Read Online [Janitors 04] Strike of the Sweepers by Tyler Whitesides - Free Book Online Page A

windshield wiper fluid right into the Sweeper’s face. The hybrid man reeled back, and Bernard engaged the wipers. The wiper arms flicked across the glass, throwing the Sweeper aside.
    “Much better,” Bernard said. “Now I can see where we’re going.”
    But Spencer wasn’t sure if it was better. They were driving on the wall! It was incredibly disorienting.
    “How do we get this thing back on the road?” Alan yelled.
    Bernard shook his head. “I’m not really sure. This is my first experience with wall driving.”
    “Wait a second,” Penny said. “You mean to say that you rolled this thing against the wall and you weren’t even sure it would work?”
    “I had my suspicions,” Bernard answered, “but it wasn’t exactly written in the operator’s manual.”
    “Never mind that!” Walter interrupted. “We’ve got to come off this wall and get out of here!”
    “What happens if you stop the truck?” Alan asked.
    “Besides letting the bad guys catch up?” Bernard said. “I don’t know.”
    “I think you should try it,” Walter said.
    Bernard spun the wheel, veering the truck downward until it was racing along the wall, just feet from the ground. Spencer again felt disoriented, and he had to remind himself that they were actually sideways.
    “Everybody hang onto something,” Bernard said. Spencer grabbed the dashboard. Daisy grabbed his arm. Then Bernard slammed on the brakes, and the garbage truck came to a squealing halt on the wall.
    The huge vehicle clung there for a moment. Then the wheels came off the wall and the truck dropped with a crunch to the ground. Instantly, gravity rushed through the cab, toppling everybody to one side, with Bernard at the bottom of the dog pile. He reached out and rubbed the steering wheel apologetically. “Sorry about that, Big Bertha.”
    Spencer was still trying to sort up from down when Penny rolled down the passenger window and climbed out. She unclipped a toilet plunger from her belt and clamped the rubber suction cup onto the front of the garbage truck, lifting the vehicle effortlessly.
    The Rebels were tossed around inside the cab before Big Bertha was upright again, this time with her wheels on the parking lot asphalt where they belonged. Bernard revved the engine.
    “Is it broken?” Daisy asked.
    “Of course not,” answered the garbologist. “Big Bertha’s magically enhanced. She can drive out of a head-on collision without a scratch.”
    Penny leapt back into the cab just as the first Sweeper reached them. It was a Filth man, his teeth jagged and his back bristling with deadly quills. He hunched over, quivering for just a moment before blasting his arrowlike projectiles at the Rebels.
    Most of the quills pinged harmlessly off Big Bertha’s shell as Bernard peeled across the parking lot. But one of the quills shot through the open window and buried itself in the seat between Walter and Daisy.
    “Let’s roll that up,” Penny said, quickly making sure the window was tight again.
    “We’ve got to find Dez!” Spencer said, squinting through the windshield.
    The big kid was sitting slouched in the middle of the parking lot with a Sweeper woman standing over him.
    “What’s he doing?” Alan asked.
    Spencer shook his head. It wasn’t like Dez to sit patiently as a prisoner. Unless . . .
    “It’s that Rubbish Sweeper,” Spencer said. “Her breath is affecting him.”
    Dez looked as apathetic as could be. As the headlights flashed across his face, Spencer saw an expression of utter boredom, as though he didn’t care that the Sweepers had captured him.
    Bernard honked the truck horn, but even the obnoxious noise couldn’t rattle the kid from his deep laziness.
    “Come on, Dez!” Penny shouted. Still no response.
    Spencer glanced in the rearview mirror. Mr. Clean was circling around behind them, rallying the other Sweepers into a deadly charge. There wasn’t enough time to get out and shake Dez to his senses.
    “Remember that joystick in