“No,” John said firmly as a revving engine cut through the air, “we’re all coming for this ride.”
“Fair enough,” Aaron nodded, “but what about Bobbie there?”
“He’s coming too,” Candice informed him.
“Are you being serious?” he asked with a throw of his head.
“Bobbie rides with us,” John reinforced. “We’re all off the map with no guarantees of making it to another dawn, so from here on in this cat and me are joined at the hip.”
“In that case,” Aaron laughed, “time to kit up.”
He walked to the rear of the truck and slid out a steel drawer from beneath the tray. With quick and sure hands he issued green coloured helmets fitted with air filters to each of them before grabbing one for himself.
“These aren’t just for protection,” he explained. “They’ve got a four channel split with a range of a mile or so, that’s assuming they’ll work up there, so keep your ears on and tap the left button to switch frequencies. As for the visor,” he held his helmet out and flicked down a glass shield, “tap the right button for night vision and tap it again for thermal. Weapons are already loaded and waiting inside the cabin. I know this doesn’t sound nice, but if killing isn’t your thing then maybe this ride’s not for you.”
“If killing means the difference between living or dying,” Candice said with a deep breath, “I can assure you living is my preferred option.”
“You took the words right outta my mouth,” Vanessa confirmed with conviction.
John took a step forward as a fresh round of chills rocked his bones. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
“Not without this,” Aaron said, reaching back into the drawer and handing John a canvass pouch clipped to a long strap. “It’s made to hold ammunition but I guess now Bobbie can claim it. It’s gonna be one hell of a rough ride and I can’t risk a cat bouncing under my pedals.”
John slipped the strap around his neck as Candice nestled Bobbie into the open pouch. It was a little too small but it would do, and as if sensing things were about to get out of control he buried his head and used his paws to cover his ears. John checked that the strap would be strong enough and figured it would take a blow torch to cut it loose.
One after the other soldiers began jumping from the ladder to the floor to load into the vehicles, sending doors slamming and engines revving. The clock was officially ticking. Aaron raced around to the driver’s door and, before John could raise a protest, Vanessa jumped into the passenger seat and slid into her helmet. I guess we’ve got the back seats, he figured.
Candice made a quick dash to the other side of the vehicle, opened the passenger door and jumped in. Meanwhile, John took one last look around at what had earlier almost become a concrete tomb and then slid into the back seat. With heart racing and mind electric, he pulled the door closed and jammed the helmet on his head.
“Everyone hear me okay?” Aaron asked through the comms.
They all nodded with thumbs pointed up.
“Good. Now strap in tight ‘cause this is gonna be one helluva bumpy ride.”
“I don’t know if now’s a good time to bring this up,” Candice said behind her helmet, “but this complex of yours is part of the coastline, and that means depending on the impact location the ride might be bumpier than you think.”
With hands resting on the wheel Aaron looked back over his shoulder. “Don’t worry, my days in combat taught me expecting the unexpected isn’t as important as preparing for the unexpected.” He tapped a finger against the side of his helmet and grinned. “Up here there are a whole stack of mistakes I’ve made, and none of them I plan on doing again. Trust me.”
Suddenly the red lights overhead began to pulse, causing a strobe like effect to wash through the interior. Aaron hit the ignition and joined the rumbling machine chorus that echoed along the walls like fierce animals ready to strike. Several soldiers stood by the control panel with assault rifles strapped to their chest. One of them, a woman in a stained white singlet and a helmet scrawled with signatures, raised a palm and closed it twice in quick succession.
“Two minutes to take off,” Aaron relayed.
“I hope they serve meals on this flight,” Vanessa joked while quietly gripping the sides of her seat.
Behind them John looked across to Candice and wondered if they’d ever have the chance to do something normal like spending a day in bed with bad movies and the kind of snacks that left crumbs on the pillows. He knew the answer of course, but then there was always hope. After all, what was the damn point of anything if a little hope wasn’t in the equation?
