I was eight again, and I was running as fast as my little legs could carry me. My bare feet pounded across the orange sand, the sun blazing down on my skin. I heard the familiar sound of electric guitar, chug, chug, chug.
I screamed with fear, urging my legs to move quicker. My muscles burned with the effort, and my eyes stung in the hot desert air.
The roar of engines filled my ears, growing closer with each passing second.
"Mother! Mother!" I shrieked, tears leaking from my eyes.
The rumbling was close to deafening, and my legs were as heavy as led. I stumbled, my foot catching in the sifting sand, and fell flat on my stomach. My body felt frozen. I squeezed my eyes closed and awaited the cars to come crush me.
I heard a battle cry, in a scratchy, boyish voice that I recognized, "I am awaited in Valhalla!"
My body sprang to life, and I scrambled onto all fours, my eyes searching frantically for the source of the voice.
It all played out in slow motion. I saw Nux, with one of the explosive spears clutched in his hands. He had leaped from the back of his car, thundersticks raised and poised to slam into the car a few feet to the left. His face was twisted with a warrior's scowl, but his eyes still shone with the same childish glee I have always known.
I threw my hand up, opening my mouth to call for him, but no sound came out.
Then, Nux disappeared into a mushroom cloud of fire and heat. The car he had hit flipped over, a rolling ball of flame that was heading right for me.
It didn't reach me.
I don't know what happened, but all of the cars were gone. Now the only thing in the huge desert was me, and the lifeless body of Nux.
I rushed to his side, my long, tangled hair falling around my face like a curtain. When my eyes fell upon him, my stomach rolled with horror.
The deathly still body in front of me was Nux when he was a child. His face soft and scar-less, and devoid of all of all of the teenage-boy angles he had now.
An empty, lost groan was ripped from my throat. The same one that came out of me the day I was taken from my home.I let my head fall onto his cold shoulder, my tears stripping away some of the white paint. He was dead, and I wasn't able to save him. I was alone.
A long, rattling breath rose from Nux's lungs. I froze, looking up at his face. I screamed.
It wasn't Nux anymore, but Immortan Joe. Terror coursed through my veins. His awful skin was mostly bare, sores and scars peppering his chest. There was a puddle of drying tears on his shoulder, where I my head had been moments ago. His malicious eyes met mine, and his hand shot out and caught a hold of my throat. I couldn't scream this time.
"Nothing but a reject." He snarled, his voice mechanical and full of resentment.
I awoke with a start.
My eyes scanned over my surroundings fearfully. I was curled into the fetal position upon the chilly ground of my cave. Pale yellow light spilled through the hole in the roof, telling me it was early morning. My whole body was trembling. I let out a shaky breath, absently running my calloused fingers across my throat. I could still feel the ghost of his hands there, squeezing tighter and tighter. I laid still for the longest time, letting the cold air dry the sweat on my body and slow my racing heart.
That was strange. I haven't bad a nightmare like that for a long time. For the first few months, my nights were plagues with horrible scenarios like that. They have since ceased to bother me. Perhaps it was just fever? I wasn't sure.
I decided not to dwell on it, just rose to my feet slowly. I swept the dust from my clothes before heading to the Black Thumb's cave. Hunks of cars, engines, hoods, axles, exhaust pipes, wheels, tires, and an assortment of other parts littered the floor. I wound my way around them, coming to my little corner. There sat a big open space where Nux and Slit's car used to stand, then there was a small pile of spare parts next to it. I got down on my knees, jamming my hand into the pile and rummaging around in it for a few seconds. Then, upon finding what I was looking for, I dragged out an old steering wheel. I gazed down at it lovingly. I had managed to swipe it out of a beat up shell of a car a few days ago. Normally steering wheels were taken from cars to be given to new war boys. I had been trying for over a year now to snag one of my own. I knew that I would have to hide it, for it surly would be taken from me if it was found. For right now, it was only a circle of rusted metal connected to the center with three metal slabs. In the middle, there was a small plate of obviously welded-on aluminum, with Immortan Joe's emblem carved into it. Frowned down at it, wondering how I could cover it up.
