Apocalypsis 04 - Haven

affixed to the side of the cab, making sure to avoid the exhaust stack.
    I let go of the hose and jumped off the chassis, flying around like a circus performer and landing on the step that sits below the driver’s side door. My free hand gripped the windowsill, and I thanked my lucky stars that the window itself was still rolled down.
    “What the hell?!” yelled the guy, his face a mask of shock.
    “Surprise, asshole!” I shouted, jumping up and into the window, eye gouging him with the fingers of my left hand.
    “Ahhh! You lunatic! You … ahhh!!” He threw an arm across his watering eyes and kept the other on the wheel.
    I knew I only had a couple seconds before he’d be able to see again. Grabbing the door handle, I pushed in the button that would open it up and pulled it towards me, swinging off to the side to give it room.
    By the time I’d swung back in, the asshole had recovered enough to fight back. His fist came out and tagged me in the collar bone, just barely missing my jaw.
    “Get the hell outta here!” he growled, swinging wildly, trying to punch me again.
    “Not gonna happen,” I said calmly, ready to end this stupid game. I had a steady grip on the outside handle, and the truck was finally stopped. A hissing sound was still coming from the space behind the driver where I’d loosened that hose thing.
    I came in fast, grabbing a clump of hair on the top of his head and hauling back on it as hard as I could.
    He screamed in pain and frustration as the top half of his body came out of the truck. It was just dumb luck that the jerk hadn’t put on his seatbelt. He’d probably figured there was no point, since he was the only one on the road. He figured wrong.
    “Get off!” He reached up blindly, trying to grab me. He grasped my wrist just as he was falling the rest of the way off the seat.
    There was no way I could hold him and me up with just one hand on the grab bar; my palms were too sweaty. I was jerked from my spot on the side of the cab, and we both went down, falling several feet to the hard asphalt below.
    ***
    I landed on top of the driver and wasted no time in putting him out of my misery. I brought my elbow down to smash into his nose, rolling away as soon as the crunch from his broken bone signaled things were about to get really bloody.
    “Bryn!” yelled Winky, her feet slapping on the pavement as she approached in a hurry.
    I stumbled trying to get my legs under me, a little unsteady from my fall and overwhelmed by the adrenaline that was flowing through my system in massive quantities.
    “Are you okay?!” She reached my side and put her hands on my cheeks, lifting my head up so she could stare into my eyes.
    “Are you?” I asked, pulling my face away so I could search her body quickly to assess her for injuries. I was relieved to find that she looked okay.
    “I had a hell of a ride for a few seconds there, but I didn’t fall. Paci did, though.”
    My heart spasmed. I jerked my head over in the direction of our path of destruction and saw Rob and Bodo standing over Paci. My proud Native American friend was sitting up and resting his upper arms on bent knees, his head bowed low.
    “Is he okay?” I asked, my voice quavering a little. It made me sick to think I’d done something to hurt him. He might send my emotions into a tailspin every time I looked at him and he might complicate the hell out of my relationship with Bodo, but it didn’t mean I didn’t care about him deeply.
    “I think so. But we have bigger problems.” She nodded her head at the guy on the ground.
    He was trying to get up, blood pouring down his face and dripping onto his shirt.
    Winky stepped away from me and pulled her gun out of her pants. “Stop right there, dude, or I’ll put a bullet in your friggin’ head.”
    He froze in place for a moment. “What the …” After a few seconds of dumb shock, he stood up slowly, stumbling a few steps back before he was able to right himself. “What the hell is wrong with you two? Jesus, are you off your rockers or what? Why’d you pull me out of the truck? You could have just asked me to stop, you know.”
    I walked over to stand by Winky. “I think the better question is to ask what the hell is wrong with you?” I jerked my thumb back towards the trailer. “You have kids in there, don’t you? You’re hauling humans in a truck .”
    His nostrils flared, and he gritted his teeth so hard his jaw muscles pulsed. For a minute I thought he was