“Get in that one.”
I said, pointing to the prodigious hover truck. We boarded the truck,
and I fired the fucker up, blasting a mechanical bellow through the
garage. I hit an activation key to reveal a ramp to the surface. The
vehicle lifted higher and soared through the ramp. We moved through a
dark tunnel for maybe about five minutes before sunlight kissed our
faces through the windows and we were out in the territory traffic.
It's been a while since I saw the busy rush hour of this territory.
It was beautiful. The majestic mass of machinery gliding through the
air fascinated me for the first time in my life. I glanced in the
rear view mirror to see the glow in Ellie's gaze. Her eyes gleamed
and a smile was lightly forming. Babe sat in the passenger seat,
examining one the pistols she had collected from Linda's armory.
There was a loud
explosion. I felt the vehicle rattle a bit. Those bombs may have
packed a bit more punch than expected. I jerked the throttle and
moved this hover truck through a tight line-up of hover vehicles and
circled a few towers before reaching the highest point of the area.
As my comfort began to sit well within my body, an alert message
flashed up on the window.
“Oh fuck!”
Babe shouted.
I looked into the
rear view to see a small missile coming up behind us.
“Hang on!” I
said, jerking the controls left. The hover truck spun left and the
missile sped past us, colliding with another vehicle. We blew through
the blaze and as I looked back, I could see a convoy of hover
vehicles on our asses.
“They're fucking
pissed I'm sure!” Babe shouted, stressed.
“Don't freak out!”
I said watching men hang out the windows of their hover vehicles with
weapons. They opened fire happily, spraying gunfire our way. I didn't
worry too much thanks to the vehicle's protective coat but
eventually it was definitely due to wear off.
“How do we
control the guns on this thing?!” Ellie shouted in a panicked
state. I guided my fingers past an array of switches and had my eye
on the one I believed activated the defense system.
“Babe, take
the wheel.” I said, getting up to switch seats. Telling by the set
up of the interior of this vehicle, I calculated what that back seat
area was actually intended for. Babe and I switched seats and I sat
in what I identified as the turret seat.
“Flip the red
switch!” I ordered, feeling like Captain of a ship. I watched
Babe's finger flip the switch and an alarm went off and a shield
surrounded the turret seat. The turret seat that I occupied lowered
and hung beneath the hover truck, exposing me to the outside of the
truck and the pursuers behind us. Two machine gun turrets occupied my
left and right and I had the gun controls at my fingertips. My
fingers tingled and my chest inflated with excitement. I exhaled
greatly, and pulled the triggers, lighting up the hover vehicles. Two
of the hover vehicles hurdled out of control and smashed into a tall
building with a rippling explosion. It was satisfying knowing Babe
was able to drive this thing straight, because my sights were
straight. I let the turrets cool off and once again I began to spray
rounds into the group of motor floaters, flooding bullets into them
like water to a sponge. A masked gunman hung out of a vehicle window
with half of his body pointing a long rifle. A gunshot went off,
clapping against the virtual energy shield that surrounded me. More
shots went off, some penetrating the shields. The turrets then
exploded and began smoking and each time I tried pulling the trigger,
the guns jammed.
“Fuck!” I
said flicking back the switch which pulled the turret back into the
hover truck.
“What happened?”
Ellie asked, seated in the back seat.
“They shot out the
turrets. The van defenses are down!” I said, frustrated. I looked
at Babe, who was head start on piloting this hover truck through the
rough traffic.
“Let's use what we
got!” I said unzipping the duffel bag and pulling out two automatic
pistols. I climbed out of the vehicles window, and clung my way to
the top of the floater. Atop the moving vehicle, I was afraid of the
height, but I couldn't allow that to stop me from taking down the
fuckers behind us. I pointed the guns at the vehicles and opened
fire, nailing two drivers through their windshields; sending their
vehicles spinning out of control and crashing elsewhere.
“Fuck!” I
heard Babe scream. That utterance enabled me to turn my attention to
the direction we were headed. I turned to see a massive vehicle
crossing in front of us. In that split second, I had to make a
conscious decision of getting crushed by this behemoth of a floater
or taking a leap of faith and hoping I was to land on something soft.
The leap was my next option and I didn't waste another moment in
thought. I dived off of the top of the hover truck, slipping beneath
the vehicles that were pursuing us. My stomach felt like it was
floating into my throat and the rush of the fall bent my body back
like the curve of a fucking boomerang. Then my eyes widened with the
sight of one of Linda's fuck heads, pursuing me, mid fall.
