"Have you guys at least got any snacks?" I asked. "I haven't eaten in... well, God knows how long."

"Why would we have snacks?" Ryan said, STILL holding that sodding gun to my head.

"You people don't have snacks in the car?"

"No?"

"I've... uhh..." Eyha looked around a bit, then searched through the glove compartment, "I've got... a box of TicTacs. No, wait, that's expired. Umm..."

"Unbelievable," I said.

"Sorry, I don't want Ryan to start snacking again."

"What?" Ryan finally dropped the gun, before pointing it back to my head. "Eyha, that was like three years ago."

"I still see those eyes whenever you see a packet of chips."

I sensed another argument was about to escalate. "How about the radio?"

The Arvan agreed and turned the notch. There wasn't a touch screen. Like the phone, it was extremely old fashioned. "There's mostly just Loreqi songs on here. Don't expect much."

“What are the Loreqi anyway?”

“How do you mean?”

“Like, are they related to Humans?”

“It’s pretty obvious,” Ryan said.

“They look a bit more… you know…”

“They just evolved differently,” Eyha remarked. “I mean live in a place like this for a few thousand years, your biology is bound to change a bit more.”

The radio came on, and a cheerful host started speaking. "Onfeh ikrenos sodaslieo, pye pye fozni Wonderwall."

Wait, what?

Then the sound of a soft guitar riff popped up. "Today is gonna be—"

"Nope!" Without hesitation, Eyha turned the notch, bringing the radio back into garbled static.

"I thought you said they only had Loreqi music on here."

"Yeah, well they sometimes dump Human music on there every once in a while."

"This song's like two centuries old!"

"Three," she corrected. "They don't want to hit anything copyrighted - not like that even matters out here - so they sprinkle in some old Human songs. Twentieth, twenty-first, second century. Anything foreign gets them listeners."

That... didn't sound too bad. Back home, it was just the same pop music over and over again on what was left of the radio industry, like nobody could think of anything original to put in their songs. So this might've been a breath of fresh air.

As we moved over a few more dunes, the jeep made its way onto a ruined motorway. Pot holes, cracks, battered cars, half-starved thugs. But that was all just a taster for what awaited ahead.

There was a poorly walled city after half a mile, far beyond its glory days. At a distance, old signs of battle didn't bother to hide themselves, from torn apartment complexes to shattered skyscrapers. With even smoke stemming high into the sky, almost interfering with the ships checking out of the city.

The car made it through the entrance, Eyha having to pay a small toll to one of the thugs. And my presumptions were right, the place really was a certified shithole. Markets had taken up within the fallen structures, having a much larger diversity of wares than back in Ta'Shiala. With brothels and bars about on every corner of the city. Soldiers, at least mimics, roamed the streets, looking for their next bar to get pissed in. It was like everyone was too lazy to clean up anything, the locals just decided to live with their situation instead of fixing it.

"This place is... interesting," I said. Why was I bothering to sugarcoat the obvious?

"Welcome to Ar'Siqia," the Arvan said.

"Is there any nice place on this world?"

"Nope," Ryan said.

I sighed, then asked, "What's the history behind this place anyway?"

"There was this civil war a long time ago, the whole city was a major warzone. This was between what was left of the old Loreqi government and a coalition of militia groups. Or another nation... I don't know, this was decades before I was born. After the government withdrew, this whole sector, I'm talking about the systems here, has all just been anarchy - the gangs dominate. This city is controlled by the Sor'Sohli, they rule the trade here as well as the surrounding systems. At least for now."

"For now?" Might as well have gotten the whole geopolitical outlook of this place.

"Do you have a group called the 'Allied Sovereign Systems' in your noggin?"

"Only heard about them."

"Right. They're not Loreqi, they're mainly Human. Basically becoming the dominant force out here."

"They're a bunch of jackasses," Ryan muttered, switching his gun to the other arm.

"So I've heard."

One of the locals, this youngish guy, tapped on my window, carrying a box of packets. Felt like I was in India again. "Humans, you want nuts?" He said from behind the glass. "Two packs, one credit."

"Get me one, actually. You can help yourself," Eyha said to me. "Ryan, get the cash out."

Rolling his eyes, Ryan passed me... something. It was this shiny piece of paper. Had a building and an emblem on the front with a bunch of alien writing underneath it. Physical currency.

I rolled the window down, paid, and he happily tossed us the packets. They were a bit chunky, I guessed they were like peanuts, just a bit tougher and much messier to crack. Meanwhile, Eyha was happily shoving the whole packet down her beak.

I had the first bite of what was possibly my last meal. The taste... it was like someone shat on a sherbet lemon.

The normal response here would've been to spit it out and throw the packet away somewhere, but instead my body reacted by shoving what may as well have been my own intestines up my throat.

I stuck my head out the window, and I coughed out a horrendous amount of fluids, probably twice the amount I released in the desert.

"Oh sorry, I forgot to say, this stuff is extremely toxic to Humans," Eyha mentioned casually.

At this rate, if there was one thing that was most likely going to kill me out here, it wouldn't be a mercenary, or the weather, but that oversized fucking pigeon.

