Five

Victor opened his eyes. It was dark and quiet in the truck, which was odd. Piper was a snorer, so no sound coming from above him usually meant something was up. For a moment he listened intently for any noise, but was greeted with nothing.

“Piper, are you awake?”

The only answer he got was a low hiss. He turned his head and saw his daughter crouching in the front part of the truck cabin. “What are you…”

Victor was cut off by the appearance of a light shining through the windshield. The light could’ve come from a random car passing by, except this light darted around too fast to be a car.

“It’s probably just a wannabe thief,” Victor whispered. “Let’s just turn on the lights and scare them off.”

“There’s more than one.” Piper said back.

With his sleepiness fading away, Victor noticed that it was brighter outside than it should’ve been. Not daylight bright, but the kind one sees when a car has their brights on while tailgating you. More lights began to shine through the window and move around. Piper was crouched underneath the window line. Muffled voices surrounded the truck.

At the sound of someone fiddling with the door handle and banging on the door, Victor rolled out of the bed and joined Piper.

“We know you’re in there!” A voice from outside yelled. “Come out now!”

“What do you want?” Victor yelled back.

“We want your cargo. Give it to us and you can leave peacefully.”

“That’s a load of crap.” Piper said.

“I agree. It’s a good thing you always back into parking spaces.” Victor then yelled to the voice outside. “Alright, we’ll come out. Just give us a second to put our shoes on.”

“You have sixty seconds. After that we’re forcing our way in.”

Piper slunk into the driver’s seat keeping herself low and under the light. In a fluid motion, she jammed the key into the ignition and pulled herself up as the engine roared to life. She put the truck into gear and drove forward.

Victor strapped himself in on the passenger side and looked out the front window. The parking lot was now full of unmarked black cars and vans which were parked around the truck. There was also a small group of people dressed in black suits surrounding the cars. Piper hit the gas, and the group dispersed.

Piper plowed through the vehicles that were parked directly in front. Victor was rocked around in his seat as they hit. The seat belt dug into his body, squeezing him into the chair. When they got to the other end of the parking lot, Piper hit the gas hard and took the corner as sharply as when she entered. In the mirrors, Victor saw the mysterious people piling into their cars and turning to begin chasing them.

“What’s the fastest way back to the highway?” Piper asked.

“I don’t know,” Victor said, “back the way we came?”

“Looks like this town is going to see more excitement than it ever has.”

It didn’t take long for the cars and vans to catch up to them. Their headlights blinded Victor in the side mirror as more and more pairs were added to the blob of light that followed them. If the police force of Dartenville were called, they would’ve had no issue trying to find the involuntary parade that was speeding through their town.

“Who the hell are these people?” Piper asked.

“We can figure that out later.” Victor said. “Can you lose them before the highway?”

Piper laughed. “No. We’re almost there. And then you can get rid of them.”

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Good thing we filled up.” Victor unbuckled his seatbelt. It was better to be ready than to waste time fumbling with it later.

As soon as they hit the highway, Piper stomped on the gas pedal and the engine roared like a lion. Victor got up and opened the door. It took a couple tries to get it fully open with the wind pushing back.

“This is why we need a sunroof.”

“No one is cutting a hole into my truck. Hurry up.”

Victor reached out and grabbed the metal bar next to the door. After he had a firm grip, he swung himself all the way out of the truck and grabbed the ladder next to it. The door slammed behind him. While it was not a cold night, the sheer force of wind felt like it could cut into his skin. It didn’t take long for him to climb up to the roof. As he got to the top, he shimmied along the top on his stomach using strategically placed pegs to get to the exhaust pipe. As he crawled, the truck hit a bump. Victor lost his grip for a moment, but managed to regain his hold and quickened his pace.

The exhaust pipe was warm to the touch. It wouldn’t take long for it to reach its boiling point, but thanks to Victor’s calloused hands, it wouldn’t hurt too much. He stuck his head in the exhaust’s smog cloud and breathed in like a swimmer coming up for air. As it filled his lungs, all the tiredness from his body filtered away, and he stood straighter, only needing one hand to keep himself steady. He looked out behind him and counted six vehicles following them.