An idea floated into my head, and a smile danced across my mutilated lips.
I scooped up my blow torch, sliding my goggles over my eyes.
~~
I sat up with a relieved sigh, pulling my beat-up gloves off of my fingers with my teeth. I sat back and admired my work thoughtfully. There it was, my wheel.
I had modified the flaming skull symbol at the center. It's eyes were now two X's, and I had welded on a few gears so that they covered the fire around the skull and created a sort of frame. One last thing...
I reached into the largest of the pockets on my cargo pants, pulling out a bundle of rags. I gazed down at them with sadness and nostalgia in written all over my face, it was the dress I had worn for so long as a child. It was the dress I was wearing when I was taken. It was a dark green color, smudged and stained with countless substances that I don't recall.
My mind flipped back to the nightmare, with the ugly bit of fabric flying out behind me as I ran for my life.
I squeezed my eyes shut and looked away from it. With a determined set of my jaw, I ripped a long strip off of the dress. I wrapped it tightly around the ten o'clock mark on the wheel. I tore another piece, and did the same to the two o'clock spot. I stuffed the remaining of the dress back into my pocket.
I lifted the wheel, my hands gripping the softened padding that I had just added. The little mark at the center was hardly noticeable, yet meant so much me and what I am meant to do. I ran my thumb over the fabric, moving down until my skin came in contact with smooth metal.
Shiny, and chrome. The silver solid reflected a warped version of my face back at me. My skin, covered in scars large and small, and with eyes showing more years of hardship that I should have at my age. I was beautiful, a strong force of nature and man. I was chrome.
~~
With a grunt, I shoved my shoulder against the hot surface of the car's back end. It slowly began to roll forward, but didn't seem to want to let me off easy. The tires dragged in the sand, and my combat boot clad feet slid deeper and deeper into it as I pushed harder.
"You're not gonna move that on your own, Feral." Nux piped up from outside my line of vision.
I coughed out a breath, spitting into the dirt, "I've moved it this far..."
Two large hands came to rest next to me, and the car began to move more smoothly. I kept pushing on, wanting to get all of these cars moved ASAP. Nux was huffing with effort beside me, the muscles in his arms and shoulders tense. The image of his body being swallowed by bright yellow licks of flame flashed behind my eyes. I dropped my gaze and focused on the sounds of chattering war boys around me.
The car was brought to a stop, packed tightly against the others in Immortan's fleet. As I counted the cars, I wondered briefly if anyone would notice if I took one for myself. I dismissed the thought as quickly as it had come.
"That's the last one." I told Nux, stretching my arms above my head luxuriously.
We were having to make more room for cars every day. It always puzzled me how Immortan could get his hands on so many engines. It just showed how much power this man held over everything. The more rides you had trailing behind you, the more people fear you. We had many spare hands out here working on moving cars into a tightly packed arrangement. I thought bitterly that some of these cars would be wasted in a glorious explosion so that a war boy may be awaited in Valhalla.
I was ripped from my thoughts when I heard a soft grunt of discomfort from beside me. I looked over to Nux, my eyebrows furrowing together with confusion.
Nux had one of his hands pressed against his temple, and he was blinking rapidly. He looked very disoriented, like someone had hit him over the head in just the right spot. With another grunt, he swayed sideways, struggling to catch himself. Then He collapsed to all fours, his arms shaking.
I dropped to the ground, my hand finding his arm, "Nux! What's wrong with you?" I asked briskly, trying to get him to look at me.
"Dunno..." he breathed, shaking his head a little, as if to force the dizziness away, "Everything's spinnin'..."
I let a sigh blow past my lips. Was it the heat getting to him? Or had he just been pushing himself too hard lately? I didn't ask, just looped my hand around his forearm and hauled him to his feet. His legs buckled as soon as he tried to put weight on them, so I threw his arm over my shoulder. He didn't protest further, just let me half walk, half drag him back into the caves and to the Organic Mechanic.
I let Nux's weak body drop to an empty spot on the floor, my gaze darting around in search of the Mechanic.
