Author’s Notes:
Thanks to all who took the time to stop by and comment last time: Jordon Johnson, Coronado, DarcKnyt, Glenn, Toothy, Ballsack McNasty, Chad, & Tyler. You guys are great.
For those of you who haven’t read any of the Journey Of St. Laurent before: You are now reading an online serial pulp novel. If you didn’t start at the beginning, you may want to do so. Chapter 1: Down By The Bay. This serial is the sequel to my first novel, Oasis.
Chapter 25 – Road Rage
The report of the rifle was loud and sharp enough that it felt like I was being slapped with each shot. The spent casings flew past my face.
Five shots taken, and five shots hit.
The little craft sparked and sputtered with each impact, and then its nose dipped.
Again the avocado thing fired. My ears were ringing loud enough that I have no idea if it made a noise. All I know is that a puff of blueish smoke spat out the barrel and a chunk of pavement somewhere between us and the ship exploded.
My heart leaped. She got it. It can’t raise its front end to shoot at us.
Of course, that only took care of one immediate problem. Each moment we stayed still meant the lights overhead would flicker that much faster. When they got going fast enough, we would die.
No time to celebrate. I cranked the wheel again and hit the gas.
The damaged avocado still kept after us, but it was much more wobbly in its flight pattern.
I raced for the freeway, hoping maybe to outrun the damaged smaller craft. Then I’d only have to worry about the big UFO.
London fiddled with a new clip and tried to get her brother’s attention.
Michael was in pretty bad shape. His head was bobbing up and down as the Jeep bounced along. His eyes were empty and glassed over. The vomit on his pants was drying quickly. He was completely shell shocked and unresponsive.
He’ll need help, and soon.
In a heartbeat, we were accelerating up the onramp. The little Jeep groaned as we neared top speed.
Perhaps other drivers saw the UFO coming and were able to get out of the way, but the freeway was deserted, except for the occasional wreck that had limped it’s way to the shoulder before being abandoned.
I glanced in the rear view mirror. It was a little disappointing, but not entirely surprising. The smaller ship kept pace just fine.
My mind raced. We couldn’t drive forever and as soon as we stopped we would die. Maybe if I could find a way to drop off London and Michael, then I could lead the UFOs away with the Jeep. Of course, that still left the little issue of figuring out how to save my own life.
It wasn’t a great plan, but it was the only one I could come up with.
I touched the side of London’s leg to get her attention. “Gather everything up.”
“Why?”
“We’re not going to be able to lose them. We have to do something before we run out of gas.”
“What are you thinking?”
I glanced over my shoulder. The little ship was edging closer. It was near enough behind us that I couldn’t see much of it. Close enough to possibly shoot out a tire. My brain switched gears and I had an idea.
“Seat belt.”
“What?”
“Just get your seatbelt on.”
London sat down and pulled on the belt.
“Hold on everybody!” I braced myself with both hands on the steering wheel and hit the brakes.
The Jeep skidded and pulled to the left as we dropped speed.
Maybe it was the damage that had already been done by London’s shooting. Maybe it wasn’t built for chasing cars. I don’t know. What I do know is that the floating death avocado was not able to compensate and it plowed itself right into the trailer hitch with a scraping clank.
The Jeep lurched forward with the collision and pushed the rear end skidding to the right.
I let off the brake and cranked the wheel to the right, hoping to pull out of the skid.
The Jeep straightened and the little UFO was no longer in view. I hit the gas again to see if I could get a glimpse of the damage done to the stupid ship. It was no use. It stayed in a blind spot, too close for me to see.
A moment later, I figured out why I couldn’t get any distance on it.
The back end of the Jeep started to shake, and it felt like somebody was putting on the brakes for me.
It’s stuck on the hitch.
We passed another abandoned car and London hit my arm. The look on her face was a twist of fear and excitement. “That thing, it’s stuck. Ram it into that.”
I let the little UFO do the work of slowing us down before throwing the Jeep into reverse.
The big UFO never let us get out from underneath it. The lights flashed on and off, a constant reminder of what was going to happen to us even if we did manage to ruin the smaller ship.
First things first.
The little ship continued to jerk left and right in an effort to dislodge.
I punched it when we were thirty feet away or so and backed straight into the grill of an already wrecked minivan.
This impact whipped my head back and chattered my teeth.
I was grateful that the Jeep was old enough not to have any airbags. They would have gone off twice now.
There was no time to survey damage to us or the little UFO. I just had to hope that as I drove away I’d see a little pile of space guacamole on the side of the road.
No such luck.
As I pulled away, I could hear a horrible scraping of metal.
I looked back again. “Either something is very wrong with our ride, or that thing’s dead and we’re just dragging it now.” I prayed it was the latter.
The little UFO scraped and bounced off the pavement for a good two miles before it finally dislodged and rolled to the side of the road.
If the big UFO hadn’t still been menacing over us, I would have given a shout for joy.
The big UFO.
How in the world was I going to shake it?
I wasn’t. That’s all there was to it.
Still, I wasn’t about to give up.
My original plan seemed best- leave London and Michael near the freeway and lead the UFO away. I just couldn’t come up with the part that would leave me alive.
“London, put everything you can into that little duffel with my clothes.”
“What are you thinking?”
“That thing is not going to give up. I’m going to try to lead it away. I want you to take everything you can with you.”
“I’m not leaving you-”
“We don’t have a lot of choice just now. And technically, I’ll be leaving you. When you don’t meet your dad, he’ll probably come this way looking for you. ”
I glanced over at her.
She was staring at me. Her jaw was set and there were tears in her eyes.
“And look, I don’t care what you have to do to convince your dad, but this cooler needs to be taken to Alan Jex, do you understand? I know he’s a little nuts, but he’ll at least know what to do with the stuff inside.”
She looked away. “Fine.”
“You promise?”
“Yes, I promise.”
She rummaged about and jammed the extra ammo, the radio, and what was left of our meager provisions into the bag.
We were soon out of the populated area. Trees grew in clumps and greenery stretched out to the sides of the freeway. Far off to the right I could see more water.
The Baytown area was apparently bordered by water on two sides. Up ahead, the shoreline drew closer to the road, only a couple of hundred yards away. Where the shoreline was closest was also a small exit with a road that veered left, bridged over the freeway and went inland.
I pointed to it. “That’s the place. I’ll let you guys off and you hide under there.”
London’s jaw was still set and the corners of her mouth were turned down, but she nodded.
We were there in no time. I slammed on the brakes and stopped under the overpass.
London tossed the little duffel bag on the ground and then the gun.
I grabbed the cooler with the virus and hopped out to set it down.
The UFO’s angry lights lit ground outside the shadow of the overpass.
No time. Gotta move.
I hopped in the back and undid Michael’s seat belt.
London held up her arms. “Just hand him down.”
I hoisted him down into his sister’s arms.
“Now get out of here!”
I jumped into the front seat and put the pedal to the floor.
Bits of road debris spat out behind me as the tires got traction.
I spared a look back and felt a pang of sadness that I probably wouldn’t ever see them again.
In fact, I was pretty certain that I wouldn’t see anybody ever again.
Keep reading! Chapter 26 is here.
