He moved towards the barge and as the teenage national guardsman jumped aboard, Luke shot at him from his hiding place, but missed.
The attack shocked the national guardsman and the gunshot deafened him. He pointed his rifle at Sophie while glaring at Luke with loathing. “Drop it now or I’ll blow her away. Do it, now!”
Luke moved to comply when Sophie said. “Don’t do it! You know they kill’ll us both.”
“I mean it,” said the national guardsman and he pulled the trigger slowly back.
“Alright, be cool, man, here,” Luke capitulated, and handed over the pistol. The rifleman motioned with his weapon for Luke to squat on the deck, and then smacked him around the head with the butt of his rifle rendering him unconscious.
Luke awoke slowly, and saw that the two national guardsmen had discarded their hazmat suits, which had impeded their assault upon Sophie.
The teenage guardsman threw her down on the deck and ripped open the front of her blouse. She screamed and tried to hold the two remnants of fabric together. The tall skinny guardsman jeered at her protests and egged him on. “Go on, rape the bitch!” he chuckled.
Sophie struggled with all her might, twisting from side to side to throw off her attacker who mauled her and chuckled. She swiftly brought her knee up into his crotch, making him wince and roll off her.
The older guardsman became aroused further by her struggling efforts to escape. “Now, darlin’, enough is enough, me and my buddy are having you, one way, or the other. Why not make it easy on yourself?”
“I’d rather die,” she hissed.
“OK, your choice.” He picked up his rifle, stood over her and placed the barrel against the bridge of her nose. Sophie stared hypnotically down the barrel of the rifle, and saw the trigger pulled back as if in slow motion, when the soldier was kung fu kicked off balance by Luke.
The soldier staggered backward and almost fell into the canal. He turned and chuckled when he saw Luke stare at him, challenging him. “Well now, looky here. I might’ve underestimated you.”
He grinned at his friend who released Sophie and they spread out, Luke had trouble keeping his balance as the trio moved around the deck, dodging the various objects scattered around, plus the two dead hippies, “Give it up, pal,” said the tall skinny national guardsman.
“I’m gonna kill the pair of you,” Luke told them menacingly, but it only made them guffaw.
The teenage guardsman charged at Luke, who sidestepped him and put his foot out, tripping the soldier and sending him sprawling with a wail into the canal. However, before Luke could enjoy his small victory, the tall skinny guardsman, leaped on him, and they wrestled to the deck. The national guardsman threw a punch that Luke blocked, then a roundhouse that Luke deflected, he managed to return with an uppercut, stunning the guardsman for a moment, Luke then elbowed him in the throat and tried a forearm smash. The guardsman blocked the badly executed swing, got his breath back and kicked Luke in the shin, making him bend, he then brought his knee up into Luke’s nose, crunching it with a sickening snap. Luke shook his head trying to clear his vision. He threw another punch, but the soldier blocked it, and he managed to get his foot behind Luke’s ankle and pushed him over, the national guardsman’s superior training in unarmed combat had overpowered him and as he straddled Luke he had his ka-bar knife in his hand in a flash.
He turned it over in his palm so that it glinted in the moonlight and Luke got the message. “Any last requests?” he said.
Luke gasped and tried to speak but all that emerged from his cracked lips was a hoarse whisper.
“What’s that?” the skinny national guardsman asked.
Luke beckoned him closer, and the guardsman put his ear to Luke’s mouth, “I said—” He snapped his head forward and viciously head-butted the national guardsman with a sickening thud. “- Watch out for the head-butt.” Luke rolled from underneath him.
The guardsman stood groggily with blood flowing from his busted nose. They circled each other once more. Luke led with a sidekick, which the guardsman dodged. He retaliated with a hip-kick and caught Luke in the ribs, and swiftly followed it with an ankle sweep that had Luke on his back. He then stomped down on Luke’s leg with all his might, and heard a satisfying snap as the shinbone snapped, “Argh!” Luke cried out, trying to kick out with his good leg, but falling back in agony.
The skinny national guardsman towered over Luke on the deck and sneered down at him. “You’re one gutsy bastard, I’ll give you that,” he raised his rifle, when suddenly his eyes flipped open and blood trickled from his lips. Luke could only stare in wonder as the guardsman abruptly dropped to his knees, then fell forwards, to reveal a kitchen knife stuck in his back.
Sophie’s relief quickly turned to disgust when she realized what she had done — she had taken a human life, but she had saved Luke’s life and that’s what mattered. She sobbed tears of joy, and threw herself into his strong, comforting arms.
After a moment Luke, yelped, and rubbed his wounded leg. Sophie glanced at it. “It’s broken,” she said flatly.
“Hey! Hey! What’s going on up there?” yelled the teenage national guardsman. “Is anyone going to get me out of this stinking water any time soon, huh?”
Luke crawled over to the edge of the barge to see the teenage guardsman splashing about, treading water. “Where’s Colt?”
“Was he the tall, skinny piece of piss?” Luke asked matter-of-factly, as if they were two people chatting on a park bench.
“Whoa, dude, I wouldn’t let him catch you saying that. Hey Colt, Colt, dude?” The teenage national guardsman lost some of his cool, and asked. “Where’s Colt?”
“He can’t come out to play right now, I’m afraid,” Luke told him.
“Oh yeah, why not?”
“He’s come over all dead.”
“You better not have done anything to him,” he threatened without conviction.
“I wouldn’t splash around so much if I were you,” Luke told him calmly.
“What like this?” he said and splashed furiously in the water. “What’re you going to do about it, huh?”
“Oh, I ain’t gonna do nothing—” Luke said nonchalantly, “- but he might,” he nodded to the triangular-shaped wake caused by the alligator’s snout.
The teenager splashed noisily, he turned and saw to his utter terror the alligator heading his way. He screamed and thrashed his way towards the embankment, but found the side too steep for him to get out. With sheer determination, he leaped up from the water. He grabbed a handful of leafy grass and dragged himself half out, when he let out a blood curdling howl, as the twelve foot long alligator caught him by the ankle, and eighty needle-like teeth pierced his flesh with three thousand pounds of jaw pressure clamped down on his bone, dragging him back into the murky water. He went to scream once more but only a gurgle escaped from his lips as the alligator bit a chunk from his stomach and blood spewed from his mouth like a tap.
He flapped his arms as the snapper pulled him below the water, he bobbed back up once more, and then disappeared from view.
CHAPTER 44
22:15 PM
Vice-Admiral Reed arrived at the White House security gates, and went through the usual rigmarole of being ushered into the building’s checkpoint, vigorously frisked by a marine, eventually satisfied he saluted him and he was in and although not a stranger to the powerhouse he marveled at his surroundings.
In the Oval Office Hamilton Parker shouted down the internal telephone, “Vice-Admiral Reed is here? Why? Who sent for him? I most certainly did not!”
The Surgeon General observed the President with caution as the man paced the Oval Office in a state of panicked rage. He had flipped between being a charming, smiling politician to a raving lunatic and back again in the blink of an eye all evening. He noted that the President was in a permanently agitated state, and that he had not shaved all day, adding to his overall unkempt appearance, “No, no,” continued the President. “Send him up.” He slammed down the telephone and then swept it from his desk as an afterthought.