The Red Nights

He had to roll for one hour at full speed with his motor before he could see the shape of city , more he got close more the buildings, the houses and the monuments which composed the city became clear. At a moment he could the shapes of the men and women who were waiting for him at the entrance.

" Welcome to our dear Short-river " said joyfully a man who seemed to be the leader of this small group " my name is Donald Carson but you can call me Don and there is my unit " Jamal stepped forward to go meeting them , it was a group of only seven members; four men counting Don and three women, they formed a line and came one by one to shake his and introduce themselves.

" Brad March " said the most brawny of the men , " Axel Becker " a woman said " my parents didn't know if they wanted a boy or girl so they chose a name which suits both " , " I'm still convinced Axel is a name for a boy " a man joked " hello I'm Morice Shellman ", Axel punched him on the shoulder while shouting to him that he was wrong, Jamal went on and turned to the others leaving them on their quarrel. Daphne Simon was the name of the second woman, she was little shy and bandages were covering her entire left arm , the third man also wasn't in a good mood as he was totally cold in his attitude and very while he gave his name which was Carl Lisbon.

[ As I expected, none of them has lived this war at the same manner ] he noticed.

" And the best for the last " said the third woman, she pushed the others to make some place and walked vaingloriously toward Jamal " hello I'm Sania Andrews, honored to finally meet you . We heard a lot about you... " she gazed at him from up to down as if she was examining a giant piece of cake she had planned to eat entirely "... and I would say that you're more handsome than it said " she winked at him with a smile which meant a lot and moved away.

He stepped back and turned to Don embarrassed but looking at him it seemed that he was more embarrassed than he was. Jamal firstly thought it was about the spontaneous behavior of his subordinates but it was something else which bothered him , he pawed the back of his head and threw some sights to his crew while he was talking to him " I may present my apology for that "

" No it's not a problem , don't bother yourself " he said to reassure him while he didn't catch his misunderstanding yet .

" No I really want to apologize, as Sania said we heard very much about your achievements and for you to left your people to come to help us it would have been better to provide more men to come greeting you. But as you might know we received a lot of casualties hence we are running out of soldiers ... this number is the most my superior could give me "

Jamal quickly caught him before he went too far " you don't need apologizing, I anyway didn't require any escorts. I'm already glad that seven of you accept to come, so don't worry " he gazed at all the group " well if you don't mind let's get going to join your base ".

" Oh yeah , you're right we shouldn't not waste time here " he ordered to his men to get in their vehicles, two black pickups, and head to their quarter, so they did. Jamal followed them from the back in his motorbike and used the moment to observe the scenery around him. The buildings and the houses were of different types from those of his city, here they were smaller, he also noticed many vestiges of bullets on the walls of all the buildings, the showcases of the stores and groceries were all broken and some burned cars wrecks , and that mess was ill.u.s.trating a perfect vision of the war .

There was one thing which was bothering him, the barrages of car wrecks. After observing carefully the area he noticed that besides the road they were actually taking, all the other ways were blocked by burned vehicles whatever they were car's roads, shortcuts or the little ways between the buildings, all were clogged. He had some doubts but one more time he wanted to be prudent instead of succ.u.mbing to the panic . He speeded up to reach Don's which was leading the way, when they left he saw that it was Brad who was the driver so he directly passed by the other side.

Arriving at he level he stabilized the speed and knocked Don's window-pane, the man interrupted his conversation with Brad to hear him out he dropped the window-pane and asked him what was the problem.

" I wanted to ask are we actually in a battlefield? " Jamal shouted to be heard despite the sound of the wind.

" No , actually the fights are more in the north where we are heading " Don responded with a smile " why this question? "

He didn't reply immediately, he looked away to note that even though they took many curves the cars wrecks barrages were still plugging the other ways, [ I hoped that I'm wrong ] he silently wished.

" Hum... Mr. Don , at how level my arrival was expected? " he asked still examining the arounds.

The man laughed as if he said the funniest joke ever " so much that the soldiers couldn't sleep, the fact that the famous man who fought against the criminals and isolated them to protect his citizens all by himself was coming to help them out gave them a second breath since then they are fighting harder by waiting for you "

" I would have hoped that it was not that much " he said with a low voice to himself " and so how many people did know from where I would come by and which road we would take to get back? "

Don couldn't understand the sense of his questions but he forced himself to respond them all , he thought a little bit and said " only ten people were aware about that, my superior, the mayor, my group and I "

" Oh god " he sighed. The man looked at him confused " can you please explain what is it going? "

Jamal looked forward and for few seconds he remained silent, " hum... we have been tricked " he gazed at Don " it's a trap , please the park the car near the building there on our left and I want you to leave the car by the as well when you arrive , quickly " he made a move of the head to show him the one he was talking about " I'm going tell it to the others, please do as I have told you " .

