Path of Ranger: Volume 1 (33 page)

“Is there an injured one among you? What happened?” Doc asked. The metal hand of his mech pointed at Vladimir.

“He was attacked by one of the beasts,” Skyman said. He walked towards the mech.

“How long ago?”

“About twenty hours.”

The titanium giant got down on its right knee above the wounded man to take a closer look. Then he took a small gadget from the belt socket. It seemed like some kind of sensor. He put it on Vladimir’s chest, above the heart. A green light blinked and the thing got vacuumed to the skin. In about thirty seconds, Doc received the results.

“Hm… It’s so strange… There’s no infection. How did you treat him?”

Ellison stepped up.

“I’ve cleaned the wounds, stitched the cuts and gave him painkillers and antibiotics.”

“What chemical compounds did you give him exactly?” Gibson narrowed the question.

“Just morphine and amoxicillin pills. Is there something wrong?”

“Lots of things, actually,” the stranger from the mech continued. “You see; this strain of creature intoxicates its prey with a venom from the claws. The poisoned organism suffers from immunity dysfunction after. So the local viruses get right on it. By this time, your guy was supposed to show a sign of heart failure at least. But, according to the results, his blood is fine, same as his heart.”

“What do you think might have saved him?” Ellison wondered.

“It is difficult to tell. But definitely not your pills. Still, just to be sure, I’m going to give him an antidote.”

The mech’s fingers took one of the thin bulbs from the belt’s satchel. Gibson settled it into the socket of the device that already was located on Vladimir’s chest. The liquid was injected. After the vaccination had been done, Mark took off the sensor.

“That’s it, we have to go.”

With those words, the metal giant stood up to go to the other side of the fence. Most of the group were there already, walked there by JB.

The other side of the wall was edged with a dirt road. It went far away, along the perimeter. The surroundings were different there: no such high trees as in the main jungle, the shrubs were not that thick and, in general, the local forest looked more like a park. There were four observing towers seen from that spot. Those constructions were much higher than any tree in the park. Nevertheless, what concerned the intruders most were regularly planted surveillance cameras along the road.

“How soon are they gonna know that we are here?” JB asked looking around.

“They do already,” the scientist responded.

He brought a pale-green sack with him.

“How soon are they gonna be here?”

“Soon!”

“Okay,” JB kept playing with Gibson. He knew how nervous Mark had to be, so the big guy wanted to tease him.

The mech came closer to the crowd to drop the sack in front of them. There were weapons inside. Personally Gibson took out a huge bayonet, the size of a sword, and a machine gun with a block of ammo. The blade was placed on the right forearm of the mech, the machine gun – on the left. Then he picked up the SPAS-12 automatic shotgun with ammo and stepped back, as if to invite others to take the rest of the weapons.

“Catch this,” Doc threw a shotgun to the mutant, then he turned to the captain. “These are for you. You’re going to need them.”

Not waiting for special instructions, JB put on the ammo belt and placed the shotgun over his back. He was ready to fight. And just he was going to step ahead, when a big mechanical arm stopped him, handing over the ‘Desert Eagle’ firearm with two extra clips.

“I believe it’s yours,” Mark said.

“Now we're talking,” JB smirked with joy. “Just what the doctor prescribed!”

There were still four ‘AK’ rifles and a few guns. The heavy stuff went to Skyman, Wash, Alex and Eugene. And Ellison along with Vitaliy took pistols. Having just been armed, they gathered up waiting for instructions. JB went a bit ahead on the road, to take watch. Gibson stayed with others to break down the plan. He took out a military class GPS navigator.

“What’s that?” JB shouted wondering.

“Did you think they are the only ones who can track others? I was watching them all along.”

Then Gibson brought a map, one of those that they had been studying with JB. He showed others their location, then drew a line through the park, a path for them to travel.

“Pay attention, Skyman. You need to walk others exactly along this line. The destination is in two point four kilometers. You are going to go through the park. I’ll warn you at once, the park is a minefield. There is just one safe path, the one I’ve shown you. If one of you missteps, you all die.”

