Lifel1k3 (Lifelike #1)(79)

“Everyone ready for this?” she yelled over the rising roar.

“Nnnnnot really.” Lemon winced.

“Definitely not!” Cricket shouted.

“Wuff,” said Kaiser.

“Too late now! Hold on!”

The storm front crashed into them like a hammer, almost tearing the wheel from Ezekiel’s grasp. The lifelike cursed, dragged the truck back under control as they were consumed by a seething cloud of dust, dirt and millions of gleaming splinters of glass. Ezekiel was forced to ease off the accelerator, turning on the headlights and driving almost by feel through the chaos. The noise was deafening, an endless, starving roar thundering over the sandpaper scrape on the Thundersaurus’s skin.

“Holy crap!” Lemon wailed.

“Put your seat belt on!” Cricket shouted.

“You’re not the boss of me!” Lemon hollered, pulling her seat belt on tight.

Another burst of wind slammed the truck sideways, tires squealing. Ana saw the constant barrage of tiny glass particles stripping the rust right off the Thundersaurus’s hull, blasting it back to the gleaming metal beneath. They had no clue how wide the glasstorm was, no idea when it might end; now that they were in it, they were in it up to their necks. All she could do was hold on and hope.

Hours passed, the cacophony melting into a deafening drone. The thunder of the road, the storm, the glass on the hull and beneath the wheels all blurring to soup inside her head. Ana looked into the backseat, saw Lemon huddled with Cricket. Kaiser was pressed low to the ragged cushions, head in Lemon’s lap. The girl’s eyes were wide with fear.

“If you ever had doubts about my affection for you, Riotgrrl … ,” she began.

“Never,” Ana replied. She reached back, took hold of Lemon’s hand. Almost overcome for a moment. All the miles, all this way, Lemon had never wavered. Never flinched. Never questioned. Not once.

“You hear me, Lemon Fresh?” Ana squeezed her fingers. “Never.”

“You still owe me that pony, you know.”

Ana smiled. “I’m good for it.”

“Listen …”

Lemon glanced at Ezekiel. At Cricket in her lap. Her customary impish smile was gone. No mischievous gleam in her eyes. She seemed afraid suddenly, struggling with the words she so obviously wanted to speak.

“Listen, Riotgrrl, I’ve gotta tell you something—”

The rear window blasted inward with a roar, the cabin filling with a storm of grit and dirt. Lemon screamed as a hand wrapped in a red glove reached through the shattered glass. The truck slewed over the road, Ezekiel blinded by the dust and glass. Kaiser growled, seizing the arm in his jaw, metal grinding on metal. Ana could see the Preacher clinging to the trunk, a heavy gas mask over his face. He wasn’t wearing rad-gear—just that same black coat stuffed with guns. She didn’t know if he had a death wish or if he was just aug’ed enough to deal with radiation poisoning. But the fug was here, and he meant biz.

Thundersaurus hit a pothole, wrenching sideways and slamming Ana into the door. She fumbled, dragging her sawed-off out as Ezekiel struggled to get the truck under control. The cabin was filled with grit and glass, the lifelike blinking black tears from his eyes. Lemon grabbed Excalibur, swung it awkwardly in the enclosed space. It cracked across the Preacher’s face, let loose a blast of current, the bounty hunter cursing in pain. The Preacher dragged himself waist-deep into the cabin, grabbing Lemon’s collar and slamming her head into the door once, twice, three times, until her eyes rolled up in her skull.

“Lem!” Ana screamed, bringing up the sawed-off. The bounty hunter slapped the gun aside, one shot gutting the seat beside him with a deafening BOOM. Kaiser was still tearing at his arm, eyes glowing bloody red. Cricket was fumbling in their satchel, trying to haul out an assault rifle that was as big as he was. The truck hit another pothole, bouncing everyone hard. And Ana took aim and off-loaded her second barrel right into the Preacher’s chest.

BOOOOM.

The bounty hunter was blasted back out through the window in a cloud of smoke, blood and glass. His fingers grasped at the trunk as he rolled backward, but with a black curse, he toppled off the lip and out of sight, dust spraying when he hit the road.

“Eat that, you dustneck trash-humper!” Ana shouted.

Thundersaurus hit another pothole, almost flipping, Ezekiel desperately fighting to maintain control. Ana tore the rad-suit helmet off her head, ripped the goggles from her brow and slipped them over Ezekiel’s eyes. The storm howled, pounding on their truck like the hammer of some vengeful god, Cricket roaring over the bedlam.

“Slow down, Stumpy, are you trying to kill us?”

Gunfire erupted behind them, bullets riddling the truck’s skin. Ana pulled her headgear back on, squinted through the hail of glass. She saw motorcycles, dark figures in the chaos. Gas masks with skull-and-crossbones designs covering their faces.

“The Armada boys followed us into this? Are you kidding me?”

“You had to steal the fanciest car, didn’t you?” Cricket howled. “I warned you to take a smaller one, but nooooooo, sorry, Mister Cricket, the ayes have it again!”

“Will you shut up?” Ezekiel bellowed.

“Right after you pucker up and kiss my shiny metal man parts!”

“You got no man parts, Crick!” Ana yelled. “Shiny or otherwise!”