Post-Apocalyptic Nomadic Warriors (30 page)

The loading ramp crashed to the ground and Jerry jammed the transmission into first. The old Dodge charged to life down the ramp.

The crowd had begun to emerge from behind doorways and buildings. They dove for cover again as the Viper sent up another barrage of rocks. The metal walls of the town hall barn banged like thunder as the larger rocks left dents in the building. The braver ones in the group watched as the black sports car tore through town square and out into the wasteland.

Erica rushed through the garage and down the ramp of the Silver Lining. She watched the Viper disappear through the gates of the town and began to chase after it.

Logan’s dog, gray and grizzled, cut her off before she could step onto the dirt of the courtyard. He bristled, his hackles raised; the mutt drooled as he growled. Teeth were missing. What were left formed a jagged smile that snapped in the air as Erica began to back away.

Three steps would take her to the safety of the motor coach’s cabin. Two took her to Chewy.

She bumped into the mighty mastiff and stopped.

Chewy yawned and stepped around her to face the wasteland mongrel.

It’s true that it is not the size of the dog in the fight that matters, but the size of the fight in the dog. Sometimes, however, it is simply the size of the dog.

Chewy strolled up to Logan’s dog and raised her paw.

The mutt growled and stared up at the raised limb.

Chewy brought the paw down on the dog’s neck and forced it to the ground. It struggled for a moment, trying to throw off the weight of the larger breed, but soon rolled over and began to whine.

Chewy let the dog stand, and offered a single mighty bark that drove the gray mutt scampering across the courtyard. The massive dog strolled back to the passenger seat to resume her nap.

Logan’s dog whined as it ran into the arms of Austin the boy bear.

“A dog!”

THIRTY-SIX

“What are you going to do to me?”

Logan had dropped the kitchen knife in favor of a gun he had hidden in the Mustang. He held it on her as he accelerated down the open road.

“Sell you. I’m going to need something to get me started again.”

“Sell me? What would your son say?”

Logan smiled and chuckled, “Son?”

Sarah stared out the window as the road flew by. Her thoughts of leaping from the car decreased as it sped up.

“I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you.”

“I told you not to trust me.”

She sighed, “So, the whole attack?”

“Mike Jackson and Jeff Williams. Good friends of mine. Mike probably died in the truck. You killed Jeff.”

“It was all staged?”

Logan shrugged. “There’s usually one skeptic in town. If it’s someone important, I need to do something to get them to trust me. You’re the first murderer though. You should be proud.”

“You’re a dick.”

“We do what we have to. Now, shut up. I’m trying to drive.”

“My father won’t let you get away with this.”

“There’s little he can do. There’s nothing in that town that can catch this car.”

Sarah’s heart sank. He was right. The town had a total of three running vehicles. The battered pickup was the only one that was reliable.

She returned to staring out the window. That’s when she saw the Viper in the rearview mirror. She gasped and turned to look out the rear window.

Logan saw her reaction in the corner of his eye and checked his own mirror to see what had grabbed her attention.

For a brief moment he saw Jerry in the black V-10. Then the mirror exploded into fractured shards of glass.

“Where the hell did he get that?” Logan pressed the accelerator harder and began looking for a way off the long straight road.

Gunshots continued to pock the body of the Mustang. The bookworm was good. The holes in the rear window were confined to Logan’s side of the car. Not one endangered Sarah.

Apart from weaving behind the abandoned hulks on road there was no place to take shelter or lose the Viper. Logan knew it was a faster car and had to do something to lose him.

He turned to fire out the rear window.

Sarah grabbed his wrist and sunk her teeth into his forearm.

Logan screamed and dropped the gun in the back. It fell to the floorboard and bounced under his seat. He pulled his arm free of her grasp and smashed her across the face.

Sarah yelped as she flew into the passenger door. She sat up and spit blood at the con man. Neither was sure if it was blood from her mouth or from Logan’s arm.

He struck her again, harder.

Sarah slumped over in the passenger seat unconscious.

Logan checked the mirror. Jerry had gained tremendous ground and was bearing down on the Mustang.

Free from keeping an eye on the girl, Logan was able to put both hands on the wheel and give the post-apocalyptic nomadic warrior a run for his money.

Jerry glanced at the speedometer. It read eighty and the massive V-10 registered at a little above 1500 rpms. The open-topped car had always been a marvel to him and if he was thankful for the apocalypse in any way, it was that he was finally able to pick one up.

