“Not bad,” Nero smiled.
“I bet it wasn’t,” Cryptus answered suggestively.
Nero didn’t answer and let his smile do the talking.
“Alright, the convoy is still here, but they’re up and getting ready,” Cryptus explained.
Nero’s smile faded as he returned to business. “Right. I think we should move our vehicles around, get in behind the convoy.”
“Good idea. We need to be ready for this.”
Nero nodded. “Let’s do it.”
Nero led Cryptus around to the parking garage and greeted Runt, who was very pleased to see them.
“Everything alright in here last night?” Nero asked.
“Oh, yes, Runt get good night’s sleep, yes?”
“Good,” Nero answered.
“Friend Nero, come, come here. Me show you. Look,” said the mutant from up in the monster truck cab, before backing off. He reappeared a moment later carrying a long metal object. Nero recognised it as a rifle right away. It was clearly homemade, and a little rough around the edges, but the shape was there.
“That’s a rifle,” Nero commented.
“It will be soon, yes. Runt make it for Nero. Soon, it will be yours, yes?”
“That’s amazing,” Nero said. “You’re a genius.”
Runt looked surprised and embarrassed by Nero’s compliment. “No, Runt not clever, not like master and Nero. No.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself. I couldn’t make that.”
“Not finished yet, still more to do.”
“Of course,” Nero said. “You take your time, there’s no rush.”
“Thank you,” Runt replied and disappeared back into the cab.
Nero turned to Cryptus. “I’ll take the lead, okay?”
Cryptus nodded. “Of course.”
“Good. He’s quite the engineer,” Nero added, indicating he was speaking about Runt.
“He’s very good, isn’t he?” Cryptus answered with a smile as he started to make his way around the truck.
Nero smiled to himself and soon fired up the Charger, moving it out into the main entrance courtyard and through the inner gate that led to the ramp and down into the tunnel. The monster truck followed, and before long, they were right up behind the rearmost convoy truck.
They left their vehicles behind once they were happy, and made their way over to the mess area, where Nyx and Kat were waiting for them. They ate quickly and in relative silence, and Nero noticed Nyx and Cryptus stealing bits of food for Runt. They were surrounded by the convoy crew, who were also having their morning meal, so they couldn’t very well start talking about their plan to attack them there.
Nero watched Diesel and the others finish their meal, and soon enough, they were making their way down to the tunnel entrance and their waiting vehicles. Nero got up and followed with his friends, with Nyx and Kat in his Charger.
Few words passed between them as they all focused on the dangerous mission ahead and their plans for it. As Nero sat there, listening to Nyx and Kat picking out the best cars for them to leap onto, Nero watched the convoy crew as they made their final checks.
Diesel wandered around, checking the rear vehicles and talking with his guards when he noticed Nero’s Charger and stepped over towards them.
“Quiet,” Nero said to the girls who were still talking tactics before Diesel got close enough to hear. They both stopped talking and watched as Diesel wandered over and admired the Charger. He slapped his hand on the bodywork a few times.
“Nice ride,” he said, looking in through the window.
“Thanks,” Nero answered, returning the man’s look and waiting to see what he’d say.
“I’d much rather be racing through the wastes in one of these than in that rig,” he said.
“Why do you think I chose it?” Nero answered him.
Diesel nodded and then lent in closer to him. “You keep behind us, alright, and no funny business. We’re watching you.”
Nero raised both hands. “I wanna get to the other end of this tunnel as much as you do,” he replied with what he hoped was an innocent looking expression on his face.
Diesel stared at him for another couple of seconds before he slapped the roof of the Charger again and nodded. “Good enough,” he muttered and wandered off. Nero watched as he made a big show of pointing out Nero’s Charger to some of the backmarkers. He was sending a warning to Nero, a warning that he was watching him.
“Do you think he suspects anything?” Nyx asked.
“Course he does. He’d be stupid not to.”
“But we’re still going to do this?”
“Sure, we are,” Nero answered with a smile.
