My (Un)Real Friend

The Getaway II

Inside, Dillard lies down on the whole front seat. His face slammed into the cushion when he landed after jumping inside. He tries to get into crawling position to reach the driver seat, but the car hits a headstone and the shock causes him to fall face up on the cabin floor. He screams and swears. "SHIT! SHIT! Aw, SHIT!"

"Please calm down Dillard," Agnes tells him.

He manages to grab the dashboard and pulls himself up to reach the right front seat. When he is finally able to sit well, his eyes see something terrifying. The entrance is blocked by a black minivan. There are several men on the left and right side of the minivan holding guns, pointed at Dillard. His car on the other hand doesn't show any signs of slowing down. "Duck Dillard! And brace for impact!" Agnes warns. Dillard quickly ducks his head. One of his hands holds onto the dashboard and the other is covering the back of his head. He can hear shots being fired at the car. But he doesn't hear any windows broken.

When Dillard's car is close to the minivan, Agnes activates the hand brake causing it to drift. The right side of the car slams the left side of the minivan hard. So hard the minivan rolls over, providing space to escape. Dillard was thrown to the driver's seat quite hard. His head hits the left door. He screams in pain. Agnes suddenly appears on the tablet screen and she looks horrified. "I'm sorry Dillard. I'm so so very sorry," she begs. Tears are visibly flowing on her cheeks.

The car immediately accelerates. Being an electric car, the acceleration is extremely fast. It only takes two seconds to reach sixty miles per hour. Dillard, who is trying to position himself, is being thrown against the backrest of the seat by sudden acceleration.

It takes a while for Dillard to finally manage to sit well on the driver seat. After he gets a little comfortable, he looks at the tablet screen and stares at Agnes. "There are so many questions in my head."

"I know, I know! I will explain everything. But after we reach safety at my place," Agnes replies with trembling voice. She worries about him.

"And ... aw... where is this place?" Dillard asks. Just like Agnes, his voice is also trembling. He is obviously still in shock.

"Later, later, okay. We are not in the clear yet."

Dillard inspects the cabin of the car. He notices cracks on the glass windows in a circular pattern. It is clear that those cracks are caused by bullets. "Tweaks for safety purposes huh," he satirically says. "Are the engine and body okay?"

"They are okay, I reinforced the body too. Unfortunately, the front car camera is almost busted," she informs Dillard. "I can get map and traffic data from satellite and scan the environment around the car for any moving signal, but those tricks are way too slow compared to a real-time camera."

Dillard frowns, "So you want me to take over?"

"Exactly."

"Oh great! How many pursuers still onto us?" Dillard puts his hands are on the wheel as Agnes releases her control over the car. The autopilot assistance isn't working well because several car cameras are busted.

"I have disabled two of their electric cars and wrecked their minivan. The other one uses a conventional combustion engine without any embedded software whatsoever. Purely manual, so it can't be hacked."

"But we are so far ahead already, there is no way they can catch up, right?" he argues.

"The rear camera says otherwise," she argues. The tablet displays a live feed from the rear car camera. Agnes's face window becomes small and repositioned to the top left area of the screen.

It shows a black sedan pursuing them, and it seems constantly closing in.

N.O.S? Really?

Dillard instinctively turns his head to check but the back window is full of cracks.

Damn these cracks, can't see nothing

"So, what's the plan here?" Dillard asks.

Agnes sounds angry. "Give me ten minutes. After that, I'll make them gone!"

"Okay, this car's acceleration is no joke right, point me to the area with a lot of sharp turns," he suggests.

"Next intersection turn left. Straight from there is a downhill road to the bottom of the valley. It has lots of sharp turns"

"Ten minutes yeah?"

Agnes confidently replies, "Yes!".

Taking Agnes's route suggestion, Dillard turns left and immediately enters the downhill road. Indeed there are many sharp turns. He is constantly hitting the brakes and acceleration pedal. A few times he is instinctively looking back because of the sound of bullets hitting the back window.

Damn you!

Dillard isn't exactly having it easy navigating the hard road. But his plan seems to be working. The pursuers are having a hard time accelerating and deaccelerating. The distance gap between them is getting wider.

Now your N.O.S is useless

Unless you want to go straight to the bottom of the valley

Suddenly Dillard hears a loud blast. He glances at the tablet screen which still shows a live feed from the back camera. The pursuers have stopped. Immediately, his attention turns to Agnes's face window. "What's happened?"

"I hit them with high-powered microwave blast," she tells him. It seems she is satisfied with the result.

Her answer is making Dillard confused. "E.M.P? As in those movies? How is that possible? Where did it come from? Did it affect my car?"

"No, it is directed with super high precision. And speaking of your car, don't worry I will replace it," she reassures.

"Oh wow, you are really an awesome friend," he compliments her.

"Friend?" Agnes responds in surprise. She is happy by the way Dillard addresses her, as evident by her blushing cheeks. But Dillard didn't notice as his eyes are on the road.

"Okay, I guess we are in the clear. Now what?" he asks.

"Let's go to my place .... Friend. As I promised, I will explain everything."