I find myself wandering around the settlement I have called home as long as I have been alive. My stomach twists painfully, reminding me I haven’t eaten since yesterday. I need work—anything—before hunger makes my hands too weak to climb, too slow to react. If I don’t find something soon, I’ll spend another night with nothing but the ache gnawing at my ribs. Though I never take anything that leads me from the settlement. The areas outside of our walls are not safe, like most settlements in the Badlands of their areas.


I approach a board in our sand-filled lot. I look for the job postings and it seems again I am too late. The bounty hunts are all that are left on the board and I haven't any chance at that. I know better. Just two days ago there was a man sent after a hellhound that was tormenting a farmer off the settlement nearby. However, the man never came back.


Most people don't even bother learning each other's names or making acquaintances or friends. We keep to ourselves because we all are suffering and barely scraping by for survival. I hear that the settlement of Lost Angels is very well off in comparison, although rumours of the Oro’Mastaras come from that way. We hear about New Boston now and then from stories that our trader gets from the next closest settlement, which is a four-day journey on foot. There is no other way we can travel around.


"Hey! Etha!" I can hear a woman's voice call me.


"What's up?" I turn around.


"I saw a job for you earlier, so I made sure to nab it before anyone else." A short blonde-haired woman with red and white patched skin approaches me.


"Uh, thanks?" I say in response.


"Don't remember me, do ya?" She says as she hands me the job sheet.


"No, you don't even look like you're from here. Are you passing through?" I ask.


"I came back from New Boston." She says.


"Yeah, sure. The likelihood of that is next to impossible. The mutants alone are too hard to avoid." I scoff.


"My name is Mia. I left here with my father five years ago." She explains.


I think hard for a moment, searching my memory for any trace of familiarity. Nothing. Her hair is lighter than most here, her features sharper, and her skin—marked with red and white patches—sets her apart from anyone I’ve ever known. It’s striking, unnatural in a way that makes me wonder if it’s some mutation from the Badlands. The longer I stare, the more certain I become that she doesn’t belong to this place.


"Why'd you come back?" I ask.


"You, Etha." She says.


"Yeah, okay and why would that be?" My voice fills with aggravated sarcasm.


"I'm serious. I am starting a group back in New Boston. We are going to try to make this continent livable again. We want to help bring water to land from Lost Angels and the East Coast. We need to start finding a way to live through this all." She explains.


"Let me get this straight," I say, rubbing my temples. "You want us to walk a week through mutant-infested wasteland… because of some ancient book?"


Mia crosses her arms. "Yeah. Unless you like starving in Basha?"


I huff, shaking my head. "This is insane."


"So is dying here," she counters. "Your call."


"What'd you say your name was?"


"Mia." She says.


"Come with me." I say. I walk to the area closest to the southern wall.


We stay quiet. I don't want anyone catching onto this. It may just be some psychotic idea. However, I want to hear this out. We all need better living quality. I wish I only knew the answers right now. If this is just a fantasy in her head, then this is for nothing and I could be earning money for the day. I look at the sheet she handed me earlier.


'Requesting agile people.


If you can climb, run and use ropes and etcetera, then please come to the North Gate and talk to Reginald. Look for the bright blue shield on the house's front door.'


I stare into it, confused. I know my way around the settlement, thankfully. I look up and turn to face my door. Only a few people are walking on the streets.


WEAAAAAHHHHH!!! A siren blares to alert us. The warning of a sandstorm.


"Sandstorm! Let's go in!" I grab Mia's hand and dart to my door.


"Hey!" She exclaims.


I sigh. I slide the door open and shove her into my house. I can feel the wind picking up, whipping loose grains of sand against my skin like tiny daggers. I enter and face outside to close the door. The horizon has vanished behind a roiling wall of dust, a massive, deep brown storm churning toward us like an angry beast. The air is thick with grit, already making it hard to breathe. It moves fast, swallowing the land in its path, devouring everything in sight. Like that of a giant washing wave that came from the desert sands, relentless and unstoppable. I close the door as quick as I can muster, my fingers fumbling in urgency.


SLAM!!


"Pass me that chain." I turn and point at a hook behind Mia.


"Sure." She grabs it quickly and tosses it over.


I grab a big blowtorch and weld the chain to the door, then the wall as well. I sigh deeply when I am done. The shack groans as the wind slams against it, metal shrieking like a wounded animal. Sand seeps through every crack, stinging my eyes, clogging my throat. The storm howls, deafening, a beast made of dust and rage. I grip Mia’s wrist tighter, heart hammering, wondering if the walls will hold this time.


The wailing of my home fills our ears. We crouch down and sit quietly. We can only hope this is going to keep us safe from the devastating winds. I can hear the moaning of metal bending outside. I feel tears rippling along my cheeks. I don't want to die this young.


I grasp a hold of Mia without thinking. My fear is eating me alive. The dark shadows of the feeling of fear are drowning my entirety. My soul feels broken. This is it.


SLAM!


A low, guttural panting drifts through the cracks in the door—slow, heavy, like something savoring the scent of its prey. My fingers tighten around Mia’s arm as my breath stalls in my chest. Then, a deep, rumbling growl. I don’t need to see it to know. Hellhound


I hear the faint steps of the beast. Another set of footprints can be heard on the other side.


Thump! I hear something outside fall. Seconds of silence go by. Suddenly, a grown man's screams of agony break the silence and it feels like hours as we wait for them to stop. It seems as if there are a few hellhounds taking advantage of our settlement. I wait, full of nerves. Mia has her face becoming filled with sweat.


We stare at one another, hoping to see the end of this nightmare. I don't even want to leave the home if it's over. My settlement probably lays in near ruins after that rush of weather and the hellhounds.


I can hear surges of zapping as the sounds get farther away. I let out a sigh of relief. It seems like they are moving forward from us. I slide a slot open in my door to take a look outside, checking if it's safe.


"How's it look out there?" Mia asks me.


"Bad." That's all I can say.


Mia lets out a slow breath, eyes scanning the horizon. "We aren't going to get there like this."


She turns back to the path ahead, and I follow her gaze. In the distance, something shimmers—just for a second—before disappearing behind the heatwaves. My stomach tightens. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe it wasn’t.