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Pneumatic pops broke the air as nails were flung from The Dragon’s turret. They embedded into the side of the steamer that was making a move on them, and the vehicle slowed down to retreat from The Dragon. It seemed that a show of fangs was enough to discourage many such opportunists, as had occurred several times on the highway west of Depot. The sporadic attacks just meant it was a return to the norm for Algernon and his crew.

As long as it was just independent gangs harrying them Algernon was fine with that. What worried him were the more concerted efforts. After the first couple days out from Depot there was much less of a concern over the townsfolk going after their bounty, but the looming threat of Seb’s scavs was constantly on his mind.

Besides Senta who was always overthinking, it didn’t seem like the rest of the crew held the same fears. Sascha was more often taking lookout duty and constantly distracting himself with talking. Teddy had restocked his stash of rocks and was once again chucking them at passing signs. Harper had returned to rappelling off the side of The Dragon while it roared down The Devil’s Road.

To his chagrin, one time that the skunk swung up to the viewport she invited him to come join her. She appeared serious, which meant it was the kindest offer she had given him, but he declined. He still hadn’t forgotten when Harper had him dangling from the side of the steamer as a joke, and his trauma from that was more than enough to not want to do the same thing willingly.

Instead Algernon took to keeping an eye on the water levels. The Devil’s Road passed through plains that persisted throughout their first full day of travel outside of Depot, but as time progressed the hardy foliage that dotted the landscape became even more sparse. Whatever slight hills that existed flattened out even more until the ground became a single endless surface. Grasslands gave way to desert, and the arid land offered much less lakes and rivers they could refill the tender at. The only reliable sources had become the pumps constructed by previous travelers, and those were starting to become fewer and fewer to come by.

Not knowing when the next pump would show up and not wanting to put their luck to the test, The Dragon pulled to a stop at the pump that stood outside a lone precursor building. The ruin was the only standing structure visible in all directions. To Algernon it looked like some sort of fueling station, perhaps for the myriad wrecks of precursor vehicles that lay slain along the route. Wind and sand had blasted the exterior until it was almost completely faded out. Still, he could just make out the words “Noah Generation” that someone in the past had defaced the brick wall with.

Teddy hopped down and unspooled the siphon to fill the tender. Algernon watched the proceedings from the wheelhouse, and was surprised to see Harper and Peach wandering towards the building. “Wh-where are you going?” he called out.

The skunk turned her head up to him. “We’re going to look for shinies!”

Behind him Senta sighed, tapping her fingers on the wheel. “Al, we should go with them.”

“Why? Peach can protect Harper just fine. I-I think it would be harder for her to protect us if we also went down,” he said.

The rat gave him a withering look. “What, you think there’s an army hiding in there or something? No, the problem is those two are as dumb as rocks, and whatever they find needs to be vetted before it’s brought on board. I don’t want them to bring in a hundred flashlights again.”

Algernon didn’t think that was as dire of an issue as Senta made it out to be, regardless he shrugged in agreement. If nothing else then to let the sunshine warm his fur.

“Sascha, keep watch,” she instructed the other rat.

“Aye aye.” Sascha enthusiastically saluted as the two made their way down from the bridge.

When they stepped outside they were immediately assaulted by eddies of dust that swirled across the pavement. He pulled his collar up over his muzzle. While it stopped him from inhaling the grit, it still stung his eyes as it blew past. Once they reached the doorway to the station the walls protected them from the worst of it. Algernon shook the dust from his outfit, and Senta similarly brushed it out of her fur.

“Ugh, this part of the land is already dreadful.” She plucked her spectacles off and swiped more particles off her snout.

The noon sun shone through the window frames into the devastated interior. There were shelves in various stages of collapse, the state of the room much worse off than the store they found at Meramec. Judging by how bare the shelves were it was clear the building had been picked over by several crews already.

Senta huffed. “Well, this was a waste of time.”

“We haven’t checked the secret stashes yet!” Harper said. She was down one of the aisles, unconcerned with the sand that coated her. Going over to one of the shelves, the skunk grasped the metal panel going from the bottom shelf to the floor. She yanked but it stayed affixed to the shelf.

Peach went over to help. The panel was pried loose under her massive paws, revealing an opening behind it.

Harper went down on her belly and crawled underneath until only her backside was sticking out. “I got something, pull me out!” she called. The badger dragged her out by her fluffy tail. Harper raised the packet above her head in triumph. “Treasure!”

Both Algernon and Senta examined the package. The label advertised it as some sort of cracker snack. He wasn’t sure what that meant, but it sounded edible.

