Hope you guys have all had a great week! I’m really chuffed so many of you have voted for your pics in the monthly newsletter, it’s taken me most the week to reply to all the entries and there’s still a few days left if you haven’t made your choice yet! And here is Chapter Eighteen ? Please remember this is a rough draft, and as the author I own FULL copyright to it. This work may not be copied/shared in any manner other than a link to this blog. Thanks and Enjoy
Chapter Eighteen
Ally’s heart thudded away madly, far more anxious about driving the strange terrain vehicle than disposing of the ten humans. Pressing the two handles forward increased the speed which she did with caution. The tunnel lights flickered and that suddenly made her realise.
She hadn’t heard any cutting when she’d went back to the vehicle with the microscope.
The raiders had discovered the second entrance.
Slowing the vehicle at that realisation, she tensed as they rounded the corner.
Light streamed into the tunnel from the cleared away entrance. Bringing the vehicle to a stop a few meters away from that channel of sunshine, Ally stared at the open exit and chewed her lip.
‘Can’t stop Ally belly,’ Eoin said in that ridiculous singsong voice. ‘Need to leave.’
She frowned at him while he smiled dreamily back at her.
‘Pretty eyes,’ he said before his head lolled back, face sagging with exhaustion.
With an exasperated exclamation she shook her head, refocusing. She knew they couldn’t stop, but dammit she needed him with his full mental capacity!
‘I can’t do this shit,’ she mumbled under her breath hands humming with anxiety. ‘This is NOT my area!’
‘Can too,’ Eoin slurred. ‘Clfver Ally.’
Taking a shuddering breath Ally resisted unclipping herself and hugging him tight. The image of him, blood pouring from his body, wouldn’t leave the back of her brain and she needed, NEEDED, to focus on driving. With another hard breath in and out and a white knuckled grip on the two handles, Ally gritted her teeth and eased the vehicle out of the tunnel.
Gunfire erupted around them, bullets pinging off the plasoglass windscreen. Ally just muffled a shriek of surprise but froze, mind suddenly blank.
A hand thumped over hers and her head jerked sideways to meet Eoin’s half open, yet still definitely worried, eyes.
‘Go!’ He pushed her hand down.
The vehicle reacted in an instant hurtling off into the jungle. With a proper shriek this time, flinching and head jerking instinctively from side to side, Ally attempted to steer them through the tangled mass of trees, vines and dense bushes. A glimpse in the narrow mirror that ran the full width of the vehicle roof showed two raider vehicles, the hacked up varieties she was used to. But then where the hell was the other one she’d seen?
Just as the thought occurred to her a shuddering blow sent their vehicle sprawling, alarms sounding around their heads.
‘UNDER ATTACK! MOVING TO DEFENSE PROTOCOL’
The handles shuddered beneath Ally’s grip then to her horror began drawing back into the dash.
‘No! NO! Come back!’
Another explosion rocked them in their seats. The dashboard flashed with red lights.
‘ENTER COORDINATES FOR ESCAPE!’
Ally gaped at the dash, proper terror making her body seem frozen.
Eoin, however, reacted and lurched as far forward as his straps would allow. Still in that sing-song voice, he called out a bunch of numbers that didn’t make any sense to Ally in the moment.
The vehicle shuddered and shuddered again then began vibrating.
‘Eoin!’ Ally shrieked. ‘What did you DO?’
Before her eyes the metallic sides of the vehicle began to spread, sliding solidly up and over the plasoglass, leaving them nothing but a slit to see out of. The seats they were in jerked up and clunked into place in the very center of the now sphere shaped vehicle. The staccato sound of bullets pinging off the exterior pitched higher against the metal surface while Ally and Eoin swung in their seats that hung suspended in the middle. Abruptly, the sphere shaped vehicle began to roll. The rectangular view hole showed the outside as a blur of green, jungle flashing past. Around them they could hear the furious roar of the raider vehicles fighting to keep up to speed while navigating the numerous hazards.
Another explosion sounded beside them, but it didn’t rattle them, the vehicle just bounced along going with the motion. Swinging from their seats in the middle, Ally and Eoin clung tight to the straps that held them to the seats.
The flashing alarms on the dash had calmed down, now only one flashing. Ally realised the dash showed a digital image of the vehicle and its surroundings. The occasional flashing that appeared showed hazards to avoid.
‘INCOMING MISSILE. EVASIVE ACTIONS PROCEEDING’
The sphere jerked to the side and a second later a heavy eruption flared out, the fire licking the edges of their view. Another jerk followed and another, then an abrupt change in direction. As they did an explosion rang out.
‘TWO PURSUERS REMAIN. FIVE MINUTES TILL CLEAR FOR LAUNCH’
‘Launch?’ Ally asked with alarm, clinging to her seat. ‘What do you mean LAUNCH?’
‘NOT POSSIBLE. FOUR MINUTES TILL LAUNCH’
‘No! No! We don’t want to launch!’ Ally shouted at the voice that emitted from the dash. ‘Just get us out of here!’
‘COMMAND ACCEPTED’
‘We’re launching,’ Eoin said with a sleepy grin at Ally. ‘Weeeeee!’
Ally gave a half gulped laugh that ended with a sob. Then another explosion shook them.
‘ONE PURSUER REMAINS. TWO MINUTES TILL LAUNCH’
Heart in her mouth, Ally swallowed hard and hung on. The explosion behind them sent a hail of body parts, both vehicle and human raining down on them. Sunlight was visible ahead. They were almost out of the jungle.
Seconds later the sphere burst through the green and skidded to a halt. Ally groaned as the seats slid back to where they’d originally been with a heavy clunk. Stomach lurching from the ride, Ally felt even sicker as the metal covers slid away from the plasoglass.
Five raider vehicles surrounded them.
‘Oh no,’ she groaned, heart sinking.
The vehicles all held rockets of various types, not to mention at least four raiders apiece. Hands beginning to tremble, Ally gaped at them all, her mind desperately trying to plan an escape.
‘Prodidi,’ bellowed one of the human’s through a small device that projected their voice loud enough to rattle Ally’s teeth. ‘Prodidi!’
‘They want us to give up,’ Eoin said in that happy voice that seemed entirely inappropriate given the circumstances.
‘I know!’ Ally snapped, still thinking rapidly.
A vibration made them look at each other in surprise. The sound grew slowly drowning out the human still shouting at them.
‘Eoin! Did you touch something?’
‘Noooo. I swear!’
‘I mean it! DID YOU TOUCH SOMETHING?’
‘Nope!’
‘GODDAMMIT STOP SMILING!’ Ally broke off her tirade with a true shriek of horror as the vehicle lifted off the ground. ‘OH NO! Eoin! What’s happening!?’
Flashes of light exploded around them as the humans all launched their rockets simultaneously at the vehicle that now hovered above the ground, rocking sickeningly with each explosion.
‘LAUNCHING’ intoned the droll voice from the dash.
Ally lost her voice completely as the vehicle smoothly shot up.
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