“Good,” Nyx replied and sat back in her seat.
They sat there for another fifteen minutes, waiting for whatever final checks the convoy were doing. In that time, several more groups of travellers pulled in behind them from the garage, all of whom would be following them through the tunnel.
Eventually, the convoy began to move forward, and with their lights ablaze, rolled into the darkened tunnels.
Nero dropped the Charger into gear and followed suit, only to have a couple of guards step forward and put their hands up, ordering them to stop. Nero did as they asked and watched as the convoy moved into the tunnel, their rear red light receding into the darkness.
Just as Nero was beginning to get nervous, and was contemplating actually complaining, the guards stepped out of the way and waved them on. Nero nodded in thanks, and drove forward, being careful not to look too eager to catch the convoy. Watching through his rear-view mirror, he saw Cryptus’ monster stuck following on behind. He hadn’t been held up either.
As the Charger slipped into the darkness of the tunnel, it’s lights cutting through the darkness ahead, Nero began to pile on the power to catch the convoy.
Luckily, the tunnel was mercifully clear of anything that might impede their progress, and they were soon making good time.
Nero had been told that an average run through the tunnel would take about an hour, so he and the others were planning to attack about halfway through.
After around ten minutes driving, the tail lights of the convoy grew closer still, and the Charger’s beams began to pick out the shape of the rearmost escort truck. Checking the time, Nero slowed down and matched their speed. They had a good fifteen minutes to go, and they didn’t want to mess this up.
“Are you ready?” Nero asked the girls. “We’ve got about fifteen minutes until go time.”
“Ready as we’ll ever be,” Nyx said, and glanced back at Kat, who nodded in agreement.
“I’m ready.”
“Good,” Nero answered and returned to concentrating on his driving.
The minutes ticked by, and as the time arrived, Nero accelerated and started to catch the trailing vehicles. He put his lights on full beam in an attempt to blind the cars at the back.
“Is he back there?” Nero asked Kat, referring to Cryptus.
Kat looked out the rear window. “I think so, yes.”
“He’d better be, or this is going to be a real short offensive.”
“Just follow the plan,” Nyx commented.
Nero nodded and powered up to the backmarkers. The guards on the back of the trucks covered their eyes to keep from being blinded and were waving at him to turn off his full beam lights.
When he was right on them, he swerved the Charger left and hugged the wall, braking as he did so.
Beside him, the monster truck rushed forward, it’s lights extinguished, it’s engine roaring, and quickly hit the two rearmost trucks. Cryptus’ truck, with his massive tyres, climbed up the back of the two vehicles and crushed them under its weight. The guards on the backs of the truck screamed as they were squished under the tyres. Nero caught a flash of one reaching out to him, his body from the waist down being torn apart by the spinning wheels of the monster truck.
Cryptus poured on the power and rolled over the two vehicles, boun
cing down to the floor just slightly ahead of Nero, leaving two pancaked trucks behind as its lights flared into life on full beam, blinding the guards and hopefully the drivers of the other two rearguard vehicles.
Both cars swerved to the sides. The one before Nero avoided the monster truck entirely, while the one on the other side did not. The monster truck caught it at an angle, and pulled the truck in, away from Nero’s Charger.
“My turn,” Nero yelled. “Girls, get ready.”
Beside him, Nyx reached up and threw open the hatch above her while Kat climbed through the back window. Nero floored it and threw the car forwards, veering right to avoid the untouched backmarker who was still struggling.
“I’m going for the rig,” Nero yelled out
“Ready,” Nyx shouted back. She was standing on the seat now, her sword in hand as Nero closed on the rig. In a matter of moments, the nose of the Charger was right up behind the back of the rig’s trailer.
“Go, go, go,” Nero shouted. Nyx vaulted over the windscreen onto the hood and jumped onto the back of the rig’s trailer. Kat was right behind her when the remaining truck slammed into the side of the Charger.
Kat wobbled, and then leapt.
