Fire Wall (Book 1: The Fall)

4 | Pedal to the Metal

I zoom above the parade, being careful to keep my distance from the dancers. Gold light flashes around us as we pass through the hologram chain of dunes.

"Using the holograms to cover our trail...," L mutters, "Smart move. You lost one."

Okay, I didn't think that would actually work but we still got five on us. I aim the car down toward the ground city level and spot a closed-off tunnel. 

That should help us throw them off. 

I smash through its metal gate, finding a tight airway stretched before us. It's flooded with red light, metal frames, and pipelines. I clench my teeth as I accelerate toward the death trap. It takes all my focus not to hit anything going so fast. The tunnel has sharp turns and I have to constantly roll and swerve to avoid smashing into the metal frames. The sound of grinding metal reaches my ears, then a blast and shattering glass.

"Brilliant," L breathes, "You lost another."

I jump hearing a loud explosion. Glass penetrates our back window.

"And another."

Three left. That's much better than six.

I continue to roll the car around, determined not to lose focus. My heart beats in my throat when I smack the bottom of a pipeline with the roof of the car.

Keep going, keep going.

Car lights shine in my rear camera and I groan feeling us take fire. They're catching up and I can't do turbo mode in this metal maze. I need to make a quick exit.

My eyes sweep over a narrow opening in the tunnel and I go through it, lifting us out of the metal maze and into the light. I take in my surroundings for a moment, feeling temporarily blinded by purple neon lights and angry screams.

We're on a ground city street in the midst of a fight. A samurai-masked crowd with electrically charged katanas charges at BUBs, Body Upgrade Brawlers. I've only seen BUBs on wanted ads. Some of them have scythes for legs and jagged blade arm attachments. My jaw drops watching one of them impale a samurai with a weaponized arm.

"Take that, you scum!"

A BUB slams into our car. He spins around and presses his ugly face into my window.

"GET OUT OF THE CAR-"

I step on it and quickly fly us out of there. I swear, something bizarre always happens on ground-city levels. 

We rise out of the dark neon pit and merge onto an air highway. I look in our cameras and am shocked to find that even with turbo mode, they're keeping behind us.

"How are they on my tail?" I exclaim.

"We're slowing down," L answers, "Our engine is giving out."

I check the speedometer and to my horror, realize he's right. We're slowing down rapidly. The car screeches and a red caution sign flares on the speedometer and across my window.

"Warning!" A voice blares, "Engine failing! Locate a landing immediately."

"No!" I cry.

I throw my head around the caution sign to try and see out the window. A rooftop below us becomes my target.

"I'm going to try to land!"

I let out an angry cry before swerving off the highway. Right as I fly off the road, the engine shuts off completely. The lights go out in the car and it ceases crying, leaving us to freefall through the air in a dreadful silence.

In a blur, the car jolts upon hitting the pavement and I'm thrown forward by the force. L tightens his hold on me, stopping me from flying out the windshield. The car screams as we bounce and scrape across the roof. We're thrown against the car's interior and my head continuously slams against the roof, waking up my biotech assistant. Sky flashes my vitals across my vision.