Wasteland Taxi part 5

Post apocalyptic taxi service

    After some time I was being shaken awake, ripped away from terrible dreams of mutants and raiders.
    "Get'sh up! Hash to get gone now!"
    "How long have I been out?" I mumbled, still half asleep.
    "No time, we go'sh now! Or little girl getsh ouch!"
    The mention of Olivia pulled me closer to consciousness. I sat up and saw Olivia holding my shoes and coat.
    "Here, uncle Clive, put these on. We have to go!"
    "What's going on?" I asked through a groggy haze.
    "Da flesh fixer talked! We'sh gotta get gone, NOW!" Reesh said forcefully while tugging my torso out of the cot. He pushed me towards the stairs and down to the garage. Whatever they'd given me to drink at the flesh fixer's sure was powerful stuff. I was still having trouble shaking to fog away. I was flopped into the back seat of the Super Bee and a quick moment later it's heart thundered to life. I heard Reesh yell a thanks to Weezel and then wer were off.
    The sun shot through the glass and punched me in the face as Reesh drove through the streets, much faster than we had the previous night. We reached the gates in very little time, and Reesh presented the gatehouse guard with the same piece of paper they'd given him. The gate was open and Reesh rocketed down the road, still seeming to be in a hurry. I watched as Wolfcamp disappeared behind us.
    "Too bad we couldn't stay, that was actually a pretty nice place." I said absentmindedly, still a little hung over.
    "Can't. Little girl in danger. Flesh fixer talked. Told bad man'sh about little girl." Said Reesh humorlessly.
    "Wait, what? How did the flesh fixer know about her?"
    "You talksh. Flesh fixer mad about storiesh we saysh. Me tellsh him true."
    "You told him? Why would you do that?" I asked angrily.
    "He flesh fixer. Me tinksh he wanna end shick. Guessh he just wanna getsh rich. Hope Weezel okey dokesh."
    "Don't be mad at him, uncle Clive." Interjected Olivia. "He was just trying to help. What about your hand? Does it hurt?"
    "Yeah, it does actually." I opened the bandages and looked at the stitching the flesh fixer had applied. It seemed like a pretty good job, but the wound was extremely sore, and probably would be for some time.
    We sped across the wasteland for many hours. I drifted in and out of sleep in the back seat. In the afternoon I was awoken by shouting. Olivia and Reesh were yelling over each other about something I couldn't quite make out until I heard Olivia say the words 'behind us'. I turned and looked through the back window.
    My eyes went wide as I saw the five vehicles kicking up a giant cloud of dust as they pursued us. None of them looked as polished or well put together as the Super Bee, but they were all at least as fast. Each vehicle had a driver and a passenger to shoot. Tied to the center vehicle on a long spike was Weezel, looking barely alive. I grabbed Olivia and jerked her into the back seat with my one hand, then dove into the front seat and opened the gun compartment. I pulled out the revolver and saw that the guns were all reloaded. Reesh pulled the caltrop gun from beneath his seat and shoved it into my lap. He looked at me gravely and shouted "Jusht likesh lasht timesh. Waitsh for me to shay, then shoot wheelsh."
    Reesh wrenched the steering wheel hard and the Super Bee slid around in a 180 degree arc to wind up speeding towards our pursuers. We shot straight for one of the attacking machines. I steadied the caltrop gun, waiting for the order to shoot, but this time it didn't come. Instead, Reesh piloted the Super Bee straight on until the other driver lost thier nerve and swerved sideways crashing into another vehicle, causing them both damage, and the other three swung around to follow us. Several metal bolts shot from guns as we passed to imbed themselves into the side of the Super Bee. Reesh howled with anger.
    We spun around again to head back in our original direction as Reesh called out to get ready. I could barely see the other vehicles by this point as there was so much dust in the air. Several more bolts hit the Super Bee. Two of them pierced the windows and stuck into the back of Reesh's seat. I yelled for Olivia to get down and stay down. One of the raider's vehicles appeared as if by magic through the thick cloud of dust on a collision course with us. Reesh nimbly flicked the Super Bee to the Right of the oncoming vehicle and yelled "Now!" as we narrowly avoided hitting them head on. I leaned out and fired the gun, hitting thier front tire squarely. Just before the raider machine disappeared into the dust cloud I saw the back of the vehicle flip up and over the front.
    As we left the dust cloud I saw the lead motor beside us on our right side. Weezel looking at us woefully from the spike on the front of the machine. I wondered for a split second how they had out manuevered us. The driver grinned, a mere three feet away from me. Then the passenger leaned over the driver and my eyes went wide. I ducked just in time for the metal bolt to miss my head. Instead, it shot into Reesh's shoulder. The Super Bee darted left as Reesh recoiled in pain, but we lost no speed. Our vehicle bounced over several sand dunes as Reesh fought to regain control. I reached over to grab the steering wheel and help, but just as I did the Super Bee rocked violently and spun out because another raider motor had hit us when we sped out in front of it. The Super Bee's heart stopped as we came to rest on a dirt pile.
    I looked out the window and saw the vehicle that had hit us had flipped over violently, killing the passenger and wounding the driver badly. Another of the raider motors was racing straight for us. Reesh grabbed the revolver from my hand and pointed it out his window. He waited until the vehicle was nearly on top of us before pulling the trigger. A bolt shot from the gun's barrel and hit the driver right between the eyes. The vehicle slowly drifted to the left with the passenger frantically trying to wrestle control of the motor away from chance until it hit a mound of dirt and rock sending it rolling over and over.
