ten

The jeep came to an inglorious, sputtering steam spewing stop. Romero and Sana both got out and looked at the front of the jeep. Romero opened the hood, but didn't know what to do or if there was anything he could do.

Sana spotted something and squatted down in front of the jeep. She pointed it out to Romero, "I think a bullet went through here."

Romero knelt down by Sana. His mouth formed a grim line at the hole the bullet put in the radiator. Frustration was what he determined he was feeling. He stood up and sighed. "I'm sorry," he apologized to Sana, "but I don't know how to fix it."

Sana took his hand and gave it a comforting squeeze as she smiled up at him, "That's okay. I don't know how to fix it either. That's what mechanics are for."

It did make Romero feel a little better, but he still felt like he should be able to fix it. He knew that technically, they weren't married yet. But he felt in his heart, she was already his wife. For him, he and Sana were already husband and wife. He felt like he should be able to take care of her, keep her safe, no matter what the situation. Yet at that moment, he didn't feel like he was doing very well.

Sana looked at the mountains, "So how far did we get?"

Romero grabbed the map from inside the jeep and looked at it. He quickly calculated how far they'd travel and informed Sana, "We're more than half way there." He left out that it was still too far for an ordinary human being to walk unprepared in a desert.

"Well, that's good," Sana deliberately avoided asking how far was left to go.

Romero suddenly cocked his head and was silent.

"What," asked Sana, "What do you hear?"

"Another jeep approaching off in the distance," he answered.

Sana looked around. There was nowhere for them to hide. "What do we do?"

Romero grabbed a rifle from the jeep. It had a scope on it that added to his own super sharp eye sight. The two soldiers he had left unconscious were in the approaching jeep with three other soldiers. There was a sniper rifle mounted on the approaching jeep. There were too many of them. The risk to Sana was too great. If he let them get too close, she may be injured and he couldn't stand that thought. So he decided to send them a message. He was not going to allow them to get close enough to take him out so they could take Sana back to the mall where Adena would give their child away to strangers when it was born.

"Cover your ears," Romero directed Sana.

Sana covered her ears as Romero directed. She had no idea what he was seeing and hearing that she couldn't. If he said a jeep was approaching, she believed him. He was the most honest person she had ever known.

Romero concentrated. He was well read about many things and had learned to do many things via simulations. But he had never fired a real weapon before. He had to send a clear message to their pursuers. One of the soldiers put his eye to the scope of the sniper rifle in the other jeep. Romero fired. The fired shot echoed over the desert expanse as the bullet hit its mark. It traveled through the scope of the sniper rifle, through the eye of the soldier looking through it, and into his brain. The jeep came to a sudden stop. Romero took two more shots. Both of the soldiers he had been kind enough to leave unconscious in the shade, were hit in their right shoulders.

Romero watched their mouths to see what they were saying. One was yelling about the dead soldier and how the shot was impossible. They weren't in sight of anyone or anything. But the male soldier from earlier said as he held his shoulder, "No... This was no accident... He's letting us know he can pick us off one-by-one, before we ever get near them. And I'm not a suicidal man. We're going back. Let Dr. Goldmen come out here herself and get her brains blown out."

Romero watched the jeep turn around and head back toward the mall. They had gotten his message. He had never taken a life before and hoped he never would again. But they had gotten his message. He would take them out one-by-one before they ever got close enough to even see him.

Romero allowed the tension to drain from his body as he lowered the rifle.

Sana slowly lowered her hands from ears and questioned, "Romero?"

"They're heading back," answered Romero.

Sana exhaled a sigh of relief, "Good."

He stood there for a few moments. He hoped the man he had just killed wasn't a father. Surely he was someone's beloved son and perhaps also someone's brother, but it couldn't be helped. Romero had no such ties, no mother or father to mourn him, no siblings. It made Sana and their unborn child all the more precious to Romero. He would do whatever was necessary to keep them safe.

"I guess we're on foot from here," said Sana without sounding worried even though she was.

"Yes," responded Romero. He hoped his concerns weren't showing on his face. While because of his ability to photosynthesize sunlight he wouldn't need to eat. He still needed water; although he could go much longer without it than Sana.

