The man wore what I would expect of a desert dweller. Baggy clothing capable of blocking out the sun and yet thin and light enough to keep cool. A mask clung to his face, a staple for this part of the world. He gripped his rifle tighter in his hands, his knuckles turning white with the pressure.

I placatingly raised my hands and flashed the most innocent smile I could. “Woah there, friendly! Friendly! Athena Alexandria sent me.”

“Athena?” The man frowned, and what I could see of his face sinking with emotion that seemed to work through his entire being. There was an equal amount of rage and maybe fear? Hard to tell with the many conflicting Cues. The mask covering the lower half of his face also didn’t help. The moment passed and his face twisted into a calm facade, though his eyebrows were still knit tightly in poorly disguised anger.

I held my hands further apart, watching the Scouter’s camera overlaying my HUD for the other guard. She maintained her position, though she seemed to grow twitchier with every second that passed.

I hadn’t noticed before since I only used it up close, but it was kind of difficult to make out any details with the camera being of a poor quality. They really cheaped out on their robots’ optics, huh? Something else I needed to think about when rebuilding the device. Of course, assuming I had enough Rayn to get better supplies. I really hope this group has that box.

”Chill mikato, I mean no harm. Athena-.”

”Quiet! Let me think…” The man snapped at me as he lowered his rifle entirely. His face twisted into a grimace as he tapped his foot against the ground. “Okay. Okay, follow me. No funny business though. No one here will hesitate to put you in the sand. ”

”Chek chek, after you.” I slowly lowered my hands, subtly activating Hidden Hands as I kept my hand close to my gun. Now that I had an in, there shouldn’t be a fight. It should be a peaceful outing. Keyword: should… though my chances of getting out of here alive if things went south were incredibly low.

So things just couldn’t go south… and it isn’t like I’m an enemy. We, the Leper-Khans and I were both hired by the same person, so we should be allies… should. There was blood in the air though, and I couldn’t say with a hundred percent certainty that things would go down the way I logically expected considering the state of the group.

I followed him through the narrow passage by the machine, feeling an increasing sense of claustrophobia as I entered the path to their camp fully. In the Scouter’s overlaid HUD, the woman flinched as the man came in, looking like she might shoot at any moment. “Tabur? What’s going on?”

Now that I was closer and didn’t have to contend with the grainy view of my Scouter’s feed, I could see the hints of chrome under the bandages, the edges seeming to ooze a constant stream of blood. They were too covered up to tell what kind or even what corp made them, but they looked like they were still active.

The man seemed to imitate me, placatingly lowering his hands. “Relax, Cota. Would you take her to the elder? I’ll- I’ll stay and keep guard.”

The injured woman’s shoulders dropped as her entire complexion seemed to fall. ”What’s the point? It’s not like we’ll even be able to stop that- that thing if- when it comes back-“

Tabur coughed lightly, cutting the woman off before I could get any more details. Still, she had said enough. That thing. What an unsettling statement. Was it just one entity that wiped out the entire camp then? Just what could’ve one-sidedly turned over a camp of Nomads without much of a fight? I only knew the common monsters of the dunes, and nothing came to mind that could accomplish such a feat.

Definitely wasn’t Dune Walkers, that much was sure. They were powerful, but they moved in groups… it could be a variant I guess? Did Dune Walkers even have variants? Gah, I should’ve done some more research before coming out here. Stupid, stupid Shiro.

“Just take her to the elders. Oh, and go take a rest to change your bandages. Blood is starting to seep through again.” He adjusted his face mask and then returned to his original position, though he kept his eyes on me.

“Follow me.” The woman sighed and slung her rifle over her shoulder. Her hand caught a faint beam of sunlight, reflecting off the metal. It was interesting. Everything that had been electronic down in the camp had been disabled, and yet the woman’s chrome seemed to work just fine. It wasn’t some kind of localized EMP then…

I tried to pass along a friendly smile, even going so far as to imitate Mira’s cheer. “‘Course!”

Cota just glared at me as she squared herself up and led the way into the camp. “Nova.”

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

As we walked around the bends, I minimized the HUD for my Scouter. The additional vision was nice to keep track of things, but trying to watch two things at once was starting to make my stomach toss and turn. Something I would need to practice if I wanted to use the device more consistently.

We worked our way up into the flattened part of the abandoned mine. Several people turned over expectantly, only for what was visible of their faces to become clouded with disappointment and suspicion at seeing my sma- lithe form.

It was an interesting dynamic to witness, and one I could empathize with. Nomad groups were practically large families, and they must’ve been looking forward to seeing just one more familiar face. Then that ember of hope was crushed as they spotted a complete stranger striding into their camp.

A rogue breeze carried through the camp, nearly knocking over the several tattered tents. It felt cool. Too cool to be from the desert heat. I shivered as the breeze cut through my jacket like it wasn’t even there.

