Matt’s truck was a mash-up, but it worked. It was a hydraulic/diesel hybrid. He took the hydraulics from a front end loader and found a diesel engine in a vintage Mercedes. Waste heat from the hydraulics warmed the glow plugs of the diesel, which acted as a generator to add pressure to the hydraulic system. He even had a solar powered steam turbine, not permanently installed, to top up the hydraulic reserve via an external transmission linkage hidden under a locked armor panel. It took days to recharge by solar, but Matt bet he could make it across the country without any diesel if he had to, given enough food and water.

The steampunks valued the efficiency of their vehicles. Matt thought most of them fools. He valued flexibility. His truck was probably the most powerful vehicle in the country, this side of the apocalypse. Bullet-proof and small laser-proof. Non-pneumatic tires. Barbed wire and spikes. Plow, winch, tow tail. He wanted a trailer hitch.

Suddenly, Matt knew his truck’s name. “Dreadnought.”