Highway 8

 

The car had come to rest on its roof. Shattered glass glistened in the moonlight with a sickly red sparkle. The driver was still strapped in and still unconscious.

Zarg-nar's head throbbed, his long black hair was a wet with blood, his long pointed ears could hear them coming, a cacophony of different exhaust notes angrily screaming through the night. He figured he had two minutes.

Looking across the highway he could see 'Sven' his driver.. Idiot. Good plan outrun them then lose it and ditch it into the dirt. He knew his head was bleeding, standing up he realised that nothing was broken. His sidearm was safely in its holster. The shoulder strap to his '681' full-auto shotgun was wrapped around his left hand, the grip in his right, the stock, muzzle and loading breech, nowhere to be seen. 'Shit!'. Stagger. And he had a mild concussion.

Minute ,thirty seconds.

The road, all six lanes was covered in shattered glass and spilt fuel and oil. His only plan involved playing dead, maybe they'll just steal the cargo, a few bits off the car and leave us here to rot. Sven was starting to come to, judging by the screaming he'd broken something. Sven was pinned. In the last couple of rolls the side of the car had caved in. There goes the playing dead plan.

Minute and counting.

The elf popped the boot, an aluminium briefcase fell to the ground, he threw it off the road far into the desert, He found the emergency kit; bandages, flame retardant and a distinct lack of a big gun.

He pulled the caps of the fuel tanks, no way he was letting those vultures get what was left that easy.

Climbing in through the window he quickly searched for another gun..

" Get me out you Elf"

''thought you said you could drive"

'arrrhhh, just get me out of here'

'shut up I'm trying to think.'

'you Elven piece of shit, knew I shouldn't have trusted no stinkin Dark elf', he took a swing at the elf with his free arm.

Zarg moved and threw the bandages at him, then for good measure sprayed him and his open wounds with the fire retardant..

Sven screamed.

 

Twenty seconds. One gun. Six shots. Half baked plan. The elf ran, he ran off the road and along the side of it, towards the approaching headlights.50 meters down he threw himself to the ground, hid and prayed,
'ohfukohfukohfuk'

There were three cars and two 4x4s and a couple of bikes. All built up from parts salvaged from other Runners who had wrecked. They spotted the wreck, slowed and cautiously pulled up next to it. One of the bikes continued down the road, looking for survivors. The other stopped at the back of the group ready to chase down anyone that made a run for it. A gun belt hung over his shoulder with the holster at his chest.

A large ugly human stepped down from the biggest of the 4x4s, to the cheering of his men. He raised his arms in acknowledgement, his men let out another cheer...

The trail bike at the back had no rear view mirrors, for if it had its rider might have seen the elf sneak up on to the road behind him, a silent graceful form illuminated only by a single red brakelight.

No-one heard the riders neck break over the idling engines and celebrating. The elf straddled the bike, pillion, hiding behind riders limp body. He reached around and for the riders gun, checking it, hoping it was of any use.... a useless flare gun....

Road gangs are rarely well equipped. There were 8 men left plus the other rider who wasn't back yet, he had 6 bullets, and now a Flare gun.....

He hoped that Sven was still conscious, he could barely see him move, through haze of all the evaporating fuel. He fired the flare gun at the leaders chest....Setting him on fire, he immediately threw himself at the ground to smother the flames, igniting the fuel spill.

Sven screamed in fear, the flames licking harmlessly around him. Half of the Roadgang were out of their cars celebrating with their 'king', they were incinerated with him.

 

All but one of the cars started to slowly burn. One of the 4X4s started to reverse rapidly to escape the flames, as it sped past the elf fired two single shots. He hit the driver in the head and the Gunner in the chest. It sped backwards out of control the front started to swerve left then to the right and back again, like a snake with it head cut off, it caught the edge of the road the and flipped. It had escaped the fire for now but now its fuel was leaking, it wouldn't be too long.

Kicking down the stand of the trail bike Zarg-nar got off the bike letting the dead rider slump to the ground.

The fuel and the oil continued to burn. Sven had found his extinguisher and was keeping what he could from burning. Luckily the fuel had emptied away from the car.

From one of the burning cars came a shot, it buzzing past the elf's head. Before he had a chance to think about conserving ammunition he'd fired. He was already burning and all he'd done was put him out of his misery..

No time to count. Zarg ran around the burning wrecks, it wouldn't be long before their scout got back. He could see the its headlight flickering, speeding towards him.

The elf ran down the side of the road towards the rider. With the cover of darkness maybe he wouldn't be seen till the last moment.

-----

 

 

The rider sped towards the burning wrecks why should they have all the fun and him have to search through the ashes for left overs. He cracked the throttle open wider. His engine screamed and the wind whistled around his helmet. through the visor he could see that the whole road was a blaze and that it was his gangs car that were burning. From the side of the road he saw a shape. The last thing he did was turn his head to see a black shape lunge a him. His bike sped into the flames.

Zarg-nar fell to the ground with the riders helmeted head still in his hands. He had grabbed it as the bike sped past. Laying next to the helmet was the body of the rider, still attached but at a very unnatural angle..

------

10 minutes later Zarg-nar had managed to free Sven from the wreckage. He had some minor burns on him but nothing too serious, the flame retardant had done its job. However his knee was at least dislocated maybe worse. Between the two of them they had managed to get the dwarf on the last remaining trailbike, changing gears would be difficult but he could do it.. Better yet they were on demonground. At least he still had the cargo.

'Hey elf , how long we got till the scavengers arrive.'

