A Exploration Of The New and Uncivilized

[Kalli]

By the time they had reached Whitthorn's pickup, most of the front row had left, riding off toward the gate and being riddled with bullet holes as they did so. The Eldest was brought to the rear passenger seat, Aoki as well, with Kalli sitting in the front seat next to Jeff, who took it upon himself to drive. His right sleeve was in tatters, having been used to cover Whitthorn's wounds, the lizard himself either unconscious or sleeping. Ahead of them were dust clouds kicked up by the escaping automobiles, avoiding the bullets and rockets which came from the town behind them, some stray rounds even made contact with those still stuck trying to get their hijacked cars working, metal pings joining the noise of battle. One unlucky group of prisoners had their driver shot once the wheels started turning, the means of transport they sought to use becoming their tomb as it flipped out of control, soon being met by a rocket that engulfed the wreck. Kalli gave a concerned look, saying "Jeff, how goes that escape?"

The engine died after a second of turning the ignition, coughing and sputtering before falling silent, followed with Jeff's cursing and muttering as he would turn the key again. "Working on it!" he stated, eyeing the keys for every time he turned them, left leg hopping with anxiety. Even with bullets ricocheting off of the truck he maintained his focus, sweating with the fear that they'd never escape this place. After four more tries and three bullets bouncing off the front of the hood, the pickup finally had a consistent sound coming from it's engine, awakened and ready to move. Before any word could be said about their victory he put all his force into the peddle, the wheels kicking up sand and rolling out toward the gate with a ever increasing speed. 

Death mounted higher and higher the further they went along, the unfortunate majority being burned, torn apart or shot before they could even make it passed the hole in the wall. Their pickup bounced and slowed, rolling over the flat gate door itself as well as the stone laying ahead of them. It didn't stop them however, driving past it with the sight of the cave entrance far in the distance. After they had made it past the wall itself they sped up once more, debris well behind them. Other few vehicles sped past, small buggies with numerous passengers, or motorcycles whose drivers never turned to look away from their upcoming exit. Actually, it seemed everyone was looking ahead at the cave entrance, putting all faith in that it wouldn't suddenly collapse before they rolled on through.

Though those chances of escape were destroyed as fast as they gate following a noise. A very familiar noise.

A black truck, corpses dangling from it's side while it's horn echoed through the cavern with Malgore sitting on top, looking outward with his same thoughtful yet empty of emotion pose. The beast that was his truck was louder than anything around it, and it symbolized that the bandits and cannibals were now to begin their chase. Panic easily overcame any who were unprepared, only furthering the disorganized nature of the escaping prisoners already. There were some shouts, others cried out to open fire at the bandits encroaching behind them, meanwhile Jeff kept his foot placed on the peddle and hands firmly around the wheel, as focused on their exit as he could be, ignoring what was going on around and behind them.

It wasn't long before Kalli decided to join in fighting back against the chasing cannibals, stick her head out the window at first. A bullet whizzed passed, causing it to turn and look behind them; two vehicles collided with each other, the bandits leaping on and beating the prisoners senselessly, or plainly shooting them if the odds looked dim. The prime took her rifle, stick her torso out of the doorway and sitting on the window's edge, stomach facing the car. Once her finger was around the trigger and rifle pointing toward the bandit vehicle, she squeezed the trigger numerous times, blood splattering and the bodies of the cannibals halted their breath. Those crawling around the prisoner's hijacked transport would fall into the sand, bleeding and rolling further away from them as the pickup got closer to freedom.

That was nowhere near the last intervention however, for as soon prisoners were able to escape, three more bandit vehicles appeared behind it. Two buggies, and a motorcycle with two cannibals on it, both shooting wildly at Whitthorn's truck, crossing in front of their comrades and going right behind the pickup itself. Kalli responded to the exchange of gunfire with a few shots herself, missing the motorcycle by a hair for every shot, the driver clearly much more competent then the rest of the bandits chasing after them. Once it was close enough, the driver leaped off and took hold onto the flatbed, his passenger taking control of the motorcycle. Pulling the trigger, Kalli's rifle emitted a empty 'click.' The bandit took this opportunity to pull his gun on her- only to riddled with three holes himself, falling off and disappearing into the sand. Aoki lowered the pistol, looking up toward Kalli, who nodded approvingly before slipping back into the vehicle. 

There were a few more gunshots coming from outside their pickup, the bandit driving the motorcycle fell off, slamming into the sand and his skidding to a halt on it's side. And the two other bandit buggies were quickly shot to pieces by prisoners from all across their disorganized escape.

"We're out." Jeff stated plainly, looking ahead as he had been. 

"Where do we go from here?" Kalli asked, looking at him before looking at the unconscious Whitthorn. 

Before Jeff could reply, a explosion boomed behind them, rocks fell from the ceiling of the cave, another explosion following soon after. Two cars slid to a halt outside, prisoners on the roofs of each reloaded their rocket launcher with shaking hands. Once it was loaded, they fired again, giving clear idea of what they were planning to do. Once Jeff was clear from the falling rock, he too slid to a halt, the other hijacked vehicles doing the same, all watching as the cave's structure seemed to come tumbling down before them in the night-sky canyon.

After the eighth explosion, the cave entrance fully collapsed, the chasing bandits disappearing behind the boulders and rock that rolled onto each other, covering the entrance in it's entirety. Everyone began to breath a little easier, a few faint cheers given out.

"They wont be getting out of that any time soon." Aoki said hopefully

But he was quite wrong, the sound of the truck's horn growing ever louder. Malgore's truck slammed right through the rock, seeming almost undamaged as his escorts followed through the rammed pathway, prepared to continue their skirmish.