Dudley scanned his instruments as his truck barreled along on its jets. He shook his head. The endpoint of his transport stood on the other side of some rough country. He wished he could go around on an easier route.

He slowed to cross Hydra Creek. He put his weapons on standby as he watched as much of his screens as he could look at one time.

Some bad things lived in Hydra Creek. He didn't want to meet any of them first hand.

“What's the problem, Dudley?,” asked Joel. He sat in his bubble at the back of the truck. His wrapped face turned to listen to the slipstream flowing around the metal surface of the truck.

“I'm expecting trouble,” said Dudley. “Listen for it until we get across the water and away from here.”

“Where are we?,” asked Joel.

“Hydra Creek,” said Dudley. “There are monsters living in the water. Some of them are big enough to take on the truck.”

“I can see where that would be a problem,” said the blind dreamer. The driver heard the smile but only grunted in reply.

Everything was funny until a big lizard tried to rip you to pieces.

Dudley regretted not picking a route away from the Creek. He was behind and had to make up time. Those hijackers had forced him off the main road for a bit. Picking it up meant not dealing with anything bigger than a goldfish.

“Can you drive to the left?,” asked Joel. “I smell fish coming from the right.”

Dudley checked the cameras. He realized the blind man had confused the direction he wanted the truck to go when he spotted the bubbles moving across the surface of the dark water.

Something was coming at them under the water. Was it faster than his truck? Did he really want the answer to that?

“Hold on,” Dudley said. “This might be the trouble I've been expecting.”

Joel listened to the jets of the truck, the shifting of water, a small roar under the cover of other sounds. He tried to estimate how big a problem they were facing. The answer that his senses told him said gigantic.

If that thing grabbed the back of the truck, there was a chance that his spot could be pulled away from the transport. If that happened, he could get killed when he hit the water. If he survived the initial encounter, there were other predators moving in the water. His hearing told him that.

He didn't see how he could help Dudley if things broke into a fight with the behemoth chasing them. He couldn't expect to knock it out with his cane. He paused. He was a dreamer. Couldn't he do something to help out?

“Hold on tight,” said Dudley. “I'm going to have to swerve a bit to keep that thing from ripping us in half.”

“Do whatever you can,” said Joel. “I can hear it surfacing behind us.”

Dudley swore as he programmed all of his guns to shoot at the thing in the water. He held on the command. He wanted a clear target before wasting the precious ammunition he had left.

He hoped it wasn't a real hydra. Cutting off heads that kept growing back was a lot of work even with a spotting laser to direct fire.

“Smells like a big fish,” complained Joel.

Dudley smiled. Maybe the thing would turn and go after smaller prey. He didn't need a battle with monsters from legend.

The smile faded when he saw another stream of bubbles coming after the first. Did he have two hydras? Were they both after his truck? How could he speed things up to get out of there.

Maybe he should drop his passenger and see if that slowed things down.

“We got a flock,” said Joel. “It sounds like an angry flock.”

“I know,” said Dudley. “If we make shore, we can use the landscape as cover. They can see us for miles out here on this water.”

“Get ready,” said Joel. “Sounds like they're breaching.”

“Keep your head down,” said Dudley. He told the targeting system to shoot anything at point blank range. He didn't need to kill the monsters as long as they stayed away from his truck.

The fact that hydras regenerated didn't bother him so much as the fact that he might be facing hundreds of heads all trying to take a bite out of his truck. He should have made sure that his weapons had been upgraded before accepting this cargo.

What was he carrying?

Crossing through dreams was tough normally, but he had never had to wage a one man war on highwaymen before this. And now he had monsters emerging from where they usually kept to themselves to breathe flame at his truck as he called for evasive action.

The truck swerved back and forth as flaming gouts dropped down from the things trying to catch up to it. Its weapons activated in energy and physical projectiles as it tried to force the giants back with sheer force.

“Aim for the legs,” said Joel. “Maybe you can take out a kneecap.”

“Why didn't I think of that?,” Dudley asked himself. “Aim for the lower extremities. Let's see if we can knock them over.”

The truck's artificial brain complied with the order. It poured a volley of fire and lightning into the legs of the beasts as it pulled itself out of the water and headed up the slope leading away from the creek.

