Bodies on the Mixmaster. Expect delays
Philip flew down the right shoulder as the sedan wove in and out of the fast lane. Luke fired from the sunroof, and his shots sparked off the road just short of the tires.
“Get closer!” he yelled down his chest.
“I'm guarding the exits!”
“Fuck that! If he goes for an exit, I got him!”
Philip took a deep breath, then merged out of the shoulder. Luke gave up on the tires and concentrated his fire on the back window. He got four good shots on it before the sedan cut to the right and brake checked a hatchback.
“Fuck!”
Philip swerved and Luke got tossed around again. By the time he got back in position, the Sedan had disappeared behind a truck.
“Next exit is about a mile out,” EP said.
“Push the other shoulder!” Luke yelled. Philip merged left and watched the speedometer climb.
The sedan came out from behind a car and Luke put another two rounds in the back window before he saw the guy leaning out the passenger side. His head flashed and bullets raked the top of the SUV. Luke dropped down and blood dripped off his ear.
“You hit?” Philip yelled as more rounds smacked on the windshield.
“Fuck this!” Luke grabbed something out of the center console that looked like a short cartoon shotgun and fired shells the size of pill bottles.
“There’s too much collateral!” yelled Philip “Just take out the window—”
“I'm gonna take out the window, then the next rounds going up their fucking ass.” Luke pumped a round into the chamber and loaded another. More bullets skipped off the hood as he hooked the pouch of grenade shells to his belt and took hold of the netting.
“Get me some cover!”
Philip swerved into the center lane and the bullets stopped as they came alongside a semi. Luke popped up through the sunroof.
“Clear!”
When they passed the semi, the sedan had gained about fifty yards. The GM94 thunked and the road behind the sedan exploded.
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“God dammit, let me gain on them!” Philip yelled.
“Exits coming up,” EP said. Luke pumped the weapon and the empty shell fell smoking into the netting.
“Push the god damn shoulder!” he yelled.
Philip merged into the left shoulder and punched it. In a heartbeat, the traffic thinned and there was nothing between them and the sedan but wide-open highway. Philip smiled, anticipating another ‘thunk’ and the end of a long day. Instead, gunfire broke out right behind him.
In the left side mirror, he saw the other car coming off the expressway, muzzle flash blazing out the windows. Luke dropped down in the net as the side window went white. Philip leaned right in his seat to avoid the rounds coming through the busted-out window, pressed the brakes, and cut the wheel to the left. The crash was loud enough to test his earbuds, but he didn’t even feel it.
The car bounced back into the express lane and squealed over posts that broke like toothpicks. Luke popped up through the sunroof grenade launcher first and Philip eased off the gas to match speed with the car. For a few strange seconds, there was only the sound of the road and that nostalgic feeling came back in waves.
In the mirror, he saw the inside of the car explode in a bright orange flash. Fragments of gore, glass, and upholstery shot out the windows. Luke had put the 43mm thermobaric grenade right past the passenger gunner and turned the car into a rolling funeral. It moved forward like a ghost for half a second, then veered into the barrier and fell into the distance, becoming just another piece of scenery.
Luke dropped down and loaded more shells.
“He’s in the far-right lane!”
Philip moved in behind the sedan. The guy popped out the passenger side again and let out a wild burst.
“Yea, you fuck. You heard that boom.” Philip whispered.
“Exit’s right ahead,” EP said.
“He won't take it!” Luke said. It’s a ramp!”
Philip saw it coming up. A slim, curving, rising ribbon of concrete with one lane. Might as well have been half a mile of gallows.
“That’s the exit for the office,” EP said.
“He won't take it! Get me on him!” Luke pumped another grenade in.
“Hang on!” Philip said. A sense he had learned to rely on long ago was sending warning signals, and as always, he was slow in deciphering them.
“He won't fucking take it!” Luke yelled. “God dammit go!”
Philip had let off the gas and they were coming up on the exit. As they got closer, the sedan veered into the left edge of its lane.
“I got him.” Luke popped up. The Sedan moved into the left lane and Philip pushed on the brake. His mind had finally caught up with his instinct.
“God dammit, I’m telling you—” The sedan cut a hard right at the last second, braking and taking the ramp at ninety miles an hour. Philip did the same move going almost eighty. He barely cleared the exit and scraped the side of the SUV on the concrete barrier, which was a blessing. He was sure he had been about to roll over.
“Shit!” Luke bounced around up top and fell into the net again. Philip looked in the rearview and was shocked to see he still had the launcher in his hand.
“Take him the fuck out!” He yelled as Luke sprang back up through the roof. When he looked ahead, his sense of danger flared from a warning into a scream.
Brake lights flashed and Philip did the dumbest thing he could have done. He slammed on the brakes. If he had just kept his speed, he could have hit the sedan at seventy mph and maybe killed the target from the impact alone, seatbelts and airbags be damned. Instead, he hit it at just below fifty and only managed to kill Luke.
“Shit.”
The airbags went off, and the world disappeared.