“I’m up!” Victor yelled.

“Well, take them out!”

“The trailer’s in the way. You’ll need to slow down and let them catch up so I have a better shot.”

Piper slowed down and the vehicles surrounded the truck. One of the cars drove up until it was even with the front of the truck.

“Pull over.” A voice blared out from the car. It sounded like the kind police use to pull someone over.

“Who do you work for?” Victor yelled back.

“Pull over.”

“Or what?”

Without warning, one of the vans careened into the truck. The collision shook Victor, rattling his skull. Piper swerved and regained control of the truck.

“Don’t you dare hit my god damn truck again!” Piper yelled.

“Pull over. This is your last warning.”

“No.” Victor said. “And if you try that again…”

“You’ll do what exactly?” The megaphone voice asked. Before Victor could answer, there was a bang, followed by a metallic ting from around Victor’s feet. “We don’t miss twice. I doubt you can stop a bullet with a smoke show.”

“Alright, I surrender.”

“Put your hands up.” Victor put one up and continued to hold on with the other. “I said both of them.”

“I’ll fall off.”

“Fine. No sudden movements. Driver, pull over.”

The truck began to slow. As it did Victor flicked his fingers ever so slightly. It was such a tiny movement that even if the cars were close enough, they might’ve blinked before they could see it. In Victor’s shadow, some of the smog began to twist in on itself behind him. While he couldn’t see it, he could feel its presence like a ghost watching him. As Piper slowed the truck more, the megaphone voice came back.

“As soon as you stop, both of you will climb down and put your hands on the passenger side of the truck. After we have secured your trailer, you will be allowed to leave.”

“Can you repeat that?” Victor said.

There was an audible sigh from the megaphone. “I said…”

Victor flicked his wrist and the smog ball behind him flew down and into the vans open backseat window. Through the megaphone, he could hear the person coughing and choking.

“Gun it!” Victor yelled. “And keep it gunned!”

The engine roared and the other vehicles fell behind. The one full of smog swerved across the lane, scraping against the truck before it went the other way and drove off the road.

For the next step, Victor was going to need as much smog coming out of the truck as possible. Luckily, the pipe was built extra wide for this purpose. As Piper built up speed, so too did the smog coming out. He guided all the smog into the gap between the truck and the trailer, which fanned out to either side of it. Had he tried to do it from the top of the trailer down, the wind would’ve dispersed it too quickly. More and more smog was pushed into the gap, and it came out like a waterfall.

It didn’t take long for the smog to engulf the cars and obscure their headlights. It wasn’t as thick as Victor would’ve liked, but it was enough. Soon, a chorus of screeching tires, accompanied by crashing, rang through the air. They were lucky that none of them directed their cars into the truck.

Half an hour. That’s how long Victor was on top of the truck continuously pouring smog onto the highway. The cacophony of crashing vehicles had died out long before, but he needed to be sure. While the smog would make it easier for them to eventually follow, the large cloud would also cover their trail long enough to get away.

Pushing against the smog was straining to Victor. It was like trying to hold open a heavy door for a long time. His muscles ached and he began to develop a dehydration headache. He finally broke and allowed his arms to drop. The smog coming out of the pipe receded and he began panting. He allowed himself to stare out at the smog cloud that covered the road like fog over a river. There was a certain beauty to watching it coalesce against itself as they drove farther and farther away from it.

It took Victor longer than he would’ve liked to climb back down. His arms shook and cold sweat made the bars slippery.

When he finally made it back into the cab and sat down, he didn’t bother to look at Piper or say anything. He closed his eyes and tried to listen to the sound of the engine as a white noise to lull him to sleep.

“So what now?” Piper asked.

“Just keep driving.”

“Maybe you should call the client and ask what the hell that was all about.”

“In a minute.” Victor’s hand never made it to his pocket, as a minute later he was passed out.