By all means, please take your time. Not like they were all about to die or anything ...
She couldn't speak as she watched their enemies rapidly closing the distance between them. This was by far the scariest thing she'd seen. Unlike the wasps and scorpions, this horde could think and adapt.
They even had opposable thumbs.
Whole different ball game.
Choo Co La Tah shifted into gear. Or at least he tried. The truck made a fierce grinding sound that caused Jess to screw his face up as it lurched violently and shook like a dog coming in from the rain.
"You sure you don't want me to try?" Jess offered.
Choo Co La Tah waved him away. "I'm a little rusty. Just give me a second to get used to it again."
Abigail swallowed hard. "How long has it been?"
Choo Co La Tah eased off the clutch and they shuddered forward at the most impressive speed of two whole miles an hour. About the same speed as a limping turtle. "Hmm, probably sometime around nineteen hundred and..."
They all waited with bated breath while he ground his way through more gears. With every shift, the engine audibly protested his skills.
Silently, so did she.
The truck was really moving along now. They reached a staggering fifteen miles an hour. At this rate, they might be able to overtake a loaded school bus ...
By tomorrow.
Or at the very least, the day after that.
"... must have been the summer of ... hmm ... let me think a moment. Fifty-three. Yes, that was it. 1953. The year they came out with color teles. It was a good year as I recall. Same year Bill Gates was born."
The look on Jess's and Sasha's faces would have made her laugh if she wasn't every bit as horrified. Oh my God, who put him behind the wheel?
Sasha visibly cringed as he saw how close their pursuers were to their bumper. "Should I get out and push?"
Jess cursed under his breath as he saw them, too. "I'd get out and run at this point. I think you'd go faster."
Choo Co La Tah took their comments in stride. "Now, now, gentlemen. All is well. See, I'm getting better." He finally made a gear without the truck spazzing or the gears grinding.
Abigail cringed as she saw the whites of the eyes of their pursuers. "They're almost at our tailgate."
"Excuse me, darling." Jess slid over her lap to roll down the window.
She started to ask him what he was doing, but before she could, he held his hand out toward Sasha.
"Gun."
Sasha handed it over like a surgical assistant.
Jess leaned against the door with one leg braced over her lap. He pressed his thigh lightly against her stomach as he started shooting at the ones chasing them. The rapid fire rang in her ears as she felt his muscles contracting with each movement. He leaned out further.
Choo Co La Tah snatched the wheel to avoid an abandoned car in the road.
The motion tipped Jess so fast that he lost his balance and fell forward, through the window. Terrified he was about to fall to the street, Abigail wrapped herself around him to hold him in place.
Jess couldn't breathe for a second. He'd bruised the shit out of his ribs when he'd slipped and slammed his side into the door. Not to mention, Abigail had him pinned in a bear hug so tight he was amazed he wasn't turning blue.
But he didn't mind the pain. She felt so good, he was willing to suffer.
Unfortunately, he couldn't shoot this way.