Nero smiled as Cryptus shifted in his seat, pulled the slide to check the chamber before he aimed out the back window.
Nero looked in his rearview mirror. Ras was still trying to get the bike off the side of the car while beyond him, pulling herself into the trunk of the car, which was somewhat emptier now, Nero got another eyeful of Nyx’s shapely derriere as she approached the unwelcome passenger.
‘Don’t you dare shoot Nyx in the ass,’ Nero muttered.
Cryptus laughed. ‘It is distracting, but I shall endeavour to avoid it for you, my boy,’ he said.
Just beyond Nyx, he could see the biker girl holding on, doing her best to not fall off and to haul herself up so she could protect herself. She still held her gun, too. As Nyx approached, the biker managed to find purchase and pulled herself up to face Nyx just in time.
‘Have you got a shot?’ Nero asked Cryptus.
‘Not really, no. I can’t keep it steady. I’m worried I’ll hit Nyx,’ he answered.
‘Last resort,’ Nero said.
‘Understood,’ Cryptus answered.
As Nero watched events around the car, he wondered about stopping, until he spotted four or five more cars bearing down on them in his side mirror.
‘Ras!’ Nero bellowed. ‘We have company.’
‘Hold on,’ Ras shouted back. Nero watched him open the side door and then kick it with his boot. The door swung wide, knocking the bike and sidecar off and away. The steering got a whole lot lighter all of a sudden, and it wasn’t pulling to the right anymore. ‘Got it,’ Ras yelled.
The car jerked and wobbled as the bike dislodged itself, while Nero noticed the two girls out back reach out to steady themselves. The biker girl stumbled, as did Nyx, but Nyx caught her balance first and brought her sword up in a wide slash.
The biker girl fell backwards off the car as Nero watched her severed head bounce along the desert track and disappear into the dust plume behind them.
‘Whoop,’ yelled Ras from behind him. Nero smiled to himself, but it didn’t last. Movement to his left caught his attention, and he suddenly noticed one of the pursuit cars right on his flank.
Nero could make out the five cars clearly now, spotting the monster truck he’d seen in the garage, a pickup truck, some kind of former hot hatch, a flatbed truck, and some sort of dune buggy up front. All of the vehicles only bore a passing resemblance to their former original shapes, having been boosted and welded and armoured, turning them into war machines of the wastes.
The dune buggy swiped in, and as it grew close, gouts of flame erupted from its sides and lashed up the panels of Nero’s charger.
‘Arrrgh,’ Nero yelled and pulled his car away before he was roasted alive. He bumped over the rocky ground, slowing him further as he tried to aim back towards the track, but away from the buggy.
Bouncing back onto the track, Nero looked right towards Cryptus. ‘You drive, right?’
‘Of course, my boy,’ the older man answered, his tone suggesting it was a silly question.
‘Good,’ he said, and glanced left, spotting the buggy. He turned and swung in towards it, opening his door as he moved. ‘Then take the wheel,’ he yelled over the engine roar. The charger crunched into the side of the buggy, and as it did, Nero pushed the door wide and jumped down onto the side of it.
‘Urgh,’ Cryptus yelled. ‘Holy shit, what the hell are you doing, you crazy son of a bitch?’
Nero didn’t listen. Instead, he grabbed the roll bars that arced over the top of the driver's seat and kicked out and through the buggy.
The driver screamed as he struggled and fought, but his actions were futile, and when a trailing length of fabric caught in the wheels, the Dog’s fate was sealed.
The man was ripped from his seat and disappeared beneath the wheels of the buggy with a hard thump.
Nero dropped quickly into the driver's seat and floored it, gunning the engine as he took the vehicle under his control, pulling it out of a left turn and back towards the chase. Between him and his charger, the boosted hatchback with oversized wheels went by, gaining a lead on the convoy. Nero could see there were two guys in the car. One driving, but the second guy was in the back where the rear door had been removed long ago. He was holding on, shouting at the driver and pointing at Nero’s charger, holding an open-topped wooden box with his other hand.
Nero frowned. What was in the box, he thought? Nothing good, that was for sure. Nero accelerated and followed, aiming to come up alongside them.
