

“That’s what you were gonna do to me.”

“How far did you expect to get without any weapons?” Phoenix asks.

“How far did you expect to get as banged up as this thing is? You don’t know if there aren’t more Marauders out here,” Falcon adds.

“The engine works. That’s good enough.”

“He’s right.” Phoenix turns her gun on Falcon. “The engine works. That’s good enough.”

“After all of that, you still—”

“Nothing’s changed. We get back on the road and I make good on your contract.”

“This isn’t like before. I’m not cuffed.” Falcon quickly raises his gun toward Phoenix. “And I’m not unarmed.”

The two stand-off with one another. Little Wang keeps his hands raised but starts to step back into the car. Phoenix draws the hand gun in her belt and aims it at the little brother.

Little Wang freezes. “Woah. Hold on. There’s no contract on me.”

“Maybe not. But you’re not taking that car.”

Falcon keeps his gun on Phoenix. “Ok. So now what?”

The three of them stare at one another. “Like I said, I take you back to the Ivory Republic. If you’re right and there are more Marauders out here, you’re not gonna risk staying. But you can’t stay in the empire, either, and the Outpost won’t take you.”

Little Wang looks at Falcon. Even he feels a little sorry at the lack of choices the other guy has. “You made a lot of people mad, Falcon. And my brother’s still out there.”

“That’s right,” Phoenix says. “So we can keep standing here until Big Wang shows up or more Marauders do. Whichever comes first. How many shots you got in that gun?”

Falcon looks down at the barrel of his gun then glances around the landscape. The darkening area makes his options even more limited. He grits his teeth and lowers the gun.

“Smart choice,” she says.

“You know we’re in the same boat, right?” He smiles.

“How’s that?” She keeps her guns up.

“You did say that you were probably banned from the Asian Empire which means you can’t go back through it. And that’s the fastest way. The Marauders will chase you down no matter what. And as far as Big Wang is concerned, you ran from him with his Emperor’s prisoner. Plus, he’s gonna want his brother back.”

“Yeah. So you have to take me with you,” Little Wang chimes in.

“Or leave him here,” Falcon says. “Either way his brother is gonna come after you.”

“Don’t listen to him, Phoenix.”

“Both of you, shut up.” Phoenix keeps the guns on them, She looks around at the dim field before turning to the road. There is no sign of anyone or any vehicle.

“Let’s make a deal,” Falcon says to her. He lets his gun drop to his side.

“A deal? With you?” Phoenix snaps back around to him.

“I want to get out of here and you want to get me out of here.”

“Then why are you so resistant?”

“Just tired of being chased. I’m tired of having this contract on me. But the only way it’s gonna stop is if I’m in front of the man who put it out in the first place.”

“So what’s the deal?”

“It’s not gonna be easy getting all the way back there. Not in this thing.” He nods toward the banged up car. “And not without a second pair of eyes and more firepower.”

“What about him?” She flicks her head toward Little Wang.

“That’s fine if you trust him. But he did just try to steal the car without us. If you think you can trust him with a gun—”

“I don’t trust either of you.”

“I understand. But I could have taken your car, before, and avoided all of this.”

Phoenix starts to lower the rifle. It’s still enough to wound Falcon but it’s no longer a headshot.

“And just like all of the chasing, I could have just sat back and let you handle it.”

“You wouldn’t have. You didn’t want to be caught. You said you’d rather go with me because I’d be easier to get away from.”

“That was before all this.” Falcon swallows. “Look. We make a pretty good team. At least we have so far. I’m tired of this contract and it’s in your best interests to keep me alive. We need to work together. At this point, you’re not gonna make it back to the Ivory Republic without my help.”

Phoenix narrows her eyes again, judging whether or not to trust him. He tried to run before but who knows what would have happened if she’d have had to deal with the Marauders on her own? Of course, she wouldn’t have had to if he hadn’t run. Still, here they were.

She drops the rifle to her side. “What about him?” Her pistol still points to Little Wang.

“That’s up to you.”

“I can be a third gunner,” Little Wang says.

“I’m not giving you a gun,” she tells him.

“That’s fine. Then I can be a lookout. Just don’t leave me out here.”

Several long seconds pass before she decides. “Ok,” Phoenix says as she secures the gun back in her belt. She swings her hand out toward Falcon.

Falcon takes it.

“Looks like we have a deal,” she says. The Freelancers shake hands. She still stares at him with a cautious eye. “You drive. Don’t do anything stupid.”

Deal or no deal, Falcon knows she still doesn’t trust him. “It’s a start,” he says.

T
he only light
on the road comes from the one working headlight on the car. And even it struggles to stay on as it flickers with each road imperfection it runs across. Falcon keeps his eyes toward the front, looking for anything that might be a threat. Phoenix keeps her eyes on Falcon, still perceiving him as a potential threat.