He had caught up to the Mustang easily and fired the warning shots to unnerve Logan. He couldn’t risk killing the driver for Sarah’s sake. It had seemed to work at first, as the driving had become shaky and erratic. But something had changed.

Without warning, the car had stopped swerving erratically and accelerated. Now it dodged and blocked Jerry’s approaches.

Something had changed in the car. Logan was in complete control. Jerry hoped that Sarah wasn’t dead.

Logan wrestled with the wheel. He cut left and right to stop Jerry from getting near the corner of his bumper. The bookworm stopped shooting. Probably from a fear of hitting the girl.

Logan smiled. Jerry’s weakness had always been other people. He was too caring, too unwilling to let anyone get hurt. Pinning the disaster in Colorado on the former librarian had been easy. Jerry’s guilt prevented him from questioning the situation. He simply accepted that it must have been his fault.

But the man in the car behind him wasn’t the same one he had framed. It wasn’t even the same man he had shamed at the gates of New Hope. This man was dangerous.

The Viper was close. He could hear the sound of Jerry’s engine over his own.

Logan shoved the cigarette lighter into the dash and risked reaching into the back seat. An open crate produced several sticks of dynamite.

The lighter clicked. Logan pulled it from the dash and held it in his lips. He touched a fuse to the lighter and waited for it to burn down.

There was an off ramp approaching and Logan knew he had one chance.

Logan veered right, half expecting Jerry to lock up the brakes of the Dodge. Jerry had confided in Logan the horrors of his survival in the city. He told him about the creature that had beat upon the shelter door begging for help. How that same creature had tried, and almost succeeded, in killing Jerry and his bitch companion once the door had opened.

Jerry had shivered when telling Logan all this. His fear manifesting itself physically like that had convinced Logan of two things: Jerry would never follow him into Dallas; whatever lived in the city terrified the former librarian.

As Logan replayed Jerry’s stories in his head, he began to spook himself.

Logan hit the nitrous and increased the distance between the two cars. He threw the dynamite out the window and swerved onto the off-ramp.

The blast struck far behind the Viper.

Jerry was right behind him on the off-ramp.

“Shit.”

He would have to lose Jerry in the streets.

He lit another fuse.

Jerry stayed on the Mustang’s rear bumper to the end of the ramp and tapped the Ford’s rear as Logan turned to the right.

The Mustang’s tires smoked but found traction and sent the Ford accelerating again.

Jerry mashed the gas and caught up quickly.

Every corner gave Logan more distance.

Sticks of dynamite came quicker as the warrior behind the wheel became more desperate. This increase in frequency also led to longer fuses.

The sticks exploded harmlessly behind the Viper and posed little threat. Still, the sound of the explosions in the canopied canyon of skyscrapers pounded on his ears and shook his concentration.

Both cars weaved around the vegetation and drifted around corners as each tried to get the upper hand in the duel.

Logan had spent little time in the city. Jerry knew the streets of the town from his time living in Dallas, but, as his earlier trip through the city confirmed, the vegetation changed everything.

Any road could be a dead end. Logan feared that fact. Jerry savored it. He had no doubt that Logan would make good on his promise to make new friends. Letting him live would only allow him to dupe more people to their deaths.

He had changed allegiances before. Jerry doubted that the monsters in the truck were the same group from Colorado.

Only Logan’s death would ensure that people were safe from him.

He was right on the Mustang’s rear when Logan cut left, revealing a rusted SUV in Jerry’s path.

Jerry swerved right and missed the wreckage but found himself heading down the wrong street.

Doubling back cost him some time, and when he got back on the street Logan had grown his lead.

A blast rocked the Viper. The stick had been close when it exploded. Jerry felt the car skid to the side, but the wide tires quickly gripped the road and put him back in control.

The cars raced down Main Street. Vines stretched from window frames and building tops and choked out the sunlight. The transition from light to shadow put his eyes in a constant state of adjustment.
  

As Jerry raced down the street, he noticed movement in the windows. At first, he thought it might be a trick of the light. But fear told him the truth. The creatures that spawned from his nemesis were watching.

After the day’s earlier events, he had no idea what they would do.

A wall of vines grew across Houston Street, closing Main to through traffic. Logan reached the dead end that he had feared. The empty box of dynamite also presented a problem. He slammed on the brakes and slid sideways to a stop next to the wall of vegetation. Jerry raced at him in the Viper. He couldn’t go back.

Light shown through breaks in the vines. He could slip through. Daylight awaited him mere feet away.

Sarah groaned as she came to. The setting confused her. “Where …”