The hatchback veered in and started to cut across in front of the charger while the man in the back readied the box. Was it bombs? Spikes? Something else?
Nero turned in, he wasn’t right alongside the hatch yet, but he was close enough. Rex’s Dog in the back of the hatch looked up at the buggy with a psychotic smile, probably expecting to see a mate of his, but looked right into the eyes of Nero.
Confusion fell over the man's face for half a second before he realised Nero’s intent. He shouted at his driver, but Nero was right on them and slammed into the side of the hatch. He’d already spotted the painted red button with flames painted around it on the dash. Someone had written “Burn baby, burn” on it.
Nero jabbed at it with his thumb.
Fireballs erupted from both sides of the car, the one on his right engulfing the hatch. The man in the back caught the brunt of it and screamed in pain, knocking the box out the rear of the car.
Nero pulled left as the hatch swung right, driving head-on into a boulder. No one was surviving that one, he thought, looking behind him to watch the box that the hatch had dropped, smash on the ground and spill spike balls everywhere. They weren’t exactly on target with his charger, but one of them did disappear beneath it.
Boom,’ went one of the chargers rear tyres. The sound was clear as day and quite obvious.
Pulling into the side of the charger, it was quite clearly slowing down with a flat when Rex’s monster struck with its battering ram drove into its rear and sped it up again.
Nyx was still in the rear of the car and was jerked back and forth when the monster truck hit. As he watched, Nyx stood, fury evident in every movement she made. Nero could see two people in that monster truck. Pitbull, who was driving it, and a young woman covered in war paint yelling and screaming from where she stood in the rear of the vehicle.
Nyx jumped up onto the hood of the truck and then its roof, swinging her sword at the woman.
A shadow passed over Nero suddenly, and he looked to his left side just in time to see the flatbed truck, which must also have been boosted, pull up alongside him. Looking up, he noticed that an enormous mounted assault cannon was on the rear with one of Rex’s Dog’s controlling it.
Seeing the cannon aiming for him, Nero turned the wheel and braked just as it erupted with fiery death and deafening noise. Nero pulled the buggy back and swung in behind the flatbed too fast for the gunner to keep up.
Glancing right, he noted that Nyx was still fighting the girl before he returned his concentration forward and accelerated hard. He aimed for some higher ground to the flatbed’s left before angling it in. At the last moment, he clipped a rock, which sent him skywards, and after two seconds of freefall, the buggy landed on the back of the flatbed.
Nero grunted with the bone-rattling landing and forced himself to move as he noticed the gunner struggling with the cannon. The Dog was heaving the huge gun around to aim at the car, but Nero didn’t care to be shot by that thing and ran at the gunner, pulling his own weapon from his back. Dropping to his armoured knees, he fired a shot at the man. The Dog fell off the gun with a yell, landing on the flatbed covered in blood. Nero stepped up to him and shoved him towards the edge of the truck with his foot. The Dog scrambled for something to hold onto, but found no purchase and suddenly fell off the side.
As he looked up, Nero saw Nyx kick the warrior woman off the back of the truck into its dust plume with a shout of anger
‘Atta girl,’ Nero muttered to himself as he watched
Nyx turn and look at Pitbull in the cab.
The black pickup truck accelerated into the gap between the monster truck that was still pushing Nero’s charger and the Flatbed Nero stood on. Nero looked between the pickup and the monster truck as Nyx brandished her sword and stabbed it into the back of the cab through the open window and into the back of Pitbull himself.
Movement in the pickup caught Nero’s attention, and he suddenly realised that it was Rex himself driving it. The large black truck had huge desert driving wheels and had been extensively modified. Nero noticed that Lobos, Nyx’s sword trainer stood in the rear of the pickup holding his sword along with another of Rex’s Dogs, but it was Rex’s actions that concerned him. Rex pulled a gun and started to aim it towards Nyx.
‘No,’ Nero grunted and grabbed the cannon on the back of the flatbed, angling it towards Rex’s car. He fired early and swung the barrel left in towards the pickup only to notice Nyx take a flying leap from the monster truck to the back of the pickup, slamming into Lobos as bullets from Nero’s cannon peppered the side of Rex’s truck.
Nero kept the gun swinging and released the trigger. Silver bullet holes in the side of the pickup glinted in the sun, but no one seemed to be hurt by the shots.
