Rumor of a rumor

As the two walked onward, Haylee suddenly froze and turned off the light.

"Haylee?"

"Shh, something's coming!"

"Where do we hide!?"

Haylee froze and frantically looked around. They were out in the open, so there was no place to hide.

"Fight or flight?"

"Flight!"

Vrrm!

A large cybertruck speeding over the dune drew the girls gazes as it landed a few feet in front of them.

The window rolled down to reveal a hooded and masked girl, with a gun in hand. "The hell you two doing here?" she snarled.

Nicki frantically began calculating in her mind. "Is she an enforcer? Her eyes look more human though. A fanatic? An escapee? Who is-"

"We're looking for the archangel," Haylee declared.

The girl's gaze narrowed as she gripped her gun tighter. "Why?"

A howling wind began blowing, kicking up sand and causing Nicki to instinctively cover her head with her hands. Haylee, however stood firm, undeterred.

"We heard the archangel can free humanity from the Leeanna. We wanna find her for that reason."

The wind began to subside as the girl slowly raised her rifle and ordered Haylee and Nicki to get in the back.

"We can walk just fine," Nicki protested.

"Nah, there's patrols out. I'll take you somewhere far."

Nicki begrudgingly agreed and got in the back with Haylee. Ironically, the mysterious girl was actually more on edge than Nicki and Haylee, a sign that the three had yet to trust each other.

"You're looking for an archangel, you say?" the girl asked.

"Correct. Haylee here heard some dumb rumor and thinks there's some savior out there that can liberate this world," Nicki stated.

"Well that's dumb as shit. At best, you escape and live your days in a nomad camp, hoping your ass won't get caught and brutally executed... Vanilla."

"'Vanilla'?"

"Vanilla Mint, call me that. Now your name?"

"N- Nicki."

"Nicki and Haylee. Got it."

Silence ensured as Vanilla drove through the night. Haylee and Nicki both huddled in the back, but kept their guard up.

"So Nicki, ya hear the full archangel story?" Haylee whispered.

Nicki shook her head, prompting Haylee to give a run-down of the legend. Both however were unaware that Vanilla had great hearing, so much so that she could hear them clearly even as they whispered amongst the howling wind.

"Archangel... So they're deciding to make it public? Or did word just leak?" she thought.

Haylee, meanwhile, told the tale she'd heard. "So I overheard a guard saying this-"

"Haylee! It's from a guard!?" Nicki gasped, struggling to keep her voice to a whisper.

"Uh, yeah?"

"It could be false info being deliberately spread!"

"No way, besides you didn't even let me start!"

Nicki sighed and decided to humor Haylee.

"Ahem, so the guard was saying, he hates how lax things are at our colony due to the rumors he's heard about the archangel lurking nearby."

"Great, a rumor of a rumor."

"Yeah, that means it's spread far and wide. Gotta be true. Anyway, he said the archangel is said to lurk in some place called Coyoter."

"What on earth is that?"

"No clue, but they said it's nearby the colony."

"So you have no clue where this "Coyoter" is?"

"Nope, but we'll find it together and save the world."

Nicki facepalmed. She knew Haylee was an idiot, but this time, she'd really gone above and beyond on the stupid. "I should have asked about this before we left. Ugh, this is just great. We're likely walking into a trap."

"Hey, this archangel... Any idea what she looks like?" Vanilla asked.

"Oh thanks for reminding me," Haylee smiled.

"Hold on, there's more?" Nicki groaned.

"Yup, they say the archangel's a beautiful woman. Cold blue eyes and icy blue lips are her standout features, according to the rumor the guard heard, who I overheard."

Vanilla's eyes narrowed, but she began to relax. "Never heard of anyone like that. But Coyoter, heard of that. It's an old abandoned haunt."

"Great! Take us-"

"That's crawling with sentries."

Haylee pouted and flashed the portable laser pickax she swiped.

"Fine, I'll take you there. Just don't expect me to stick around."

Nicki went silent as Haylee happily smiled. She was only growing more weary of Vanilla by the second. She hadn't gotten a great look at her, so she couldn't be sure if she was human, but her dark purple eyes at least suggested she wasn't the archangel.

The three drove onward until reaching what appeared to be the ruins of a city. Following the Leeanna's conquest of earth, all human cities were raised to the ground, leaving behind nothing but ruins. Some structures were left intact, but they were left unmaintained, due to all the surviving humans being forced to live in the colonies.

The three eventually reached a large stone building marked with large neon letters spelling, "Coyoter".

Vanilla parked the truck and got out, allowing Nicki to see more of her features. She wore knee-high leather heeled boots along with a brown dress and hooded jacket, the latter of which appearing to cover a masked face inked with what appeared to be a neon green tattoo, or perhaps a scar stemming from her cheek.

The marking quickly put Nicki on guard as if it was a scar, it could mean she was an alien. Vanilla took notice, and claimed the mark was simply a tattoo, which naturally didn't ease Nicki's suspicions.

"Then mind pulling down your mask so I can see? I'm actually thinking about getting a tattoo myself," Nicki smiled.

It was a lie of course as Nicki was scared to death of needles, but Haylee sure as hell believed the claim, gasping at the revelation that Nicki was willing to get a tattoo. Vanilla however, refused to pull down her mask.

"So why can't you show me?" Nicki asked.

Vanilla paused, thinking long and hard of a good excuse to give. "...I got f*cked up, so I gotta wear it like this. That, or no one will understand me..."

Nicki's eyes narrowed skeptically once more, but Haylee naturally believed every word of it. "Just how gullible is that girl?" Nicki groaned in her mind.