El Paso Under Attack - 01 Read Free Page B

wheeled vehicle. I have nothing against sports cars, they just aren’t my thing. I never wanted a truck because anytime someone has to move, they call you. I preferred one vehicle above all others.
    Jeep.
    Possibly the most functional vehicle ever made. The one I had in the garage was a gift from my father. It was a black 4 cylinder Jeep Wrangler. It currently had the full canvas top on due to the rain, yet the three back windows were off due to the heat.
    Dudley and I tossed our backpacks and weapons in the backseat. Merrick hopped inside with Dudley. I jumped into the driver’s seat and hit the button to open the garage door while I turned the ignition.
    The flimsy wooden door burst apart, just as I was peeling out of the garage. Those things that were once human ran for us once again and as soon as they grabbed a hold of the vehicle, Merrick began to ravage their hands and fingers. I don’t think they let go due to pain. It seemed like they had no choice in the matter due to the damage done to their hands and fingers.
    Before I came to the stop sign at the end of my road, we had ten of them chasing after us.
    “Run the stop sign,” shouted Dudley in a voice even shriller than mine was earlier. “Run the fucking stop sign!”

    I slowed down enough just to make sure we wouldn’t be hit by another car and then took off again when I was sure the way was clear. Only to come smack dab in the middle of a fucking traffic jam the second I came to a major street.
    We had to stop. We had no choice. There were too many abandoned cars littering the street and the cars that were still occupied were now moving at a snail’s pace just trying to weave their way around the empty ones. Horns were blazing and curses were being shouted from windows. Yet, the pace wasn’t about to pick up anytime soon.
    Oh hell. I slowly looked into the rearview mirror. The ten pursuing us had gained in number and they weren’t very far behind to boot.
    I began to honk my horn furiously. Dudley had his head out the window and was shouting for people to get out of the way.
    Our pursuers were getting closer and closer, running furiously towards us. Dudley panicked and grabbed for his machete. He was pulling it out of its nylon sheath when I slapped the Jeep into reverse and peeled out.
    I had no idea what I was going to do. I only knew that we couldn’t stay where we were. I guess I was going to ram through them in reverse when I noticed the canal on my left hand side.
    There are a lot of farms in the Upper Valley, and these farms are irrigated by the canals coming off of the Rio Grande. These canals litter the entire area and all of them have trails running on top of them that people use for walking, motorcycles, ATV’s and now…Jeeps.
    I was still moving backwards when I hit the brakes. The bloody man or thing that was leading our pursuers was only four feet away from the back of the Jeep. He let out a scream just as I jammed the stick in first gear, hit the gas and aimed for the trail on top of the canal.
    Thank God for off road vehicles. Thank God for my Jeep. The way ahead was clear.

    I stopped when we were a safe distance away and I noticed that the shouting and blazing horns had gone quiet.
    Dudley and I watched the group that had been chasing us swarm around the vehicles that were caught in the traffic jam. We saw some of the drivers make a run for it with their wives and children in tow. A few of them may have made it. Many of them didn’t.
    We didn’t watch for long. We just wanted to know.
    I drove along the trail as fast as I could, which wasn’t very fast at all. It was littered with weeds, bumps and potholes. On one side of the trail was a drop off and on the other was the actual water of the canal.
    It took us about ten or fifteen minutes before we reached the Rio Grande. The river was full due to the recent rains and the water was moving fast. I reversed until the back of the Jeep was about two feet from the river. That way I