“Someone got suited up,” Mia says to me.


“Yeah. I suppose this is going to be the deadliest stretch of our journey yet,” I admit.


“So, ready to go?” Timerus speaks quietly.


The camp is mostly packed up. I feel like maybe we should have been on the road as soon as we opened our eyes. I walk with Mia as she stuffs a small bag over her shoulders.


“Timerus help you out too?” I ask Mia.


“Yeah, mostly food and water.” She chuckles.


“Well, death by the elements seems to be common enough,” I admit.


“Yeah, like the badlands weren’t dangerous enough.” She chuckles.


“Especially with things like the Asag around,” I respond.


“Right.” She nods.


“What’s an Asag?” One of Timerus’ men asks, carrying a box.


“We named the giant sand worms the Asag,” Mia explains.


“I see.” He replies, going back to his duties.


It feels like moments. I’ve never been so close to these old relic landmarks. The St. Lawrence Canyon will indeed be an adventure. Most of the bombs made contact with highly populated areas and historical landmarks of various countries. I wonder if maybe the people who were alive then ever imagined we would survive such chaos.


The idea that we have gotten through not only hellhounds, but also an Asag, and even managed to avoid an Ostoros. I think we can safely assume we are very lucky to even be alive. I just know we need a little more of it to pull through this. We can bring water back to everyone. If Mia believes in it, so do I.


“You alright, Etha?” Mia asks.


I really want to just retire right now, go to the nearest settlement and call it done. The thought is a weight on my chest, heavier than the armor I wear. I glance at Mia. She walks ahead, her expression unreadable, but I know she believes in this mission. I swallow my words. If she can push forward, so can I.


“Yeah, I just been thinking about all we’ve been through. Wondering what is going to be ahead,” I say.


I am not lying, it’s the truth. I just have to muster up the strength to see this all the way through. Who knows, maybe she wants to retire as badly as I do. This kind of life is hard.


“Fair, I can’t be sure either. We’ve seen some crazy stuff. Though, we’ve been lucky to only encounter what we have so far,” she says.


“Really?” I say.


“Yeah, actually,” Timerus interjects. “Anyways, we are heading out now. The sleds are on the move.”


I guess that’s how they move so much gear all at once. I suppose they haven’t managed to make any old-world vehicles work just like Basha. We found a tank once, but its oil was clogged up with sand. We never managed to clean it or find the replacement oil, let alone the replacement parts. We ended up making it into a house in the long run.


“Right, let’s go then,” I say.


For once I feel secure, knowing I can at least shoot at whatever may rush at us. The daytime seems to be the safest time to travel. I guess a lot of the creatures prefer the dark. I heard stories that were spread across settlements by travelers, of a great long darkness. If the creatures like the dark, there are not a lot of places after sunrise to go. So, maybe this is how we find out more about these things. Maybe just how many different things are actually out there.


“So, Mia, what have you fought out here?” I now feel the urge to know.


Mia chuckles. “I fought a weird squid person before.”


I blink. “Excuse me?”


“Yeah. Thing had tentacles where its arms should’ve been. Real nasty. Nearly got me, too.” She rolls her shoulder as if remembering an old ache.


I don’t even know what to say to that.


“Well, there were these cyborgs back from military outpost Nevada Alpha,” she adds with a chuckle.


“That’s freaky. What do you think we will encounter when we hit the target?” I ask.


“It was a research facility, so it’s hard to predict. Odds are, the canyon is full of things waiting to kill us,” she sighs.


After hours of walking, the conversation remains endless. The tales of her fighting in locked-down areas with turrets and other traps unsettle me. Electric floors stick out the most. We use metal to make most of the armor. It’s scary to think we may just set that kind of thing off.


“So there’s literal endless possibilities?” I ask.


“Thank Ark Tech for that,” she says.


“Ark Tech, was it all over the world?” I can’t resist the urge to ask.


“According to our information, it’s close enough to across the globe to say that,” she replies, sounding cold about it.


“I am guessing you found that out during one of your excursions?” I try to assume the best.


“My mentor. We were in an old military outpost. Long story short, he had to sacrifice his life to salvage the intel,” Mia says.


I don’t want to press on the topic any further. I look around, endless sand as usual. The occasional rock, an old tower here and there. The world has become a graveyard.


We walk up to a large gap in the earth. The wind picks up, whistling through unseen cracks below, carrying a faint scent of rust and decay. I look across, but the opposite side is shrouded in heat haze, as if the land itself is still bleeding from old wounds.


“Is this it?” I ask.


“Yup,” Mia sighs. “The St. Lawrence Canyon.” She smiles at the additional statement.


“Get ready for hell,” Timerus says.


Someone swears under their breath. I glance around at the others. They’re armed, experienced—but even they don’t seem eager to go down there. A dry wind rushes up from below, carrying with it a whisper of something I can’t quite place.


Some of Timerus' men start unloading the boxes they have been sledding here for hours. They gather the parts out of the boxes, assembling a base to repel down the cliffside. I hope they thought out how far down the canyon goes.


“We go down in squads of four,” Timerus says.


“Right,” I say.


“Me, Etha, Timerus...” Mia starts.


“Roger, you're with us four,” Timerus says.


A young man steps forward. “Roger, reporting.”


“Alright, let’s get down there,” I say.


“We’ve got this,” I try to reassure Mia. “We’re going into the battle path.”