James Axler – Bitter Fruit

“Pepper!”

Jak heard a mixture of fear and relief in the man’s tone. He glanced back down the incline.

A blond-haired giant of a man strode through the clearing between the skirmish lines. He carried a huge ax over one beefy shoulder. A stainless-steel-finished machine pistol was in the man’s hands.

“Don’t, Pepper,” the captured man yelled. “He means it. He’ll kill me. I didn’t come out here to die.”

“Just to kill someone?” Jak whispered in the man’s ear.

He didn’t say anything.

Feeling his way with his feet, the teenager continued backing toward the wall. He kept his eyes on the big man, but Pepper kept coming, the machine pistol held at waist level.

“Let him go,” Pepper ordered.

“Fuck off,” Jak said. He hoped Ryan and the others had heard the exchange of gunfire. “Where’s the woman?”

“Alive.”

“Not believe you.” One more step, and Jak was against the wall. He pulled his captive close.

Pepper kept coming, slow and easy, ready to move. “Let you live, too, if you want.”

“Listen to him,” Jak’s prisoner said.

Instead, the albino hefted the .357 and tried to line up a shot. His prisoner moved, helping throw off his aim.

Pepper moved with grace and speed, hurling himself into the brush and gaining another five yards on Jak’s position. The wicked snout of the machine pistol poked out and suddenly started chattering a death song.

The bullets struck the man in front of Jak and twisted him violently, pulping the center of his chest but not going through. Jak hung on tight, riding out the dance of death.

“He cut his throat!” Pepper yelled. “I saw him cut Douglas’s throat! Kill him!”

The dead man stumbled back against Jak, almost overpowering him with deadweight. Moving quickly, the albino dropped the .357 into his holster. The leaf-bladed knife went back where it belonged. Before the corpse’s brain could cut off muscle control, Jak vaulted to the top of the man’s shoulders, driving them into the stone wall behind them to gain even more support.

With all the skill and derring-do he could muster, Jak jumped from the man’s shoulders as the legs and back broke their locks. His hands were out before him, seeking the nearest branch above him that he thought might hold his weight. His open hand clutched a branch as big around as his thigh, and he slid his other arm over the top. Twisting his body, he flipped himself up onto the branch as bullets cut the air where he’d just stood. Gouges erupted from the stone wall, flying in all directions.

The teenager took a couple steps forward, then bounced on the end of the tree limb. There was enough spring to aid him in the next leap up the tree. Bullets ripped through the tree bark and sheared away smaller branches around him.

He grabbed the next branch and went up quickly, continuing until he ran out of tree that would support him. Then, without a second thought, he threw himself at the ragged face of the cliff.

His fingers and toes found uneven places where he gained barely enough purchase to keep from falling. He held on through sheer strength, his cheek pressed into the rough surface hard enough to hurt.

Below him, Pepper shouted orders, urging them all to kill him. Bullets pounded into the cliff face below Jak, chopping their way through the trees and into the rock.

The albino reached above him, stretching his legs to achieve another couple inches. His back burned with the effort of supporting his weight so close to the rock with so little to work with. He sensed movement on top of the cliff almost within arm’s reach now.

Then his left foot shot out from under him as the rock face crumbled. He flailed in a last-ditch effort to seize the top of the cliff as a man’s head appeared over the edgeand missed. Jak knew the long fall was only a moment away.

Chapter Thirteen

Ryan took the scene in at a glance. He saw Jak’s face pale with the realization of the inevitable fall, but there was no other emotion.

Krysty stood behind him. Both of them had left the cave immediately, throwing on their clothes and seizing their weapons in haste. Neither knew for sure where the others were. They’d merely followed the sound of the gunshots.