“I know what you’re thinking,” Candice said softly, “and somehow, regardless of all this insanity, we’ll find a way.”
John winked ever so slightly as Bobbie’s ears pricked up. “If not,” he said, “it was all worth it anyway.”
Darkness hit in an instant, and with it came a sudden barrage of thunderous drums and frantic guitars that shook the concrete walls and fought valiantly against the sound of the revving engines.
“Sixty seconds!” Aaron called out.
“What’s with the music?” Vanessa yelled.
“Don’t you love it? It’s the soundtrack to the apocalypse!”
Luminescent green lights erupted across the dash signalling a range of diagnostics and power conditions. The music grew louder and faster as headlights began to light up the massive steel barrier. The soldier with the signature strewn helmet seemed to glow like a rugged angel as she signalled a ten second countdown with her fingers, while in the back seat John reached for one of the handguns strapped to the rear of Aaron’s chair.
Seven seconds.
He double checked the clip and ensured Bobbie was tucked in tight, then reached across to squeeze Candice’s hand. Without saying a word she brought his fingers to her helmet and closed her eyes for the briefest of moments.
Three seconds.
The engine was a rabid demon now, screaming and snarling at the chance to break loose with enough force to rock the frame from side to side. Aaron locked his fingers around the wheel with all the grit and determination he could summon and held his breath for a tingling rush of carbon dioxide. The accelerator itched beneath his boot.
One second.
Vanessa pushed back into the seat, stared straight ahead with wide open eyes and whispered beneath her helmet.
“God have mercy on us all…”
Zero count.
The guitars wailed, the drums thundered and the steel blockade fell forward in a shower of sparks that came rushing towards them like remnants of an exploding sun. All twelve vehicles, lined in two rows of six, screamed with a mechanical fury as the thick bullet proof tires erupted with a war chant of burning rubber and thick black smoke. Aaron slammed his foot down on the pedal and yelled at the top of his lungs, not a command or run of words but a primal release that tore at the back of his throat.
With a force worthy of an aircraft takeoff they launched forward, bouncing along the steel and up towards the surface along a wide ramp cut into the earth. For a few seconds there was only a darkness lit by swirling sparks and searing headlights as they ploughed forward in the tunnel, enraged metal abreast metal hitting higher and higher speeds. John could feel the adrenaline burning the back of his eyes as the weight of his body slammed back against the mesh covered leather with enough force to send a jolt of pain up his spine. It was total disorientation with nothing in the way of bearings. He was on the ride of a lifetime with no chance to get off.
With a twist of his neck he stared frantically through the windscreen, searching for the slimmest of signs of what the day had become but finding no light at the end of the rising tunnel. The truck began to bounce and shake as the surface became dirt and rock, thick clouds of dust erupting all around them and blanketing the windows like demonic storm clouds. It got so bad that John couldn’t see the other vehicles even though they were less than an arm’s length away either side.
“Any second now,” Aaron called back, his right hand flicking a cap off of the shifter to reveal a red button while beside him Vanessa lurched forward with hands pushed up against the dash. “There,” he said with a nod of his head, “look up ahead and tell me what you see.”
The angle of the tunnel surface lifted even sharper and combined with the manic velocity and bone numbing vibrations it was becoming impossible to move, but John somehow managed to edge forward for a better view. The sword like beams of light still pushed into nothing but darkness, until all of a sudden they didn’t. Out of the dust swirled void a shape began to form and in an instant he felt his stomach fall away. They were headed straight for a wooden wall and Vanessa took the words right out of his mouth.
“What the fuck is that?” she yelled.
“I suggest bracing yourselves,” Aaron said with a strangely calm focus, “because that there is our exit.”
“That’s a god damn wall!” Vanessa screamed back.
“Not for long,” Aaron hissed through gritted teeth.
John covered Bobbie’s head with one hand and reached across for Candice with the other as the wall came rushing towards them.
