Monster Truckers - Episode One: East of Omaha (Pt 6)

EPISODE ONE: EAST OF OMAHA (THE CHOIR)

Mac exclaimed, "Brothers...... the time is here to roll! Now!" The big zipper took a step, a second, a third as he pulled the machete from his pocket, grabbed it with two hands and hurled it towards Roger.

Roger's eyes went wide.

Dragula shouted, “Noooooo!”

Jolene did not move. Her emerald eyes followed the spinning blade. The Choir stopped humming. Every smiling face turned to watch the machete's flight.

The machete struck Roger square in the chest. The impact lifted him off his feet and he crashed down, knocking over oil drums and shattering one pallet.

The machete's handle quivered violently with every ragged breath. He gasped. Once. Twice. Blood spread across the filthy white lab coat. Yet, he was still smiling.

His eyes drifted upwards as he turned his head, staring into the sky. His lips moved.
"So..." Another painful breath, "...beautiful..."

One trembling hand reached upward, grasping at something no one else could see. His hand fell back to the pavement and his smile never left his face.

Jolene looked down at Roger. A single tear slid down her face as she turned to look back at Mac and her face hardened.

Xaden's eyes widened as he looks at Mac and Jolene. "@^%!..." He took a step back.

Drags looked at Mac and then back at Jolene. “@$#$” under his breath.

Mac shouted, "LET'S GO!" as he reached into the cab of the Fluffy Bunny for a second machete.

A length of chain with a smooth metal ball welded to the end dropped from the right arm of Drag’s leather jacket. It thudded on the ground and he lifted it a couple inches and began to twirl it. He took a moment to glance at the Choir and realized that their expressions remained unchanged.

Sam glanced over at his friends, over to Jolene, back to them and shook his head. His tail whipped back and forth. "The few... the proud... the chumps... here we go."

Xaden, seeing his friends grab weapons, flexed his fingers, his savagely edged nails gleaming in the half-light of the parking lot.

Jolene spread her wings. When she spoke, her voice was sad, "Why do you always choose suffering?"

Sam smiled, "Why change now?"

“Let’s roll out!”  Drags says as sees the Choir still standing and starts to backtrack to his truck. Xaden follow suit, with both retreating toward their rigs as well.

Jolene sighed. "Don't you understand what I offered you? She allowed her voice to go quiet and shook her head, "My children, bring me the vessels."

The Choir drifts forward in one's and two's. Xaden climbs into the cab of the Last Cathedral and turns the key.

Whirrr...whirrr... whirrr....

The starter struggled. The great engine refused to catch.

"Come on..." Xaden gripped the wheel. "Come on!"

The first members of the Choir reached the trailer. In one's and two's they placed their hands upon the trailer and began to sing. Not the jingles or the advertisements. Something far older.

The metal walls of the trailer began to vibrate.

Sam looked around, desperately trying to think of a way to distract Jolene so she couldn't direct the Choir. He grinned a devilish grin. He flapped his wings and flew across the open space between the Screamin' Demon and the microphone that Roger had been using. She watched him, more curious then concerned. He pressed the button and asked, "Hey, Jolene, do your little singers ever get to pick their own songs?"

He started to sing.

🎶 🎵  "Baby shark, doo-doo, doo-doo, doo-doo
Baby shark, doo-doo, doo-doo, doo-doo
Baby shark, doo-doo, doo-doo, doo-doo
Baby shark!" 🎶 🎵

His demonic voice broadcast over the speakers. The Choir members standing closest groan, some cover their ears, one falls down and starts weeping.

One tried to continue his song. "I'd like to teach the world to doo-doo, doo-doo, doo-doo..."

The entire front rank collapsed into musical chaos. Jolene stared in absolute disbelief. The imp shouted, "EVERYBODY NOW!" and held the mic out toward the crowd. Dozens of disjointed, confused voices cried out in reply, no longer singing the same song, no longer singing together.

Mac leapt out of the Fluffy Bunny's cab and slapped a singer whose hands were on the Cathedral's trailer. The smiling cultist flew back fifteen feet, bowling over several other singers. Their song faltered.

He grabbed the next man in line and hoisted him overhead and tossed him into a knot of truckers, mechanics, and truck stop short order cooks, all of whom went down in a tangled heap.

"BROTHER! TRY IT AGAIN!"

Dragula threw himself into the Electric Warlock and twisted the key. The engine turned... WHIRRR WHIRRR and then a thunderous rumble erupted and the monstrous truck roared back to life.

Xaden slammed both hands against the steering wheel, "DAMMIT!"

He turned the key again. The starter whined and the great diesel coughed once and then roared to life. The organ pipes mounted behind the cab rattled with the vibration.

