The sun, arcing its way up through the Eastern Sky, had already burnt away the last embers of the early morning fog. Visibility had improved and even to Henry's untrained eye, it was now clear that the road ahead had seen some melee action since the previous evening.
He slowed Amber to a stop.
A large Oak lay on its side, almost completely blocking their path; its branches splayed in abject defeat. And just beyond, the sun glinted off the rooftop of a very familiar-looking silver-grey Cadillac. The pounding in his chest grew louder, quicker; juxtaposed against the shallowness of his breath. Eyes narrowed, brow furrowed, he could make out a few men stumbling in and around the vehicle, some hobbling, others, face down, walking around slowly shaking their heads. A few were sat to one side, caught up in wounded misery, their audible moans hanging on the mid-morning breeze.
Henry turned to speak with his companion, who was still traveling incognito up in the saddle behind him, but they were interrupted by a loud booming voice:
Halt! Who goes there?
Turning round to explain his unexpected early return, to whom he assumed was the Fruit Baron's men, he was instead greeted with a loud volley of gunshots. Amber reared and bucked, dancing frenetically on both hind and forequarters as bullets whizzed around their heads.
Henry fought desperately to retain control of the reins, to soothe and calm her, but her fear won out and she turned tail and bolted. As he clung desperately to his horse, knuckles whitening around the thick leather straps in his grasp, he realised, with a sinking heart, that his companion was no longer in the saddle behind him.
Damn it! I'll have to return, he cursed.
Wes found himself out of control, launching off the back of Amber, before landing hard at the side of the road, and rolling another 10 or so metres down a steep incline. He came to an abrupt stop against a small rocky outcrop. His disheveled form was concealed from the Baron's guards; with nobody else appearing to have noticed his impromptu vanishing act in the commotion.
He regained consciousness around 15 minutes later, his hand moving instinctively to his throbbing temple. He winced at the touch, smearing semi-dried blood across his face in the process. Aching all over, he noted that he had little cuts and bruises wherever his body had had the misfortune to connect with the ground on his way down the hill.
And then, he felt it rise within him, his hands started sweating, his eyes darted around his environment. His backpack? The tablet? Otto would kill him if he'd lost them!
Fortunately, a quick scan of his surroundings revealed that both were lying within arm's reach. Unfortunately, the tablet was now broken into a number of smaller pieces. He carefully gathered them up and put them back into the bag. Otto was definitely going to kill him!
He shook his head woefully. The last thing he remembered was trying to get to the Solar Baron's old Estate with his new travel companion. He had to get the tablet to the Fruit Baron, Otto was counting on it. It was a small miracle that he had managed to locate it in the first place, and now...now it was no longer intact and he had no idea what that meant for the mission. And it was in that moment he realised that he now remembered who Otto was...
He sat back wondering what he was going to do next.
Psssst!
It was all starting to make sense ... the chaos up on the road; there was only one person that he knew of who could achieve that. Rachel! And if Rachel had been there, then the Fruit Baron was most certainly in her company by now. He had to get Henry on board if he was to get them both to safety and deliver the tablet to the one remaining person who would know what to do.
Psssst!!!
The second Psssst!!! caught his attention and he shot a glance behind him to see Henry hiding in the overgrowth.
You have to come now!
Henry pleaded,
I don't know exactly what we are going to do next, but we can't stay here. These guys don't seem too interested in a conversation.
Wes managed to crawl across to where Henry was hiding.
You came back for me?
Of course I did!!! But now what the hell are we going to do?
Henry replied.
I remember, Henry. I remember everything!
You what???
We are out of options; we have to get to the Predas. They are the only ones who will know where to take things from here...
Henry's whole world started to crumble. This went much higher than he could ever have imagined. Delilah's hunch had been right.
This was my entry for this week's 'A Tale of 2 Pizzas' by
You can catch up with the story to date here and read the contest post for week 17 here.
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