I turned the key to let the glow plugs warm. In relief I saw that I still had battery. I turned the key..... Nothing! I tried it again and got the same result. It wouldn't even fire! This was bad!
I turned to Asia and saw that her face reflected the panic that I felt inside.
She laid a hand on the dusty dash of the truck, "Jesus we need this truck to work!"
She turned back to me, "Try it now."
She couldn't be serious to think that…….The truck fired to life sounding better than it had the other night. This one was going to be hard to explain away or better yet live down.
"Did you cut the airbags out?" Asia asked hesitantly, as she stared at the ripped up dash before her.
"Yeah."
Asia quickly put her seatbelt on, and come to think about it that wasn't such a bad idea and I followed suit. The ride was bound to get a little bumpy. Asia was peering at something over the hood and to the side of the truck.
"I strapped part of an I-beam to the front bumper."
At her blank look I added by way of explanation, "In case we have to hit something." I'd also filled the back of the truck up with heavy iron pieces, which added to our point of gravity and reduced the shock of us hitting something.
I was flying down the abandoned street at 95 miles per hour. All pistons were firing and the heavy cadence of the diesel engine was a beautiful sound that I had missed for years. I swore out loud suddenly.
"I really wish you'd stop saying that!" Asia said heatedly.
I pointed ahead. She looked and saw the people flocking into the street ahead of us intent on stopping us.
"Oh God!" She exclaimed.
"Now don't take the Lord's name in vain honey." I quipped at her.
"I wasn't!" She fired back at me.
"What are we going to do?" She asked panicked.
I pushed the gas pedal all the way to the floor. She had my answer.
"You're going to hit them!" She exclaimed in outrage.
"If they're too dumb to get out of the way than they deserve to go extinct!" I fired back at her.
Asia covered her face and ducked down, but at the last possible moment people dived off to the sides, as they realized I wasn't going to stop. Asia peered up over the dash, as I loudly hummed the tune of, 'I will survive'.
"You enjoy this kind of crazy stuff don't you?"
I glanced over at her grinning big, "Why do you think they sent me?"