Chapter 4 - The Worm From Dune

"89th cactus...90th cactus..."

It's been 6 hours since we started our 'Journey to the West'. George was keeping himself busy by counting cacti. I was reading George's mags. While Jason was driving on the road with his arm outside the window. All cool like, I guess.

We were currently within an isolated desert. No vehicles in sight. 'Strange' I thought. I didn't think escaping westward would be something only I could think of. Yet there was no one here...

"#&;$:#+$&+#@/(-?!*"

"Tch, did they already take out the radio towers?" Jason tsk'd in annoyance

"It's possible, that squid creature had some intelligence. So it wouldn't be far-fetched if they took down cell towers and radio towers after realizing their use." I replied

"But man! An Alien Invasion!? That's freaking awesome!" George said after hearing us talking again

"Yeah, and I'm sure you'd love to meet more of those squid monsters" Jason chortled

"Shaddup! You know I hate squids and their slimy tentacles" George said sticking out his tongue in disgust.

"It doesn't matter if you like them or not. We can't have you freezing up like you did before. We were only able to survive because your brother is a wack job." I said to him after

"Oi! Is that how you talk about your savior?!" Jason cut in

"Then tell me. Why do you own a shotgun?"

"I thought it looked cool on 3bay." Jason answered instantly

"...."

"...."

"So you bought an actual working gun, cause you thought it looked cool?"

"It's the same with katanas!"

"No it's fucking not!" George yelled

"Do you even own a license for it?" I asked him

"Yeah, I know a guy"

George and I just looked at each other. In disbelief that we were letting an idiot drive the truck.

"Don't tell me your drivers license is also fake" I asked though I was scared to hear his answer

"No, it's not"

Phew. George and I sighed in relief.

"But it was detained a week after I got it" Jason said almost immediately after

"Fuck give me the wheel!" George yelled

"Hey! It's my truck! Get your piss stained hands off it!"

*sss*

While I watched the brothers wrestle for control of the wheel. In the corner of my eye I saw a sandhill appearing and disappearing in the distance. I thought maybe it was just an illusion because I was tired. So I ignored it.

*sss*

Even with the ruckus inside the vehicle I could still make the distinct sound of sand falling over and over again.

At first I just wanted to brush it off. But as the noise grew louder and the sand hills grew closer

I knew something was coming.

"Hey, something's coming!" I snapped at the two of them to stop them from continuing their fight.

"Huh, What is it?" George asked after sitting back down

I told him I didn't know. And just said it was something big while pointing toward the rising and falling hill.

"What th-"

"You think you can go any faster?!" I asked Jason worriedly

"I'll try, but this is an old truck. So I doubt we'll make any significant distance from it" Jason replied

"How far is the next town" I asked

"We should get there in 40 minutes"

Forty minutes? I doubt we'll survive 40 seconds!. We gotta find a way to distract it.

*PSSHH*

Finally only 10 meters away we saw it. It was an overgrown worm. It had a similar appearance to the one in 'Dune'. Except this guy was Rose Gold in color.

"Hah, pretty cute" George said after seeing its appearance

"Ah really, maybe you should go talk to it. Maybe take it out for coffee." I said after looking at it's monstrous mouth.

"Gross dude, I meant as a pet"

"Hah, I bet that's what all the girls who rejected you said" Jason cackled

*FWEEE!!*

I guess the worm didn't like that we were making fun of it. As it started charging towards us with a low growl. Well burying itself inside the sand and lunging back out.

"Pass me the shotgun!" I shouted towards George

"Here" He passed the gun from under my seat

I started thinking of what I know about sand worms from Dune. But with the impending danger I can barely stay calm enough to remember that it's shell is extremely tough.

Ah. I remembered that sand worms can't enter the sand without its scales protecting it. So all we had to do is pry one open to stop it from chasing us.

But, how am I supposed to do that?! Its scales are most likely harder than stone.

"Hurry up and shoot it, Mark!" George urged me

"I can't. Its scales are probably too tough and we have limited ammo."

"Then its eyes? Can't you shoot that?"

