Catch Me If You Can!

by Bobbi-C (aka "Bobbie in the Far East" in PenDragon)

(an official entry to the May 5 PicYourStory contest in the PenDragon RRL Readers’ Group)

One: Tanker

Here I am again, running down yet another ruined street, or perhaps “highway” was the more proper word given how wide this particular elevated roadway was.

I dodged around the ancient, disintegrating metal vehicles scattered in the way, the road feeling more like some prehistoric dried riverbed littered with boulders, and me running full-tilt between the vehicle-boulders, in the direction of the rising sun, my pursuers only meters away.

I ducked behind one of the many yellow colored tanker-vehicles and took cover. I then pulled out the pulse rifle I had “borrowed” from the enemy.

I looked for one of the bigger vehicles – the ones shaped like elongated metal tubes – and fired one of my precious irreplaceable cartridges into it. My little missile flew straight and true to the large metal tube-tanker, and it exploded as I intended it to.

Even though it was centuries old, maybe even hundreds of centuries old, owing to excellent seals, there were enough petrochemical traces still in these tankers to cause a spectacular explosion. I felt the elevated roadway shudder, and a large chunk of the pavement cracked and fell into the rushing water that had taken over the lower roadway below. That effectively isolated me from my hunters. Relief.

“Take that you stupid cops!” I yelled. “You’ll never catch me!”

The Nebula Police enforcers fired their sidearms at me, but I was able to creep around the metal cars and they never even came close to hitting me. Sure, they could have killed me if they really wanted to, but that wasn’t the point. And apparently they haven’t caught on to my trick of firing at tanker trucks yet.

As to my previous “trick” that made the new chasm, my pursuers won’t be able to come after me for now. Maybe it’ll take them more than a couple of days to get over the break in the road, maybe even weeks if they’re forced to turn back and find another way altogether unless they get some airborne reinforcements. I doubt that, however. They’ve been chasing me for more than a couple of months now, and I have yet to see any shuttle interceptors or APCs.

I found that curious, though. Earth should have gotten their emergency signal by now, and sent a rescue ship, or reinforcements, for these guys.

After thirty minutes or so, I was already three miles away from the enemy, or maybe even more.

By that time, my backpack started to beep. Great! Food!