Scorching sunlight poured down like molten lead onto the boundless desert, burning the air until it twisted and steamed.
A Goodwood-style off-road vehicle that had been modified multiple times but was now trailing billowing black smoke with its rear bumper hanging pitifully, lurched and struggled madly between sand dunes like a dying drunk.
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" Rebecca's fist slammed hard against the steering wheel. The horn emitted a hoarse, gong-like wail that formed a bizarre contrast with the violent fury erupting from her petite frame.
Her pale green hair was soaked with sweat, plastered to her forehead. That pretty face was now covered in dust, oil stains, and almost tangible irritability.
"This piece of junk is about to stall again! Pilar! Did you actually fix it or not?!"
"Working on it, sis! Working on it!" In the passenger seat, the tall, lanky Pilar—wearing exaggerated goggles—had nearly his entire upper body stuffed into the engine compartment, his multi-tool pliers futilely trying to tighten a connector constantly emitting acrid blue smoke.
"But those Maelstrom bastards' bullets had eyes! The radiator's practically Swiss cheese! It's a miracle we made it this far!"
"Miracle? Fuck your miracle! What I want is for us to get out of this godforsaken place alive!" Rebecca roared, stomping the accelerator into hell again. The engine made a teeth-grinding metallic friction sound, RPMs spiking while speed showed no improvement.
"If you hadn't taken that shit job without checking that the 'merchandise' was the Maelstrom boss's private stash of 'sweethearts,' would we be chased like two dogs full of bullets?!"
"Hey! Be reasonable! That payout was blinding! Who could've known that bastard had such a good memory, and one of his guys just happened to recognize my car!" Pilar shouted back defensively, though his hands kept working. "Seems like... it's stabilized a bit? But the coolant's leaking like an open floodgate! We've got minutes at most!"
Behind their vehicle, on the distant horizon, several menacing dust plumes not only hadn't dissipated but were closing in at alarming speed like hyenas catching the scent of blood.
Three armed pickup trucks fitted with crude armor plates and heavy machine guns—Maelstrom pursuers.
"Motherfuckers! Won't leave us alone!" Rebecca saw the ever-enlarging shadow of death through the crack-covered rearview mirror, nearly grinding her teeth to dust in rage.
She jerked the steering wheel hard. The off-road vehicle crazily plunged down a steep sand slope, violent jolts nearly throwing the falling-apart chassis completely off the ground, attempting to use the complex terrain to shake off pursuers.
Pilar was violently thrown against the window by massive inertia, his goggles going askew: "Ow! Easy! Sis! My organic bones aren't as tough as your cyberware!"
"Shut up! Check ammo!" Rebecca yelled while one hand also frantically searched through her combat suit pockets.
Her pistol magazines were nearly empty. Her most trusted "Guts" shotgun had spent its last slug in the previous desperate firefight.
Pilar quickly rifled through an open weapons crate in the back seat, his face instantly falling: "Not much left, sis. Maybe enough for one more short burst, assuming they don't get too close... and don't forget, the heavy machine gun jammed ages ago."
He patted the silent heavy machine gun on the roof.
A cold despair like a venomous snake silently coiled around their hearts.
A vehicle on the brink of collapse, depleted ammunition, persistent and determined pursuers—everything pointed to the same dark ending.
"Fuck!" Rebecca squeezed the word through clenched teeth, her eyes slightly reddening, but more from fury and unwillingness at being cornered than fear. "Are we really going to die in this shithole? Turned into Swiss cheese by a bunch of mad dog thugs?"
Pilar was uncharacteristically silent for a few seconds. He straightened his goggles, his voice lowering somewhat but carrying an unusual firmness: "Not happening, sis. I absolutely won't let that happen."
His gaze urgently swept ahead, suddenly pointing at a distant silhouette rolling and twisting in the heat waves. "Look! Over there! Seems like an abandoned town!"
Rebecca squinted through sweat-stung eyes in that direction.
Sure enough, on the scorching horizon, a cluster of low, dilapidated buildings vaguely emerged like a mirage.
"Head for it!" Pilar practically shouted the suggestion. "Maybe we can hide! Or find something useful, even just a place to patch up the car!"
This was the only straw to grasp at in desperation.
Rebecca hesitated no more, wringing the last drop of life from this off-road vehicle, steering it toward those ruins for one final charge.
The engine emitted an extremely reluctant wail and died completely.
The vehicle miserably slid down one last dune on momentum, its front end crashing into the ruins of a half-collapsed house at the town's edge, finally stopping amid ear-piercing metallic scraping sounds, raising a sky full of dust.
"Quick! Get out!" Rebecca kicked open the warped door, grabbed the nearly empty pistol and jumped out.
Pilar also scrambled to grab his toolbox and that light ammo crate, following close behind.
Behind them, the Maelstrom pursuers' engine roars had already sounded at the dune's crest, like Death's approaching mockery.
"Into town! Find somewhere to hide!" Rebecca shouted, her petite figure bursting with amazing speed, rushing toward the nearest abandoned street.
Pilar followed closely behind, gasping for breath, nervously glancing back repeatedly.
They plunged headlong into this dead, sand-ravaged town ruins, hearts pounding ready to burst from their chests, lungs burning as if inhaling flames.
The pursuers' vehicle sounds had stopped abruptly outside town, immediately followed by chaotic, malicious footsteps and curses—the Maelstrom gang had dismounted and were pursuing into town.
"This way!" Pilar, sharp-eyed, suddenly grabbed Rebecca, pointing toward a relatively intact building ahead.
It was a garage, its entrance seemingly crudely reinforced with heavy metal plates. "That door! Looks solid enough!"
The two rushed desperately toward that metal-plate-blocked garage door. Rebecca slammed into it with her shoulder. The door panel made a dull sound but didn't budge.
"Fuck! Locked! Or blocked from inside!" She desperately pounded the cold metal.
Pilar anxiously searched and observed around, quickly discovering near ground level on the side wall a hole formed by corrosion or impact, just large enough for one person to barely squeeze through.
"Here! Sis! Quick!"
Behind them, the Maelstrom members' shouts and footsteps grew clearer and clearer. They could even hear the "click" of gun safeties being released.