Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews, your feedback lets me know what's up. Probably a few more chapters to this; I'm going to start wrapping it up. Losing my thunder for this fic, lol. Thanks for all the thoughts, favs, and follows! You guys are awesome.

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Glory to the Desperate

Chapter 5: Escape is for Fools

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Capable felt Nux begin to drop, curling his body around her so that he could take the brunt of the damage from the explosion. Oh, hell no. She promptly kicked his ankle out from under him, disorienting him and folding herself so that it was she that formed a living shield. Nux couldn't afford to be taking any more damage; she could. Dimly Capable could hear the Doom Goddess give a chilling war cry: part neurotic scream, part mad laugh. It made the hair stand up on the back of her neck and gooseflesh break out on her spine.

A rush of air made her ears pop painfully and it was quickly followed by a dry scorching heat that toasted her back.

I have got to make her teach me that, Capable thought, heaving Nux back to his feet. He stumbled drunkenly; weaving like the ground was having a hard time staying put. It was the opium, she realized, and hoped that he wouldn't have another heart attack.

"C'mon," she said, mouth pressed to his ear. "We have to keep up with the others, stay with me."

Nux did his best, though Pretty Boy stayed close by, offering his strength and keeping an eye on the rear of their group. The Doom Goddess, Dodge, and the Vuvalini spread out in a fan pattern, searching for attackers as the group made their way to the exit. They didn't have to work very hard. Their fellow captives had rushed the new opening in a panicked wave the moment they'd seen a chance at freedom. Capable could hear gunshots and screaming. Obviously the guards had come to try to keep them from escaping, but they couldn't stem the tide of hundreds of frightened and pissed off people desperate to get out.

There was a scream, and a hot mist of blood spattered Capable's face. It got in her eyes and burned like hell. She squeezed her eyes shut tight and focused on trying to move forward, trusting Nux to guide her. Capable would not be the reason that they fell behind, that they didn't make it out.

Nux gently tugged her to a halt, slumping against her. "Hold up, shiny girl."

She stopped, floundering blindly. Every time she tried to open her eyes they burned, so she kept them squinched tightly shut. "What's happening?"

Capable heard the sound of Nux spitting, and then a damp rag that smelled strongly of exhaust and diesel gently cleaned the blood from her face.

She opened her eyes, just in time to see Dodge and the Vuvalini braining a mutant with rocks, while the Doom Goddess and Pretty Boy were stripping the weapons off of the dead body of another. Intrepid and Pretty Boy ended up with crude guns; she claimed a bolt action rifle while he snagged a sawed off shotgun. Dodge and the Doom Goddess had grabbed melee weapons, wicked looking bastard children of clubs and swords fashioned from the heavy jaw bones of some massive creatures Capable couldn't identify.

"Move," Intrepid snarled. "Move now!"

The Doom Goddess and Dodge cleared the pathway, braining whoever tried to tangle with them, while Intrepid and Pretty Boy brought up the rear and covered their backs. Capable's heart was in her throat, the echoing thud rattling her ears. The rest of the mad dash was a confusing blend of darkness and heat and screaming.

She hadn't remembered much of the trip into the caves and tunnels; it had been too dark. Now the tunnels were lit up with torches carried by rapidly fleeing prisoners, revealing a twisting maze along with the nightmarish scenario played out by the monsters that slowly picked off outlying victims. They made it through, however. The Doom Goddess and Dodge were a deadly pair, cutting down the mutants in their way with deadly and vicious efficiency. They worked like an efficient machine, churning through the crowds leaving barely recognizable human forms in their wake.

The floor moved, an explosion rocking the caves. Bits of pebbles and dirt rained down onto their head, and in the distance there was faint screaming.

"That wasn't far off." Pretty Boy's voice was calm, an odd juxtaposition to the current crisis at hand.

"We not being cut off from the Holy Place," the Doom Goddess panted, braining a mutant. She paused to heave her club from where it'd been embedded in his face. "Nearly there now."

The Doom Goddess led them into a nearly invisible tunnel off of the main passage. It was hidden by a slimy outcropping of rock, and Capable would have never even noticed it if she hadn't been watching. She hoped that meant that they wouldn't have any visitors while the Doom Goddess tended to Nux.

The Holy Place was a surprisingly clean cave lined with flickering torches, but primarily lit by a six foot high hole that spanned the far wall, opening up to let the glaring light of the desert in. It took Capable a moment to realize what she was seeing.

"How high up are we?" she asked the Doom Goddess, voice small and awe filled. The vegetation and rocks below the mountain looked like pebbles, the vast expanse of the desert spread out before them.

"High enough meat, that that if you be fallin', ya bones will be tenderized and ya corpse laid open for the People of the Flesh to feast upon."

It was not the Doom Goddess who answered.

The Bone Queen stepped from the passageway behind them followed by two mutants. In her hand she held the Doom Goddess's sword, and the tip of the blade rested lightly against Intrepid's neck. Nux's hand tightened on Capable's shoulder and she felt him tensing. Nearby, Pretty Boy and the Doom Goddess moved simultaneously so that they were standing side by side.

"Betrayer," the Bone Queen snarled, eyes watching the Doom Goddess. She was so angry she was practically spitting, "You will all die and we will wear your skins and eat your souls. That meat that you have been trying to make safe will be the first to go."

Capable let her breath out slowly. Over her dead body. This psycho bitch wasn't going to touch Nux, not if she could help it. Intrepid's mouth was a thin line, and Capable had a feeling that the Vuvalini felt the same way. None of them were going to lay down and die. The question was, how was this going to go down? They were at a stalemate with the sword at Intrepid's throat.

The Doom Goddess bared her teeth, looking absolutely feral. "I will have the wining, false queen, and be hangin' yo fleshmeat from the walls of the mountain."

Pretty Boy moved slightly behind the Doom Goddess, so that if she rushed the Bone Queen he would be able to cover her and take on the mutants. The Bone Queen saw this and scoffed.

"You gettin' yo meat to fight yo battles now?"

Pretty Boy shrugged, unconcerned. "I have her back. We're a team."

The Bone Queen looked both incredulous and nauseated. Teamwork and love were both alien concepts to her. Suddenly the Bone Queen's head exploded, spattering Intrepid with gore. The Bone Queen's body crumbled, revealing Max, a giggling Zip who was throttling the last mutant, and an incredibly pissed off Furiosa.

"Some team," Furiosa snapped, absolutely livid. "What the hell, Capable? I leave you with the pups for an hour, and you take two of the few War Boys we have on a joy ride and manage to find flesh eating cave dwelling psychos."

Oops. When put that way her brilliant plan did not sound quite so brilliant. Capable had nothing to say, all of her good intentions had flown straight out the window. She glanced at Max, pleadingly, who shrugged.

"She was already out lookin," Max said. "Just lit a flare to put her on the right trail."

"I be havin' my meat cleaver back," the Doom Goddess interrupted, pulling her sword from the corpse of the deposed queen. "Your quarrel be stoppin' for if you be wantin' ya War Boy to stay live meat, we be healin' him now."

"Do what you gotta," Max told her. "We'll hold the line."

Furiosa nodded briskly. "Two shooters in the channel, Capable and Intrepid. Max and I will stay forward with knives. Keep it quiet. If we're gonna do this, we can't let people know we're in here."

The Doom Goddess sheathed her sword and moved to the fire pit in the center of the room. "Then we begin."

To be continued...