Wasteland Taxi part 3

Post apocalyptic taxi service

    When dawn broke, we found ourselves sitting on the side of the road. Olivia and I made our way to relieve ourselves in the privacy of a patch of dried out brush nearby as Reesh busied himself by wiping the blood from his Super Bee. When we had finished, Olivia approached me and asked "Is he talking to that machine?" I could just make out what he was saying from several yards away and it sure seemed to be true. The madman was talking to an inanimate object.
    "Didsh dey ouch ya, pretty baby? No letsh dem doesh dat no moresh. Not too badsh, doh. We'sh getsh dem back for dish more later. Poor, poor pretty little baby. Letsh me getsh dat outta dere." As he spoke he gingerly removed the metal spikes from the glass, as if trying not to cause the machine pain while he did. Dusters sure are strange.
    We sat in the burning sun eating dried bread and drinking something that passed for water. Reesh peered out through the his thick glasses scanning the horizon for trouble as he chewed quietly. Olivia stared at him pensively.
    "How come you live out here instead of in a city?" She asked Reesh. Reesh continued chewing silently as if he didn't hear her for a moment.
    "Dish me life, me breath, little girl. Shity for yoush folk. No life. No breath. Jusht big big buildingsh. No me needsh dat. Why you livesh in shity?"
    "Because it's safer." She answered. "You can live there with your family, if you still have one."
    "Oh, familiesh? You hash familiesh dere?" Reesh inquired. Olivia looked down at the ground. "Not so much anymore. Just me and Uncle Clive now that mommy and daddy are..."
    "Mummy and diddy whatsh?"
    "They got sick."
    "Oh, dey getsh da shick? Dey box, den?"
    "Box?" Her face distended in confusion.
    "It means they died." I interjected.
    "Oh. Yeah, they got the plague and died."
    "Not yoush?"
    "I got sick, but then I got better."
    "Olivia, that's enough." I said in horror. I had told her so many times not to tell people about her recovery. Especially dusters. "She's wasn't really sick, just..." I could already see our cover had been blown. Reesh knew.
    "Dat'sh why yoush shity folk goesh troo da dust, yesh? Yoush tryinna getsh to da brain building on da udder shide, yesh?"
    I stood, dropping my bread and water and grabbed Olivia by the shoulders, pushing her behind me.
    "Look, we don't want any trouble here." I said, trying desperately to figure out how to intimidate a duster. Reesh and I locked eyes for a moment. I had no idea what he'd try to do to her now that he knew, nor what I could do about it.
    "No fretsh, me'sh not wanna ouch yoush. Shick bad. Need to helpsh it go bye. Me'sh wanna helpsh yoush. Me get you dere, no ouch. No box." And with that Reesh went back to chewing his bread and peering across the land. "Too menny box already. Needsh to shtop. Yoush jusht paysh. Job getsh done. Reesh'sh uh..." His face twisted up in concentration, then a grin flashed across it as he found the word he was looking for. "Reesh'sh polishy! Me polishy, get pay, do job!" He smiled up at us, seemingly proud of his 'extensive' vocabulary. I began to wonder what angle he was working. He had a plague survivor in his grasp. She was definitely worth more to him than the fare, by far. Dusters were not to be trusted under the best of circumstances, but this definitely comlicated things.
    "What if we couldn't pay?" Olivia quietly asked from behind me.
    "Olivia! Stop!" I said, desperate to quell the hemorraging of dangerous information from her mouth. Reesh just chuckled.
    "Yoush can paysh. Yoush shity folk. Gotsh moneysh. Lotsha moneysh all round. Heh. Funny little girl." Reesh said flippantly.
    "City folk aren't rich, you know. We have nothing." She said defiantly. "That's just what you greedy dusters think of us!"
    "Olivia, stop now!" I nearly shouted at her. I watched as Reesh slowly stood up and brushed some dust off his faded red shorts. He slowly looked around as though we weren't even there. Then settled his gaze on Olivia, then me.
    "Yoush no can paysh me?"
    "We'll pay, we just have to get there first." I said trying to convince him he would get his money.
    "Letsh me shee moneysh, den." We stood staring at each other for a moment as I contemplated a way to get out of him calling my bluff.
    "The... the scientists will.."
    "Yoush don't gotsh moneysh. You not rich. You not paysh poor old Reesh. Me doesh job and not getsh pay. Shity folk try to cheatsh dushtersh." Reesh reached behind himself and pulled out a knife hidden in the back of his belt.
    "S**t." Was all my mouth could utter. Why had Olivia chosen now to get chatty?
    Reesh suddenly burst out in a fit of maniacal laughter. He doubled over holding his sides laughing to the point of being in tears. I could only stare helplessly at his outburst and try to make sense of it. Reesh laughed so hard he fell to the ground. All I could think was what an odd little man he was. But I was still keely aware that he was a also a duster, and therefore dangerous.
    After a moment Reesh stood back up and returned the knife to it's hidden sheath. He removed his glasses and wiped the tears from his small, black eyes.
