"Hurry! Speed it up!" Larry yelled frantically.
"I'm going at 90 miles per hour!" I yelled back.
"Is that all you've got?!"
"What do you want me to do, fly?"
"Yes!"
"I can't!"
Then Larry looked behind. "Give me the Terra-Track!" Robert tossed it to him and Larry caught it. Then he placed down near the gas pedal. Almost immediately, the car accelerated with a violent thrust and the needle on the odometer started flying like crazy.
"Oh…here we go!" I yelled as I felt the tires leaving the road and the car going airborne. "We're flying!" The wind blasted inside as we rose in altitude and started going faster. The enemy helicopter behind us started raining us down in bullets again. "Hey, Spiny!"
"What?" I yelled at the top of my lungs above the awful racket.
"Do you think it might be a good idea to call for backup?"
What kind of idiot are you?! "YES I WANT YOU TO CALL FOR BACKUP!"
He waved his finger at me and said (you won't believe this), "Ah-ah-ah! You have to say please!" Just then some bullets crashed his window and sliced his seatbelt in half.
"You still want to me to say please?"
He didn't answer. He grabbed the walkie-talkie from his bag and yelled, "This is Larry, this is Larry! We need back up! We are under attack! You have our location! This is not a drill! Repeat, this is not a drill! We are in grave danger! Enemy chopper from IEO attacking!"
Just as he finished that, the bullets stopped firing and for a while we heard nothing but the sound of the chopper's blades. We all seemed astounded. "What's wrong?" said Roger.
"Maybe they ran out of bullets," said Patty.
"Or maybe they don't want the cube anymore," said Lilia.
Larry poked his head out the window and looked again. "They stopped…uh-oh. Hang on to something! They're about to shot an RPG!"
I felt a sudden blast on the left side of the car and all the windows shattered and I heard the back tires exploding. The impact drove us out of control and we started spinning wildly. I felt the blood rush from my head and my stomach turned inside out.
"Ohhh, I don't feel so good!" Kathy yelled.
"Not now. It's not the time or place for that!" Larry shouted back, his eyes shut tight and his hands gripping onto the seat so much that his claws were tearing the leather.
I felt the shards of glass flying into my face, poking and stinging my nose, my cheeks, my mouth, and my eyelids. I keep them as closed tight as I knew how. The only thing was that I wouldn't be able to see.
And that was bad.
We were impacted by three more RPGs, all of them on the left side.
When I dared to open my eyes, my vision was blurry and everything outside was spinning at top speed. I caught glimpses of the helicopter as we continued spinning. Is this ever going to stop?
Larry opened his eyes just a slit. "Get this thing back on the road! I can't take this!"
"We're spinning out of control! Or have you not noticed!"
"There's a bridge underneath us! Just remove the Terra-Track and try to land us, even if it's upside down! But just land us! We're too exposed up here!"
"Larry!"
"JUST LAND US, YOU IDIOT!" he sounded genuinely scared now. I guess he was scared at the thought of the Terra-Track being stolen by the IEO.
I reached down and grabbed the Terra-Track, removing it from its spot near the gas pedal. And just like that, we started falling straight down. The car landed on the bridge Larry had said there was with a loud thud. Everything inside the car jumped, including our heads bumping against the metal roof.
But simple pains were the least of our worries.
I quickly stepped on it and raced down the road.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw two helicopters flying down near us on either side. My heart lurched in fear until I saw they had the flag of Amarkia inscribed on them. The flag of Amarkia is divided into three diagonal stripes. The one on the bottom left is light blue, the one that encompasses the upper-right is yellow and the big, middle one is white.
The chopper on the left opened its side doors and a soldier with a megaphone spoke to us. "Your Majesty! We are here! Please remain calm and continue driving! We will help you and…KA-BOOM!
The Amarkian helicopter suddenly became a fireball with the blades on fire. Then on my right, the other Amarkian chopper was also struck by the enemies. "Holy crap! They're shooting supersonic missiles!" Larry yelled.
Then, the entire left side of the car was ripped off by another strike. I mean doors, windows, hinges, everything was blasted right off! Then the IEO chopper appeared beside us. The windows were too dark for me to make out anything.
They started shooting wildly like there was no tomorrow. "OWW!" Behind me, Lilia yelled in pain. My heart started palpitating. "What happened?"
"They shot her! Three times in the leg!" Robert yelled.
By now Greeny was crying also and Kathy was not far behind. Darla said, "She's bleeding a lot and—AH!"
"They shot Darla in the arm!" Larry yelled.
I had an idea to prevent more injury. It was a crazy idea, but I was willing to do it. I swerved the steering wheel abruptly to the left, making us spin again. "Not that, please!" Kathy yelled.
Then, I grabbed the Terra-Track and dropped near my feet again. As I changed the gear into Reverse and kept my foot pressed on the gas pedal I said, "Oh, please work, Terra-Track. You better work!"
That thing must really be alive because when I turned around so that the exposed side of the car was no longer facing the helicopter, I saw that I was doing 73 mph in reverse!
It was going great, until Larry yelled, "SPINY, FOR THE LOVE OF YOUR FATHER'S MEMORY, PUT THE BRAKES ON!"
