Normally, he liked to do this kind of thing from his office or his laptop, but Stick didn’t think he should wait, so he was sending out the message on his phone using his thumb. He didn’t like to use his phone to send emails. He didn’t really even like to text. Because of this, he was sloppy and realized after he hit send that he may not only have left out some vital information but failed to send it to everyone he should be.

After he hit send, he considered sending out another message explaining the things he hadn’t made clear, but he decided he’d do that once he got back to the city. The still air and total darkness were making him feel vulnerable. Stick was starting to get back in his car when he saw the headlights approaching.

He drew his gun and moved to the side of the road. The vehicle slowed as it passed his sedan, but they kept going. Stick didn’t worry too much about them. He didn’t think anyone knew what he had stumbled upon so there was no reason anyone would be chasing him.

Stick waited until they were out of sight and then started driving. He still had an hour and a half to go before he made it to his place out on the coast. He was tempted to stomp on the gas and make the trip faster, but he kept his speed reasonable. He didn’t need a ticket.

He was just about to the turn that would take him west when the bright lights hit his face. There was a big vehicle coming right at him with their lights on. He couldn’t see anything as he swerved hard to his left. The oncoming car caught his bumper and spun the car around. Stick skidded off the road, but the tires held onto the dirt and the car stayed upright. He steered out of it and this time he stomped on the gas.

Having failed to run him off the road, they started shooting at him. Stick got as low as he could as the back window fell out. The next bullet put a spider web pattern across the front windshield. The way the bullets were coming, he was thinking someone—or maybe more than one person—had something that could fire full auto. He kept his hands on the wheel and foot on the gas as the bullets peppered his car.

Once the shooting stopped, he could see the truck turning itself around so they could continue their pursuit. He put his foot down until the pedal hit the floor as he turned off the lights. Stick drove by moonlight over a rise and dropped out of sight of his pursuers. It was hard driving by moonlight, but the little dirt road he had spotted going in was just reflecting enough moonlight for him to make the turn.

He pulled in and left his lights out. Once he exited the sedan, Stick got out his pistol and leaned on the front left side of his car. If they spotted his car, Stick felt this was as good a place as any to shoot it out.

He was glad they chose to drive past. He let them get ahead a little bit and then stood up. It was at this point he felt the pain and wetness around his lower back. It was too dark to see anything, but he could feel the warm sticky liquid covering the lower half of his shirt from the front and the back.

Considering all the ammunition they had fired at his car; he shouldn’t have been surprised they had hit him. Stick tried to dial 911 but he was in another dead zone. He told himself he could get to the hospital faster on his own anyway. Stick got behind the wheel and started driving as the blood continued to leak out of him.