Jolene looked at the tiny demon. Her emerald eyes filled with disappointment. "You always were impossible, Samael."

She looked at him for a long moment. Then a sad smile crossed her face. "I spent all this time thinking I had misjudged you. But I hadn't."

A point of brilliant white light appeared in her outstretched hand. Metal flowed from its radiance and a crossguard of living flame unfolded. Its blade burned white-gold. The air boiled around it.

"You always were an a-hole, Samael."

Mac tossed three more Choir singers aside as if they were made of cotton candy. For the moment at least, none of them were with arm's reach of the cargo. Then he looked over and saw Sam standing mere on the stage with the microphone in hand. He saw Jolene and her flaming sword.

He reacted instantly and reached through the open door of the Fluffy Bunny and grabbed his last machete.

He hurled it with all of his strength at the angel. The blade spun end over end through the floodlights. The machete buried itself in her shoulder with a deep THUNK!

She looked down at the quivering weapon for a moment and then at Mac. Jolene reached up and pulled the machete free. The wound closed almost immediately.

"You believed that would stop me?"

Dragula leaned out the window of the Electric Warlock. "SAM! We are leaving!"

Dragula slammed the truck into gear. The massive truck lurched forward and he cut the wheel. He dropped the hammer. A cloud of dust and smoke erupted behind the big International. He laid on the horn and it erupted with an unholy shriek.

"Out of the way!" The Choir didn't scatter fast enough and many paid the price as the big rig rolled through the crowd.

Inside the Last Cathedral, Xaden finally let out the breath he had been holding. He ground the gears and fell in line behind the Electric Warlock. The trailer shuddered as several Choir members were forced to leap aside.

The engine finally overpowered whatever invisible force had been holding it. Xaden glanced in the rear view and saw several members of the Choir jump onto the Mansfield Bar. Hands began wrenching the barn doors open. Golden light spilled out of the back of the trailer.

Xaden's grip tightened on the wheel, "No, no, no..."

Sam pressed down on Roger's microphone again. "Hey Jolene!"

The angel turned toward him.

"If they all start singing different songs whose gets stuck in your head? Like... a bunch of them are singing 'Baby Shark' but if one starts in on 'Sweet Caroline', do you hear all of it? Or just the most annoying one?"

Dragula's rig thundered past the edge of the stage. The Last Cathedral followed close behind. The convoy was moving.

Then Jolene was beside Sam. One second, she stood beside Roger's fallen body. The next, she stood directly in front of Sam. Her wings never beat.

Sam's grin vanished. "Oh."

The microphone disappeared from his hands as her fingers closed around it. She looked at it. Then at him and crushed the microphone like a discarded beer can.

"You always mistook distraction for wisdom."

The speakers around the truck stop exploded in a burst of feedback. Baby Shark stopped. The Choir's voices steadied as she reestablished control. It wasn't perfect but perfect wasn't far off.

She looked down at Sam and flicked him. Not punched or hit or smote.

A flick.

One finger.

Sam hit the hood of the Screamin' Demon hard enough to dent it. He bounced off, landed in the gravel, and didn't move.

Mac started the tow truck and pulled in front of the Screamin' Demon. He jumped out of the cab and tossed Sam inside. He spun, grabbing a hook, ready to drag the car out of there.

Sam shook his head to clear it and saw the Choir members opening the back of the Last Cathedral's trailer. He shouted to Mac, "Leave the car! We can come back for it later!"

Mac stood stunned for a second.

Leave the car? Leave that awesome custom paint job?

Here?

Surrounded by the Choir?

"Really?" He asked.

"YES!" Sam shouted back at him.

Mac shook his head, "If you say so." He leapt back into the cab and jammed his foot to the floor.

Xaden saw the movement in his rear view and slammed on the brakes. The back doors on the trailer swung wildly. Bodies fell. He shouted in triumph, dropped the truck back in gear, and lurched forward again. The doors swung once more and the Hunchback saw more hands appear.

Ahead of them, Dragula shifted gears. The Electric Warlock surged forward. He cranked the volume knob on his radio. Music exploded out of his speakers.

🎶🎵 "The ragged they come and the ragged they kill..." 🎶 🎵

The dreadlocked Zipper screamed along with the lyrics and turned the wheel, jinking to the left. A Choir member stepped into the lane.

Dragula grinned. "Making Angels!"

THUMP THUMP

The bumper hit. The figure rolled away.

🎶🎵 "The ragged they come and the ragged they kill..." 🎶 🎵

The convoy reached the edge of the parking lot. Then the signs moved.

Two Billboard People peeled themselves away from the giant advertisements beside the interstate. Their bodies unfolded from vinyl and metal and dropped to the pavement, blocking the road.

