Are forewords a thing? Kind of feels like I'm pointing out the obvious...
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The vast emptiness of the waste stretched from horizon to horizon. No landmarks, no features. Nothing. The only sound present was the roar of the engine as the lightweight buggy raced across the sand, dulled slightly through the thick mask on Syra’s head.
“I’m bored,” whined Liz from the backseat, “Are we there yet?”
Without turning around from where she sat at shotgun, Syra replied, “I don’t know, ask Ted.” This exchange was something of a ritual now between them, the only thing they could bring themselves to do in the soul-sapping heat and dust.
Next to Liz in the back, Ted savagely hit the scanner on the floor between his knees in an attempt to get a reading, before sighing and lethargically rolling his head to look at Liz, “Computer says no.”
From the corner of her eye, Syra saw Max’s knuckles tighten on the wheel before relaxing. “If you don’t find another joke, I am going to stop this car and shove that scanner so far up your arse…”
Chuckling Liz clearly agreed, “I might even help.” Turning serious suddenly she continued, “But what is this? A fucking joke? I mean seriously, what is one fire team supposed to find in this huge, fucking desert? We’ve been out here, what, 48 hours now? Just driving and driving and driving, with no stop in sight and these fucking masks. If I ever find who designed these to be used in over 40 degrees I will personally kill him and his dog, not to mention the lack of night time.”
Strangely, one of the first things the team noticed was even after 20 hours had passed, the sun was still high in the sky, showing no signs of moving for the transition to night.
Syra was troubled. She has a point. Why only one team? “Look, we have orders, travel for a week in one direction before turning back and picking a new one. Rinse. Repeat. I didn’t issue the orders; I just carry them out.”
“Yeh, but w-.”
“Collateral.” Max interrupted. “They want answers with minimal resources. We know nothing about what is out here, so sending one scout team first to make sure it is safe and possibly complete the mission is a sound plan. Why send an army, when you can send one man?”
Silence once more fell across the group as the buggy raced on.
The Fall huh? Pondered Syra, what actually was it? Realising her ignorance, she asked, “What actually was the Fall? I mean, I get that-.”
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“Apocalypse level event,” said Max. “We don’t know what it was. No one does, but it caused our ancestors to flee underground to survive. Most of the population didn’t make it however and we guess they died up here. There were rumours of-.”
A loud banging echoed from the roof as Emile’s masked head appeared outside Syra’s window. Winding it down, and receiving a face full of dust in reward, Emile spoke, “Some kind of buildings, 1 klick out, straight ahead. No movement.”
Taking charge, Syra began issuing orders. “Ted check for life signs, heat signatures anything. Max take us in to half a klick and stop. Emile, Liz; start prepping, we go in on foot with Max as overwatch. Try and keep it non-lethal, but don’t take risks. I want this done in six hours.”
Frenzied activity filled the vehicle as everyone began checking their kit and prepping for combat.
“Ted, anything yet?” asked Syra, nervous excitement filling her as she eagerly fishing for intel.
“Nothing on the bio-scanners. Thermal’s useless in this heat anyway so nothing there.” Pausing to suck in air through his teeth, he proceeded to fiddle with the scanner, “Umm… seems to be an area of higher radiation. Not dangerous with the masks and suits though.”
Stopping the buggy, Max jumped out followed by the rest of the team and grabbing his rifle, he got prone. Scoping in on the buildings in the distance he said, “I got you covered. I can’t see any movement.”
“Right,” Turning to her team Syra asked, “Any questions? We need to be done here and moving on in six-.”
“Hold up! Wait! I’m getting something!” Shouted Ted as he furiously hammered on the scanner. “Flare of radiation and thermal. Red lights across the board.”
“I can’t see shit,” stated Liz as she squinted at the black blobs on the horizon, “You sure your machine’s not broke?”
“Look up.”
Following Emile’s advice everyone craned their heads to peer at the sky to see something falling. Though to Syra it seemed to be a flaming ball tearing through the atmosphere over their heads, travelling at well over the speed of sound.
The next thing Syra knew, the object had fallen to earth and impacted inside the group of buildings with enough force to cause a mini earthquake and a huge plume of dust. It was kind of beautiful in a strange way, as the dust was thrown in all directions before slowly drifting to earth, undisturbed by any wind: almost like a flower.
With a deep breath, aware of her team’s shocked inactivity, Syra said, “Well, let’s get moving.”
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