Links to the original post and the story so far (in order) can be found in the Tale of Two Pizza's Archive Post
Seeing Otto still fumbling to get the keys in the ignition Barry called out "Stop Otto, there's no point. Danny has already signaled for them to seal the gate." He circled around the front of the car warily towards the drivers side. Rachel dropped back out of Otto's view and slowly approached the passenger door, hunkered down low. Otto ignored them, finally managing to slide the key home and start the vehicle. Barry stopped directly in front of the car when he heard the engine start. Otto would have to drive through him to move. Behind it was the large truck Barry and Rachel had commandeered from the Preda's.
"Get out of the way Barry! I don't want to hurt you, I just want to leave." Otto revved the engine nervously. "I've never had anything against you or your family! I never intended for Charlie to get caught up in this- Danny has done so many terrible things- he deserves to die! MOVE!" Barry remained impassive. He could see Rachel inches away from the rear passenger door. Could see her reaching for the door. I have to keep him talking and distracted he thought.
"Then why did you only poison Charlie's pizza? Why didn't you poison them both? Danny trusted you, you've had hundreds of opportunities to kill him over the years Otto. You framed Charlie, plain and simple, give yourself up!" As he spoke he saw Rachel slowly open the passenger door. She pulled an unconscious figure from the car onto the ground with a thud and began dragging him away. Otto noticed.
"NOOOOOOOOO!" He screeched and slammed his foot down on the gas. The car jerked forward instantly with the passenger door still open. Barry dived and rolled sideways to avoid being crushed. When he looked up the car was already careening down the hill towards the closed gates. Rachel was nowhere to be seen! She must have jumped into the car as it drove off! Good luck sister! He thought as he hurried over to the prone figure groggily stirring where Rachel had dropped him.
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Rachel dumped the boy unceremoniously in the dirt and dove headfirst into the car just as it lurched forward. The doorframe slammed into her ribs and she was left dangling half in, half out of the car. She scrabbled for purchase on the blanket covered seats and managed to haul herself into the car. Otto hadn't noticed her yet- mere moments had passed. She slid down off the seats to the floorboards of the car as it picked up speed. The passenger door slammed shut as the car bumped and bounced through the narrow streets of the estate. She heard Otto begin to sob. She reached up onto the seat and pulled the blanket part way over herself. Now all she had to do was wait. Barry would know what had happened. He would convince Danny to let Otto escape with her in the car. They would trust her to do what she did best. She would find out who Otto was really working for. This time though, she would kill Otto for trying to frame Charlie before reporting back.
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The Pizza Bandits were ready. Hidden in the thick woods along the road outside the Pizza Baron's estate. The plan had been changed. Techno Tommy, Mozzarella Mike, and Pepperoni Pete had come to some sort of arrangement with a nameless "group of sponsors." That's what they had told the rest of the bandits at least. They had widened their scope.
It was a simple enough heist- block the road just out of sight of the estate and take ALL of the pizza. They would steal the delivery trucks and then rendezvous with the "sponsors." They wouldn't hold back this time- the "sponsorship" guaranteed them protection. They didn't need to hide in the shadows and avoid harming anyone.
Techno Tommy was watching the estate through a pair of binoculars. Something seemed to be happening up on the hill. A car was speeding downhill. It was supposed to be a motorcade of slow delivery vehicles. The road had already been blocked. There was nothing to be done but hope that speeding black sedan would take a different route once it left the gate and wait for the delivery trucks. He settled back deeper into the brush to watch and give the signal when the trucks approached.
The rules for this week remain the same as previous weeks!
I'd like to continue building on the story of the Pizza Baron and his post apocalyptic world. Each week I'll pick a winner that becomes the next piece of the story and wins 20 $PIZZA and a 5 SBI sponsorship from me. I may award additional prizes if I feel multiple entries expand the story well.
Each week I'll write a post announcing the winner and then I will write another chunk of the story and open it up again for the next weeks competition. I'll compile the winning entry for each week. If we reach a conclusion of the epic tale of the Pizza Baron I'll divide another TBD amount of PIZZA among all the winning entries throughout the whole story and publish the finished story here on Hive with all the contributors as beneficiaries. If this goes well we might have the first open source blockchain novella on our hands! 😂
The first weeks contest established a secondary storyline that may be tied back into the main plot if you so wish!
Bear in mind this is an experiment as well as a competition so we will see how many entries I get and how well it goes!
Rules:
Entries must be more than 200 words but less than 1000.
Entries must use the hivepizza tag
Entries must comment on this post with the link to their entry
Entries must fit in the world/scenario that has developed from the previous weeks contest(s). You are free to develop characters, introduce new ones, invite aliens to the feast, I don't care as long it makes some kind of sense in the context! The Pizza Baron should remain relevant to the plot!
(I've named it a Tale of TWO Pizza's for a reason HINT HINT)