Cota didn’t stop for a second and led me to the elderly group in the middle of the camp. All but one of them took the younger Leper-Khans aside, away from me. Not that I could blame them.

”And who is this?” The one remaining, an older man with a slight hunch to his back and what looked like oil all over his face asked as we approached. He wore the same-looking mask as everyone else in the camp. His voice sounded ancient, a low amount of kindness hidden under the rough rasp.

”Athena sent me. Your group fell out of contact.” I answered, stepping in front of Cota so as to establish myself in a bit more dominant of a position.

The man nodded several times and motioned to a hunk of metal that had been pulled into the middle of the tattered camp. “Please. Take a seat… you’ve seen our camp?”

“What was left of it.” I shrugged and took a seat on it. “What happened here?”

The man’s shoulders shook as he ran a trembling hand down the side of his face. “We were slaughtered…” His eyes seemed to cloud up as he looked off in the distance. A moment later he shook his head. “You have a way to contact Athena?”

“Chek. Not with me though… I could try and repair your radio systems back down in the camp, given the time.“ I offered.

”That would be nova… ah, maybe I should introduce myself. Eobar, the temporary leader of the Leper-Khans till ours either returns or…” He shook his head. “Athena give you any instructions?”

”Only to find the Leper-Khans and a small black box that should never be opened.” I looked around the camp, eager for that twenty thousand Rayn. “Don’t suppose you know where it is?”

His eyes momentarily flicked to one of the tattered tents. “I’m afraid I don’t. Even if I did, that thing is cursed. Best it stays out of human hands for as long as possible.”

Cursed? Fucking hell; it was just my luck to be tasked with retrieving a cursed object in the middle of a desert. What’s next? Ghost, ghouls, or Dune Walkers were going to attack? Maybe all three? Speaking of terrible occurrences, Sentinel would also ‘happen’ to track me down just as they attacked.

“Hypothetically speaking-“

“There is no box hypothetically. Let sleeping dogs sleep.” The elderly man frowned. He opened his mouth to speak more-

A sharp keening cry came across the camp, cutting off every bit of noise under its all-encompassing might. It sounded like the screech of an elk; or at least what the holo-zoos showed for an elk’s cry. It was sharp and high-pitched, though this one was warped almost as if someone was crying. The cry echoed, ricocheting off the mountains and seeming to double in amplitude with each passing moment.

The sound was haunting and caused an immediate headache to form as I clutched at my ears. Before I could recover from the screech, my chrome eye glitched out, only returning to normal as silence descended upon the camp. Well, it's mostly normal. The camera’s connection had been cut off entirely, leaving me with no eyes on the way into the camp. I should’ve had several more minutes of battery.

The silence that followed was deafening, unnaturally so. It felt like the entire world had been put on mute, the sound waves trapped as they trembled in the air. An unnatural chill followed the screech, turning the desert air cool enough that I could probably see my breath if I wasn’t wearing a mask.

Everyone in the camp froze, several bursting into terrified tears as they moved. Most fell to the ground, gripping their heads as they just laid out. A couple ran into their tents as if they were trying to hide. Hide from what exactly-

My body froze up, locking together as Insight sent a cold so dominant and powerful it was all I could feel. It wasn’t a mere warning of danger. It was death. Death was imminent. There was no escape. Only death.

The cold was overwhelming, but I had already faced death once. Twice. An uncountable number of times back when learning Fox’s Paw. This much wasn’t enough to keep me down. I shook off the shocking chill as best I could and stood up.

I looked towards the elder of the remaining Leper-Khans, finding his face frozen in a sheet of white. He chattered as a strangled cry came from his throat. He slammed his eyes shut, throwing himself to the ground. Sand and small rocks flew from his impact site. “D-don’t look at it. Whatever you hear, don’t open your eyes!”

All around me, the Leper-Khans followed in as they closed their eyes and tried to just curl into a ball and disappear. For a moment, the cold warning of imminent death faded, replaced with a small glimmer of hope.

If it was just the man telling me to not look at whatever was coming, I would have ignored it. Not looking at your attacker was incredibly stupid. How was I supposed to fight back if I couldn’t even see what was attacking me?

And yet Insight more than backed up the man’s claims; the deathly chill pushed me to just close my eyes and follow the rest of the camp. To curl up and not react to anything.

I followed the man’s advice, closing my eyes as the chilly air seemed to only grow colder. I dropped to the sand, the warmth remaining in it comforting my body as my whole body felt like chattering worse than when I activated Cold-Blooded.

A moment passed as the unnatural silence stretched on. The only things breaking it up were hushed whispers around the camp and several people sobbing uncontrollably.

It was suffocating. And then something changed. Oh, how I longed for silence.