“Ignition!” Aaron cried out, hammering down the red button on the shifter with his thumb.
There came a sudden, ear splitting whine and the truck exploded forward with such lightning speed it was a wonder they were still making contact with the ground. Countless tons of reinforced metal violently ploughed into the wall, through the wall, in a shower of ruptured wood and splinters that bounced against the frame like concrete hailstones as the dust was sucked away in an instant by a hurricane strong wind that bellowed like the monster that it was.
The vehicle jerked and bucked, forcing Aaron to struggle with all of his might for control, but just as the last of the wood flew from the windscreen and the ability to see returned the sight that struck their eyes filled the cabin with instant panic as a surge of angry water crashed around them. They were blind again as the windows became drenched with foaming and dirt ridden thrashings of the ocean, wave after wave of water that threatened to completely engulf them.
“The engines going to flood!” Candice said breathlessly, her window quick to darken beneath the water.
“Don’t worry,” Aaron called over his shoulder while punching a series of buttons on the dash, “this isn’t your standard family car.”
The interior shuddered and the engine seemed to change tone. Even though their speed had dropped and they were still on an incline with gravity and water pushing against them, the truck defied the odds and fought like a salmon moving upstream until with a whining surge they punched up to level ground. Clear now of the decline waterfall Aaron brought the vehicle to a halt as all around him the metal entourage did the same, leaving the engine to idle as wipers across all the windows scraped away the mud to let in the light of day. It was, they were quick to discover, a day like no other.
As a howling, thrashing wind that turned the low lying water into whipping mists snarled at the vehicles, they each leaned closer to the thick glass and stared up at a sky that looked as though it were on fire. Enormous black and grey clouds filled with smoke and debris towered in all directions, transforming the late morning into a morbid dusk like scene aglow with reds and oranges. The sun was nowhere to be seen as relentless sheet lightning erupted in shimmering lines along the bellies of the clouds, igniting cocktails of gases that responded with wave like flashes of strange pinks and electric blues. If it weren’t for the familiar trees and long grass that swayed violently to and fro beneath the light show, they could easily imagine having landed on another planet.
“Would you look at that…” Aaron muttered.
“There’s something real wrong with that sky,” Vanessa said nervously with nose press against the glass. “Looks like some kinda machine gone bad.”
Candice brought a hand to her heart and stared through the window with mouth held open in disbelief. Razor blades tore through her chest as she tried to imagine her parents surviving all that had befallen the city. Sitting rigid in the back seat she was sure of one thing, and it left her mind numb to any attempts at processing. Her ticket to the apocalypse had been punched and the show had only just begun.
“So much electricity,” she said as machine gun like thunder exploded all around them. “It’s as if the whole atmosphere is being torn open.”
“I don’t wanna know what happens if it does get ripped apart,” John muttered into his helmet while surveying the surroundings. As far as he could tell they were in a field of some kind with thrashing palm trees and thick tall grass. To the left and right the entourage of vehicles revved and rumbled, dark windows giving away no secrets as to the emotions inside.
He was sure the ocean lay to the far right but there was no way to be certain thanks to dark and electric cloud bands that seemed to stretch from the heavens to the earth, and so turned away from the window. “I don’t want to state the obvious,” he said, “but sitting here like this might not be our best option.”
“This is an end of the world party,” Aaron replied. “The least we can do is wait for all the guests to arrive.”
A heavy rain began to fall, pounding against the windows and ricocheting off the metal into a steamy mist. All around them lightning continued to set fire to the sky with explosions of colour in stark contrast to the demonic black and grey covering. With the sound of relentless thunder and rain flooding their senses it was almost a strangely peaceful moment to be sitting there, as though a symphony of destruction somehow soothed an inner longing buried deep in primal urges. Perhaps, John thought, like the way loud crashing waves could carry him across the wall of sleep.
“If you ask me the party kicked off without us,” he said.
