Transcending the Legacy by Venessa Kimball Page B

Swaying side to side in my seat from the rugged terrain, I notice something jabbing the center of my back. I turn to see a metal rod running along the back of our seats.
    Noticing my shifting around, Ezra looks down at me.
    I ask him, “What is this?”
    Suddenly, the truck thrusts sending me into Ezra and Nate. The power of the truck’s momentum is so strong, it takes a bit for all of us to right ourselves with the help of the metal rod.
    I grip it tightly and look across the truck at Nick, Elisha, and the others as they work to right themselves with the help of the rod as well. I notice the blur of the tunnel beyond them through the window panel. I wonder how fast we are going. Suddenly, a scrapping sound on the metal wall at the front of the truck catches my attention. A small rectangular piece of the metal slides open connecting us to the front cab of the truck and a set of dark eyes peer through. “Buckle up and hold on to the rods back there! That is what they are for,” says a deep, baritone voice.
    Everyone is holding onto a portion of the metal rods now and Nick responds with a sarcastic bellow, “Yeah, yeah got it! Thanks for the advanced warning on the warp speed, Han Solo!”
    “Sure thing, but you haven’t seen warp speed yet , pal!”
    The soldiers chuckle on the other side of the cabin before sealing us off from them. We are instantly hit with another punch of speed more powerful than the last. I curl my hands tighter around the rod behind me. The inside of the truck suddenly shifts from darkness to light and I look in the rear windows to take in the tunnel’s exit on the side of the stacked mount that cradled Briggs’ compound.
    The view is brief as a swarm of bodies clawing and climbing, pounding and driving their bodies into the truck carrying us. One body attaches to the back doors of the truck, peering into the windows with onyx filled eye sockets and a sunken, skeletal face that once resembled a woman. Another body hits the window panel behind my head and I turn to catch a glimpse of its evil grin, rising inhumanely around the edges.
    The bile rolls in my stomach now, a reminder of what happened earlier in the compound. That must have been what I was feeling, these Dwellers. The truck jerks to the right, when two large male Dwellers throw the weight of their bodies into the side of the cab. Then it fish tails to the left as a cluster thrusts into the other sidewall of the truck. Everywhere I look, the black eyes and sunken faces that once were human are concentrated on what is in this cab. The Dweller at the rear window steadily pounds the glass over, and over again.
    Elisha screams out, “It is going to break!”
    Daniel sits centimeters from the window being struck by the Dweller and says unshakenly, “No it won’t.”
    Bravely, he hits the pane of glass just as the Dweller strikes it. “Metallic glass. Stronger than steel.”
    With e ach pound of the Dwellers fist, I flinch wearily, not sharing Daniel’s confidence in the strength of the glass. I yell over the pounding, “It isn’t going to stop is it?”
    Daniel looks back at me , then back at the Dweller as it continues its focused, forceful attempt at invading this truck. He answers simply, “No.”
    Siobhan hollers over the bodies crashing like hail upon the sides of the truck, “Daniel, I thought they didn’t attack in daylight?”
    Looking back at me, Daniel responds, “They haven’t had a reason to, until now.”
    The truck lurches forward again, jolting me lose from the rod as it picks up more speed. I’m able to rebound quickly, but Corinna screams as she tumbles backward down the middle aisle of the truck.
    Sam yells for her, “Corinna!”
    She is heading straight for the rear doors and the force of her body could unbind them!
    I yell, “No, grab her!” I reach for her just as Siobhan and Xander do. Each of us have one hand gripping the rod behind us and the other holding onto her.
    When Co rinna gets her footing on