Chapter 7: The Thieves
Max and Nausicaa had begun their trek across the empty desert, trudging through the sand and climbing up the mountainous dunes that lay before them. As they walked, the sun beat down on them without mercy, making them sweat profusely. Not only that, but several vultures were circling above them overhead, waiting for one of them to drop from exhaustion. But, they didn't…
The one thing Max was liking about traveling with Nausicaa was that she wasn't complaining; most women who weren't hardened by the desert would be complaining about how hot it was, how they needed to look for shade and rest, or how they were afraid they were going to be running out of food or water. Not Nausicaa; she stayed quiet and perseverant, which Max found to be an excellent quality about her.
As they climbed over a dune and stood on it, Max saw something that brought a wave of nostalgia over him; it was a large utility pole, made out of wood and having electrical wires and generators on it's top. Not only that, but it was by a paved road, which was colored black and had white lines on it.
As they slid down the dune and started approaching the utility pole, Nausicaa asked, "What is this?"
"It's a utility pole." Max replied, walking up to it and tapping it with the back of his hand. "They're used for electricity and telephones."
"Tell phones?" Nausicaa asked, her tone confused. "Is that like tell vision?"
"Sort of." Max replied. "Telephones are ways of communicating with people from far away, and when you can't see them face-to-face. Last that I heard, they were making telephones that you could hold in your hand, and they didn't require these poles."
"Amazing… and what of this road? I haven't seen roads like this before. What do these white lines mean?"
"They're for driving; one side of the road goes forward, while the other side goes backward. These lines here act as separators, to keep cars from crashing into each other. Cars are the name of the machines we drive, like my own, for example…"
After saying that, a somewhat pained and angered look appeared over Max's face, of which Nausicaa took note of. She then gently rested a hand on his shoulder to comfort him.
"We'll get back to the valley, and we'll save Ace and your machine." said Nausicaa, her tone solemn and kind.
Max nodded in reply, and then the determined look returned to his face.
"If we follow the road, we'll be able to find somewhere we can stay fo the night." Max spoke. "We'll also be able to find some supplies, hopefully…"
He began heading down the road, going east. Nausicaa followed along, and the two continued on their journey back to the Valley of the Wind. Though they were sure that they were going to make it back alive, they also knew that their trek was going to be a bumpy one, filled with many different obstacles in their path.
And unfortunately, they didn't expect the first hindrance to be coming so soon…
The sun was slowly setting over the horizon, as Max and Nausicaa came across a tunnel. They walked through it, and as they were coming out the other side, they heard a female voice calling out for help. Once they came out of the tunnel, they saw the owner of the voice.
The owner of the voice was a woman in her twenties, with frazzled looking hair, tanned skin, and dressed in torn and ragged clothing. She was crouching over a shopping cart that had been knocked over, and her supplies in the shopping cart had fallen out.
Upon seeing the two travelers, the woman said in a worried tone, "Please don't hurt me… you can have anything you want… I have food, water… just don't hurt me."
Max and Nausicaa looked at each other, both having confused looks on their faces, and then back at the woman; something was very suspicious about this whole setup…
"I don't wanna hurt you." said Max, walking forward.
"Yeah?" The woman asked. "That's what the last guy said…"
"Don't worry." said Nausicaa, coming over to the woman. "We're here to help…"
Something in the woman's expression changed when Nausicaa came over to her, like she was about to commit a horrible crime against her helper.
"Listen, you have to leave…" the woman spoke, her tone hushed. "Leave your friend and go; you don't have to get involved…"
"Nonsense." Nausicaa replied, looking over the woman's shopping cart. "Did the wheel on your cart break off?"
"Please, just go; I'm fine. Only your friend can help, but not you…"
"Why not me?"
Max, who was standing in the middle of the road, looked around, as his senses were picking up that they were being watched. And, what his senses were telling him, was that whoever was watching them wasn't friendly…
"Okay, the game is up!" Max yelled. "I know you thieves are watching us; I can smell you all a mile off! Show yourselves!"
Suddenly, a piece of metal rubble collapsed, causing Nausicaa to jump up and back in fright. And from behind the metal rubble that had collapsed, were three thieves. Then, from behind a crashed car on the side of the road, three other thieves appeared as well, so that there were six in total. they were all dressed in tattered clothing, and were carrying weapons of different kinds.
The leader of the thieves stepped forward; he had a green colored mohawk, a pair of sunglasses, and he carried a baseball bat with barbed-wire around it.
"Surprise, surprise…" The leader spoke, his tone cunning. "Look at what we have here…"
Nausicaa moved back cautiously, until Max was able to step in front of her and protect her.
"She your daughter?" The leader asked, his tone crude. "Your girlfriend? Or… you just have her for a good time? Either way, she's coming with us; we need a little something that'll amuse and pleasure us…"
"You're not going to touch her, not while I'm alive." Max snarled, like a lion protecting it's cub. "None of you are going to lay a finger on her."
The thieves let out crass sounding laughs, while the woman with the shopping cart let out a shiver of fear. Nausicaa stayed to Max's back, as he put an arm out to block her from the thieves.
"Here's how this is going to work." said the leader of the thieves, sounding prideful. "We're going to kill you, loot your body, and she's going to come with us. Any questions?"
"Yeah, you know of the Main Force Patrol?" Max asked, his tone strong and unmoving.
