REEVES AND TRUE BOB RODE in front in the desert road. They were making good timing and they would be out of Nevada in less than an hour. Then, something ahead made them decelerate. They saw some people beside a parked blue Audi SUV, in a distance ahead...

The strangers were frantically waving for them to stop.

Both the bikers slowed to sojourn a hundred yards away. Reeves signalled the Mustang convertible driven by Joe to halt too. He turned to Bob beside him on his chopper.

“Who the hell are those people?”

“Looks like civilians to me, but it is better to be watchful. It might be a trap.” Bob precaution as he canvassed from afar. Joe who was wearing a mirrored aviator shades looked out clueless from his car. “What's going on, yo?”

Reeves shrugged and addressed them all in the car. “You guys wait here — and I am going in alone.” He passed his sniper rifle that slung from his shoulder to Bob — and he checked the ammo in his pistol, before riding ahead.

Laura spotted two adults and three children — waiting for the lone bike to reach them.

Reeves alighted from the bike. He approached the two troubled looking women, with the young girls under the age of ten. Reeves noticed the portly butch among them with a gun tucked to her belt, she was the first to greet Reeves...

“Hi there, I am Kim Slater. My family and I are stranded here. We are heading for Cali and we ran outta gas — and now we are stranded here for the past few hours.” The butch half turned her back and then pointed behind...

“We went to one of the small towns some miles back there to look for some — and we ran into trouble.”

“What kind of trouble?”

Reeves questioned her back. He was vigilant to know if there might be any precursor of army roadblock surprises ahead — so that he and the team could avoid any ambush or confrontation.

But instead, he heard a bizarre account from the stranger...

“We were jumped by more than a dozen civilians over there in that town — and they got my sister Mitchell, and her girlfriend.”

Kim now seemed distressed, pointed at the Beretta on her belt and she went on...

“I have a gun but there were too many of them — I left my car back there, and I took my family and drove away like hell from there — and now we are out of gas.”

***

Back in the Mustang, Laura was curious, of the discussion between Reeves and the strangers with the children. She was odd on what was a family with kids doing in the prohibited Exodus Trail wasteland. After a few minutes, the impatient Laura spoke up...

“What is going on there?” But, Joe teased her instead...

“You are in a hurry to get somewhere, Mimi?”

“No.” Laura replied without thinking — she kneeled forward at the backseat and hopped out the convertible, to the surprise of the 2 Intersexuals at the front seat...

“Hey Laura, get back in!” Troy called out to her. True Bob grinned, shaking his head seeing Laura ignoring them. She started running onward towards the people gathered ahead. Joe blared out the horn — and Reeves turned to notice Laura coming over.

Laura overheard the butch pleading her contend aloud to Reeves...

“I have lost a sister and a friend. Please, you can't abandon us. I have three young ones here…”

“What is happening Reeves?” Before he could explain the situation to her, Laura intervened and began to amiably introduce herself to the women.

“I am Laura Jensen, I am his mother.”

Kim Slater now diverted her beseech at Laura...

“We are out of gas ‘Mrs. Jensen,’ and we were ambushed when we went out to get some — and my sister and friend were abducted!” Reeves stepped in between them — and he firmly interrupted...

“... as I said, I am sorry that we cannot spare you any, nor can we help you folks — we are heading up north, and you are going west. We need fuel much like you to get there — and we are really sorry!”

He grabbed Laura’s wrist. “Come, Mimi, let’s go!”

Reeves turned and caught Troy, Joe and True Bob getting off their vehicles and came over. Reeves sighed and briefed the précis of the situation to them too...

“They want gas, and I told them we can't spare any.”

“Why in the world are you trespassing in this wasteland highway?” Joe then spoke up.

“Yeah right, this entire stretch is a prohibited zone — cordoned by the US Army — and they will shoot to kill trespassers. But yet you brought your family with your kids through it — are you all in some kind of trouble?” Troy fastened together his explanation in platitude.

The butch elucidated...

“Yes, I am in trouble; I run a business in Idaho. I have lots of debts back there, and so I left Twin Fall and I want to start life fresh in California. But now I am stranded here with my family, in the middle of nowhere!” Kim looked at the faces of the gathered Intersexuals...

“Please help me and my family, I beg of you. I am willing to pay you lots of money for it! Help us to get us out of here!”

Troy spoke up again...

“You just said that you have debts, and now you wanna pay us lots of money? What is going on here?”

Reeves was getting annoyed that Troy was fomented and was prying into their personal affairs — like he once did with his, at the lakes. Reeves was totally the opposite, he was just an ardent scheduled person, who wanted to hit the road — and stick to their agenda, till the five of them hit the northern border.

Troy had now silenced Kim, who stared densely to hide her enigmatic past. The other woman stepped up from behind, and she grabbed Kim’s arm...

“Tell them the truth Kim, then they will probably help us — or else we will be stuck in this god-forsaken fucking desert forever!” There was still no response from the butch-spouse, and the strained woman now explicated aloud to them all...

“It is like this — my husband cheated her business partner! And now, they have sent the mob to kill her — so, that’s the reason we are running away to start a new life in Bakersfield, that’s where I grew up in California.”

She looked at Troy. “We ran out of gas on the way — and we stopped, at a small town nearby but we were attacked by some crazy wild people. We escaped, but Mitchell and Irene were taken by them!”

The woman now begged, and next cried to Laura...

“Please I have my daughters — I beg you, from one mother to another, please don't abandon us here!”

‘This was not our problem,’ Reeves thought — Reeves disseminated the situation by standing firm, to the team’s priorities...

“Like I said lady, we cannot spare any fuel because we don't have much of it. We are also trying our best to not to go into these towns because we might run into any army troops who might shoot at us!”

Laura clasped his arm...

“Reeves, spare them some gas.”

“What?”

“It is the right thing to do, please give it to them.”

That was what her mother Martha would have done too — Laura was trying to make up for her lost years in her obscure state of coma, by emulating her mother’s virtues as examples.

The chafed Reeves looked over towards Troy, “Hey Troy, back me up for once!”

Troy loomed closer to her...

“Laura, Reeves is right — we are short of gas too, let’s move on.” But the parochial Laura was now adamant and raised her voice at the four shemales...

“Then, if that’s the case, I am not following you all. If you are not compassionate to those who are really in need — then you can leave me behind too — and the four you can go, wherever up north yourselves!”

“Now what?” Joe rolled his eyes.

Reeves was rendered speechless, observing the gullible Laura who was on her knees, stroking the blond hair of the three small girls.

Troy looked defeated too and said...

“It’s your call, Reeves.”

It was always his call when it came to complicated decision making — where he would always end up as Mr Bad-guy, whenever he did the right thing for them.

Laura had now — complicated their escape journey by being the sympathetic Good Samaritan — very soon they would be low on fuel too — and their objective to reach the border would be nugatory.

He also predicted that they would also be low, on their food supplies next — if they were to be stranded

Reeves sighed inwards, shook his head in frustration and he turned away. He stamped out, controlling his fuming temper — and kicked a rock on the ground instead.

He composed himself before nodding back to Joe — who was waiting for his instructions — to refuel the Audi SUV.