PLANET AGAFRA - TOLLINDO CITY

BOOM!

A cannonball smashed into a concrete pillar. An enormous section of the derelict overpass crumbled and fell away from its foundation.

“Terra, salve-nos!” Ember cried in Echo’s earpiece as he swerved The Carnage Canary hard around the falling debris at the last second. Tyres screeched as the impact landed far too close for comfort.

Dust and debris pelted down on them as Echo threw an arm up for shelter. A large chunk of concrete left a nasty bruise. The ‘nest’ atop of The Canary was equipped with nothing but a roll cage, a tether, four knee-height walls and one 5’6” Echo, armed with an antique lever-action rifle. 

One of the biggest draws of the race was that mana equipment was banned. There was a nostalgic thrill to the archaic, old-world carnage that attracted hundreds of thousands to the dying planet twice a year.

The exception was Echo’s breather mask which was counted as a disability aid. It filtered impurities out of the air to deliver clean oxygen with each breath and right now it was whirring in overdrive with the red dust cloud that engulfed The Canary. Echo couldn’t see a thing.

Somewhere beyond the red sky, an engine revved ominously. 

Echo reloaded.

A hulking shadow loomed into view, cutting a path through the dirt in the air. An enormous vehicle that looked like an old construction vehicle rapidly emerged. The engine would have been heavily modified to get a monster to move at that speed. It was fitted with a cannon on top, but it was approaching too fast to aim it at them.

The tyres on that thing were huge. Bigger than some of the small crumbling ruins of the city street. Echo could see remnants of other vehicles still stuck in the grooves of the thick rubber, even with obscured vision. 

‘Here we go, folks! Lil Betsy, going in for the crush yet again!’ The loudspeaker echoed over the track from the little drones that followed the race. ‘Our two leading stars, Skidmark and Dom-The-Distructor, are still vying for first place, leaving the remaining contestants far behind to fight with each other for third!’

Ember hit the brakes and Echo was forced to brace in the corner of the roll cage for support to prevent toppling off the side, sending bits of junk and ammo boxes sliding around the nest floor.

The massive truck passed over them, tyres narrowly missing them. The truck’s undercarriage was still a good few metres away from Echo’s head. If it had been any shorter, it would have crushed the roll cage.

BANG! Reload. BANG! Reload. BANG!

A torrent of petroleum gushed from a burst pipe underneath, drenching the side of The Canary and one of the hovering drones. 

“Vai-vai-vai!” Echo screamed, narrowly missing the splashback.

The Canary darted out from between two of Lil Betsy’s wheels to speed ahead again. The big girl was fast, but Echo and Ember’s hunk of junk was faster, probably because it was so thrown together that the gaps in the half-hearted metal plating were more aerodynamic. On top of having next to no protection, The Canary was very light compared to the other vehicles.

There was another loud engine approaching from behind. This one made a tell-tale ‘khoosh!’ that Echo and Ember knew far too well. 

Echo knelt below the short wall of the cage nest to load the rifle. It was a difficult task while The Canary drifted from side to side, dodging hundreds of years' worth of debris and obstacles on the road.

There was another khoosh and Echo looked back just in time to see another racer spew fire from a flame thrower as it passed under Lil Betsy’s chassis as well. The spill ignited. The colossal vehicle erupted into a flaming ball so hot that Echo could feel the heat sizzling exposed skin.

‘And Lil’ Betsy is goooooone~!’ The commentator announced over the loudspeaker. ‘Fire Brigade in outta nowhere to finish the job! Looks like they’re hot on the tail of The Carnage Canary and thirstin’ for vengeance after last season’s scuffle! Can our boys outrun or outgun them again this time in the 284th Tillindo Bi-Annual Annihilation Trial?”

It was hard to see Fire Brigade through the red dust being kicked up by the Canary’s wheels, but at least this time Echo had a better idea of how far away it was. It continued to spit fire in all directions. The little drone that hovered around it blinked and circled, eating up the show. 

Khoosh, khoosh, khoosk!

Echo chuckled. Fan service was going to get them eliminated. With the scope lined up, Echo was about to take a shot when The Canary suddenly skidded to one side. Missed.

“Stay steady; can’t get a shot!” 

“Stay steady, we get shot!”

Echo turned and realised that another racer was fast approaching from the right. It began shooting at them using a gatling gun mounted to the back of the car. 

