Fuel And Fangs

The team crouches behind a grime-coated van just outside Helrix’s base, pressed tight against its rusted frame.
          “Alright, here’s the plan,” Thorn whispers, his voice sharp but low. “Dosei, Cinder, I need you to draw the androids’ attention five minutes after we enter. Halo, Benji, Yumi, and I will each grab a vehicle. Rubble, you and Norio unhook the Ion Pulse Cannon from its supports and load it into the back of a truck. We have to do all of this as fast as possible.” 
           “Got it,” Norio replies, spear already balanced against his shoulder. 
          Cinder scowls. “Shouldn’t I be doing something more useful?” 
          “You’ll do as you’re told,” Thorn cuts in, tone like steel. His gaze sweeps across them. “They’ll expect us to run straight back to Ossamaris. I won’t risk another repeat of the last raid. Not this time.” 
          Dosei shifts nervously, adjusting his glasses. “Wait… we’re not going back to Ossamaris?” 
          “No,” Thorn says firmly. “Not yet. We’ll head in the opposite direction, toward the other settlement. They won’t anticipate that. We return to Ossamaris only once it’s safe to do so. Is that clear?” 
          “Yes, sir,” the team answers, voices overlapping in a hushed chorus. 
          In the hollow of the abandoned lab, the reinforced metal doors finally give way. Hinges scream, steel twisting, until they burst open with a deafening crack. 
          From the dark chamber, something crawls out. 
          The team slips through the shadows to the side of Helrix’s base. Rubble crouches at a steel panel, fingers moving across the keypad. A hiss of hydraulics, and the door slides open. 
          Inside, the corridors glow faintly with neon lights. They move in silence, timing their steps for the moments when patrolling androids turn away. 
          At the split, Rubble nods at Norio. The two peel off toward the weapon chamber while Thorn signals the rest forward. He leads them into a cavernous garage lined with vehicles scavenged from every corner of the wasteland. For a moment his gaze lingers on a motorcycle, temptation written in his eyes, then he presses on. 
          “Trucks first,” he mutters. 
          Engines cough and grind as hot wires spark. The alarms shriek instantly, echoing down the metal halls. Doors slam open. Androids pour in. 
          Halo fumbles under the wheel, wires sparking between her hands. A shadow falls across the glass, an android, closing in fast. At the last second the engine roars to life. Halo slams her foot down. The SUV lurches forward, crunching metal and as the android disappears under the wheels. 
          “Move!” Thorn barks at the team. 
          Engines snarl. Tires squeal. The vehicles tear out the side of the building, looping back toward the rendezvous point. 
          Norio and Rubble stagger into the open, barely hauling the Ion Pulse Cannon above the ground. It groans and screeches as it occasionally scrapes across the ground, too heavy to carry comfortably. 
           “Get it in the truck!” Thorn yells, already throwing his door open. He and Benji rush forward, muscles straining as the four of them heave the weapon upward. With a final, ear-splitting shriek of metal, it slides over the tailgate. The truck’s suspension sinks low under the weight. 
          Dosei and Cinder sprint into view. 
          “So much for a distraction!” Benji pants. 
          “It didn’t work!” Cinder snaps. 
          The building erupts as androids storm out in waves, weapons blazing. 
          “Go, go!” Thorn shouts, vaulting back into the truck. 
          Rubble dives into Halo’s SUV. She scoots across the seat, hands clutching the dash as glass explodes across her lap. Windshields shatter, bullets rattling off steel. 
          Rubble grips the wheel and slams through the crowd, tires squealing, androids breaking under their bumpers as the convoy roars back on to the road. 
          The androids rush to block the road west, but the convoy doesn’t turn that way. Instead, they veer east, tires shrieking across the fractured pavement. 
          In the cab of the lead truck, Thorn exhales loudly. Benji rides shotgun, Yumi squeezed between them, her knees tight against the dashboard. 
          “What’s wrong?” Benji asks. 
          Thorn points a finger at the dashboard. The fuel gauge glows red, the needle buried against E. He smacks the steering wheel in frustration. 
          The convoy rattles down the crumbling street until gas station comes into view, its sign half-collapsed and dangling. 
          They pull into the cracked lot. 
          “Dosei,” Thorn orders, already climbing down from the cab. “Cut those fuel hoses.” 
          “Yes, sir.” Dosei hurries off with his knife. 