'With a fire that big, 20 minutes till another Road gang gets here. No doubt every scavenger for miles in every direction is gonna be here in an hour. But by 1am the road will look like nothing ever happened. On the bright side all the bits of what's left of your car will be back on sale at greasy Als back at the 'Gate in a week", the elf had finished the splint " and maybe you can buy it back for or a gold coin or two, that's double what you paid for it huh"

"Stuff you"

"Hey you wrecked it on a dead straight road... "

"I saw something so I swerved"

" yeah its black its called road"

" If you hadn't shot that guys Gunner' they wouldn't have chased us"

"They were already chasing us, and he was about to shoot me."

"Like I said you wouldn't be in this mess. If you were already dead, and I could have sold them your ears or something"

The elf blinked at the dwarf's logic wondering what what a dwarven skull would fetch on the open market..

"Well lets see we were 2-3 hours out of the gate. Puts us 300 mile in give or take. 500 to go 200 of that true demonground... or we turn around and go back through every mutant scavenger with eyes and nothing to do on the plain

"We have 3 bullets, a dwarf with a broken leg, a potty mouth and shit for brains. One trailbike, some fuel, and that rolled 4x4 we might be able to get some fuel out of", he motioned to the 4x4 down the road he'd shot at earlier. Which had just started to burn.. "...Why did I get you out first??", he cursed

" why don't you have more bullets for that piece of shit. "

"It's a six shooter, they don't make bullets for these any more and I only got 6 cartridges for it that I keep reloading. It's the only legal firearm back in town, it keeps the sheriff happy. So where's your gun hop-along"

"You know good Runners don't carry guns, there too distracting, how you gonna steer and shoot at the same time...Thats what punks like you are for"

"You mean the sheriff took it.."

"grr".

 

------------

She was too scared to scream. Too scared to run. The car's interior was already burning. But she could still see them, they had to be waiting for her, talking about her.. The flames started to get too close. It was time to run, but her courage had long failed. It made sense to run but she couldn't, her fear was her jailer.

Somewhere in the darkness awaited an entity, a vile twisted evil. It craved consciousness, it craved form, it was bored. It wanted to feel. It wanted to eat. It wanted to smell, to taste. It wanted to kill.

It could feel its new vessel's mind leaving, it could hear her silently screaming in her head. It knew the time was near, as her sanity leaves it will take her form.

-----------

Between the two of them they had managed to get the dwarf on to the bike and were figuring out how to both fit on. The elf may have thought the dwarf an idiot but at this point he was his only ally, and the only one who knew how to ride this thing.

"Elf put my foot on this.. The gear shift, not that."

Boom!

Torn metal flew in all directions. One of the cars tanks must have cooked off. They were far enough away for it the shrapnel not to hit them, but the noise and the heat wave did.

'Well that scared the shit out me, I'm gonna need new pants when I get back to the Gate.'

The elf just shook his head, thankfully he hadn't heard the dwarf his ears were still ringing.

 

'I feel really weird. A bit light headed, bit emotional. Can you feel it too'

'Magic weird?' asked the elf

'yeah, can you feel it .'

'No, Dark Elves have little affinity with magic, means where in Demonground Proper, shit is about to get weird'

'I thought dark elves were the most powerful wizards on the planet"

The elf grinned ear to ear,'That's what we want you to think'.

----------

When the 4x4 had flipped a chunk of twisted metal had embedded into her. The agony distracted her from where she was. She had lived through a lot these last three weeks, the only thing that kept her sane was remembering the good times with her father on the farm, it kept her mind off these 'men'. They were dead now so they didn't matter anymore, she had sort of liked the one with the gaping head wound, he'd almost been nice to her. She could see straight into his head now, it was almost funny.

Boom!

Instantly she realised where she was what had happened and that she was going to die an agonising and painful death, cremated alone and unloved in a steel coffin. It pushed her mind over the edge.

Fgethgthn stepped in, it was a shame his 'Ride' was injured but he could heal that, he could feel the tingle of energy of the demongrounds. The power coursing through his new found veins. She kicked the back door off the the 4WD that had been her prison, these last few weeks.

--------

 

The elf saw it first, the back door of the 4x4 fly open, off its hinges. A girl stepped clear of the vehicle into the flames, the flames gently licked around her, dying down letting her pass. A large hunk of steel protruded from her left hip, it made her limp but it really didn't bother her. She walked towards them her face distorted by a maniacal grin.

'Back to the gate NOW!!', yelled the elf

The dwarf turned to look at what the elf could see, it was a girl, the poor thing must have been being kept for 'amusement' by the road gang, bastards. Her dress was torn, burnt and bloodied and she had half healed bruising around one of her eyes.. Poor thing. How could any one harm one so innocent.

'Its not fair!!' sobbed the dwarf

'Snap out of it, don't lose it, not out here'.

'We gotta help her'

"RIDE!!!"

Fgethgthn could see them, he would make them pay for what had happened to the little girl, someone had to pay. Did it really matter who? He looked down and saw the twisted chunk of steel in her leg,

'That.... will do nicely' he though to himself, sa he reefed it out and hefted it like a club.

"RIDE...!! Oh god no!" screamed the elf

The dwarf's eyes pitied the little girl. Then the elf said something that made sense. "Go get help" ....Yeah he could do that, ride off back the Gate and get help.. He could be back in a day or three.

The bikes engine screamed and the dwarf tore off down the road. Leaving the Dark Elf behind. Alone.

 

Alone the elf stood his only friends three bullets and a shiny aluminium brief case.

His only question: who to put the bullets in?

 

************

A month later back at Gauntlets Gate..

"And that's why I don't trust Dwarves got it!!! And none of you can drive!!"

"Yeah Mate but it's an easy run, nuffin will happen, mate, anyway yous can't get a job around here", pleaded the dwarf. "Sven told everyone it was you that lost the cargo to some demon on that last run",

The Elf absentmindedly caressed the handle of the pistol that sat in his holster where his six-shooter used to sit and smiled to himself.

"How much you paying?"