The Secret Weapon (4 page)

She
grabbed the other gun on the ground, and she started for the man up the road. When she got to him, she moved around the body until she saw his face. He was shot in the temple. His eyes and mouth were wide open. Satisfied that he wasn’t going to be a problem, she went back to the bus where goggle man was screaming and fighting to get out of the cuffs.

Coraset picked
up her bag completely ignoring him and began her track for the distant shack. Goggle man began screaming someone’s name, but she didn’t stop or pay any more attention to him.

With a clear mind, Coraset thought about the situation she was in and what just happened. Two guys wi
th no sign of transportation were in the desert, and one of them shot the bus driver. How did they get out there? Better yet, how did goggle man know her name? The situation wasn’t coming together in her mind, and nothing about it was right. But she knew she wasn’t safe. Goggle man was calling for someone right before she walked away, and his friend was dead up the road from the bus wreck. That meant there was someone else out there.

The dirt road ended right in front of a wooden shack in a circular turnaround. Coraset looked back
up the road. The third guy could be hiding in the wooden hut. Coraset wasn’t taking any chances. She shifted her shoulder so the bag would slide to the ground. She went around to the back to eyeball the size of the hut. It was perfectly square and flimsy. She was surprised that it was still standing. Coraset pulled open the back door, lowered her body and entered. There was an unlit lamp in the center, and streams of light penetrated the cracks between the panels. It had a wood panel floor, and there were stacks of boxes on each side. In the far right corner a man was on his belly. He had no shoes and no socks and was shirtless. His ankles and wrists were bounded together with zip ties.

Coraset
slowly approached the man, pointed the gun at his head and pushed at his leg with her foot. When his head came up, she noticed his dirty face was moist from tears, and his big blue eyes indicated desperation. He had a buzz cut. His skin was pale white like he hadn’t seen sun in years. He was a young man, lean in muscle tone, like a teenager’s body. Even though, he appeared to be in pain from being tied up, Coraset decided to be careful nonetheless.

She
set one of the guns on top of a nearby box, and she worked to untie the rag from around his mouth. He coughed and started breathing heavy. Coraset wanted to release him completely, but it all depended on what he had to say.

“Where are they?” The boy asked
as he rolled to his side.

“One is dead, and the other is chained to a bus.” Coraset answered.

“Can you release me?” The boy was trying to sit up.

“
Are you with them?”

“Uh, no, I’m tied up.” He answered smartly.

Coraset didn’t let his smart remark bother her, and she shot off another question. “How many guys are here with you?”

“
Only three,” Rudy answered. “Please, get me out of these things.”

Now, she understood why
goggle man was looking around back at the bus. He was searching for the third guy. Coraset didn’t like this at all. One more guy and she had no idea where he was or what he looked like. He couldn’t be that far. There was nothing but desert for miles. There wasn’t water readily available and no food, unless he had those essentials with him.

“
Is there cutters in here somewhere?”

“In that bag behind you,” the boy answered.

Coraset went over and pulled the black duffle bag open. She rummaged through it and found wire cutters. She went back to the boy, rolled him back on his stomach, and freed him. He rubbed at his wrists alternatively and then at his ankles. Coraset stepped back as he got to his feet.

“Thank you,” the boy said.

His kindness surprised Coraset. She hadn’t heard a ‘thank you’ in years.

“You’re welcome,” she responded guardedly.

The boy grabbed the bag Coraset got the cutters out of, and he put on his socks and shoes. He snapped out a shirt and put it on quickly.

“I’m so glad you came along. My name is Rudy.” He extended his hand.

“Coraset,” she answered, not reciprocating the gesture.

“
Oh, so you’re Coraset,” he remarked as he zipped his bag closed.

“
You know my name, too?” Coraset asked as she stood right in front of him. She had both guns in her hands again, but her stance wasn’t guarded.

“Those guys talked about you.”

“What did they say?”

Rudy hesitated before
answering, “They were going to kill you.”

Coraset clearly understood
what was going on. It was Warden Cobb. It had to be. He was seeking revenge for the murder of his two guards, and he was pissed about her being released. It was more than obvious he hired three guys from the prison to kill her.

“Do you know them?”

“Uh, heck no,” Rudy remarked with a shake of his head.

“Is there another place out in the desert
someone can lay low?”

“No, this shack here is
it. There isn’t anything else for miles.”

“
That means the last guy is close by.”

Rudy shifted his hands to his side
in clear worry and asked, “What should we do?”

“
You’re not going to do anything. They’re after me. Are they all armed?”

“
One of them had a gun,” he answered.

Coraset headed out of the shack.

“Where are we going?”

“Back to the bus,” she answered.

Coraset liked the fact she could see for miles. The landscape was flat and rocky, and then it erupted into dark hills in the far north and east. She knew she had a better advantage of dealing with the unknown man if she saw him coming. If she stayed in the wooden hut, he could get close. He might even jump her when she came out.

When Coraset
returned to the bus, the sun was baking the outer shell. The heat streams waved up into the atmosphere making the area around the bus much hotter. Goggle man was sitting up. He used his belt to try and cutoff the flow of blood to his bleeding wound. The dirt floated in the pool under his calf. Rudy saw how serious his wound was and crossed his arm in disgust. He gawked at the crashed bus, then out at the dead guy beside the road. He wondered if Coraset was responsible for all that damage.