“Alright, so not an entirely worthless endeavor," Senta said. “Might as well search the other ones.”

The other three went to different shelves to remove their bottom panels, so Algernon sought out his own unit to plunder. With all the ones in the current aisle occupied, he decided to go to the next one over. When he turned the corner the sight there gave him pause. The skeletons of two precursors lay next to each other down the length of the floor, as though they had perished in each other’s embrace. He skirted by the two massive bodies with care.

Pulling with all of his might he was able to pull a panel loose in that aisle. He poked his nose into the darkness and waited for his night vision to adjust. There were various odds and ends stowed in the space, but a small plastic bottle with a familiar logo caught his attention. He pulled it out with his tail and carried his find off to the others.

Even before he returned to the adjacent aisle he heard the opening of a tin can, immediately followed by the sounds of squabbling. Algernon hurried to make sure no one was going to kill each other. When he arrived it appeared that the situation was being handled.

Peach was standing over an opened can of fruit, and held a slice in one paw which she was chewing on. With the other paw she held off Harper, whose face was squished against the badger’s palm. She pushed with her legs and grabbed out towards the can, but it was just out of reach.
“Come on!” she whined. “I want some too!”

Silence was Peach’s response. She took another bite and continued to hold the skunk at bay with little effort. Algernon wondered what was going on since Peach was never this greedy, so he quickly stole a glance at the can. It was labeled “Peaches,” which explained a lot.

He skirted around the two of them and approached Senta, who was at the opposite end of the aisle. The rat had found various scraps of paper and was squinting at them as if they contained hidden knowledge. She turned her head when Algernon placed the bottle proudly before her.

“The creators have provided aid!” he declared.

She looked the container up and down. “If you found this buried under a shelf, I highly doubt they left it there for you,” she remarked.

“But they left their mark for us to find.” He pointed to the Atom & Eve logo on the side of the bottle with its signature DNA helix.

“The humans left many such symbols behind. Like this one, many aren’t worth paying attention to.”

A frown overtook his features. “D-do you have something against the creators?”

She met him with her apathetic gaze. “It’s not worth following after superstitions.”

“The creators m-made us though! We’re standing within proof of what they’ve built!”

Senta ran a paw across her face. “Their existence isn’t what I’m talking about. Yes, we’re amidst their creations. The ruins of their creations. Humans are all dead, I don’t know what you expect them to do for you now.”

Algernon brought a finger to his lip. He couldn’t come up with an argument for why the creators were still around. If they had all perished then that significantly diminished their power, but not the holy mission they had given to the Clergy. Barring the exceptions like Depot, the land’s barbary was self-evident and needed to be purified. He doubted Senta would agree or care though, so he remained quiet.

“Anyways, that’s not important. What is this?” She stared hard at the label on the front of the bottle. “It appears to contain some sort of colored pebbles. We don’t need them, unless Teddy wants to use them as entertainment.”

He looked at her in confusion. The words “Pain Reliever” were clearly written across the front of the bottle. Senta had been Frieda’s sign-reader when he first joined the crew, so why was she misinterpreting it? She had dutifully guided them since their first mad sprint away from Seb’s.

Except that’s not what happened, Algernon now remembered. Senta had led them into the Meramec valley because of misreading the road signs. He recalled other instances: The post office in Uranus she couldn’t see even though the sign for it was right in front of her, and the map she picked up that she couldn’t figure out. It should have been obvious to him what the issue was, but Senta’s stubbornness had fooled him.

He glanced over his shoulder. Peach was now sitting on top of the skunk, who tried to push her off to no avail. He turned back to the rat, wringing his hands. “Senta,” he said in a low voice, “If you want, I-I could teach you to read.”

Senta instantly locked eyes with him. Several strong emotions brewed within their depths: Surprise, shame, fury. Algernon could see them simmering dangerously in her head and he worried she was going to blow a gasket like Frieda was known for. However, the storm in her gaze slowly abated, composing into the expression of bridled annoyance that she often wore.

“I’d rather drink poison,” she responded, her tone not betraying the conflict that he’d seen on her face.

An “Ah” escaped his mouth. Crippling awkwardness filling the space between them. The silence was painful as Senta gathered up the scraps of paper she had found. He felt it would be strange to either walk away or to keep talking, so his only option was to stand there and screw up his face in embarrassment.

It was a relief when Teddy came scrambling through the front door to the station. The raccoon came up to him and tugged on his sleeve. “Sascha wanted to tell you something!”

“Oh. What is it?” he asked.

Teddy scratched his noggin, his muzzle wrinkled as he racked his brain. “I forgot.”

Seizing the opportunity, Algernon told Senta, “L-let me go check what Sascha needs...”

