Bang!
A blue car with a white roof lay overturned across the wide road, sirens wailing and lights flashing. A prominent impact dent marked the rear side, and the ground was covered in skid marks from the collision.
"Live! This is an order my final order, and also my request. You must live!"
"Huff! Cough, cough! I… I also… want to live, but… God… doesn't seem to want… me to live… Cough, cough, cough!"
A sturdy man wearing a King County Sheriff's Deputy uniform was strapped upside down in his seat. A large shard of the shattered windshield was embedded deep in his body. Blood seeped from his trembling lips and wounded frame as his eyes flickered weakly.
"Child, I know it's hard. But you need to stay awake, keep holding on!"
"My child, you've suffered so much. Just hold on a little longer, help is coming soon."
The blurred voices of a man and a woman in their late twenties or early thirties echoed in the mind of the man in the seat.
"…Father… Mother…"
"Morne… don't be sad, live. Just like… your name, see for me… if tomorrow morning is still beautiful."
The weak, fragile voice of a young girl rang out intermittently.
"Lina…"
"I… I don't understand. Why wasn't it me who died back then?"
"You all tried so hard to live. I should have kept you here… I should have been able to…"
"I wish… I wish I could have been stronger then, so I could have…"
Rapid footsteps approached, and voices seemed to be talking excitedly nearby. The footsteps stopped beside him, followed by a man's pained voice:
"Oh no, no no! Morne, why? How did this happen? How am I supposed to tell Lori and Carl?"
…A little earlier
The weather today was exceptionally clear. The sky was a brilliant blue, dotted with a few white clouds.
A police car was parked by the street, and a man leaned against the door as if waiting for someone.
"Oh! Good morning, Morne! Another beautiful day!" A slightly frivolous voice accompanied by hurried footsteps approached. He had a typical Caucasian face, clean shaven except for a mustache on his upper lip, and short pale-blonde hair that looked a bit messy and clearly unstyled.
"You're finally here, Leon. Morning." Looking at him was a slightly younger man with golden hair that was a bit long but neatly combed. Unlike his hair, his face was distinctly Asian, with eyes that appeared black but shone with a dazzling gold under the sunlight.
Leon opened the door and sat in the passenger seat, placing the McDonald's in his hand on the car's storage compartment. Morne also opened the other door and got in.
"Man, I think you need to change your attitude. You know my uncle has a lot of issues with your frivolous behavior."
"Yes, yes, Officer Morne is starting his lecture again."
"Please, Morne. It's hard enough having Rick nagging me all the time. At least give me some time to rest."
Leon opened the food bag, revealing the fries and burgers inside. "Want some, Morne? This place is really good. I even made sure to get you a burger."
Morne looked at the food. "It does look good. I happen to be hungry, so I won't stand on ceremony."
"Morne."
"Yeah?"
"I heard you originally wanted to join the army. Why did you come to a small place like King County?"
"..."
"Are you thirsty, Leon? Fries always make you thirsty. I'm so thirsty I can't take it anymore; I'm going to buy some drinks." Having said that, Morne quickly opened the door and ran toward a shop on the roadside.
"Hey, Morne," Leon shook his head dismissively. "Fine."
Beep, beep, beep. The radio suddenly crackled to life. Leon listened casually while continuing to eat.
"All available units, high-speed pursuit in Lincoln County. Please proceed to the scene for backup immediately."
"South of Highway 18, GTAAD record, west of 217 and 243. Stay on high alert."
"Uh huh, uh-huh. South of Highway 18... 21..." Leon nodded, muttering to himself.
Bang! "What are you saying, Leon?" Morne got into the car and closed the door, turning to ask Leon.
"Whoa, you scared me, Morne," Leon said grumpily.
"Sorry. So, is something going on?"
"Yeah, they said there's a high-speed pursuit in Lincoln County, south of Highway 18, west of 1217 and 1243. They need our support."
Morne nodded. "Alright, let's go." He immediately drove out of the street toward the target location.
While en route, the radio sounded again. "Suspects are two Caucasian males. All units be advised, suspects have opened fire on police. One Lincoln County Sheriffs Deputy is injured."
Soon, Morne and Leon arrived at the location Leon had mentioned and began to set up.
"Leon, take the spike strips and set them up ahead. I'll reverse the car to create a safe distance."
"Copy that."
Morne controlled the car to slowly reverse, but he felt a faint sense of unease. Strange, why are Leon and I the only team here? Where is everyone else? The two of us probably won't be able to intercept them successfully. I need to call for others.
As the car was moving, a silver-white sedan suddenly sped toward them from behind and slammed right into them.
The police car was struck and sent careening forward at an angle. It ran over the spike strips, and the flailing wheels caught the strips, sending them tumbling toward the roadside along with the car.
Leon had just finished setting up and was walking back when he saw this. Terrified, he scrambled to the other side of the road. Once the sedan sped past, he rushed toward the police car, shouting, "Morne! Morne, are you okay?"