Coraset asked
goggle man, “Where is your friend?”

The man was sweating
and had his goggles pulled over his eyes again. He looked away from Coraset.

“I asked you a question,”
she said as she lowered towards him.

“
I don’t know, but he’s going to kill you when he gets back.”

She
threatened, “I’m going to put a bullet through your other leg if you don’t tell me where he is.”

He yelled with irritation,
“I don’t know where he’s at. He’s out here somewhere watching, I guess!”

“
Who hired you to kill me?”

“
I can-”

Before
goggle man could finish his sentence, the last guy ran from behind the other side of the bus and tackled Rudy. He was a huge, muscle bound guy, dressed with dark tattoos on his neck and biceps, and he wore a t-shirt, leather vest, and denim jeans. Rudy didn’t have a chance. He punched Rudy in the face knocking him unconscious. Muscle man was about to lay another shot to Rudy, but he stopped when he heard Coraset pull back the hammers of both guns. She was a good distance away from them, and she moved to get a good front aim at his head.

With
muscle man’s attention fully on her, he stood slowly. He took mental note of her small frame. She was shorter. It was hard for him to believe that a woman like her was capable of killing two prison guards. Those men trained for prison riots, worked out, and they weren’t easy to square up against. How did she get the best of them? Muscle man eyed her from head to toe. Obviously, they underestimated this woman, but he was determined not to make that same mistake.

He
asked with a panting deep voice, “You know how to use that gun?”

Coraset took one step backwards
improving the accuracy of her aim to his forehead as an answer. She wasn’t going to give him the benefit of a conversation. That’s all she needed was for him to get the upper hand because she was complacent.

“
You need to relax, girl. We don’t need guns, right?” He began moving his hands behind his jeans.

Coraset wasn’t about to wait and see what he was about to do. She fired twice with both weapons, and he dropped heavy to the ground next to Rudy.
Muscle man’s face was a bloody mess as he lay dead.

Goggle
man stared at the once giant of a man. He yelled and yanked his chained arm, angry that his friend was shot dead in front of him.

Coraset went over to Rudy to rouse him
. Once he woke, she helped him back to his feet. Rudy was surprised to see the giant. He looked at Coraset amazed. She didn’t wait for his questions. She started back for the shelter, and Rudy followed behind her, every so often looking back at the damage.

He
was grateful to have her there, felt relieved that those men would never bother him again, and he stumbled to his knees trying to stay his emotions. Coraset went back to his side, crouched beside him, and patiently waited for him to pull himself together.

She immediately understood Rudy was a child. He was definitely older than eighteen years old, but his mind wasn’t ready for him to be an adult. Coraset could tell he was unscathed and good at heart, and it was unfortunate that he was out there. Then the worse part, he was alone with
those festers of society, and there was no telling how long he was out there with them or what they did to him. Coraset wasn’t going to ask Rudy. She wasn’t going to make him relive anything negative that could have or might have happened. The only thing she hoped in his case was that those men didn’t break his spirit. Coraset patiently and quietly waited with him as he poured his relief through salty tears.

Once Rudy was ready to continue on, they walked side by side back to the shack. Coraset picked up her
blue bag out of the circle and followed him inside. She sat down in a cleared corner and leaned her head back to close her eyes to rest and think. Coraset figured if Warden Cobb was sending another bus, it’d be at least another hour before it got there, and there was no telling what she had to deal with then.

Rudy sat across from her, bringing his knees up to his chest. He was nowhere near tired, and he watched her with questions brewing in his mind.
He let her be but hoped to speak to her soon.

Coraset felt something strange in her hands, and she opened her eyes to find
a ready to eat meal. She lifted it to read the black print.

“Dinner,” Rudy said as he scooped out the last of his tuna from a small silver
tin.

The room was lit by two lamps. Coraset
went to sit close to him and asked, “Where did you find this?”

“The boxes,” Rudy
said as he pointed his finger around the room. He set the tuna aside and began eating the crackers.

Coraset opened the package, and she pulled out beef with black beans. She didn’t realize how hungry she was until she started eating.

“Where did the boxes come from?” She asked.

“
I don’t know. Maybe, the prison had people out here at one time.” He said as he reached for a small container of water that was behind him. He gave it to Coraset.

“Thanks,” Coraset said.

“Sure,” Rudy remarked. “Coraset, can I ask you a question?”

“I supposed so,” she answered.

“How did you kill all those guys and crash the bus?”

“I only killed the big dude.
The bus driver and the guy up the road killed each other. The bus flipped when the driver was trying to get away from him.”

“You handcuffed Dewey to the bus?”

“Yes,” Coraset continued eating as she answered. “That’s the guy’s name? Dewey?”

“
Yeah, did you shoot him, too?”

“Yes,” Coraset started drinking her water.

“They are idiots.” Rudy noted.

Coraset didn’t comment. She was starving and thirsty. Rudy watched her a bit
, trying to figure her out. Why was she wearing the orange jumpsuit? She must have killed someone, and how was it she was still alive? The Federation was intolerant of murderers. He noticed her green eyes and long ponytail. He figured she was older than him but that didn’t take away from her beauty.

She happened to catch him staring, and Rudy reacted by standing and going to a box to get wet wipes. He
sat back down, started pulling two out at a time and wiping down his hands and arms.