GunBarrel Gauntlet: The Last Bronze II

32. The Virgin Road.

Earlier that day, Scratch had driven the unhitched water truck toward the limits of the Gauntlet, unloading three passengers whom had been riding outside the cabin on the fifth wheel coupling. Shamrock, Carrrion, and the Nomad had continued on foot from there, making their way toward Gaswells in the west.

Liu and Socky had remained with Scratch and the others in the cabin, going north to find the 'Virgin Road' that would take them to El Dorado. Apprehensive of becoming entangled with any scouts on the highway lanes, they drove cross-country over the desolate terrain until the glare of noon.

The trail of dust raising behind the truck had summoned an entourage of biker scavengers, gaining ground rapidly as their numbers converged at the rear. Wrenching the steering wheel to the left after he had caught sight of the mirror image, Scratch sent the truck out wide to cross the approaching lanes of the Gauntlet, pulling back on the rim to realign the tyres with a twisting squeal to continue northward.

Scratch kept the truck manoeuvring through and around the attempted blockades of the bikers, drifting over lanes to keep the flat nose of the truck free from their predator tactics.

"They'll keep using our draft to carry themselves, until they're ready to make another attempt." Socky called back over his shoulder, watching the bikers return to the slipstream of the truck through the window. "Keep 'em dancing! Scattered! Don't let 'em organize."

A red light glowed from the console, illuminating the symbol of a fuel can on the petrol gauge.

"No, no, no! Now's not the time to go dry baby. Keep it together, don't quit on me!" Scratch tapped on the gauge glass.

"How long until it's empty?" Leaning closer to the warning light from the sleeper cell behind the row of seats, Liu searched for an answer among the sombre faces.

"Twenty minutes of growl left, I reckon." Socky replied.

"We can't outrun them, we need a better plan than that. Anyone got an idea?"

There was no immediate reply, the occupants of the cabin bracing themselves against being thrown from their seats by another pull on the wheel, leaning the truck frame away from the lengths of spikes being dragged and released from the bikers previously ahead of their position. One of the tyre spike plates had been funnelled under the front left side of the rig, the corner sagging as the rubber blowout exploded with a cough of released air.

"Nobody? Not even Chocky?" Liu asked again.

The puppet swung its wrinkled frown from side to side.

Frantically exploring the spaces of the cabin interior for any help, she stripped the mattress lounge and raised it to uncover a crank rifle they had not found the night before.

"Scratch, don't scatter them anymore," Liu loaded the rotary barrel with a twist. "If I can hit one, they might crash into the others."

Giving a nod of approval, Scratch pumped the gear shaft to reduce speed, falling back into the pack of scavengers that had been nipping at their heels.

Flipping back the roof hatch, her straight hair unravelled in the wild breath of the wind when she raised her eyes high enough to glimpse the spread of the raiders closing in around them.

Panning the barrels across the aft of the unhitched rig, Liu fired into a mass of vehicles, clearing half of them away to awkwardly collapse and fall by the wayside. The moment she reloaded the rifle something bit her shoulder, a grazing bullet wound that made her flinch and misfire.