The rat gave a “Hmmph,” not paying him any mind now. Taking that as a go-ahead, he ventured back out into the swirling dust with Teddy.

Once more Algernon pulled his lapel over his face to guard against the wind, while the raccoon simply held up his arm to keep it from his eyes. They walked slowly to make sure that they didn’t walk into anything that hid in the dust. The eddies whistled in his ears, drowning out all other sound and isolating them in a sand-speckled tempest. It was for that reason that he didn’t hear the voice call out at first.

“Hey!” he caught Sascha yell before the winds silenced him.

He looked up. Ahead of them The Dragon emerged out of the mire, and Sascha stood atop it above the blowing sands. The calico rat was gripping the pair of binoculars they owned and was visibly distressed.

“Is something wrong?” he called up.

“There’s a rig approaching at high speeds, and it is flying a black flag!” Sascha shouted in a panic.

Algernon immediately became alert. He didn’t know what a black flag meant, but he had a pretty good guess. Sprinting back to the station he didn’t pay the grit any heed as it stung his eyes. When he stumbled back inside short of breath, Senta raised her brow at him.

“W-we need to leave now! A hostile gang is approaching!” he hollered.

For a moment she froze and Peach and Harper ceased their fighting. Then Senta rushed past him without a word, and Peach pulled Harper to her feet, abandoning the can of fruit behind them. Algernon was quick to follow in their wake.

They ran back out through the swirling dust and to The Dragon as swiftly as their feet could carry them. Having already sprinted the distance once, Algernon started to wheeze as he ran out of breath. His steps slowed, but he was lifted off his feet as Peach carried him under her arm. The badger delivered him to the steamer much faster than he would have been able to.

The wind ceased as soon as he was bundled back into the rig. He was dropped to the ground when Peach used both her arms to heave the door shut, and after coughing a mouthful of sand onto the floor he ascended up to the roof.

Senta was shouting down to Siegbert to put The Dragon at full speed when Algernon passed the bridge, and the steamer began to roll into motion as he climbed the ladder to the top. He passed through the hatch and went over to the back of the roof where Sascha was gazing through one eyepiece of the binoculars. From up high they could see over the dust being blown around, and even without magnified vision the possum could clearly see the form of another rig approaching from the east.

Sascha silently offered the other half of the binoculars to him. The instrument was already trained on the vehicle and many details were brought into focus. Its wheels kicked up clouds of dust, indicating its rapid velocity. The black flag that was mentioned flapped aggressively atop the rig. Those facts alone were proof enough that they were in danger, but most damning of all were the hybrids which adorned the vehicle’s frame. A pack of coyotes clung to the sides of their vehicle like leeches, brandishing wicked blades and bloodthirsty leers. One sat astride the turret bolted to the roof and looked eager to unleash it on them.

Shuddering, he pulled back from the binoculars. He kept his gaze fixed on the scavengers. The wind blew through his fur as The Dragon reached its top speed, yet as he watched the approaching enemy it continued to grow bigger; Despite the upgrades they received at Depot, their steamer was still no match for the speed of more powerful machines on the road.

“Only a couple minutes until they overtake us!” Sascha shouted over the wind.

With dread Algernon realized that Sascha was right; an altercation was inevitable. He hurried back down the hatch to make sure the rest of the crew was prepared. At the bottom of the ladder Peach was already approaching with the revolver strapped to her back. Harper climbed the scaffolds with two shivs clenched between her teeth. Teddy wandered by with a stick of dynamite in his paws.

“Hey! T-Teddy!” Algernon halted the raccoon, who looked at him with inscrutable eyes. “Let’s n-not use that right now.”

Teddy’s ears flattened and his mouth turned into a pout. “No boom?”

“We don’t want to, uh, waste it,” he tried to reason. “Keep it for when you can create a… Bigger explosion!”

That seemed to placate the raccoon, whose face bounced back to its normal smile. “Okay!” he said and turned around to bring the dynamite back to wherever he was stashing it.

As he saw Teddy slip back into his quarters, Algernon began to hear small projectiles ping off the back of The Dragon. He rushed to the nearest porthole and stuck his head out. The other steamer was right on their tail, and their gunner was now firing at them. Shortly he heard the sharp puffs of air released by their own turret. Yips of pain followed as the projectiles found their mark.

The enemy rig shifted lanes, so that Algernon now had a clear view of it. Steam blasted from its vents as it picked up even more speed. Rapidly it caught up to The Dragon, such that the front of it was parallel to the back of their own vehicle.

