BLOOD WORK: WRITTEN IN BLOOD: MAD MAX VS SNAKE PLISSKEN

MAD MAX VERSUS SNAKE PLISSKEN

WHO WINS?

The next fantasy battle survey is here! This one is by special request from one coworker in particular. And also cause I love both characters and wanted to see them fight. This time we’re going with Road Warrior Mad Max Rockatansky from the Mad Max films vs the United States’ most notorious outlaw Snake Plissken from the Escape From New York and Escape From L.A. films. One survived the end of the world and one caused the end of world.

Let’s get it on!

MAD MAX SNAKE PLISSKEN Who?

43 56 1

Store Manager Choice: Snake Plissken

Advantage: Snake Plissken

Snake Plissken wins by a clear margin. I first posed this match-up on Facebook in which Snake won by a landslide with only a scant few votes going to Max. The overall survey ended with similar results. However it’s interesting to note that many expressed their personal fondness for Max over Snake. It is also interesting to note that many people here in the store had no idea who either characters were. Some voted purely on whether or not they liked Mel Gibson and Tom Hardy better than Kurt Russell.

WARNING:

Graphic violence and strong language ahead.

Both characters are from decidedly R rated films. The following story is also R rated in keeping with the world and characters of Mad Max and Snake Plissken.

THE STORY

(plot by Drew Pettey and Mitch Nissen)

**note: as you read you will seen videos. click play on the videos and keeping reading to enhance your overall experience!

2013

The Sword of Damocles, the United States secret self-defense system, was activated, tapping into a dozen satellites orbiting the planet. Each satellite released an electro-magnetic pulse blanketing the Earth. Every electronic device and power source from batteries to computers to remote guidance systems were rendered inert including the satellites themselves. Without the aid of computers the satellites couldn’t maintain geosynchronous orbit. One by one the satellites fell to earth. Attached to each satellite was a neutron bomb. The global devastation was biblical. It is estimated that over 80% of Earth’s population was lost. For the survivors the world became a firestorm of fear.

A few spots of earth still proved green and fertile, the rest was scorched. But to survive in this new world man’s humanity was cast aside. Those who lived in this wasteland were more monsters than men, their minds warped by horror, their bodies poisoned by the fallout. They killed each other for the only power source left, guzzolene. The MFP, Main Force Patrol, was wiped out. No more law existed. Life expectancy grew short, shorter for those who managed to hold on to their human decency.

Those who controlled the guzzolene had the power.

The roads were transformed into battlefields.

It became a land of blood and ash.
A lawless land.
A land of Road Warriors.

“The chain in those handcuffs is high-tensile steel. It’d take you ten minutes to hack through it with this. Now, if you’re lucky you could hack through your ankle in five minutes. Go,” said Max, tossing Johnny the hacksaw. Gas continued to poured out of the overturned truck, spilling toward the lighter. Rockatansky hobbled up the side of the ditch, Johnny’s screams growing higher in the background. Max climbed into the V8 Interceptor and drove off down the road.

He returned to the graves of Jessie and Sprog, his slain wife and son, and collapsed beside them. Max wanted to be with them and was ready to die. The bandage on his knee was soaked through with blood and crusting over. Fever set in and the light in his eyes faded.

Max awoke in a hospital bed. The screaming from the hall outside shocked him awake. Two men tackled a nurse in front of the door. She thrashed and clawed at them but no amount of struggling seemed to deter them. Max jolted upright. He leapt out of bed only to collapse on the floor, a crippling pain in his knee. Dressed in only a hospital gown, he saw that his knee had been bandaged, blood beginning to seep through the dressing.

“Hey!” shouted one of the attackers, a man dressed in dirty leather chaps, jacket, and headband. “Lookit who it is? The cop what killed Toecutter and Nightrider,” he said with grim satisfaction. Max glanced to side seeing his black leather MFP uniform hanging from the closet door. The two men shifted their attention from the nurse and started walking towards him, brass knuckles and chains in their hands. Max recognized them as members of the Acolytes motorcycle gang, the same gang responsible for the murder of his family. The one with the chain bent down, grabbing Max by the throat. “I’m gonna drag you with this chain from the back of my bike across a road of broken glass. Then I’m gonna flay the skin from your—”

Max lurched forward, mouth open, teeth biting down on the biker’s nose. In one violent jerk Max ripped the nose from the biker’s face. The biker fell back screaming. The second lunged forward, fist cocked. Max pulled the chain from his enemy’s hand and whipped the steel across the other’s face. The heavy chain links broke the other biker’s jaw sending him spiraling down to the floor. Max climbed on top of him and bashed his skull again and again against the floor until it split open. Max then fixed his narrow gaze on the first biker, crying and bleeding in the corner.

He crawled over to the bloodied biker, threw him to the ground, and placed his good knee on the biker’s throat. “How many more of you?” he asked. The noseless man on the floor shivered and sobbed. Max applied more pressure to the man’s throat, “How many?”

“You’ll— never kill us— all,” choked out the man on the floor. “Johnny the boy is—coming for—you.”

“I already killed Johnny.”