A screech of metal made Nero turn and look back towards the buggy that he’d landed on the flatbed. He’d landed it awkwardly, and as the flatbed bounced over another rock, the buggy tilted, slid sideways, caught itself on the ground and was suddenly ripped from the truck in a shower of sparks.
A gunshot rung in Nero’s ears as it pinged off the cannon.
Nero ducked, but looked towards the pickup in time to see Rex trying to shoot him. Nero moved to get himself more fully behind the cannon as Rex fired again.
Nero readied his shotgun, racked the foregrip, and peered around the cannon. His charger, no longer caught on the monster trucks ram, veered in towards the pickup and slammed into the far side of it, making the pickup in turn crunch into the side of the flatbed.
Nero glanced at Rex. The leader of the Watchtower was no longer aiming his gun at Nero. Instead, he was struggling with the steering wheel and shouting obscenities at Cryptus, who was driving Nero’s charger.
Nero smiled to himself. ‘Dick,’ he said towards Rex. Looking back up, Nyx stood at the rear of the Pickup’s own flatbed area, locking swords with Lobos. Staying closer to the cab, the other passenger, another of Rex’s Dogs of War, stayed ducked down to avoid being hit with a sword, but aimed his gun towards Nyx, looking for an opening.
Nero aimed his own shotgun at the Dog and squeezed one off. The blast knocked the Dog sprawling against the side of the pickup's rear flatbed, where he moaned and writhed in pain.
As the vehicles passed into a shallow valley between raised rocks, a shadow fell over Nero and the trucks before something massive landed on the cab of the flatbed and the hood of the pickup.
The sudden stop of the truck as it flipped forwards threw Nero into the air.
Chapter 18
*
Nyx
A black shadow smashed into the front of the pickup, flipping the rear up into the air. Nyx suddenly found herself airborne, the momentum from the truck carrying her forward even though the truck had stopped.
As she flew through the air, she looked back to see the thing that had landed on them and saw a huge daemon. A massive thick-limbed brute over double the height of a person and covered in a tough craggy grey skin.
Allowing herself to flip over in the air, Nyx landed on the dusty ground and rolled for several meters before bringing herself under control and to a stop.
A crunch to her right caught her attention, and she saw Nero land and roll to a stop with a groan.
Her sword was a couple of meters away as she dropped it as she fell. She picked it up and ran to Nero, feeling pain in her legs, back, and arms. Nothing incapacitating, but she’d be sporting some pretty ugly bruises for sure.
‘Nero, are you okay?’ Nyx asked.
‘Ugh,’ Nero groaned and looked up at her. ‘Never better,’ he said.
Nyx smiled. ‘Good to hear it, I’ll be back,’ she said, and stood up, looking over towards the brute daemon. As she watched, one of the last remaining Dogs jumped out of the wreckage and shot at the creature. The thing flinched before it swept its arm at the man and sent him smashing into a nearby small cliff face.
The daemon roared and continued clawing at the wrecked vehicles. Nyx took a breath and ran in towards the daemon. She was the only one here who could kill the thing, so it fell to her to end this attack before it killed everyone.
As she sprinted in, carrying her sword by the upper part of the blade, she noticed that Nero’s car wasn’t beside the twisted remains of the pickup or flatbed. Looking around as she ran, it suddenly came into view off to her left where it had veered off and come to a stop by hitting a rock. The car didn’t look too badly damaged luckily. As she watched, Cryptus half stepped, half fell out of the driver's side door before he looked up and nodded to Nyx.
Nyx nodded back, spotting Ras moving on the other side of the vehicle.
Looking back the way she was running, she saw Lobos out there now, swinging his sword at the daemon, ducking and dodging the brute’s counterattacks. He was suffering through, and Nyx could see he was favouring one leg and that one of his arms was holding his side.
As she watched, a sloppy dodge meant that the daemon clipped him, sending him spinning and falling to the floor. With a roar, the brute slammed its fist down on top of Lobos. A red mist puffed up around the base of the creature's fist as it roared its defiance.
On the other side of the wreckage, she saw Rex stumbled out, holding a gun. The brute turned towards him and roared again. It tensed, ready to pounce.