I looked behind me and my entire life suddenly went before me. If I didn't manage to stop soon, I'd kill all of us and destroy the Terra-Track when he crashed into that Amarkian military tank behind us.
I closed my eyes, said a prayer, then slammed both feet on the brake pedal. With my eyes still closed, I moved the cube next to it. I waited for the impact, but it never came. I felt the air suddenly become still and the car engine died down.
I opened my eyes and saw that we had stopped an inch from the tank that loomed behind us. I was about to say something to Larry who was crawling out of the glove compartment, but then the IEO chopper stopped about 500 yards in front of us and hovered in place.
It opened its cargo doors and a giant mass of metal and other stuff all crashed down on the bridge below. The mass started moving and forming giant arms, legs, hands, and a face. The metallic robot stood at least fifty feet or so tall and had massive armor shields and giant cannons on the end its hands.
"Ohhh, hang on! Here comes another one!" Larry yelled.
We all covered our heads and ducked down. I heard the blast of the missile and felt the impact when it destroyed the tank behind us. And I caught scent of the smoke from the fire that started in the back of the car.
Lilia suddenly cried out in pain. A blood-curling scream. I looked behind her and saw her struggling as if she'd been strapped on the seat and torrents of tears falling down her face. "My back! It hurts! Please help me!"
Roger and Larry ripped the seatbelt off her and revealed a giant bloody stain where her back had been. I had no desire to see what her back looked like. Not to mention that the entire back of her shirt was seared into the leather.
"She had a thermal burn! It looks awful!" Larry yelled.
I felt my throat closing up. But I had not time for that when the giant robot started towards us, loading up its 30-foot weapons for another shot.
Just then, we heard the sound of an aircraft engine. I looked out Larry's window and saw an Amarkian fighter jet land beside the car. A soldier in Air Force uniform quickly came out and ripped off the door.
"Hurry! Everyone get aboard! You have to get out!"
We all stepped out the burning vehicle and made a dash for it. "This girl has a severe burn and three bullet injuries in the left leg!" I said to the soldier.
"And this one has a bullet injury in the right arm!" Roger yelled, carrying Darla to the jet.
Right after he finished, the robot destroyed the car and the tank behind with another strike. We all ran inside and got strapped into place. "Here we go! Everyone ready!" the pilot yelled.
But he wasn't going to wait for an answer. He turned the fighter jet away from the robot and we were airborne at supersonic speed. Just as we were lifting off, I felt an explosion behind us as if someone had shot us from the ground.
"Rear left tire has been hit!" the pilot yelled. "And the left rear back wing!" he looked at us. "It's going to be a bit bumpy but we're going to make it!"
He went at the controls and he and his co-pilot pulled down on several small levers that were aligned next to each other. I felt something pull me back as we went to supersonic speed, breaking the sound barrier.
Within a few minutes we arrived at the Palace, landing on the landing pad on the roof. We all jumped out, as two Palace Guards greeted us and helped carry Darla and Lilia down to the Bunker.
Of course, it would've been stupid for any of us to have asked what do to. "Spiny, get the Terra-Track!" Larry yelled as we got off the jet.
I grabbed the cube, which was now glowing with a potent dark blue, the white center now gone. I made my way to join Larry down the tunnel system that led to the Bunker. Before I had a chance to, a small version of the fifty-foot robot appeared before me and knocked the Terra-Track out of my hand.
It landed ten feet away and I made a run for it. I fingered it, just before the human-sized robot pulled me by the feet and swung me over, knocking the back of the head hard against the roof.
Everything started spinning and I felt weak, very weak. I tried calling out for help, but the impact on the back of the head had knocked my speaking abilities completely. I managed to see the robot running off with the Terra-Track, and I felt like it was the end.
Larry popped out of nowhere and fired an RPG at the robot, turning it into a pile of cinders and ashes. He grabbed the cube before it impacted the ground and destroyed everything around us.
He placed the Terra-Track near my head and…I immediately felt full of energy and the headache and dizziness vanished! I didn't say or ask anything. Larry handed me the Terra-Track and we went down the tunnel.
When we landed in the Bunker, one of the guards ran to us and said, "Good! Everyone is here! The medical staff are looking at your girlfriend, Your Majesty. And we found a robot coming down the Bunker also, behind you."
Talk about good news. I pushed them aside and went to the medical staff, where Lilia had been placed on a soft, foam bed. She had her eyes closed and the blood dripped from her arm and her back.
"She will live, sir. But the burn on her back needs to be treated before it gets infected. We had no anesthetic so we had to knock her out. With a hammer."
"You did WHAT?!"
"There was no time even if we did have anesthetic, sir!" the doctor said. "We sent the rest of the girls and Prince Gredard into the next room, as we have nowhere else to operate. You may want to wait by the door."
It would've been a good suggestion. Except that we heard an explosion outside the door, then the firing of bullets and someone pounding on the Bunker doors, trying to force them open.
"We have to move into the next unit!" Larry yelled.
"Get out of here!" the guard yelled.
The doors were forced open by a fiery explosion, knocking us all down and shaking the entire room.
We were now completely exposed to the enemy.
And there was nothing to shield us from his deadly weapon.