GZ Legends 35: Roadburner Pt 1

            The sheriff’s cruiser sat on the edge of a lonely Nevada highway. Deputy Morton opened a sugar packet and emptied its contents into a cup of coffee. As he stirred the coffee with the miniature straw, Deputy Morton took a deep breath and slowly blew it out in a release of boredom.

            “I don’t know how much more of this I can take,” Morton said to his partner.

            Deputy Caldwell stared through his window toward the black sky. “I know what you mean.”

            “People are going nuts. If this keeps up, I won’t be far behind them.”

            “You gotta hang in there. So do I.” Caldwell took a sip of his own coffee. “Besides, they manage this okay when it happens in Alaska, don’t they?”

            “Heck if I know. I’ve never been to Alaska. Hey. What is that? Do you feel that?”

            The cruiser trembled slightly.

            “Maybe we’re having a tremor,” Caldwell said.

            The trembling slowly increased to more of a consistent shudder. Keys jangled from the ignition and coffee sloshed from the cup holders. Outside, rocks and gravel danced on the ground. Both men knew what an earthquake was, but they had never heard one make such a strange sound. It started as a low droning noise, barely audible to the human ear. As the cruiser shook harder the sound increased in volume and pitch. Both men cried out and covered their ears.

            Something long sleek and black flew past them on that deserted highway. As it did, the windows of the cruiser exploded outward from the sonic barrage that seemed like the wail of a thousand tortured souls. Both men were left with their ears ringing as if they had been in a bomb blast. Their vision blurred and dizziness overcame them. They slumped unconscious with no clue what had just passed them in the night.

            A few hours later, the portal brought Anubis, Doctor Vampire, Electrode, Blacktide, Nyhtwulf and Lonestar to Las Vegas Boulevard. Even in perpetual night, the heart of Las Vegas glowed in lights. They might have taken time to enjoy the beauty if only it weren’t mixed with such carnage. What wasn’t lit by neon, glowed from vehicle fires. Cars were thrown aside in all directions as if a great freight train had smashed through with unyielding force. Fronts of buildings were caved in by thrown debris. People lay injured or dead on sidewalks and against walls. The cries of the wounded echoed in the air. Everything stank of smoke and death. Rescue personnel hurried to do all they could with the massive disaster.

Ahead of the heroes, they could see where the path of destruction met with a large casino, and continued through it unhindered. A tunnel with hanging debris went through the building and to the next one beyond.

None of them could deny the knots in their throats and stomachs at the sight of such death.

“This is the work of The Hearse,” Dr. Vampire informed them. “You are about to face an object of insatiable evil. Try to be prepared.”

“I just want to know how to hurt it!” Electrode said with mounting anger.

“You can’t. Our best hope is to capture it. That alone will be a deadly fight. First we need to find it.”

“It is a servant of Death,” Nyhtwulf said. “I can sense it in the direction of the path it made. It is a few miles from here.”

“I’ll scout for it then,” Electrode said. He vanished before Dr. Vampire could warn him not to approach it alone.

“I’ll fly out that direction and back him up,” Anubis said. “Nyhtwulf, you with me?”

“Go quickly,” Doctor Vampire said, “The Hearse can match Electrode’s speed; at least in a straight line.”

“I’m going to follow the path and help with some of the casualties,” Lonestar said.

“I’m coming with you on that,” Dr. Vampire said. “We’ll catch up as soon as we can.”

“Sounds like a plan, Doc!” Anubis flew off with Nyhtwulf right behind him.

"Well, I can't fly, so I guess I'm coming with you guys looking for survivors," Blacktide said.

Several miles away from the Boulevard, Electrode skidded to a halt at the edge of a mall parking lot. In his anger, he shimmered with electrical power, ready for a fight. When he saw that he had arrived only a second before the beastly machine, he didn’t know if he considered himself more lucky or horrified. The Hearse raced into the parking lot filled with cars like a driver on a suicide mission. Nothing the black machine hit served to slow it in any capacity. Impacted cars flew high into the air as The Hearse smashed through with all the effort of wind in dry leaves.

In Electrode’s shock, he almost didn’t realize The Hearse was about to go right through the wall of the mall. Hundreds of innocent people were about to die for the sake of a shopping trip. There was no time to wait for back up, and less time to ponder what to do. As Electrode shifted into top speed, only he and the machine were moving. Tossed cars, hadn’t even had the chance to drop from the air yet. While The Hearse moved at high velocity, its speed was still no match for Electrode.

As he ran in front of the death machine, with less than ten feet clearance from the wall; Electrode released a barrage of lightning all across the hood and windshield. Once clear of the thing’s path, Electrode halted and turned with hope that he somehow stopped it. To his surprise, The Hearse went into a skid and slammed sideways into the brick wall. A rain of debris toppled as the wall fell and buried the mystical monster underneath it.

For all of a second, there was silence that felt like eternity. When the engine roared, Electrode darted several more yards away to ready himself for whatever was about to happen. The engine rev was powerful enough to toss bricks aside and its bright headlights glared through the debris. It revved several more times and Electrode assumed it didn’t like being interrupted. At this time, more than any other so far, Electrode felt his heart pounding in his chest. He didn’t know why, but in spite of all the horrors he’d witnessed since the darkness, this one scared him the most.

As the tires made their screeching sound for an impending charge, Electrode almost held his breath. The debris exploded to all sides and The Hearse barreled forward. It sounded its horn that made Electrode’s ears burn in pain, bringing the speeder to his knees. The machine of death held no hesitation as it raged forward, intent on running down the Nuclear Electric Man.

NOTE: I realize after the fact that I did the Hearse two different ways. Which way do you think I should do it? Head lights like up top or the one at the bottom? Pitch in your vote and be signed up for the free stuff drawing! Be sure to let me know who you are on Facebook or Google+ in case you win!

Want to get caught up on this story? Start at the beginning with GZ Legends 1