    "Yoush makesh me haha. Little girl tinksh dushtersh all bad. Ouch yoush for moneysh. But me not bad, me getsh you dere. Dish too... um... too big. Too..."
    "Important?" I said suspiciously. Reesh's face lit up.
    "Yesh! Too im-port-tant. Brain poeplesh needsh to shee little girl. Make shick go bye. No more peoplesh get box. Shick have to shtop. Me getsh yoush dere, you paysh what moneysh yoush can. Dish im-port-tant." And with that, he sat back down and returned to his meal. "Yoush sheesh dat dushtersh not what yoush tinksh, eh little girl?" Olivia moved out from behind me and sat back down.
    "I guess I was wrong about you. Dusters aren't all bad. Sorry I called you greedy." Reesh chuckled. "Shorry me call you rich." Olivia and Reesh both sat laughing and continued eating. I just stood there wondering what to make of it all. After a moment I sat back down, not seeing any other course of action.
    We ate and made small talk for a little while. I began to come to the conclusion that Reesh had been earnest about this trip being more important than money. I guess it was easier for a ten year old child to believe that dusters might not all be ready to take advantage of every situation for personal gain than I was at thirty. Perhaps I was just too jaded. Heard too many stories from the dust. But now I was witnessing a duster that had a bigger heart than I did. I thought about all the times I had nearly backed out of this trip because of the danger. But Reesh was right, this was too important to allow selfishness to hinder it.
    Suddenly Reesh shot up to his feet, his eyes fixed on something in the distance.
    "Getsh in motor, now!" He quickly ran to the vehicle and got in. Olivia and I hurried and got in as well.
    "What's going on?" I asked.
    "Twistiesh! Dey sheed ush!" My stomach rolled itself up in a knot. I knew that word. 'Twisties'. That was the duster word for mutants. People who had live in irradiated zones for too many generations until thier bodies had become perverted beyond humanity. They were horrible beings that had become little more than animals over time. They were also notorious cannibals, from what I'd heard.
    As Reesh started the vehicle I saw the cloud of dust beginning to come into view. They were moving fast in our direction. Reesh pushed the foot lever to the floor and the machine tore off down the road. Then Reesh abruptly turned towards the cloud of dust and raced towards it.
    "What the hell are you doing, man?" I yelled.
    "Ish trap! Deysh make netsh to drive ush into! Dere be'sh more of dem in other way." The fear in Reesh's eyes told me that the mutants were more of a terror than the raiders. Much more.
    While Reesh sped towards the danger he reached under his seat and pulled out a gun. It looked like a heavily modified double barrel sawed off shotgun. He shoved it into my hands.
    "Shootsh dem when me tellsh yoush! Not before, not after. Only when me tellsh yoush."
    "I don't know about this, I'm a terrible shot." I was hoping he'd take the gun back.
    "Jusht shootsh dere wheelsh when me tellsh yoush! Not hard at all."
    We raced closer and closer to the oncoming mutants. I could see that they had two vehicles coming towards us. Neither looked like Reesh's machine, though. They both looked as though they had been cobbled together out of parts meant for other things, as twisted and out of place as thier drivers. Both had two mutants riding on them aside from the drivers. Reesh piloted the vehicle straight towards the mutants on the right. Just before we impacted Reesh skillfully juked the vehicle to the left and went directly in between the two grotesque machines.
    "Shootsh now! Now!"
    I leaned out the window and tried hard to aim the gun at thier tires and pulled the trigger. Two swarms of caltrops blasted from both barrels ripping into the machine's oversized tire, shredding it to bits as the mutant driver had tried to steer into us, causing the vehicle to roll sideways over and over, throwing the two passengers to thier deaths. The other mutant carriage spun sideways to continue their pursuit, narrowly missing the gnarled wreckage as it rolled past.
    "Can we outrun them?" I asked desperately.
    "Not know. Dere motorsh ish fasht. Very fasht." I looked behind us to see that Reesh was right, they were very nearly on top of us again. They rushed up along side our vehicle and I saw a mutant up close for the first time. The flesh horribly contorted around his face, he had only one eye visible as the skin from his forehead and nose met and swirled in the middle of where the eye should have been. The mouth was agape and a torrent of saliva drooled out of one side that seemed as if were sliding off his chin. The skin visible through his tattered clothing was horribly scarred and full of boils dripping a reddish yellow pus. He leapt from their motor to land with a thud on our rooftop.
    "In dere! In dere!" Reesh yelled while frantically pointing to a compartment in front of me. I opened it to reveal several more small guns and a few knives. I grabbed a gun and held it out to Reesh.
    "Yoush shootsh! Me drivesh! Yoush shootsh!"
    The mutant's arm grabbed at my shoulder through the window, trying to jerk me out of my seat. It was inhumanly strong. I levelled the gun to shoot the arm and pulled the trigger. A metal spike shot out and embedded itself in the mutant's forearm. A howl of pain came through the roof over the sound of the vehicle. The mutant refused to let go of my shoulder. Reesh jerked the machine to the left, sliding us sideways and throwing the mutant off the roof while narrowly evading the other machine crashing into the side of ours as they continued straight for a moment, falling behind. Even while being dragged by the vehicle, the mutant still kept his death grip on me. I felt myself being pulled out the window. Now halfway out, the mutant grabbed onto me with his other hand also. I heard Olivia scream "Uncle Clive!" and felt her frantically try to pull me back in, but she had nothing close to the strength necessary to do it.  The mutant vehicle closed in on my side and a mutant hung from it's side holding a spiked club made from old metal trash. He fixed his crazed eyes on me.