It was Gorge Carver; a heavily armoured vehicle similar in size to The Canary. The shell looked like it was made up of scrap metal welded to the body, providing only a small window space for the driver and passenger to see out of. On the front was a spinning cylinder of thick circular saw blades; an old industrial wood chipper. The wheels were protected by armoured guards made of sharp, jagged metal designed to tear up any vehicles that got too close.

“Get us close enough to kiss!” Echo called into the headset, slinging the rifle over a shoulder.

The Canary picked up speed in an attempt to outrun Gorge Carver as it pulled up beside them. The barrel of the gatling gun swivelled around, aimed directly at The Canary. Shots rang out, barely missing The Canary’s tyres as Ember zigzagged in and out of line with the armoured vehicle. 

Murder was against the rules; you could attack anything but a person. If a person just happened to get caught up in the messy aftermath: oops. It was the only thing that kept Echo from being a target while completely exposed on the roof.

The race was fast approaching the section of the track affectionately referred to as ‘wreckage road’ by fans. This particular street had seen the most damage over the years and was littered with rubble, ruins and sinkholes left over from the old city. There was barely any functional road left. It was one of the most dangerous stretches of the trail, difficult to navigate, even without the vehicles trying to take each other out.

Echo pried open a tin with a screwdriver that had worked its way out of the toolbox from all the turbulent movements. This plan would only work once, if at all. In the last race, Gorge Carver had completely gutted their vehicle and they had to build The Canary from scratch again, only just managing to finish enough of it to qualify for the 284th race. 

As The Canary weaved in close again, Echo heaved the tin over the side, splashing thick yellow paint all over the driver’s window. 

It wasn’t a perfect hit, but it was all they needed.

The Gorge Carver hit a huge chunk of broken concrete in their path and careened straight into the path of Fire Brigade. Shrapnel filled the air and Echo had to press flat to the floor of the nest to avoid getting hit. 

“YE-OW!” Ember's voice hollered so loud in the earpiece that it squealed as they left the wreckage far behind them. 

Echo raised both arms high in the sky and screamed in victory until there was no air left. This was it. The wild rush. There was surely no greater thrill in the worlds than this.

‘Oh-ho-ho! Two birds with one stone! Once again the twins have proven that it’s not the size that matters, it’s how you use it! Skidmark and Dom-The-Distructor are still fighting neck and neck for first, The Carnage Canary closing in fast behind them!’

Echo’s feet left the floor for a moment as The Canary launched off the ground.

“Ember!”

“Sorry, sorry! I got it!”

They landed hard again, bouncing Echo backward. Sweaty hands slipped from the roll cage as Echo was sent over the edge of the wall. The speeding ground came up fast, halted only by the tether that snapped tight on their chest. A boot caught in the gap between the little wall and the floor and Echo’s leg bent at an awkward, painful angle.

“Echo?” A panicked voice called from the driver’s seat.

“Aqui!” Echo grunted back, dangling dangerously off the side.

Echo reached up to grab at the bar again, but the cage was too far. Profanity after profanity rolled out in a distorted voice through the mask as Echo kicked desperately at the metal sheet of the wall.

“Who taught you to drive?” Echo grunted angrily, running out of strength.

“I did!” Ember’s voice was not apologetic in the slightest. “Levanta! We have a tail!”

VAROOM! CRUNCH!

Something landed hard behind them. Another racer had hit the same point Ember did on the road. Alarm bells screamed in Echo’s head as the other vehicle swerved into view directly behind them. It was gaining fast.

“It’s Predator!” Echo screamed.

“Hold on!”

“A quê?”

The Canary hit another bump, sending Echo’s body flailing upward. The boot came unstuck, but the bar of the roll cage was still just out of reach and Echo fell a second time with a sharp grunt that left Echo breathless, winded by the tether harness. Dizziness took over for a second, but there was no time to think. 

The Predator was equipped with pincers in the front and a clawed arm on top. It looked silly, like a poorly designed imitation of a scorpion. Unfortunately, it was actually pretty practical for this particular scenario. Echo was unarmed and winded, hanging limp at the side of The Canary. That left the roll cage and the roof under it as an open target.

The clawed arm came down and hit the top of The Canary, crushing the cage and roll bars as if they were made of something brittle. 

‘Oh no! Our little bird has finally been caught by a big bad Predator!’ the drones announced, curling around the two vehicles for a close view of the destruction. 

The Canary lurched, pulled by the arm back toward the Predator. Echo was tossed hard in the opposite direction.

The tether snapped.