          “Rubble,” Thorn calls. “Help me get this underground storage tank open.” 
          Together, they pry open the heavy steel cap, the metal groaning before it gives. The stench of gasoline rises. 
          While Thorn and Rubble siphon fuel, Norio stands guard near the cannon, and Cinder rifles through the station’s broken shelves for anything worth taking. 
          A flock of birds overhead breaks the uneasy quiet, their wings beating frantically as if fleeing. 
          From behind a crumbling building comes a low, guttural sound. 
          Thorn’s attention snaps to it. “The androids must have caught up with us. Time to move!” 
          But when the shapes emerge, they are not androids. 
          A pack of Skelloid hounds lurches into view, every bone visible through the thick, red slime coating their bodies. 
          “Skelloid dogs?!” Benji blurts, fumbling for his weapon. 
          Rubble’s face hardens. “I think that’s what was behind those doors at the lab,” he tells Halo. 
          Engines roar to life. Tires squeal against the pavement as the convoy tears out of the lot. 
          One of the hounds launches forward, slamming onto the hood of Halo’s SUV. Its claws scrape gouges across the metal, jaws gnashing through the gap where glass used to be. 
          Halo braces against the seat, then kicks hard, slamming her boot into its skull. The beast howls, its voice a warped echo of a dog’s cry, before sliding off the hood and crashing to the ground. The pack surges after them, their howls rising like a chorus of nightmares. 
          Thorn’s truck slams into one of the hounds, flinging the creature off the bumper. It rolls under Cinder’s tires, causing her wheels to lose traction. The truck skids sideways, she over corrects and crashes headlong into the guardrail. The hood crumples, smoke billowing up in thick black plumes. 
          The convoy jerks to a halt. 
          The hounds are on them in a heartbeat, claws raking at the doors, teeth gnashing into the windows. They use spears to stab them through the broken windshields. 
          Norio kicks his door open and dodges the snapping jaws around him. His spear flashes as he slashes a path toward the wreck. The airbags inside have deployed; Cinder and Dosei groan, struggling against the straps. 
          “Come on!” Norio shouts, dragging them out one by one. 
        A stop sign lies twisted in the road where Cinder’s truck clipped it. Norio snatches it up, swinging it like an axe at the hounds. The metal cleaves through slime and bone. 
          The three of them stagger back toward the SUV, but now the entire pack has turned its attention on them. 
          Rubble climbs out through the broken windshield, spear in hand. 
          Halo stares, horrified. “Where are you going?!” 
          “Take the wheel, get us closer to them!” Rubble says, clinging to the hood as the SUV moves forward. 
          Halo grits her teeth and drives toward the fleeing trio. Behind her, Rubble braces himself against the hood, spear raised. He hurls it like a javelin, skewering an oncoming hound mid-leap. The body crumples, and as the SUV roars past, Rubble leans low, ripping the weapon free before the pack can close in again. 
          Norio hauls Cinder and Dosei back into his SUV, slamming the door as the engine sputters to life. Their tires spin against the asphalt, then catch, propelling them forward once more. 
          The convoy tears past a collapsed toll booth, swerving hard to avoid heaps of broken concrete and shards of glass. 
          A Skelloid hound clings to the roof on Rubble’s SUV. Its acidic saliva splatters, sizzling as it eats away at the metal above Rubble’s head. 
          Halo rolls down the side window, spear in hand. She leans out, stabbing upward, but can’t reach it. The metal roof begins to bubble and warp, hot droplets spitting down onto Rubble’s shoulder. 
          “Halo, hurry!” he shouts, voice taut with urgency.
          She braces her knee on the window frame, lifting herself higher. The hound snaps at her spear with its jagged teeth. Halo pulls back, steadies, then lunges forward again, driving the point straight into its skull. 
          The beast tumbles, spear still lodged in its head. The force nearly drags Halo out with it. She clings to the pole, body halfway through the window. 
          Rubble lets go of the wheel with one hand and grabs her leg with the other, hauling her back inside. 
          She collapses against the seat, breathless but clutching her weapon tight.
          “The spear isn’t worth it, Halo!” Rubble snaps. “If it gets stuck, drop it!” 
          Her green eyes shine stubbornly. “But I like this one. I put a sticker on it and everything.” 
          Rubble stares at her, exasperated, then sighs and shakes his head. 
          The convoy speeds into the distance. On the road behind them, the last hound slows, watching as they vanish into the distance.