GunBarrel Gauntlet: The Last Bronze II

10. Wind Raiders

                   As these events were unfolding in Dogtown, Carrion and Weary had been waiting inside the truck whilst Tiny slept in the smaller vehicle, oblivious to the disappearance of Liu. The trucker and medic had run out of conversation as they stared into the featureless void of the night, unsettled winds scratching the outer panels with airborne grit as it sighed over the wastelands.

From Carrion' perspective, the distant lights of Dogtown seemed to have changed colour, warm orange like a fire in contrast to the cooler whites of electrical bulbs.

"Where is that mad man?" She spoke her thoughts aloud. "It's been too long, should have been back by now... I gotta bad feeling he's left us here."

Unhooking the handset from the console, she brought it before her face.

"Tiny, you there? Over."

White noise crackled in ominous response.

"Dammit! I'm gonna check on the others, it's time we get moving."

She was about to open the driver's door when Weary grabbed her upper arm.

"Wait... there's something movin' out there..." He said, still facing the windshield as he studied the murky view outside Audrey.

Carrion's anger at being manhandled settled into caution as the silhouette of a triangle drifted past the bow of Audrey's grill, like the fin of a shark gliding through the night. Seconds later another fin moved in the same direction as the first, coming out of the east.

Lifting the rifle to sight through its scope, Carrion panned slowly from right-to-left as she traced the path of the fins.

"There's four of them... wait! There's five..." She kept the scope to her eye.

"There's more behind us!" Weary spoke as loud as he dared, watching the side mirrors outside his door. "They've stopped, they're aproachin' Tiny!"

"Dammit!" Lowering the gun, she passed it to Weary. "Keep them away from the car."

Four sailed land craft had settled metres away from the Corolla, human shapes emerging from the wind propelled vehicles with clubs and other weapons at hand. Dividing his attention between their reflection and loading the rifle, Weary's heart was beating staccato as he waited for them to make any aggressive moves.

Adjusting the kill switches to prepare Audrey's ignition, Carrion watched those craft that had sailed before her as they continued west, avoiding the presence of the truck.

The cracking reverberation of a gunshot woke Tiny in sudden panic, the falling blur of a shape in his peripheral making him jump in his seat. Then the vibrations of the truck engines filled the night air with menace as it stirred to life, the tail lights glowing in red as it backed toward him.

"Sheeeeeet!" He exclaimed, curling up to brace for impact.

The wind raiders near the Corolla scattered like roaches as the rear end of the truck carriage came as a wall of force beside the vehicle, crushing the slowest between the walls of metal as their body was pinned and rolled in the grinding friction of Audrey's panels rubbing against the smaller sedan. The others had leapt clear, one even diving onto the car's boot with a thud that rocked the suspension as they scampered over the roof.

Turning on the high beams to focus on those before them, Carrion pulled her head back as a lead shot ricocheted off the armoured visor of the windshield. Shifting gears, she clamped her foot to the floor and drove directly at the confluence of mobile wind raiders, turning the wheel hand over hand to aim the prow of the truck onto their path.

Still bent from the bridge crossing stunt, the rail brace squealed against the rubber of the front tyre due the obtuse angle, adding resistance to the turn until Carrion could straighten the machine and bear down upon the wind sails.

The fleet of land craft divided themselves to escape Audrey's wrath, rolling away on either side as they fled across the nightscape. Growling at their cowardice, Carrion jerked the wheel to swipe the truck against the slowest vessel, the right side axles flexing like caterpillar legs as they flattened the wind raider under its wake.

Snaking around in a final wide loop to try and ram another craft, the damaged wheel brace cut back into the tyre until it blew underneath them.

"Hold on baby!" Carrion spoke to her truck. "Mama needs you to keep together now!"

The turning arc had repositioned Audrey 180° to face the east again, the Corolla exposed in the headlight as human vermin belted the panels with picks and clubs to try and peel through the exterior and get to Tiny. Weary aimed the rifle out his window, knocking away one for the predators from the car bonnet. Realizing they had been outclassed by the armoured hauler, figures fled from the light, diving onto their land craft to catch the winds and escape while they still had time.

Clambering down from the passenger door, Weary turned his head in all directions to make sure his personal space hadn't been encroached upon before he trod closer to the sedan.

"Tiny! Tiny! You okay?" He called out.

That's when the raider he had shot earlier came up from the ground to tackle him around the waist, dragging him off balance as they tumbled into the dust.

Flashing before his mind's eye, he was taken back to the alley where he and the other paramedic had been trapped by the street gang, their boots stomping all over his partner as he screamed out in futile rage.

'No' his subconscious spoke; 'never again'.

Elbowing the raider across the jaw as he recovered, he wrestled to get back on top, palming their head into the dirt to smother them until he found the axe in his belt. The first blows came from the blunt end, smacking it repeatedly into the cranium until their limbs ceased to fight, then he delivered the edge of mercy with a splitting chop through the fontanel.

"Weary!" Tiny's voice came through the red haze of adrenaline.

Breathing heavily as he picked himself up, the halo of truck lights illuminated Tiny's form approaching from the car.

"You alright?" The big man asked.

"I'm alright... what about you and the girl?" Weary responded between breaths.

"Gone! I thought she was with you guys!"

"That silly little bitch! We can't wait for her... if those scum haven't already taken her we're not risking all our lives and the mission for her stupid mistakes. We gotta move, and now! Before they come back." Carrion chewed the unlit cigar as she stood in the background.

Shaking his head sadly as the reality of their situation settled in his mind, Weary cast his gaze about one final time across the desert night in the hopes she might materialize from the bleak wilds.

Unknown to the remaining crew from Sanctuary, another stowaway had used this momentary lull in action to climb aboard the truck's carriage, gently closing the hatch after themselves to hide inside the third engine compartment before they had left the scene...