AN: I highly recommend you all look at the Mad Max: Fury Road Graphic novel prequel. It's amazing! I am going to incorporate little bits from that into the story moving forward. Anyways, we are finally going to see Max and River meet. Hope you all enjoy this update!
Chapter 4: Trust
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Max's POV
There's a pounding in my head. Like the beat of the drums that had heralded the pursuit of the War Rig. I lift my head out of the sand and being to shake off the heavy coating of sand on my clothes and in my hair. It's my pulse that's pounding, and as I pull the IV line out of my neck, it returns to it's normal rhythm.
I follow the chain attached to my wrist to the other end… to the dilapidated and broken shell of the car that half-dead was driving. I yank on it and his hand comes up with it. I peel the door back and drag his body out onto the sand. He's still breathing, just out cold.
I try and pry the manacle attached to his hand off. I shake and pry it as much as I can with my hands, but it is no use.
It's then that I see the butt of shotgun just inside the detached door and quickly grab it. I aim it as carefully as I can at his hand and pull the trigger. But instead of the resounding blast that I expect, I only get a fizzle from the firing pin. Damn sand has ruined it.
I resort to trying to bite his fingers off. I cannot get them close enough to my mouth to do so with this muzzle on though. Just my luck that everything in this toxic Wasteland doesn't want to work.
"Fuck!" I yell and let out an exasperated sigh. I hear something close by. The sputtering stall and then the turn over of an engine. I grab one of half-dead's boots and put it on before getting the door and unconscious War Boy situated on my back , while I hold the gun with my one free hand.
I walk towards the sound of the engine and as the dust begins to settle from the storm I see the War Rig.
I cautiously approach the vehicle, and as I come around the back to the other side I am greeted with a sight I did not expect to see. Five young women, using a hose attached to the War Rig to drink water. My throat instantly clenches at the sight and I lick my suddenly very parched lips.
One of them appears to be using bolt cutters to get something off of another one. Something barbed and metal that lands with a thud at their feet. And closer to the front is a woman, presumably the driver, trying to get dust out of the air intake to the War Rig.
But that's not what surprises me the most. In between me and the other group… is a ghost.
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River's POV
As the others wash the grime of the road from their skin and Furiosa works her black finger magic to resurrect the beast from it's dusty coffin, she studied the beast for herself. Her hands trail lightly along its belly as she gleans it history from whispers from ghosts of its past.
"Everyone falls in the end," she says quietly to herself. "At least some few have the dubious satisfaction they leave some small thing behind."
She shakes her mind free of the ghosts and studies the whole. It was a thing of mechanical beauty, a perfect amalgamation, something better than than just its individual parts. Kaylee would have loved it, her fingers would have twitched in excitement to work on something like this.
Granted some of its parts were more creepifying than others. If they had time she would have bashed every dolls' face on the rig. She was never a fan of dolls as a child. They were simple things… mindless. It's no wonder that Rictus enjoyed them, had insisted on placing them along the belly of the beast.
She hears someone approaching from behind her and feel the electricity run down her spine. She smiles and turns to face him. She watches as he dumps the War Boy on his back with a resounding thud. She feels the others startle and take notice of his presence. She hears the water turn off behind her. Hears Angharad's soft voice call out, "We're not going back." She feels the fear and apprehension roll of each one, including him.
He holds up the gun and points it at Angharad. Motions for her to bring the water to him.
"Do as he asks." The girl softly says to the heavily pregnant woman behind her. "He means us no harm."
"Like hell he doesn't. He's a smeg like the rest," Dag says viciously behind her as Angharad walks forward with the hose. But as she gets close to the girl, she holds out a hand and stops her. Angharad looks at her apprehensively, but she simply nods, smiles, and takes the hose from her to take it to him herself.
"Since when do ghosts live again?" He thinks in his head.
She walks forward and hands him the hose. He doesn't say a word and simply turns it on full blast and guzzles as much as he can. He turns off the hose after a minute and throws it to the ground. He holds the gun at her head and doesn't flinch.
She smiles at him. "She's not Glory. Just lost… like you."
His eyes widen and he quickly pulls her closer and holds the gun to head. She rolls her eyes. Men were such boobs. "You only need to ask," she answers softly so that only he can hear.
"Bolt cutters." He asks aloud. Dag is about to hand them to Furiosa before he stops her. "Ah. You." He says before she can hand them off.
Furiosa begrudgingly nods for her to take them herself, and she walks forwards. As she nears Angharad though, she freezes with fear. "Angharad, is that just the wind...or is that a furious vexation?" She says as both women turn and look at the horizon with fear.
Both of them turn their heads now, and indeed see the furious vexation behind them. They don't have very long to waste, and it sends shiver through their minds.
But before Dag can bring the blot cutters any closer, Furiosa launches herself at the him and catches the girl by the side too.
She yells in frustration as all three tumble to the ground. "Gorramit! He doesn't mean us harm!" But they are too engrossed with fighting each other off to hear her.
The next few minutes are a mass of whirling bodies. As they scrape on the ground, each one throwing heavy hitting blows, the other women and the newly woken War Boy, do their best to help their respective 'team,' so to speak.
The girl huffs in annoyance and moves away from the scuffle towards the side of the War Rig. She extracts the hidden pistol that Furiosa was thinking about making a move for. Everyone else is too busy to notice.
She crosses her arms and watches with mild amusement as the wives use the chain to pull him off of their 'savior', but as he gets close to them he growls and they quickly drop the chain.