The crashing of heavy bodies filled the valley as the truck rode its jets over some obstructions that wasn't enough to deter it. It held fire once the monsters weren't a threat any more.

“I think we're out of trouble,” said Joel.

“It was close,” said Dudley. “If they had snagged the truck, we would have been cooked.”

“What's next on the agenda?,” said Joel.

“I'm going to try to take us around the Wind Mountains and into the Tindalos Notch,” said Dudley. “After that, we should be okay to get back on the highway so we can get finished faster and get all of this trouble off our backs.”

“That's a lot of hope for one sentence,” said Joel.

“I know,” said Dudley. “The alternate is to head down to the Packard Pit and join the death racers. I prefer not to do that since I have a cargo that has to be delivered as soon as possible. Putting them down would take more effort than I want to expend while I'm on the job.”

“Do you think the cargo is attracting part of this trouble?,” Joel asked. He sat and leaned on his cane.

“I don't see how,” said Dudley. “The trailer is supposed to disrupt any scans for radioactive auras.”

“But if it wasn't doing its job, would that explain the trouble?,” asked Joel.

“I guess so, depending on what the cargo was,” said Dudley.

“Since we don't know what the cargo is, we'll leave that for the moment,” said Joel. “How close are we to the drop off point?”

“We're a few miles away as the crow flies,” said Dudley. “But we're in for some rough country ahead.”

“How rough?,” asked Joel.

“We have to go around the Steer Run and try to stay away from the Pit,” said Dudley. “That will take us into the Desert of Salt. Once we're across that, we'll be able to get back on the road and head straight into the delivery area.”

“Why are we paying special attention to stay away from the Pit?,” asked Joel.

“Specialized vehicles are used to wage war on each other,” said Dudley. “They're built like smaller versions of a shipping truck. And they like to chase and wreck vehicles who get too close to their track area.”

“So if they see us, they'll chase us to shoot at us,” said Joel.

“Yep,” said Dudley. “The truck is fast and tough, but we'd lose a sustained shootout with those guys. Everything they need to keep coming is right there near the track. Some of them can go back and reload while we're still trying to get away from the rest.”

“So if we can get around some cows and avoid those guys, we should have a clear run across the salt desert,” said Joel.

“Don't count on it being easy,” said Dudley. “Those cows can be mean if we get too close. I don't want to be caught in a stampede.”

“I don't have a problem with that,” said Joel. How bad could some cows be against something that had taken on two giant monsters and got away.

“Listen,” said Dudley. “You should be able to hear the cows.”

Joel concentrated. The lowing of a herbivore drifted to him. It sounded different from the sounds he associated with cows. It sounded deeper and carrying further than it should.

How big were those cows?

He missed his sight even though his blindness had protected him from things that would have used his eyes against him. A visual check would have given him some idea if he should stay with Dudley, or take off.

The urge to take off sounded clear as the truck roared along.

A whip crack reached him. He frowned at the sound. Then the cows started talking to each other in fear.

“Dudley,” Joel said. He paused at another whip crack in the air. “The cows are coming.”

“What do you mean the cows are coming?,” asked Dudley.

“Someone is up there stirring them up,” said Joel. “Get ready. We might have to run from them.”

“That's great,” said Dudley. “Depending on which way they come at us, we might have to run into the Pit to avoid being stomped on.”

Another whip crack filled the air. Rumbling followed. Joel knew that wasn't thunder he heard.

“They're coming, Dudley,” said Joel. “Someone started a stampede to wreck the truck.”

Dudley aimed his weapons low. If he could take the legs out of the leaders directly behind the truck, it might split the line. If they closed in that space, the cows might catch him on the sides and crush his ride with their bodies.

“There's more than one herd, Dudley,” said Joel. “I can hear the hoofbeats, but I can't tell which direction they are coming from.”

Dudley searched his screens. He shook his head when he realized more of the giant flaming beasts were bearing down on him from the side to go with the ones directly behind him. The two herds would come together and stomp him down before he could drive clear unless he did something desperate.

He didn't like doing anything desperate.

“Hold on,” said Dudley. “The ride's about to get a little rough.”

Dudley aimed for the Pit and tried to avoid anything that looked explosive as he kept glancing at the mass of burning muscle behind him.

He hoped the death racers were too stunned by what he was doing to try to stop him.