    Just then Reesh steered towards the mutant's motor and then jerked back just in time. This caused the mutant holding onto me to go completely sideways just long enough for the the other vehicle to run over his legs. He screamed in pain and let go, tumbling end over end into the dirt. Just as I pushed myself up and got all the way into the cab, the spiked club came down and mangled my right hand.
    "F**k! Oh god!" I screamed in agony. The mutant holding the club leapt onto our roof and raised the club up again, trying for my head this time but missing by an inch. Reesh pulled the vehicle to the left hitting a small sand dune. For a brief moment, machine and earth parted ways. Time seemed to slow as I hung in mid air for a split second before slumping back into my seat as we landed back on the ground. I heard Olivia cry out in pain from the back seat. The mutant on the roof flew through the air to land on the ground, flopping like a juicy hunk of dead meat. It was now down to us and the mutant driver.
    "Shootsh him! Shootsh him!" Yelled Reesh. I aimed the gun as best as I could with my left hand in a moving vehicle. I pulled the trigger, but nothing happened.
    "One shotsh! Get nother one!" I grabbed a second gun from the compartment. This one was geared up to shoot smaller spikes with a revolving loading mechanism. I took aim and squeezed the trigger several times, emptying the gun at the mutant driver. Several metal bolts stuck in various places in his vehicle. The last one embedded itself squarely in his leg, causing him to howl. He steered the machine towards us, crashing into the side of the Super Bee. Reesh briefly lost control and we spun out in a cloud of dust. The mutant rotated his machine and drove straight towards us as we came to a halt. Reesh pushed the foot lever down as far as it would go. Our tires spun in place for a second, then rocketed us forward, causing the mutant's vehicle to miss us by the slimmest of margains. Reesh looked at me with a desperate look that twisted my stomach into knots.
    "One lasht tricker." He reached under the steering column and twisted a knob. I thought I'd seen the limits of the Super Bee's speed, but suddenly it's heart screamed out with all new power and I was thrown back into my seat as we began to torpedo away. We thundered through the dirt, kicking up a cloud of dust as the sound of the Super Bee became a deafening din. The mutant vehicle fell further and further behind until it was lost in the cloud. Even over the machine's noise, I could make out the sound of Reesh cackling with delight.
    We rocketed away with a speed I would never have thought possible for several moments, until Reesh finally slowed until he came to a halt. The vehicle's heart pinged and popped randomly.
    "Me thinksh we'sh shafe for nowsh. Gotsh to cool motor." Reesh said to me. I gripped my bleeding, maimed hand and winced in anguish. "Bandagesh under sheat. Wrap hand good. No bleedsh in  me motor, pleash." I looked at him with a little disdain for caring more about his machine than my poor hand. Reaching under the seat I found a makeshift first aid kit.
    While I wrapped my hand in the bandages I asked Reesh "What the hell was that?"
    "What what?" Asked Reesh.
    "That burst of speed. Where did it come from?"
    "Ah, dat. Shpeshul fuelsh. I make meshelf. Go'sh VERY fasht. Mutantsh not go DAT fasht. Never loosh." He grinned. "Not sho goodsh for me poor motor, doh. Gotsh to cool down."
    I turned to Olivia in the back seat. "Are you okay, honey?"
    "I hit my head." She answered. I took a look at her. She'd probably have a bump, but was otherwise fine. I slumped down in my seat feeling the throbbing of my hand and closed my eyes for a moment.
    "Thanks." I said without opening my eyes. "Thanks for getting us out of that, Reesh."
    "What me tellsh yoush? Reesh da besht! Ha! Da besht! No box for ush."
    I nearly fell asleep as we sat for awhile, waiting for the Super Bee to cool off. Several times I heard Reesh whispering things to it as he reloaded the various guns I had expended. I turned to look at Olivia, but she had fallen asleep. It had been about a day and a half since either of us had slept, and the poor thing had to be exhausted by now. I looked at Reesh, who had put some sort of small wooden stick in between his teeth and was absent mindedly chewing it.
    "What's our next move?" I asked him.
    We'sh makesh for Wolfcamp. Big garage. Lotsha fuelsh for ush. Mosht fuelsh ever. At Wolfcamp. We'sh repair me poor, poor motor dere. Help hand, too."
    "Is it on the way?"
    "No. Ish to Shouth. Few hundred milesh. Shouth. Den we'sh can goesh to brain building from dere. Getsh little girl dere shafe, no ouch, no box."
    I didn't want to take any extra time on this trip, but Reesh had kept us alive so far, and I didn't have the energy to argue with him about it anyway. I closed my eyes again and drifted off to sleep as Reesh started to drive back towards the road.