He slowed down, reached the second pickup but now he went for the driver side which was occupied by Sania, he knocked and made a sign to drop the window-pane what she did.

" Any problem mister policeman? You want to stop and come out for a body check? " she shouted at him with a smile accomplice.

" It really sounded like Lina " he noticed.

" Who ? " Sania screamed, confused. " oh non ... never mind. I need you to follow Don's vehicle and stop where they will do and after parking the car I want you to leave it as fast as you can from the left , got it? " he repeated.

" Huh ? Why ? What is the problem? " the woman looked for responses but Jamal just bumped her " tell that to the others and please do exactly as I have said " .

He left her by slowing down a little more and while they were heading to the emplacement he chose, he was still observing the area trying to guess how would they proceed as the hideaway they were using would be inaccessible to any gunshot. They were few windows in the buildings of the front, and even if some shooters were placed on those few spots, their bullets could not reach them as the hideout had an external roof which would protect them from any attack coming from above and their pickups would play the role of shield against the attackers on the floor.

[ There are no barricades so they can't appear on the land as they may be too exposed, they must know that in that case we would wipe them out at once ] he thought still gazed [ so their only option would be to try shooting us down directly from the window on the face ] , it seemed that his first supposition turned out to be the right one as he started to notice some movements coming from the buildings on the front of their hideout. He couldn't see them clearly because of the darkness inside but he could guess that they were taking their positions.

The cars arrived before the building by forming a line just below the external roof which was covering them, the members of the group came out from the left of their vehicles what would give them a total protection as they could neither be attacked from above, because of the roof nor from the land, due to the barricade they made with their pickups. Jamal reached them when they all were out , Don approached him while he was picking his gear and was equipping it , he turned to and glanced at him surprised.

" Where is your equipment? " he said while he was examining him and the rest of his crew " hurry up, collect your guns and prepare yourself " he ordered them, however they didn't move, Jamal glanced at Don and even him didn't seem to want obeying him as he crossed his arm with a look which would have meant " not before you give us some responses " . He had a look on all of them and he sighed " okay, do as you want " , then he turned his back on them and at the exact moment he put a step forward gunshots started to resonate.

As Jamal had anticipated the enemies , placed on the windows of the buildings in front of their hideout, chose to shoot on the cars hoping that they would at least touch one of them.

The members of the group , by reflex when they heard the gunshots , all fell down on their bellies covering their heads with their hands. Some of them were screaming in fear of losing their lives, while others were shouting at each other some stupid questions like " what the f.u.c.k is this " , " what the hell is going on " ... . Jamal, who didn't blink even less shaken, turned and looked down at them. " stop shaking like some feared little sheeps, just get up they can't even touch from where they are " he shouted to them.

They uncovered their heads and slowly stood back up, " go take your guns, we have to move to our position where we could kill them off " Jamal ordered them while they were all straight on their feet " or you would rather refuse to listen to me again and waiting here for them to come take your lives? " he added to be sure that this time they would as he said .

" But ... don't we risk to be touched as we have to enter in the cars to take our stuffs ? ... As you see they are actually being shot o " Axel asked still under the shock of the surprise attack.

" I can guarantee you that you will not be hurt but you can choose to not believe me and wait until they run out of munitions, what will be within..." Jamal tendered ear to hear and confirm his calculations " ... within one minute and half " he finally said.

They looked at each other perplexed then Don took the talk " yeah ... we will wait " . Jamal shrugged " it's up , it's your group after all. But I warn you that until there the enemies may change their positions, so be sure to lead well your team for the counter attack "

The look those around had at that moment were a mixed of confusion and worries " wait you will not fight with us ? " Sania asked the question all the others were afraid to express.

" No " he responded calmly.

" Wait we came all this way to welcome you and now you're saying that you will abandon us " Brad said furiously " so all those stories about you were fake? You're just a coward? "

" Calm down dude , he must have a plan or something that is why he said that " Morice said to his friend.

