Ryan grabbed her hand tightly and started down the hill, as no words worth saying came to him. The first explosion, or series of explosions, had obviously been his land mines, but he had no idea what the second one had been. It had sounded like the C4 explosion he had set off before, to stop the helicopters, except much much bigger. It didn't bode well.
As they reached the highway, he cautiously approached, gazing down the road both ways to make sure no Company patrols were nearby. The early morning darkness painted the road as a pale gray streak hovering in the blackness, striking a line strait towards the far off lights of the city one way, and disappearing into the dark haze in the other. To his silent horror, Ryan spied several sets of headlights slowly approaching, accompanied by two helicopters in the air. A patrol. They had to either go now, or risk being trapped. The choice was clear.
He nodded to the others, swallowed hard, and then bolted across with Amy in tow. Those few seconds, in which the pound of his feet against the pavement echo'd like church bells in his head, were some of the most intense seconds of his life. They had come so far, survived so much, and escaped the jaws of death so many times, to be caught now would probably cause him to die of despair right on the spot. It felt like all they had to do was cross that road unnoticed, and they'd be home free. Just a few more feet and they'd be out, they'd be safe, if only those lights would just slow down for a brief second...
For one horrible moment Ryan was sure they would be caught. As Kris tumbled down into the tall grass on Ryan and Amy's heels, dropping Cathy as he fell, the headlights of the lead truck illuminated the spot they'd just been in. Then came the helicopters. Everyone stayed absolutely still as the searchlights swept just inches away from them, a cop of wet grass just barely concealing Ryan' face as the brilliant glow shone directly on it.
Then, the vehicles passed, and after only a moment of breathing hard and wondering how it was possible that they were still alive, they jumped up and bolted into the fields. An exhilarating feeling filled Ryan as they plunged through the tall grasses and corn, his quivering body now running solely on the adrenaline rush he had just been given. They could make it now, he was sure of it. All they had to do was disappear into thee farmlands and they'd be home free. Glancing up at the eastern horizon as he ran, Ryan noticed that the faint glow of dawn was getting brighter.
