Free Web NovelChapter 23: We Just Might Make It
-Ding-!
{
Vehicle Modification Invoice
Vehicle: 27North Ascender
Selected Modifications: Front Push Bar Assembly
Material: ASTM A36 Structural Steel Ram
Plate Thickness: 0.75 inches
Configuration: fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
Three-piece wedge design
Direct chassis integration
Frame-mounted reinforcement brackets
Replaceable lower wear strip
Finished Weight: 312 lbs
Fabrication Cost: 4,620 Credits
Mounting Hardware: 310 Credits
Frame Reinforcement Plates: 480 Credits
Installation Labor: 690 Credits
Subtotal: 6,100 Credits
-----
Selected Modifications: Reinforced Window Protection Package
Material: 304 Stainless Expanded Steel Mesh
Strand Thickness: 0.120 inches
Diamond Opening Size: 1.5 inches
Coverage:
Windshield
Driver Window
Passenger Window
Driver-Side Over-Cab Window
Passenger-Side Over-Cab Window
Driver-Side Dinette Window
Driver-Side Rear Living Window
Passenger-Side Kitchen Window
Passenger-Side Rear Living Window
Rear Entry Door Window
Rear Emergency Egress Window
Configuration:
Fixed exterior mounting frames
Quick-release mechanisms retained on emergency egress windows only
Corrosion-resistant mounting hardware
Finished Weight: 169 lbs
Mesh Fabrication: 3,150 Credits freēwebnovel.com
Mounting Frames: 480 Credits
Quick-Release Fasteners: 120 Credits
Installation Labor: 800 Credits
Subtotal: 4,550 Credits
---------
Total Vehicle Weight Increase: 481 lbs
Total Modification Cost: 10,650 Credits
Remaining Credits: 350 Credits
Advisory:
Selected modifications are optimized to redirect and disperse repeated impacts from human-sized obstacles.
Performance degradation may occur during sustained contact with fixed structures, large vehicles, or Host negligence.
Emergency egress functionality has been preserved on designated escape routes.
No warranty implied.
}
[And there goes all my credits...]
I stared at the three-dimensional render rotating in the crafting interface, the wedge ram integrated into the front fascia and the mesh shielding every pane from windshield to rear exit, and I looked at the Remaining Credits line showing 350, and let out a slow breath.
"Necessary sacrifice, I guess."
Reaching into the inventory, I summoned the upgraded version.
The 27North Ascender materialized in the center of the road, and the difference was immediate.
The thick steel wedge flowing out from the front end in a three-piece profile looked less like an aftermarket addition and more like something the chassis always had.
The metal mesh covered every pane in tight diamond patterns while the emergency egress sections retained their quick-release hardware.
The whole vehicle now sat 481 pounds heavier and looking every ounce of it.
It still looked expensive. It still looked like something that belonged in a catalogue for people who took helicopter trips to their weekend trips.
But it just also looked like its owner had spent considerable time researching how civilization would end and had taken detailed notes.
Kara stood beside me with Tikki settled in her arms, and she looked at the Ascender for a long moment.
"That is convenient," she said. "...And genuinely insane to actually see."
"Yep."
-TANG-!
Metal shrieked from beyond the compound walls from the sound of a gate folding against several hundred bodies pressing against it simultaneously.
"We’ve wasted enough time," I said, pulling the driver’s door open. "Let’s go."
Kara was already moving around to the passenger side before I finished the sentence, climbing in and pulling the seatbelt across with hands that were still not fully steady, while Tikki arranged himself on her lap.
I settled into the driver’s seat and put both hands on the steering wheel.
The old version of me, the one who had survived three years with stealth and patience and an absolute refusal to attract attention, would’ve done this on foot.
Would’ve taken hours picking through the slums in the dark, moving from cover to cover, keeping low and quiet and slow until we reached the penthouse without a single infected knowing I existed.
But Kara could not do that.
[No sense sitting here about it...]
"Hold onto Tikki," I said, looking at her. "The moment I start this engine, they’re gonna come at us like a tsunami..."
She nodded, and pulled Tikki closer to her chest. Which also happened to be his favourite place, so he was settled without any protests.
And with that, I turned the key.
-WRROM-!