The looks of the people changed deadly.

“Why can’t we go with you along the road?”

“It’s going to be flooded with mercenaries soon. JB and I will take care of them. Your mission is to go through, take one of the swingers and fly away. Don’t wait for us, no matter what. You have just one chance.”

“How do I know that I’m leading them right?”

“The navigator will show you the way, it’s very precise.”

One of those two weirdos was caring a lot about others’ lives, and that wasn’t JB. In fact, the mutant had caught himself a few times on a thought that he wasn’t concerned much if they would die at all. Those new abilities of his gave him a gift of incredible sensitivity to other beings. Yet, at the same time, they shut something important inside of him that used to make him human. There were no straight, absolute answers no more. As always, it all came to the choice.

Two artificially enhanced thugs were standing down the road: one was mechanically armored, another – genetically engineered mutant. JB stood still, listening to what was going on far away. The SPAS-12 shotgun rested in his hand. Gibson just idled, waiting for a signal from his partner.

“Where are the others?” JB asked.

“Gone on their way.”

“Okay, let’s go.”

Just as the mutant had felt a first sign of micro trembling in the ground, he went into soft running. Doc charged the machine gun and followed him. JB advanced into jogging. Not fast at all, its purpose was more to set the rhythm for the fight. The enemy was getting closer. Soon they would encounter them face to face. In about a mile ahead it happened, three Humvees appeared far away.

JB gave Gibson a sign to split up. He increased his speed to zig-zag over the road, as a measure of drawing attention. The mech, on the other hand, kept on a straight line behind him. It was too heavy and immobile to dodge the bullets. Each of the foe's vehicles had a machine gun turret on it, just as Mark had warned. Shooters showed up from the hatches. So it was on.

The mutant braced up, he was ready. Just about two hundred yards left between him and the enemy. A peaceful surrounding was broken by firing, coming from the mercenaries. A string of bursts went out of the front car. JB leaped to the left, dodging the bullets. The spot where he just had been went under a dust cloud, caused by bullets hitting the ground. The big guy sped up, he took even more to the left, closer to the wall. The Humvee shifted sidewise as well, to open a view to the one after them. The second unit’s shooter fired at the mech. Gibson reacted fast, setting the mech into a high jump in the air. He avoided damage that time.

Being right on the edge of direct encounter with the enemy JB realized that there was no more space to maneuver. He was under gunpoint of the first shooter, the wall stood to his left and bullet strings were chasing the mech to the right. The mutant looked carefully at the man who was aiming at him, as he tried to sense his moves. As soon as the mercenary triggered up, the hunter threw to the left and upwards to parkour over the wall. The distance was closing up, just a few seconds and the car would hit him or pass by. When being at the highest point of his leap, JB pushed off the wall to redirect the momentum in the Humvee’s direction. The gunman tried to follow his target and kept bursting bullets. But the mutant made his move, he aimed at the vehicle and shot the shotgun right on the fly. Half of the charges were launched. The speed of the action was insane, still JB could see everything. Two swarms of shots hit the windshield, fracturing the glass into pieces. The other two charges got the gunner. His face was torn apart. When JB was flying over the car, he got some blood splashes on him.

After the hunter had passed first two Humvees, the last one appeared ahead of him. His momentum wasn’t enough to overcome it; the collision was inevitable. The gunman was almost prepared, soon as JB hit the ground, he would get shot instantly. His only chance was to kill the shooter beforehand. But JB wasn’t in a position to shoot. He flew straight at the Humvee, and took the knife out in the process. Then his arm made the strongest stab it could into the car’s roof. Not knowing what was to happen next, the mutant held to the knife’s handle as hard as he could. The vehicle went braking right away, but the speed still was high enough to pull JB backward. The blade sliced through the metal until it hit a reinforced railing of the machine gun. JB held on. He had never lost the gunman from his sight. And it was about time to finish him. Keeping a firm grip, he pointed the shotgun at his target. The enemy didn’t even have a chance to turn around when two upcoming shots blew off his head.