‘Hey!’ Nyx shouted, still a few meters off. The brute turned to look, giving Nyx just enough time to close the gap and swing her sword. She slashed at its chest and sliced a large gash in its grey flesh.
The thing bellowed in a surprisingly high-pitched yelp and backed off from her. Nyx smiled. She wondered what Rex thought of what she was doing. Would he think she was saving him? Well, he wasn’t far wrong, but it wasn’t because she was altruistic or anything. No, she just wanted to deal with Rex herself, and nothing, especially no daemon, was going to keep her from that.
The brute roared at her, but looked unsure. She’d hurt it, and it was likely something that had never happened to it before. Naturally, it was concerned. Nyx held her sword up and ready, feeling a rage build up inside of her.
‘Come on!’ she bellowed at the thing. It looked at her, and then around at the scene. Nyx glanced to her right to see Nero up and walking in, taking a wide berth to keep away from the daemon.
‘Oi, don’t look at him, look at me,’ she yelled at it. ‘Come on, you fuck, come and get me,’ she said.
The thing lowered itself to all fours and peered at her before it tensed and sprang forwards. Nyx leapt left, dropped into a roll and came up below and to one side of the beast, swinging her sword up in a great slash.
Dark red, almost black ichor, poured from the wound as the thing roared and skidded to a stop. Nyx spun and swung her blade in a huge arc at the daemon's closest rear leg. The blade sang and nearly cut the limb clean off.
The monster roared. Nyx raised herself up and turned in as the daemon’s head swung in at her, its rows of nightmare-inducing teeth slathered in drool that whipped out as it went to bite her. Nyx stabbed out with her blade and buried it deep into the creature skull, where it froze in place. Its eyes went wide as it gagged on its own blood. The daemon's body spasmed a few times, before emitting its final death rattle and dropping to the floor as Nyx withdrew her blade.
For a moment, she stood there, breathing hard and watched the brute, but it didn’t move. It was quite clearly dead.
Looking up, she saw Nero standing beside Rex. Nero must have disarmed him as he was pointing Rex’s own gun at her former master. Rex knelt on the ground before Nero, his hands on his head, l
ooking up at Nyx with fascination and awe.
‘I knew it,’ he said. I knew there was something different about you, something special. Ever since I took you from your parents, I knew I was right.’
Nero poked the end of the gun he was holding into the back of Nero’s head. ‘Stop mouthing off,’ Nero said.
‘No, it’s fine. Let him talk,’ Nyx called out.
Nero looked up at her with his eyebrows raised. ‘Really?’
Nyx walked over, wiping her sword in her jacket before she addressed Rex. ‘My parents? Tell me about my parents,’ Nyx asked.
She watched as Rex glanced up at the gun Nero was holding before he looked back up at her. ‘What do you want to know?’
‘Anything. Who were they? Where were they?’ she said, feeling a little exasperated by him. He’d never once told her anything about her parents other than to brag about how he’d stolen her mother’s swords and reforged them into her current sword. But now the tables had turned, and she wanted answers.
‘Look, I don’t know much. It wasn’t like I spent any time with them, I just hunted them down. When I spotted you, I knew you would be perfect. I don’t even know if they’re alive. I didn’t kill them. I hurt them, sure, but I didn’t kill them,’ he said.
‘How very charitable of you,’ Cryptus said who’d wandered over and was listening to him.
‘When you spotted me?’ Nyx asked. ‘What do you mean perfect? Perfect for what?’
‘Isn’t it obvious? I mean, look at…Ugh, ack,’ he trailed off, gurgling and struggling for breath. He moved his hands from his head and started to claw his throat trying to get at something. Nyx looked and saw dark shadowy tentacles wrapped around Rex’s neck.
Nyx hesitated, suddenly conflicted about helping him. She wanted him dead, in fact, she wanted to kill him herself, so why stop whatever this thing was, she thought for a moment. He knew more, though. He had been about to tell her something, to explain to her why he’d taken her.
Nyx reached forward and tried to grasp at whatever it was that was strangling him, but her fingers slipped right through it. She could feel it, its coolness, like cold air, but she couldn’t grasp it or hold it.
Liberation (Wasteland Road Knights Book 1) Page 14