Ash Ketchum: Battle of the Ampere

Ch. 10 Out of the Frying Pan

The mood in back of the van changed from relief to terror. 

"What do we do?" Shauna asked

"Try the back door," Calem said. 

"There's no handle," Serena said "You only open the door from the outside."

"Can you shock them?" Clemont asked Zeus. 

"Not through that plastic screen."

"What if I melted through it first?" Korrina said.

"If you shock them, they'll crash," Serena said.

"I'd rather take my chance with a car crash than with Cyrus," Zeus said.  "At least with the crash I've got a chance of surviving."

Serena looked back at the men, then knocked on the plastic behind the first man. "Where are you really taking us?"

"I told you.  Somewhere safe."

"Where is safe?"

"You know all you need to know," he replied.

"Who are you really?" Clemont asked again.

At first neither of them answered. Then the driver laughed. "Soldiers of fortune."

"No," said the other. "Underpaid soldiers."

"Not anymore," the driver said. "Soon we will be sunning on the beaches in Argentina."

"You're Galactic scum!" Calem shouted.

"No." The man in the passenger seat turned back. "We are not with the Galactic company.  But they pay better than the Peruvian army."

"You know they'll kill us," Serena said.

"What they do is not our concern," the driver said. "And the Peruvian government will execute you anyway.  Your chances are better with the Galactic company."

"You've never met Cyrus," Zeus said.

"Met who?" the man replied.

"Manuel," the driver said, his voice his suddenly pitched.  "Mire!"

In the middle of the road ahead of them was an army tank.  Its cannon was pointed directly at them.

"That's not good," Clemont said.

"Who is that?" Serena asked.

"Looks like the Peruvian army isn't as dumb as those two think they are."

"Que hago?" The driver asked.

"No sé! Vire!"

"Pueden reducinmos a cenizas!"

"No van a matar los chicos."

"What are they saying?" Serena asked.

"They're trying to figure out what to do about the tank," Clemont said. 

Suddenly machine-gun fire excited around them, blowing out the van's tires. 

"Everyone down!" Serena shouted.

The teens fell to the floor.  There was a loud screech as the tires shredded off and the truck's metal rims hit the payment.

"Mi Madre de Dios!" shouted the driver. 

"Firme!"

The transport veered off the road and everyone bounced around in the back.  Bullets tore through the front and side windows of the cab, ripping apart the front of the van.  A stray bullet hit Calem in the arm.  "Ah!"

"They got Calem!" Drew shouted.  "They got Calem!"

"Calm down!" Calem shouted.  "It's just a flesh wound!"

The van tipped up on two wheels, then slid down a small dirt slope where it crashed into a grove of small trees, tumbling everyone in back.  When the motion stopped, everyone was quiet.

"Everyone okay?" Calem asked.

"I'm okay," Shauna said.

"Me too," Korrina said.  "I just hit my head."

"I'm okay too," Serena said.  She had a small gash on her forehead and blood was running down the side of her face. 

"You're bleeding," Clemont said.

"I noticed," she said, wiping the blood from around her eye.

Clemont moved closer to her.  "It doesn't look too deep."

Zeus said to Calem, "You okay, buddy?"

"Yeah. Stings a little."

"I can help," Shauna said.  She took Calem's arm and the pain went away.

"Thanks," Calem said.

"Anytime," she replied.

As they lay there, dozens of Peruvian soldiers surrounded the vehicle.  Soldiers pulled open the front door of the van, then dragged the bodies of the traitorous soldiers out of the cab. 

"Están muertos."

A soldier looked into the window at the youth, then stepped back.  "Everyone come out of the truck," a voice said.

"We're locked in!" Clemont shouted.  "We can't get out."

"Apúrense!" A voice shouted.  "Scales antes que reventa el combi!"

The soldiers swarmed the back of the van.  "We will open the door," one shouted.  "If you run, we shoot."

"Should I blast them?" Zeus asked.

"No. There's too many of them," Serena said.

"And they've got us outgunned," Clemont added.

"Maybe they're going to shoot us for trying to escape," Drew said.

"They have a tank," Clemont said.

"If they wanted us dead, they would have just blown us up.  Besides, they probably just think we were kidnapped by those dudes."

The back doors of the van swung open, revealing dozens of guns pointing at them, including two mounted machine guns and a flamethrower.

"Can you say overkill?" Clemont said sardonically.

"Come out," one of them shouted in English. "One at a time."

Clemont breathed out slowly.  "Failed again," he said.

"Ash," Serena said, holding her head.  "Where are you?"

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Sorry for the missed week