Darkwind - Viewing Topic: What could happen?

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Slaughterhouse: Bloody Remains
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Patricia "Pile On" Dalton and her second-in-command John "Tom Tom" Collins sat in the shade of their command Buzzer, Rakshasa, outside their small maintenance shack in Bad Lands Truck Stop.

"Can't wait to get that behemoth in here and dressed out. She's gonna make one heck of an addition to the crew."

"I still can't believe you sent that nut job Peterson out into the wastes with," he hesitated, looking around to see if anyone was within earshot. "With that laser in the trunk. Heck of a risk."

"Well, it needed to go in something as harmless-looking as we could get. S'why I stuffed it into the trunk of that POS Voyager we refitted with the v8. Who'd bother with it?"

"True."

"Money in the ban..." She stopped talking, mouth agape.

Collins looked at where she was looking. "You gotta be kidding me."

Smoke roiling out from under the fenders and spouting from out of what was left of the front end, the super-secret-double-naught spy Voyager was coming back in through the Gates. The guards were chuckling and shaking their heads.

The chassis was obviously bent beyond repair. On four shredded tires, attached to two bent axles, it wobbled and dipped and bobbed with each foot of ground it covered.

"F-ing clown car." he said.

"What the HELL?" Dalton jumped to her feet, disturbing the dust. She strode across the parking area as the Voyager clunked, heaved, wheezed and gave out not 30 meters inside the Gates.

John jumped up and ran to catch up to Patricia, who'd stopped to stare at the wrecked car. He trotted up next to her.

Both hands still gripping the steering wheel, Darn "Bewitched" Peterson sat looking back at them. Collins wasn't sure if that was fear he saw in the guy's eyes or the aftermath of too much adrenaline.

The engine lay exposed through the tangled wreckage of the front end of the Voyager. The once-shiny v8, now silent except for the ticking and clicking of a cooling engine; leaked fluids from at least three places that he could see. The radiator was gone. Hoses and belts hung from fittings and useless pullies.

"He fried it."

"Ya think?"

Daren tried to open the door. Then leaned a shoulder into it. Stuck fast. He climbed out the window: missing.

"Okay, before you shoot me," he began, holding up his hands before him, palms facing her. "It wasn't my fault."

She walked brusquely past him, headed for the rear of the hulk.

"You a praying man, Daren?"

"Thinking about starting."

"Might not be a bad idea. What the hell happened?"

His shoulders dropped, he bent forward a bit. "Man, everything was great. Popped out through the gates, was 25 miles down the road; hadn't seen a thing."

He stood up and raked a hand through his dark hair. "Then outa nowhere comes this red something-or-other. Might have been a Pho', but I think it was a Bucc'. All red. Had some weird writing sort of stuff on the roof.

"I was thinking, okay, maybe a courier, nothing to worry about."

Collins heard the screeching of metal on metal, saw Patricia lifting, with some effort, the trunk. Peterson cringed.

"Okay, anyways?"

"Ya, ya, okay. So I'm looking back and all of a sudden I see dust coming off the rear end. He's floored it. No courier. Twin gunports on the front end. Interceptor."

Collins crossed his arms. "No idea who it was?"

He shook his head. "Nope, never saw them colors before."

"Okay, go on."

"Ya, okay, so anyways, I floor it. Man that sucker just took off. The mechs' did a hell of a job stuffing that v8 in. I think I surprised the guy." He smiled.

"Okay, anyways, so then the guy REALLY floors it and that red bastard came on. No doubt he was after me. We were right along the edge of that big depression west of here, the rear end of that Voyager was stepping out on me but I played with the pedal and she straightened right out. I had 160 meters on the guy, then we came up on that hard right onto the straight? You know?"

Collins nodded. He knew the place.

"Ya, okay, so anyways, I looked back to see where he was and missed my braking point. Slid all the way through the turn, bounced off the escarpment on the left. That was all he needed. He was all over me in like 5 seconds. I got it straightened out and put my foot down. Got maybe 100 meters around the corner and he opened up on me. Maybe 75-80 meters back."

Daren put both hands in his hair, ruffled it, brought them down and rubbed his face. Sniffed.

"Man I thought he had me." He continued. Collins listened. Peterson hadn't heard Patricia come up behind him. "So, ya, anyways, he's banging at me with guns. Caught a couple rounds across my ass. I don't know what he had in that thing but he was hanging with me on the straight. I hadda do something."

"And?" Dalton said from over his left shoulder. Poor guy almost jumped out of his boots.

"What? Huh? Oh. Sorry Boss. So, ya, okay so I couldn't stay on the road so I pointed it straight at this little hillock. Good upgrade. 130 I think."

Pat stepped around him to face him. "You caught air? With MY laser in the trunk?"

"I hadda Boss! Guy had me cold! I only missed that one turn and he was climbin' up me ass!"

"Okay, so get to the part where you destroyed my car."

"Well, I hit pretty good. Tore hell out of the left side. Bounced, cracked the rear up a bit. I heard the chassis crack. But I kept it straight, dropped down through this gap in the rock. The guy behind me stuck to the road." He smiled.

"I really opened up the distance. Caught him by surprise I think. Anyway, ya, so then I tore ass until I got to those jagged hills on the right and he was coming around that corner fast. Dude could drive. So, ya, anyways, then I figured, well, little off-road couldn't hurt at this point. The engine was heating up bad. Knew I'd dented the radiator. Some of the armor had come off in that jump and I ran it over. No choice."

Poor guy was talking as fast as he musta had to drive, thought Collins. Nervous energy.

"Okay, ya, so then I just pointed it through the crags and floored it. Guy tried to keep up. I saw him crunch once or twice then I lost sight of him. I didn't look back, just talked a ton of chit into the radio to piss the guy off, hoping he'd get mad and screw up. Must have. Got about a half mile on him and that was that."

Dalton walked back to the Voyager. "This ain't MG fire."

"Oh, no, that's from a Rattler. Eviscerators caught me on the way back. Ambush."

"And yet here you stand."

"Yes Maam."

"Good job."

"Thank you Maam."

She turned and walked up to me. "Laser's okay. Let's get it back into the garage. Call that Fire' guy, let him know we're delayed. Scrap that thing. See if you can save the '8. Then let's look for another ride for Peterson."

"You're gonna send him again?"

"What choice do we have? I want that Fire Truck."

"You're the Boss." I said, watching her walk back to the Buzzer.

"Lucky bastard." I smiled at Peterson.

"We live another day." he answered.

(( Jumped by dodger on a travel. Wasn't expecting it. ))

......................... vet wv
Posted Apr 30, 2011, 6:11 pm