Chapter 122:Death Valley

Once Sweet Tooth was out of sight, Damon rushed to Katrina,

"Are you alright...?"

"I'M FINE!" Shouted Katrina, shoving Damon away, "JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" She then ran back to the main building, folding her arms in front of her chest as she ran, quietly sobbing to herself. Damon could only watch as she ran back into the building, clenching his fists as images of both Sweet Tooth and Mr. Grimm entered his mind, but was soon brought back to reality by Clyde,

"Damon? You okay?"

"No..." he answered, "...that bastard clown is planning on killing my good friend, and even if me and her are the first ones to cross that finish line tomorrow, we would have to fight each other in the final round...something I can't do." Clyde gave him a curious look,

"So what are you going to do?" Damon thought for a moment, and turned to the mechanic,

"You got some metal workers here, don't you?"

The following morning, Death Valley...

In a blazing hot desert, mostly consisting of yellow rock, four vehicles were parked in a deep gorge; Katrina and her newly rebuilt porsche, Mr. Grimm and his motorcycle, Damon and his ford, and Sweet Tooth in his ice cream truck. To the surprise of everyone close by, Lady Sweet was nowhere in sight,

"Any idea where Sweet Tooths' sister is at?" Damon asked Clyde.

"Don't know, but if she was racing, she should have been here by now." The same horn from Diesel City sounded overhead, and Calypsos' voice rang out,

"Welcome back to Twisted Metal my freakish friends," he said, "For today, you five are going to participate in a race through Death Valley, but of course, there is a small catch..." The four present drivers squirmed in their seats, nervous as to what Calypso meant by 'small catch.' "Attached to each of your vehicles is a small but powerful C4 charge, rigged to explode if you don't cross the finish line." Damon shouted, looking to Clyde, only to recieve a scared shrug from the mechanic. "If you manage to cross the finish line first or second, that persons charge will be deactivated. If you don't cross the finish line first or second..." Calypso paused to let a chuckle escape his throat "...well, need I say more?" Katrina gripped the steering wheel of her porsche with intensity as her new gunner, a more scared nameless mechanic, gripped his gun,

"Uh, hey miss? I know that winning this game is important to you, but I kind of prefer living more, you know?"

"If you want out then get out," said Katrina, "I'm not going to make you stay if all your going to do is cower in your-!" Katrina had not even finished her sentence when the new gunner set the gun between the seats, and dove out of the car, "...seat."

"Let the best...and most sadistic driver win!" The horn sounded off once again, and all four present vehicles roared to life, passing the starting line and racing through the gorge with Sweet Tooth in the lead. Damon was starting to close the gap between himself and the wicked clown, but Mr. Grimm sped up next to him, swinging his chainsaw at the drivers side window, and finally Katrina was in last place of the race.

As the others tried to speed up and pass Sweet Tooth, the crazed clowns gunner popped out of the passenger side and began to shoot an assault rifle at the other drivers, with Clyde popping out and returning the fire.

Soon Mr. Grimm slowed down just enough to get behind Damons' truck, readying his saw to start slicing at Damons tires, until Damon spotted him first, slammed the brakes, opened his door and smacked the saw out of the madmans hand. He then sped back up, attempting to leave Mr. Grimm in the dust, but the motorcycle rider was quickly catching back up again, aiming for the bed of Damons' truck, drawing yet another chainsaw from the back of his cycle. Damon smirked, ane slammed on his brakes, causing Grimm to rearend him, fly off his bike and hit his head on the back glass of the truck, landing in a heap in the truck bed. Damon then stomped on the gas, making Grimm slide across the truck bed and slam against the bed gate, making it spring open and almost dump the twisted biker into the swirling dirt behind the truck, but he used his free hand to grab the back gate just in time, leaving his boots to be dragged in the dirt as he tried to pull himself back up. Damon looked back at the road as he spoke,

"Clyde?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm putting it in cruise! Is it ready?" Clyde then reached down in the floor boards, and produced a small engine with a handle and gearshift for a motorcycle,