Meanwhile, Gibson ran next to JB. He tried to zig-zag his way from the bullets, but the mech was just too heavy. Some of the charges were hitting him. The armor plates were sturdy enough to hold the damage. The weakest spot of the machine was a supply cords and hoses; Mark was well aware of that. Doing his share of running, Doc decided that it was time to test the mech for its collision capacity. So he tilted the body forward and sped up even more. A side view monitor showed as JB was right about running on the wall to hit the first car.

Gibson waited it out until there were just a few meters left between the mech and his opponent. Then he did an abrupt jump about a meter high. He had concentrated the weight into the machine’s fist to make an arc hit downwards. It happened fast, Doc launched the bayonet while hitting, and the car was pierced clean through the hood. The weight of the mech smashed the front part of Humvee, then was hit itself. The giant mechanical suit rolled over the car’s roof, squashing the gunman in on the way, and fell on the ground after. An explosion had torn the vehicle's hood apart. The driver lost control and drove the car into another one, which had been shot by JB a second before. Both vehicles ran off the road, crashing into the wall.

As for Gibson, he didn’t have even a chance to check if the mech was still functional when the third Humvee ran over him. The mech got thrown a several meters ahead, and the cars stopped. JB fell near the transport, his knife was still stuck in the roof, beside the bleeding gunman.

JB knew that any second soldiers were to show up from those cars, and he had only two charges left. He crawled around the vehicle to take shelter. After taking cover, he gained some time to reload. As soon as the weapon was fully charged, the mutant was ready to get back to fight. Suddenly a loud metallic hit sounded from nearby. It was Gibson, he was smashing the car’s door fiercely until he managed to tear it off. Automatic fire came out of the car. The mech punched the soldier with his machine gun muzzle in the face. The man’s skull got instantly disfigured. Neither of the partners could tell if the mercenary survived the hit, but it was clear that he was out of the game.

More shots came through. JB prepared his shotgun and rose to his feet. He looked out to see if the shooting was coming from the other two Humvees, which crashed over the wall. Some movement was seen there, but nothing explicit. Those soldiers were still far.

A door lock click came from the car that JB stayed behind. He turned around and made a substantial hit with his foot on the opening door. The mercenary had almost stepped out and even had managed to his foot on the ground when the punch shoved the door back. The bones crunched and the door got left with a deep dent on its edge. The soldier dropped dead.

By that time, the last of the mercenaries from that car had come out. Trying to help out his comrade he hit JB on the back of the head with the stock of his M16. The mutant wasn’t damaged much, but it pissed him off big time. As a response, he hit the foe back with his shotgun muzzle. The hit was strong enough to knock the man down by itself, yet JB pushed the trigger along the way. The upcoming shot blew up the soldier’s skull, scattering pieces of insides across the ground. Gibson watched it from aside, he thought for a second that he had never seen such cruelty in his life.

“I’m sort of glad that we’re on one side,” Doc said.

“Me too,” JB replied removing pieces of brain from his shirt.

Killing those mercenaries had distracted the partners from the other two Humvees. The shooting resumed. JB felt a sharp sting in the shoulder, one of the bullets scratched him. Although the hit wasn’t serious, he flinched out of surprise. The remaining soldiers had taken cover behind the broken vehicles. JB hid up too.

The bullets were hitting that lone vehicle, which shielded the mutant. It wouldn’t last for long, so JB took the initiative. He leaped away from the shelter, tumbling over the ground. On the end of that movement, he was ready to shoot at his enemy. Then, suddenly, a shadow emerged from aside and knocked him down right away. A single shot streamed in the sky. JB recognized a monster attack the moment it hit him. The claws were close, and as soon as they both hit the ground they would cut through JB’s face. He realized that the hit was unpreventable, but he hoped to soften it up by pushing the beast off with his legs. As soon as the mutant’s back touched the dirt he kicked the monster in the stomach with both feet, then gunshots followed. Those bullets threw the monster aside. It was Mark, who saved the day.