Through blood and tears the biker managed a deranged smile, “He’s missing a foot and he’s burnt up—but he’s alive. He’ll—kill you.” Max shook with rage. Johnny the boy, the member of the Acolytes that murdered Max’s best friend, Goose, was still alive. Max pressed down with all his weight onto his good knee, crushing the biker’s windpipe.

Max painstakingly put his Main Force Patrol uniform back on. He hobbled out into the hallway and wandered through the hospital. The power was out. Hospital staff and patients ran through halls while looters and robbers trashed the place. With every step Max took the pain worsened. He shambled into a supply closet and spied racks of medications. Finding several bottles of painkillers, he shoved a handful into his mouth and stuffed several bottles into his pockets. On his way out of the building he saw several wheelchairs, crutches, and leg braces. He put on a leg brace over his bad knee and hobbled out of the building. Stepping outside he discovered the hospital wasn’t the only place without power and being looted by scavengers. The power was out everywhere and the sky was deep red. The ground rumbled. In the distance Max could see a mushroom cloud plumbing higher into the atmosphere.

2017

A man wearing a half-melted hazmat suit with a gasmask affixed to his face entered the citadel. What was showing of his body was discolored, sunburn red and skin-peeling yellow. Purple lesions spotted his flesh. The others in the citadel were similarly dressed, bodies covered with the same afflictions. Some of them wore ragged leather and multiple belts around their limbs. Some wore very little at all, men and women alike. Everyone wore gasmasks of various sizes and designs, some decorated with bones and bullets and numerous odd objects. The man ascended the steps to the throne. Atop the throne sat a man surrounded by men and women. His back was to the man climbing the stairs.

The man stopped several steps from the top and knelt before the person seated on the throne. “Lord Nemesis, we got him.”

“How many were lost?”

“26 dead.”

“What?!?”

“5 more were wounded bad. We’re not sure they’ll survive the night,” said the man kneeling, his voice quivering.

“I lost 31 of my best Angels in one night?” asked the man atop the throne, anger in his voice. The others remained silent. “You killed the intruder though?”

“We got him.”

“He’s dead then?”

“Not exactly. We got him... alive” As the two of them spoke a group of twelve men and women escorted a prisoner into the citadel. Undercover of crossbows, spears, and a few pistols, a man wearing a brown leather jacket, camo-pants, combat boots, and an eye-patch walked into the room.

Without turning around, Lord Nemesis continued, “You brought a man who killed 31 of our people… here? Tell me, how did you survive and so many others didn’t?”

“But Lord Nemesis, it’s Snake Plissken,” said the man prostrate before the throne.

Lord Nemesis tensed, “Did you say… Snake… Plissken?”

“I know that voice,” said Snake in low gravely tone. He walked up the steps, the others keeping a close guard on him, none dared touching. He walked right up to the throne. Lord Nemesis turned around and the two of them stood face to face, “Eugene Smelner,” said Snake.

“Eugene?” said a tall, well-built woman on Nemesis’s right, disappointment heavy in her voice. “Your name is Eugene?” Some of the others around them cracked smiles and stifled giggles.

Nemesis inhaled deeply, “My name… is Nemesis,” he said, embarrassment showing all over.

“I didn’t know you knew Snake Plissken, Nemesis,” said another.

“Yeah,” hissed Snake. “He and me go way back, don’t we Eugene?” Snake pulled a pistol from his holster. He shoved the gun in Nemesis’s face forcing Eugene back down into his chair. “Where were you, Eugene?” asked Snake. Everyone surrounding Snake suddenly closed in tight around him, arrowheads, spear tips, and gun barrels pressing against his skin.

“Make a move and you’re dead,” said the well-built woman.

“Why didn’t you disarm him?!” yelled Nemesis.

“We tried to,” said one of them, “but... He's Snake Plissken. Everyone was too afraid to touch him. He killed 30 of us, sir.”

“Drop the gun. Now,” said the woman.

“Sure. I’ll drop the gun. Whether I drop Eugene too depends on what he says next,” growled Snake. “You see, a while back Eugene and I were partners along with Taylor and Slasher McGurk. You and Slasher were supposed to cover us once we got to ‘frisco. But you weren’t there. Taylor’s dead because of you. I got sent up to New York.”

“That was 20 years ago. And you escaped from New York, so it all worked out in the end,” said Nemesis.

Snake pressed the gun harder against Nemesis’s head, “I don’t give a fuck how long ago it was. I’ve waited a long time to kill you, Eugene. I can die happy knowing I finally put a bullet through your skull.” Snake showed no signs of backing down.

“All right, all right! Slasher made another deal while you and Taylor were in route. The United States Police Force made us. Slasher made the call. We had to do something.” Everyone in the citadel froze, beads of sweat dripped off their brows and shoulders.

“So you fed them us. You sonuva bitch.” Snake’s finger tightened on the trigger.

“Look at me, Snake! I’m half dead already. What happened to me was far worse than getting sent up to New York or L.A. When the world ended they used chemical weapons on us. We need these masks to survive! Mine has even grown into my face!” pleaded Nemesis desperately.

“You’re still breathin’ and I still owe you a bullet.”

Nemesis gripped the armrests on the throne and cried, “I can get you Slasher!”