"Back so soon! What's he done to 'imself this time?" The Mechanic cackled, appearing from behind a caged blood bag. I tried not to look at the blood bag's face hiding behind a metal muzzle. Blood bags always made me uncomfortable, people being treated like objects. It reminded me all too much of how messed up Immortan's society was. There wasn't anything I could do to help them, their chains were always locked.
"He just got really dizzy and fell over. He 'asn't been able to stand since." I told the Mechanic, gesturing to the half asleep Nux propped up against the wall.
The Mechanic squatted down in front of Nux, prodding him with filthy hands. He took a hold of nux's face, examining the color of his lips. I noticed with a jolt that they were a chilling blue. I also realized that he was deathly pale under the bone white clay.
"I think its just 'is blood, its givin' up on him." The Mechanic concluded, standing back up.
His blood? How can your blood just...stop workin'? "I don't get it," I said, tipping my head to one side slightly.
The Mechanic sighed loudly, "Its kind of like changin' oil in a car." he explained with exasperation, "If ya let the engine run with bad oil in it for too long, the car starts to tear itself up, ya see? Nux just needs some new blood."
I nodded slowly, that made sense, in a way.
"Lucky for 'im, we just got a bloodbag in." He reached up an arm and patted the bars of a bloodbag's cage, "And I think he's got universal blood."
This time, I scanned over the bloodbag's features. He was a big man, I could see that in the way he was all crammed into the little birdcage. His eyes were wild with frustration and anger. I could see a light stubble underneath the muzzle, that was unusual. Most every man I have seen has been completely devoid of facial hair. His gaze met mine evenly, with an almost curious blink. He must be wondering why I am the only girl amongst the war boys. I looked back down at Nux.
"So he'll be okay?" I asked.
The Organic Mechanic bobbed his head, "Yeah, he will live a little while longer."
I flinched at his words. Without another sound, I gave Nux a goodbye with my eyes and headed out if the cave. There was still work to do.
~~
I let myself flop to the floor, the icy rock piercing the cloud of heat that hovered around my body. My stripe of hair stuck to my forehead with sweat. At least I was done for today.
I leaned my head back against the wall, letting my eyes fall closed for a few moments. I dozed off, the sounds of the bustling caves melting together into static noise. I knew the War boys frowned upon idleness, but a big part of me just didn't care right now.
I was pulled from my little cat nap by the sound of crashes and loud voices. I rubbed my eyes with my fist, sleepily rising to my feet. War boys of all ages were scurrying about the caverns restlessly, carrying steering wheels and weapons.
I caught the nearest boy on the shoulder, stopping him in his tracks. I quickly took in his appearance, it was Ace. He was one of the oldest war boys in the Citadel. His face, under the clay, was wrinkled and saggy, "What's goin' on?" I demanded.
He looked distracted , but answered me nevertheless, "Furiosa's taking a party out to retrieve more Guzzaline."
Ace fell back into the stream of men. I watched them all file out of the caves with envious eyes. Even with such an insignificant trip as this one, I really wanted to come along. Alas, I didn't have a car. It wouldn't be that exciting, I told myself, Furiosa's only taking ten boys after all.
"...It is by my hand that you will rise from the ashes of this world!"
I listened silently to Immortan Joe make his speech from the comfort of the black thumb's cave. He always liked to taunt the poor people of this city with the promise of redemption. I heard the unmistakable roar of running aqua-cola, then the desperate cries of dehydrated citizens. I chewed my lip, picturing them all with containers raised, fighting for every drop. It was incredibly cruel, how Immortan warped our minds of the evil of water. Even the war boys and I didn't get enough aqua-cola, though I knew he had a lot underground. That was why all of our voices were dry and rough like sandpaper.
He only did it to stay in control, keep everyone with just enough fear and worship to keep his perfect world in shape. It made me sick. I hoped that I would live to see the day Immortan fell for good.
I tuned out of the noise outside, shuffling through my pile of parts. It was dark, and fairly quiet. A lot of the war boys went to see Furiosa's party off.