The girl moves forward and fires a single shot into the air. Everyone stalls and looks at her in shock.
"We do not have time for this." She says matter of factly as she levies the gun between them all. "We can do this the easy way, and go along on our merry way, or we can wait for them to show up. Which she doesn't advise." She motions to the approaching cars and dust in the distance.
All of their unspoken questions begin to flutter through her brain.
"What the hell?"
"Who is this girl?"
"What is happening?"
"Am I dreaming?"
"We're going to the Green Place of Many Mothers."
She rolls her eyes and sighs. "There isn't enough time to explain. He's coming with us." She says as she motions towards the man in muzzle.
"Like hell blood bag!" The War Boy yells at her now. "He's gonna shred her. And you!"
She sighs, walks forward, and pistol whips the War Boy. He falls to the ground half-unconscious.
"What are you…" Furiosa begins to ask her but is quickly silenced by the pistol turning on her.
"No time. We… " She says as she motions to all of them. "need to leave. We have 2000 horsepower of nitro-boosted war machine. She'd say we have about a five-minute head start. So get in." Still no one moves, everyone glancing between each other, unspoken questions linger in their looks and filter through her mind.
She huffs again and fires another shot in the air. "Yes, I understand, and you do not comprehend. You are going to listen to the crazy girl with the gun. Move." She says as they all begin to walk back towards the driver's cabin. He briefly stoops down to pick up the bolt cutters and cut the chain connecting him to the unconscious War Boy. He also takes his jacket back.
As the girl walks past Furiosa, the older woman glares at her in a way that speaks volumes. "What's this girl up to?" She picks up from her thoughts.
She doesn't have time to giver her the response she wants though. "She knows you have questions, but there isn't a lot of time. She needs you to trust her." She knows it's a tall order. Trust is a precious commodity in this wasteland.
Furiosa narrows her eyes and gives her a curt nod. The girl knows she's walking a very thin line.
XXX
Max's POV
The five women who are dressed the same clamor up into the rig first, each of them crawling into the back of the cabin. The ghost jumps up next and continues to point the gun at everyone depending on how the wind blows. I follow her up as she motions for me. The last one, the one with one arm, climbs in after she puts her prosthetic back on and proceeds to hit hidden kill switches in the cab of the rig.
I watch with mild suspicion as the ghost procures a file and hands it to me. I take it after a moment and stick it into the lock on the side of the muzzle and begin to file. She then turns her attention to the women in the back.
"Pass me the weapons bag, please." She asks them sweetly. No one makes a move.
"Smeg!" The one with the long blonde hair says to her. "I thought you were like us."
Ghost huffs in annoyance. "Subjective. But we can debate semantics later." Again she motions for the bag.
"You don't have to do it just because she tells you." The red head responds.
Another one, one with darker skin responds. "What choice does she have?"
Ghost girl just waits patiently. "Again, he's not going to hurt us." She reiterates.
"How do you know?" The darker girl asks.
The ghost doesn't respond. She opens her mouth like she's going to, but then quickly closes it.
"Think he's coming to the Green Place?" The quiet brunette in the back asks now.
It's the blonde who speaks up again now. "Never! He's a crazy smeg...who eats Schlesinger!"
"ENOUGH!" The ghost yells. "It's getting very crowded in here." She says as she taps the side of her head with the pistol. Girl's off her rocker.
XXX
River's POV
She was trying so hard. Trying to avoid slipping back into the psychosis of a broken girl. Trying to hold it all together. But being this close to the wives… to Furiosa… to him… their sadness and suffering ooze out of them. Their memories and voices invade her brain, and it's starting to take it's toll on her stability.
She understands that they do not comprehend. How could they possibly know she's been down this road before? She knows they'll never stop… he'll never stop. He'll just keep coming until he gets back what they took. What he thinks is rightfully his. That's the problem with men like him… they think they can meddle. That they are doing good work. That they should rule the world.
She wants to make them comprehend. Wants to sing her sad song about a pretty bird in a gilded cage who just wanted to dance. Sing about a bird who flew from her nest and fell from the stars. But how do you tell someone about a bird that they have never seen?
She's contemplating how to make them comprehend when the hair on the back of her neck begins to stand on end. She rolls down the window and scans the horizon to the south.
"Binoculars." She motions to Capable. "What do you see?" She needs someone else to confirm her suspicions that Scrotus has sent aid to his father. Capable hesitates until she snaps her fingers.
As she looks out she takes in a sharp inhale giving away the pin pricks of fear in her voice. "Gas Town Boys."
"What do you see?" Furiosa asks as she glances over her shoulder as she continues to drive.
Now all the wives are glued to the window staring off to the horizon where they can just make out shapes moving towards them.
"Big Rigs...Polecats...Flamers...and there's the People Eater himself." Capable says as she passes the binoculars to Angharad.
She shudders as glimpses of the People Eater from Immortan's memories flash through her brain. He liked to make them suffer. Liked to watch the killing of the Amnesty.
"Coming to count the cost." Angharad replies solemnly.
She opens her mouth to speak, but is interrupted from the grinding of the Big Rig's gears.
"Shit." Furiosa says as she begins to move dials around. "We're dragging something out back. I think it's the fuel pod."
The girl sighs and begins to open the passenger door, but a hand on her shoulder stops her. "No, no. I'll go." He says to her. She smiles softly, and shifts to allow him to climb out of the passenger side door.
XXX
AN: Until next time, stay shiny. ;)