The room went silent. Everyone stood on edge not knowing what was going to happen next. Then a grin crept across Snake’s lips and slowly he pulled the gun away from Nemesis’s head, placing it back in its holster, “You always could talk your way out of anything, Eugene.” Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief and lowered their weapons.

“Just one thing… Don’t call me Eugene.”

One of Nemesis’s lackeys standing nearby quietly reached for Snake’s gun. Snake turned his head, his piercing blue eye boring a hole in the lackey’s skull. The man’s blood ran cold. Without uttering a single word the man withdrew his hand and slinked away.

The buxom woman to the right of Nemesis lifted her gas mask and scanned the man with the eye patch up and down, “Snake Plissken,” she said with a grin, “You’re every bit the legend says. Cept I thought you’d be taller.”

He ignored the remark and fixed his eye once again on Nemesis, “Slasher. How do I get to him?”

Eugene motioned to the woman on his right, “Show him.”

Snake got back in Nemesis’s face, grabbed him by the collar, and yanked him out of his seat, “If you think for one second that I’m just going to take your word you better think again. You’re going to show me, you and no one else. You’re going to give me my guns back. You’re going to walk me right up to Slasher’s door and watch as I put a bullet in his skull. And if at any time I don’t like what you’re doing I’m gonna put a bullet in your head instead. Deal?” asked Snake staring him in the eye.
Nemesis shivered and nodded his head.
Snake’s expression remained hard and intimidating, “Weapons. Now.”

They walked out of the citadel and into the armory, Nemesis leading, Snake behind him, the tall woman and a host of others following after. “We don’t have much in the way of firearms, a handful of pistols, a shotgun, rifle, and a few cases of rounds. This shit is scarce nowadays. We have plenty of bows and arrows, spears, and homemade explosives.” Snake eyed the limited weapons cache, grabbed what little ammo there was for his pistols as well as a large Bowie knife that was more like a machete than a knife.

“How do we get to Slasher?” asked Snake. Once again they followed Nemesis to another room. They entered the garage. There were eight vehicles vaguely reminiscent of Jeeps, each with what appeared to be oxygen tents enclosing the cabs. Multiple tanks of oxygen were strapped to the back of each along with nitro tanks underneath. “What the hell are these supposed to be?”

“We need the air filtration to breath, Snake,” said Nemesis. “The world is a wasteland, irradiated and poisonous. Nuclear fallout. Just breathing anymore is enough to kill you. Our lungs were burned when they attacked us. Pure oxygen keeps us going.” Nemesis pointed to the jeeps, “We’ll take all eight. Two to a vehicle. Snake, you can ride with Johnny.”

They all turned around at the sound of squeaking metal behind them. A man emerged from the shadows, scarred to hell, missing a foot with a spiked steel prosthesis in its place. A deranged smile crept across the man’s face as he approached them. “Snake Plissken meet Johnny the Boy.” Snake stared at the horrific looking man, unflinching. Johnny cast Snake a hateful gaze. The others backed away as Johnny stepped closer to the man with the eye patch.

“I’m taking her,” said Snake pointing to the tall woman. Her cheeks flashed bright red.

“I said you’re going with Johnny,” shouted Nemesis.

“I wasn’t asking,” said Snake, heading for one of the jeeps. “You lead, Eugene. We’ll follow.”

The woman looked at Snake and then back at Nemesis silently wondering what to do. Nemesis gestured for her to go with him. She ran after Snake and climbed in the jeep.

“Snake Plissken!” called Johnny. “I heard of you. I heard you were dead.”

Snake paused and peered over his shoulder, “Congratulations. You’re the same as everyone else.”

Nemesis turned to one of his men and pulled him close, “Take the crotch rocket and drive on ahead of us. Warn Slasher we’re coming. And don’t let Plissken see you.” The man nodded and ran out of the garage.

“I don’t like him,” said Johnny, eyes still locked on Snake.

“I fucking hate him. He was an asshole then and he’s an asshole now. First chance we get we’re gonna kill him. C’mon, Johnny. You’re with me. Let’s go.” The rest of them loaded up in the jeeps and they all peeled out of the garage kicking up clouds of red dust.

Nemesis and Johnny led the pack through the dry dusty wasteland. Snake and the others followed. After an hour and thirty minutes down a vacant highway the fleet suddenly turned off road. Snake gripped the wheel, his gaze narrowed, “Where the hell is Eugene taking us?”

“Past the Flesh Eaters,” said the woman next to him, her voice muffled by the gasmask. Snake cocked his head to the side. She pulled off the mask and tossed it in back, “Phew! I hate that thing. He’s taking us past the Flesh Eaters. They’re crazy… in case you didn’t get that from the name. They live to the north.”

Snake looked her over. She hadn't a single blemish on her skin, nor was her face a peeling mess like the others. She looked completely healthy.
“Why not go south then?” he asked.

“To the south is the Edge of the World. If we go that way we’re just as likely to fall off. No, our safest path is to creep on past the Flesh Eaters and pray they don’t see or hear us.”

“Why don’t we head west and bypass all of it?” asked Snake.

She wiped the sweat off her face and cast him an incredulous look, “You really don’t know anything, do you? The west is ruled by the Humungus and the Dogs of War. They’re the scariest pack of wolves I’ve ever seen. Nobody goes west, unless they want to die.”