His gun lies against the passenger side door along with Phoenix’s rifle. She holds a hand gun while leaning against the door. Little Wang sits in the back, staring out of the open rear windshield, being a lookout just as he said.

“You can put that away,” Falcon glances at the gun in her hand.

“I think I’ll keep it out.”

“That gun’s not really stopping me from doing anything. It wouldn’t be hard to roll the car again.”

“Is it making you feel nervous?” she asks, not really caring either way.

“Just worried about your hand cramping up is all.”

“Worry about the road.”

“You need to worry about what’s around us. Turn off the light.” Little Wang leans forward, placing his head between the front seats.

“I don’t want to run into anything,” Falcon tells him.

“Exactly. We don’t want to be seen. There’s too much moonlight as it is.”

Phoenix keeps her gun on Falcon as she turns to the little brother. “Seen by who?”

“We just passed into Native Line.” Little Wang turns his head side to side as though looking for something in particular.

“We still have at least five miles,” Falcon tells him.

“They’ve been reclaiming land for the past few months. The line goes farther into the empire now.”

“The Emperor allowed that?” Falcon asks.

“He couldn’t stop it.”

Phoenix sits upright in her seat while Falcon turns off the one headlight. She hands the pistol to Falcon. He takes it but she keeps her grip firm on it. “Don’t forget.”

“I honor my deals.”

She releases the gun and picks up the rifle.

“Give me one,” Little Wang says.

“No,” Phoenix checks the rifle’s magazine to make sure it’s full.

“Come on. You’ve got four of them. And three people using are better than two. Is he supposed to shoot while driving?”

“Yes,” Falcon says as he ratchets the slide of the gun. He turns back to face Little Wang. “Just keep your eyes open.”

The little brother does as he’s told and turns back around to watch their rear. They all scan the dark land. It’s hard to tell what some of the objects near the road are. As they get closer, they become easier to identify. Most of them are wrecked cars, stalled out on the side of the road. Some of the cars have what looks like large flat objects leaning against them.

Falcon grits his teeth. “He’s right.” He points at one of the cars. “Those are ramps. The Natives use them for air attacks.”

“What do you mean, air attacks?” Phoenix asks.

“I’ll tell you once we’re out of here.”

“Or she can find out,” Little Wang says as he turns around.

Falcon looks over his shoulder and sees a pair of headlights. “Natives don’t use cars.” He looks forward again.

Phoenix turns around. “Those aren’t cars.”

Falcon checks the rearview mirror and sees the lights drifting farther from each other. “No, they aren’t.”

“Look out!” Phoenix points to her side of the car. Falcon swerves to the left just as a motorcycle comes up one of the makeshift ramps. A bright flash of fire light bursts into the rear of the car as a flame spreads across the road behind them. Little Wang watches as two bikes race through the flames from behind. The riders each hold up something burning in their hands.

“Molotovs!” Little Wang ducks down into the back seat.

Phoenix turns her body around and steadies the rifle on the shoulder of her seat. She takes aim at one of the bottles and fires. The glass shatters in its holder’s hands and the contents burst into flames and spill out all over the biker. The Native's partner watches as the burning man and his bike fall to the road. Not wanting the same thing to happen to him, he throws his incendiary at the back of the car.

“Incoming!” Phoenix shoots at the biker and misses as Falcon swerves the car to the right. The molotov lands right next to them and shatters in a mass of flames on the road.

Falcon straightens the car and checks the rearview mirror to see their pursuer lighting another bottle. “Take the shot,” he says to Phoenix.

She slides the bolt of the rifle back and fires. The biker swerves to avoid being hit. She bolts another bullet in place.

“Right!” Little Wang points out her window.

Falcon points the hand gun toward the oncoming motorcycle. He holds it right behind Phoenix’s back and pulls the trigger. The Native biker hits a ramp before the bullet finds its mark. Falcon swerves to the right and the bottle smashes on the concrete.

Phoenix takes her second shot and, again, the biker swerves. “Too slow,” she says as she leans back against the dashboard to trade to the rifle for the machine gun. She readies it to fire and takes aim.

A molotov soars through the air and hits the road just behind the car. Some of the liquid hits the bumper causing a small amount of flame to cling to it. Fortunately, it’s not enough to cause bigger problems. The biker starts to relight another but Phoenix pulls the trigger while sweeping the gun from right to left, ensuring the biker can’t dodge the shots. One of them finds its mark and the Native is knocked backwards off of the bike. Phoenix watches the motorcycle fall to the road and skid into another makeshift ramp just as another bike becomes airborne. This motorcycle lands right behind the car. Bullets fire, striking the back of Phoenix’s seat. Lucky for her they don’t go through. She returns fire and knocks that biker to the road.

She turns back around in her seat. “Watch it!”