"Its a piece of junk, can't be fixed."
I turned to see two war boys standing in front of an old car, a 1969 Doge Charger shell with a huge V8 engine bared from the open hood. It was pretty jack up, with hige tires that bulged out to either side. I guessed it had to be at least a 707 horse power. I could see it was about to fall apart, though. All of her paint was flaked off, leaving her silver and rusted. The windshield had a massive crack in it, and three of the four tires were flat. Who knows what other issues she had besides the visible ones.
I blurted out the words before I could think about it, "So you're done with 'er?" I asked, briskly walking up behind the two boys. She was flawed, but gorgeous.
One of them, a boy with black paint smeared across the bridge of his nose and eyes like a racoon's mask, spoke first, "This car's seen her last ride. If you can fix 'er, you can have 'er." He snorted, thinking it was an impossible feat.
"Deal," I clapped his hand, then went to inspect the poor thing.
~~
She was a project, I'll give the boys that much. If I was them, I would have given up too. I didn't have an option otherwise. It was either this car or nothing, so I kept at it for nearly the entire day. The whole frame was just about rusted all to hell, and the brakes needed to be replaced entirely. Whomever had used her before hadn't changed her oil in ages. Her engine was almost reduced to a useless hunk of metal. Had to rummage around for hours to get the bare minimum of parts. Once I thought she was ready, I opened the driver's side door. It groaned and squeaked loudly, and the handle broke off in my hand, but it opened. The key was already in the ignition, there was what looked like a snake's skull attached to the key with a small chain. I exhaled slowly, squeezing my eyes closed and twisting the key.
The car spluttered as like a person pulled from water. She stood there, gasping and shaking for the longest time. I kept twisting the key, my scarred lower lip wedged between my teeth. Comon' baby, comon'...I thought.
Then, suddenly, she jolted to life. A joyous laugh escaped my mouth. Mine, she was all mine. I had attached my wheel to the empty spot where the old one used to be. I leaned my forehead against the musty cloth of the wheel, my arms sliding across the dashboard lovingly. I don't think I have ever seen anything so shine.
I turned her off, plucking the key from the ignition and dropping it into my pocket. I slid my fingers over the little bump in the pouch, my heart swelling with happiness.
I raced through the tunnels, in the direction of the Organic Mechanic's quarters. My emerald eyes were bright with excitement. I was a driver! Well, not officially. But I'll be damned if I let anyone stop me. I couldn't wait to tell Nux.
Once I arrived, Nux spotted me and waved me over, the chain attached to his wrist rattling. I scurried up to him, grinning from ear to ear. I saw that his chains were attached the large man I saw earlier, though now he was hanging upside down like a slab of meat. I got down on one knee in front of Nux, my rough hands grasping his shoulders, "Nux! You will never guess what 'appened to me!" I said.
Nux blinked, "What?"
"I have a car!" I hastily fished out the keys, showing them to him.
Nux took my hand in both if his, looking at the dirty key closely, then he beamed at me, "You're one of us now, a driver!" He chirped in a raspy tone, giving my hand a congratulatory squeeze.
I felt tears of joy sting behind my eyes, but I blinked them away, "I'm one of you now." I repeated, liking the way the words felt on my tongue.
More commotion exploded through the caves, and everyone seemed to come out from wherever the were hiding. Nux let go of me, and I stood. This time, dozens upon dozens of war boys were preparing to leave. I watched one boy pass by with a bundle of explosive spears in his hand. What was it now?
"Hey, hey, What's happenin'?" Nux called to the war boys. They ignored him.
Then Slit came into view, looking as angry as usual, "Slit! What's going on? Slit!" He didn't even look towards Nux, just kept walking.
"Treason! Betrayal! An Imperator gone rouge!" A random war boy cried, walking backwards to speak to Nux. His eyes were bulging from his head with adrenaline.
"An Imperator? Who?" Nux demanded.
"Furiosa, she's taken a lot of stuff from Immortan Joe!"
"Wha-what stuff?" The words came out of Nux's mouth in a slurred rush.