The thieves seemed to shift uneasily at that question, and the leader's confidence faded a little bit. But, then he screwed up his courage and tried to resume looking tough.
"What about them?" The leader of thieves asked.
"I was one of their members." Max replied. "They used to call me… 'Mad' Max Rockatansky…"
The thieves were now starting to look incredibly uncomfortable, but the leader just threw his head back, and let out a crude and sarcastic sounding laugh. When he pulled his head back down, there was a look of hatred on his face.
"You're a dirty liar…" The leader of thieves spoke. "The one called 'Mad Max' is just a myth, a legend, a story created for people like us to live in fear of."
"Why don't we just put that to the test?" Max asked. "If you want her so bad, come and claim her."
The leader of the thieves readied himself, while Max turned to Nausicaa and said, "Nausicaa, stand aside; this is going to get messy…"
Nausicaa obeyed, and retreated to the tunnel, away from where the fight was going to take place. As for Max, he turned back to face the leader, readying his fists. The leader readied his weapon and rushed at Max, intent on smashing his head in! Max ducked the swing, and with his right fist, punched into the leader's ribs with all of his strength! There was an audible crack, and the leader let out a yell of pain, dropping his barbed-wire baseball bat on the road!
Max, with slow, menacing movements, picked up the barbed-wire baseball bat and walked towards the leader. The leader looked up at him, and was clubbed across the side of the head with the bat! He fell to the ground, completely knocked out of his senses, as Max brutally smashed down on his body over and over, killing him in a matter of seconds!
Max looked up, his face covered in small streaks of the leader's blood, at the other thieves, who began slowly backing away. However, one thief with sunburnt skin and carrying a machete, wasn't going to back down so easily.
"What are you standing around for?!" The sunburnt thief asked. "Kill him!"
"But he's Mad Max!" One of the thieves replied.
"I don't care who he is; he's just a man!" The sunburnt thief continued. "Any man can be killed! Let's get him all at once!"
The five converged on Max, with one attempting to hit him with a large crescent wrench! Max dropped the bat, dodged the attack, and punched the thief in the face, sending him reeling! He then came in on him, attacking with vicious blows! From behind, Max could sense another thief coming at him with a makeshift spear and dodged out of the way, as the thief he was attacking ended up getting stabbed and killed; there were now four thieves left.
Max picked up the barbed-wire baseball bat, dodged the spear wielding thief, and hit him with the bat in the head, instantly killing him; three more to go! He then threw the bat at two of the thieves that came at him, and picked up the makeshift spear! One of the thieves ran at him, he side-stepped and stabbed with the spear, killing him; two thieves left!
One thief began attacking him with a machete, while the other thief watched the battle. Max dodged the wild swings, blocked at couple with the makeshift spear, and then kicked the thief in the leg, tripping him! Max then spun around and stabbed the thief right through the stomach, mortally wounding him and collapsing him to the ground. Leaving the spear stuck in its victim, Max turned to face off against the last thief, who was holding a bowie knife and was quaking in fear.
Using slow, and menacing movements once again, Max picked up the barbed-wire baseball bat, and began walking towards the last thief. The thief began backing away and running, but he tripped over a large rock in the road, falling to the ground and dropping his weapon. Now he was crawling away, as Max stepped on his leg to stop him! He then raised his bat over his head, as the thief put his hands up in fear, and-
"Stop!" Nausicaa yelped, which caused Max to snap out of it.
He then turned to see her, standing there with a shocked look on her face.
"Please…" Nausicaa pleaded, her tone somewhat frightened and protective. "He's just a boy…"
Max looked down and saw, much to his surprise, that Nausicaa was right; the last thief was only a teenager, about fifteen or sixteen. Max lowered the bat, and stepped off the thief's leg, as the last their began getting up to his feet.
"Get out of here before I change my mind." Max snarled.
The last thief nodded in fear, and began running for his life, as Max turned to face Nausicaa, who looked at the dead bodies with a somewhat horrified look on her face.
"You… you killed them." said Nausicaa, her tone shocked.
"It was either them or us." Max replied, his tone somewhat nonchalant. "They would've killed me, and taken you to be violated against your will; I'm not going to let that happen, and if I have to kill in order to prevent it, then I will. Now you go over to that lady by the shopping cart, and check if she has any supplies; I'm going to loot the bodies."
Nausicaa obeyed and went over to the woman by the shopping cart, while Max began looting the bodies. Searching them, he found quite the loot for him and Nausicaa: two backpacks, two canteens that were half-full, a few canned foods, various small trinkets that they could use for trading, the bowie knife that the last thief had dropped, the barbed-wire baseball bat that the leader had used, and the makeshift spear, which he pulled out of the dead victim.
Nausicaa then came over to Max and said, "She has water, but it's only enough for one person, so I left it with her. She said that they were planning on killing you, and… well…"
"I understand." Max replied, slipping on a dark green colored backpack. "And it's fine; we have what we need from the thieves I killed. Here, put this backpack on; it has a canteen and some canned foods in it."
Nausicaa put the tan colored backpack on, and then Max held out the makeshift spear, saying, "You're going to need to defend yourself, so take this as well."
Nausicaa took the makeshift spear, while Max picked up the barbed-wire baseball bat. Now having supplies for getting across the desert, and gear for defending themselves, the two began walking across the road. The lady with the shopping cart watched them go on their way, not knowing if she should follow them or not…
That was the first obstacle the two travelers had encountered, and they were going to encounter more…