>>5871320It fell, and in desperation, clawed out at it's neighbors. The sudden weight ripped them away, and as the extra weight came off, Liv accelerated, throwing the lumens from side to side in your vision. It emerged from the darkness, sporting a bright red side where the wheels had been clogged, and behind it, you could see mutants colliding with the other pursuers, locking limbs and taking their neighbors down with them, with only few stopping quickly enough to avoid being dragged into the pedestrian collision.
You stare at the vaguely comical scene, then slump back, your back hitting the dashboard. Your arms shake, hand holding the laspistol in a vicegrip. You watch the mob disappear into the darkness along with their snorts and cries, outlined by the distant eruptions of the sleepers, which gathered like thunderstorms in the distance. Small <span class="mu-i">pings</span> occasionally sounded softly in the dark- stub rounds, maybe, fired by desperate mutants as they watched you slip away, although those too faded into nothing.
Slowly, your hand relaxes, and you breathe a small sigh as you mange to let the pistol drop onto your lap.
Errat's head suddenly rises, and you wearily turn your head around, only to see a sudden flare of light in the distance. A small point of oddly concentrated light suspended in the air. Then another point to it's left, and then another following that. Cad turns left, aggressively fording through a small gap between two piles of scrap to come in line with it.
You had found the road.
More than that, the sky was brightening as if dawn was close. You frown at it, wondering what the source of the slight orange tint was, then you realize that it must be the lights in a distant ceiling. A place where the hive was still fully lit, and close to the floor of the foundation. Your destination.
---
It turned out to be something of a ramp.
Here, where the foundations didn't end, but the hole in the ceiling started to come to an end, the inhabitants had built on the torn edge of the former hive floor, which hung limply like a flap of skin around a deep wound. They had constructed piles of debris- heaps of plascrete, earth and whatever scrap they hadn't taken to the smelters had been forced under the great panes of metal, supporting it as a makeshift ramp that ran up into the brightening sky, which was becoming so bright you realized you could see the ground outside the light of the convoy.
The tires hit the bottom, and you felt your stomach lurch as the entire truck was suddenly pulled up at a sharp angle, Erich pulling on the lever and gunning the engine confidently to push you upwards.