The jeep in front of them slowed to a crawl and everyone else followed suit. The engines quieted to a hum and they inched along. Snake looked to the left and then to the right. Nothing but a desolate landscape showed on either side. “We’re right in the thick of Flesh Eater territory. Our best chance is to slip through unnoticed. We have a mile to cross.” Snake looked back at her noticing she had yet to replace her gasmask. “The mask? I actually don’t need it. But if you’re going to ride with Lord Nemesis and his Suicide Angels you gotta be one of his. I wasn’t a part of them when the chemical wars hit. I was littler when the world ended.”

“You’re not little anymore,” commented Snake.

“I guess not.” She looked down at her scantily clad body, “I grew up strong. You have to be strong to survive nowadays. You’re strong too.” She watched him intently, “I’ve never seen anyone scare Lord Nemesis like that.”
            Snake kept his eye on the road.
            “Reis.”
            He cast her a confused look.
            “My name’s Reis,” she said.
            Snake finally turned his head and looked her up and down. A subtle smile came to his face and he returned his focus to the road.
            She liked the way he looked at her. “Snake? When this is over… I want to come with you.”
            Again he said nothing.
            “Snake?”

He sighed, “Do you normally talk this much?”

Reis quieted down. After a moment of silence she spoke again, “I heard a rumor about you.”

“Let me guess: You heard I was dead?”

“I heard you were dead but that’s not what I was going to say. I heard that—” she hesitated, “I heard that you ended the world.”
Snake gripped the wheel tighter. The tension in the car rose.
“Did you, Snake? Did you turn the world into this?” she asked.

Snake said nothing.

Reis looked ahead, gazing out the window over the scorched earth, "What was it like before there was nothing?"

His eye glazed over. After an awkward silence he said, “Too many people back then. And even more hate." Snake looked out over the vast empty space outside the Jeep. "We didn't have anything growing up. Too expensive and jobs paid shit. We were stacked on top of each other in rooms two times too small for the families livin' there. Just wasn't enough room for everybody. Even before it was a prison, living in New York was a hellhole.

"So we fought over turf. As a kid you were either in a gang or you were murdered by a gang. I was a part of the 84th street Cobras. Coupla blocks down were the Lizzies, then there were the Orphans, and the Baseball Furies. On Coney Island were the Warriors. There were more of us gangs then there were police."
"What's a Coney Island?" she asked.

"Nothing anymore. The Gramercy Riffs, the biggest gang in New York, nearly ended the turf wars. Could've stopped the killing. But some asshole had to go an shoot the man trying to bring us all together. The police came down on us hard after that.

"One by one they rounded us up. Those who weren't beaten to death spent the rest of their lives rotting in prison, cannon fodder for the Death Races, or pressed into the service. That's how I got out. Started my first tour. Saw the world. All it was was a bigger hellhole.

"Back home the government came up with a plan to solve the population and crime problems. They created a new holiday. One night a year from dusk till dawn all crime was legal, including murder. They called it the Purge. If you had money you could buy protection. If you were penniless like most of America you locked your door and said your prayers. But even that didn't last.
"Once the rich became targets, high ranking officials in the government being offed by their own staff, their own kids, everything fell apart. The Purge ended. Then World War III started. We fought. We died. But nobody back home cared. The first nukes were dropped since 1945, but still nobody back home gave a shit.
"With the Purge gone the only way the government could restore order was to round up all the troublemakers and dump em' off in some isolated place. A place where they couldn't get out. Manhattan Island. And after the quake on the west coast they dumped them off in L.A. Whatever and whoever they deemed undesirable or offensive. What was good got bad and the bad got worse.

"The world was already dead by the time I came along. I just helped her pull the plug.”

The roar of an engine suddenly echoed across the dusty plain. Everyone jumped to high alert. Reis jolted forward in her seat, fear painting her face, “Shit! We’re still in the middle of Flesh Eater turf!” Everyone looked about them to see where the booming noise was coming from.

One of Nemesis’s men in the rear leaned out the window of his jeep screaming, “Road Warrior! It’s the Road Warrior!”

Snake opened the door of the jeep and peered out into the desert behind them. Something far away was kicking up a massive cloud of dust. As the sound grew louder the dust cloud plumbed larger and Snake could see a tiny black image moving closer. And then he saw it. A black V8 turbo charged nitro boosted Main Force Patrol Interceptor roared straight through the center of their ranks like thunder rolling across the plains. There in an instant. Gone in the blink of an eye.

The dust cloud came and visibility became zero. A voice cried out from somewhere in the dust, “Go! Go! Get the hell out of here!” The eight jeeps revved to life and took off in the wake of the Interceptor. Snake punched the accelerator driving blindly through the dust, “What the hell was that?”

Reis reached into the back seat and recovered her gasmask, “That was the Road Warrior. The hunter of the highway. They say he was a lawman who went mad right before the world ended. Everyone went mad at that time.”

“The crazies outnumbered the normal? I’ve been to a few places like that,” said Snake flooring it.

