Summer Crash (Zerralon 1.1)

Part 12: Uncontrolled Flight

Kevin’s eyes grew rounder and wider the closer the building came. Christy gasped, pushing back into her seat as if to move away from it.

“Turn, turn, turn…” Christy’s chant grew louder with each word, her hands gripping the bottom of her seat as the building grew bigger in the front windshield.

Kevin moved the left control, tilting it to the right. The hovercar swerved in the same direction.

A too tight and abrupt a turn, but they were no longer heading for the building. Instead, the nose of the hovercar aimed at a different one.

“Sorry!” Kevin tilted the control again and letting up on the right throttle lever. Christy started shouting again.

They turned to the left, the glass, metal, and composite outer surface of buildings passing by on Christy’s side. A good turn, and one not as harsh as the previous one. But, it seemed that no matter what he did, they ended up heading in a direction he didn’t want to go. With something else laying in their path.

Which was right now into the heart of Central City. A maze of buildings and the walkways extending between them filled his vision. The infrastructure of the city had never looked so menacing before.

A million places to crash into. A million obstacles. He didn’t even have a map of the place. Riding through it and driving were two different things. How did he get out of this maze?

The next movement of the controls sent them down to where walkways created a web stretching between buildings. Turning side-to-side didn’t only matter here. So did altitude up and down.

Christy went silent as he desperately moved the controls to avoid each new threat. Tried to keep them from splattering against a walkway or into the side of a building. He didn’t dare take his attention off of what was in front of them to see if she was okay. A fraction of a second could send them to their deaths.

A dark shape zoomed by them as he made another turn. The shape and color told him one more thing. The Vordac raiding robots had now moving into the city. He hoped the citizens were under cover by now.

Another swerve. Two of the robots flew by where he’d once been. Chasing them?

A new fear gripped him. Maybe the things could catch a hovercar and stop it when in flight. Maybe they were chasing them down. He’d only guessed a hovercar would be too big.

A Vordac robot exploded in a fireball of shrapnel. Other robots swerved out of the way. Kevin caught a glimpse of the source. A defensive weapon turret on top of one of the taller buildings in the area fired in several directions at once.

He just focused on not hitting anything. Hoping the city defenses didn’t accidentally fire on them. If only he could turn and see a path out of the city. Out into areas he wouldn’t hit anything and he could set the hovercar to go as fast as it could away from anything Vordac.

The shriek of solid objects scraping against each other filled the inside of the hovercar. Christy clapped her hands over her ears as they passed under the bottom of a walking bridge between two buildings. Kevin couldn’t protect his ears, not with needing both hands firmly on the controls. All he could do was try to angle the hovercar away from the bridge and hope the encounter hadn’t damaged the hovercar more than it already was.

“We’re in trouble,” Christy howled.

So long as they were alive to get in trouble. Kevin would take punishment. Ground him for a few weeks. Heck, make it a few months so he could stay at home. A year, even.

Turn! A thump along the side told him how close he’d come to one of the robots. Another dent in the hovercar to explain.

Christy was clutching her seatbelt now, turning her head fast side-to-side to watch out the windows at the fast-moving scenery. “One on the right!”

Kevin didn’t look. He just turned the opposite way when an opening in a building allowed him to. Or at least, he tried.

He turned too hard, forcing him to jerk the other way to keep from hitting the corner of a building.

“Behind us!” Christy shouted.

A burst of red exploded against the side of a building. Kevin’s hands twitched in response, sending them down towards the maze of walkways again.

Another explosion. Too big to come from the small raiding robots intent on finding biological targets. It must be from the Morde. Moving into the city now? Not good.

Another explosion, and the defensive fire from the top of one of the buildings ceased in a billowing fireball and plume of mushrooming smoke. No more city protection would come from that location this raid.

“Still behind us!”

Kevin managed to fly them under a walkway and back up to clearer air. Only, they were flying too straight up. It pressed them into their seats, upsetting his stomach. Not unlike a carnival ride, but this one was far too real.

A twitch, and they started to roll over backwards. Kevin shoved the left joystick forward, bringing the nose down so suddenly that he lifted from the seat, held in only by the seatbelt.

Christy keened as he struggled with the flight controls.

The hovercar shuddered. A pop and bang came from behind. His ears rang. Pieces of transparent tinted material flew forward to land on the dash and floor. Air whistled, filling the inside of the hovercar with its shrill whine.

In the mirror at the top of the windshield between the seats he caught sight of the damage. The entire back window busted out, with a raiding robot right on their tail.

TO BE CONTINUED…