To be honest, I never learned to drive
properly.
When I was fourteen, I learned only the basics
from my sister Morian,
then wrecked three or four cars
and learned by crashing headfirst into it.
Naturally, I neither knew how to drive safely
nor had any desire to do so.
Up until now, though, I had gone relatively easy
and paid attention to safety out of consideration for my crew.
Kaaaaa—!!
"Hey, you fucking bastard!!
I said take it easy!!! Easy!"
Ever since my days as a hunter, safe driving
had been optional rather than essential.
"Can’t you understand what I’m saying, you fucker?!
Stop the goddamn car! Stop it!!"
I am doing my very best to drive safely.
This job was already screwed.
Stealth had left us behind long ago,
and we still had around ten hours until noon.
"Hey! You fucking asshole! Stop the car!"
"Kiwi, where are Maine and the others right now?"
"They’ve been spotted by the back entrance."
"How far is Pacifica from here?"
"If we go like before, about fifteen minutes."
"Rebecca, you can hold on, right?"
"What?! What the hell else am I supposed to hold on through here?!"
KAAAA—!!
"Kiwi, are you good at driving?"
"Why are you asking about driving all of a sudden?"
"Starting now, Kiwi—"
Crash!!
"—you’ll be driving the car instead of me."
"What?"
"Floor it until the entrance to Pacifica."
I left those words behind as though I were simply informing Kiwi, grabbed my rifle,
and jumped right out of the car.
The car was going nearly two hundred kilometers per hour.
The moment my feet hit the road after leaving the car,
I was thrown down and rolled several times.
My clothes had not merely been scraped;
they were on the verge of becoming rags.
My skin had been flayed away, and parts of my muscles and bones
were visible to the naked eye.
The vehicle had pulled away from me in an instant,
and the security company pursuing us surrounded me.
"Hello, friends."
"..."
When I greeted the people who had followed me with a smile,
most of them faltered at the sight of me.
"What’s wrong, friends?
I haven’t done anything yet."
With a grin,
every time I took one step toward them,
they took two steps away from me.
After repeating that a couple of times,
I finally realized what I looked like.
My skin was flayed and hanging in tatters,
and I was smiling with my muscles and bones exposed.
It was a sight gruesome enough to make anyone, no matter how strong their stomach,
frown or feel sick.
"Sorry, friends. My mistake.
As a special apology—"
Clang!
"—I’ll send you off cleanly. Goodbye!"
"Urk!"
Bang—!!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
I quickly leveled my rifle
and took out the two people at the front.
One died instantly without even getting out a scream.
They immediately began returning fire,
and I took two shots in my right thigh.
"Kangal, you okay?"
"Maine, I’m totally! Fine!"
Bang! Bang-bang!!
"Don’t come over here!!! Don’t come!"
"Yeah, Kiwi and I are heading your way now, so hold on a little longer."
"Damn it! Why isn’t backup coming?!"
"Maine, do you have a strong stomach?"
"I do, but why the hell are you asking?"
"You might throw up."
"Please, spare m—!"
Clang!
Blood sprayed everywhere, but
thanks to my clothes already being reduced to rags,
it did not stand out much.
To put my current appearance simply,
I looked like a zombie that had been hit by a car.
My clothes were drenched in blood and torn to rags,
while my flayed skin left bones and muscles
exposed to the outside.
My stomach, thighs, arms, and more were riddled with holes,
letting the breeze pass through pleasantly.
I was the perfect image of a zombie—
a living corpse.
Thanks to drawing on regeneration,
my face had recovered to some extent.
I figured I could roughly hide the rest
by wrapping it up with my clothes.
Kaaaa—!!
"Wow~ My baby’s got one hell of a roar."
The Firbolg pickup truck’s distinctive exhaust note
echoed through Night City as it came toward me.
Without slowing from two hundred kilometers per hour,
it came racing straight at me,
then stopped barely inches in front of me.
Kiwi sat in the driver’s seat with panic in her eyes,
while Maine sat in the passenger seat, his soul seemingly gone.
"Hello? Guys?"
"What are you doing? Get in already."
I heard Rebecca’s voice,
and the rear door of the car opened.
"Let’s get going. We still have
plenty of time until noon."
"Yeah, we should get moving."
Kiwi gripped the steering wheel with tense eyes
and started the car.
Kaaaa—!!
But Kiwi’s expression
gradually began to stiffen.
Before long, I understood why.
Inside a vehicle shifting between two hundred and one hundred forty kilometers per hour,
with nothing but a seat belt holding you in place,
covering nearly five kilometers in under ten minutes
made your heart feel a heavy jolt.
The driver had no choice but to focus every bit of attention
on driving.
In short, Kiwi could not hear
anything right now.
"Stop!! Stop the car!!"
It created collisions violent enough to make every passenger
want to get out of the car immediately.
"Fuuuck!!"
"You goddamn! Fucking car!
Damn it!! Slow down!!!"
The result was a tremendous effect that made them curse
both the driver and the car.
·
·
·
·
·
Only after another five long minutes
did we arrive in Pacifica.
We traded every kind of insult and profanity,
but in the end,
it wrapped up on a fairly warm note.
There were now nine hours left until noon.
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