“Now it’s the whole damn world that’s gone crazy,” said Reis.
            She opened the passenger door while the jeep was moving at top speed. She peered out through the dust storm catching glimpses of the others. She kept looking. Between gusts and whirlwinds of dirt and sand she spied a dune buggy leaping over a hillside speeding straight for them. Her body tensed and she ducked back inside the cab. Leaning in front of Snake she pounded her fist into the car horn.
            “It’s the Flesh Eaters!”
            Snake looked behind him and could only make out vague shapes moving in the dust behind them.

Suddenly they were out of the wall of dust, open wasteland in front of them, blue sky above. Ten dune buggies tailed them, each one decorated in human bones and fleshy human remains. They zeroed in on them from the north, pushing the fleet south. The men and women inside the dune buggies were clad similarly to their cars, tribal tattoos, light clothing made from human skin, armor fashioned from bones, and little bits of bone piercing their bodies. They shouted and hollered and thrashed about as if high on crystal meth or speed, cackling like maniacs.

A Flesh Eater buggy drove up alongside them, two crazed cannibals climbing onto the outside of the buggy. At once the two cannibals leapt through the air and onto the jeep. Snake pulled out his pistol and put a bullet into each of them. The buggy rammed them from the side pushing them more southbound. Another Flesh Eater climbed out on top and dove onto the jeep.

Snake went for his gun and felt a hand on his arm, “Save your ammo for when it counts,” said Reis. “Keep her steady. I got this.” She climbed out onto the roof coming face to face with a gruesome Flesh Eater. It lunged for her with knives in both hands. She slipped the slashes and dodged in and out between them. She caught his arm, snapped it at the elbow, drove her fist deep into his gut one two three times, and booted him off the jeep. The cannibal fell to the ground rolling under the tires.

The other eight jeeps of Suicide Angels were likewise besieged by bone encrusted cannibals. Vehicles rammed into vehicles, bolts from crossbows and spears flew through the air, and hand to hand battles occurred on the hoods and roofs. Reis jumped from the jeep to the dune buggy beside them. Only one Flesh Eater remained inside. There were no walls on the dune buggy, just an exposed steel frame skeleton. She reached down between the bar and gripped the driver by the neck. She pulled his head up between the steel, bent his neck over the bar, and stomped on his head. The buggy zigged and zagged without a driver. Reis swung into the driver’s seat from the side and took control. Snake and Reis drove side by side, each one covering the other.

Then the sound of the Interceptor roared in from out of nowhere. It sped up along the outside and herded the group of vehicles further south. As it drove by, Snake caught sight of the person inside, a man dressed in black with a mad look in his eyes. Two vehicles drove up on both sides of the Interceptor, one of them a dune buggy and the other a jeep. The Suicide Angels tossed spears and Molotov cocktails. The Flesh Eaters rammed to the passenger side, two of them leaping onto the roof. A hand reached out of the driver-side window of the black V8 holding a sawed off shotgun.
BOOM! BOOM!
The bodies of the two men on top of the car burst open, rolling off to the sides. The Interceptor slowed down just enough to get behind the jeep. A shotgun blast to the oxygen tanks blew the jeep apart, annihilating the whole vehicle and everyone inside.

All the vehicles continued veering southward in an attempt to escape. Another blast of the shotgun to the oxygen tanks blew a second jeep sky high, erupting in a ball of flames. Reis, in her commandeered dune buggy, sped closer to the Road Warrior’s car until she was cut off by another Flesh Eater buggy. Two cannibals jumped from their vehicle to hers, biting, slashing, and clawing. Two more gunshots rang out, bullets flying through the heads of the cannibals. Reis looked to her right seeing Snake’s arm out the window, pistol in hand. He waved her over. She tied off the steering wheel with the belt around her waist, jammed the accelerator, and dove from the dune buggy to Snake. The buggy veered to the left taking out another vehicle of Flesh Eaters.

Reis held on to the side of the jeep face to face with Snake.
He pulled her head next to his shouting, “Grab the tanks off the back! Throw em’ at these assholes and hold on!”
She nodded and climbed around to the back. She unhooked one of the four tanks and tossed it towards another dune buggy. Snake aimed his pistol and fired. The tank exploded blowing the buggy off the road.

The Interceptor closed in on the jeep ahead with Nemesis and Johnny the boy inside. Two shotgun blasts ripped through the side of their jeep. Johnny stood up out the passenger window firing a pistol and screaming, “MAX!”
Reis looked ahead seeing her boss under fire. She signaled to Snake to get up next to the V8. Snake’s drove up between the Interceptor and Nemesis.

Snake slammed into the side of the black car, he and the mad man in black sitting only one seat apart.
Max, with a wild look in his eyes, pointed over to the other vehicle at Johnny saying, “He’s mine!”
Snake rammed into the side of the Interceptor once again pushing Max away. There was now a little distance between the three vehicles. Johnny and Max kept firing on each other. Reis unhooked another tank off the back, climbed up top, and prepared to throw. A bullet ripped through her chest. Snake’s eye opened wide. She dropped off of the side to the ground.

