The Iron Hallway

Chapter 6

I inhaled sharply and tumbled out of the pickup. My heart hammered in my chest, and my headache pounded in tempo with it. My eyes widened as a javelin flew across my path. I huffed and hurried on to reach Khemera's limp figure in the sand ahead. When another of the weapons flew at me, I caught it and furiously hurled it back at its owner. He gasped as he finally became immersed in the sheer agony he doubtlessly inflicted on others daily. 

Moving on, I dropped to my knees at Khemera's side and shook him. His reaction was nonexistent. I reached for his neck and sighed with relief. His pulse was still strong. 

I exhaled again and rose to my feet. After stretching my back, I reached down and dragged Khemera from where he'd fallen to a more sheltered spot between the pickup and the canyon wall. The man was surprisingly heavy, which made my struggle all the harder. 

As I approached the spot, Hannah shouted, "This is mah last shell here, so you'd better enjoy the heck outta it!" 

The agonized groans that ensued, convinced me that their enjoyment was quite lacking. Hurried footsteps rounded the corner a second later, and Hannah crouched beside me. 

"He okay?" she asked, her big brown eyes drifting down to Khemera's limp form. 

"He's breathing, just not moving." 

Hannah nodded. "Good." 

She rose quickly to her feet and rummaged in the pickup bed for a few seconds. Then she crouched back down with her ammo belt in hand. After clipping it around her waist, she stuffed ten shells into the shotgun and rejoined the fight. I got back inside the truck, closed my eyes, and threw my head back against the headrest. The stress and my headache both were really getting to me. 

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A few minutes later, the situation's intensity had multiplied. Hannah's ammo belt was empty, and her shotgun was reaching that status as well. Jedrek had run out of bullets completely and now scrambled to search the pickup bed for more. Khemera hadn't yet stirred, and most painful of all, my headache hadn't subsided in the least. 

Hannah fired off her last shell, hurried back to the truck, and took cover behind it. With nobody to resist them, the raiders hurried their approach and began to surround the vehicle. In that moment, I understood the horrible depths of the feeling called helplessness, and strongly desired release from it. 

I recoiled in fear as one of the raiders' heads slammed into the window. With a gasp, I clambered out of the passenger seat to the driver's side of the vehicle. Then I raised an eyebrow as the face went limp and fell away from the window. Perhaps Khemera has arisen! I thought happily to myself, Maybe hope yet remains for us! 

A loud snap drew my attention the next second, and when my gaze rested on a raider leaning against the canyon wall, screaming over his contorted spine, I couldn't help but make a mental connection. But who's doing this? 

Finally, I spotted a big, burly man dashing through the rows of raiders and knocking each one unconscious or worse. He appeared to exert no effort at all himself. He snapped one man's neck on the hood of the pickup, which bothered me slightly, but I couldn't complain. 

After the last of our attackers had been hurled into the canyon wall, the brawny man rushed to the back of our pickup and snatched Jedrek up by his neck. I gasped and exited the car to at least witness, if not somehow intervene. 

Jedrek's gaze remained locked on the other man's eyes, widened in sheer horror. Something about his expression appeared less like a man who had encountered an unknown terror, and more like one who was now reliving an old nightmare that still retained its frightfulness.