Aaron managed a chuckle at the comment and then swiped at a screen set in the centre of the wheel.
“Everyone got their ears on?” he asked into his comms.
Interior speakers crackled to life in response.
“Roger that.”
“You betcha.”
“This is some bad fucking beach weather…”
Aaron waited for all audio confirmations before continuing.
“This is a one way holiday. We get to the location and lock that fucker down. I’ll be taking the bird so make damn sure it’s too hot for company, and don’t forget… oh shit! We’ve got company!”
A swarm of lights appeared through the rain straight ahead, glowing orbs with thin halos that grew brighter and brighter. How many were there? Fifteen? Twenty? It was impossible to tell as the darkness of the storm began to illuminate with their approach.
“Party time!” Aaron called out, slamming the truck into gear and sending a rooster tail of mud and grass to shoot from the rear tires.
A hot round of bullets slammed into the vehicle’s frame and windows, sparks whizzing from the metal and small white dots splattering across the glass. Nothing penetrated though, and Aaron led the charge with the roar of machines shattering the air either side.
With one desperate hand on the wheel to steer the rocking truck he reached down and toggled a set of switches, activating a video feed on the small central monitor. A fraction of a second later an alarm began to sound and he punched a red button. Two red tailed missiles launched from the front grill, cutting through the rain and rushing towards the incoming lights with a blur, and almost instantly sending liquid like fireballs to roll up towards the electric sky.
John’s eyes widened with adrenaline and surprise as the accompanying vehicles launched a barrage of rockets in quick succession, screaming whistles just audible before splitting the air and slamming into military metal with multiple detonations lighting up the area in a wash of bright orange fire. Black smoke danced in the fierce winds before being sucked up into the foreboding sky, and now the party guests could be seen. Whatever power had just been unleashed wasn’t enough, as a swarm of arm
our plated SUV’s bounced and shuddered towards them with increasing speed.
“You’re headed straight for them!” Vanessa cried out.
“The only way out is through them,” Aaron snarled.
“Through them? How the hell we supposed to get through them?”
“With a little faith.”
“You think Jesus got anything to do with this?” Vanessa yelled as another wave of bullets rattled the truck and a rocket exploded to their left, shattering the earth and sending the vehicle beside them to launch into the air before crashing down and rolling end over end.
“Hell,” Aaron barked, “Jesus and his angels aren’t built for this” His arm shot forward and pointed in the distance. “They are though.”
Through the storm they rode, dance partners of death on modified quad bikes that chewed through the thick grass as a mere afterthought, spraying water in all directions. From the left and right they came like bandits after gold, only for the Abyss Jumpers the treasure to be gained was knowledge that the end of life was not just a quiet final gasp but the chance to propel humanity into a realm that cradled the cosmic birth and death of stars.
With gun held tight John leaned forward to widen his view. A quick rough count told him there were at least fifteen or so of them, the numbers balanced either side so that their approach mimicked stretching wings, and he estimated that the line of Metal Rebellion vehicles were a mile or so from the party crashers and closing in fast. In less than a minute they would be grill to grill.
There was no reprieve from the bullets and Candice couldn’t help but shield her face, sure that the glass was going to shatter any second, yet between shaking fingers she watched as the bikes raced into their direct path.
“Are they crazy?” she stammered.
“No,” John answered as the truck shook them in their seats, “they’re making their peace.”
“It’s judgement time!” Aaron yelled with a fist punching up to the roof.
A drum roll of thunder cracked open the sky with enough force to drown out the engines for a heartbeat or two, as the Abyss Jumpers raced through the needle like rain and fell into formation to lead the Metal Rebellion charge towards the oncoming swarm of bullet spitting and rocket spewing machines. Lightning flashed, mud exploded and the winds screamed for the apocalyptic soldiers as they aimed their bikes straight for metal on metal oblivion and embraced the shower of red hot bullets.
The Hallucigenia Project Page 72