" A plan ? My a.s.s , since earlier he's acting like our chief dictating us what we should do , now look around you we're completely trapped thanks to him and his f.u.c.k.i.n.g plan and within less than one minute those bastards will come to kill us and he knows that, that's why he wants to quickly run away "

After his speech, everyone looked at Jamal desperate with their eyes on him like to say " is it true ? Are we all gonna die because of you ? " but he remained serene and straight as his usual , he stared at the colossus in this silent atmosphere then he said " the gunshots ceased you should go take your guns before it's too late " , they didn't wait him to repeat and they all ran to their vehicles even Brad after he supported Jamal's gaze for few seconds . Then they returned back to him after they were all equipped to besides like they were waiting for him to say something.

" Well , it looks like they were aware about our trip and were waiting for us as they blocked all way out and prepared an embuscade on our road " he started explaining himself " I've chosen this place firstly because it was on the limit of the zone they were really waiting for us and secondly because I'm convinced it will be a good hideaway and it will be easier for you to defend yourself by staying here " he stopped and with a sign of the head he indicated them the outside " the enemies there are far more numerous than you are , if you decide to go out of this barricade you will be wiped out in one instant ".

" But not you ? That is what you're trying to say ? " Daphne asked, who since they left, remained silent with Carl .

" Yeah exactly. Listen until two years ago you were just a group of common people, you're not as well trained as I am, try to follow me and you will just get yourself killed " He warned them, then he lifted his sights on Brad " as your friend said I'm not your chief, since earlier I've just tried to preserve your lives, but now you'll be under Donald leadership as your usual . What I'm telling you is to try staying alive until I get rid of those bastards outside, get it ? "

They , one more time, looked at each other before they all nodded to accept his plan even Brad even though it could be seen that he was forcing himself. " Mr. Jamal we will be counting on you " Don said to him , he didn't reply and go getting up on his motorbike putting the shotgun he had in his hands on his back , he started it on and came out from the hideout at full speed.

" He didn't even wish us a good luck " Morice commented. Don slapped him on the head " let's get in position behind the pickups, the enemies can come at any moment " . they obeyed, everyone managed to find a spot near the cars from where they would be able to shoot on the enemies and at the same time hide themselves when the were getting shot. They waited in those positions for 5 minutes without anything happened, and after they saw many armed people getting out from the buildings in front of them, from some alleys and avenues and were running toward them while they were at the same shooting on them and screaming.

" Kill them all " Don gave the signal and they all opened the fire on them . People fell down one after another starting by those on the front, Don's crew were killing as many as they could . Then on the action Axel realized something , she stopped shooting and turned and looked up at Morice who was on her right " what is the problem? " he asked, his eyes looking forward, busy to shoot on those barbarians with his Kalashnikov. " if they are coming out from every building that would mean that... " she didn't have the time to finish her phrase, Morice was shot . She quickly turned behind with a reflex she didn't even know she had and killed the three guys who were shooting at them from behind, in the building .

She quickly turned to Morice to check how he was, totally panicked" are you alright? Where did they shoot you? " , the man smiled painfully " don't worry it's good... fortunately they didn't touch me on a vital point... only on the t.h.i.g.h... my life is not in danger yet , so just give me something to the bleeding " she ran into the car, opened her bag hurriedly and looked for some bandages and other stuffs to execute the first aid . She came back as fast as she could , she firstly poured some alcohol on the wound to clean it and while he was screaming in pain she put a piece of cotton on the hole made by the bullet and surrounded his t.h.i.g.h with the bandage.

" It's OK? You're alright? " she asked to him, worried after she finished her operation.

" Yeah I'm good. Thank you " he responded.

When the others tried to turn and check his state , Don stopped at once, " focuse on our enemies in front of you ! They are too we can't permit ourselves being careless ! Continue shooting, we will care about Morice after, and Axel hurry up and come back to your post ", the woman gazed at Morice sorrowful but he was understanding, he stroked delicately her arm " he is right you have to go " he told her with a sweet voice, so she did . She picked up her gun , stood up and returned back to her position . " Morice ! Don't lay down doing nothing ! Hold your gun and watch our back there was one they may be more " the chief told him , " got it boss " leaned his back on the door of the car facing to the entrance of building , his gun well positioned looking out for any movement.

Carl said while he was reloading the munitions of his weapon " at this rhythm , seems like they may quickly swept us up . Do you really think we have a chance to survive " . " Don't be so pessimistic " Sania said to him just give him some more time to come saving us " . " Don't kidding me, do you seriously think he can kill all this army and come for us . He must be dead somewhere in those streets at this " he said while he was calibrating his weapon. " Personally I strongly believe in the stories I've heard about him and if we follow those stories well he must be there very sooner " she affirmed with a smile.