Nyx caught her hand and hauled her up, pulling her onto the rig. Nero pulled away from the trailer, catching sight of movement on the top. Suddenly, a pair of spinning glass bulbs spun down and smashed on the road, causing fire to erupt from them with a FOOM!
Nero turned his wheel and careered left as the guard on the back of the truck opened fire with a shotgun.
Nero ducked as the buckshot—or whatever it was being fired at him—slammed into the side of the Charger.
He hit the truck and pushed it, forcing it left. It crunched into the wall and sparks flew everywhere as it scraped along the side of the tunnel, slowing them both down.
Nero jerked his wheel right, but something was attached to the truck beside him and he went nowhere.
Looking left, he saw the driver raise a gun. Nero ducked as it fired. Nero withdrew his pistol and shot back, unloading a burst of three at the driver.
Blood splattered as he yelled. Nero yanked the wheel again, and this time, the Charger broke free while the truck slowed.
Looking up, Nero spotted the girls already atop the rig, their blades flashing. Then Nero saw red tail lights pull out to either side at the front of the rig and slow down. They were the vehicles that were driving ahead of the rig, and they were moving back.
Reinforcements.
BOOM!
The side of the tunnel exploded in orange fire beside the front of the rig. The two cars on the left side of the rig took the brunt of the explosion and were lifted up off the road and thrown into the cab and trailer, which careered into the right-side wall
Nero braked hard. Where had the explosion come from?
The Charger skidded to a stop just short of the crash site, and Nero jumped out, looking up on top of the trailer to see if he could see Nyx and Kat. Engines continued to roar, fire burnt, people screamed, and behind him, vehicles slowed.
There was the sound of metal scraping across metal, and the trailer lurched as something moved against its right side, the side Nero couldn’t see.
A man ran around the end of the trailer carrying a gun. Blood all down his face, and he looked a little crazed. Nero took aim and shot at him with his shotgun. The man fell and didn’t get back up.
The sound of an engine roared, and the metal scraping sound could be heard again. Then a truck skidded out from the right side of the rig, driving backwards. Men were getting to their feet atop the rig and Nero could see Nyx and Kat up there again now, fighting some of them.
Several bikers rushed through the flames, their dirt bike engines screaming as they barrelled forward.
Nero aimed at one of the lead bikers and fired, knocking him clean off his ride as blood burst from the wound. To Nero’s right, more of the convoy crew climbed over the truck that someone was trying to get out from that side of the rig, but it was wedged in between the wall and the end of the trailer now.
Nero continued to hide behind the Charger, using it as cover while he took pot shots at the truckers. There were still so many of them.
Nero suddenly heard new shouts and yells being added to the cacophony. He looked up and saw a stream of figures running into the tunnel, through the hole that had been blasted in the side of it. They were brandishing weapons, from daggers to swords, guns, chainsaws, and other improvised weapons. They charged at the convoy crew and attacked them in brutal hand to hand.
Movement to his right caught Nero’s attention. He turned and saw a man from the convoy running at him and screaming, holding a machete. Nero raised his gun and fired, destroying the man’s shoulder and knocking him flat.
More were nearly on him. He turned and smashed the shotgun into the face of another attacker, a biker, breaking his nose and knocking him back. Behind him, another man with a mohawk approached. Nero kicked backwards and caught him in the thigh. He’d been aiming for his nuts but missed. The biker lunged at him again. Nero elbowed him in the face, making him howl. Turning, he shoved the end of the shotgun into the belly of Mohawk and fired. Blood and guts flew out of his back.
The biker attacked again and grabbed him from behind by the neck. Nero flung his head back in a wild attempt to headbutt the biker in the face. He connected with a dull thud. The biker’s grip lessened, so Nero shifted and sent his elbow into his stomach. The biker let go, so Nero adjusted again, spun, and then shot him at point-blank range.
The truck’s still working engine roared again, and with a discordant screech of metal, it tore itself free of the rig's trailer and spun around to face towards Nero and everyone behind him.