"Worms don't have eyes, dipshit!" Jason responded to him

"Really?! Then what are those circular things by its head?" He asked incredulously

I went to take a look. And surprise, surprise. There was actual eyes or something that resembled it.

I thought that maybe that was its weak spot but then again how could a creature of that magnitude have a weakness that's on full display, God is not that merciful to us.

'Gah! Whatever it's better than nothing!' I thought

I quickly took aim and fired.

BANG!

CLANG!

I missed.

"Man, remind me to never play duos with you online" George exclaimed

"I can't aim correctly, because we're moving" I explained

"Then let me try" George said while reaching out toward the gun

I passed him the gun. And almost like a skilled shooter, aimed and shot in an almost fluid motion.

BANG! CRUSH!

*CREEE!!*

The worm shrieked in anguish and pain.

'Huh, he made it look so easy' I thought as I turned my head to look at him

"Hehe, they used to me 'school shooter' back in middle school!" He proclaimed loudly

Ignoring his controversial title, I turned back to look at the worm.

It was still squirming on top of the sand, but I can't shake off the feeling that it still wasn't enough to shake it off.

After having made a distance of about 100 meters

The worm stopped squirming on the ground and glared at us with its nonexistent eyes. It's mouth opening and closing.

Despite the fact that we know that it isn't an eye. Its remaining 'eye' still seemed to bore holes through us .

When suddenly it's 'eye' started inhaling the air surrounding it and not a moment later shot a fireball straight at us

"MOVE!!!" George and I screamed

Jason hurriedly veered to the right taking us out of the road, onto the desert.

Worm: *GREE* *GREE*

Despite it not having vocal cords, it sounded like it was cackling.

"Fuck! Jason, hurry and get us out of here!" I practically yelled at him in panic.

*Scree* *Scree*

The low sound of the tires moving yet staying still on top of the soft sand was all we heard as the worm got closer to us.

"I can't, the wheels are stuck" Jason said with a tired and exasperated voice.

"Fuck, I can't believe I'm gonna die a virgin" Muttered George

"..."

'The worm was probably able to locate us using something similar to echo location. So if we go under the truck acting as bait and it grabs hold of the truck we can shoot it and blow it up! It can work, probably. It's also possible that it'll go underground and swallow us from there, but we don't have much of a choice.'

"Hey, you still have any ammo left over?" I asked George after formulating my idea

"Huh? Yeah, I still have a box left" He replied

***

"That's freaking suicide!" George exclaimed after hearing my idea

"We have no other choice but to gamble" I said to him

"How high are our chances?" Jason asked

"60%" I replied. Since the worm kept on lunging back outside after burying itself in the sand, I reasoned that it can't stay inside for long periods of time.

"That's higher than I thought" Jason sighed

"....C'mon let's go, George" Jason said a moment later

"Are you serious? Are we seriously doing this?!" He asked, his mouth agape.

"Don't you usually like high risk adventures?" I asked with a worried smile.

"This situation isn't like with the moving truck, we don't know what the worm will do" He spoke with a serious tone.

"Like I said, it's a gamble."

***

You know despite worms being known to move slow. The sandworm was able to move past 100 meters within seconds.

As it grew near, it started opening it's wide mouth showing its yellow tinged crystal teeth. Almost like it was gloating.

*Swish*

Moving at a speed comparable to a rail gun. It took hold of the truck, raising it into the air and started crushing it with its rows of teeth. Gasoline dripping from the crushed vehicle.

As it was celebrating for finally getting rid of the humans that dared hurt its precious inhaler.

BANG!

BOOOOOMM!!!

The worms entire mouth and what was its head was decimated.

"Hah, that was too close for comfort" George said standing up before falling back down to the sand below

"Great shot" I patted his shoulder

"My truck..." Jason said with a tearful expression

"It was for the greater good" George consoled

I left the pair to grieve over their precious truck behind , I went to see whether its scales can be useful or not.

The scales were about a meter long, extremely hard and light. If in the future we could find more of these worms we could probably build armor or something, I thought inwardly.

"I'll take as much as I can for now" I said aloud to no one.