"Let's go through the jeep and see if it has anything we may need and figure out how we're going to carry it," he told Sana.

They found a tent, a first aid kit, two canteens full of water, some food rations, two bedrolls, ammunition for the guns and rifles, some tools and rope. Plus, they had the two guns, two rifles and the two hunting knives Romero had taken from the two soldiers. The rifles and canteens had straps that let them be easily slung over a shoulder. Romero had also remembered to take the holsters and sleeves for the guns and knives so they could be strapped on easily. It was everything else they had to figure out how to tote.

Romero looked at the open hood of the jeep. It occurred to him that if he could remove it, he could tow it behind himself with the rope. It also occurred to him that if Sana became too tired and weak to walk, he could pull her on it too.

It barely took Romero a minute to figure out how the hood was attached to the jeep and which tools from the toolbox he needed to detach it. Fifteen minutes later, Romero had the hood underside up on the ground and was attaching the rope to it and the harness from the backpack. Then he loaded all the things he felt they would need on it. He slipped the harness on and asked Sana, "Ready?"

She gave him a firm nod and a kiss and they began walking. They were both relieved when the sun began to go down and it started to cool off. Romero knew Sana would need to sleep soon and he was surprised at how long she had walked in the heat without complaining. If course, Sana wasn't really one to complain unless there was actually something wrong. Plus, she was in good shape. She had spent thirty minutes to an hour on a treadmill nearly every day on top of often walking the mall with him and the others, and she had worked out a different muscle group in the Exercise Emporium every other day.

"Why are we stopping," Sana asked Romero, "Do you want to set up camp for the night?"

"No," Romero answered the second question first, "I'm not going to need to sleep for a while yet. But you are going to need to sleep soon." He unrolled one of the bedrolls from the jeep onto one side of the upside down jeep hood for Sana. "I want you to go ahead and lay down now and I'll pull you until I need to sleep too."

"Romero, I don't want you to have to pull me too," Sana protested.

Romero kissed her, "I've been worried about you walking in the heat for so long. You have seen me lift and carry a sofa by myself. Adding you to these things will not trouble me in any way." Romero grabbed her by the hips and lifted her up over his head.

"Okay, okay," Sana squealed happily and just a little scared, "Let me down. I'm afraid of heights."

Romero slid Sana down the front of him and wrapped his long arms around her as she wrapped her arms around his neck. They kissed each other slow and deep. He wanted to make love with her very badly. But circumstances being as they were, he didn't want to waste Sana's energy that way. So he sat her on the bedroll on the hood. Then he went back to pulling. Sana sat there amazed. His strides were normal. He wasn't straining at all.

Romero stopped about midnight to set up the tent. The temperature had dropped drastically, which wasn't unusual for a desert, blistering temperatures by day and freezing temperatures by night. He had to wake Sana up. He would have carried her into the tent, but the tent was too short for that.

Sana had shivered uncontrollably, "It's so cold."

"I know," Romero told her as he helped her into the tent. They combined the bedrolls and body heat. The tent trapped their body heat in too so that they weren't so cold and slept fairly comfortably.

Romero woke before dawn, typical for him. It hadn't really started to warm up yet. Plus, he didn't want to wake Sana again, so he continued to hold her as she slept. She woke shortly after the sun began to rise. He made sure she ate and drank some water. He wanted her to stay on the jeep hood while he pulled it, but she insisted on walking. He stopped at noon to get her to eat. Plus, it was the hottest part of the day with the sun directly over them, and he didn't want her walking during the hottest part of the day.

"What's wrong," Romero asked Sana, "Aren't you hungry?"

"Not very," responded Sana absent mindedly pushed her spoon into the can of soup. "I think it's the heat. Plus, it feels weird to eat while you're not."

"I simply don't need to," Romero reminded her, "I'm photosynthesizing energy from the sun as we speak."

"I know," Sana wiped sweat from her brow. "But I don't think I can finish this and I don't want to waste it."

"Just eat as much as you can," Romero encouraged, "I'll eat what you can't."

Sana managed to eat about half the can and Romero ate the rest. Then he insisted Sana ride the jeep hood the rest of the day.