The big rig hauling Jed, Mule, and a whole lotta jungle juice continued advancing. By this point they were deep into the mushroom forest. The red caps mixed with toadstools towered over blocking out most of the suns. The road was tricky to navigate on account of the thick white mycelium growing across everything like a soft blanket. This moist mush sucked in the moving tires threatening to eat them.

Mule was back in the driver's seat as the road gradually became cleaner. It was smooth sailing with the compost giving way to nothing but some kind of wispy dark mold barely covering the road. However the fog rolling in had the visibility reduced to seeing nothing.

“Let's put back on our respirators here Mule who knows what kind of toxins are in this air,” said Jed.

“You got that right, better safe than sorry my man,” said Mule, putting on his own specially fit gas mask for donkeys.

Outside the view was nothing but the dirty rotten mold spores floating into the windshield before the wipers cleared room for more. All from a giant mushroom dying prematurely deflated, blackened, and its stem snapped. A giant gray sack growing a massive payload of spores had revealed itself blocking the path ahead.

“Once upon a time it grew from the ground but now it has died a stink bomb waiting to be set off if we are unfortunate to trigger,” said Mule.

“Well what do we do now?” asked Jed.

“Hey, let's put on our hazmat suits, and venture out there for a little stroll. We will scout a path around, or blow our way through with a fiery explosion as a last resort,” said Mule, climbing to the back of the cab.

“Well I suppose I have my crystal cutter here should we need it again too,” said Jed.

“For now just worry about keeping a hand on your gun. I think we want to set things off from a far distance,” said Mule, suiting up.

“Gulp, gee I could really use a day or two vacation from danger,” said Jed, working his boots into the first leg of his suit.

“We signed up for a dangerous job and will be paid handsomely no more complaining fool,” cried Mule.

Both doors of the big rig cab opened letting both adventures drop boots on the ground. They were fully suited for the spooky environment. Jed high fived Mule’s protected hoof with his thick padded scientific gloves.

“Nice outfits you picked out for us,” said Jed.

“It’s almost like I can fetch things out of thin air or from other dimensions that might come in handy,” said Mule, wearing a hazmat suit specifically tailored for donkeys.

“Speaking of that, how's the special X-ray vision doing a recovering bud?” asked Jed.

“That part of my identity I have lost forever like most soldiers lose their hearing after many battles. I would say it was taken away sometime during my stay after the Queen sucked me into the core of the planet,” said Mule.

“Yeah I guess that makes sense,” said Jed, scratching at the strap around his earlobes that was outside the constant ringing. “I wasn't a fan of the core during my limited time spent in that crazy dungeon, and I had your fool of a previous master as a tour guide of sorts that was supposed to be helping,” said Jed.

“I forgot to tell you, I stumbled across that very friend who had become lost down there. He had already died,” said Mule.

Jed looked around trying to make heads or tales of a path forwards. He already had to dust himself off from the cling spores that attached themselves all over. He whipped his clear respirator mask with a cloth, and it was almost immediately fogged again.

“I’m sorry about your previous master. I lost mine somewhere in the jungle too. Well he is probably in jail and set to be hanged, but there's always a chance I like to think he is adventuring on his own quest.. Sigh well with that sentimentality shared lets get on with things,” said Jed.

“Going forwards in life I suppose that makes us more equals,” said Mule.

“Yeah, our lives ain’t worth all too much yet either. So maybe after we get this cargo delivered, and become rich we won’t be equalized together anymore in survival mode,”.

“That makes sense, hold up,” said Mule, grabbing him with his mouth.

The pair had arrived at the rear of the vehicle's liquid container they were hauling.

“You know that no matter how hard I try to tell myself otherwise I just want to get paid and relax. Adventuring is a hard farcing work,” said Jed, taking a torch from the steads pack in one hand, and finding flint placed in the other.

"Well that's human nature for you. In comparison I'm far too stubborn, and apathetic to do much betraying, and live far too long to want to waste my life laying around all day. So similarly we are both balls of contradictions," said Mule.

The little sparks didn’t last long in the thick air that dumped them. The torch started really smoking, but no flames had come out yet. Jed climbed the ladder on the back of the truck to the hose attachment. He sprayed a few squirts of jungle juice on what he could see of the torch’s end.

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“Yeah, Yeah that'll do it ” said Mule, standing behind his shoulder.

Jed grinned as he flicked the flint quicker than he ever had. The added punch of the juice was just the right ingredient to produce flames in the current atmosphere. His torch was really burning intensely now.

“Burn away the shadows slayed by tachyons and fry away dark magic with the heat,” mumbled Mule.

“Shh.. Did you see that movement over there?” whispered Jed.

There was not a single tree standing anywhere in the vicinity. It was a forest of nothing but shriveled away shrooms, and their artifacts filling the air. There was a big boulder that stood out as the only other stationary object illuminated by the torch. Mule was pointing one of his hoofs at the boulder.

“The shadow went behind there Jed,” he whispered.

“Here buddy take the torch on your saddle,” said Jed, approaching.

