I slapped the wires together once more.
More sparks, but no engine.
“Still nothing!” I gasped.
Keep trying until you get it! Karla ordered.
The next time I touched the wires, the engine roared to life, and for a brief second, I felt a wave of relief wash over me. Then the engine died, and my relief turned to despair.
“I’m gonna have to fight them off,” Natalie gulped as she cocked her rifle and aimed toward the beach. “They’re almost here.”
“Come on, you little bitch… ” I grumbled. “Work!”
This time, I slammed the two slivers of copper together so hard I worried they’d break, and sparks flew out of the wires as the engine turned over and then roared to life.
This time, it stayed alive.
“Yes!” I fist-pumped into the air.
“Celebrate later,” Natalie commanded as she pushed me out of the way.
The blonde woman threw the rifle back over her shoulder, jumped up into the driver’s seat, and then positioned herself firmly behind the wheel.
Meanwhile, I dashed over to the other side, hopped into the second chair, and fastened my seatbelt.
Did it work? Karla asked.
“It worked,” I confirmed, “but we’re not out of the woods yet.”
And that was the truth. Off in the distance, I could see the outlines of a large group of Scavengers making their way to the pier.
“Don’t be intimidated by their gunshots,” Natalie warned. “They’ll be shooting to injure, not to kill.”
As if that made it any better.
Natalie slammed her foot down on the gas pedal, and the dune buggy’s wheels screeched against the deck of the ship. The next thing I knew, the vehicle launched forward like a bat out of hell.
That’s when the gunshots started.
All throughout the shore, muzzle flares flashed throughout the darkness, accompanied by thunderous booms.
I could hear the bullets whistling past our position as we shot forward, but Natalie held her ground.
Sand sprayed into the air as we hit the beach, and Natalie whipped the vehicle to the right and sent us drifting straight toward the rest of the Scavengers.
“Return fire!” she ordered. “But try not to hit anyone.”
“That doesn’t make any s—”
“Just do it!” the driver repeated.
So, I hoisted up the shotgun, aimed it at the feet of the nearest Scavenger, and squeezed the trigger.
The ground cratered in the spot where I’d fired, and the man fell back onto his ass.
“They’re really pissed!” he cried out.
I fired off the gun again and saw my shot splash into the water of the lake.
Just then, there was a quick buzzing sound as another bullet zipped past my head. It struck the pole above me and sent sparks flying in every direction.
“Careful, you idiot!” I heard Marcus’ voice scream. “That’s our only functional land vehicle!”
The bullets hissed past us as we shot down the shore of Lake Michigan. Within a few seconds, we passed through the camp, past the roaring inferno and what remained of the celebration. Finally, we got far enough away that the gunshots stopped, and there was nothing in front of us but darkness.
Our headlines illuminated the area before us, but not much else.
“Home free,” I sighed as I leaned back and lowered the gun to my side. “That was too close for comfort.”
“Don’t get too comfortable,” Natalie warned. “I fear what lies ahead more than anything Marcus and the Scavengers could do to us.”
Great.
It sounded like the danger was just getting started.
Chapter 10
Natalie and I drove in silence for the next hour of our journey. Or, at least, as silent as it could be when adrenaline had my heart hammering through my eardrums.
We stayed along the beach the entire time, since we knew the nuclear plant was located somewhere along the coast. Abandoned, rotting beach houses that were further up on the shore passed by as we drove, and every now and again, we’d drive by a spot with beach showers or single-building restrooms. A few times, I swore I saw something moving out of the corner of my eye, but I didn’t dare take a second look.
“You know,” I spoke up as we drove through an area that obviously used to be a commercial beach, “in my dimension, spots like this were the place to be.”
“Really?” Natalie asked with a raised eyebrow. “Your people enjoyed coming out to this desolate area, where no crops can grow and the sun makes the ground turn to fire on a daily basis?”
“We didn’t live here,” I chuckled. “We came to the beach for fun. You know… an escape from everyday life.”
“Was your life really so bad?” the Scavenger questioned. “I live on the beach and, let me tell you… it’s awful.”
“See, people back from where I’m from would kill to live on the beach,” I admitted. “In fact, the property values were so ridiculously high around here that you basically had to be independently wealthy to own a place right on the lake. That, or you had to settle for like, a five-hundred square foot shack.”
“Your society sounds so strange,” Natalie admitted as she glanced over at me. “I’m not sure if I’m intrigued by it, or appalled.”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong.” I raised my hands. “I’m pretty appalled by a lot of what goes on in my society. But at least we don’t have nuclear fallout and crazy mutant humans trying to kill us all of the time.”
“My father and mother told me about the olden days,” Natalie mused as she drove. “About how you could have any profession you wanted… How you could go anywhere in the world without fear of death or survival… About all the things they used to take for granted… Did we really used to have sanitary water systems and electricity in every house?”
“If your pre-Doomsday world is anything like mine, you did.” I nodded. “It’s definitely something I’m starting to take for granted, being out here with you and the Scavengers. There’s something just so… simple about the way you live.”
“Simple?” Natalie scoffed as she clenched the steering wheel tightly. “Hunter, we send out parties on life-or-death excursions every single day, to hunt for things that will allow us to live another day. You heard Marcus. He doesn’t believe humanity ever stands a chance of getting back to its pre-Doomsday state. From here on out, it’s all about ensuring the human race outlives the Rubberfaces.”
“That seems needlessly bleak,” I admitted. “Dr. Nash claims if we pull this off and kill the Rubberfaces in the Fallen Lands, your timeline will be saved. Don’t you believe me?”
“I want to,” Natalie sighed. “If I didn’t think there was something to your theory, I wouldn’t have agreed to come along on this mission. Or cut ties with my people. But there’s a little voice in the back of my head that keeps telling me it’s hopeless.”
“At least you’re one step up on me,” I chuckled. “The little voice in my head just calls me names and points out how incompetent I am at this stuff.”
Natalie’s face twisted into a smile momentarily, and then she started to laugh heartily.
You know I can hear you, right? Karla’s voice grumbled.
“Oh, I know,” I retorted, “I meant for you to hear that one.”
“How does it work?” Natalie asked as she looked at me out of the corner of her eye. “How do you talk to somebody across the dimensions without a walkie talkie or any sort of communicator.”
“Microchip in the brain,” I explained as I pointed to my left temple and tapped on it three times. “She’s the one who put it in me. It’s what allows me to hop through the dimensions while also keeping me connected to home base.”