The diesel engine let out a deep roar, and for one full second after that, nothing happened.
Then the city answered.
Screeching erupted from every direction at once, and I shoved my foot into the accelerator with everything I had.
And now, even a second later, something sprinted into the headlights from the right, a freshly turned man still wearing a work uniform, mouth bloody and wide open.
-TUCH-!
The wedge ram shoved forward by a 11-ton beast bashed his chest, pulverizing it in an instant before sending him beneath.
We didn’t even feel the impact.
Kara flinched hard into her seat. Even I braced for a jolt that never arrived.
The steering held steady and so did the momentum.
The only proof we ploughed through something was the Blood coating the windshield, already being cleaned up by the wipers.
And the grin was on my face before I could help it.
"That’s actually ridiculous."
The slums closed in around us as I pushed faster, and this place was not built for a vehicle this size under any circumstances.
Narrow roads hemmed in by concrete walls and houses, electrical wires hung at head height across the gaps. Vendor carts, overturned bikes, overflowing dumpsters, and no two streets meeting at an angle made sense.
Every turn was a ninety-degree commitment, made with no visibility around the corner.
As the first major turn came up, I could see infected flooding into the road from the direction of the compound’s rear entrance.
The same bodies that had been piling in through the gate were spilling back into the street now because of the engine noise.
"Hold onto your shit." I tightened both hands on the wheel, feeling my heart hammering inside my chest.
Left turn had the compound’s back entrance. Right was the direction towards the penthouse.
So, I took the right and drove straight through them.
-THUNK-!-THUNK-!-SLAM-!...
The Ascender bucked; I could feel the rear wheels lift and come back down as I shoved into the horde.
Kara pressed her free hand hard across her mouth, trying to hold in her churning stomach, while I hit the wipers again because the windshield had basically become a wall of blood and pieces of flesh.
But more emerged ahead from the side streets, fresh turns with the full adrenaline load still running hot.
Most of them could not match the Ascender’s speed, and the ones that could threw themselves at the mesh and found their fingers in steel diamond openings and got dragged along for a few meters before the velocity tore them loose.
[This is working...] The thought floated up. [This is genuinely working!]
Beside me, Kara’s grip on Tikki gradually loosened from the white-knuckle category into to a normal hold as she turned to look out the passenger window for the first time since we started moving instead of staring straight ahead at the dashboard.
"I think..." she said quietly, "We just might make it."
"Don’t jinx i-"
-BASH-!
A literal tsunami of infected crashed into the passenger side from a blind turn with a force that lifted the entire 11-ton Ascender’s driver-side wheels entirely off the road.
The world tilted as Kara’s scream filled the cabin and Tikki drove his claws through her jacket.
The M110 swung on its sling and bashed my ribs while the steering wheel jerked so hard my palm slid halfway off the grip before I caught it with both hands and fought everything I had.
The Ascender came back down on all four tires with a crash that rattled everything loose in the overhead storage, and I was still fighting the wheel.
The vehicle skidded sideways across the road, the back end swinging wide, tires screaming, before I finally wrested the steering wheel into control, both legs shoved into the brake.
And before I could even look up, that tsunami of infected had swallowed us whole.
The ram needed momentum and momentum needed space, and the space ahead of me was now a solid mass of bodies banging against the steel, and the vehicle rocked on its suspension with the weight of them.
Tires screeched against them as I shoved my foot into the accelerator, but they were too many for even the Ascender to shove away.
"Fuck..." The word came out quiet by itself.
The bodies climbed over the hood, across the roof, and down the sides simultaneously.
Windows disappeared behind faces, hands while the mesh caught the impacts one at a time, spread them and held, but the weight kept accumulating.
The Ascender rocked on its suspension while the snarling outside rose to the point of deafening.
And if that wasn’t enough, the passenger-side mesh directly beside Kara bowed inward.
The glass behind the mesh began to spiderweb, cracks spreading from the center in all directions as the mesh bowed another half inch toward Kara’s face.
Kara paled while her widened eyes remained fixed on the spreading cracks inches from her nose.
At least Tikki was calm. Albeit offended at the inconvenience.
And so we sat, drowning the snarls of death while our only sanctuary cracked an inch a second, catching the amber glow of the fires burning through the city beyond the bodies.