"Breeders, his prized breeders!" The boy answered breathlessly.
My insides twisted inside of me. I hadn't heard that word in years. Furiosa took Immortan's wives? A spark of satisfaction flared up in my chest, serves him right. I tried hard not to show the emotions on my face.
I saw Slit pushing his was through the other people, approaching the shrine of steering wheels. A quick memory of Nux's lessons flashed behind my eyes. The altar of the V8, bathed in silvery blue and decorated with the wheels as respect to Valhalla. It was located right in the spot that connected the black thumb's cave and the Organic Mechanic's cave. Slit lifted his hands and brought them together over his head by locking his fingers together. He dipped his head and muttered a few words before grabbing a hold of Nux's wheel, "By my deeds, I honor him, V8."
Hardly noticing Nux and I, Slit stalked past us with the metal loop dangling from his hands.
I saw Nux's eyes turn icy. He lashed out and caught a hold of the wheel, "That's my wheel!" He growled threateningly.
Slit whirled on him, yanking the steering wheel back towards himself, "I'm driving!" He retorted
"You're my lancer!" Nux protested, using all of his weight to lean away from Slit.
"I just promoted myself!"
Nux looked like he was just about ready to collapse again, "Not today," he huffed, "today is my day."
Slit gestured to Nux with a nod of his chin, "Look at you! If you can't stand, you can't do war!"
"He's right, son." The Organic Mechanic interjected, his thumbs hooked into the loops of his pants.
"I'm not going to just sit here and get soft!" Nux cried desperately.
I was conflicted on whether or not I should interfere. Nux, in my opinion, was too sick to drive. I just don't think I could stand making him feel so useless.
"Ah, you're already a corpse!" The mechanic sneered, running a finger creepily down the back of Nux's head.
Before I could think about it, my hand shot out and yanked the Mechanic's grimy fingers away from Nux. I gave the man a deadly glare, letting my hand fall back to my side. The Mechanic didn't dare say anything.
"I just need a-" Nux began.
"There's no time!" Slit boomed, his hands giving the wheel another pull.
Nux's eyes glanced briefly over to his bloodbag, his face lighting up with realization, "We take my bloodbag, strap 'im to the Lancer's perch!"
"Its got a muzzle, it's a raging feral!" Slit pointed out angrily.
"That's right," Nux growled, a gleam in his eye awakening, "High octane crazy blood fillin' me up." And with that, he reared his head back and smacked his forehead against Slit's knocking him to the floor.
A giggle fought its way up my throat, but I held back. That can't be good for his ego.
Nux had straighten up now, his wheel firmly held in his hand, "If I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die historic on the fury road!" Nux snarled, holding his chin up high with determination.
My smile disappeared. A suicide mission. He wanted to go to kill himself once and for all.
Knowing that Nux wouldn't notice me go, I hurried off back to the black thumb's cave. There stood my new beauty. I stared at her for a few moments before getting inside. I had to join the war party, one part to help Furiosa, one part to watch out for Nux. With a rush of energy, I realized that I could escape today if I chose. Every war boy would be out chasing after Furiosa. They wouldn't even notice if I left. As I turned the car on and slowly rolled it out of the huge doorway if the cave and onto the elevator's platform. The war boys there didn't pay attention to me as I crammed my new ride in with their's. We were all lowered to the ground below, where the wretched watched us with hugry eyes.
Countless other vehicles were all awaiting Immortan's word. All were swarmed with war boys like big white ants. I kept my head down slightly, trying not to attract attention to myself. My car's new engine hummed restlessly, as if it longed to get moving as much as I did.
I watched a pack of war boys lugging Nux's bloodbag out to his car, Nux tagging along not far behind. The lancer's perch, resembling a cross, awaited the bloodbag to be tied to. I watched with tired eyes at they chained the struggling man to the front of Nux's car. I also noticed that Nux had swiped his jacket. It hung off of his thin frame awkwardly as he pulled himself into then car. My heart pounded painfully fast in my chest. This very well might be the last time I see Nux alive.
Please, don't take him from me yet, Valhalla.