"The blade should be in the silver metal toolbox in the truck bed!" Damon nodded, and let Clyde reach for the steering wheel as Damon crawled out the back window, kneeled by the long metal toolbox bolted to the back of the truck bed, threw it open and drew out a long metal blade with a large drillbit on the end instead of a handle, turned the engine in his hand and stuck the drillbit into a hole on the engine, making a sword that resembled a more rugged version of the Green Knight and the Red Queen. As Grimm finally pulled himself up into the back of the truck and on his feet, Damon was waiting, the tip of the sword resting on the truck bed and revving the gearshift, making the blade heat up to an orange color.

"Okay, that's different," said Grimm, raising an eyebrow.

"Damn right it is!" Shouted Damon, and in a flash both he and Grimm were clashing sword against running chainsaw as the two were battling in the back of the truck as it was racing near Sweet Tooth with Katrina still behind them. As the two were taking swipes at each other, Grimm managed to land a graze on Damons' right arm, and Damon took a slash at Grimm, cutting the man across his painted cheek, and even taking some of his dreadlock hair left side of his head,

"Oh damn!" Laughed Damon, and Grimm attacked back with more ferocity.

Meanwhile...

Calypso was watching the game from a massive plasma screen T.V. in his office, a bowl of popcorn next to himself as he speaks into a microphone, acting as a commentator,

"Now Damon and Mr. Grimm are fighting in the back of the speeding truck, with Sweet Tooth still in the lead and Katrina still far behind. But now it seems like Lady Sweet is finally joining the race!"

Back to the race...

As the four vehicles were speeding through the desert gorge, a shadow began to pass over them, slowly back and forth, making all of them look directly up, and to their surprise they saw a fully armed attack helicopter heading straight for them, with Lady Sweet in the pilots seat. She aimed the guns on the vehicle directly at Katrina and Damon,

"Time to pay for the Juggernaut you little shits!" She pulled the trigger, and unleashed the storm of bullets on the vehicles below, making both Katrina and Clyde swerve their vehicles, with Grimm actually falling from Damons' truck and landing in front of Katrinas' porsche.

THU-DUNK!!

Katrina looked behind her vehicle, seeing Grimm was now in a twisted mess, clearly not surviving being run over by Katrinas' car. She didn't have time to stare at Grimms' destroyed body as Lady Sweet resumed her gunfire on the former goddess. Damon then crawled back into his truck, took the wheel from Clyde and take the truck off cruise. The flying bullets made Katrina slow for mere seconds, but those seconds were just enough for Sweet Tooth and Damon to get even farther ahead of her.

"Damon..." Katrina gasped, still trying to avoid the gunfire from the helicopter.

Damon looked back, seeing Katrina falling farther behind due to Lady Sweet, and looked ahead to see the end of the gorge, with Sweet Tooth being the first to cross the finish line. As the former devil closed in on the finish line as well, he slammed on the brakes, turning the wheel and steering the truck so it was facing away from the finish line,

"Damon what are you doing?!" Asked Clyde.

"What weapons do we have here in the truck besides your AK-47?" He asked, making Clyde reach back to the large silver toolbox,

"We got a sawed off double barrel shotgun...fully loaded...and a single shot grenade launcher...with one shot which is kind of in the name." Damon sighed, nodding to himself as a plan formed in his head,

"Alright Clyde, I need you to pile the weapons in the passengers seat, then I need you to get out." Clyde stared hard at the boy,

"Kid...I don't know what you're planning, but if it involves hurting yourself-!"

"CLYDE!!" Shouted Damon, making the mechanic quiet, "Just make sure to give Katrina that note I told you about, alright?" Clyde nodded, and cautiously stepped out of the truck, placing the weapons he mentioned before in the passenger seat, "Been nice knowing ya," Damon said with a sad smile, and stomped the gas, propelling himself to Katrina who was still being attacked by Lady Sweet.

"...Good luck kid..." Clyde said under his breath, knowing that nothing good was up ahead...