The War Girl (Mad Max: Fury Road fanfiction)

9: The Marsh.

I made sure to run it over to Nux to keep his head low. I suspected that, besides Capable, the others would not be too friendly to him. Once he agreed I climbed back into the back seat of the rig, my heart lifted with new found happiness.

I thanked Capable with a glance and a quick smile, which she returned. I longed to ask her the questions clawing at the back of my throat. Why didn't she turn him in? Why didn't he attack her? She was one of the wives, and I thought that he wanted nothing more than to bring them back to Immortan. Did he really have a change of heart? He seemed to agree with me quicker than I had expected. If I'm being perfectly honest, I didn't think he would join our side at all. Was it because of how close we were, perhaps? My teeth found my lip again as I thought. I would have to keep an eye on him, in case he was just trying to trick us. I felt sorry for him, though. He really thinks his Valhalla is closed to him, and he has no hope left. I prayed he would be able to find hope in the Green Place, in us. Capable didn't seemed all that fazed by him. Was he kind to her? I suppose it made sense why Nux would not try to hurt her. I felt like Capable and I were alike, with our determination seeming to constantly burn behind our eyes. If we were under different circumstances, I thought that we may have been good friends.

The skies above turned a beautiful turquoise color, casting a blueish glow to my white skin. The stars winked into existence, erupting across the night like millions of tiny explosions. As I was sitting at the edge, I rested my head on top of my arms on the window ledge and watched the blanket of sparks in the sky. It was something I didn't get to see often. The caves in the Citadel were always small and showed me little of this beauty. Even while I drove at night with Nux, I hardly paid attention to the stars. Now, finally, after years and years of being constantly vigilant, I could relax. The wives all curled up in a messy pile of legs and arms next to me, their hair fanning out around their heads like halos. I had dozed off a few times, lulled into sleep by the steady rocking of the rig and the slowed breaths of everyone around me. I was pulled from the sweet peace of slumber when a distant rumbling of engines rippled through the chilled air.

Without a second thought, Furiosa stopped the rig. Like a well oiled machine, she gave Bloodbag some thunderstick tips and he hopped out of his seat and to the soft ground. He jammed the explosives into our tracks, leaving a malicous trap for pursuers.

We were off just as fast as we stopped, pounding across this strange marshland in order to keep the tires at the surface. With a distant thump, like a giant body hitting the earth, and a orange glow to the mist behind us, I knew Immortan had hit our little surprise. A grin spread across my face at the though of Joe's frustration. 

With a stomach-dropping lurch, the war rig stopped again. Furiosa cursed, stomping on the gas hard. The rig groaned, rocking back and forth, but did not move. I could hear the wheels spinning in the wet mud, and the effort the poor engine was putting up to get itself out. All we were doing was digging ourselves deeper. A sinister looking mist was making it too hard to see except about ten feet in front of the rig. We had no idea if Immortan was still following us. We had slowed them down tremendously so far, and were pretty sure they were far behind us, but I was always a little on edge.

Bloodbag kicked the door open, sliding out and into the wet dirt. Besides Furiosa, we all scrambled after him. 

We tried sticking slabs of metal under the tires, but it was still no use. We even had the wives out helping us, even they were starting to feel the claws of panic.

Then, as if it couldn't get any worse, headlights illuminated the fog. My heart began to thud in my chest. I strained to hear anything over Furiosa's voice and the roar of the motor, but I could faintly make out the sound of male voices shouting. They were getting close.