Reaching the car, Leon saw its wretched state. He tried to pull the door open but found it jammed. He had to circle to the front and look through the shattered windshield to check on Morne. "Morne, Morne! Hey, man, can you hear me?" Morne's lips moved slightly, but no sound came out.
"Hey, hey, Morne, stay awake! I'm contacting the station for backup right now. Hang in there!" Leon frantically grabbed the radio that had fallen near the front window. "Dispatch, dispatch, this is Unit Five. South of Highway 18, west of 1217 and 1243. An officer has been struck by a suspect's vehicle and is currently trapped in the car with fading consciousness. We need emergency backup! Over."
"Copy that. Dispatching backup immediately. Please stand by and try to keep the injured officer conscious. Over."
"Copy, over." Leon wiped his face and leaned closer to Morne, repeatedly calling his name to try to keep him awake.
Elsewhere, with Unit Two and Unit Four of the police force.
Two police cars were stopped in the middle of the road. Rick and Shane were getting out to place spike strips at the designated spots. The radio crackled: "Units One and Two, be advised, use Lincoln County radio to maintain contact west of I-85." "Copy, five minutes until we reach the Highway 18 junction." A Black officer in the other car picked up his radio. "Units One and Three, set up roadblocks upon arrival. I-85 and Highway 18, please provide instructions."
Rick and Shane finished placing the obstacles and reversed their car to form a bottleneck with the other police car, blocking the road before stepping out to stand guard. "Sounds like those idiots are being chased all over the place. We should record this and put it online, call it 'World's Wildest Police Chases.' What do you think?" the Black officer said.
"I think you should focus so you don't get your head blown off by an oncoming bullet," Rick said seriously. Hearing this, the Black officer carefully checked his chamber to ensure a round was chambered.
Shane tightened his grip on his gun. "That would make the video a hell of a lot cooler." Rick rolled his eyes at Shane and shook his head slightly.
The sound of sirens grew louder, and a white car came into view. With a loud screech, the car immediately lost control and flipped over, eventually crashing into the grass by the roadside.
Shane frowned. "Damn it." The pursuing police car also stopped, and two officers got out with their guns drawn.
Seeing no movement, the group slowly approached. Rick led the way, exchanging glances with the others.
As they drew closer, a car door suddenly creaked, and a suspect crawled out holding a handgun. Everyone immediately went on high alert. "Careful, he's got a gun!" Rick shouted. "Drop the gun! Drop it now!" The suspect stood up and immediately fired at them. The officers instantly returned fire, killing the suspect.
The sound of a bullet hitting flesh rang out, and Rick fell to the ground. Another suspect emerged from the car with a shotgun and fired at the officers. Shane ducked to avoid the pellets as the car window in front of him shattered. On the ground, Rick kept moving his body, using the tall grass to conceal himself.
The group increased their suppressing fire and finally killed the second suspect. "Rick!" Shane shouted anxiously, rushing toward him.
"I'm okay," Rick responded while checking his ammunition.
"I saw you get hit, you scared the hell out of me," Shane said, standing before Rick as he slowly climbed to his feet.
"Me too."
Rick looked toward the suspects' vehicle, rubbing his chest.
"That guy actually shot me! Can you believe that!?"
"I'll get you a new bulletproof vest later."
"You'd better."
"Shane, you can't tell Lori about this. Absolutely not. You understand?"
Suddenly, a gunshot rang out. Rick cried out in pain and collapsed as a bullet pierced his left side.
Shane immediately returned fire.
"Rick! No, no!"
"Argh—"
"No, he's hit! Go call an ambulance! Tell them an officer is down! Go!"
"Look at me, stay awake, okay?"
"It's okay, stay awake, you hear me?"
"Okay? Stay awake."
...Shane followed the ambulance to the hospital and watched as Rick was taken into the operating room. Shane paced uneasily outside the doors, then looked up to see Leon standing not far away, muttering something.
Shane stepped forward quickly and grabbed Leon by the collar. "Where the hell did you go just now, Leon? Why weren't you at the mission?"
"I..."
Leon was in such a panic that he didn't know what to say. He knew Shane and Rick were like brothers and that they both treated Morne like their own son. If they found out Morne had been hurt because of him, they definitely wouldn't let him off easily.
"Why are you at the hospital? You shouldn't even know Rick was injured. Where's Morne?"
"What? Rick was injured?"
Leon couldn't hide his surprise.
"So you didn't know. Tell me, why are you at the hospital? Where is Morne?"
"Morne... he..."
"Say it! What happened to Morne!"
"I'll tell you... I'll tell you! Morne... he... he's in..."
"In what? I'm going to belt you if you don't talk!"
"He was hit by the suspects' car while reversing to a safe distance. He's currently in a coma."
Leon felt a wave of weakness as Shane pushed him back a few steps.
"What did you say? Morne was in a car accident?"