The Eye of Zoltar

We shook hands in silence, and as I looked from face to face I could see that none of us rated our chances that high. Even so, there was no hesitation from any of them. Truly, I was in the very finest of company.

Addie positioned herself on the bonnet of the half-track and Wilson in the rear left with the Princess in the rear right. Rubber Colin had been laid flat and covered with blankets, the note I’d taped to his hand amended to what we were attempting right now. If the worst came to the worst he would revert naturally and find himself in a deserted half-track in the middle of nowhere – and it was important he told Moobin and the others what had happened to us.

Once we were all positioned, I started the engine. Perkins sat down next to me and concentrated hard. I depressed the clutch, selected first gear in low range and gunned the engine. I figured there was about a mile before we were safe. At thirty miles an hour it would take us two minutes – always supposing we could get to that speed. I put out my hand and Perkins squeezed it.

‘Crazy or nothing,’ he said, and smiled.

‘Crazy or nothing,’ I replied.

I placed both hands on the wheel, gunned the throttle again and released the clutch. The tracks bit into the soft earth and we were away. Almost instantly a stack of clothes popped up into the air ahead of us and took the shape of a human. In a few seconds six more had joined it. I yelled ‘Hold on!’ and floored the accelerator.

Battle of the Hollow Men

Since we had a decent run-up, the first three drones were easily dispatched under the front wheels, and Addie expertly sliced another in half and Wilson two more. They were surprisingly easy to bring down as they were only as strong as their clothes. They remained animated when cut in two but the top half was dangerous only if you were near, and the bottom half not dangerous at all unless they gave you a kick. All this didn’t really register, as my forward view was filled by several more Hollow Men popping into life. I was relieved to find that there didn’t seem to be so many of them and I steered into them, the lifeless husks disappearing under the heavy treads, ploughed into the mud.

‘Anything yet?’ I shouted to Perkins.

‘Not yet,’ he said, concentrating hard, fingers on temples. ‘I think they’ve been spelled in a non-standard reverse weave.’

I turned the wheel and accelerated towards a group of three and they too vanished under the front wheels.

‘They’re getting up again!’ shouted Wilson as he fought off two more drones that had popped back into life as soon as the tracks had passed over them. One even managed to climb aboard, but was soon dispatched by the Princess, who had discovered that if a drone’s right sword arm was sliced through, they had to stop and find the sword with their left before continuing.

Several more popped up and I steered towards them to help Addie slice through two in one go, then positioned the half-track to run over two more. All seemed to be going quite well, until I noticed three of them run towards the half-track and dive under the front wheels, something that suddenly made me wary.

‘This is too easy,’ shouted Addie.

‘I’m not complaining,’ yelled back Wilson, hacking a drone diagonally in half from the shoulder to the waist. I changed gear to speed up and the half-track suddenly lurched aggressively to the left. Addie was caught off balance and fell off the bonnet. I accelerated but this only made the swing to the left worse, and in a few more seconds we had spun around and were pointing not at the forest and safety, but back towards the mountain. I let in the clutch and came to a halt as Addie went on the attack and dispatched another drone that was approaching, one of ten or twelve still out there. They seemed to be walking towards us in a more relaxed manner, something I didn’t like the look of.

‘Damn,’ I said, thumping the wheel, ‘what a time to lose a track. Addie? Damage report!’

Addie ran around to the right of the vehicle while Wilson jumped off the half-track to more easily engage the closest drones. Addie had a look and then yelled:

‘Reverse, but easy does it!’

I clunked the half-track into gear and reversed slowly. The vehicle seemed to move correctly at first but then lurched in the opposite direction, and Addie yelled at me to stop.

‘Three swords jammed in the right-hand track,’ she yelled.

‘Let me see.’

I left the engine running and jumped out to have a look as Wilson and the Princess stood by defensively, ready for the slow-approaching drones. The swords were bent around the drive sprocket, jamming it completely. They weren’t the only things jammed in the tracks – there were several Hollow Men, or at least their clothes. They hadn’t really been fighting at all, just searching for a weakness, and they’d found it. The Achilles heel on a tracked vehicle is the same as its main advantage – the tracks.