The driver floored it as some of the convoy crew jumped onto its rear flatbed. The truck's wheels spun, kicking up smoke for a second before the brakes were released and the tyre’s caught with a squeal.
Chapter 11
Nero
The convoy flatbed truck powered forward and caught the front end of the Charger, knocking it out of the way. Nero leapt sideways as the convoy truck passed him, barrelling towards the travellers beyond the monster truck.
The monster truck’s engines roared, and it lurched forward, turning towards the convoy vehicle. The next moment, the back end of it was caught under one of the monster truck’s front tyres and was crushed to the ground.
Cryptus leant out of the truck and fired his revolver at the two men who were frantically climbing out of the truck, and hit both, sending them to the floor.
A man screamed. Nero turned to see a convoy man with a face tattoo running at him with an axe when a gunshot sounded behind him and the man’s belly exploded. He fell to the floor to reveal a woman, in a full body pink fur-suit with kitten ears holding a shotgun. She smiled at him.
“You with the convoy?”
“No, we attacked it,” he explained.
“That’s what I thought,” she said, before turning and, with another roar that came from somewhere deep inside her and seemed very out of character for a woman dressed as a pink kitten, blasted another trucker away.
She glanced his way. “Behind you,” she yelled.
Nero turned and brought his gun to bear on the leader of a group of men charging for him from the rig.
Nero fired and hit the lead man while he was still a distance away. Nero stepped forward, aiming again while more strangely dressed people moved in from his left.
These new people were the guys who had flooded in through the hole in the tunnel, and they certainly had a distinct look. Nero spotted several men in black clothing with long hair. Most were carrying swords and such and roaring as they charged at the convoy crew.
Beside them, some scantily clad men in thongs and other leather clothing—much of which very purposefully did not cover their butts, crotches, or nipples—also attacked with guns and improvised weapons.
Nero could also see women wearing rubber and leathers with their breasts e
xposed carrying a wide range of weaponry. It was the strangest group of people he’d seen in a long time, but it made him smile to know they were on the same side. Nero fired into the convoy crew, and part way through saw Nyx and Kat join in on the far side.
Feeling emboldened by the support of these new attackers, and by having Nyx and Kat help out, Nero moved out from behind cover and advanced on what looked to be the last of the convoy crew. Nero pumped his shotgun, letting the shells fly, dropping several men closer to him while these fetish guys waded in on his left.
The fight didn’t last long, and within a few moments, the last of the convoy crew lay motionless on the floor of the tunnel.
Nero stood, looking over the bodies for a moment, and then looked up at the group of people standing nearby. He offered his hand. “Thanks for the assist,” he said.
The man with the long hair, who was closest to him, glanced at his hand and then back up. “Looks like you assisted us,” he said, and stepped forward, taking his hand. “You’re no friend to the Whisperer, I take it?”
“Not at all,” Nero confirmed.
A man in a thong, chaps, shoulder harness, and cowboy hat, stepped up. “Who are you?” he asked in an accusing tone.
“Nero, good to meet you.”
“Is it?” he replied. “How do we know we can trust him,” he said to the long-haired man.
The woman in the kitten outfit stepped up. “He was killing the truckers before we got close. I saw him,” she said, and turned to Nero, offering her hand as well. Nero took it. “Miss Fluffykins,” she said, introducing herself.
Nero’s eyebrows rose. “Miss… Fluffykins?”
“That’s right,” she smiled. Nero noticed Nyx step up beside him, with Kat close behind.
“Nyx, this is Miss Fluffykins,” he repeated, not sure if he should laugh or not. He looked over the others. “Who are you guys?”
“People with a similar outlook on life,” the man with the long hair answered. “I’m Grok. I’m with the Death Heads; those guys over there,” he answered, pointing to a small group of men and women with long hair, tattoos, almost entirely dressed in black.
Heavy metal fans, Nero guessed.
Wasteland Road Knights Trilogy Page 42