Tethered Twins

Grace Wilkerson

“How long now?” asked Grace.

“We’re only ten miles away from London so we’ll be there soon,” replied Gabe.

It was taking too long for Grace. Despite them doing 140 miles per hour she didn’t feel it was quick enough to save Emmie or stop the sound wave. “Drive faster,” she said. Gabe obliged.

As Grace watched the speedometer rise ever higher she heard the ear piercing sound of metal scraping across metal. She looked backwards towards the sound and saw a lorry smash into the side of one of their cars.

The driver tried to swerve to escape the lorry but the lorry driver did the same, matching his every move. This was a deliberate attack. Someone was trying to stop them.

“No!” shouted Gabe as he looked backwards just in time to see the last car in their convoy get flipped on its side. The lorry didn’t stop its attack. It continued to plough into the flipped over car driving it into the large metal bollards in the middle of the road. Two of the team jumped out of the back of the car to try and escape but the back of the lorry swung round and hit them, crushing their bodies under its weight.

Chris, who was located in the car in front, changed the mode on his gun and aimed it at the driver of the lorry to try and stop him. His bullets missed and the lorry continued to push the last car into the metal bollards.

The metal bollard drove itself through the front half of the car stopping just before it reached the driver. The impact of the bollard and the continual crushing of the lorry caused the sides of the car to wrap around it, whilst the driver came face to face with his team mate in the back seat and knew he would not survive.

The bollard was ripped from the ground as the front and back parts of the car smashed into each other crunching their metal framework together until it was an unrecognisable mass of metal. The bodies of the driver and his friend were forever trapped inside, their bones crushed in amongst the wreckage.

Four of the team had died that day and Chris had seen the whole thing.

Chris grabbed the wheel and turned it to perform a U-turn until he was facing the lorry. “We need to get revenge. If you aren’t happy with this then get out now,” he looked at the other team members in his car. They knew this was necessary so they could have closure for their friends. Their driver put his foot down and drove towards the lorry which had started a new journey towards them. They raced towards it at a frightening pace.

“What is he doing?” asked Gabe. The rest of The Deck had stopped their cars to try and help but they could only watch. They’d never reach them in time.

“Faster,” shouted Chris to the driver. The driver obliged and the other two men in the car readied their weapons. “We’ve only got one chance at this.”

As they reached the lorry they saw the driver. “Orange eyes,” shouted Chris on the radio. This was a deliberate attack by Tobias. He knew they were coming. Silence fell in the other cars. They were trying to attack an immortal man.

“Ready,” said Chris. They aimed their weapons towards the driver. “Fire!” he shouted. The three men pulled their triggers, sending blue light streaming out towards the lorry driver.

He could no longer move but his lorry continued forwards on a collision course towards the edge of the road. Chris’ driver steered the car out of the way to avoid a collision and the team kept their aim on the lorry as it veered off the edge of the motorway.

The lorry hit a tree and the drivers’ compartment was crushed. Tobias tried to regain control of the orange eyed man but he had lost an arm which was crushed between the tree and the lorry. This body was no longer of any use to him. He relinquished control of the body and allowed the man to die. Seconds later his twin did the same.

An orange light went off in Tobias’ base and he sought out a new body to control.

“Is everyone ok?” said Gabe on the radio.

“Yes. I think he’s gone,” replied Chris. “We’re coming back to you now.”

They began their convoy again with the remaining cars. As they passed other drivers they kept an eye out for anything suspicious. They hoped they had escaped.

In Tobias’ base four more orange lights turned on. He was ready for them.

“What’s that up ahead?” asked Grace. She could see two large shapes on the horizon at the end of the motorway. “It looks like they are blocking the road.”

Gabe tried to make out the silhouettes but couldn’t. Suddenly they could see a third shape that was coming towards them. It sped up rapidly in speed and made its way towards the first car.

“Everybody move!” he shouted on the radio, as he drove their car to the side of the road.

The car behind them didn’t see the projectile until it was too late. It jammed itself firmly into the engine, ripping through the front of the car and sending it flipping over. Before it had hit the ground the projectile exploded killing the innocent driver.

The debris exploded outwards and sparks of metal splintered forward into the car in front. The steering wheel column from the exploded car drove itself forward and into one of The Deck’s drivers’ throats and he immediately lost control.

March reached over from the passenger’s seat for the steering wheel to try and steady the car. The driver had removed his foot from the gas pedal but the car still had the accumulated acceleration of 100 miles per hour pushing it along. March tried to swerve to avoid the debris but another piece of metal pierced through one of the tyres.

The car skidded with March doing his best to keep it in a straight line. With his other free hand he reached for the handbrake and applied it lightly to try and lose some speed. The car started to screech as the brakes kicked in and slowed it down.

On the horizon March saw the cause of the attack. There were two tanks blocking the road. They wouldn’t be getting into London that way. From one of the tanks he saw a burst of sparks emerge as another missile headed towards them.

“Everybody out!” he shouted.

March and two team mates dove out of the car and rolled on to the motorway, bruising their bodies in the fall. As March looked up he saw as the driver remained pinned into his seat and watched as the car sped up in a desperate attempt to save them.

The driver’s last view was of the missile smashing through the windshield and bursting through his body in a wave of fire and smoke. Debris flew out across the road and a sheet of metal shot out towards one of The Deck. It cut through his neck bone like a knife to butter and sent his head spiralling to the floor.

As March saw the horrific decapitation he dropped to the floor and curled up into a ball to try and make himself as small as possible and minimise the possibility of being hit. As he looked up he saw a car door arching across the sky and heading directly towards him. He rolled out of the way, narrowly missing another car, as the door crashed into the ground next to him.

Chris’ car hung back and March and his team mate jumped in the back. “Go!” shouted March, not wanting to be part of another attack.

Meanwhile Gabe‘s car had driven off the side of the motorway and across a field. He was thankful they had purchased off road cars. The tank followed after them.

“You can do it,” Grace encouraged Gabe.

“Ok,” he replied. “You let me know if they fire on us. We just have to make it to those trees.”

The tank headed across the field undeterred by the harsh terrain with the driver knowing he had a clear shot in such an open expanse of land. One of The Deck in the back of the car pulled out his weapon and shone blue light onto the tank. It did nothing. The driver was shielded from the rays by the tank’s outer casing.

“How can we stop them?” he asked.

“We can’t,” replied Gabe. “We just have to keep moving.”

Tobias watched as the blue light was shone on the tank. “You’re next,” he said. He took control of the tank’s driver and aimed the gun turret towards Gabe’s car.

He told the gunner to fire a missile but nothing happened. Two orange lights disappeared on Tobias’ control panel. He had lost control of the driver as well. “But how?”

“What was that?” shouted Gabe. “Someone saved us.”

Grace looked back at the tank which was now a burning pile of metal. “Someone hit it with a missile.”

“That was us,” replied Chris, his voice coming through the radio. “While the tanks were distracted with you we charged at one of them and broke inside. We threw the driver and gunner out and left them on the motorway. If they’re smart then they’ll leave.”

Two more lights on Tobias’ panel turned off. The tank drivers who survived were no more use to him so he abandoned them on the motorway.

“Come back to us,” said Chris. “The road is clear now and I doubt Tobias will try anything now we have a tank.”

The team regrouped on the motorway and drove the last few miles to London. They spent the rest of the journey in silence as a sign of respect to the six friends they had lost on the road.