All the while the two crews shot nails across the gap. He saw nails fly towards the coyote gunner, who ducked behind her turret to avoid them. The coyote popped up again and barked out a laugh at them. Her taunt was quickly cut off when a shiv embedded itself between her eyes, and she fell backward. Another coyote quickly took her place.

The enemy vehicle was now close enough that a few of the hybrids reached their arms out to try and grab a hold of The Dragon. Once they were able to latch on and board their rig, Algernon knew things would grow ugly.

The nearest coyote was a handsbreadth away from grabbing their vehicle when a gunshot split the air. A tire on the opposing rig popped, causing it to rapidly lose control until it fishtailed too far and tipped over.

When it hit the pavement the velocity they were going caused it to violently tumble. Hybrids were thrown off the vehicle and hit the road hard as it crumpled. Quickly the machine lost momentum and it ducked out of Algernon’s view.

He pulled his head back inside when he heard feet pound across the walkway. Teddy was approaching with an armful of rocks.

“The fight is over,” he told him.

The raccoon’s expression fell. “Already? Oh...” Teddy sullenly turned around to head to his room again.

Their vehicle shuddered underneath him as the brakes were pulled and steam pressure instantly released. Unsure what was happening, Algernon rushed to the bridge. He entered the wheelhouse just as Senta was pulling them over to the side of the highway.

“Wh-why are we stopping?” he questioned.

The albino rat wore a concerned frown. “That attack was too direct to be a coincidence. I don’t know if they could be... But we could check the wreckage for clues.”

Algernon’s eyes widened. He understood what she was getting at; Could their pursuers have finally caught up to them? “Alright. We must be hasty, though.”

The two of them left the bridge just as Peach and Harper jumped down from the roof. Teddy had also returned to the main hall, looking up at them from the first floor. “We’ll be searching the attacker’s vehicle for evidence of intent,” the possum informed them.

They all looked at him blankly. “Say again?” Harper said.

“Um... find anything that looks... valuable.”

Slowly the skunk’s countenance lit up. “Loot! Loot! Loot!” she called, pumping her fist in the air. Teddy took up the chant, the siblings hyping themselves up for mischief.

Senta rolled her eyes, and Peach walked over to their quarters to offload her revolver. Meanwhile, Sascha poked his head down the hatch. “What are we doing?”

“Sascha, keep a lookout for any more steamers while we pick through the current one,” Senta instructed him.

“Aye aye!” The calico rat disappeared back up to the roof.

Peach reappeared from her room with one of her blades. She went before them and opened the main door. Harper and Teddy bounded out to get first dibs on the treasure, while Algernon was content to linger behind the badger.

Fragments of metal littered the highway all the way up to where the wreck lay. The bodies of the coyotes were strewn amidst the carnage, lifeless. The main chassis of the steamer hardly looked like it had ever been a vehicle at all. It was now nothing more than a twisted ball of metal out of which a flame was beginning to burn, likely where the firebox was crushed.

Harper and Teddy stood at a distance from the collapsed vehicle. “That’s not fair!” the skunk protested. “We can’t loot when everything’s on fire!”

“No collecting boom sticks...” Teddy added despondently.

A groan drew all of their attention. One of the coyotes was still alive, their legs pinned under the steamer. They tried to pull themselves out, but scowled as pain wracked their body.

Peach was the first to go over to them. When her shadow fell on the coyote he looked up at her and snarled. Unphased, she crouched down and balanced her blade lazily over her leg in warning.

“You can’t escape us!” the coyote growled.

She gave him a dismissive “Hmmph,” but otherwise made no reaction.

Senta walked up as close as she dared, standing behind the badger’s shoulder. “Who sent you after us?” she demanded. “Seb?”

A dark chuckle emerged from the coyote. “The folks at Depot mentioned the peculiar crew that had just been through. We’re just the vanguard, the rest of the boss’s caravan is right behind us. You’re so screwed!” He continued to laugh at their predicament until a wince of pain caused him to cease.

Senta scowled at the hybrid. “You’ve failed in your mission, and so will those who come after you.” She looked over at Peach. “We’re done here.”

The badger got up and backed away from the coyote, who followed her movements with a twisted grimace. Algernon and the rest of his crew followed after her back towards The Dragon. He glanced back and noticed that the fire was beginning to spread.

“D-do you think we should pull him away from..?” Algernon said softly.

Senta’s whiskers twitched. “He made his bed, now he gets to sleep in it.”

He frowned, but didn’t offer any pushback. Based on what the coyote said, their time was up. With their threat looming closer than ever it was unlikely his crewmates would want to spend the time rescuing someone who had been trying to kill them. Now was the time for flight.