Two more Natives hit ramps on each side of the road. Falcon and Phoenix lean out of their windows and shoot the airborne bikers, knocking them off of their motorcycles. Their bodies hit the concrete, shattering the homemade incendiaries in their hands. Their riderless bikes fly over the car and crash to the ground. Falcon races the car through the fire on the road.

“How many of them are there?” Phoenix watches more riders heading their way from an intersecting road.

“Thousands,” Little Wang says.

“Just here?”

“Probably,” Falcon tells her and he shoots a rider heading straight for them.

“Give me a gun,” Little Wang says again.

“No,” Falcon and Phoenix say in unison as they both take shots through her window at the oncoming riders.

They pass through the intersection just before the riders hit the main road. A molotov bursts on the pavement behind them, sending a pool of fire over the concrete. Phoenix starts to climb out of the window. Falcon reaches over and grabs the ammo belt to keep her from falling out. She fires off bursts at the Native bikers and manages to hit one of them. The others start to light more bottles.

One of the bikes gets too close for comfort just as Phoenix runs out of ammo.

“Get back in here!” Falcon yells at her. She ejects the magazine before ducking back into the window to grab another one and reload.

Just as she pulls the slide on the gun back, a hand reaches through the window and grabs her. She drops the gun as another Native on a bike starts to pull her out of the car.

“Phoenix!” Falcon aims his gun but she blocks his sight.

Outside of the car, Phoenix has one hand on the Native's arm and the other gripping the top inside of the door. Falcon can only watch as she tries to keep from being ripped from the vehicle. He cuts the wheel to the right, and centrifugal force pushes the car back over her The tactic gets most of her back inside and gives him just enough room to take the shot. The bullet hits the bike, making the rider release her before crashing off of the road.

Phoenix stares at Falcon, not sure if she’s shocked or if she’s thankful. There’s no time to ask which as a flame-illuminated biker pulls up along the driver’s side. Falcon aims his gun and fires. He misses as the biker pulls ahead to the front of the car. He throws his molotov on the hood of the already beaten up vehicle. Falcon and Phoenix bring their arms over their faces as the car hood bursts into flames.

“We can’t let that get down in the engine,” Falcon says as he takes a shot at other bikers who start to pull up alongside him.

Phoenix opens the glove box, hopeful there is something useful inside. It’s empty. She turns around to the back and reaches for the pack Falcon took from the Marauders. A bottle bursts on the road behind them, erupting into flames. “Dump that,” she tells Little Wang as she draws her pistol and fires over Wang’s head through the open rear windshield. One of the attackers falls to the road. The others ride through the burning street.

“There’s nothing here,” Little Wang says.

She takes a moment to look at him. “Your jacket.”

“What?”

Falcon swerves as another bottle erupts on the passenger side.

“Give me your jacket!” She orders Little Wang. He takes it off, quickly, barely able to hand it to her before she snatches it out of his hands.

“Be careful,” Falcon says, already aware of what she’s planning. He aims his gun over his shoulder and wild fires at their attackers. A lucky shot hits one of the lit molotov bottles, causing another biker to catch fire. In his panic, he swerves his bike into another, taking them both crashing off of the road.

Phoenix climbs back out of her window with the jacket. She positions herself to sit on the door, trying to hold on to the ceiling of the car for balance while swinging the jacket at the burning car hood.

“Hold on to her,” Falcon says as he veers to one side, narrowly avoiding more fire. The move forces Phoenix backwards and almost out of the car but Little Wang grabs her legs, giving her the leverage to sit back up. She reaches inside for the machine gun and pulls it out to fire bursts at the bikers still on their tail. The bikes pull back a ways, veering side to side, avoiding her shots. She drops the machine gun back inside and returns to swatting at the flame, dousing it little by little.

Falcon looks back to see one more bottle burst just behind them. Through the flames on the road, he watches as the lights of the motorcycles get smaller. He slows the car down to stop.

“What are we stopping for?” Phoenix asks still swatting at the fire.

Falcon steps out of the doorless driver’s side and stands to watch as the Natives turn around. “Look.” He points in their direction.

Phoenix swings herself off of the door and onto the road. “That’s it?”

“We passed the other side of the line. We’re back in empire territory.” He walks to the side of the road and scoops up two handfuls of dirt. “The Natives stick to their territory, unlike the Marauders.” He walks the dirt to the hood of the car and drops it on the rest of the flames, putting them out.

Phoenix walks to the back of the car as the last of the motorcycle headlights turn around. Small fires from the other burst molotov cocktails dot the road. She puts out the small fire on the bumper with her boot.

Falcon walks to the rear of the car. “We got lucky.” He points to even more headlights going the opposite direction on the intersecting road.

“We would have run out of bullets before they ran out of bikes.” She looks at Falcon in disbelief.

“You’ve never been on the Native Line, have you?”

Phoenix shakes her head. The realization of just how close they were to death, only now, hits her.

The sound of a revving engine snaps them back to their current situation. They both spin around to see the car speeding away from them.