Sam watched as the Cathedral's back doors swung again, revealing the golden glow inside. He leapt to his feet, standing in the seat.

"The Dust. She only wants the Dust! If we destroy it, she can't use it to make more servants!"

Mac's fingers tightened on the wheel. "How do destroy it? Water? Turn it to mud?"

Sam frowned, "Probably not."

The Fluffy Bunny bounced as another singer got clipped and fell away. "Battery acid?"

"Ehhhhhh.... I dont think so!"

Mac faced Samael, lifted his mask and smiled, "What about fire?"

The demon smiled back, "Yeah, baby! Yeah!"

Drags dropped the clutch and shifted gears. The big DT466 diesel engine roared. Black smoke billowed from the exhaust pipes. The black and purple rig surged forward, running up the on-ramp with reckless abandon.

Ahead, the Billboard People unfolded from the roadside advertisements. Drags grinned. "Here we go."

He hit the horn. The Frankenstein face on the front of the truck screamed with a sound like a dying machine from another age. The first Billboard Person barely had time to react.

The Electric Warlock blasted through the figure made of vinyl, wood, and metal with a CRASH. Splinters flew. Fabric tore.

The Last Cathedral rolled over the remains without slowing. Mac gunned his engine, chasing the two big rigs onto the highway.

Xaden clipped the second Billboard Person. It went down in a heap. He checked his mirrors. More singers clung to the back of his trailer. Golden light spilled from between the doors, even with them closed.

"How many are on the back?!" he shouted over the radio.

Mac grabbed his CB. Uh... You got a lot of Choir back there!"

Xaden gripped the wheel. "^%#@! How many is a lot?"

"More than zero!" Mac called back over the radio, "but less than everyone!"

Sam took Mac's radio. "We need to destroy the Dust. Jolene can't make more puppets without it! Me and Mac are thinking fire!"

Dragula came back over the radio, "I got another idea but you ain't gonna like it."

Dragula explained while Sam pulled alongside Xaden's truck.

When he finished, Sam said. "That is the worst idea I have ever heard. I am only agreeing to this because Jolene gave me a concussion and I am not thinking clearly."

Mac reached over.The big Zipper grabbed Sam and gave him a heavy pat on the back. "Take a tow hook."

Sam stumbled forward. "Why?"

"When you give the signal..." Mac grinned behind his mask, "I pull."

Sam rolled the window down. Wind blasted into the cab. The highway flashed past in a blur. In the distance behind them, headlights appeared, charging up the ramp.

Sam climbed out of the Fluffy Bunny's window. He grabbed a hook and chain hanging from a rack on the back of the cab, spread his wings and leapt. He dropped into the gap between the tractor and the trailer. The air brake hoses whipped violently beside him. He wrapped Mac's chain around them and hooked it to itself.

Jolene moved like a falling star. One moment she was behind them and then she dropped from the sky, landing on the Last Cathedral's hood.

Xaden looked up through the windshield.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

She stood there for a second, robes and hair whipping in the wind. Her wings spread behind her as she raised the flaming sword. Both hands gripped the hilt with the blade pointed downward.

Her voice carried over the roar of the engine. "Do not make me do this."

Sam crouched down, reaching for the fifth wheel release lever with his tail and gave Mac a thumb's up.

Mac mashed the button on his mic. "Xaden, NOW!"

Xaden slammed on the brakes. Jolene was flung forward. Her wings spread wide, catching her instantly.

The cab slowed, shuddering as its wheels skipped along on the asphalt. The trailer continued forward at the same speed, pushing against the fifth wheel locking jaw.

Sam threw himself forward, straining with all of his might.

Mac cranked the wheel and Fluffy Bunny lurched left. The tow truck veered onto the shoulder. The chain pulled tight and the air brake hoses ripped apart with a HSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

The trailer brakes failed. The fifth wheel lock groaned. Sam's arms, legs, and tail burned with effort. The trailer pushed. The entire rig vibrated like it was about to shake itself apart. The locking jaws released.

Xaden dropped the hammer. The Last Cathedral surged forward as the trailer fell and dug into the blacktop. The trailer's landing gear struck the ground, folded in half and snapped off. The front of the container became a plow. The back of the trailer rose into the air and flipped end over end.

Once.

Twice.

It heaved over onto its side and tore itself apart. The crates containing the Angel Dust and the dispersal units exploded on impact. A yellow cloud, sparkling against the night sky like burning pollen, began to be carried away on the wind.

Sam hit the ditch as Mac skidded to a stop. Dragula whipped the Warlock around and started racing back towards the crash site. Xaden kept driving for about a minute to be sure that his rig wouldn't be struck by flying debris.

Jolene floated in the air, staring down at the destruction, her face unreadable.