One of the reasons his truck had caught my eye was the two silver rams heads on the hood. He caught me looking at them and said "Yeah, this is a Dodge times two. I added them myself." and he laughed. He went on to say "I like to think of them as goats though. All right now. Let me pull out. You can load them dogs up in back and hop in." As he walked around the front of the truck I noticed he had put on his WWF belt and the hammer was riding inside a loop in it. I thought about that as he got in and shut the truck door. "Don't let him get to close" was my conclusion. Armor or no armor. Helmet or no helmet. Getting smacked with a sledge hammer was going to hurt.
He tossed his gloves in and started it up. I recognized that sound. The chitter of a diesel engine running. Then he hit the gas. That didn't sound like Chiefs diesels. I stepped back to let the smoke it was blowing out the exhaust dissipate. I was used to weird smells coming out of diesels because Chief ran ours on whatever he could find. This had a darker, almost like what iron smells likes scent. I liked this smell better. Sometimes Chiefs diesels exhaust made me hungry. Especially when he was using peanut oil.
I dropped the tailgate and told Woof "Hop in Woof." I was surprised. He leaped in like he had been doing it all his life. The rest of the pack, except for one followed him right in. The exception was the one who had been scratched by the ricochet. He hesitated, then looked up at me with a sad look. I yelled "Get in the fucking truck!" He jumped in. I closed the gate, and walked around to the passenger side thinking "That numb nut actually thought I would help him up." I climbed in, sat back and looked around. Everything had been redone in leather including the dashboard except for the floorboards. They had untanned deer skin on them.
"Nice ride" I told him.
He grinned "Yep. Can't beat a '89 W 250 Cummins Turbo Diesel. Got a Powerstroke intercooler, S300G turbo, with pryo and boost, and a 727 tranny."
"No shit" I replied. Mentally I sighed and thought "A gear head. Jeebus."
He nodded solemnly and replied "Yep. No shit."
"So what are using for fuel?" I asked him.
"Blood." he replied, then put the truck into gear, looked over at me, winked, an added "Christian when I can get it."
Thanks to LA Confederate for the diesel help.
Hey Nova,
ReplyDeleteYup, you're gonna give it a whirl! Mjallnir is heavy duty.
Heeheehee, this is gonna be interesting,
that's cool, I'm along for the ride, in the goat cart, up, up, and away.
JohnO:)
WHAT! Blood? hahahahah funny if it were really a way to run diesel.
ReplyDelete"Christian when I can get it." That's an awesome line; I'm going to have to add that to my defense-against-the-Mormons shtick.
The hammer tells the tale with the day...the reunion will be interesting when he meets up with Freya. Rock on!
ReplyDeleteOne correction - the '89-93 trucks were W250/350. The 2500/3500 started in '94. I do like the idea of running it on blood. Might have to experiment with that one day....
ReplyDelete-LA Confederate
Nice touch,Nova! what does he use as an anticoagulant,mead?
ReplyDeleteIf you could make an internal combustion engine run on blood, then it could run on salt water. Free energy for everyone! But I'm guessing that Thurs. was joking, of course.
ReplyDeleteI'm already liking Thursday, you have a gift, Nova. Closing the loop, that is the hard part. You could write forever a story with no end. I'd still be refreshing this site 10 times a day ;)
The hammer of the gods
ReplyDeletewill drive our ships to new lands,
To fight the horde,
singing and crying: Valhalla, I am coming!
On we sweep with threshing oar, Our only goal will be the western shore.
We come from the land of the ice and snow,
From the midnight sun
where the hot springs blow.
How soft your fields so green,
can whisper tales of gore,
Of how we calmed the tides of war.
We are your overlords.
On we sweep with threshing oar, Our only goal will be the western shore.
So now you'd better stop
and rebuild all your ruins,
For peace and trust can win the day
despite of all your losing.
Here I was thinking Robinson Crusoe.
ReplyDeleteThursday.... Thor's day. I get it, sometimes I just get it long after everyone else.
More, please.
I love it! The world is a big place and there are things going on outside the influence of Freya. Even if this person has nothing to do with Thor it opens up Gardeners eyes a bit more. To be an old crank who survived power down and drives a diesel that runs off of human blood is a drive to live that I can't imagine. I remember earlier in the story there was a mention how in demand a person with actual skills would be (doctors/nurses/pipe fitters). A good turn out would be for him to make an apprentice or three in the horde so that they can become more self sufficient and in turn they would provide him with protection in numbers. This is all my ideal scenario chatter, life never goes the way we would plan it.
ReplyDelete@fro
Beautiful Spammmmm, wonderful Spammmmm!!
ReplyDeleteIf the powerdown had been more of a fuel shortage than a crash-of-civilization, some late technology for fuelizing hogs (and by close relation, humans) would have been perfected. Ethanol is food, fuelized. But, ethanol has poor power density compared to veg oil or rendered animal fat.
ReplyDeleteCannibalism not for eating, but for fueling vehicles to keep the peasants in line. Tribute for the fall shall be 2000 pounds of fatted peasants or 1000 pounds of boneless liposuction fatty tissues.
Since there is some mystical content going on, I suppose that moving a chariot of war on Soil, Blood and Iron is acceptable.
Thor of Marvel Comics or Thor of Norse mythology? Stan Lee's Thor was insufficiently vengeful, imho.
Cheers.