Snake’s whole world froze for a moment. He looked back just as Reis was pulled under the tires of the vehicles in pursuit.
            Suddenly the world rushed forward again, faster than ever. Snake rammed into the side of the Interceptor, aimed his pistol, and squeezed off six rounds.
            Max’s passenger-side window shattered, bullets whizzing by his head, grazing his arm and shoulder. Max slammed on the breaks and ducked back behind them.
            Looking over his shoulder Snake saw that there were still two oxygen tanks strapped to the back of his jeep. Max already had his shotgun out the window and aimed at the tanks. Snake threw open the door and jumped. The shotgun fired and the jeep exploded. The force of the blast launched Snake through the air, landing on top of another dune buggy, one of the few remaining.

“Snake Plissken!” shouted a voice over a megaphone. Looking ahead, a dozen rusted out Chevy Impalas, Dodge Challengers and Chargers raced towards them head on. Every one of them was loaded to the teeth with machine guns, rocket launchers, and patchwork armor. Each of the cars were tricked out with powerful speaker systems and subs, all blaring the same song, Motley Crue’s Kickstart My Heart. Along with them rode one tiny crotch rocket driven by one of Nemesis’s own men. “You want me, Plissken?! Here I am!”

Snake knew instantly who it was yelling his name. “Slasher,” he said through gritted teeth.
While everyone was staring ahead at the oncoming armada, Snake pulled his Bowie knife from its sheath and shanked the three cannibals in the buggy. He tossed the driver out and took the wheel. The remaining Flesh Eaters and Suicide Angels continued on a head-on course towards Slasher's fleet. No one showed signs of turning.

“Let’s get this party started!” shouted Slasher. In seconds the gap between the two fleets closed. None of the drivers turned off. Half of the cars missed one another while the others slammed head-on into each other shattering to pieces. Blood, rubber, human limbs, and twisted metal flew through the air in an industrial organic rain shower. The Interceptor, Snake, Nemesis and Johnny, one dune buggy, and three jeeps survived along with Slasher and six of his assault vehicles. Slasher and his crew skidded along the desert floor coming back around. With the pedal to the metal they sped on after them.

Snake ran up alongside Nemesis and Johnny, “You set me up. Eugene!”

“Of course! What did you think was going to happen?”

Snake aimed his pistol and fired. The Interceptor rammed into Snake’s side at the same moment. Plissken glared across the cars at Max shouting, “He’s mine!”

The music grew louder once again as Slasher and the remainder of his group closed in from behind.
Max gave Snake a dastardly smile, “Watch your right,” he shouted over the roaring engines.
The Interceptor peeled off as the rest of the vehicles headed to the horizon on the right. Suddenly they met the horizon and instantly corrected their course. Snake’s buggy slammed into one of the Suicide Angels knocking them off the horizon. Snake immediately corrected his course upon seeing the cliffside they now drove along. Now Snake understood what Reis meant by Edge of the World. Where once was land now it had all fallen away, swallowed by the earth leaving nothing but a deep chasm behind. The Edge seemed to run forever in both directions. A thin stretch of road ran along the edge of the chasm, rising and falling.

Max slowed enough for Slasher and his crew to drive up on the others. Max drove up alongside the Charger in the very back and broadsided it. The Charger spun out and went over the edge. Max hammered the accelerator and rear-ended the car in front of him, forcing it into the next ahead. Both lost control, one sliding perpendicular with the road and rolling while the other launched off the cliff. The Interceptor kept moving its way up, picking off cars as it pressed onward.

Slasher stood out of the sunroof of his Impala and peered behind at the black V8. He pulled out a rocket launcher, “I am a turbo charged nitro induced death machine. I am a fuel injected engine of the destruction! I am the four cylinders of the Apocalypse! What are you, Road Warrior?! What the fuck are you?!”

Max swerved, narrowly avoiding the rocket. It struck the road behind him lifting the backend of the Interceptor several feet in the air. The nose of the car scraped along the asphalt as the backend came down hard. The car zigzagged as Max struggled to get it back under control, the right side tires riding halfway over the edge.

Slasher signaled his remaining three men to take out the Road Warrior. The three cars turned off and let Max speed on past. They motored after him, machine guns blazing and rockets firing. The road along the edge went from flat to hilly, rising and falling without warning. Bullets and rockets flew every which way as the cars sailed up and down along the road and through the air. The three cars boxed him in against the cliffside, one in front, on the left, and behind. Max shot out the front tire of the car to the left sending it tumbling in the dust. The car in front launched over the top of a steep hill. As Max came to the top he breaked, slowing just enough to keep his car on the ground. The car behind kept going at top speed and launched overhead through the air. As it sailed above Max shot the vehicle’s gas tank. The car burst in a ball fire and crashed to the ground. In no time Max caught up with the last of Slasher’s men, a lone Challenger. The man in the Challenger, desperate to out run the Interceptor, hit the nitro. One last hill headed their way launching the Challenger high in the air. The front end of the car tipped too steep while flying through the air and crashed upon landing, the driver flying through the windshield headlong into the pavement.

Up ahead Snake and Nemesis drove neck and neck at the front of the pack. Both of them jerked the steering wheel into the other. The jeep rammed against the dune buggy, neither refusing to turn away. Nemesis peered through the goggles of his gas-mask at Snake, “You know, a while back I heard you were dead. Then you showed up in Cleveland. I heard they killed you after that but then you showed up in L.A. They told me you were dead I don’t know how many times. Truthfully, I knew you weren’t. You’ve always been the pain in my ass, Snake. A pustulent hemorrhoid that never goes away!”