The torch was successfully harnessed safely on the animals back. It casts light just as well as before. Jed had his weapon and it was pointed at the big rock. He was waiting for trouble.

The objects surrounding them stayed dead still, and so did the sound. Everything was muted by the spores boxing them in. Mule turned to the truck behind them noticing the dimming lights. The vehicle had already become coated with a thick hairy coating of fungus debris trying to tie them down.

“I think this is a time limited affair here for I now realize there is far more going on underground than up here where we are,” said Mule.

“Isn’t it always?" said Jed.

Just out of vision behind the large boulder a creature was getting ready to leap.

“Riiibit” it said, pouncing out on two super strong hind legs.

The creature had some frog features, but was otherwise mutated beyond belief. The eyes had expired, and the front was two tentacle crystal grabbers. The predator's mouth opened revealing a void lined with increasingly smaller, but just as sharp rows of teeth. It had some kind of scaled nostrils above the mouth. The creature loudly sniffed hunting for a scent to prey.

Jed and Mule had remained out in the open without moving a muscle. The torch was burning away making extra smoke by burning away clouds of the falling fungus. Jed nervously eyed the flickering flames threatening to kill them. The creature rotated its sniffers looking for clues of where to find food. Otherwise it had not moved.

“Sniff, Sniff” a burning sensation started..

It hopped out from the bushes directly in front of Jed, Mule, and their truck. It extended a tongue towards them. Jed blasted.

“Bang, bang, bang, bang!” he shot his rifle, blowing holes into the attacking tongue.

The creature shrieked in pain, and jumped again. This time it was directly at them. Jed, and Mule dove for cover. The thing thudded onto where they had just been.

“Bang, bang, bang, bang!” said Jed’s gun hitting the creature.

The bullets lodged into the fungous flesh where they stayed resting. Out of the bullet holes a very lethal looking green gas cloud was leaking out. The cloud engulfed the creature before it inhaled into the void in its center. It blew back a smoke trick: A crossbones danger symbol formed in the green poison smoke cloud.

Mule had his signature sawn off sewn to his harness. He charged the creature. The mutation was waddling away.

“Bang!” he double tapped at close range.

Mule was blown back by the kickback of the gun that seemingly did nothing.

“Hu ho hu,” the creature seemed to laugh at its antics, and was unharmed from the bullets.

Jed had started shooting again not noticing Mule on account of being hyper focused in combat.

“Dont shoot im going in for the finishing blow get the hose and spray when I say,” screamed Mule.

It was at this same time Mule was lining up an angle to reverse throw. He bucked until the torch was undone, and then kicked it mid air as it fell to the ground. The flames on a stick tumbled and went sailing directly into the mouth hole. The creature hissed, as smoke was beginning to pour from the bullet holes.

“Right get out the way,” said Jed, holding the hose off the truck like an anti firefighter.

The jungle juice was a direct hit spraying creature. Jed shut off the hose as the ground in front of him was burning.

“BOOM!”

The enemy exploded. Mule launched all four hooves in the air. Jed took a big chunk of rotten shroom covered in slime to his torso that knocked him over like a candle pin. Mule landed on the big rig’s roof denting it on impact. While Jed was knocked over, and trapped under rubble. All around the pair chunks of rotted mutated flesh, shroom, and spores rained thick. The mutated creature had been pushed down the road into the rotten growth blocking the path.

“crunk!”

A massive chunk of shroom landed directly in front of the truck. It tore the entire bumper off with the force of impact. Meanwhile Jed had got himself free from under the ruble. He made a mad dash to the truck dodging threats from above. Another chunk of something smashed into the boulder, and splashed mutated blood over the trailer. He climbed inside the cab to relative safety, and slammed the door shut behind. Mule was already behind the driver's seat.

“Wew, we survived another encounter, guess that's all you can ask for,” said Jed.

Mule had his hoof on the pedal. The big rig gunned down the path that had been cleared with the explosion. The cargo bumped, and jerked threatening to tear them off course.

“Thud!”

The tires, and suspension groaned over the added weight applied. Mule concentrated on driving, while Jed frantically checked the mirrors, and rear-view for additional danger.

“Whatever hit us it’s too dark to see it,” said Jed, checking the ammo remaining in his rifle.

“Never mind, probably just a trophy mounted on the hood for us later after we get out of this place,” laughed Mule.

“You joke, but I worry about things sometimes.. What if the cargo has been contaminated? I’ll climb back there and find out,” said Jed.

“No you won't. We will find out the answer to that soon enough friend, but I would not worry the liquid container we are trucking is of extremely sturdy construction. It will be fine,” declared Mule.

“Alright. Sometimes it's hard to remember that after all we’ve been through I’m just a bag of bones not invincible. Well I need to remember the promise of light at the end of this tunnel,“ said Jed.

“I will help keep you safe as much as possible for it would be so cruel to have made it all this way only to fail right near the finish line. You know as well as I that things on this planet are really random, but together we will imagine fortune that will last until we expire into dust with it,” said Mule.