"You might feel something weird in your tummy later too," Ryan said.

"What d'you mean?" I rasped out, dragging my head back into the jeep.

"The things you're eating, those are eggs. And if you don't have a strong stomach—"

"I've seen that movie, mate." I wiped my mouth. "You're not funny."

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"What movie?" My face sank. Then the little brat let out a smirk.

"My previous statement still stands."

The jeep further ventured into the city. The sights suddenly shifting more into a slightly developed area. Infrastructure was a bit more cared for, with the locals looking less depressed than their outer city counterparts. There were still bars, but no brothels. Still markets, but no slaves. There were still cars, but nothing looking like they were ripped off the set of the hundredth Mad Max reboot.

Advertisements began springing up here and there. Most were in some Loreqi languages, but there was the occasional Human language like English or Mandarin. A lot of them promoted local business or even recruitment into that Sovereign Systems lot. Something about 'a better life' being a common theme in them. It was obviously bullshit, the old guy back in the bar mentioned Loreqi slaves being popular over there.

Eyha stopped the car. There was traffic ahead, with distant bangs occurring every few seconds. She rolled the window down, getting the attention from one of the soldier mimics.

"Essa. Shonveiriku?" She asked in a Loreqi language.

"Warei o tchang. Onva esh," the mimic replied.

"Okay, iush." The mimic walked off, and Eyha looked back at us. "There's a gunfight up ahead."

"Of course there is," I said.

Eyha rolled the window up, and drove the car around. "I know a shortcut, it's fine."

She took another road, passing into some empty area, other than a few small rodents skittering about. After a bit of silence, the Arvan decided to dial the radio back on.

"Because maybeeeeeeeeeee, you're gonna be the one that saves m—"

"Oh come on!" Eyha dialled it to a different station, which began playing Beethoven. Or Mozart. I couldn't tell the difference, only people who ever enjoyed that noise were some banking snobs down in London.

"How popular's that song?" I asked.

"Can't find a radio station or a nightclub that's not playing this trash."

Who plays an Oasis song in a nightclub? Think about it. You go out with your friends to a place stacked with alcohol, flashing lights, holograms and university students. And all of a sudden, after the end of some generic dance song, you hear the long-dead voices of two arrogant Mancunians.

"It's not even that bad a song."

"No, but if you've listened to it as long as I have, you'll wish you were de— oh gosh!"

We hit a bump, I think. Probably got caught in the tires. Eyha pressed the brakes, and the car drifted to a halt. She got out the car, and a disappointed look appeared on her.

"Our tyre's blown," she said, before moving around to the other side. "Right, it's just the one."

"Aren't they armoured?" Ryan asked.

"My first thought." Eyha stared around for a bit. "Ryan, help me out with the spare—"

She never finished her sentence. Within seconds, her body collapsed onto the ground, with a great deal of blood oozing out of her head.

"Oh fuck!" I cursed.

Multiple more bangs ensued - bullets, clearly - hitting the side of the car. The windows resisted most of their force, so we were relatively safe.

The cracks on the glass distorted my view on the situation, but I was able to make out the number of figures outside. Some took cover in buildings, others were wide in the open. I guessed they were bounty hunters, maybe some road bandits or something, as if my day weren't already shit enough.

I looked at Ryan, who was barely processing the scene. His breathing was like he'd spent his whole life without a speck of air, and his eyes were basically just taped wide open. Watching someone close to you just... yeah, that was going to have a number on him for a long while.

There was only one quick way out of this, we were already in a vehicle, with the driver's seat depressingly vacant. The figures outside had begun to close in on us, so I climbed into Eyha's seat. Weird having the steering wheel on the left. Oh for God's sake, she had already taken the keys out.

I got out the car, keeping my head down. Her body was still on the other side, where all the bandits or whatnot were firing. Never had I thought I'd be looting two bodies in the same day, both most likely the result of me. I managed to pull her heavy body by her prosthetic talon, a few bullets luckily whizzing past me. Her blood smeared like paste over and into the cracks of the road to the point I almost added vomit again to the mix. Her keys fell out of her lifeless hands, I grabbed them, and scrambled back into the car.

The keys were jabbed into the ignition, and I twisted them. Our tyre might've been flat, but running wasn't exactly a viable option. I reversed, and drove off the opposite way we came. A wet, cracking noise sounded underneath as we went, but I chose to ignore it. A couple more bullets painted cracks into the rear windscreen, but eventually we were out of sight.

It was a nightmare to turn. Any wrong move would've caused us to skid off the road. Ryan had already started crying. Understandable, but after how he treated me, him acting anything other than a little shit just seemed... weird. Eventually, unlikeable noises came from the hood of the car, and the whole thing just stopped working. I pressed the accelerator a few times before giving up. Twats must've pierced the engine. I sighed, covering my face.

"Why?" I questioned, muffled behind my hands.

"This is my fault..." I heard Ryan mutter.

I took my hands off my face. "It's not your fault, mate."

"It is! Eyha's dead because I took you in!"