“We’re all dead. Jus’ some of us need reminding,” said Snake in a raspy voice.

“Snake!” called Slasher’s voice through the megaphone. “I am the piston powered, guzzolene drinking, engine of combustion destruction!”

“I may be the same guy, Snake, but Slasher? He’s embraced the madness,” said Nemesis. Snake looked out the back watching Slasher aim a rocket launcher at his dune buggy. At that moment Nemesis veered away from him and waved, “You can die now, Snake.” The rocket flew. Snake darted across the seats and flung himself through the air. The buggy exploded and Snake landed on the hood of the next Jeep back. Nemesis stared out the window in disbelief, “For fuck’s sake, just die!” He stuck his head out the window shouting to the remaining three jeeps, “Kill Snake!”

A Suicide Angel leaned out the passenger side window and trained a crossbow on him. The bolt flew and struck Snake in the leg. He yanked the arrow out and thrust it into the head of his enemy before they could reload. Snake ignore his wound and climbed overtop the roof to the back. He unhooked one of the oxygen tanks.
“Snaaaaaaaaaake!” screamed Slasher as he unloaded a clip. Plissken chucked the tank straight for Slasher, one of Slasher’s own bullets striking the bottle. The tank blew up in midair, the concussive force breaking Slasher’s neck and crushing all the weapons mounted to his car. Snake unhooked the rest of the tanks, throwing them at all the remaining vehicles. One tank was sucked underneath the tires, the intense banging of the bottle causing it to explode and launching the jeep high into the sky. One bottle crashed through the windshield of a jeep but didn’t detonate until Snake put a bullet in it.
The final tank struck the last of the Flesh Eaters and bounced off the metal frame of the dune buggy. The three cannibals inside the buggy whooped and cheered. Then the Interceptor drove up beside them. Max aimed his double barrel shotgun and killed all three with one shot.

Snake stabbed his knife into the driver of the jeep, tossed his body out onto the road, and hopped in the driver’s seat. He drove up on the left of Nemesis and Max drove up on the right. They sandwiched Nemesis and Johnny between them. The burned out ruins of a city lay ahead, the three of them speeding straight for them. Nemesis tried to swerve but he was stuck. A hulking warehouse ruin rapidly approached, the three of them headed straight for a brick wall.
“Are you crazy?! You’ll kill us all!” screamed Nemesis. They flew straight for the wall. The Interceptor turned off at the last second but the others plowed into the bricks. They smashed through to the other side. Their jeeps crunched like tin cans, rolling onto their sides over and over until finally grinding to a halt.

Max searched for another pair of shotgun shells but came up empty. He still brought the shotgun despite not having any ammo. He hopped out of the car and moved as fast as his leg brace would let him. He climbed through the hole in the wall and hobbled over to one of the overturned jeeps. There was no one inside. The second jeep was empty too. Other than a pack of feral dogs there was no one in sight.

Plissken burst out of the shadows sucker punching Max across the face. Three punches to the gut and a knee to the face dropped Max to the ground. The former patrolman jammed his finger into Snake’s leg wound. Max swung his braced leg around taking Snake’s feet out from under him. The two of them rolled on the ground kicking and punching. The dogs began skittering about and howling from all the commotion. Max rolled on top of Snake and head butted him twice in quick succession. He opened his mouth to take a bite out of the one eyed man. As Max’s jaws opened wide Snake shoved a piece of brick debris in the cop’s mouth.
“Try that kiss on someone else.” Snake thrust his knee into Max’s groin and jabbed his elbow across Max’s face. Max rolled off of Snake and the two of them rose to their feet.

Snake pulled his gun and aimed at the man across from him. Max likewise trained his shotgun on his opponent. Snake only had a few shots left in his pistols, shots he was saving for Nemesis. Snake took a deep breath, “Who are you?”

“Nobody,” said Max.

“They call you the Road Warrior. You look like a cop.”

“Used to be. I don’t know what I am anymore. What I do know is you’re between me and what I want.”

“Looks like me have something in common,” said Snake coolly. “I don’t give a fuck about your war. I’ve got a debt and I’m about to settle it.”

“That’s man’s life is mine. I promised a friend.”

“So what do you suggest we do about this?” said Snake in his gravelly voice.

Max had no shells in his shotgun. There was nothing he could do from this position. All he could do was risk it all on a single gambit. Slowly Max lowered his shotgun.

The corner of Snake’s mouth curled into a grin, “Good boy. It wouldn’t have worked out for you.”

“Well, was that anti-climactic or what?” came Nemesis’s voice. He and Johnny stepped out from behind the overturned jeep, guns blazing. Max and Snake both dove behind a pile of rubble. Bullets bounced all around them, striking a few of the feral dogs roaming around. Max grabbed one of the dogs and pulled him behind the rubble too.

“Forget the damn dog,” growled Snake. “You’re out of shells, right?”
Max nodded.
Snake rolled his eyes, “Thought so. Here, take these.” Snake reached into his pocket and revealed a pair of shotgun shells. Max grabbed the ammunition and loaded his weapon. “All right, once these idiots have emptied their clips that’s when we make our move.”

