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As we came around another corner, Natalie slammed on the breaks, and I thought my seatbelt was going to be ripped straight out of my body.

Before us were a large group of mutants, lumbering right toward us like a horde of mindless zombies. Unfortunately, though, these things were anything but mindless.

“Iktunar!” one of them cried out as they pointed.

Unlike the patrol I’d encountered before, several of these hideous creatures were carrying guns. As they took aim at us, Natalie put the dune buggy in reverse, turned it around in a flash, and then jetted off in the opposite direction.

Gunshots rang out behind us as we drove, and the woman in the driver’s seat began to swerve like mad. At the same time, the man in the back flipped the large machine gun around so it was facing our rear and opened fire.

The entire vehicle shook from the recoil of the weapon as he fired round after deadly round into the crowd behind us.

When I finally had the courage to glance back over my shoulder, I saw the road was littered with the bodies of dead mutants. However, there were still hundreds of them left, and they were charging straight at us with a crazed look in their eyes.

“Make sure not to waste any bullets!” Natalie called back to the man. “The last thing we need is for these bastards to get a hold of live fifty-cals.”

Hunter, are you still with us? Karla asked.

“Yeah, still here,” I announced. “These mutant freaks are chasing the car.”

“I know that!” Natalie growled as she skidded around a corner. “Thank you, Captain Obvious. I’m doing my best to get us the fuck out of here.”

“No, I just—” I started, but then I cut myself off.

The less questions these people had about the voice in my head, the better.

Plus, there it was again… That damned buzzing sound. I curbed the urge to rub at my ears, but I couldn’t help but wonder if my chip implant was somehow on the fritz.

We drove another mile or so without incident. Then, up ahead, I saw a large drawbridge that had been left in the “up” position.

“Hang on, guys!” Natalie grimaced as she straightened the wheel and slammed down on the gas pedal. “These Rubberfaces haven’t figured out how to cross the river yet, so once we get over that thing, we’ll be home free.”

Over my shoulder, I saw the large mob of mutants were now far behind us. They still fired their guns haphazardly, but I figured we were too far away now for their shots to be accurate.

We rocketed toward the makeshift ramp, hit a small bump as we hit the incline, and then made our way up the bridge at the speed of sound. Natalie pushed down onto the pedal as hard as humanly possible as she tightened her grip on the wheel.

Then we hit the edge of the ramp and went airborne.

My stomach fell into my ass as the ground disappeared underneath us and our fates were left to the cruel mistress of gravity. My heart hammered through my chest as I looked out and saw nothing in front of us aside from the crimson red sky. When the front of the vehicle finally turned back down toward the ground, I felt my fluttering heart jump into my throat.

In front of us, down at the foot of the drawbridge, was another large group of mutants.

“Fuckfuckfuckfuck!” Natalie cried as we plummeted.

It felt like we were moving in slow motion as the tires approached the rusty metal of the other side of the bridge.

A few of the mutants down below raised their rifles, took aim, and fired, and shots rang out across the landscape as dozens of bullets headed straight toward us.

The second we touched the ground, Natalie whipped the steering wheel to the left to avoid the incoming hailstorm. Our dune buggy went up onto two wheels for a second, and I held on for dear life as the inertia threatened to throw me from the vehicle.

There was a loud bang, and we suddenly began to lurch and swerve in all directions.

Natalie tried to regain control, but it was no use.

Our dune buggy flipped over and rolled toward the crowd of mutants like a metal ball. There was a sickening crunch when we hit the horde head-on, and I felt all sorts of warm liquid spray onto my face as their bodies were squished underneath the roll cage. Thankfully, the buggy flipped up onto its wheels and then came to a stop on all fours.

I quickly took in my surroundings before the remaining mutants had a chance to reorient themselves.

My clothes were soaked with blood, and I could feel bits of the warm, viscous red liquid on my face. Natalie was still in front of the driver’s seat, but she was groggy and disoriented.

At least our seatbelts worked.

“I don’t know if she should be driving,” I told the man as I turned around. “Do you think you could—”

Then I realized our gunner was gone. Unlike Natalie and I, he didn’t have the luxury of a seatbelt to keep him in place.

I could see his mangled corpse laying just a few dozen feet behind us, laying in a heap on the ground and trailed by a skid mark of blood and brain matter.

Poor guy.

However, I didn’t have long to mourn. The mutants were still in shock from watching several of their brethren being pulverized by the vehicle, but that would soon subside.

And once it did, they were going to be fuming mad.

I needed to think fast. I could maybe drive this dune buggy, but I had no idea where I was going. Also, I didn’t want to just leave Natalie behind. She did save my life, after all.

Then I looked up at the machine gun.

That was my only shot.

“Karla?” I asked the disembodied voice in my head. “How much experience do you have with big-ass machine guns?”

Lots, Miss Nash noted. Please don’t tell me you’re going to try and fire one. Those things take hours of practice to master.

“Well, I don’t have hours,” I stated as I unfastened my seatbelt. “I’ve only got a few seconds before these ugly hotdishes tear us apart.”

Well, in that case… I suppose you just aim at your target and then squeeze the trigger, the voice in my head mused.

“Now’s not the time for sarcasm!” I hissed as I stood up.

I’m not being sarcastic! Karla shot back.

I threw my leg over the passenger seat, hoisted myself up onto the small gunner’s platform, and grabbed both handles on the machine gun. Then I aimed at the crowd of mutants.

But there was no trigger I could see.

“Uh… Where is the trigger for this thing?” I demanded.

You see that large v-shaped thing in between the two handles? she asked.

Sure enough, there it was.

“Yeah,” I confirmed as I looked down at the mechanism.

Grab onto the handles, take aim, and then use both your thumbs to press that down, Karla commanded. And then hold on, because those things pack a hell of a wallop.

There were mangled mutant bodies all over the ground. Several of them had their skulls shattered, and gray matter was oozing out around them. Others simply had been crippled by the rollover, and they struggled to stand back up on their crushed legs or aim with their broken arms.

About twenty or so were still in perfect health, and they were beginning to realize their enemies hadn’t all been killed.

I had to act now.

So, I took aim at the center of the horde and pressed down on the trigger mechanism.

Click.

Nothing.

“Uh, Karla?” I chuckled awkwardly. “Nothing’s happening!”

It’s probably not loaded, she explained. Are there any ammo belts laying around?

I looked down to my left and saw there was a large box with a giant string of bullets dangling down from its side.