Across the desert

Chapter 5: The Standoff

From up on top of the dune, the Alvarez family for the first time which could be a long time remained stationary, but the rest of their lives they had been moving with hare’s-paced speed. Under the influence of the glaring sun shining over the desert without the slightest apparent relief, the Alvarez family sat pressed against one another with expressions of exhaustion on their faces, unable to find the way forward.

Juan felt a racing pulse, a cracked mouth that was short of both fear and dehydration. He looked first at Maria, whose face was white, and held her arms firmly around the small ones. Sofia tightens her grip on her mother's arm, with her wide eyes jumping back and forth among the men and the coyote.

The smuggler's leader snickered and toothlessly grinned at the family. The other two took their place behind the scariest one with rifles over their shoulders but their faces were without any warmth, cold with cruelty.

“Well, well,” the leader sneered, his voice filled with sarcasm. "It is a bad time for a walk, folks. You are walking through the war zone, don’t you know that?”

Juan felt a sour wave of fright crawl up from his hips to his solar plexus. He was well informed of the rumors that some years ago—smugglers had convinced their victim families in distress that eased their problems, at the last moment they would strip or kill them. The Alvarez family found themselves between the wilderness on one side and the men who were obviously not friendly and aggressive on the other.

Then the coyote turned to stone, almost as rigid as the leader, and stared at him. "We don't mean any trouble. Just let us go and we'll never be back."

At first, the sound of laughter cut sharply through the morning air, and it grated on the entire group standing on the desert with him. "Let you walk on by? Oh no, that would be too simple." The offender not only denied but also signaled others by flicking his hand, where only his men seemed to stay put, but also making them fan out slightly creating an unspoken threat. "The Compliance Unit holds this region. If you want to go through, you must give us some. What do you have that we can take?" " said the English teacher straightaway.

When the man moved his hand, Juan Delgado quickly sensed it and noticed the Coyone's almost invisible movements. He was ready for a fight. All this time the coyote helped them out by leading the group of them through the desert, and they went through the mountains. Now they had to face a thing that was far more dangerous than what they had met earlier-armed men without a conscience.

The other guarded bandit stepped forward aiming his already raised rifle at the head height. "Give everything you have, money, water, food. The whole lot. If not, you are not going anywhere alive."

Maria also gasped just moments before she pulled Sofia closer. Diego, the youngest being still too little to grasp the seriousness of the situation, only was seen as being payfull for his pea up Marys rests. Juan felt his heart pounding, so much so that he was briefly overwhelmed by the magnitude of what they were facing. The only thing they had left was not for themselves to keep them alive even for the next day so that was the reason Juan was almost breathless.

"Please, don’t, ” Juan told, obviously moved, and he could not contain the trembling in his voice. "We are only trying to go with our family out of here. We have young kids. We are not looking for trouble."

"Next time, stay away from the line that everyone is willing to cross. Are we gonna have to leave you all or not?"

Thepointdotruised his knife a little upwards emphasizing that he is not distracted by those who are watching. "You are mistaken. Don’t do it."

For a moment, there was no sound. A tension-filled desert with howls of predators became quiet in a creepy way. Even the wind had stopped blowing. Yet, in a moment, there was a cacophony of noise everywhere.

The head of the gang bounded ahead and tried to catch the coyote. The remaining got away. The latter responded almost immediately, whipping his knife up the man's face, which narrowly missed the man's head. With a wince, the leader backed away and shouted at the other two of his companions who now aimed their rifles, their fingers floating over the triggers.

Juan did not have time to consider his options. He snatched Maria and the kids and pulled them behind the dune using the slightly sloping hill as a shield. "Down!" he commanded, his terror evident in his would-be strong voice.

The coyote had already started the motion and, moving the right way, let one of the smugglers shoot by his head. He snatched his rifle knocking the other smuggler on the ground with a swift and brutal strike. The smuggler, at first, was stunned then staggered and fell to the ground.

The leader was still in disbelief after the miss, so he tried to get his cool back by getting a knife from his belt. He went to the coyote with a snarl, but the coyote was prepared. Through a continuous movement, he escaped from the attack side, and like a flash, he grabbed the leader's hand and twisted it painfully. The knife hit the ground as the leader wailed from the pain.

Gunfire sounded again, but this time, it was uncontrolled-shots fired in panic rather than precision. Juan crouched down, guarding Maria and the kids, his heart racing in his ears. The sand was being scattered on them as the strayed bullets hit the dune, but astonishingly, none hit the mark.

The coyote, completely engaged and in charge of the fight now, moved around with unbelievable speed and precision in his actions. He thrusted his elbow into the second smuggler’s face, and he went off throwing himself on the sand. The man groaned, his nose was bleeding heavily. The third smuggler who had been caught in the conflict, setting his rifle back away slowly.

"Get back!" the third man yelled, fear overtaking him. "This isn’t worth it!"

The last one had no chance to do anything. The coyote came near, his knife glittering in the fierce sunlight. In a last-ditch effort, the man let his gun fall and sprinted away; the sand dunes swallowed him whole before a moment passed.

The leader, damaged in the fight and now raging, made it to his feet and looked around, holding his wounded wrist. "You’ll regret this," he sneered. "You don’t know who you are dealing with, do you?."

The coyote didn't answer. He took one step forward, and the leader, whose collar the former took in his hands, followed. "If you ever come after this family, I will surely guarantee you will not leave th this desert alive. Got it?"

It was then that the leader lost his arrogance. He gave a quick nod as his face became pale with fear. The coyote pushed him away and he lost his balance before scurrying after the third man into the desert. They disappeared into the desert within seconds, getting enveloped by the sand.

The air was filled with the sound of silence. Juan was shaking, but managed to stand up slowly. He helped Maria and the children get up, too, even though his hands were so jittery from the adrenaline rush.

Maria was looking after Sofia and Diego very closely, trying to hold her tears back. "Are we safe?" she asked from almost inaudible voice.

The coyote still with his knife looked over the horizon. For a few moments, which seemed like a few hours, he secured the steel in its place and approaching the family turned to them. "Just a minute," he said, using a calm but determined tone of voice. "We have to leave right now. There might be some reinforcements waiting behind them for the next attack."

Still deep in thought of the hard time that had just gone by, Juan also acknowledged his eyes towards the coyote. His gratitude was overshadowed by his amazement,"Thanks," he said in the quiet. "I don't know what we would've done. We are lucky you helped us out."

The man of desert gave a slight nod and continued wordless. He fixed the rope, leading them to wherever they had to go on their pawls through the desert, always peeping over the horizon, searching for the imminent danger as if they were going to meet it.

As they moved down the slope, the sun dipped between the dunes, casting long shadows throughout the desert. The temperature eased and the cool breeze provided some temporary relief from the hot conditions; however, their troubles did not seem to be decreased at all. The desert stood in front of their eyes as the pain that would never go away, and still seeing the impending hazards made it ever worse.

Though, for this time being, they did manage to escape. That was more than enough to encourage them to keep on going.

Alvarez's family, by following the coyote into the broken dark, had their hearts still pulsating rapidly as life was very close to the line that they had just bypassed. Each step signified the danger they were in although that they had the bond among them proved its strength. Regardles..., they would go forward because they did not have the option of returning. Thus, the only one way--to the hope for another life. Yes, no matter what it would cost.

Far off, a faint cry went up through the desert, a warning that, although the traffickers had gone, the darkness was hunting for other fears.