The shooting stopped and the dog ran off. “Whatsamatter, Snake, too scared to face me?” Nemesis taunted, “Or are expecting me to waste my bullets on some stupid rocks?” Nemesis pulled a homemade explosive from his pocket and handed it to Johnny.

Johnny lit the wick, “Rockatansky! This is for Toecutter, Nightrider, Bubba Zanetti, and the rest of the Acolytes you’ve hunted down these last four years. And for the missing piece of my leg.”

Snake peeked his head up over the rubble just as Johnny tossed the bomb their way. Snake dove out of the way as the bomb exploded. The blast took out the floor, Max and the pile of rubble free-falling down to a sub-level of the warehouse. Max’s sleeve caught a piece of rebar sticking out from the concrete. He dangled like a worm on a hook at the mouth of the hole.

Nemesis and Johnny approached the newly formed hole. Snake laid unconscious on the floor nearby. A cruel smile came to Johnny’s face once he saw Max. Nemesis edged cautiously toward Snake, gun at the ready.
Johnny squatted on his haunches at the edge of the hole looking down over Max. “You know, it was Toecutter who forced me to burn your friend, Goose. I wanted no part of it. After you forced me to saw my own leg off, I’m glad I lit up your partner. And I’m glad Toecutter and Bubba killed that bitch of yours and your pup. But not half as glad as I am to do this.” Johnny aimed his gun at Max’s head. As Johnny squeezed the trigger the dog that Max had saved dove for them, sinking his fangs into Johnny’s hand. Johnny tossed the dog away and aimed again. Max’s sleeve ripped clean off above the elbow, Max himself dropping down to the room below. As he fell he pulled out his shotgun and fired. The blast tagged Johnny in the shoulder, knocking him back.

Nemesis averted his gaze for a moment when the dog ran in and attacked. His attention was elsewhere. At the sound of the shotgun blast Snake surged to life, driving his Bowie knife deep into Nemesis’s gut. Snake dragged the blade down his abdomen from sternum to groin. Nemesis fell down clutching his belly. Snake knelt beside him, gripped the gasmask and ripped it off, skin and chunks of flesh coming with it.
“I thought about not killing you at one point today, Eugene. But then someone died today. Someone I kinda liked. Another good person died for you. The more things change, the more they stay the same, eh Eugene?”

“Fuck you, Snake,” said Nemesis with a mouthful of blood.

“The name’s Plissken.” Snake walked over to Johnny who was writhing in pain and reaching for his gun. Snake kicked the pistol away, “How about you and me wait here a while till your friend pulls himself out of that mess.”

A half hour had passed when Max limped his way up the stairs and over to Snake and Johnny. They were seated next to one of the overturned jeeps. “I’ll leave you lovebirds to it,” said Snake walking out of the building.

Max hobbled over to Johnny and grabbed a pair of handcuffs from his pocket. He took Johnny by the good leg and placed a cuff around his ankle and the other on the axle of the jeep. “No! What are you doing?! No, man! No!”

“Let’s try this again,” said Max in gruff voice. “That’s high tensile steel. You may be able to cut through it with this, but I doubt it.” He dropped a jagged shard of metal at Johnny’s feet. “Will it cut through your leg? Better chance than it cutting through steel. You have until I walk back to my car.” Max turned and limped slowly towards the hole in the wall where the jeeps crashed through. Johnny screamed and cursed Max as the former Main Force patrolman staggered towards the exit.

Johnny grabbed the edged piece of metal, preparing to throw it at Max. The dog from before ran in again, biting Johnny’s hand, and ripping the weapon from his grip. Johnny struck the dog and it ran off to Max’s side. Max looked down at the animal beside him. The dog was different than the other ferals running around. He had a red bandana tied around his neck, most likely from his former owner.

Max and the dog climbed outside to where Snake and the Interceptor were waiting. He turned back seeing Johnny still cuffed to the jeep and screaming. Max aimed his last shot and fired. The shotgun blast struck the oxygen tanks on the back of the jeep. Johnny became a cloud of red mist. The explosion destabilized the building struts and the entire structure came down.

After several minutes and a strong wind that helped blow away the dust, Max and Snake stood face to face. “You gonna kill me now?” asked Max.

Snake rolled over the idea in his head, then with a sigh he said, “I’m too tired.” He pulled a cigarette from his pocket and lit it up, “What about you?”

Max looked out over the desolate wasteland and then at the dog by his side, “I finished what I started a long time ago. There’s nothing left for me here. Maybe I’ll head west.”

“I hear that’s not a nice place.”

“Tell me one place that isn’t,” said Max. “Where are you headed?”

Snake stepped away from the car and started walking, “I’m not headed anywhere. All I’m looking to is escape.”

“Hey,” called Max. “Who are you?”

Snake took a drag from his cigarette and threw it on the ground, “Call me Snake,” he said and walked off.

Max and the dog climbed into the Interceptor and headed west as the sun set.

ESCAPE FROM THE WORLD

MAD MAX: ROAD OF VENGEANCE

MAD MAX VS SNAKE PLISSKEN