Quatro started gaining on Mr. Zombie when the hover bike suddenly decelerated. In fact, it shut down entirely. Mr. Zombie started pulling ahead. Quatro checked his rearview mirror (noting that the vehicle behind him appeared closer than it truly was) and saw a station wagon speeding in to ram him. Except instead of having wheels, the car was tied down to a couple of tank treads with an industrial chain link. And instead of ramming, it was aiming to run him over.

Coincidentally, the driver happened to be one of the targets on Quatro's list. Most Wanted Numero Tres. Quatro however, was focused on the chase he was already on and didn't feel like being on the wrong end of someone else's.

He managed to bring the hoverbike back to life and activated another shockwave in time to prevent being rolled over and crushed. The tank-car was pushed back and Quatro drove away, using turbo to try and continue his Zombie chase. Mr. Zombie was no longer on the outer rim. Up and off to his left, Quatro spotted Zombie on a bridge that led from a caged battle area to the massive structure in the center of the arena. The massive structure housed a spike-trap room beneath it on the ground level and acted as the sole connecting point for the two suspended racetracks.

Having above the bridge were three massive, spiked wrecking balls swinging back and forth, which made driving across is inadvisable at the least, and a stupid, unnecessary risk at most. Regardless, Zombie was playing this deadly game of chance and by Quatro's calculations were about to win.

Something totally out of place caught the droid's attention. He was picking up some kind of audio. Was that... music? It sounded like an ice cream truck's tune.

Sweet Tooth?

The next thing to happen actually worked in his favor. A large missile being ridden by a mechanical rat, the spinning head apparently also serving as a music box, flew in from above and exploded against Zombie's coach. The blast propelled it into one of the swinging wrecking balls, which then batted it off the bridge. Mr. Zombie landed less than thirty feet from Quatro's position. Destroyed was an understatement. It looked more like a smoldering, crushed soda can than the beautifully classic car it had been. When Quatro looked over at the wreck there were no signs of life. All biometric scans read flat across the board.

"Mr. Zombie destroyed. Six contestants left."

One down, three to go.

Invitation to Twisted Metal (2023)

Red Limo