    Reesh turned the key starting up the Super Bee again. He pushed thee floor lever all the way down and tossed the revolver back over to me. Another raider vehicle came up on our left side as we lurched forward. This time, I didn't hesitate. I trained the barrel of the gun on the passenger and fired three times. Reesh didn't even flinch as the three metal spikes flew right past his nose and into the body of the raider. Two in the chest and one in the throat. If it had been target practice instead of survival, I'd really have been impressed with myself. The driver slammed into us and the vehicles seemed locked together. Both drivers fought for control like two gladiators. I shot the last two bolts at the raider, missing with one, but hitting him in the shoulder almost exactly where Reesh had been hit with the other.
    Just as it seemed as though Reesh was gaining the upper hand the Super Bee slammed hard up against the raider vehicle. I turned and saw the raider machine with Weezel tied to it had hit us from the other side, sandwiching us between the two roaring hunks of steel. The driver was still grinning at me and he reached over and plunged a knife into my shoulder. I screamed in agony and the driver gleefully began to twist the blade inside my soft flesh. Suddenly Olivia leapt up from behind my seat and bit the raider's arm hard enough to spill blood. Like a feral little beast she chewed harder making the raider yelp in pain.
    "Get down, Olivia!" I shouted, but she would not let go. The passenger of the raider motor was scrambling over the driver, trying to grab ahold of Olivia and drag her into thier vehicle. I swallowed the pain and reached out to grab another gun. The single shot. The raider driver turned to look at me just in time to see the bolt leave the barrel and pass directly into his eye. The raider's vehicle slowly seperated from ours and sped along veering slowly to the right.
    Reesh, realizing we weren't trapped anymore, hit the floor lever to slow us and crimped the steering wheel to the left. The raider's motor passed us enough for the Super Bee to dive into the back right side of it and send it first spinning, then rolling away. Reesh jerked the vehicle back towards the road. I turned to check on Olivia and saw out the back that the raider machine with Weezel on it had started to move towards us again. The passenger had become the driver and was still coming for us. I pushed Olivia down to the floor again and turned to grab another gun. As I did, Reesh whipped the Super Bee around and stopped, facing the oncoming vehicle. I leaned out the window, spilling my blood down the side, and took aim. That's when I saw it.
    Off in the distance behind the raider vehicle, a huge dust cloud was moving across the waste. There must have been at least two dozen more vehicles loaded with raider's in them coming for us. That's when it hit me. These were just their fastest machines. They weren't meant to stop us, just slow Reesh down long enough for them to catch us. I looked over at Reesh and the look in his eyes told me that even He'd never seen anything like this before.
    "Get in motor!" He shouted at me. "We'sh gotta go'sh!"
    I slipped back in and Reesh spun the Super Bee around and pushed the speed lever down with his foot as far as it would go. We rocketed down the road at top speed. It was clear that we would not be able to outrun the raider with Weezel tied to his motor, however. But if we were to stop to deal with that, the rest would surely be on top of us before we could get away. I took in the worried look Reesh wore, clearly trying to think up a way to get us out.
    "What about the special fuel?" I asked.
    "Can't. Motor'sh heart not repaired enough. Go'sh boom if we'sh doesh dat more."
    "What do we do? How close are we to our destination?"
    "Dish road takesh to shity in 25 mile or sho. We can'sh go'sh fashter dan dem, but not dey'sh fasht motor." Reesh looked at the road with a steel-eyed glare, obviously trying to figure out our situation. His thought process was interrupted when the raider's fast mover slammed up against us again, this time on Reesh's side. The vehicles shoved each other back and forth for a few moments, then Reesh hit the brake lever and turned the steering wheel into the other vehicle, just like last time. This time, however, nothing happened. The two metal machines stayed parallel to each other. Reesh let out an annoyed growl.
    "Dish not okey dokesh. Motor'sh shtuck. Gotshta unshtick. You'sh gotta drive motor."
    "Woah, I have no idea-"
    "Yoush been lookin'. Me seesh you lookin' at me drive. Jusht do dish 'till yoush getsh to shity. Getsh little girl to brain building, no ouch."
    Then, without further ceremony, Reesh pulled himself out the window  onto the two vehicles and began to try to pry them apart. I slid over to his seat trying to figure out what to do next. I pushed the acceleration lever down with my foot. Gripping the steering wheel tight I looked over and saw the raider crawling out of his cab to get at Reesh.
    "Behind you!" I yelled. Just then the two machines separated with Reesh still on the raider's vehicle. It started slowing and drifting off the road with no driver while I helplessly watched the raider decend on Reesh as he pulled the knife from it's hidden sheath on his belt. I looked behind us to see the huge dust cloud in the distance closing in on Reesh.
    "We have to go back and help him!" Shouted Olivia, climbing into the front passenger seat.
    "We can't." I said soberly. "He said to keep going."
    "But they'll kill him!"
    We closed the next 25 miles to the city without ever seeing another raider. The drive was largely spent with me trying to make Olivia understand why we couldn't go back and help Reesh. Eventually she gave up and sobbed quietly to herself.  I felt horrible.
    We arrived at the city in the late afternoon. The residents pointed us in the direction of the research outpost some miles away. We had to abandon the Super Bee, as I couldn't seem to get the hang of driving it with just the one hand. The walk covering the rest of the miles to the outpost were difficult, but I got her there.
    The scientists at the outpost were overjoyed to see Olivia, the first one to make it there. They put Olivia up in better accommodations than I'd ever had before, and offered to do the same for me, but I couldn't stop thinking about Reesh. It was only because of his sacrifice that we'd made it. And I didn't even know if he were alive. As I stared at the Super Bee sitting where we'd left it, I figured I could learn to drive it. Maybe even drive it into the wastes. Maybe even find out what happened to Reesh...

The End.