"You're not— I—" Usually, I was... okay with people's emotions. Often just saying the usual things like 'stay strong', 'there, there'. But considering the circumstances, doing anything was just awkward. I just shut my mouth, give him some space to grieve. Hopefully they had therapy back on his ship, right? There was only one thing we can do now, and that's to get out of this shithole of a city.

Could've head for the starport. As much as Ryan clearly hated my guts, I'd much rather be with his lot than stay here. Maybe he could've helped me out? I did sort of save his life, right? I searched around for Eyha's phone. Where the hell was it? It was back with her body wasn't it? Fuck me!

I laid back in the chair, shoving a few feathers off my shoulder. "How well do you know these roads?" I asked Ryan.

He wiped his tears. "What?"

"Our best option right now is the spaceport. Get you back to your folks. You don't know the way, do you?"

"Eyha... Eyha kept a map in the glove compartment."

Did this car not have a GPS or anything of the sort? Would've been much more convenient than a piece of paper. I opened it up, picked out a large, folded piece of paper. I had a look all over the map, having a hard time trying to figure out where we were. The writing wasn't in a Human language, instead a Loreqi language. Certainly explained why it was physical. Small doodles helped, but from in here, I was practically blind.

I got out the car, staring at all the buildings for a landmark or something that would tell me where we were. Soon, I heard Ryan open his door, guessing he decided to follow on.

For the first time, it seemed he didn't have his weapon on him. "Where's your gun gone?" I asked him.

"It's fake," he simply said to me.

"Say that again."

"It's a model. It— it's fake."

This whole time, I was threatened by a fucking Hasbro product?!

After a short while, we'd already found ourselves in a decently populated area. There was an improvised roundabout made from scrap and plastic, might've been marked on the map somewhere. The buildings seemed to align exactly the same, so I guessed I could figure out a way from here.

After sorting out a route, we went off. Would've probably taken an hour or so to get there on foot. If they had a taxi service here, we could've used that. I still had the credit card on me, if I could guess the pin.

Ryan and I barely spoke to each other the whole time. I asked him how he was doing every now and then, only thing he responded with was 'fine', to which I just gave up. I thought about who exactly the ones who attacked us were. If they were bounty hunters, then my whole situation was so much worse than I thought. That whole fiasco was organised, and if that was the tip of the iceberg, the rest of it didn't really seem too pleasant.

I decided to nick this plastic, hockey mask to cover my face. There was bound to be another hunter or such who'd recognise this atrocity of a beard. Ryan didn't need one, doubted anybody saw his face in the ambush back there, but he decided to take one too, his being something taken out of a budget horror movie.

The area we were in was a bit more stable than what I saw on the outskirts of the city. The soldier mimics actually looked somewhat approachable, hadn't seen any signs of struggle on people's faces, even the retail areas looked like something from a Human town. Wasn't as crowded either, so no need to worry about pickpockets or whatever nightmares went on in the outskirts.

A van suddenly parked not too far from us. And out came multiple men with similar clothing to our ambushers. Most were Loreqi, but I was sure there was a Human or two in their group. They already scattered around, showing a hologram of... yeah, they were with the ambushers.

"There's more here," I whispered to Ryan. "Try not to act suspicious."

He nodded behind his halloween mask.

We crossed a couple roads, and moved through an alleyway. I kept checking behind me, hoping we were getting further away from them. But it seems there were more than just the one van. Arriving in another open area, there were more of the ambushers' friends asking around. We hid in a narrow alleyway, and I got the map out, trying to find a different route. They seemed to be in all of the open areas, maybe we could—

"Sontchava yosin." One of the ambushers' mates, a Human, had already appeared by, luckily not recognising us. We just stared at him, not really knowing what to say. "Loreqi? No? English?" He said with a South African accent.

"No English," I blurted in a weird accent. "G- Gujo?"

"Oh for Christ's sake." He showed a hologram of my face, and gestured saying, "You see man?"

"Uhhh... no."

He already gave up on speaking like that, and pretended our half-arsed alibis understood him. "Are you sure? He's much scruffier than what this hologram shows, I don't know why we still use this."

"Ahhh... no."

He looked at Ryan. "What about you, you seen him?"

Ryan shook his head.

"Those masks aren't hindering your vision are they?"

"Masks? No. Sacred," I said.

"You're very clearly wearing Halloween masks."

Once again, we went back to the silent staring. And at the worst time, Ryan suddenly decided to run off. I told him to not act suspicious, we could've easily bluffed our way through that! A few awkward seconds passed by, and I already decided to quickly follow after him.

I'd already found Ryan ran straight into an open road. A jeep coming down fortunately hit the brakes, and stopped right in front of him.

The woman, this black lady, in the car shouted in English, "Are you mental?! Get of the road!" Ryan took off his mask. "Wait, Ryan?!"

Hold on a second, I knew that voice. "Holy shit, Mila?!"

The driver rolled down the window facing me, I ripped my mask off. "Nolan?! Oh God. Get inside!"

Loreqi and Human voices swiftly grew from behind. She unlocked the car, and we entered without hesitation. Mila pressed on the accelerator, and we safely drove off.